#mind garage

Mind Garage "Mind Garage" 1969 + "Again! - The Electric Liturgy" 1970 + "Total Electric Happening" 2009 Anazitisis Records  US Psych Rock,Christian Rock 

Bio

"Tell me what can a poor boy do 'cept to play for a rock roll band..." The Rolling Stones In 1966 Norris Lytton, sax, John Fisher, bass, Mike Clendenin, drummer, Mike Corey, guitarist, Ron Frame, trumpet and Tony Senator keyboards and vocalist extraordinaire were in a popular band in Charleston WV called the Epics. They were a soul band more or less with English invasion influences. John was going to Ohio State, Tony was going to Beckley College in Beckley WV, with fellow classmate Harry Fuller, also a drummer. Mike Corey was attending Morris Harvey, and I believe Ron Frame was also in the local college, and of course, Mike was involved with Corey Brothers - a supplier of fresh fruits, veggies, etc. to Charleston restaurants. Norris was going to West Virginia University. They played lots of James Brown, Chuck Jackson, and enough English covers to make it interesting and diverse. They played regularly at the Sherwood Inn and the Roaring Twenties. Norris would get on the greyhound bus in Morgantown on Friday afternoon and when he arrived in Charleston many hours later, the band would pick him up and head straight for the early gig at Sherwood Inn in Charleston. Later the same night, they would break down the equipment and go to the Roaring Twenties and play until 4am or 5am. The next day, Saturday afternoon, they'd rehearse at the Roaring Twenties, and play there that night again until 4am or 5am. Sunday, Norris would get on the early afternoon bus back to Morgantown and arrive at WVU at 11pm, and go to class on Monday morning. The schedule was becoming too hard to handle. Finally, they were making enough money that Norris was able to take a flight back and fourth during the second semester. Larry was a singer without a band. He had decided in his junior year of High School in 1962, to be an entertainer and would lock himself in his room and sing along with records. On weekends he sang with a local band, Chuck Birch and the Velvetones and Bonnie Bee, usually at the Moose Club, Elk's Club or Sons of Italy Hall. Larry says "I entered the High School talent show and surprised a lot of people because I had always been so quiet, and nobody even knew I could sing. Suddenly in front of the whole school, there I was on stage singing Paul Anka's Diana, and Ritchie Valens' Donna. In my senior year I started a vocal group with two girls for back up. It didn't work. Next I got with a some musicians from school and started another band. It didn't work out either, so I started still another band, named the Spyders. During this early period I appeared on local TV twice with the Spyders. When I graduated I took a Greyhound to Ohio hoping to join a band or find an agent. I had no luck with either joining a band or finding an agent, but I did meet the Dovells ( Bristol Stomp) and Len Barry (1-2-3). An agent in Cincinnati said if I wanted a job to learn Frank Sinatra songs , but I liked Rock and Roll so I auditioned for a television show where I could sing my kind of music. I was accepted and scheduled to appear on the same show with Dionne Warwick. I felt like my big break had arrived, but fate intervened. That same day President Kennedy was assassinated and the show was cancelled. The whole country was depressed and in mourning, and with my dream of being an entertainer put on hold, it was time to return to Charleston and get a job like my parents wanted. I got a job in a factory that made tanks and armored personnel carriers for use in Viet Nam. We made those tanks by hand. There were no robots like the ones in factories now. The metal armor for the sides of the personnel carriers and the tanks , weighed hundreds of pounds. I don't recall the dimensions but they were bigger than a 4 x 8 foot piece of plywood. It was my job to get each one off a 3 foot stack on a wooden pile-it and put it onto a table, and grind the edges to an angle for the welders. I weighed 150 pounds, it weighed 500 or more. There was a technique to it. I had to squat like a weight lifter, push it off the stack so the front would rest on the floor, then push it up into a vertical position and let it fall over forward, oe end landing on a work table. Now and then my arms or legs would simply give out before the piece was completely vertical or in correct position to land on the table. When I felt my arms and legs turning to jelly, it was like a deadly dance. I had to act quickly before it fell and crushed me, and I would shove the piece forward with all the remaining strength I could summon and get out of the way. It would come back at me. You might not realize it, but a piece of metal that big bounces like rubber. It would bounce back at me and might graze my shin, ripping 6 to 8 inches of skin off under my jeans in the process, or it would graze my ankle leaving it sore. When it fell on my foot it might tear the leather exposing the metal in the safety boot. It would have definitely broken any bones with a direct hit. I would go home exhausted and dirtier than you can imagine, covered with black metalic dust from the armor. In the factory it was always hot. There were sparks in the air from metal being ground and polished and constant fire from welding torches. It was like an organized hell. The black