Lamenting the Loss of a Dear Friend I’d Never Met—Ana M. Lord (1948–2020)

In these days of working from home, powered by social media especially if you’re in the entertainment world, it’s easy to begin friendships over the Internet. Two people begin to correspond for business and learn from one another about a common interest. With time, you start to address one another as friends. Later, you’re good friends. And for some, you are eventually dear friends.

Ana M. Lord

On Tuesday, August 25th, I received an e-mail from a dear friend that our mutual Facebook friend via music, Ana Lord, had passed away. No cause of death was known nor any details. He’d actually learned from another member of his band about her passing. Grief washed over me inexplicably. She was gone…before I ever got to meet her. The friendship didn’t vanish just because we’d never met. It was just delayed and postponed until “some other time” in the future.

For a few minutes I sat in silence at my keyboard, blinking back some tears that wouldn’t come. Logic was too busy overriding my grief. Wait, there had been no storm in the Bahamas that few days prior—there were the days when our large music community began to reach out to her to make sure she updated us on the storm surges through the Bahamas that could ravage cities in the blink of an eye. She was gone. I really respected and admired her for so many reasons. And yet, I’d never met her in person.

Our friendship began nine years ago, in 2011, the year when the beloved famous horn band, The MOB, was to be inducted in the South Dakota Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The MOB, to anyone from Chicago, is a beloved iconic band, precursor to the bands “youngsters” think of today as Chicago, Chase, and a few others. The MOB was horn driven, heavy into R&B, their own soul sounds, and some pretty damn snappy dance moves on stage for 11 or so guys to perform in unison while doing their thing. This genuine soul band had heart, soul, and a whole lotta love for music. Here's a brief video of the induction ceremony:

The MOB was led by consensus, better than most do today. Famous members of the band depended on what they were famous for. James Holvay and Gary Beisbier were famous for cowriting the earliest hits of The Buckinghams (Kind of a Drag–James; Don’t You Care, Hey Baby, They’re Playing our Song, and Susan—James and Gary). They had a way of writing and arranging songs for The MOB that created a singular sound dimension of joy when you heard them.

Jimmy Ford, trumpeter and band leader in his own right had been a major part of early Dick Clark “Caravan of Stars” players who toured with the music stars of the day. Larry McCabe’s trombone was unforgettable. Singing sensations “Big Al” Herrera and his brother Artie, originally from Waco, Texas, eventually affiliated with the band. Almost as soon as they’d joined, Artie entered the service, and Big Al took over lead song duties. Drummer Bobby Ruffino, keyboardist Tony Nedza, guitarist and singer Mike Sistak, and eventual bassist Albert Maligmat were all-stars in their own right on stage.

From 1966 until 1980, The MOB evolved, got better and better, released singles, signed recording contracts for albums and other standard band fare, and yet they were more famous long after they had disbanded than while they were together. Why? Because they were an unforgettable SHOW BAND that you could best appreciate by seeing in person to get that cool R&B vibe they were dishing out.

Ana Lord heard the group live in 1967 in Jacksonville, Florida for the first time. It would begin an entirely new chapter in her life that gave her great joy just to hear their music. I originally shared her story in 2011.

Make no mistake. Ana was no groupie or devotee who went everywhere the band did. At the time she was in San Antonio, she was an integral part of promotion in an advertising and marketing for a firm she helped start, Total Marketing Concepts. When there was a special event on the horizon, she tried to locate the group (before the Internet), all she found were dead ends. That would not be the end of the story though. Armed with one goal, trying to create a “one last time” reunion for The MOB would be a musical coup and something people would absolutely love. She was determined to make it happen and found a few ultra-talented music lovers who were like minded and a small group effort began to take flight. Music lovers all know that there are groups of people on the Internet who find ways to communicate mutual interests about music with each other.

In the early days of dial-up modems, there was a message board called Spectropop. Other Internet services had their own boards, plus the creation of Yahoo groups, and other collaborations, long before Facebook.

There are numerous chapters in the story of how Ana Lord, Alan Schrank, and Joseph Pytel researched and found their way to locate various band members. The ultimate product of all their hard work was the occasion of the South Dakota Rock and Roll Hall of Fame preparing to name a new class of honorees. Lord and Schrank wrote the proposal and in April 2011, James Holvay “got the band back together” or most of it, and there was an amazing night at the Ramkota Hotel Exhibit Hall that it rocked the living daylights out of South Dakota, powered by the brilliance of the newly rehearsed MOB, with a few new guest inductees playing instruments for those originals who couldn’t make it.

Here's "Who's Making Love (to Your Old Lady)" performed by James Holvay and Al Herrera.

The most ironic and sad thing is that Ana never got to attend that reunion. She had long relocated to Nassau, the Bahamas, where she proudly worked in ad sales for The Nassau Guardian, whose staff remembered her with great regard recently on her Facebook page, posting the first notice of her passing.

I never asked why she couldn’t go, but one can imagine travel and lodging costs—Bahamas to Sioux Falls, SD—for the weekend of unforgettable reunion music was prohibitive. She never let on how she felt, but at the time, I remember it crushed my heart not to have the extra funds to send her myself. Plus, you never know when someone simply cannot afford the time off from work due to deadlines, so you don’t say anything to anyone else. There are times you feel comfortable in offering to help. Other times, you sit quietly and just pray. The reunion event was spectacular, and yet Ana’s role in it was established among all who knew the behind-the-scenes machinations to make it happen. In her heart, though, she was content to know that she had played a vital role in bringing the group back together after 40 years.

Ana may have easily been overlooked if anyone in the crowd was looking for someone who might one day be a reason this band found a reason to come together after 40 years apart. The MOB had a legion of fans, from primary home base of Chicago, to Los Angeles, CA, where they had regular house band status at Barnaby’s and PJ’s, or to various casinos in Vegas where their late night shows just might have Elvis or Frank Sinatra in the crowd, after they’d finished their own shows and they were winding down.

South Dakota, meanwhile, boasted its own claim to being at least one more home base for The MOB, thanks to the iconic venue, The Mocamba Club. Famous for booking the best of the best before they were discovered nationally, this club was a frequent favorite for The MOB to play, and Sioux Falls rocked hard whenever they were in town.

What Ana didn’t really get to know or hear about was how each individual band member, original and guest for the evening, felt about that single event in their lives, the reunion, meant for them. Finally, at long last, they received more than a footnote, or a modicum of stingy recognition for their true role in taking their own original horn band sound out of Chicago and into the world. Recordings could not capture the crowd dynamics when they played as live albums were not all that common then.

