Carnival of Soul

That would have been roughly 1978-1982, or parts thereof on the bookend years. Like most of my many bands, I have referenced Vision her—e and there in my columns to date for The Southern, but a bit of an in-depth review might bring back some memories for some peeps and it might also serve to illustrate a certain music business phenomenon tied to the late-Seventies punk rock explosion.

Vision grew out of several bands that existed or had broken up, as is often the case. The members included Mike Ebersohl, drummer and singer, a Murphysboro fellow who has since lived in suburban Chicago from the mid-’80s to now, and Mike was in a band known then and thereabouts as Medicine Wheel. Steve Mitchell — not the current City of Carbondale economic development director Steve Mitchell — singer/guitarist/songwriter, and our first bassist/singer the late Howard Williams were in existing bands.

In fact, Mike chimes in via text: “A little pre-Vision-with-Robbie history: Steve and I started Vision by a happy accident in Murphysboro in 1976. Janice Fry (later of Dr. Bombay) was our bassist before Howard. We went through five lineup versions total; Robbie, your tenure started version three.”

I had been in the group Rolls Hardley with bassist Joe Krysiak, drummer/singer Randy Bradle from Coal Kitchen/Devil’s Kitchen, and keyboardist/singer Bob Pina, also from Coal Kitchen and later a key figure in the clever arrangements of many of the songs of Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows. Bob had performed similar functions with the SIU Marching Salukis. I was also in The Buster Boy Band with the late Richard “Pooh” Simpson, keys, Gary “Nirk” Newkirk, bass, John “Lefty” Wallerich, guitar, and once again Randy Bradle on drums and vocals.

Additionally I was at the time a sort of honorary member of the Skid City Blues Band (AKA simply Skid City) and an occasionally-needed sort of utility guy with Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows. These names may bring up many a swell memory for Carbondale and SIU scene-makers from back in that day.

Members of The Skids were Billy “Des” Desmond (guitar/slide guitar/lead vocals), Bobby Valentine (drums), Jack “Fast Jack” O’Boyle (lead guitar), Jackie “Slo-Jack” Slojacich (rhythm guitar), and Brian Sandstrom (bass) and either Ron Sorin (of Chicago’s Big Shoulders) or Greta Mitchell (now Tristram and of NYC) on blues harp.

Representative early versions of Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows included Tango West (bass), Ron West (Hammond organ, and later on Bob Pina piano/organ), the legendary Larry “Big Twist” Nolan (lead vocals), the late Pete Special (guitar, vocals), Terry Ogolini (tenor sax), Melvin Crisp (drums) and various trumpeters including Mark Olson and the long-running tenure of Don Tenuto. Martin “Big Larry” Albritton sang with them, as well. Other players drifted through, with long stints on drums by Herrin’s Eric Jensen (drums and also as stated a member of the later Vision when Mike “went out front” as lead singer). Guitar was ably added to the Big Twist fold by the late Dave Mick and Hammond organ from Chicagoan Sid Wingfield, and many others, as well. The Alligator Records website has some information on the various versions of Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows. I pride myself on working from memory and the odd photo in these articles as much as possible, with fact-checking forays into interviews and Google searches as needed.

With Vision, we began to assemble the band in Murphysboro on 20th Street in 1978, as I recall. We performed a patchwork quilt of tunes by artists such as Foreigner, Lynryd Skynrd, ZZ Top, Eric Clapton, Bob Seger, the Grateful Dead, Dire Straits and Robert Palmer. Straight-up chart rock of the day, for the most part (we did play “Help on the Way” by the Grateful Dead, definitely not a chart hit single). There is nothing wrong with paying the bills!

During this time, we played most all the clubs on The Strip in Carbondale, and there were a LOT of them. Mike Ebersohl adds from Chicago via the same text: “I remember we also played a lot of Little Feat early on. Ha, do you remember dedicating ‘Air Blower’ by Jeff Beck to our replacement furnace (at the band house) one night?! On the flip side with New Wave I also remember playing XTC, Clash, Talking Heads, Patti Smith, Nick Lowe and the New York Dolls.”

Note: One of my earlier columns centered on those many venues available to our bands in Carbondale. Vision traveled a bit — Decatur, Peoria, and even played Shawneetown (our then-talent agency, Shawnee Talent, sent us there).

All around that time, pre-internet of course, an interesting trend was starting to blow in, and from the UK especially. Who were the Sex Pistols, for Pete’s sake, with their songs “God Save the Queen” and “Pretty Vacant?” Guys who bought imported records started making tapes with new bands that definitely did not sound like Skynryd. College radio was picking up on the trends. Magazines showed strange new onstage clothes, skinny ties, sunglasses worn ‘round the clock. Guitar solos were getting shorter and so was the hair! Original material was the ticket.

We started writing, especially Vision’s Steve Mitchell. Every week it seemed our hair got shorter and there was a run on skinny ties and the little weird rock band buttons we would wear on our shirts. Not a bellbottom was seen! Stove-pipe pants were the deal, and Converse All Stars. Our playlists expanded to reflect this new new wave trend as we covered Elvis Costello’s “Alison” and “What’s So Funny ‘bout Peace, Love and Understanding?” We did “I’m Bored” by Iggy Pop (“I’m the chairman of the bored…”). The originals flooded our set lists.

There is a grainy, old black-and-white video that may still be up on YouTube of “Vision at the Cave” — Shawnee Cave south of Murphysboro — on a bill with Coal Kitchen, Big Twist, and Skid City Blues. That video has, unaccountably, quite good sound and shows us at our mid-late peak with Mike (Ebersohl) out front singing, Eric Jensen on drums, Alfredo Jahn on bass and as always Steve Mitchell and myself on guitars and vocals.

The band’s gradual yet still pretty fast metamorphosis from Foreigner (“Feels Like the First Time”)-playing, long-haired classic rockers into new wave/punk-influenced songwriter/performers built momentum. We still did guitar solos, though! We traveled further, primarily the burgeoning alternative scene in Chicago, playing Tut’s on Belmont Avenue with BB Spin and a tough little joint called Nino B.’s Anarchies. Songs flew off our fingers, especially from Steve Mitchell: “Television,” “There’s a Murder Goin’ On,” “Distracted.” I wrote a few tunes like “Hungry” and “Test Tube Baby,” and we took ourselves pretty seriously, hah!

That was an exhilarating time. MTV started to pop up as a real force for promoting that new musical direction — “Turning Japanese” by the Vapors, anyone? — the Police, the Buzzcocks, the Clash, XTC, Squeeze, the Thompson Twins, the Psychedelic Furs, Suzi Quatro, and so many other greats popped up and are part of musical history now.

By 1982 or so, Vision drifted apart. Mike Ebersohl has a home studio in the west Chicago suburbs and plays the occasional show out, as well as records with a band called The Injured Parties. Drummer Eric Jensen is a Chicago-based news cameraman and plays with Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows’ successor band the Chicago Rhythm and Blues Kings. Steve Mitchell is in advertising in Minnesota and Alfredo Jahn works in the airline industry in Texas.

Hope you enjoyed. These columns are to a great extent intended as walks down memory lane and as exercises in regional music history. Connect the dots!

Vision was a fun band!