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The BRUSH PILE - Brushes With Fame

"Drew Carey proves it every week on his show, people from Ohio never stop being Ohioans! I have two pictures on the wall of my office here in San Diego. One is a map of Ohio with my hometown (Wooster) circled. The other is an artist's conception of heaven. The caption is 'Never forget where you came from, and never forget where you're going.' . . . Ohio rules!"

--Jeff Detrow, San Diego, CA


My most cherished "brush with fame" happened when I was 13 years old. In mid-December 1964 I had sent in only one postcard entry, and won a contest sponsored by a local TV teen dance show, called Dance-O-Rama, to not only see the Dave Clark Five in concert, but to meet them as well. I was in a new school, and some of my new schoolmates had tickets to see the Beatles in concert for about a year later (in 1966). Even they were somewhat envious.

The phone call came on December 18, 1964, the night before the concert. I was so excited! I remember calling everyone I knew whose phone number I had! My mom and sisters were excited for me, too. Mom got out a faux leather jumper that was intended to be one of my Christmas gifts that year, so I would have something cool to wear. But the jumper was too big, and Mom would have to exchange it later. There was no time to hem it! Mom found me something else nice to wear, but nothing as cool as that leather jumper would have been! The next thing I knew, Mom was telling me I'd have to roll up my own hair. I'd never done that before! Mom was in labor for my sibling number six, and Dad was preparing to take her to the hospital. Before they left, I remember Mom telling Dad, that no matter what, he was to make sure I got to wherever I needed to be for this prize meeting and concert. The next day, Dad told us kids that we had a new baby sister, Jeanette Susan, who we later affectionately dubbed Jenny Sue.

My Dad was a very busy man that Saturday. He took me to the TV station where I would be introduced on the Dance-O-Rama show with the other nine contest winners. After the show, the ten of us girls were treated to lunch at a local chain hamburger restaurant. The Burger Boy Food-O-Rama was one of the show's sponsors. For the concert that night, Dad dropped me off outside the building on the Ohio State fairgrounds, where I met the other winners and the person who had our tickets. The show was in a pole-barn-like structure with a riser-type temporary stage. The audience was seated on wooden folding chairs! Our group had pretty good seats near the left side of the stage. I think I could see all the guys pretty well. Mike was on the right side of the stage, and I had a very good view of him. I remember not wanting to take my eyes off him. What a stage presence he had about him!

As far as I recall, there was an opening local group. I know the DC5 did only 9 songs, because I counted them. I'm sure I knew them all, but I could not always tell which song was being performed. I remember wishing the screaming would stop. I do recall a fantastic drum/tom-tom solo, as I've heard of happening at other DC5 concerts, and I'd like to think it would be something not to be forgotten.

After lunch dad had picked me up at the TV station, and before we he took me home, we went to visit Mom & baby Jenny. Poor Dad must have been very tired. For a guy who disliked Rock and Roll as much as he claimed, I knew he must really love me to do all that driving around! I can still remember riding home after the concert with Dad on the freeway with all the lights brightening the way. It was like I had never seen the freeway at night, but I know I had.

Below is the picture that was taken after the ten winners had all shaken hands with the Dave Clark Five. After we met the group, reporters came into the room for a press conference, and we got to stay until it was over. Many years later, when I read in journalist, Bob Greene's book Be True To Your School, the entry for December 19, 1964, I remembered it just like he told it, even about the snow princesses!


Mike has always been my favorite, and he was the first one I got to meet, as we went along in front of the table from right to left. I remember the first girl in line was named Inger, and when she told Mike she was from Sweden, he spoke to her in Swedish! When I introduced myself as Yvette, Mike spoke to me in French! My name is the only part of me that's French, and I had no idea what he said! But I was thrilled to bits! Second from right in the back row is ME!


The picture above was taken in Brunswick, Ohio in November 2000. Mark & I met with some of the "Cyber Fivers,' as I called those with whom I corresponded on the now defunct International Friends of the Dave Clark Five and Mike Smith & Lenny Davidson's BITS & PIECES message boards. We had a really great time with our newly met friends. Some of them met us again on 9 March 2002 in Columbus. John Briggs was the original DC5 Fan Club president. John & Lynn brought photos of Mike & Charlie Smith's wedding to share.
I met up with some of the Cyber Fivers again in March 2003. Mike Smith's ROCK ENGINE performed at the Huber Opera House, one of about 13 stops on their US Tour. There was a lot of interest in this group headed by the greatest, most under-rated voice in R&R history. If you don't believe that, you have not really listened to THE VOICE! MSRE played at the The Huber Opera House in Hicksville Ohio, 25 March . I went with my friend Beth, my sister Mary & my brother-in-law, Terry. Meeting Mike again & his wife Charlie, were the highlights for me. The Rock Engine also played another venue in Ohio, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on 30 March.