On the plus side, Alan Schrank is a master photographer and graphic artist who took videos and still photographs enough to make you feel like you were there, even when you weren’t—the next best thing. He created a one-of-a-kind group of memories that are still fun to look through today and he readily shared his photos with me to publish in my online stories and blog. In the nine years that have passed since the April 2011 reunion and honor for The MOB, much has happened in all of our lives. James Holvay wrote new songs and was a major powerhouse part of a hit Los Angeles musical production, “Eastside Heartbeats,” and Gary Beisbier released a new album after many years away from the studios.

Other band members did interesting things as well, but for at least that one weekend in South Dakota, those band members were all 20 years old again, in matching suits, with carnations in their lapels and a genuine new lease on life in their hearts one more time when that first downbeat began. It was 1967 all over again, for all of us.

The MOB didn’t make any more public appearances together, but the guys stayed in better touch with each other and that alone was worth the outcome of a reunion. Finding your ”teenage” friends once again at a point in your life where you can take the time for one another is a rich blessing.

Meeting new friends was something that also resulted from the catalyst that Ana provided to reigniting the interest in the band and their music, all the way since the 1980s. She never gave up. She didn’t quit. She had many years of waiting in the interim. And, in the end, she never got to see the product of all her good works (together with the works of others) in person.

Many of my “friends through music” became Facebook friends with Ana—our neighborhood online music community had a subdivision of our very own, held together by those first music beginnings. It was just so easy to drop a note on Facebook and check in to one another’s lives, which felt as valid as having coffee with your next-door neighbor in person. Ana was blessed with two children, a daughter and a son, both of whom live in Florida. She was very proud of them. She was also devoted to her various wonderful doggies who had good lives with her for as long as they did.

Her life of late was simple. The Bahamas utility company didn’t seem to have their acts together. The Nassau Guardian paper where she worked in advertising was filled with many colleagues she enjoyed being associated with. She loved her dogs.

Ana was also a fan of The Buckinghams, another Chicago-based horn band that brought a more pop rock sound to fans who loved horn. On one of their previous years Concerts at Sea, the tour stopped at Nassau, The Bahamas, and Ana gave the band a lovely tour of the paper on their day off, hoping to introduce them to some entertainment producers in hopes of booking a Bahamas gig for them at some future point. Though the concert date never happened, it was a lovely day for friendships old and new to be renewed.

This journey of music, whether you’re the artist or the music lover, is a seemingly never-ending journey of joy…people appreciating the gifts and talents of musicians means a lot to the band members. Similarly, when you have time to spend a few moments in genuine conversation with those whose works you’ve admired a long time, it’s often a once-in-a-lifetime experience that stays with fans all of your life.

So many people at the beginning and end of their lives have only memories to remind them of where they’ve been, who they’ve seen, and how they’ve felt. Few have photos or albums left to leave to others as people are forever downsizing to relocate and reposition their lives. Sometimes the only pictures are in our heads, waiting to be summoned at the times that present themselves.

Sometimes, you get lucky and someone finds some lost tapes (that could mean reel-to-real, cassette, or maybe even 8-tracks), and shares them as in this case:

Hearing a familiar strain of music on a radio station or one you call for on Alexa, or one you hear playing on an old turntable in a seaside store brings back childhood, brings back love and joy, and brings back the best days of your lives, before adulthood came along and pushed everything else into the closet and locked the door.

Ana Lord came into the lives of many less than a decade ago. She brought with her an avid memory of the music of The MOB, shared her excitement and enthusiasm for their music, recruited many supporters and friends to join her in trying to “get the band back together just one more time,” and she did what she set out to do. And then, at the end, after she’d worked her magic kindness and spirit into many lives, she transitioned into the next life, most likely to continue her goodness and good works.

Although I didn’t get to say goodbye, to a good friend I had not yet met, I take consolation in knowing that time and distance separate many of us, but it’s the things that bring us together that remain most important. Ana Lord’s life and work live on beyond her days here on Earth. And as records and historical writings of the music of The MOB will go on, down the line, she will always be remembered with fondness for her contributions.

Her published obituary is here, if you wish to leave a message or note in her online guestbook.

So, I ask you to join me in raising your glass or coffee cup at whatever day and time you wish, and say a little prayer of thanks for Ana’s life. And let the great music play on…and on. Amen.

DVD review: Musical reunion of The MOB, April 2011 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Here we review the DVD that resulted from the induction of the Chicago-originated horn band, The MOB, into the South Dakota Rock and Roll Music Association Hall of Fame, in a concert filmed April 16, 2011. The Music Association, now just its fourth year, has managed to honor and reinvigorate many great bands of the midwest in a very short time.

For The MOB, these musicians faced a daunting challenge and price to pay to gather together and accept this very special honor. Doubts abounded, silently if not aloud. Would ‘the magic’ still be there after three decades had elapsed? Could they all still play like they had back in the day? Would they all still remember how the once perfectly memorized tunes were arranged to be played? And could they rehearse in 3 days’ time and make it sound just like it had before?

More questions than answers accompanied that unforgettable night in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The South Dakota Rock and Roll Music Association wisely videotaped the entire night’s performances, of which The MOB’s was just one. But because their music undergirded the country’s (then) burgeoning interest in a show band, a horn band, and a fun band from 1966–1980, this single DVD is the only subject of this review.

As Doug Lund, the MC and a director of the South Dakota Rock and Roll Music Association board, announced the final performers for the evening: he shared some facts: The MOB was formed in Chicago in the mid-60s, the first band to boast a full horn section. They toured the country in a series of endless one-nighters, honing their craft. Original members included ‘Little’ Artie Herrera, Jimmy ‘Ford’ Franz, Mike ‘Paris’ Sistak, ‘Big Al’ Herrera, Gary ‘Stevens’ Beisbier, Jimmy ‘Soul’ Holvay, Tony ‘Roman’ Nedza, and Bobby ‘The Cheese’ Ruffino.

This perfect combination was the resultant amalgam of Jimmy Ford and the Executives (Bands #1 and 2), who’d been part of the Dick Clark Caravan of Stars tours, with musicians who’d also been part of the band The Chicagoans, and, before that, The Maybees, who then invited Artie and Al Herrera (Little Artie and the Pharaohs), to join them. The new formation would up leaving some players out in the cold, but not to worry; some castoffs wound up being part of recording gold in the band Chicago Transit Authority. But that’s another story.