dust would cake in my ears and nose and the hair on my head weighed much more by the end of the day. I had a hard hat, goggles and a surgical mask which made the goggles steam up and hard to see through, so I didn't always wear the mask. But with or without the mask I couldn't avoid breathing the metal dust which I coughed it up at night. The factory noise was loud. You had to be right next to someone to hear them speak. I never forgot my music and I would sing at the top of my lungs in harmony to the noise of the machines while I worked. It was a regular band with the deep bass thumping, clanging of metal being bent and shaped under tremendous power of big presses, and the whirring of drills and grinders punching and polishing metal. The others might have seen my lips moving but I don't think anyone could hear me singing. One day I asked for a Friday off to audition for a band in Morgantown, but the superintendent said no. I took the day off anyway and auditioned for a soul band, but a guy who sang like James Brown got the position and I lost my factory job. I never regretted it but my parents were angry. I tried to get a job as a radio DJ, or any position, but the station wasn't going to hire and train a young, single man who wasn't in school. The station manager said it was a waste of time because I would be drafted and all the training would be for nothing. He said get an education and then come back, so I enrolled in West Virginia State College." One Friday night in the summer of '66 Larry was cruising Kanawha City with his friend and former drummer, Ronnie Binford. They saw Norris walking. Ronnie knew him. Both had graduated a year after Larry. Ronnie said let's give him a ride. That's when Larry and Norris met for the first time. Norris invited Larry to an Epics' rehearsal. Tony Senator and John Fisher were talking about going to West Virginia University (WVU) in Morgantown where Norris was enrolled. The Epics were breaking up. They and Norris were tiring of the routine of the rushed trips between Morgantown and Charleston. Tony along with Harry Fuller and John transferred to WVU. Ronnie Frame and Mike Clendenin married their high school sweethearts and moved to Charlotte, NC. Norris and John convinced Larry to transfer to WVU too. It was all so spontaneous, Tony, John and Larry barely had time, only one week left, to enroll in WVU. But they all had the grades so they were accepted. Tuition was outrageously low, $50 a semester. Larry's brother had just graduated from WVU and was giving up his apartment. John and Larry moved into the apartment at 454 Pine Street. Norris already had an apartment on High Street and that's where he met Tom Warfield whom he introduced to John. Warfield was a great guitar player. He moved in at Pine Street and Norris moved to South Park with John Corey and Simon Bailey. Tony lived in the dorm. Warfield met a guy named Jim Bateman in one of his classes and Bateman also moved into Pine Street. Bateman is another story entirely :-) He eventually married a girl named Duck from Chicago, also another story. Love to Jim and Duck, where ever you are. Then John Fisher, Norris Lytton, Tony Senator, Tom Warfield and Harry Fuller started a band which Tom named The Glass Menagerie. That line up lasted a semester until Harry got drafted and was sent to Viet Nam. Then Tony who was in ROTC got married and quit the band and moved back to Beckley, WV, eventually to go into the army himself. Warfield and John asked Larry to be the lead singer. Tom's lead guitar took the place of Tony's keyboard. John played bass. Norris played sax. They found a drummer named Jim Straub. Jim was quite a character and had been the Soldier of the Year in 1965. John was the only one experimenting with writing original songs at the time. They were strange, psychedelic. Tom Warfield married Betsy Gerwhig that winter. At last Spring was coming and the Glass Menagerie was booked in the Midwest. Tom quit the band rather than go on tour. Jack Bond played many different instruments and came to all the Glass Menagerie gigs to watch. Norris remembers Jack showing up wherever they played, "I believe the first time was at a fraternity party, then maybe at the Pleasant Valley Fire Hall in Fairmont. He was a dedicated fan". With Warfield gone, John switched from bass to lead guitar, Norris switched sax to bass and John invited Jack to join the band as keyboardist. Jack didn't have a keyboard so John offered to buy one for him and let him pay it back little at a time. John Fisher had made the connections with agent Ken Adamany in Janesville, Wisconsin, who later discovered the band Cheap Trick. We played songs by the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Animals, Music Machine, Seeds, Velvet Underground, Jefferson Airplane, and others along with some originals. Larry remembers The Rathskeller, "a very interesting club in Mankato, Minnesota that had the "smallest stage I have ever been on". The local college kids, artists and intellectuals came out to see the psychedelic Grass Menagerie and accepted them into their inner circle. There are some beautiful people in the heartland. Larry says "They welcomed us because, as they said, all they ever got in Mankato were some country bands and occassionally, some Buddy Holly cover bands coming up from Texas." There's nothing wrong with Buddy Holly, but variety is the spice of life. And a new