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.

Musician Marc Balzac surprises The MOB with lost tapes from The Attic

“Good evening and welcome to The Attic. We’re The MOB!” And with those words, the audio recording posted two nights ago by Marc Balzac, a Michigan native and music lover, went live, providing yet the latest in a series of surprises for members of the The MOB, Chicago natives, who’d likely thought they were permanently relegated to backup storage in long-forgotten memories among those who’d heard and seen them.

What Balzac said today, something he didn’t realize initially, was that there’s a group of devoted music lovers, 379 strong on Facebook, who not only keep the music of The MOB alive, they found the video before the band did. It should be noted that the Facebook group and page’s founder, Alan Schrank, had seen the band at least 30 times in the South Dakota area or within a few hours’ driving distance back in the day.[Editor's note, as of Jan. 8, 2017, The MOB Facebook Discussion Group (a public group) page has 740 members today. Visit and join the discussion here].

Schrank and marketing executive Ana Lord began a journey in search of The MOB, having first connected on Joe Accardi’s Club Pop House blog six (long) years ago. Prior stories describe the path to South Dakota, and the induction of The MOB into the South Dakota Music Association’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last April. Marc Balzac was one of those, too, who had been trying to locate Al Herrera, to share the tapes of his dynamic MOB vocals recorded at The Attic with Herrera. Balzac had been searching for Herrera for more than a decade, even checking out the now-famous “Al owns a car dealership in San Diego” myth all over the city, but to no avail. Balzac hadn’t heard of the unofficial detective team of Pytel, Schrank, Lord, and Accardi” just yet.

The Attic was a favorite Milwaukee club for young adults in the late 1960s. It was located at 2nd and Wisconsin, and Balzac had audio gold, tapes of two live shows by this beloved, but almost forgotten, band, presently in the throes of being rediscovered all over again, or so it is hoped by a core group of fans who maintain close contact on Facebook.

The Forgotten Tapes of The MOB, live at The Attic, Milwaukee, 1969 are shared in now four YouTube postings:

The MOB Live #1, opens with “Good evening and welcome to the Attic. We are the MOB,” and just let it play and set your time machine to 1969. It will all come back to you.

The MOB Live #2, begins after a set break, with Bobby Ruffino on the drums and Tony Nedza on the piano, noodling into a sizzling horn and rhythm intro to “We’re Gonna Have a Party” and “Give it to Me.”

The MOB Live #3, begins with “Open the Door to Your Heart,” a signature Al Herrera tune that has the best horn sound, even 43 years later.

The MOB Live #4, begins with Al Herrera singing his soulful, powerful best (“Our Love’s Got to Go Somewhere,” “What Does it Take?” plus “The Worst That Could Happen,” and Jimmy Soul’s own “Turn on Your Love Light” where you should wait for Bobby Ruffino’s drums to start smoking and Jimmy Ford’s triple-tongued trumpet).

Well, 41 minutes later, and some of the best horn-blowing you’ll ever hear, you’ve just had the genuine pleasure of enjoying a MOB set. In your mind, you’ve dance, stomped your feet, swayed, snapped your fingers, clapped and wondered where the time went, 43 years later.

Seems like yesterday, especially to Marc Balzac, whose wisdom at the time to record it and generosity to share it, today, really means something extra special to the band members. Most of those band members still can’t believe that one year ago, they reunited in Sioux Falls, SD, for one special night after being out of regular contact with each other for almost 30 years.

The posters advertising the show notes several facts of historical relevance to 60s music. Aside from the fact that the word “Girls” is printed on the poster six times, just in case the young teenage guys wondered if they’d meet any there, featured in the advertising is that The MOB was arriving “direct from Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas,” then as now a major entertainment showcase for musical talent who’d really “made it” back then. You didn’t play Caesar’s unless you were top drawer, back in the day.