Got that? The MOB indeed. The name came from the clever mind and deadpan sense of humor of songwriter Jim Holvay, who was tuned to a late-night crime movie on TV in 1966. Hailing from Chicago, well, you know where the carnations and pin stripe suits ideas sprang up. But it worked. For 14 years they worked, as The MOB, week after week, night after night, mostly on the road all over the United States and Canada.

Although much of fame and fortune eluded them, in comparison to Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears, The Buckinghams, Chase, etc. in the Chicago pop rock horn sound identity, no question that The MOB was the very first ‘show band’ to put their full efforts into pleasing a live adult (vs. teenage) audience in clubs and upscale bars.

The other groups were more directed at teenagers listening to transistor radios in the 60s. So, it’s comparing apples and oranges to put The MOB into a category other than Chicago showband who made their mark in the Midwest, New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and parts of Canada, and of course, the Mocamba Club in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, three to four times a year.

What took place in South Dakota was only 1/8th devoted to The MOB (the full evening was preserved and pressed onto four separate CDs), but they were the group who closed the evening’s program.

After the introduction of the band and a brief history, the Sioux Falls induction DVD opens onto the faces of the principles, as lit up with megawatt excitement after being gone from the public eye some 30 years. One can only imagine what was going through their heads as Jimmy “Soul” Holvay counted off. Mike Sistak “Paris” joined him in guitar, as “Little Albert” Maligmat on bass and Bobby “The Cheese” Ruffino began the vamp that led into the horn intro to one of the favorites, Darrell Banks’ “Open the Door to Your Heart.”

John Mogen on Hammond B-3 (a member of the South Dakota R&R Music Association board) was clearly delighted to share the stage. Mogen did Tony “Roman” Nedza proud, as the horn section waited for their cue and Jimmy “Ford” Franz’s trumpet and Larry “Lone Bone” McCabe’s trombone found home base, as the evening’s final act started swinging and didn’t stop for over an hour.

As Big Al sang his first notes, 2,000 people knew that ‘this man still had it.’ Herrera took each line, ‘Walk right on in, stretch out your arms, let your love light shine on my soul baby,’ delivered in a 24-karat style, and held the audience in the palm of his hand. And he didn’t let go for a full hour.

Next, Herrera called on Holvay to join him in one of their former favorite duets, ‘Who’s Makin Love (to your old lady)’, as Bobby Ruffino precisely delivered the magic backbeat, fresh from Las Vegas special delivery to Sioux Falls. The camaraderie between the two men was evident, as was the fun they were having interacting with the audience.

A highlight of the even was the introduction of ‘Little Artie’ Herrera, who’d joined the MOB during its formative first year 1966-1967, but who’d been called by Uncle Sam into military service. Artie never got to sing with the band after that. So, after a 44-year absence from performing with them, Holvay gave Artie his signature song, ‘Turn on Your Love Light,’ and Artie Herrera breathed such passion into that tune as he danced onstage like a Broadway pro, that you would have sworn that he’d been singing it every day of his life, all of his life.

Jimmy Ford (falling right back into his familiar emcee role), introduced the Sioux Falls natives who’d joined The MOB on stage. Ford explained that there were 14 people on the stage ‘because they wanted the best show for the audience’ (including Rich Hastings, Ryan Staley, James Dittman, Gavin Wiig, and, Ken Hoyng, who’d rehearsed the group). Ford next introduced trombonist Larry McCabe (who’d toured with Ruffino and Holvay as well as the Maynard Ferguson Band), and then he introduced his longtime friend Mike Sistak.

Sistak, clearly a crowd sentimental favorite, offered a gentle tenor on ‘The Worst That Could Happen,’ made famous by Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge. Sistak sang under the watchful regard and affection of Al and Artie Herrera and Albert Maligmat, who were pleased to sing background for him.

As Al Herrera took the mike again, The MOB blew the roof off the place in a rousing rendition of ‘Disappear’ by Holvay and Beisbier (Mercury Records). The powerful and moving anthem was perfect as Herrera’s voice and Ruffino’s drums called and answered echoed, a crowd-favorite, a kiss-off song following a broken love (I think you’d better get up and go, hit the road, baby”). When Al sang softly into his swelling ‘ohhhhhhh’ echoed by his brother and Maligmat, it was time for goosebumps.

Albert Maligmat, who flew in from Hawaii (where he’s a fulltime entertainer as well as respected Christian gospel artist) owned ‘Savin’ My Love for You,’ with Jimmy Ford pounding the conga drums like there was no tomorrow, and Bobby Ruffino in the pocket. As the horns punctuated the chorus, Maligmat ran a bass clinic during the song and surprised the audience with a batch of scat singing that had Artie Herrera glowing with pride. While Sistak and Holvay nodded and grooved with the horn section, Ford’s congas owned the middle of the song. The horns and drums came back up loud and proud and Maligmat found a new octave that he probably didn’t even have in the 80s.

As Big Al took the audience back into his focus, he held forth ‘I Dig Everything About You,’ it was poignant to watch Maligmat smile as the mutual pride was clear between the two singers. You had to wonder what it was like for Holvay to step up to the mike and sing backup on a song he’d written 45 years earlier that had found its way into the memories of DJs across the country. Even syndicated oldies DJ, Scott Shannon, has said that ‘I Dig Everything About You’ was one of his favorite songs ever, but the reality is that it remains a well-kept secret in terms of commercial success.

As the crowd sang their part ‘answers’ to “I dig everything about ya” back to Big Al, the horn section hit it perfectly. Ruffino clapped the drumsticks together as the band put down their instruments and made their way off the stage.

Poignantly some of the band members watched the audience for a reaction, and the horn section began chanting “gotta get back, back on the raod, back on the road again,” as The MOB came back to the stage for their encore.

And what an encore it was. One of Herrera’s signature songs on stage has always been, and will always be, his dramatic encore number. Before he began singing, he shared thanks to God, and remembered one of two missing MOBsters, Tony Roman (Nedza), who passed away but whose absence was marked by a full-color poster on an easel onstage. Beisbier (Gary Stevens) was not named during the show (nor was his picture displayed), but some of his best work was performed that night.