kind of music was beginning. It was the Summer of Love. As the tour ended, the Glass(Grass)Menagerie band broke up. Norris, Larry, and Jack returned to Morgantown and lost contact with John Fisher after he joined the Shadows of Knight. Jim Straub left for parts unknown and was not heard from again. After a few weeks back in Morgantown, they began to put together a new band. That's when Norris ran into John Vaughan at De Vincent's music store. John had met Norris in Charleston years before at John Fisher's house. John taught guitar at De Vincent's and was in the process of putting together a band with a female singer, Marla Collins, a guitar player Pete, and a drummer, Ted Smith who was a music major at WVU. Pete had just come back from India. Jack, Norris and Larry went to Pete's garage to jam with Vaughan, Ted, Pete and Marla. Marla had other interests and the band was going to take too much of her time so she decided not to continue with it. Pete's dad came to the garage and was not happy with the idea of a band jamming there, and told Pete he could not be in the band. That left Norris, Jack, Larry, John and Ted. Wham! Electricity!. That was the perfect combination and the Mind Garage, not yet named, was born. The magic mix was greater than any one individually. There was an energy surrounding them. 'No' was not in their vocabulary. Through John Vaughan the unnaned band met the fiery, young Reverend Michael Paine and his wife Victoria from Boston. Rev. Paine was a courageous man who, in the words of the journalist John Corey "withstood the harranging and embarrassing harassment of opposition." from the church elders. It was Victoria (Tori) who named the band the Mind Garage. Reverend Paine wanted to use Rock and Roll in church. John Keester and Bob Reeger, owners of the small Mother Witherspoon bar were kindred souls who were persuaded by Michael and Tori, to let the Mind Garage play in their club. By that time Jimi Hendrix was Experienced, Cream was in the White Room, Procul Harum had turned a Whiter Shade of Pale, and the Doors were sleeping all night in the Soul Kitchen, Tim Leary had turned on, tuned in and dropped out, Surf Music was dead and Psychedelic music was wild, alive and growing. Morgantown was reeling from the effects of the Mind Garage. Another battle ground in the Cultural War was taking place. "Those dirty beatnik hippies" is what they called us. Larry recalls, "Although we were gathering a large following, there were many others who violently disliked 'our kind'. We weren't dirty, weren't beatniks, and didn't know any hippies. We were simply us. Not evil, not overly religious, but Christian. John was the son of a Baptist preacher. Ted and Jack were Catholic, Norris and I were Protestants. To understand how hostile some of the people felt about us, one afternoon a man in a suit passing by the Witherspoon said to Jack, "someone would throw a bomb in there". We were spat upon as freaks, called communists, and were victims of discrimination, hatred, ridicule, lies, beatings and sometimes called anti-christ. The unfortunate longhair walking alone somewhere at night would now and then come across a group of rednecks, frats or jocks hanging out drinking. They would block the path to intimidate the 'hippy' and one of them might whip out scissors to cut the long hair. Having your person threatened over the length of your hair seems absurd now. In some respects Morgantown, a mix of intellectuals and cowboys, seemed like the Wild West. The Witherspoon's beer license was revoked allegedly because alcohol had been sold to a minor. I don't know if that's true or not. But revoking Witherspoon's beer license, leaving soft drinks as the only available beverages, only increased our exposure, because now anyone, even those under 18, the legaldrinking age at the time, not previously allowed in the Witherspoon, could come into the club to hear us play. We continued to pack the club that didn't sell alcohol anymore. That speaks volumes in what was at the time the #1 college party town, and still is I think. But as much as we loved The Mother Witherspoon the owners could not make it financially selling only soft drinks. We made a transition to the Olympia, where we had not been able to get a job until our reputation from the Witherspoon preceded us. The Witherspoon closed. The band's reputation and notoriety continued to spread to Pittsburgh." Reverend Michael Paine had met Malcolm Boyd, also a Reverend and author who had written a book entitled "Are you Running With Me Jesus". That's when Rev. Paine got the idea to combine the Episcopal church's new Liturgy with rock music. The way Rev. Paine expressed it, "you shouldn't leave your humanity at the door" when you go to church. He wanted to bring the music of the beer halls into church in the same way Bach's tavern music had been used in church. We wrote and premiered the Mass in Morgantown soon after, but it was almost stillborn because a photo of the band and Reverend Paine standing around a tree provoked such controversy the church father's forbade us the use of church property. But at last a place was provided by Reverend Jennings Fast of Wesley Methodist Church. That was the turning point. Once we began, it was amazing, the hatred and bigotry toward us mostly disappeared. After the rock worship service, one fur collared woman exclaimed to her dark suited husband on the way