I was lucky enough to meet Mike again on 25 March 2003, after the Mike Smith Rock Engine concert in Hicksville, Ohio. He was even more charming, and we had a little conversation about the French he spoke to me 39 years before! Apparently it was the only French phrase he knew, and sheepishly confessed it was rather 'off-color!' The others in the photo above with Mike are people I knew from the DC5 message boards: L-R are Steve Baratta, Jody Frech, Kaye Bye, Audrey Frazey and me on the end.



Mike kissed me before I had my picture taken with him, and before I left, he told me that he really likes my name, and that I should use Yvette instead of "Vettsie," because it is much prettier!

I snapped the photo of the band on stage, and my brother-in-law, Terry took the other three pictures.


Since Mike's Rock Engine tour, he was injured in September 2003 at his home in Spain. Here's the press release:

Mike Smith...Official Press Release -- John Briggs, 20:01:26 09/16/03 Tue
Mike Smith, lead singer of the legendary 60's British rock group The Dave Clark Five, was admitted to a hospital in Cadiz, Spain on Saturday after suffering a spinal injury as a result of a fall at his home. His condition is deemed critical.
Smith, who resides in the south of Spain, has been transferred to a private hospital nearby that specializes in sports injuries, where he is under the care of his long-time London physician, Dr. Keith McKee, and a spinal specialist. Both doctors are cautiously optomistic.
It continues to be a bittersweet year for Smith, the man who Tom Petty calls "one of the best singers of the 60's." After receiving rave reviews from fans and press alike during his first US Tour in over three decades earlier this year, on June 1st, Mike's only son, Jamie, a 23 year old SCUBA instructor, died off the coast of Egypt while trying to rescue a lost group of divers. In August, 2003, Smith again took to the US stages appearing at festivals and casinos in Las Vegas and the Mid-West.
"We're in the process of putting together a 2004 tour to mark the 40th Anniversary of the British Invasion," says Margo Lewis, Smith's agent at TCI in New York "and we have every confidence that Mike Smith will be a part of it."
Smith's recent US appearances included performances on Late Night With David Letterman and at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.

Mike's death notices:
Mike Smith was divorced from his first wife Jill Smith, a former horse trainer who became a celebrity hairdresser. They had one son, James.[5] He lived with his longtime partner, Jane Geerts, for 18 years between 1980 and 1998. In October 2001, he married "Charlie" (real name: Arlene Gorek), with whom he had re-established contact in 1999, having dated 35 years earlier.[6] In June 2003, Smith's only son James, a 24 year old professional diver, died in a diving accident in the Red Sea; James never surfaced after making the dive. Smith established a memorial to his son at Egypt's Blue Hole, a popular diving location, with a plaque reading, "Don’t let fear stand in the way of your dreams."[2][5]

In September 2003, nearing age 60, Smith was involved in a falling accident in his home in Spain, which caused severe injury to his spinal cord. The accident left him permanently paralyzed from the waist down and in his right arm, with very little movement in his left arm. Following four years of treatment, Smith was released from hospital on his 64th birthday, 6 December 2007. On 19 December 2007, Bruce Springsteen, a longtime friend and fan, dedicated "Born to Run" to Smith and his wife, Charlie, who were attending his concert at the O2 in London.[7]

Smith died on 28 February 2008 at Stoke Mandeville Hospital[8] in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, at the age of 64, of pneumonia,[9] a complication from his earlier accident.[8][10] He died only 11 days before he was to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Dave Clark Five. Following his death, it was discovered that Smith left a surprisingly modest estate, worth only £66,000.[11]

Smith left most of his estate to second wife Charlie and a legacy to the National Spinal Injuries Centre.

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The following poem is about an actual meeting of some of THE RASCALS. With my sisters Annette & Mary, I took a chance on meeting up with them after they announced from the stage, which hotel they were staying in! It's wonder more people from the audience didn't show up there!
Come In Tight!

The Rascals in concert, happened to mention
The name of the hotel where they were to stay.
We wasted no time when the concert was over 
and went to that inn without delay!

We just wanted to see them in person, up close.
We didn't know what we'd say or do!
Nonchalantly, we entered the lobby-
Went straight for the elevator without much ado.

We pressed for a floor, folks got off and on.
When the elevator arrived at the lobby again
The doors opened to Felix and Gene!
We were amazed the plan would happen!

I asked Felix if I could snap his photo.
Tired as he looked, he said okay.
Gene looked more tired and didn't stop.
He got on the lift, and up and away!