Herrera continued his prayer with, ‘life is short, you never know.’ Taking on a slightly more serious tone, Big Al encouraged the audience to ‘love their neighbors, be kind, ask what you can do for one another.’ It was a perfect entrée to the song (au. H. Woods, J. Campbell, and R. Connelly) recorded by so many artists. For one night in South Dakota, Big Al added his imprimatur. The Holvay-Beisbier arrangement of the oft-recorded song took on its own, best, life that night in Sioux Falls, even better than the superb Joe DeFrancesco production of The MOB on Twinight Records ‘back in the day,’ as they say.

In perfect sync with Ruffino’s drums, by the time Al was down to his tuxedo vest, repeating ‘try a little tenderness,’ the horns filled the air with unforgettable notes. The crowd responded by yelling ‘Big Alllll, Big Alllll’ and called for one more song.

Not one to disappoint, the band delivered their encore to the audience with ‘Let the Good Times Roll.’ Each MOB member took a turn at the verse, as the band came together on the chorus...’Hey everybody, tell everybody The MOB is back in town.’ Yeah, that’s clear.

Odds are better than even that the folks of Sioux Falls will invite this band back. For all of the band members, they’ve moved on with their lives, beautifully, since dissolving their musical entity. As South Dakota music historian Alan Schrank said (and the slogan permanently on the T-shirts prepared for the evening, ‘The Party’s not quite over.’ The best way to truly appreciate the power of this band is to order the DVD for your own collection.

The only aspect of excellence lacking from this performance is that Gary Beisbier was not in attendance for the honors ceremony and performance. Beisbier was, and remains, a talented songwriter, arranger and sax player, even if press coverage is sometimes lacking and his name is misspelled (even on the record labels). But when you move on to careers that don’t involve music, life and schedules are not always that flexible, and choices are made. There is no question that Beisbier’s songwriting skills and his understated but dynamic saxophone talent remain as much a part of the reunion weekend in both song and love of the craft. Many people have remarked how they ‘missed seeing Gary.’

Dennis Holvay remembers that Beisbier ‘could play two saxophones at one time while Jimmy Ford was triple-tonguing the trumpet.’ With Herrera’s voice and the wicked dance steps of all the guys, added to Holvay’s gymnastic splits of the late 60s and 70s, it’s really the stuff of legend until you see it for yourself.

But, you have to be patient and work hard to find it. It’s out there, thanks to Joseph Pytel, Chicago music historian and Joe Accardi (Beloit Pop House fame). These two men are the core talent to assure that fans will not forget the best music of The MOB back in the day. Pytel has created over 33 videos on YouTube directly featuring The MOB and its members, including the Herrera Brothers (Little Artie and the Pharaohs, Kane and Abel), Holvay, Beisbier, et al. For 30 years, Accardi’s book, “Beloit’s Club Pop House” had the only photo of The MOB in print. But it was that photo that connected Ana Lord to Accardi’s web site, where Joe Pytel also posted, as had Dennis Holvay (Jim’s brother), looking for video footage from days gone by.

Because The MOB has been essentially inactive as a performing band, one has only Internet resources to refer to if you’re looking to know more about who was really influential in creating the band. Beisbier, and Holvay for that matter, are known for their work with The MOB but they are better known as the songwriting duo behind ‘Hey Baby, They’re Playing Our Song,’ ‘Susan,’ and ‘Don’t You Care,’ the first two songs also credited with Jim Guercio as co-writer.

Holvay, of course, wrote ‘Kind of a Drag.’ Carl Giammarese and Nick Fortuna credit and identify Holvay’s and Beisbier’s songwriting talents in concerts as they introduce their songs to audiences around the country. Poignantly, few people know the songwriting duo for The MOB but they certainly do for the music of The Buckinghams.Funny how life turns out.

The MOB’s songs, written by Holvay and Beisbier, were so strong in their arrangements that they literally demanded to be ‘seen’ in addition to being ‘heard,’ much the way of the big bands traveling college campuses in the 40s, and show bands traveling in the 50s and early 60s. Commercial radio in the 60s may have not been ready to appreciate the true shining light that was, and is, The MOB, to the extent of having someone run to the record store to get their latest release.

Instead, The MOB really was a performing phenomenon that people ran to the box office to get tickets before shows sold out. Thanks to the South Dakota Rock & Roll Music Association, wait no longer. Two thousand people jammed into the Ramkota Exhibit Hall on April 16th 2011, and multiple video cameras captured the memories that those men had waited some 30 years to ever dream of, and realize coming true.

In addition to The MOB, other The SDRR Music Association inducted 7 other outstanding bands with rich heritages, strong fan bases, and local popularity. These bands include: The Torres, The X-Men, The Pilgrims, Don Robar & the Monarchs, Chateaux/Shattoes, DD & the Fayrohs, Steve Ellis & the Starfires as well. A full four-disk set of DVDs of the full induction evening can be ordered together, or individually at their online store:

Programs, t-shirts, and other memorabilia are also available. You’ll be surprised, and pleased, by how reasonable the prices are and how fast the orders are filled when these volunteers act! All proceeds sustain the operations of the association in recognizing and keeping great music alive for future generations to know and understand how important these artists were to South Dakota.

The Board of Directors of the South Dakota Rock and Roll Music Association includes Chair, Don Fritz, Treasurer, Terry Tausz, Doug Lund, Myron Lee, John Mogen, Mark Aspaas, and Rick Knobe. Hats off to the board, for their recognition of one of Chicago’s best and brightest groups, men who have matured today into even greater musicians today than they were back in the day.

In life, with experience comes wisdom, and an implied understanding of how life on the road can be costly, yet precious. Simultaneously, those were days they wouldn’t trade for the world. They were truly a band of brothers, and when the call came out from South Dakota’s Rock and Roll Music Association, you can hear them all saying it. You know you can. ‘Hey, we’re getting the band back together!’

Whatever happens in the future, from 1966–1980, a love of music and for one another as brothers kept them together. Faith brought them back together and faith led them into prayers of thanks and prayers for one another during the weekend, which spilled over into worship services the next day where Willie Bertsch had invited Albert Maligmat and Big Al Herrera to sing at his church (about 5 hours after the induction ceremony ended). Hope brings them discussions of ‘what next’ could be around the corner for them to return to South Dakota one day down the road. The Bible chapter of 1 Corinthians 13:13 says, ‘Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.’ South Dakota loves The MOB and clearly, The MOB loves South Dakota.