The next noteworthy item included is that the group to follow The MOB was “The Big Thing.” Chicago music lovers know immediately that the band Chicago, of course, went through three name transitions before becoming the multiplatinum hitmakers. During their formative years, playing in clubs around Chicago, the group of guys, many of whom were fellow college students at DePaul University, were called “The Big Thing” and (for a time) managed by Joe DeFrancesco, the same man who would take a turn at managing The MOB and co-producing many of their early single releases.

Then, in walks music producer Jim Guercio, the same ‘kid’ who’d traveled on the same bus tour known as “Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars Bus #2,” and takes over management of The Big Thing, renaming them “Chicago Transit Authority.” After some time and some kerfuffle, their name was shortened to simply “Chicago.” That was the “coming next” group after The MOB appeared at The Attic.

Are you hearing the music in your mind yet? The MOB had every positive thing working for them at the time. They were a performance show band to beat all show bands. But the recordings released were studio cuts and albeit “really good work,” they paled in comparison to the energy of the live show that audiences would, like Alan Shrank, go 30 times to see in person.

If that’s not enough to exemplify the caliber of the show band that once was “all that,” the next photo in the slide show notes that The MOB was then appearing, having come from Las Vegas and the famous Los Angeles club, P.J.’s, where The MOB would play three weeks at a time several times a year. Even more parenthetically, at least one of the band members would meet his future spouse at P.J.’s. Ultimately at least two band members would wind up finding inspiration to write a song that would ultimately land on Billboard’s charts. But that’s another story for another time.

By October 14, 1969, The MOB had gained an opening act, “The Mad Lads,” and the next week, appearing at The Attic would be none other than Count Basie. There was some kind of slamming music happening every week at The Attic in the middle of Milwaukee’s high life. The MOB was indeed living large and in charge at the time. Marc Balzac now lives in California, but during early days in Milwaukee, he had a fascinating career. Some of his activities include air traffic controller, and balloon pilot, which caused quite a stir more than a few times!

For those who’ve had the privilege of hearing it, there’s some funny live coverage of Marc’s piloting of a 60,000 cubic foot, hot air balloon, about seven stories high, which was sent by the Menomenee Falls’ TV6 on its “Roving Cameraman” coverage. The televised spot won a national gold medal for TV promotion. Balzac skillfully navigated that “hot air” team to victory. The news team was said to “go to any heights for a story” and mused that most people would “look up” to TV 6 news. Ultimately Balzac became an air traffic controller and spun airplanes instead of drum sticks, tape reels, or records, but one of his hobbies always remained finding the best music around, and taping it on his trusty Sony tape recorder (see photo inset).

Balzac has loved music ever since second grade. Like Alan Schrank, Balzac is a drummer who’s been playing since he was seven years old. Marc said, “my first ‘public’ band gig I played for was at a party in a garage in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, which I recorded. I was 14 years old. It is the first and oldest recording I have.” It was also the same year that Balzac had his first night club band engagement.

“Playing in bands gave me a lot of extra cash when I was young, to do the things I wanted to do, and it’s the kind of work that permitted me to more or less choose my own hours,” he said. Some of those bands he played in included Bittersweet, The In Crowd and Civil Collision. Civil Collision was managed by Walter Daisy, who also managed Wayne Cochran and the CC Riders. Daisy offered the nine-piece band led by Luther Kent, a chance to go on the road.

And, not unlike the point at which The MOB band members had to make a decision to carry on with their music, or disband and find “day jobs,” Balzac found himself at that same crossroad. Balzac took to the skies and “got his commercial pilot’s license with instrument rating in 1970 and started the Balloon Flight Center, doing balloon promotions and flight instruction. Balzac said, “Luther Kent stayed on the road, and ultimately went on to sing with Blood, Sweat and Tears” for three years in the mid 1970s.

In 1974, Balzac found his skills a perfect fit for a career job with the FAA as an air traffic controller. He went to work in Green Bay, Wisconsin and then relocated to San Diego, California, in 1982. “I worked the control tower in the high desert next to Edwards AFB at Air Force Plant 42, and ultimately I retired after working at the Palm Springs Airport.”

