The SOC HOP stories

I had asked Lil Joe Sherrick and others to comment on their experience attending last Friday evenings event: Kansas City’s Greatest Reunion Jam, which was held at the H&R Block World Headquarters building in downtown Kansas City. The event, from 6:00 - 10:00 was billed as ‘The Classmen and Friends”. The promo flier read: “Great Kansas City rock bands from the 60's and 70's will reunite and perform at the H&R Block World Headquarters. The evening will feature our own Drew Dimmel and The Classmen who recorded hit records with Julie and Graduation Goodbye, The Chesmann, the Fabulous Four, and Garry Mac and the Mac Truque. Enjoy great food, drinks, dancing and an evening of great entertainment in this spectacular new downtown venue. Parking is included in your ticket price. $75.00 per person. Proceeds benefit the Parkinson Foundation of the Heartland and the University of Kansas Medical Center's Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorder Center.” At the time the Promo was put together The Silver Tones were not listed as attending, but they were there and had a great time. Unfortunately the $75.00 per ticket was a little to steep for me, so I did not attend, however it was a Sold Out affair with a limited audience of between 500 and 700, so I was told. Lil Joe Sherrick emailed me saying, “Last evening was very memorable for all of us {who performed at the KC Reunion Jam}. To start with, we did a sound check in the afternoon, then they had a stretch limo pick up all the musicians and our spouses in groups, and took us over to Park Place Towers where they served us hors d'oeuvres, champagne, wine, or whatever we wanted, then took us back to the pavilion, to our dressing room where we rehearsed and got dressed for the evening. Frank, Steve & I dressed in black pinned-striped suits with black shirts and silver ties (thus The Silver Tones) and went on stage first. I can't remember all the songs, but we did open with John Lee Hooker's sexy Baby Lee, we also did Dimples, (Silver Tones style), then had Ron West & Alan Blascoe join us, performing Fannie Mae and then closed with Stevie Ray Vaughns’ Pride & Joy. Next to perform was Ron West's The Chessmen, followed by Mike Myers and The Fab Four, and then Danny Gregory & The Mac Truque. Danny was in top form doing some of his James Brown renditions, then closing the show was Dru & Doug Dimmel with The Classmen. We had a jam at the end doing Sly Stone's Higher. Danny's old bass player, Buddy Haney came in from Oklahoma (he can play 15 different instruments and none of us have seen him in 30 years), along with Bill Organ. Most of the original members from each group were there, and we all had a wonderful time visiting with each other before the show and between sets. Doug & Dru put all this together, and made sure we were all given VIP treatment. They did have a professional camera crew there to video tape the whole event.Wished everyone could have been there. This was a performance I will never forget.”
Ron West’s take read,
“THE SILVER TONES- THE CHESMANN- MAC TRUQUE- THE CLASSMEN- THE FAB FOUR
THE BANDS ALL SOUNDED GREAT, All in all the whole thing was pretty good.
Not Perfect but what the Hell is perfect. FUN is the # 1 priority . WE HAD FUN-
I think all the bands sounded damned good, so I don’t see any losers here. Old farts can still KICK butt.”

And finally Bill Lee, president of the Kansas Music Hall Of Fame, wrote, “ At last night's Reunion Jam in Kansas City, I had a chance to talk with several of the members of the Mac Truque including Garry Mac. He says they've been playing a lot of private parties and business meetings, but do get a public gig from time to time (usually at Jardine's).
Dani Gregory was in good voice and in a good mood. He seemed to be happy with the crowd. Billy Organ played drums. He was one of the two drummers from the old days, plus he played with Garry and Dani in the Roulettes before the Mac Truque. He was in the Bygones with Garry and Buddy Ross before that. The Bygones is another band that should be in the Hall of Fame.
Pat Pearce is playing keyboards with the Mac Truque these days. He also played with the Classmen last night. I kidded him about having another gig later, and he said he probably would drop by one of the clubs and sit in with another band. Three bands in one night's pretty good for anyone. Pat was a HoF inductee in January with the Blue Riddim Band. He is one busy musician”.
Sure Is A Lot Of Musical Talent Right Here In Kansas City.... So Get Out And ENJOY..