The 4th class of the Sioux Falls Hall of Fame has been announced. The induction ceremony will again be at the Ramkota Exhibit Hall, April 21, 2012. The bands to be inducted include: The Bleach Boys (Sioux Falls); Jay-Bee and the Kats (Mitchell-Huron), Gordon Bird and the Sting Rays/Original Stingrays (Madison); Gemini 6 (Flandreau); Kenny Miller (Deadwood); Chevelles (Aberdeen); Scotty Lee and the Stingrays (Volga); DJ and the Cats (Presho-Brookings); John McCormick and Something New (Salem); DJ and the Ruanways (Spirit Lake); and, the Gestures (Mankato).

Thanks to the SDRRHF Board of Directors, many of whom shared their time and background for the interviews in this series, their first-rate organizational skills (Terry Tausz) and the heartfelt passion for the best music of the 1960s (Don Fritz), as well as their musical talents on stage (John Mogen) when asked to step up and stand in place of a beloved keyboardist and MOBster.

Call (605) 362-1223 or visit www.southdakotarockandrollmusicassociation.com to order last year’s DVD or for more information tickets to this year’s induction ceremony. The journey that began because Ana M. Lord was on a mission to revive the music that resonated within her heart from childhood may have taken four years to come to fruition, but along the way, she met and made many wonderful new friends who will last a lifetime: Alan Schrank, Joe Accardi, Joseph Pytel, and of course, Mike Sistak. As Alan Schrank so poignantly summed up the entire experience: ‘The party’s not quite over.’ Truer words were never spoken.

The MOB—From Chicago, IL to Sioux Falls, SD in 30 years or less: Andantino di canzona

Fourth in a series of “How The MOB (one of Chicago’s first horn bands) landed in the South Dakota Rock & Roll Hall of Fame” in April 2011.

Andantino in moda di canzona

“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,” or so goes the spoken demand in “The Wizard of Oz”. Remember that? To be sure, Chicagoland is no ‘land of Oz,’ but the music scene is a seemingly close community. Many will stand at various gates, but they’re ready to welcome you inside, not keep you out. But where exactly is Command Central located?

One person who knows the answer is music researcher/historian Joseph Pytel. Pytel, or “Joe” to his friends, is today known in Chicagoland music circles.

He casts an even wider net, thanks to social media, for his ability to uncover and discover facts, figures, trivia and tidbits on Chicagoland musicians. His work is so substantial and his ‘finds’ so great, many are in awe of his research skills. People never know where, how, or when he has time to find these things. How does he do it?

Credit can be shared with the one and only, Carl Bonafede. Yes, The Screaming Wildman of 60s radio and ballroom dance fame. THE Carl Bonafede, one and the same.

Bonafede is ever the impresario, enterprenuer and a man who hasn’t seemed to age a day in 45 years. He is now revealed as one who definitely deserves some of the credit for bringing honor, long-overdue and most well-deserved, to The MOB.

After spotting on Facebook that Ana Lord and Alan Schrank had been in communication with Joe Accardi, Joe Pytel consulted with his friend and musical history mentor, Bonafede. Pytel had joined in the search for MOB members and knew that Bonafede had known Jim Holvay, since having approached him for songs for some groups he was managing in 1965.

Pytel was serving in the Navy in the 1960s and 1970s, when The MOB was “back on the road again” touring the United States and Canada, so he never saw them perform live. He was familiar with their music because Pytel and Bonafede had discussed every nuance of Bonafede’s career several years ago as Bonafede was preparing his autobiography.

Because Bonafede was in on the Chicago rock music scene from the very start, he’d known Jim Holvay was touring in one of the two Dick Clark Caravan of Stars bands that Jimmy Ford was responsible for putting together. Holvay had about 10 songs already recorded by other artists, so in the early days of The MOB, Holvay and his associates were already on the road. Bonafede traveled to meet up with Holvay and asked him if he had any songs he had for his new band. Holvay said he did.

Bonafede met up with Holvay one day while The MOB was on the road. Bonafede had brought a reel-to-reel tape recorder with him. And, with a guitar that Holvay had bought for $10 in Tijuana, he sang and played a song for Bonafede to consider. Songwriting partner and fellow MOB member Gary Beisbier supplied the voicings on the ‘answer’ part to that song. It did well for Bonafede’s group.

Bonafede joined forces with Holiday Ballroom owner and bandleader Dan Belloc, who’d already written a major hit, “Pretend,” made famous by Nat King Cole. The duo co-produced the record with engineer Ron Malo adding his own signature touches. The single wound up being played at a faster tempo than Holvay had written, but as it turned out, the public liked it. It became Bonafede’s (and Belloc’s) first and only number one hit: “Kind of a Drag.” More on Holvay/Beisbier compositions can be found on Carl Giammarese’s web site.

Bonafede’s “finds” and promotional/management skills also included young, up and coming DJs who played the dances where Bonafede would book them, places like the Holiday Ballroom.

Then as an agent with Willard Alexander and the CASK Agency, Bonafede booked performers including Mickey, Larry and the Exciters (featuring Mickey Esposito and Larry Alltop), and Ral Donner. He also produced music, over 255 records, for artists and groups including: the Rail City 5, Lincoln Park Zoo, Thee Prophets, The Delights, and more.

When Joe Pytel approached Carl Bonafede to ask him what he knew about The MOB and tell him how there were some people looking for members, but to no avail, Bonafede had an idea. He filled Joe in on how the band came to be formed, and turns out Bonafede had pictures (from the old days as a booking agent), and instructed Joe to “put the whole kitchen sink up on the wall, and see what comes back."

Bonafede may not have known how to use the Internet or personal computers, he had Joe (and later other talented social media friends) to help with that. What Bonafede had was an undertanding of how to get the word out and the power of promotion of a good cause, at which he was most accomplished as a behind-the-scenes kingmaker. At Bonafede’s suggestion, Pytel started creating YouTube videos of The MOB, to get more people talking on the Net.

Pytel purchased The MOB’s music from eBay, and in beloved vintage record stores, including Chicago favorite, Beverly Records. Joe initially used photos that Bonafede had given him of The MOB in the early days. Later, Joe connected with Alan Schrank, and even more video creations ensued.

Fortuitiously, it was not long afterwards that people started talking more about The MOB. That ultimately led to Ana Lord getting an e-mail from someone who suggested where she could find Al Herrera. No, there’s not an exact dotted line between the two events, but the buzz, the furor, the air of excitement about The MOB, and “finding those guys again” was ably assisted by the resources and wisdom of Carl Bonafede and his mentoree, Joe Pytel.