Aviation fans know exactly what Air Force Plant 42 was all about; for those who don’t, two words: Lockheed Skunkworks.

Fast forward to 2012, two weeks ago. Balzac sent private links of the YouTube videos to “Big Al” Herrera, lead singer of The MOB and waited for his reaction. Balzac said that Herrera was most gracious in his response, noting that “they brought back a lot of memories” and that “he had no idea those tapes existed.” Once again, leave it to the true-blue MOB music fans to be in the know first before the band!

Joseph Pytel, who creates and produces custom MOB YouTube videos with his never-ending supply of Internet “finds” and a good number of Alan Schrank custom pictures, discovered Balzac’s first YouTube the day it was posted, six weeks ago, and shared it with the Facebook discussion group.

The group “regulars” were in heaven once again, with an infusion of new memories of the best music they’d heard in 1969. Ana Lord has been working fervently to find the band an opportunity to play in the Bahamas, and given her persuasive skills and dynamo spirit, they’d best be packing and getting their passports in order, because it’s just a matter of time before they have a new gig for the 21st century.

The music that becomes important today is often the music of youth. Now labeled “classic rock,” the music of The MOB at The Attic brings the joy of a band in 1969 to delight audiences yet again today. Music writer Artie Wayne’s favorite handle is “Everything old is news again.”

And so it goes that a Milwaukee music lover and roving reporter with a portable Sony on the table at the club those two great nights, everyone who loved the music of The MOB has one more chance to go back and hear two shows, shows of a lifetime, in fact. Ladies and gentleman, Marc Balzac presents “The MOB, live from The Attic,” and it’s 1969 all over again. Just press “Play.”

Article originally published on examiner.com where it received

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--Reunion weekend in South Dakota

First in a new 3-part series that chronicles the South Dakota Rock & Roll Music Association’s 2011 Induction Ceremony in Sioux Falls

Previously, readers learned how The MOB reunited, after 30 years, to be honored in the South Dakota Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” as the direct efforts of four strangers who came together to reunite the band in April 2011 for the induction ceremony.

Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? How hard could it be to alert seven men, who had been part of a legendary national show band, that they were being sought by, two, later four, then five, aficionados of their music who wanted to see them get an honor that was long overdue? The caveat was that most of those band members hadn’t even seen one another, nor had they all been together, in 30 years.

Until October, 2010, eight men who were surviving members of The MOB were blissfully oblivious to the world of music, simply going about their daily business lives without missing a beat. They had all “moved on,” as it were, with their lives. Three had entered the corporate and nonprofit sectors as businessmen. Two more had entered city services administration for major cities; one was working in an entertainment-related industry and only one was a fulltime performer, though you could safely assume others have had post-MOB music opportunities.

When the board of directors of the South Dakota Rock & Roll Music Association considered The MOB for induction into their Hall of Fame three years ago, no one knew where they were. They did not have an internet presence. Board member Terry Tausz says their name had been discussed from the outset as a group of interest, but “no one knew how to get hold of them.”

After Ana Lord and Alan Schrank had found them, Schrank next communicated with the South Dakota Rock & Roll Music Association by leaving a message on their web site (http://www.southdakotarockandrollmusicassociation.com) message board. In the days that followed, board members were sufficiently impressed and reviewed the nomination package submitted by Schrank and Lord.

Quickly, the board had verified what they already knew, the impact of the music of The MOB and what it had meant to South Dakota natives all these years. It would be learned as well that memories of The MOB had a wonderful, lasting impression on many who had never even lived in South Dakota, but traveled from their homes 30, 50, and 80 miles away, often, to hear them perform there. Even though The MOB members were natives of Chicago, after 10+ years of 3-week stints performing at the famed Mocamba Club, The MOB might as well have been considered as, at least, South Dakota regulars.