out, "I didn't know they were like THAT!! That was BEAUTIFUL". And so it was. Cossie was from Pittsburgh, 100 miles, and many hours away before the interstate. You have to remember this was in the days before PC's, web pages or email, or for that matter 8-tracks, cassettes, Cds, etc. Computers were so big they occupied entire buildings. Word of mouth was how news of the band had spread. Coz heard about us and wanted to be our manager. Cossie and Reverend Paine toured with the Mind Garage playing the Electric Mass and also commercial shows in clubs and arenas on the east coast . Larry says "the Mass was reserved for the church and we never charged for performing it. Wherever we went they invited us back. Often we did return. During 1968 we recorded some demos in the Glen Campbell Studio in Pittsburgh, Pa. Later that same year at Bell Sound Studio in Long Island, New York, we recorded Asphalt Mother and Reach Out which was released on our own Morning Glori Music label. Then in 1969 Cossie secured a recording contract for us with RCA Victor. We recorded one album and two singles for RCA studios in New York, and Chicago before making a pilgrimage to the west coast to spend some time in San Francisco in the Haight Ashbury. It had been arranged that Cossie would send our equipment but it never arrived, so we were unable to play. The band returned to Charleston, West Virginia where we took up residence. John Vaughan stayed in California, and eventually married, but the rest of the band was soon headed to the RCA studios in Nashville run by Chet Atkins. There we recorded "MIND GARAGE AGAIN" and included the Electric Liturgy. We felt that if we didn't take this opportunity to record it, it could be lost forever, as we did not have plans to play it forever. It was an experiment, and not meant to become the standard service. It was the very first rock and roll religious music ever recorded in Nashville. There were always several spots in the Mass where we could insert any song we wanted. Water and Circus Farm from the 1968 Pittsburgh session were re-recorded at RCA studios as part of the Mass for the AGAIN/Electric Liturgy album because we needed original filler, not because they had an particular significance to the Mass. Sometimes we substituted, "Oh Happy Day" or "People Get Ready", both old spirituals into the spots, or another favorite, "Get Together". There is a tangential history to "Get Together" by the Youngbloods, who had also been on RCA before we became the Mind Garage. The Youngbloods' song "Get Together" had been released before in 1967. Jefferson Airplane who were also on RCA released the song. It had not been extremely successful for either group. I had never heard the song when one day in the winter of 67-68, John and Norris arrived at the Olympia where we were practicing and said let's put this in the Mass. They told me the words and hummed the tune. It became one of our most well liked songs in the Mass befoe it became the anthem of a generation. One day in 1969 at the RCA Studio B in New York ( the studio where Elvis stood under the stairs to achieve an echo effect ) we were warming up with "Get Together" and some RCA executives came in, among them Don Burkheimer. They listened as we rehearsed and I remember clearly hearing one of them say with surprise, "hey, we own that song." They decided to start promoting the Youngblood's version again. It appeared in a public service ad on TV. Within six months the song was a chart buster. It is not often that a previously released song is released again several years later by the same group on the same label and becomes a smash hit. We never met the Youngbloods, and I doubt if they knew what part the Mind Garage played in their success, but that Thanksgiving of 1969 we were in San Francisco and we heard they had reveived $200,000 in royalties from RCA. Their response was to take the money and leave RCA. When I told this story to Les Peterson, a good friend and our music consultant he wrote to me: "That is interesting about the Youngbloods song. That explains why it charted two different times. It first charted in 1967 and only went to #62. It was re-released with a different B-side and different ID number but the same version in 1969 and that is when it made it big." The Mind Garage was in Charleston and another album finished, without John. The next stop was Bill Graham's Fillmore East in New York. After that, for the last time, we played with the Iron Butterfly. We began to go our separate ways with longer intervals between returning to the band. Jack would go home to Fairmont sometimes for days or weeks to see his friends and parents. Norris was a Charleston native and he spent more time at his home than with the band. Ted and Larry mostly ocupied the house in Charleston and Norris and Jack stopped in now and then. Plenty of friends dropped in too. I can't even remember locking the door. It was open house. Before long Ted and Larry started to drift in and out of the house too. Then in April 1970 the band simply stopped playing. There was no discussion among us, no fanfare, no announcements, and we had not broken up. One by one each of us left the house, and never came back. Amazingly we walked away, abandoning the house and equipment. It hadn't been planned. I didn't know at the time, but I learned that later Cossie had collected the equipment and sold it for us. What ever