“How do you find all this stuff?” is a question that has been posed to Joe about 20 times in the last few weeks. Pytel’s researching skills are versatile. A devoted Chicago Blackhawks fan, Pytel can just as easily talk hockey stats as the classic rock music that he embraces. If he likes it, he learns everything he can about it.

Pytel honed some of his graphic skills working at his job for a printing specialty firm, plus his sons taught him a few tricks they knew. He’s a natural at figuring things out. His wife, Thaiz, is always an enthusiastic supporter of whatever it is Joe is researching at the time, so it’s a family affair, this passion for Chicago music.

His e-mail sign-offs can vary from “Chicago Joe” to Joseph, to JayJay331, his YouTube user handle found on more than 100 uploaded ‘finds’ of music where he’s created video montages set to favorite songs from the 60s forward.

For examples of Joe’s work in behalf of making the music of The Mob (and a substantial number of compositions penned by James Holvay and Gary Beisbier) rise to the forefront, visit this link, which is his personal YouTube channel.There you are going to find a lot of gems.

Everything that goes around comes around, and there are times when everything old is new again. To seven men, founding members of The MOB plus two more recent MOBsters, the renewed enthusiasm and excitement for their music can be traced back to several researchers, including Ana M. Lord, Joe Accardi, Mike Baker, Alan Schrank, and a few more who remain for someone to discover. But, add to that group the names Bonafede and Pytel. They’re two more of the heroes of Chicagoland Rock and Roll, on the road to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Joseph also has a great sense of humor:

The MOB—From Chicago, IL to Sioux Falls, SD in 30 years or less: Andante

Third in a series of “How The MOB (one of Chicago’s first horn bands) landed in the South Dakota Rock & Roll Hall of Fame” in April 2011.

Andante to allegro

Know this: Ana M. Lord is a one-woman dynamo. A powder keg of excitement, quick mind, strong organizational skills, a sixth sense for timing, true determination. That’s Ana Lord to anyone who has met her, even one time.

Who she is to The MOB, a beloved 1960s R&B/soul/rock horn band, may be best described as the unseen hand of a guardian angel. For over 30 years, her presence escaped the knowledge of seven men from Chicago, who would one day come to know of her gifts and talents in their behalf.

Some 10 months ago, October, 2010, to be precise, James Holvay opened a letter he’d received from Don Fritz, President of the South Dakota Rock & Roll Music Association, informing him that The MOB had been selected to be inducted in their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. A formal ceremony was slated for April, 2011 at the Ramkota Exhibit Hall in Sioux Falls, SD. The Association wanted the band to attend, and perform in a grand finale concert.

Cue theme music: “Gotta get back, back on the road, back on the road again”, a song that is perfect accompaniment, featuring Jimmy Ford’s killer trumpet solos.

Ana Lord presently resides in the Bahamas, an advertising sales agent, who began her professional ad career from 1972 to 1987 in San Antonio, Texas with a group called TMC (Total Marketing), which was affiliated with the famous J. Walter Thompson Agency. Maybe it was there that she learned never to take ‘no’ for an answer.

About her first MOB sighting: “I first saw them perform in 1967, they were a fairly new group (having come from three different groups to form this unique conglomerate). It was in Jacksonville, Florida, where she heard this band, and it literally changed her life forever.

Says Lord, “I’d just turned 15 years old, and they were booked in to this club called The Forum. They were there for a two-week engagement at the Forum and as I had a modeling assignment there (they thought she was older), I fell in love with them, saw them every night. Then they left and I didn’t hear about them for 2 years.”

The next time she saw them was in Miami, when they did an engagement at The Marco Polo Club. “It was amazing. I was then in ‘MOB mania’. I saw them a couple of times but then I was busy and that was it. I didn’t see them again,” until one time later in Washington, DC.

“But off and on I kept thinking about them, wondering where they were”, she explained.

In the 1980s, “I was living in San Antonio where I was an advertising sales agent for this large firm, and a client in San Antonio wanted a really big group (like the Mob) for their special event. I remember trying to track them (The MOB) down. At the time I remember I was told that they had gone their separate ways. Some of them were in LA; they were all over the place. The guy I spoke with wasn’t too friendly and didn’t want to give me too much information.”

It was there her search hit a dead end. “I tried to find them and I couldn’t. We had the Internet back then, but there just wasn’t anything really there”. She had moved to the Bahamas from San Antonio for her career, and at a greater distance, you’d think that would have been the end of it. Nope. “Lo and behold, 2005, I was looking at the Internet trying to find them again”. Determined to find whatever she could find about them she finally hit on something that gave her hope. “I came across Joe Accardi’s Beloit Club Pop House (web) site. He had a whole page dedicated to The MOB with a photo, but he had not heard from any of them in a very long time, either.”

Another guy shared with her that “he’d heard through a friend of Jimmy Ford’s whereabouts, that he might possibly be somewhere in California”. Lord and two of her colleagues who had met her in this endeavor got busy. “We started to post...Alan Schrank and Joe Pytel were there, we started to post on Joe Accardi’s site (Club Pop House), asking ‘please, if anyone had any information on the MOB, please post it.’”

For researchers with doubts, forget it. The web retains virtually everything we post. This case is no exception: (http://pophouse.accardiweb.com/?p=16). The picture was posted October 16, 2006, and Accardi had been contacted by Holvay to share the correct ID (and spelling) of the names of his fellow MOBsters. Also on the page are Ana’s posts (see her there as ‘Twiggy’).

That would be the only single valid source for “who are these guys” to be found on the Web for several years. That’s an overwhelming realization when you look at the Internet today...The MOB, The MOB, The MOB everywhere. Well, actually that’s just been in the past two years. And longtime MOB fans have Lord, Schrank, Pytel, and Accardi to thank. Accardi took his collective memories of the best days of music there and published “Beloit’s Club Pop House (Images of America: Wisconsin). It’s available on Amazon.

When I’d noted to Lord, that in my own research 3 years ago, I’d seen her post on Mike Baker’s page as well, she said, “Yes, I posted there”, she laughs, “correct”. “We posted everywhere; it became an obsession with me trying to find the guys.” Dogged pursuit of a relentless researcher; got the visual?