But simply receiving and distributing a letter announcing the distinct honor was only part of how they all managed to wind up on stage at the Ramkota Exhibit Hall to a capacity crowd of 2,000+ fans that night. It was far from a done deal, because there were many factors to consider that might have brought about the induction of the band but NOT the full reunion and performance together, their first in 30 years. One South Dakotan whose dedication as a volunteer made a substantial impact on the reunion’s success is William Bertsch.

A musician himself, Willie Bertsch was well acquainted with The MOB, having been a vocalist booked, as part of local favorite band, The Apostles, as the opening group for The MOB many times at the Mocamba Club. Bertsch, a Sioux Falls resident, found himself in a vital role in making the reunion weekend a reality. But to hear him tell it, he was just one of many coming together to support a great cause. There’s more to that story.

Reunion Not a ‘Done Deal’ at First

The MOB’s reunion was not a fait accompli from the beginning—not by a long shot. First, most of the band members had closed the door on their musical pasts, with the exception of “Little Albert,” Albert Maligmat, who still performs in Hawaii as his primary career. Imagine the challenge for music pros, many of whom had not rehearsed or played, other than recreationally, to regain their professional chops again after such a long time away from the stage. It didn’t take long, though. Independently, these music pros went right back to their rudiments and woodshedded for over 4 months to get back on their games, once the decision was made. Because of the geographical distances that prevented in-person meetings, thanks to Jimmy Ford and James Holvay, the band members started reconnecting by phone and e-mail. That had to have been some set of conversations. Songwriting talent and premier saxophone/keyboardist Gary Beisbier was the only one of the surviving members who couldn’t make the date. MOBster Tony Nedza had passed away.

The Mocamba Club had been home to The MOB for years as it had been to The Apostles, something they had in common. Says Bertsch, “In the late 60s, early 70s, at the Mocamba Club, my band, the Apostles, would come on and play a couple of numbers. And, The MOB was the headlining act; that would come on about 10 pm or 11 pm. So, we opened for them on a couple of occasions, but I personally had not actually seen them in 40 years. I was also sure they would not remember me from Adam.”

The Mocamba, a beloved icon of great show bands, was the only place Bertsch ever saw them. “Back in those days, we were playing every weekend also.” Bertsch estimates that he had a chance to see The MOB 12–15 times there during their heyday. Those memories would prove sufficient fuel for Bertsch to get involved as a volunteer to do everything he could to make the reunion week/weekend spring to life and be joyful for the band.

“That was what was so neat about this thing. I knew from the first time that I’d talked to Al (Schrank) that The Mob hadn’t actually been together on stage in 35 years. And I know how tough that is. My band was inducted last year in the SD R&R H of Fame (The Apostles),” Bertsch explains.

It Don’t Come Easy; You Know It Don’t Come Easy

As the song goes, “You got to pay your dues if you want to sing the blues, and you know it don’t come easy.” For this R&B/soul/rock/horn band, to reunite the group was akin to launching a strategic operation.

For many reasons, The MOB had not reunited in 30 years. So, when the call came and they were made aware: “you’re going to be inducted, we’d like to have you come perform in April, 2011” and have it happen? Despite the honor, despite the advance time of six months to prepare, it still was not a fait accompli. Bertsch continued, “Several of the band members had ‘day jobs’ and responsibilities.” They were geographically separated from Hawaii to California to Chicago and parts in between, which didn’t make rehearsing easy.

And, let’s be frank, The MOB in days of old had a lifetime full of celebrations, partying and activities that go along with musical fame and legions of female fans. Several of the members had likely stayed away from the music also because their lifestyles had changed so drastically over the years. When some of them shut the door, they latched it and bolted it tight.

Bertsch explains one example of reluctance. Dynamic vocalist “Big Al” Herrera shared with Bertsch by phone an initial reluctance to jump back into the fray all over again for the reunion. Religion is a personal thing for most people, but when people of faith connect with others who have had similar experiences, eventually the conversation at some point turns to religion. It just does. And so it did with Bertsch and Herrera. When Big Al explained to Willie that one of his reservations, aside from being gone from his job as a city services manager in Elgin, Illinois to be in the music business again for a few days, was that he was not happy with several of his choices back in the day. His life had changed, drastically, for the better, and he was unsure he wanted he wanted to reopen the door.

