Mike Jones (Hodgeman) (vocals ex-Majestics), Skip Herbert (guitar), Walt Bailey (bass), Liberty DeVitto ‘Libby’ (drums), Jimmy Loomis (sax), J.D. Crane (trombone). Herbert and Bailey were members of A Taste. Crane had been Don Lehnhoff’s replacement with the Mitch Ryder Show. Jones’ single on the Portown record label featured backing by And the Echoes.
(Courtesy of Sam Towers)
Recollections from Sam Towers:
September 1968. After many years together at Hollywood Park, our band The Elegants, finally dissolved, and we all went our separate ways. Singer Mike Hodgeman stayed at Hollywood Park and formed his own band, which he called “The Mike Jones Band”. Here is where the name “Mike Jones” came from. When the “Club Venus” opened in 1966, George Mihalos sold Hollywood Park to pharmacist Ben Max, and local music promoter Dave Hutchinson. Ben and Dave immediately put Mike under a management contract, and because they thought Mike sounded a lot like Tom Jones, a popular singer of the day, they had him change his last name to “Jones” too – hence the name of his band. Mike’s drummer in that band was a kid from New York named Liberty DeVitto. Later on, in the mid-1970s, Liberty got a big break in his musical career when he was hired to play drums for Billy Joel. For the next thirty years, he continued to play with and record on all of Joel’s hit records!
1969 Portown 101 Secret Love / When a Lonely Boy Meets a Lonely Girl