We didn't see Dino; he never came in
Eddie came in with some people they knew.
I asked him to stand with Annie & Mary
But he said no, that just wouldn't do!

He told me to let his friend snap the shot.
Eddie was grinning and shiny with sweat.
He pulled us all close and said, "Come in tight!"
A phrase my sisters and I won't ever forget.        ©    3/11/99
 

The next one involves a meeting with THE WHO, which almost didn't happen! My cousin Danny said he had a friend who was supposed to meet him after the concert, and he would get Dan and whoever he brought, in to meet the WHO. Dan's friend did not show up. After my experience described above, I told Dan how my my sisters and I had met the RASCALS. So we went in the same hotel, like we were guests, and just got on the elevator! We just rode up and back down, and when the doors opened we were awestruck to have three of this fabulously famous group get on. I am an ace at nonchalance, so when Pete asked if we were getting off the elevator, I casually told him "No, we're just riding." So they stepped aboard, and Pete started pushing buttons! My cousin Dan, a musician, began a technical conversation with Roger, while I casually removed John's instrument case from resting on my foot.
The Night John Entwhistle Set His Guitar Case On My Foot And I Never Said A Word

Dan's friend said to meet him
Somewhere after the show
To meet the Who, and
Dan asked us to go.

We were excited
To meet a band as big
As the Who we sought
After this Columbus gig. 

Dan's friend who was said
To be in the know
Turned out to be a
Disappointing no-show.

"I've done this before,"
I said to Dan
"Stick with me
I have a plan!"

The big hotel chain
Had an inn downtown
We got on the lift
And rode up and down!

All the way up
And back to 'one'
There stood Roger
Pete and John!

"You getting off?"
Pete asked as we stared.
I said "We're just riding."
With an off-hand air.

So Who got aboard
(well, three out of four).
Pete pushed the top button
And we rode some more!         3/11/99   ©     The Concert date was in Nov 1970


This is my memory of the bus ride with Ken Babbs to the Grateful Dead concert, originally written just after the concert. I was about 15 years old. In 2012 my friend Lisa, now living in England, asked me for a copy. Lisa was on the bus as well. I edited it and sent it to her, and it was then that I finally added it to my web site.


“Flight Number Eighty-seven”

The green and white bus was alive with excitement on the evening of November 22, 1968. Cap'n Ken Babbs, whacked the right side of the bus door to open it and we all scrambled inside. The atmosphere was charged with electric anticipation of the bus ride we were about to take. There were ten of us waiting to depart in the driveway of one of my best friends, Beth Justus. She's a cousin of Cap'n Ken, the original Merry Prankster. Sometime earlier in the day, we had all got calls to come ride the bus with Babbs and attend a Grateful Dead concert. Tomorrow, all our other friends would be so envious when our good fortune would be revealed!

The inside of the former Army bus had been converted to living quarters. Some of us sat on regular bus seats, while some squeezed along the side of a bed. My sister, Annette made herself comfortable on the floor, and I sat on a straight chair wedged between the gas range and a sewing machine. Up front, Babbs was in the driver’s seat, with a microphone in his hand. His Captain's voice broke into the chatter, “It’s about 7:15 and flight number eighty-seven is now ready for take off!” We were told that we would be traveling only a few short miles from south of Grove City, Ohio to downtown Columbus. As we crossed the Broad Street Bridge, over the Scioto River, the white city lights shone murky rays through the mud-splattered bus windows. We sang to the tune of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, “We all live in a green army bus!” Babbs’ voice once again broke into the din, “We are now approaching beautiful downtown Columbus, Ohio, night-spot of the world!” This made us all laugh, because even at our young ages, we knew there were more exciting night-spots in the world beyond our realm!

Cap'n Ken parked the bus behind the Veterans’ Memorial building near the stage door entrance. We each took our turn hopping off the bus. We were not permitted to enter the concert venue from the back, but Ken got clearance to take us around and through the front entrance, free of charge, because he was “with the group” and “Jonathan is expecting us.”

At some point during the show, Babbs joined the Grateful Dead onstage, and he called out and waved to us! The light show and music created colorful memories. After the show, Babbs had us file back up the aisle, outside and in through the stage door at the rear, where he introduced us to Jerry Garcia. I'm sure this moment was not nearly as memorable for Jerry as it was for Cap'n Ken's Filght Number Eighty Seven passengers! Alas! It was time to re-board the bus for home, but before returning to Grove City, Babbs drove the bus to the Ohio State University area. From the windows, we waved to and exchanged the “peace sign" with pedestrians.”

By the time Babbs hit the freeway for Grove City, we were tired and did not carry on the antics that we had on the way, but tired as we were at 1:10AM, we regretted seeing the end of that very special bus ride.