Baker’s site is an excellent source of info for MOB aficionados, complete with some old press photos and some helpful timelines for who came into the band when and stayed for how long. It will be noted later, but it’s poignant to note that “Little Artie” Herrera was an original founding member of The MOB, with a powerful voice and great performing style. Yet, service to his country came first, and he left the band early, drafted to serve during the Vietnam war. The good news is he made it home, and the better news is that he made it to South Dakota. More on that later.

Lord continues, “In 2006 we were still posting, ‘where are the guys?’ We had some hopeful contacts”, but none of their leads turned out. One red herring was that Al Herrera was in San Diego with a car dealership, but when Ana checked that out, that went nowhere. It almost looked like the end of the line. “We couldn’t find them”, she stated.

In 2007 the 20th post on Accardi’s site read:

“Ana... Says:

November 29th, 2007 at 7:42 pm I have asked this before but got no reply. Does anyone know where any of the members of the Mob are today and how to get in touch with them? It would be so great if we could organize a MOB reunion. I would willingly contribute whatever it takes to make it happen.”

Then in early 2010, Lord received a post from a gentleman in Austin, Texas. “Ana, I know that you are looking for the MOB”, and he suggested a web site where to look. She continues, ”I went in there (to the site), and saw a post that referred to Al Herrera. It read, ‘Al is doing well, he’s in Chicago and he might be on Facebook’ and that was all it took.”

Immediately, Lord picked up the phone and called Alan Schrank, sharing, “I believe I found the first good lead”. Alan was on his way home and Lord recalled, “I think he almost had a heart attack” with that news. “By the time Alan got home, I had already gone on Facebook and started looking for Al”. Keep in mind it had been 40 years since she’d seen Herrera’s face and a fast Internet search notes there are 443 people named Al Herrera on one search site. Yes, it was going to be a long night for Lord.

“Facebook had a whole bunch of Herrera’s—I went through every one of them,” looking for the man belovedly known as Big Al. It took forever, but then she spotted it, a 1960s photo of a man sitting on a couch. “I clicked on it and lo and behold, it was Al Herrera.” “Oh my God,” she exclaimed.

“In the meantime, I’d already put feelers out to find Mike (Sistak). And next, I get this e-mail saying Mike Sistak is somewhere in Oregon”. I called Alan back and said, “Alan, I’ve found the guys; let’s go and start creating commotion on FB (Facebook).” Understatement of the year, 2010, grand prize winner.

Lord said, “I contacted Al Herrera. He was shocked, simply shocked to hear from me”, and then Alan Schrank came on board with gusto.

Ana explains, “You know, Alan who is a person who has loved The MOB even more than I do, and that is almost impossible. This man had every old photo, every cassette you could imagine, then he had tapes, every song that he could have found somewhere, anywhere. I have no idea where he found some of the songs, and he had a huge collection.” Lou Rawls once told Holvay that “in order to have a hit record you have to have all the stars in the sky line up in just the right way.” Something like that was going on for Messers Holvay, Sistak, Ford, Herrera, Herrera, Beisbier and, ultimately, Maligmat and McCabe.

Schrank said, “Ana, I am going to do a MOB (Facebook) site.” She replied, “Go for it,” and they were off. Lord said, “Then we learned that, wait a minute, South Dakota is having a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. Let’s start a campaign to get the MOB in there.”

From there on it was smooth sailing. “After we found out (about the award process), Mike (Sistak) came on board. From there we learned where Bobby (Ruffino) was, tracked him down, then we learned where Jimmy Soul was, tracked him down, then we learned where Jimmy Ford was, and, of course, tracked him down”. So, the order of discovery was Al Herrera, Mike Sistak, Bobby Ruffino, James Holvay, and Jimmy Ford. Reminds you of the classic movie, “With Six You Get Egg Roll”. Well, in fact, a new movie that could be written, “With Seven (plus Lord, Schrank and Pytel), you get to South Dakota.”

“You can imagine our joy, and if you go back to FB you can see our early posts from 2010. Photos were being put on there from everywhere. Songs were being plastered all over YouTube (thanks to Joe Pytel, see Part V of this series). Between Joe (Pytel) and Al (Schrank), it was amazing the things they did on YouTube”, Lord says.

“Next, we started in on Facebook. We were saying, ‘Okay we’ve got to get the guys back together again. We’ve got to get the guys inducted’. And we put out messages: “MOB Fans: this is what you need to do, you need to call Don Fritz (SD R&R Music Association President) and Terry Tausz (Treasurer), and let’s start a campaign to have them included for the induction for their 2011 group.”

You can then imagine the process wherein she and her well-organized team began an intelligent campaign of letters supporting the nomination packet, noting facts, figures, and relevant information. There’d be exhibits, photographs, press clippings. Clearly, the SD R&R Music Association had likely never seen anything like that before.

The most incredible reality is that none of the MOB members were doing any of this, to try to seek any honor for themselves. They were likely as overwhelmed by their newfound appreciative audience as one could envision. A few band members scrambled to find some pictures, but the music came from Joseph Pytel sitting on the computer and purchasing CDs, mp3s, and he was a four-star eBay watcher. It was truly a 100% fan-driven effort, which makes it all the more priceless.

When asked if she’d ever been to the famed Mocamba Club in South Dakota, where The MOB had set attendance records in their heyday of the 70s, Lord replied “No”, but that she’d heard stories about it, how wonderful the club was. She did, however, refer to an audio CD of a live show recorded in 1969 at South Dakota’s Mocamba Club that “Jimmy Soul” (Holvay) had sent her as a gift.

The last time Lord had heard the band was in Washington DC, in the 1970s. She didn’t ever live in South Dakota. She’d never been to the state to know of their significant place in musical history for live music and particularly dynamic show bands. Boggles the mind.

Have you ever imagined an advocate for a cause dear to your heart more passionate, more determined, more devoted? Likely the answer is ‘no’. So anyway, that’s how it all came about. Lord says of what happened next, “From that point forward, it became mayhem, because we were all so excited”. It’s additionally poignant that two of the MOBsters, the dynamic writing duo of James Holvay and Gary Beisbier would compose a song that would never see the light of day (released to the public) at the time, and yet, today, it almost seems custom-written for Ms. Lord. The song? “All I Need”:

“...I’ve been lonely so long; I thought I’d never see the light.

Until you came along, I was always so uptight.

You opened my mind, set it free; it’s meant a lot.

Won’t you to listen to me?”

