In the early 60s', bands were being formed all over the country. Some only lasted a few weeks, or months and sometimes maybe a few years. This is a story of one of those bands called The ILLUSIONS. They began forming in 1961 with a guitar player (Larry Ellis) a drummer (Tom Brown) and a sax player (Rick LoVetere) they would rehearse in Tom Brown's garage, but the sax player just couldn't seem to carry a tune. Rick decided that the band was doomed to fail, because they sounded so bad...so he quit. Larry and Tom were both thinking, I thought he would never leave! Tom new another guitar player named Bobby Mason. When the three of them got together, something clicked and they knew they had a band. A short time later, a bass player was added (Chet Solace) Tom's garage became their studio. The band practiced into the night, or until the police made them stop. It was time to name the band, and everyone wrote several ideas onto pieces of paper and then they all voted on which one they would choosefor the band. The Illusions started getting paying jobs at high school dances, the YMCA and local canteens. There was a TV show at the Santa Monica Pier. Every week a local band was featured on the show. They called to find out how to get on the show and were told to make a demo 45 record and mail it to them as an audition. The Illusions went to Wenzel's recording studio in Downey and paid for one hour. Three songs were recorded and two of them put onto the dub record. The band thought it would be a sure thing to be chosen for the show, and they waited for the telephone call. When it came, they were disappointed. The song was too long, so they couldn't use it. That was the excuse they used. Although they were disappointed, they weren't defeated. The bass player thought it was the end of the band and quit. A new bass player was found (Bud Steflon) and had no problem at all fitting in with the group. A teenage nightclub opened in the city of Bellflower and needed a good band. The Illusions auditioned at the Peppermint Bandstand and got the job. It was their first steady paying gig. They played there for a while and tightened up their sound and developed stage presence and choreography. It was time to expand, so they added a keyboard player who doubled on trumpet (Colin Clark) and a sax player who doubled on flute (Roy Alvila) The bass player quit to return to school, he couldn't see any future in the music business. For some unknown reason, they did something unheard of at that time. They added another guitar player instead of a bass. By this time, Larry and Bob were both playing Jazzmasters. The new guitar player (Gary Dodson) also had a Jazzmaster a white one. Larry's and Bob's were both sunbursts. The band was sounding great and becoming well known. Surf music was big and getting bigger. The Illusions were a top 40 band and could play anything. A local DJ (George Huggins) heard them playing, and told them to sign with him and he would get them good paying jobs and a record contract. Like all the groups at that time, they were starry eyed and of course they signed. It started out OK. . . They signed a one year contract with Round records and went immediately to Garrisons recording studio in Long Beach and recorded their first record, "Jezabel b/w Nitemare". It was a small studio and there was only one mic used for the session. At the time of the recording, they used three Jazzmasters, no bass was used. The sound was a deep, solid, gutsy wet with fender reverb and alive with emotion. George started booking the band around town to plug the record. A new teenage night club called The Score, just opened in Alhambra and needed a top 40 band with the ability to back up top talent. The Illusions got the job, and played three nights a week backing up people like: The Righteous Brothers, The Rivingtons, The Olympics, The Four Seasons, The Coasters, Jan and Dean, April and Nino, Dick and Dee Dee and Dobie Gray. The Score was their home base. They would play other gigs on their nights off. It was now 1963 and Surf music was alive and well. The Illusions considered themselves a top 40 rock band. Their recording of Jezabel labeled them a surf band. They didn't care what they were called, just as long as they could play their music. Bakersfield was having a big high school graduation for all the schools in the area. The Illusions landed the gig along with The Beach Boys, The Cascades and The Ivy Clansmen. The local radio station promoted the dance and played Jezabel on the air numerous times. The band heard it on the car radio while driving to Bakersfield. When they arrived at the location, they were amazed at how big it was. It looked like a giant aircraft hanger, with large doors at the ends that lifted up. The Illusions and The Beach Boys were unloading their equipment at the entrance when Ray Anthony the local D. J. came over and told them that they would be setting up on stages at opposite ends of the building. The Beach Boys would be performing with The Ivy Clansmen while The Illusions would be performing with The Cascades. All the groups would be promoting their records also. The evening went very well, there were thousands of kids dancing and having a great time in a building so large, that two bands could play at the same time without disturbing each other. The next day, the groups performed at the county fair before packing up their equipment and driving back to Long Beach. George Huggins had a few mental problems and a slight disregard for paying the bannd their share of the money. He was prone to sudden outbreaks of rage as the band witnessed on a trip to Bakersfield when George lost his temper because another car was going too slow so George attempted to run them off the road. Friction and distrust was growing between George and the band and it was spilling over onto the owner of The Score. George lined up a recording session for the Band to back up Little Julian Herrera on his remake of "Lonely Lonely Nights". And receive union scale for the gig. The band hauled their equipment to a recording studio in Hollywood one night and started setting up. George was supposed to be there too, but never showed up. Little Julian walked in and briefly went through the two songs for the 'A' and 'B' sides of the record. The session didn't take very long and Herrera's agent said, "that's a take" Little Julian thanked