we were thinking, if we were thinking at all. It's as if we had been called together for a time, or a task, and now it was recess. It was like exhaling. It's strange, almost funny. Norris says, "somebody forgot to call another practice, that's all". Larry says "We were as close as brothers, but afterwards we went our separate ways and rarely communicated, as if we were under a spell. Who knows why? I didn't think about it. I didnt have contact with anyone for years. I moved to Detroit with my wife, Vicki, who I had married while on the midwestern tour. Unknown to me, Ted had moved to Detroit too. That will give you an insight as to how little we communicated. I ran into Ted after about a year by accident. But I didn't like the cold in Michigan and moved to Florida with Vicki. John remained in California and was married. Ted remained in Detroit also married. Norris remained in WV and was married. Jack stayed in WV but never married. My marriage with Vicki ended and I returned to the WV from 1973 to 1977, until I returned to Florida permanently in 1977. The band never got together or spoke again for over a decade, until one day in the summer of 1983 we were all invited to the Bon Ton, Dr. Ken Roberts' wedding anniversery by Michael and Tori Paine, who somehow knew how to contact each of us. John had come to the party. Someone asked us to play a few songs and we did using the equipment of a British group who was there. It felt good, so we made plans to meet again for a recording session in a few weeks. " That was the Carolina Session. At that session, the band, minus John Vaughan again, got together to record for one day, the first time in 13 years. That CD hasn't been released yet. There are dozens of other songs that the band wrote and never released, packed away in forgotten places. Every now and then some come to light such as "Stained Glass Windows" written by Larry in 1967 before joining the Glass Menagerie. The Mind Garage played it in concert occassionally. It was finally recorded at the 1983 session with Evan Jones on guitar. If it ever is released, when you get to listen to "Stained Glass Windows", you can understand just how tight the band was. They talked the song over, and recorded it in one take with no rehearsal. After 1983 the band drifted apart again for an additional 22 years, rarely communicating. Later John came back from California, and finished his education at the West Virginia University. Jack and Norris did also. They never were in the same band together for some reason, although they might have had the opportunity. Ted bought a home in Michigan, and became the tour drummer for the Spinners for 15 years, touring the world. He continues to play drums with famous artists. Jack took up residence in Florida and traveled the world as a solo artist, and is especially popular in Japan, Canada and Mexico. John Vaughan returned to California and works at Sanford U, and also plays in a Country & Western band. Norris remained in WV and worked as a specialist in the chemical industry. Larry worked in the floral import industry during the 80s, 90s, and the 2000s. All original members regrouped in 2007 for Goodstock, a 3 day festival promoted by Larry McClurg and Artie Kornfeld (of Woodstock 69), and have been writing and recording ever since. The results will be released in the future. Larry comments "In 2005 I received a CD from Jack which was made from the acetate of the 1968 Glen Cambell Studio session in Pittsburgh. In the Winter of 2004, unknown to Jack, his brother Dan found and taken the 1968 demos to Rick Ravenscroft, Jack's long time friend. Rick made a CD and presented it to Jack. Except for a brief appearance at the Carolina Session in 1983 when a few cassette tape copies were made, the acetate and the songs remained ignored, lost and forgotten for 35 years. Even though not a live performance, they represent the band at its finest, a young, original, energetic group. RCA heard, loved and signed them, but was never able to capture the raw sound. When I listened to the CD I was inspired to contact each band member again. It feels like no time has passed". The Early Years CD, now titled "A Total Electric happening" employs all the technics that were used to make the live shows hypnotizing, demanding the crowd's complete attention. A live show really was psychedelic, mind bending. There are great crescendos and silences, mysterious hurried passages in panic, like something is chasing you and then suddenly, safety in soft alien music giving you space to breathe. When the band played in clubs everything stopped, nobody talked, nobody danced, nobody moved, they just watched and listened in unbelieving silence. When a song was over, the audience was in a trance, and it took a few moments to come down and realize they could move again. You could hear a pin drop until someone snapped out of it and started clapping or cheering...mind garage official website....