Bertsch immediately understood, and shared his own faith, how the past decade had brought Bertsch a renewed interest in participating in church activities, especially in a praise band at First Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls. The Sioux Falls church also features an original Aeolian Skinner Organ, that has recently been updated, so that provides a clue about the rich history of tradition and structure inherent in their specific synod within the Lutheran faith.

Bertsch’s bandmate in The Apostles, Sam Hasegawa, had also had a lengthy break from performing when a chance to reunite their band for the 2010 South Dakota Music Association’s Hall of Fame Induction evening the previous year, so Bertsch, himself a lead vocalist, kept talking and Herrera soon found many reasons to consider the reunion weekend a positive opportunity once again. That night of the reunion on stage, Al would give thanks to “my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, for the opportunity,” that he was in the middle of experiencing. It’s appropriate to say that Bertsch’s words were potentially helpful in Herrera’ decision-making process.

The next thing that Bertsch did was offer his and his wife Audrey’s home to some of the band members who had a large number of family members coming to the area for this night-of-nights. As South Dakota Rock and Roll Music Association board president Don Fritz would be able to attest, the evening concert sold out of VIP tables as well as general admission as fast as anything they’d ever seen. And so, too, did the hotel rooms. So, with many of the band members having relatives “coming in from everywhere,” the Bertschs said, “Please come and stay with us,”and some of the MOB family and the Bertsch family became more ‘like family’ in an instant.

Bertsch credits his lovely wife, Audrey, with splendid hospitality and much tolerance for whatever Willie is volunteering her for. He is always sure of her agreement in his endeavors. Bertsch explains, “I was out running errands, picking up some folks around town, helping get people to rehearsal and here at our front door would be people that Audrey would greet who haven’t even met her yet.” Bertsch says it took about 5 minutes for everyone to start hugging and visiting in delight and anticipation of what was going to happen on Saturday night, April 16th.

Band members had planned to arrive on Wednesday, prior to the Saturday night performance. Willie Bertsch was the unofficial behind-the-scenes coordinator who helped facilitate a lot of things. He’d already been at work long before that. Bertsch talked with a good friend, Jay Hardy, who plays drums in the same church praise band where Bertsch plays.

“I said, ‘Jay I need a place for these guys to rehearse. The hotel doesn’t have any place large or quiet enough with privacy to accommodate them.’” Hardy knew who The MOB was and he said, “by all means.” Hardy’s generosity was exceptional. Bertsch explains, “he wouldn’t charge us a nickel; the band could use it anytime they wanted to, which made the show possible, it really did.”

Terry Tausz agrees, “Jay Hardy’s donation of time in his studio really helped” give privacy and recreated the band’s days of professional recording together. You have to remember also that these men, a band of brothers themselves, who hadn’t seen each other in 30 years, needed time to themselves to reconnect just all by themselves. Jimmy Ford shared with Bertsch that the first night, the band would meet alone and visit. Bertsch, as a musician, understood that need.

On Thursday, The MOB held their first run-through of the song set list, sitting around a conference table. Alan Schrank was on hand to take selected photos of the subsequent rehearsal with instruments and vocals in the recording studio. Bertsch and Tausz were there and also spent time (at a respectful distance) watching the magic come alive again during the first rehearsal.

Says Bertsch, “Those guys were so far above the fray 40 years ago with their showmanship, so far above the crowd. They were leaps ahead of us. They had not been together in so many years.”

“It’s a special deal you have to experience, to all be onstage together once again, I knew this was huge for these guys.” So, getting the chance to use Hardy’s recording studio was big, really big.

“It was just as much fun in the practice sessions in the recording studio as it was that night at the concert performance,” Willie explains. The camaraderie was what impressed him most.

