A brief history from poor memories

It was the spring of 1953. It was a time, musically, when the Big Band sound was dying but just days before the Rock-‘n-Roll era began.1 High schools and junior high schools still hired local dance bands for their dances and proms. It was a time before amplified sound, other than for an electric guitar or vocalist, both of which were rare at that time in Humboldt County.

It was a time when school instrumental music programs were still in full bloom. In Eureka each elementary school had a beginners’ band and there was a school district-wide Honor Band that rehearsed weekly in order to perform concerts and presentations. Eureka Junior High School was the beneficiary of all that musical preparation when the sixth graders from all of the elementary schools funneled in as seventh graders.

It was in that bubbling caldron of pre-teen-age energy and musical experience that during Easter Break an eruption of sorts occurred. Somehow a group of youngsters, musical instruments in tow, ended up at the home of Pastor Kirby on F. Street. It was a disparate group of souls who wanted to start a band. In those days “a band” meant a dance band. The group practiced and played during Easter vacation and got good enough to later play for a school assembly. 

From that original group of the “Seventh Grade Symphony” a core group of Rich Sloma, Tom McGowan, Ted Howland and Bill Crichton joined forces with Keith Weidkamp and John Sander to develop a group that later became know as The Melodiers.

During the following school year, 1953-54 when most of the members were in the 8th grade, The Melodiers were able to put together a repertoire strong enough to be able to play for a junior high noon dance in the Girls’ Gym. This was a milestone because it established the group as a full-fledged band and with the noontime success it positioned the group to be hired to play at a jr. high nighttime dance. That occurred for the first time either in the 1953-54 school year or the 1954-55 year. By the boys’ 9th grade year they were performing at jr. high nighttime dances. Throughout this period the group harbored a higher ambition – get a high school dance!

All things come to those who wait and by chance the opportunity to get a high school after-game dance came out of the blue. Apparently a band that was scheduled to do the after-game dance couldn’t make it for some reason and the group sponsoring the dance took a flyer and called in the “reserve squad”. The problem faced by The Melodiers was that they either didn’t have a playlist or stamina long enough to make it through the night.2 Eureka Junior High School history teacher, Jerry Colivas stepped in and offered to help by playing his accordion for a time during the dance to allow the band to regroup. 

Somehow it all worked out and the band was on its way to becoming the band of choice for nearly a decade at Eureka High School, Eureka Junior High School and throughout the central Humboldt County region.

No one knows how many appearances The Melodiers made but a modest estimate puts it at over four hundred and during the eleven years the group was together they played from Brookings, Oregon in the north to South San Francisco in the south and from Salyer in the east to Samoa in the west, nearly 21, 00 square miles.

Until Keith Weidkamp was able to drive, in the 1955-56 school year, transportation was provided by parents who had to take the boys to the events, wherever they were, and pick them up late in the evening. This included packing up the drum set, instruments and the bandstands.

The bandstands were a piece of engineering and were the product of Howdy McGowan, a skilled woodworker. There were four stands made of 3/4” plywood. Each stand had hinged foldout sides and a fold-down music holder, they were painted flat black with a stylized “M” on the front with the legs of the “M” of different lengths with circular ends to give the appearance of a musical note. They were strong and heavy. The stands were hauled everywhere and at times needed to be repainted and reinforced but they served for many years and were eventually sold to another band and replaced with more modern-looking commercial two-piece stands that were made of lighter material. Ask anyone one of the band members who had to pack and unpack the original stands and you will get a groan. Ask any of the band members what happened to the second set of stands and you will get a blank stare.

If it weren’t bad enough that the parents had to transport the band to and from events they also had to get the boys to practice sites. Or worse, had to put up with them practicing at their house. At various times throughout the history of The Melodiers they practiced at Ted Howland’s House on F St., John Sander’s home above the Sig Sander’s Grocery on Myrtle Ave., The Weidkamp’s living room on William St., Bill Crichton’s rumpus room on H St., Dennis Hunter’s home at Indianola, Allan Hill’s house on K St., Bob Neloms’ house on Spring St. and Tom McGowan’s house on Russ St. During the high school years the band was able to use the Eureka High School Band Building on occasion and there was always some sort of “practice” that took place before each event.

Except for that night in Fortuna.

The Fortuna nightmare happened when the band was in its mature stage, that is, they had been together for many years and were well thought of and well known. The group was booked to work the Fortuna Senior Prom that was scheduled from 9 p.m. to midnight – so they thought. At eight o’ clock a call came in from Fortuna, that loosely translated meant, “Where the Hell are you!”

Panic telephone calls went out to the band members to high tail it to Fortuna and when the band entered the high school gym they could feel the ice in the air. They hurriedly set up to play, one of the band members bumped into one of the many pillars that decorated the gym, and as The Melodiers stood in horror the slow-motion collapse played out before their eyes, much like giant dominoes as one pillar hit another. Needless to say the rest of the dance did not get any better and when the final note was played the band beat a hasty retreat to Eureka to gather at one of their favorite after-gig hangouts.

