The Ravens: History

The Ravens History: 1967
by John Anthony

The Ravens Find a Haven at Carrol's Barn

The year opened with us looking for a new gig. Bert came through as usual and found us one at Carroll's Barn in Putnam Lake, NY. The owners said we could collect and keep a buck a head at the door.

They didn't have high patronage and figured to increase beverage sales as more people showed up. And more people is eventually what they got.

Carrolls had a stage at one end, and a bar at the other. Tables ran down the sides with a big dance floor in the middle. By summer we were packing them in like sardines-- shoulder to shoulder.

In those days, before people went straight from provocation to pistols, fist fights were not uncommon and we experienced our share. A few times they got really big and we, along with our gear got bowled over on our ankle-high stage.

We Needed a Higher Stage for Protection!

We asked the owners about building a higher stage. They said we'll buy the materials if you guys build it. Done! We built one three feet high from which we now looked out over a sea of heads under a thick cloud of cigarette smoke. Besides keeping us up and out of potential melees it also provided a new benefit--the ability to see a fight beginning in the crowd as a flurry of movement expanding out in circular waves.

This early warning allowed us to flag the Coniglio brothers, Joe and Bob, who bounced for the owners. They were tough, no-nonsense guys who could get in early and stop things before they got big. Most of the time cool heads prevailed, but once in a while someone wouldn't quit and ended up being 'escorted' out the door horizontally like an airplane without wings.

On the other side of the world in Vietnam, Richie was badly wounded by a land mine and lost the lower part of his right leg. The Army brought him back to the states to recuperate.

We Warm Up the Audiences for Some Big Name Groups

In addition to our steady gig at the Barn, Bert got us spots opening for some well known bands that had tour dates nearby. Usually there were two or three warm up bands and we were glad to have a slot in the line up. On different occasions we opened for Mitch Ryder, The Vanilla Fudge, The Blues Magoos and The Doors.

Mitch Ryder--Devil with the Blue Dress--had a good, solid live sound.

The Vanilla Fudge--You Keep Me Hangin' On--were ahead of their time.

The Blues Magoos--We Ain't Got Nothin' Yet--had a tight, power-packed sound.

The Doors were more mysterious, especially Jim Morrison. We opened for them at Roger Ludlowe High in Fairfield, CT.

My Encounter with Jim Morrison of The Doors

Like many musicians at the time, I was a big fan of The Doors and Jim Morrison in particular.

When The Doors tour bus came in, I watched Morrison go into the bathroom. I walked into the bathroom shortly after him.

I walked behind him to the far right end of the sinks, turned around and stood there staring at him like a cigar store Indian.

I'm thinking for a while, "Okay JA, you are in here now, what are you going to ask/say to the guy?"

He was cleaning up from the road and started shaving. After a minute or two of this he turned to me and said, "Hey man, do you get a kick out of watching people shave?"

It startled me as I realized I'd been staring at the guy and had said nothing. I mumbled something about really liking The Doors.

Just then Joe Gracia walked in. I'll let him take it from here.

Joe Gracia: "We were ready for a sound check on stage and I was looking for John. When I looked in the bathroom I found him talking with Jim Morrison. Wow, I thought. That's cool. (We used to say 'cool' a lot back then.)

"I didn't want to interrupt so I walked up to the sink and began washing my hands.

"Just then Morrison said to John," "Why the shades?"

"John said he'd seen Lennon wearing a pair in a photo on the back of an early Beatle album jacket, thought they looked cool, and decided he would wear them all of the time. "Plus," he said, "people don't know where you are really looking."

"Morrison then said something about thinking they were good reasons for wearing them.

"At that point I told John we were ready for a sound check and we left."

Coincidence?

John Anthony: Shortly after this encounter with Jim, Joe called me one night to tell me that in a few minutes The Doors were going to be on TV on The Jonathan Winters Show.

We both watched while we were still on the phone.

My face lit up when I saw Jim Morrison that night, front and center, singing Moonlight Drive, wearing shades pretty similar to the ones I wore that night.

Joe said, "Hey John, looks like your shades made a big impression on Morrison."

"Maybe so, Joe."

Sidenote:Top photo of John Anthony, 1967. John wore his "shades" day and night, inside and out. Jim Morrison said he liked the idea and tried it out on The Jonathan Winters Show, December 27, 1967 (bottom photo), a few days after his conversation with John Anthony about John's shades.

Click here to see Jim Morrison on the Jonathan Winters Show
on Decemeber 27, 1967 wearing the same shades he asked John about a few days earlier. Coincidence? Or just cool. :-)

We Got a Chance to Help The Doors Out

Later that night we went out and did our songs. As we finished, their road manager came over and asked if we could leave one of our monitor speakers for them to use as one of theirs had gone out. "Sure thing," I said.

With a little bit of help from our speaker monitor, The Doors lit everyone's fire with their sound and gave an excellent performance that night.

Later on in the same tour Morrison had his infamous run in with New Haven Police which was chronicled in their song Peace Frog.

Besides opening for big hit makers we took another shot at recording. We did two original songs at Synchron Studios in Wallingford, CT. We did one of mine called My Man and one of Bruce's called What You Want.

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