It had to have been flashbacks during various notes or a particular song. Photos taken by Schrank capture their spirit and their joy. Bertsch agrees, “You can see so much of the joy—it was such a renewal. When you were around these guys, it was like you had not seen your best friend in 40 years,” he explains. “Just the vibes that were coming out were just incredible, really strong.”

Jimmy Ford explained the night of the induction ceremony that the audience “wasn’t seeing double, that there were 14 people on stage where they might have been expecting 7.” The reason for that, Ford said, was that the band wanted to bring the best possible horn sound the audience would be expecting. How did that happen?

Yes, it was Bertsch who reached out to musician Ken “Boneman” Hoyne, as the two had been longtime friends. Hoyne’s band had backed up Bertsch’s band, The Apostles, when they had been inducted into the Hall of Fame last year. Hoyne, a premier player, was noted for putting horn sections together for shows around South Dakota, so that was a fortuitous happenstance, and he was happy to do that for the evening.

As seen on the DVD of the evening’s performance, it is no small compliment that Jimmy Ford plays to the horn section when he noted the players individually and complimented them on their talents. You have to wonder if these next-generation horn players knew ‘who’ it was paying them a high compliment indeed. Egos were checked at the door, so it’s doubtful that the once-legendary status of Ford, McCabe, and Herrera on horns was even really discussed.

One More Thing – Sharing the Faith

Bertsch has shared that part of his becoming more involved in church again was a reprioritization of his personal and family faith life. He speaks so enthusiastically about the family of faith at First Lutheran Church, led by Pastor Dr. John Christopherson. So, after Bertsch and Herrera had spoken of their faith by phone, the discussion naturally progressed into faith at the open house/barbecue dinner that Willie and Audrey held on Thursday evening at their home. Their home address and phone number probably deserved the rank of “Most Shared” that week, as the phone rang as much as the doorbell, and the party was at The Bertsches! All week.

Audrey shared name tags with all their new guests. After about an hour’s time, those name tags were unnecessary because the vibe in the home was one of family. Bertsch explains there was a special spirit present throughout the home, a reverent spirit, one surely filled with joy. Willie shared that it was one of those nights he’d never forget. Several of the band members had multiple family members present for the special ceremony and that Thursday night, everyone it seems was at the Bertsch home.

We Are Family

By the time the band had their first day’s rehearsal behind them, it was the start to a great reunion week. Plans were set for all inductees to attend a special dinner for all the bands on Friday night before Saturday’s big activities. So, Thursday, it was BBQ with the Bertsches. As Alan Schrank photographed the activities of the days leading up to the reunion night, it’s easy to spot all of new friends becoming extended family, joy in sharing simple times, great memories, and good people knowing that other good people thought the world of what they’d done 30 years earlier.

And because the event was a complete sellout, it’s a good thing community members like the Bertsches offered their homes to some band members’ extended families, because many of the MOB’s band members come from very large families and there are only so many hotel rooms in Sioux Falls—a large community but this deal was bigger than anyone had ever anticipated. The day following the induction ceremony is one of sharing faith.

Sharing the Faith<

The more you know Willie Bertsch, the better you understand that faith is an important part of his life. It was actually one of Albert Maligmat’s sisters, who was in town for the event, who had earlier shared with Bertsch a YouTube link of Albert singing, “I Believe I Can Fly.” The video captured from by Albert’s nephew, Jason, captured a powerful voice, dynamic range, and perfect acoustic guitar accompaniment that silenced a chatty crowd in Hawaii with its elegance. A second example is Albert singing “Amazing Grace” with Eddie Ramirez on trumpet.

Albert’s vocal range on these songs of faith blew Bertsch away, and so he took a chance. Even though Bertsch didn’t know Maligmat well, he made the ask. “I belong to a big church in Sioux Falls, and play in our praise band and the day after the event is Palm Sunday. Could you possibly come to our church and sing those songs for us?” Bertsch asked.