~ Mind Garage was formed after a five person band from Morgantown, West Virginia called the Glass Menagerie disbanded in July 1967 after touring the Midwest. Those leaving the Glass Menagerie were John Fisher, lead guitarist, who joined the Shadows of Knight as a bass player; and Jim Straub, the drummer. The remaining three members, Larry McClurg, Jack Bond, and Norris Lytton returned to Morgantown where they were all students at West Virginia University. After meeting two other WVU students John Vaughan and Ted Smith, it was decided to form a new band. The band was encouraged by WVU's campus minister, Episcopal priest Rev. Michael Paine, who helped the group to organize its religious repertory, while Paine's wife, Victoria "Tori" Paine, suggested the name Mind Garage to the band. The Electric Liturgy In 1967 Paine suggested the band write rock music with Christian content for use in the church, following the tradition of Bach who used popular tavern songs in his music. "At that time, there were virtually no albums available to a national audience that could remotely be described as Christian rock; it's impossible to overstate how radical the "Electric Liturgy" was in that context. The Mind Garage, which never limited itself to one style of music began composing the Electric Liturgy in Paine's attic with a serious intent to get the message across. The Electric Liturgy was conceived as an orthodox Episcopalian service, but was immediately transformed into an inter-denominational service by the people themselves. It was not uncommon to witness Episcopalians, Catholics, Protestants and Jews together, all taking Communion. People who were out of religion found a meaning in the music. The live presentation of the Electric Liturgy contains the Kyrie Eleison and The Service of the Word (Greeting, Opening Prayer, First Reading, Psalm, Epistle Reading, Gospel Reading, Sermon, Creed, Pastoral Prayer and the Offertory), immediately followed by the Service of Communion which concludes with a prayer and Benediction and the dismissal of the congregation. The church programs explained that "the Holy Communion is the Creator's act through His people of binding the wounds and healing a broken humanity. Sometimes it is a party, sometimes not. But participation in it signals your desire to take on hope. Therefore all people confessing their frail humanity and yearning for a greater are welcome to come to the altar and receive Holy Communion." This is the same format used by "Presbyterian, Methodist, and Episcopal service books, historic liturgies from the Catholic Church and the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church, and ancient liturgies from Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Cappadocia...which all have the same basic structure." On March 10, 1968, in the first documented Christian rock worship service, the Mind Garage played live in church, "...as cymbals crashed and voices called for love and thanksgiving, babies squealed and happy smiles spontaneously flickered across the congregation". As a result, "those dirty, beatnick-hippies began to have a new image. 'I didn't know they were like THAT,' one woman exclaimed, "That was beautiful!" The April 14, 1968 Easter Sunday performance originally scheduled on West Virginia University property was cancelled when university administrators backed out of the previous arrangement with Paine and declared the performance unconstitutional. Paine then bargained with the First Presbyterian church to use their parking lot. In the mounting tension the church elders refused to allow the band to use the church facilities when the local paper ran a photo of the Mind Garage in a tree with Paine and friends standing about. At the last moment Rev. Jennings Fast of Wesley Methodist Church provided a place for the service. The Electric Liturgy became so popular the band was invited to perform the worship service in churches throughout the Eastern United States including Washington, D.C., New York, and Princeton University Chapel. The Electric Liturgy was shocking. Dean Ernest Gordon of Princeton University said, "We could all do with a shocking splendid spiritual surprise." On July 24, 1968, the term "theo-rock" was coined in the Village Voice in reference to The Mind Garage music. By the end of 1968, the Mind Garage had performed the "Electric Liturgy" live more than a dozen times, in Episcopal, Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist churches, each time with people dancing in the aisles. Each time the services were attended by Christians and non Christians alike in a communal celebration of life. The Mind Garage "literally packed the church". What they did was "...to contemporize religious music. Make it for people today, much as John Wesley or Martin Luther did. A nationally televised Christian Rock and Roll worship service was given by the Mind Garage in St. Mark's Episcopal church in New York on ABC TV, on April 13, 1969. An award-winning article by Joyce Tracewell describes the Electric Mass: "Sun shines through stained glass and colors bounce until the kaleidoscopic vision is suddenly shattered by incredibly swelling music. Smiling musicians with flowery clothes, jeans, long hair, beards and sunglasses play deliberate alien music, the kind that makes you shiver. It fills the room to the ceiling pushing against the walls. They sing in voices that should have belonged to Druids or Incas, or Gypsies under a night sky, and you see Jesus smiling at them. When you leave you feel somebody has been dissecting your soul and everything is clearer. And that's what an Electric Mass is." One poster associated with the Mind Garage is a line drawing of a bare chested woman with long flowing hair that nearly covers the chest, with her arms raised, surrounded by the group. It was used several times as the cover for service