All I need is someone to love me like you, girl”. © Holvay/Beisbier (see related video)

The song was previously unreleased and stored away in a vault for years. But it did make it onto a special CD, “The MOB: The Heritage Sessions” (released 1995, Sequel Records). Naturally, Joseph Pytel found this track, and created another of his signature custom videos. Great music stands the test of time, no matter how long it has remained undiscovered.

The excitement in her voice some two years later still contains the inherent joy in Lord’s discovering something that had been a goal of hers for over 20 years. The subject of her search had been imprinted on her spirit ever since she was a young model. You never forget who, and what, is important to you during the development and maturity processes of your life.

And often, those who are inspirations of and to the hearts of music fans are entirely oblivious of the impact their work product, their talents, and their gifts to audiences can truly have.

Make no mistake. Lord is not a fan/groupie/fanatic/zealot to be dismissed or dumped into a category that is anything other than exemplary, stellar, and accomplished. It’s easy for perjorative thoughts to arise, particularly for female fans of music bands. Ana Lord is a lady, a gentlewoman, an educated person who simply refused to give up on a dream she believed in. Fortunately for the young men from Chicago, her faith in them, and her resolution that they were deserving of being lifted up and honored was far stronger than even their own self-image could possibly contain, and it remained thus for over 30 years.

Let’s be frank. Musicians have egos, if not pride. And thank goodness for that. If musicians don’t believe in themselves, you wouldn’t want to buy a ticket to hear a group of people standing there with instruments going, “uh...we’re not very good; you really don’t want to hear us, do you?” That said, musicians are often the most vulnerable and hardest on themselves when the applause dies down and the fans go away. If they have a life outside the music, they’re fortunate. Jim Holvay, today a successful Los Angeles-based business executive, has been known to say, “in life, wouldn’t it be great if everyone worked in an office where your boss came in at the end of the day and had everyone give you a standing ovation?” Imagine how people would feel about their jobs.

Ana Lord did just that, through her intelligence, her dedication, determination, and her indefatigable spirit, and the love of pursuing a mystery. Among other things, Ms. Lord is a modern-day Nancy Drew. It’s easy to see her in mind’s eye, driving the pathway in her sporty roadster, on a conference call with Alan Schrank, Joseph Pytel, and Mike Sistak about “wouldn’t it be great--if?”

The only sad note in this musical montage is that Ms. Lord was in the Bahamas on business the night of the induction ceremony and could not attend the very event that she had such an integral role in creating. If you’re wondering, she is safe from Hurricane Irene, and you can be sure that if The MOB is ever given another honor, or chance to perform for an audience, the band will have reserved front row, center, for Ms. Lord and her chosen guests. You can count on it. The story continues on the road to South Dakota.

Next...The Screaming Wildman, and his friend Joseph Pytel, work behind the scenes as, one more time, impresario Carl Bonafede helps make magic happen. That’s Part IV of “The MOB—From Chicago to Sioux Falls, SD in 30 years or less.” And remember the words of Alan Schrank, “The party’s not quite over.”

The MOB--From Chicago to Sioux Falls, SD in 35 years or less: Prelude

The following is the first in a series of “How The MOB (Chicago’s first horn band) landed in the South Dakota Rock & Roll Hall of Fame” in April 2011, and how one woman’s spark of ingenuity brought four strangers together in a single goal. Their mission? To give the gift of remembrance to 7 men who likely thought they’d long been forgotten, overlooked, disregarded and worse yet, cemented into obscurity.

Lord, Bonafede, Pytel, and Shrank—Ever heard of them? Probably not. No, they’re not a Michigan Avenue law firm, but they’re a powerhouse group nonetheless. They are behind-the-scenes movers and shakers who made their acquaintances two years ago, via Facebook, not in person, and managed to make some pretty exciting things happen for musicians who had not been together, much less seen each other, in 35 long years.

No, there was no acrimony that had broken up one of Chicago’s first-ever horn bands better known as “The MOB”. It was just that the music business had moved along without them, despite multiple attempts to harness the attention and support of national labels. As a fall-out to lack of results measured in vinyl sales, the young men, some newly married, had to face their futures square on. They could either remain traveling troubadours living in the world of “the band”, while playing at having a real life, or they could get off the road, find ‘real’ day jobs, and delight their families by settling down, once and for all, and getting perfectly serious about their futures.

‘Real’ life wasn’t such a bad alternative, but a choice was necessary—one or the other. You really can’t keep one foot in one world, and one in the other. When you’re on the road 250-300 nights a year, your home life can easily implode, as some members of the band known as The MOB would come to realize. The final trumpet sound was heard on New Year’s Eve, 1980, at the Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. And with that sound, ended an era for a beloved band of Chicago natives, formed in 1966.

The group that had been the amalgam of three professional band entities had sought fame and fortune and toured as faithful road warriors for 14 years, many sacrificing personal lives to do so, and amassed a large fan base who, seemingly, forgot all about them after the music ended. Or so they thought.

Not the case. Memories of The MOB, their music, their songs, their countless 45s demos and singles, some LP albums, continuous club-booking and attendance records, in fact did not die, not completely. It’s possibly still unknown, by even some of the band members, how the 35-year musical drought ended and how their ‘old’ life came back to life one more time and culminated in one unforgettable night in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Those responsible ‘movers and the shakers’ are not names known throughout the music business, not really. But it’s often those outside the key lights who make big things happen. Their secret? Passion. Because they are passionate about their subject, these ‘kingmakers’ invested hours of hard work, for days, weeks, months, and even years, overlooking obstacles and frustration, to reach their goal. It’s a story worth sharing.

How ‘this’ version of The MOB came to find itself in Sioux Falls, South Dakota the third week in April, 2011 is also a poignant tale. Four separate independent variables intersected to revive the enthusiasm and the memories, for a groundbreaking reunion attended by over 2,000 people. And the kicker is that only one of the four kingmakers actually got to attend the awards evening they’d made possible. The best news is that the one who ‘did’ make it is a first-class photographer and graphic artist, so the pictures made up for the others missing the show. And there’s a DVD to talk about as well.

This, then, is the series on a superb Chicago horn band that waited politely for some 35 years to be heralded formally by a group of appreciative music afficionados, not in their own home town of Chicago, but in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The next story introduces The MOB, its members, and helps clear up some of the present-day confusion of “Who really is a (real) MOB member?” or “Who can truly call themselves a music MOBster?” To quote Alan Schrank, “The party’s not quite over”. Check out Part II of The MOB--From Chicago to Sioux Falls, SD in 35 years or less“.