Maligmat didn’t hesitate before accepting. “Absolutely,” he said. I’ll come any time the Lord asks me to sing. I will be there.” And the 5,000+ member congregation has an extensive and talented music ministry team. Everyone was on board with inviting the guests. Also answering the call to sing was Al Herrera, who was equally glad to praise God in song that Sunday morning.

Bertsch especially appreciated Pastor Christopherson’s and the entire music team’s trust in bringing in ‘famous R&B/soul entertainers to sing on Palm Sunday,’ because traditionally Lutheran churches, especially 100-year-old ones, have structure in liturgy and worship music for Palm Sunday set months in advance. Little Albert and Big Al had a glorious impact on the congregation, who is traditionally not given to public displays of approval. “After Albert Maligmat sang ‘I Believe I Can Fly,’ the entire congregation rose to their feet and clapped,” Bertsch revealed. He continued, “I have never, ever seen that before in my lifetime in that church,” he explains.

“He was up in the stratosphere with his vocals,” Bertsch continued. He was equally as effusive about Herrera’s powerful vocals that morning. Just another example of the character of these special visitors that they would be reveling in the recognition of a lifetime, one they’d waited 30 years for but never expected to see. And as their Saturday night celebrations stretched into visiting and sharing until 3 or 4 am on Sunday morning, it didn’t matter. Maligmat and Herrera were happy to be singing in the 11 am Contemporary Praise service on Palm Sunday at Willie’s home church. It speaks volumes.

The MOB—History of Their Reunion in Sioux Falls

To read more of the plans and details leading up to Sioux Falls’s once-in-a-lifetime coup of having The MOB converge and take the stage once again, there’s a link to the site that about how four strangers, fans of the music of The MOB, connected to find the band members, follow this link to the six-part series,”The MOB—From Chicago, IL to Sioux Falls, SD in 30 years or less.” At the end of the first story, readers will find links to the other 5 sequential parts in the series. If you’d like to connect with other fans who like the band as much as you do, visit the Facebook fan page Alan Schrank created two years ago at The Mob’s official fan site.

This Reunion Weekend Story Continues

Next up, in The MOB—Reunion Weekend in South Dakota, Part 2, a visit with John Mogen, Board of Directors Member of the South Dakota Rock & Roll Music Association, who was the invited guest keyboardist with The MOB at their first reunion in 30 years on a night when music history was made in South Dakota.

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.”

From the Heart, and for the Soul, of Chicago Music—Joseph Pytel’s Video Tributes to The MOB

Supplement to The MOB (4)—From Chicago, IL to Sioux Falls, SD in 30 years or less: Andantino

A Video Gallery of Music of The MOB, beloved Chicago horn-rock-R&B-soul band created for the Love of the Music crafted by Joseph L. Pytel, Jr.

Formula for Success—Add these four elements, and what do you get?

(1) Music by The MOB;

(2) Current-day reunion photography by Alan Schrank, plus his collection of vintage photos;

(3) Personal photos from the Mike Sistak Collection; and,

(4) Internet Ingenuity and Graphic Arts Wizardry by ”Chicago Joe” (aka JayJay331) Pytel

RESULTS: A video collective like no other, in tribute to The MOB, a favorite Chicago horn-rock band, revered and beloved for over 40 years by many across the United States and Canada.

See the accompanying story for more on the master of Chicagoland music montages. Here’s a sample of some of Pytel’s most creative videos set to music (found on YouTube) by The MOB:

All I Need (Holvay/Beisbier)

Back on the Road Again (Holvay/Beisbier)

Disappear (Holvay/Beisbier) [Arranged by Gary Beisiber]

Everyday People/Love Power (Sylvester “Sly” Stone)/(Warwick/Bacharach/Sager)

For a Little While (Holvay/Beisbier)

Goodtime Baby (Holvay/Beisbier)

I Dig Everything About You (Holvay/Beisbier)

I Feel the Earth Move (Carole King)

I Wish You Would Leave Me Alone (Holvay/Beisbier)

Love Has Got a Hold on Me (Holvay/Beisbier)

Make Me Yours (Bettye Swan)

Maybe I’ll Find a Way (Holvay/Beisbier)

Money (That’s What I Want) (Janie Bradford/Berry Gordy, Jr.)