booklets, most notably in St. Mark's Episcopal Church in the Bowery, New York City. An adaptation was created for the Electric Liturgy by covering the woman's chest with a banner displaying the words "We Welcome You To The Electric Liturgy, A Festival of Feeling, The Electric Mass". Recording career While still known only locally, the Mind Garage recorded an original single 45 rpm "Asphalt Mother", and drew the attention of major record companies like Chess Records, Atlantic Records and RCA. Marshall Chess came to see the band expecting to hear blues and went away baffled as to the kind of music they played. Atlantic Records only wanted to sign McClurg, but he refused to leave the band. Meanwhile, the Mind Garage continued to play the Electric Mass in church services for free wherever asked, while at the same time shocking and entertaining the audiences in clubs, concert halls and stadiums with their own style of secular, psychedelic rock. In 1969 the group's newly acquired manager, Tom Surman, aka Cossie, negotiated a contract for the entire band with RCA, the largest record company in the world. The Mind Garage recorded two albums and two singles in New York, Chicago and Nashville studios. Armed Forces Radio and Television Service entertained troops at home and abroad in Vietnam with the music of the Mind Garage and other artists such as Gary Lewis, Bob Seger, and Percy Faith. The Mind Garage often appeared with groups such as Canned Heat, Sly and the Family Stone, Paul Butterfield, all of whom played at Woodstock 1969. The Mind Garage declined the invitation to perform at Woodstock in 1969. In 1970, when their recording contract was about to expire, RCA offered to renew it but the band declined. Without explanation they walked away from a recording career, and simply stopped playing. The band never officially broke up. There was no press release, and no dispute among members, or management. Drummer Ted Smith, acknowledged by the Zildjian cymbals as one of the best drummers in the world, continued his career with the Spinners as tour drummer for the next several decades, and can be heard on the Spinners "LIVE" album (Atlantic SD 2-910-1198). Reunion In 2007 all five original band members reunited for a music festival. The Father of Woodstock Artie Kornfeld teamed up with Larry McClurg to promote Goodstock Music Festival, reported Pollstar. According to Kornfeld, "I consider Goodstock to be the first real attempt to have another 3 days of peace and music". "When everybody's doing Woodstocks in 2009, I'm going to be doing Goodstock -The Woodstock Reunion 2009, and that's my dream for Larry and I to have." ....Classic Christian Rock.....~ Mind Garage  "Mind Garage" 1969 first album From Morgantown, West Virginia. Although some of their material is psychy rock-pop, much is '69 class-of-brass too. The Electric Liturgy is reportedly along the same lines as the Electric Prunes' Mass In F Minor although Mind Garage were not aware of Mass In F Minor and had been performing their Electric Liturgy in churches for several years before they released the above album. Larry McClurg: "My own contributions were original, and I assumed the others were also. Mind Garage collaborated on the Electric Liturgy at the suggestion of Reverend Michael Paine and his wife Tori. The idea was to bring the contemporary music into the church while attracting the young people who might not otherwise ever visit a church. We started as "garage" musicians and were not into ministry. In fact we were very much a part of the 'street'. As I remember, Reverend Paine explained the church seemed too far away from real life... "you shouldn't leave your humanity at the door" when you enter church."....~ Credits 

Bass, Tenor Saxophone, Written-By – Norris N. Lytton Drums, Percussion, Written-By – Ted Smith Guitar, Written-By – John Vaughan Keyboards, Organ [Farfisa], Written-By – Jack Bonasso Lead Vocals, Written-By – Larry McClurg Tracklist 

Ruby Rose 3:22 Life 3:51 Back Down Home 3:10 Further Back Down Home 1:53 There Was A Time 3:31 Sweet Potato 4:11 Doctor John 6:14 Never Leave Me 1:47 Angel Asks 5:09 What's Behind Those Eyes 2:44 Mind Garage  "Again! - The Electric Liturgy" 1970 From Morgantown, West Virginia. Although some of their material is psychy rock-pop, much is ’69 class-of-brass too. The Electric Liturgy is reportedly along the same lines as the Electric Prunes’ Mass In F Minor although Mind Garage were not aware of Mass In F Minor and had been performing their Electric Liturgy in churches for several years before they released the above album. Larry McClurg: “My own contributions were original, and I assumed the others were also. Mind Garage collaborated on the Electric Liturgy at the suggestion of Reverend Michael Paine and his wife Tori. The idea was to bring the contemporary music into the church while attracting the young people who might not otherwise ever visit a church. We started as “garage” musicians and were not into ministry. In fact we were very much a part of the ‘street’. As I remember, Reverend Paine explained the church seemed too far away from real life… “you shouldn’t leave your humanity at the door” when you enter church.”....