them and walked out of the studio. The band started breaking down their equipment, while Larry went over to Herrera's agent and asked where the money was? He was told that George told him that the band would back up Herrera for nothing if The Illusions name would appear of the label. That was the last straw. Larry went to the musicians union and filed a complaint against George and essentially that was the breaking point between George and The Illusions. They never received the money for the session but they were sure that George did. George dropped out of sight after that and a short time later the group found out that he had been committed to a mental hospital. Their paths would never cross again. The relationship with the owner of The Score had suffered beyond repair because of George and The Illusions felt it was time to move on. The Pike in down town Long Beach was jumping at that time. The Lido Ballroom, formerly known as The Majestic, had a twelve-piece orchestra that had performed big band music for fifteen years. It was a large ballroom with a capacity of two thousand people. The crowd at the Pike was a younger crowd and wanted to hear rock and roll. A few doors from The Lido, a nightclub called the Peppermint Lounge opened above a penny arcade. It was extremely small compared to The Lido. The owners hired a four-piece rock group and they were taking a lot of the business away from The Lido. The Illusions belonged to the musicians union and The Lido was a union ballroom. The orchestra at The Lido was called The Gould Brothers Orchestra. Tom and Frank Gould both played homs in their orchestra. Frank contacted The Illusions through the union and asked if they would be interested in working for them three nights a week. The band agreed and signed a contract. Frank and Tom were forced to break up the orchestra after fifteen years together. Rock and roll was here to stay. It wasn't long after The Illusions started playing at The Lido, that the Peppermint Lounge was forced to close down due to lack of interest. The crowd headed for The Lido where there was much more room to dance and a top 40 band. They played every Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. The Lido became their new home base, they would play other gigs during the week. They felt it was time to add a bass for a fuller sound. The third guitar player, Gary Dodson was asked if he would start playing a bass instead of guitar. He declined the offer so the band decided to replace him. Roy Avila had a cousin who played bass. Randy Ritter went down to the Lido and auditioned and got the job. He was a great musician and the group wondered how they ever did without a bass player for so long. Gary filed a grievance against Larry with the union, but lost the case. It was now 1964, and The Lido was jumping again. Mark Hendrix was the owner of the United Artist Theater in Long Beach His son, Marlow Stewart played guitar and was being promoted by Mark to be the next teenage heartthrob. Marlow made a record on his own by over dubbing himself playing guitar four times and called it 'Marlow and his four Guitars' It was a promotional record with a nice picture sleeve that he would give away at the theater at show time. Mark set Marlow up with his own radio show by buying airtime at a local station. The record was so bad, that he was having a hard time giving it away. Mark went to the Lido one night to hear the Illusions play. On a break he asked them if they would be interested in backing Marlow up on a record with the following conditions: Marlow would play lead guitar on the 'A' side. The Illusions could do what ever they wanted on the 'B' side. Mr. Hendrix would buy the band matching black leather jackets. He would pay for all the photography for the record's picture sleeve, and pressing the records. The record would be recorded live at the Lido by Mark. Mark also wanted the Illusions to help promote the record by perfomming live at the United Artist Theater and appearing with Marlow on his radio show. They reached an agreement and set a date for the session. Mark brought a reel to reel tape deck to the ballroom with one microphone and a camera. It was on a Saturday afternoon before the Lido was open to the public when the record was recorded. Marlow showed the Illusions a song that he made up called 'Earthquake' they worked on it to pull it together and added a bridge using the organ and sax. They decided to do their version of 'Ooh-Poo-Pah-Doo', on the 'B' side. during the session, Mark would tell the band to act wild and frantic, jump around, take off your shirts, swap instruments, so they did. When the record was released, the picture sleeve on the 'A' side showed the group acting frantic, and so they were called the Frantic Illusions. The 'B' side, had a nice portrait of The Illusions wearing the black leather jackets. The band and Marlow were receiving a lot of publicity in the local newspaper, the Press Telegram. Mark was going all out to make Marlow a star. There were full page ads in the entertainment section numerous times featuring pictures of The Illusions and Marlow Stewart to advertise their live appearance on stage at the United Artist Theater. It was a different approach to performing on stage for The Illusions. They would have their equipment set up behind the curtains in front of the screen and when the lights started dimming, the curtains would open and the audience would be surprised to see The Illusions and Marlow Stewart performing live. They would do 'Earthquake' and 'Ooh-Poo-Pah-Doo' plus a couple of others and then the movie would start. The crowd loved it, and after the show, there would be a table set up in the lobby where The Illusions and Marlow would pass out autographed records to the audience. After a while, it became obvious to everyone that Marlow wasn't destined to become the next teenage heartthrob and Mark's enthusiasm faded away. Over a year had passed and The Illusions were well known locally. They had appeared on several live TV shows and played at a benefit concert at the L.A. County General Hospital along with: Johnny Crawford, Jack Lord, The Rumblers, Alvin and The Chipmunks and many more. The show made the TV news because it was for disabled children. Teenage nightclubs were getting very popular at this time. One of the most popular was The Cinnamon Cinder. There was one in