Once a Man, Twice a Child (Holvay/Beisbier)

One Way Ticket to Nowhere (The MOB)

Savin' My Love for You (The MOB)

Tear the House Down (Beisbier/Holvay)

The Worst That Could Happen (Jimmy Webb)

Try A Little Tenderness (H. Woods/J. Campbell/R. Connelly) [Arranged by Holvay/Beisbier]

Two and Two Together (Holvay/Beisbier)

Where You Lead (Toni Stern/Carole King)

Who’s Shaking Your Jelly Roll (The MOB)

Looking ahead:

In Part 5 of this series, you’ll meet Alan Schrank, a dedicated, talented Sioux City (Iowa) photographer, who has maintained treasured photographs and music memories of The MOB for safekeeping over 40 years. When called upon to help, Schrank answered in a flash with camera and on Facebook. His onsite coverage of The MOB’s reunion week is included in the next installment.

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

Second 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.

Overture

What’s in a name? In music, it’s not everything. Sometimes it’s the only thing. In music, fans and friends remember your name and associate with that name who they believe you to be, individually and collectively. Presently, there are four different ‘bands’ known as “The MOB”. So, when you hear that The MOB was recently inducted into the South Dakota Rock and Roll Music Association Hall of Fame, did you know which one it was? The MOB, yes, but which one?

No, it’s not:

(1) the latest version of The M. O. B., with Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Steven Tyler and Jonny Lang (just some rock superstars, collectively for a single recording). The collaboration reportedly occurred so these four could record “Sharp-Dressed Man” for a ZZ Top Tribute Album (ZZ Top: A Tribute from Friends”, set for release October 11th)

(2) Then, there’s the Orlando, Florida-based band calling themselves “The MOB” (themobband.com), who play classic 60s, 70s, and 80s (3 guitars and drums, no horns). Since the recognition to the ‘real’ The MOB, the Floridians might best be thinking up a new name.

(3) Add in The M.O.B. from Rice University (as in Marching Owl Band, the ultraclever academic set who creates musical and media havoc every fall football season, (http://mob.rice.edu). By the way, they don’t march “ever”. They’re not going to change their names, but they’re too funny to watch to ask them to find a new name. No confusion when it’s a band with a (great) attitude for poking fun at their competition compared to a band with a great attitude having fun playing music.

So far, that’s three, and it’s still not THE “The MOB,” who took Sioux Falls, South Dakota by storm in April as they received an honor some 30 years in the waiting. Don’t even go trying to sort out the choices of their band on YouTube (without a guide where to search). Confused? Not if you know who you’re looking for: no, no, the real The MOB and their music. A beloved band of Chicago natives, formed in 1966, bringing together members from more than three professional bands. The group played for 14 years, toured as faithful road warriors, and amassed a large fan base who, seemingly, forgot all about them after the music ended. Or so they thought. Members of The (Real) MOB from Chicago (see photo and hear one of their classic songs in a tribute video, attached) and their stage names by which they introduced and identified themselves:

Mike Sistak (Mike Paris)

James Holvay (Jimmy Soul)

Jimmy Franz (Jimmy Ford)

Gary Beisbier (Gary Stevens)

Bobby Ruffino (Bobby Cheese)

Tony Nedza (Tony Roman)

Arturo Herrera (Little Artie)

Al Herrera (Big Brother Al)

For fans of the horn band that was created in Chicago in late 1966, you’d be hard pressed to forget their best work. Now you know their names, and CORRECT identity of which version of “The MOB” was celebrated this past April, in Sioux Falls, SD, with more than 2000 people had the privilege of hearing The MOB in person, in their first reunion in 35 years.

Check out Part III 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.”