~ Electric Liturgy originated in 1967 and is the: first documented live Christian rock worship service in any church, March 10, 1968; first documented nationally televised Christian rock worship service, ABC-TV April 25, 1969; first documented Christian rock music on national news, NBC-TV August 8, 1969; first documented Christian rock music ever recorded in Nashville, December, 1969 on RCA. Before the beginnings of Jesus music, the Mind Garage had already performed the Electric Liturgy Christian rock worship service live for thousands of people in churches from New York to Washington DC. Before Larry Norman, the Mind Garage had given the Liturgy live in church for even thousands more, and performed the first nationally televised Christian rock service from St Marks in NY, and had been on prime time television news seen by millions. Before the advent of Nashville's CCM, the Mind Garage recorded the Electric Liturgy in Nashville, and continued to perform the Liturgy until spring 1970. The format is based on Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal service books, historic Catholic Church and Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church Liturgies. The Mind Garage plays original music throughout the entire service. The Processional uses the ancient words of the Kyrie Eleison and the Gloria. The Greeting, Opening Prayer and the Old Testament music is based on the Christmas Song by the Mind Garage. Abraham lyrics based on the story of Abraham in Genesis. The 23rd Psalm, the Epistle (1st Corinthians), the Gospel (John 3:16), and the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus(Matthew 5: 3-10) are recited to music based on Bach. The Nicene Creed music is based on the final movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The Offeratory Peace and Thanksgiving are recited over the Mind Garage song Filling up The Universe. The Our Father( The Lord's Prayer) lyrics are the words of Jesus. Communion music is based on the Christmas Song by the Mind Garage. The Recessional is the last movement......~ At the height of psychedelia, Mind Garage was formed in 1967 by students of West Virginia University in Morgantown. Encouraged by the campus minister and named by his wife, the band began working on an electric church service. Their “Electric Liturgy” was one of the earlier documented examples of the marrying the gospel message with rock music and was performed live in church in March 1968. Additionally, their participation at St. Mark’s Church in New York City was televised by ABC in 1969. While Larry Norman is credited as being the father of contemporary Christian music, Mind Garage were performing Christian rock music a full year before Norman and their 1969 self-titled release was issued the same year as Norman’s debut album, “Upon this Rock.” Others who also recorded religious flavored rock were The Byrds and The Electric Prunes.   Our Spiritual Sunday selection comes from their second LP released in 1970, “Mind Garage Again.” The album features their “Electric Liturgy” and their version of “The Lord’s Prayer.”....~ Credits Keyboards – Jack Bonasso Lead Vocals – Larry McClurg Percussion – Ted Smith Vocals, Bass, Saxophone – Norris Lytton Vocals, Lead Guitar – John Vaughan Tracklist 

Tobacco Road 2:06 Circus Farm 2:50 Lucille 1:28 Emotion 2:50 Isle Of Ely 4:42 Jailhouse Rock 1:23 Paint It Black 3:39 The Electric Liturgy Processional; Kyrie; Gloria 5:08 Offertory (Sunday Christian) 2:20 The Lord's Prayer 2:16 Communion (Water) 4:14 Recessional 2:28 Mind Garage "A Total Electric Happening" 2009 Anazitisis Records Limited edition of 500 copies "A Total Electric Happening" contains their very first single privately released in 1968 through their own MORNING GLORI label plus 7 previously unreleased songs. All come from an old acetate made for promo use in 1968. This official release comes in a gatefold (uni-pak, US type cover) with lots of photos and memorabilia. Plus extra 4-pages insert with bio and photos and an extra post-card (petition). PVC protective outersleeve....~ This album is everything a great psych album should be, with swirling organ and towering fuzz guitar. Their sound is very reminiscent of Vanilla Fudge, but with the soul flavor being replaced by heavy psych. Their song writing is probably their weakest link, but it's still excellent. For years, all the collecting crowd had to go on for pre-LP Mind Garage material, was their '68 single, "Asphalt Mother". This is truly great and rather unlike the stuff found on either of their LP's. One was always left to wonder if there was anything more like that around. Now, with the release of this archival album, we can see that that single was originally intended as part of this LP, which includs plenty more where it came from. Yes, there are better psych albums out there, but it's hard for me to imagine any fan of the genre being disappointed by this. It comes with the first back history insert I've ever seen that probably includes too much info. ...tymeshifter.....~ Tracklist 

A1 B-52 A2 Sale Of A Death Man A3 What Shall We Do 'Till Norris Comes A4 Water A5 Star Goddess B1 Circuy Farm B2 This Town B3 Reach Out B4 Asphalt Mother Members 

Larry McClurg - lead vocals Norris Lytton - vocals, bass and sax Ted Smith - percussion Jack Bond - vocals, keyboard John Vaughan - vocals, lead guitar Discography 

The Mind Garage- Asphalt Mother

Mind Garage said NO to playing at Woodstock.  That's why you've never heard of them.  Morgantown's Mind Garage was essentially the first Christian rock group, and played the first-ever christian rock broadcast on television.