The after event get-togethers at any given time could have been Fresh Freeze at Harris & F. Sts., Straw Hat Pizza on 4th St., Manny’s Pizza on E St. in Henderson Center, but in the later years for the band the regular place was Sambo’s at Broadway & 5th St. for “breakfast”. The running gag that exists to this day is to repeat Keith Weidkamp’s favorite order, “Six Sambo cakes and two lemon-limes.”

It wasn’t unusual for girlfriends to join the guys for the early morning, post-gig gatherings, after all it wasn’t too much fun for them to be sitting at home on Friday and Saturday nights while the rest of the world was out enjoying the events where the band was playing. Undoubtedly there is a whole other view of the impact of The Melodiers on the families of band members and perhaps someone might take on the challenge. For now this is the official view.

It was sometime in the college years3 of the majority of the band that John Sander and Keith Weidkamp worked out a deal with Jerry Peterson of Cliff’s Menswear to purchase red plaid tuxedo style band jackets. The plaid material that was selected was generally used to manufacture cummerbunds and was a sturdy fabric; as it should have been for the use and abuse the jackets took over the next several years.

The plaid jackets were just the final version of attire the boys wore over the years. Even when the jackets were the uniform of record they were used for the more formal occasions and the band wore red corduroy/paisley reversible vests with white shirts and black slacks. In the earliest days they wore pink sweaters with black pants, later replaced with sleeveless turquoise sweaters. At another time during the “high school” period for casual events such as after game dances the group wore red short sleeve pullover shirts with zippers. In the period when The Melodiers were in existence band members dressed alike. It was after their time that bands stopped the “uniform” look and took on the individualized style that continues today.

Over the years the band played at a variety of venues and variety of events but one of the highlight was a period during the high school years when they served as a “house band” of sorts for a series of live radio programs for KHUM radio. Wally George, the locally prominent disk jockey4 hosted the programs and it provided the band with another opportunity to showcase their talents. 

In the end, time lead to the demise of The Melodiers. By 1964 the boys (men) were finished with college and embarking on careers in areas away from Humboldt County and getting together for a weekend dance was becoming very difficult and costly. So it was that on New Year’s Eve 1964-65 the band played for the final time their dance-ending tune, “Drifting and Dreaming”. They drifted off but the dreaming continues. 

1 Bill Haley and the Comets were about to release their first “Rock-n’-Roll” hit, Crazy Man, Crazy. The tune that most people ascribe to the beginning of the era was Rock Around the Clock.

2 This is a topic of debate among the surviving members. What isn’t in doubt is that the group had its hands full to pull off a big deal dance.

3 “The college years” varies from member to member. Noel Weidkamp’s years at Humboldt State College and Stanford University were from 1962 to 1966, John Sander’s at Humboldt State College were from 1959 to 1965, Keith Weidkamp’s at Humboldt State College and Bill Crichton’s at Humboldt State College from 1958-1963, Rich Sloma at Stanford1958-1962, Mark Gaedicke’s at Humboldt State College from 1962 to 1966. Rich Coe during this time worked as a mechanic for the Volkswagen dealership in Eureka.

4 Wally George later became famous as the host of the television talk show Hot Seat, where he was famous for his combative interview style and shocking antics. His daughter, Rebecca De Mornay, is a movie actress.

Do You Remember The Melodiers Dance Band?

The Melodiers recorded their music on just two occasions. The first time was in the early years with simple equipment at a dance held at the Carson Memorial Building on J Street. Then in 1961, with some “state of the art” equipment for the times, they recorded a few songs at the KHUM radio studio. Recently, a professional studio cleaned up the noise in those old original tape recordings and made a master CD. It has eight songs from the 1957 recordings and five songs from 1961.

An endowment fund to benefit the Eureka City Schools elementary instrumental music program has been established by the Melodiers. That program is where most of the members of the band got their start in music. The fund is handled through the Humboldt Area Foundation. (www.hafoundation.org)

The Melodiers are giving a Melodiers CD to each person who makes a contribution to the fund. A leaflet is included that has copies of some old photos of the band. It does bring back memories!

Two Eureka High School classes had reunions in the summer of 2007. Class of 1962 had their 45th and class of 1957 had their 50th. They both had the CD playing and available for those class members who wanted to contribute to The Melodiers Dance Band Endowment Fund.

The Eureka School class of 1958 will be having their 50th class reunion October 10-11, of 2008. The class of 1958 has more Melodiers members than any other class. Keith Weidkamp, Bill Crichton, Rich Sloma and Tom McGowan are all from the class of 1958. Rich Coe is from the class of 1957 and John Sander and Bob Neloms are from the class of 1959. Dennis Hunter is from the class of 1960 and Noel Weidkamp and Mark Gaedicke are from the class of 1962.