Hollywood and one in Long Beach. Bob Eubanks was the front man for these two clubs. The one in Long Beach was located on the traffic circle a few miles from The Lido. It was very small in comparison to Thc Lido, and losing some of their business to The Lido. Bob Eubanks heard through his sources, that The Illusions were a hot top 40 band. One night Bob and some of his associates went to The Lido to hear for themselves. It didn't take long to see why the kids were going there instead of his club. During a break, Bob went back stage and introduced himself to the band. The Illusions were impressed that Bob Eubanks came to see them. Bob was like an icon in the world of music. Bob told them how great they sounded and asked them if they would meet him at Java Lanes for breakfast after they were through playing, and that he would like to discuss a business proposition with them. It was unanimous of course, and the Illusions were thinking "this is the chance we've been waiting for. When they arrive at the restaurant, Bob and his associates had a table reserved for them. Bob Eubanks didn't beat around the bush and came right to the point. He offered The Illusions a job as the house band at the Cinnamon Cinder in Long Beach, and to appear on the weekly television show every other week alternating with the Pastel Six from the Hollywood club. Without any hesitation, the band said Yes! The Gould Brothers understood and there were no hard feelings. The Illusions gave them their notice to allow them time to find another band. It is now 1965, and the Illusions are the house band at the Cinnamon Cinder. They were performing live on television every other week, and playing with some big name stars like; Ike & Tina Turner, Bobby Day, Johnny Fortune, Dick & Dee Dee and others. They felt that it was time to go back into the recording studio and make a demo album to show their versatility. They made arrangements with the Sunset recording studio in Hollywood. It was a four-track system and they could get four hours for $200. All of them shared in the cost and each of them picked a song that they wanted to do. Some were vocals and some instrumentals, some were originals and some were standards. They completed six songs and ended up with a ten-inch acetate to take around to Hollywood record companies hoping to land a record deal with a major label They knocked on a lot of doors, and heard a lot of "don 't call us, we'll caII you" or "just leave it with us, we'll let you know". Eventually it became apparent that no one was interested in their versatility and eventually they gave up pounding the pavement. Bad news hit the band after about six months at the Cinnamon Cinder. The band that they had replaced had some very loyal followers and they were working behind the scenes to bring them back and get rid of the Illusions. Bob Eubanks apologized to the group and said he had no other choice but to let the Illusions go and bring the old band back. The band packed everything up and went home. For the first time in a long time, they were without a gig. Larry decided to go down to the Lido and visit Frank and Tom. Little did he know that the crowd at the Lido felt the same way about their new band. When Frank found out that the Illusions were unemployed, he fired the house band and hired the Illusions back. Frank and Tom said that business had suffered since the Illusions left and that the crowd wasn't happy with the replacement band. Every weekend, the Lido was alive with music and dancing on a hardwood floor that had a spring action to it. The Lido was one of largest ballrooms around. Two thousand people could dance with room to spare. There were a lot of sailors and marines' at the dances and sometimes that's a bad combination The shore patrol and MPs' parked their paddy wagon next to the Lido and kept a close eye on the crowd. One night a fight broke out in front of the stage. The Illusions learned in the beginning to never stop playing if there's a fight because that only draws attention to it. There were several sailors and marines rolling around in front of the stage and the band was waving to security standing at the front door. On that particular night, the place was filled to capacity and the people up front thought that the band was just waving to them so they would wave back Finally, someone from the audience made their way to the front door and told them about the fight. The shore patrol, the MPs' and the city police all came charging toward the stage with their nightsticks flying. By the time they got there, the guys who were fighting were worn out and it was just about over, but when the calvary arrived, it started up again, but this time it was the guys who were fighting trying to defend themselves from the police. Afer that incident, an alarm system was installed on the stage. A red button was located next to Tom Brown, the drummer because he sat up higher than the rest of the band. When Tom saw trouble brewing, he would push the red button and a very loud horn would go off at the front door. Everynight security would wait with excitement for the horn to sound so they could charge through the crowd to save the day. The horn was used many times. There was never a dull moment at the Lido. The Illusions played at the Lido for several years. Larly Ellis, Tom Brown and Bobby Mason, were the nucleus of the group. They were the originators of the Illusions and stuck together through it all. Keyboard players, sax players and bass players were replaced through the years. When they were playing at the Score, Galy Dodson played bass patterns on his Jazzmaster instead of a bass guitar. Colin Clark played piano and doubled on trumpet. Roy Alvila played sax. This was the make up of the group when they recorded Jezabel b/w Nitemare. Shortly after they began playing at the Lido, Mike Lobbett replaced Colin Clark on piano. Later, Galy Dodson was replaced by bass player Randy Ritter. These were the band members when Earthquake b/w Ooh-Poo-Pah-Doo was recorded and also the recording at the Sunset studio that produced the ten inch acetate with six songs. On one weekend, Dick Dale and his band played at the Lido to promote one of his new records. The Illusions and Dick Dale had played together before and they were glad to see eaeh other again. Almost all of the band members met their future wives to be while playing at the Lido.