THE
OFFBEATS THIS PAGE IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS THAT WILL KEEP EVOLVING. AS I COME ACROSS OLD PICS AND CLIPS I WILL CONTINUE TO UPDATE.
THE FIRST "ROCK BAND" I WAS IN WAS CALLED "THE OFFBEATS". WE PLAYED EVERYTHING THAT WE HEARD ON WLS RADIO OUT OF CHICAGO. ORIGINALLY THE OFFBEATS WAS A GUITAR BAND. AT SOME POINT AROUND 1965 OR 66 WE ADDED A 6TH MEMBER, BRAD RENZ ON KEYBOARDS, A FARFISA...NO LESS. THE HEIGHT OF THE OFFBEATS WAS AN APPEARANCE ON A CURRENT HIP LOCAL NETWORK TELEVISION SHOW CALLED "MOVIN' GENERATION".
SOMETIME AROUND 1967 THE OFFBEATS REPLACED LEAD SINGER TOM STAMMICH WITH VOCALIST CRAIG HITCHCOCK. AT THAT POINT WE MADE A NAME CHANGE TO "BEN FRANKLIN'S ALAMANAK". BELOW YOU WILL FIND SOME THUMBNAILS OF THE FEW REMAINING SHOTS FROM THOSE EARLY DAYS. CLICK ON 'EM AT WILL.
THE
OFFBEATS
CLARK
WEBER
CLARK WEBER WLS RADIO
BEN FRANKLIN'S
ALAMANAK
GEAR
SPI NETWORK
This band rocked South Padre Island. Tx from the mid to late '80s in various incarnations from a 3 piece to 6 piece group. The bands repertoire included songs by ZZ top, Chicago, Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Bob Dylan, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Santana and The Kinks as well as Original SPI NETWORK songs. They also appeared as the headlining act at the Annual Weatherford Jam in Oklahoma for a crowd of 4000 partying fools. Members of SPI NETWORK included DrewV- Guitar & Vocals, Phil Hill- Drums, Ronnie " Rocket " Gardner- Guitar & Vocals, Mother Mary Dunn- Vocals, Rick " Rerun " Saldano- Bass Guitar, Lips Henderson- Tenor Sax, Paul Brass- Keyborad & Vocals and Eddie Date- Guitar & Vocals. Click on the Thumbnails below for a better view.
The Hairy Canary Band
This is the band that should have been really kickin' it out, but strangely only made into the studio to record a demo. Even though it was picked up by "Popular Talent" booking agency, one of the biggest in Austin, Hairy Canary never played a gig. A 4 piece rock band, Hairy Canary featured quintessential keyboard and vocalist (lead vocals on You're Mama Don't Dance) Steve Oneill of MTV and Cannes Film Festival fame, Austin transplant, Marley Foreman, on bass guitar and vocals ( lead vocals on You Really Got Me) and East Coast Drummer, Bryan Smith, with several major label albums to his credit. Click on the thumbnail to see Hairy Canary.
To hear the studio demo click on your connection speed
Copyright ©2000-2005 by Drew Villegan