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Mike Bruce was the guitarist for STV, the Bob Seger/Dave Teegarden/Skip VanWinkle band that recorded "Smokin OP's" in 1972.
Does anyone know how Bruce came to Detroit from Tulsa? At one time, there was an organ/drums/guitar trio that played in Detroit area teen clubs in the early 70's. Tee and Wee knew them, and I saw the trio play a couple of times at the Something Different, one of Punch's places. Was Bruce in that group?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPxUj5XfLQI
Thanks in advance.
Are you talking about the same Mike Bruce that played guitar w/Alice Cooper. He left the group and formed another band called Billion Dollar Babies, but obviously ran into legal hassles with that name. I'm suspecting that the Cooper connection might have led to Detroit and being introduced to the scene here. Just a guess.
The mike bruce from Teegarden VanWinkle is not the mike bruce from alice cooper.
Just to clarify, this Mike Bruce didn't play with Skip and Dave until they joined with Seger. I'm wondering if he played with a similar group.
Mike and David were friends and from Tulsa. Teegarden & Van Winkle came to Detroit to expand their career. It was a natural move for them because Detroit was a hot Rock market.
Teegarden & Van Winkle played off and on with Seger and Mike was just part of the deal.
And this Mike isnt the same Mike with Alice.
Sad to say Mike died a few years ago
I found Mike's obit and thought I would share it. It gives a little background on his career and move to Detroit.
What a great guy!
Tulsa World, Aug 25, 2005 - Mike "Monk" Bruce, one of Tulsa's best-known rock and blues-rock guitarists for more than a quarter century, died Tuesday. He had been living with his wife, Cindy, in Bentonville, AR, where he was waiting for a liver transplant. He was 58.
Bruce grew up playing music in Tulsa, graduating from Nathan Hale High School. He was living and working in California with another famed Tulsa musician, drummer Jimmy Karstein, when a hometown friend, Ernie Fields Jr., called and asked if they'd be interested in a job with R & B great Bobby "Blue" Bland.
We looked at each other and said, "Bobby Bland? When do we leave?" recalled Bruce in a 1990 interview.
Bruce toured with Bland from 1969 until 1971, when he tired of the road and returned to Tulsa. He hadn't been home long when his old friend David Teegarden, then based in Detroit, offered him a job with the duo Teegarden & Van Winkle, which had recently taken on a local boy named Bob Seger as a vocalist-guitarist. Bruce took over as lead guitarist for the outfit, recording several albums - both with and without Seger - and appearing in the unreleased concert movie "Ten for Two."
He was just a monstrous player, a brother, all those things," said Teegarden. "A gifted musician who was incredibly well-rounded. He should have been a legend, and it's kind of regrettable that he never really got discovered."
After leaving Teegarden & Van Winkle, Bruce returned to Tulsa, where he played in a dizzying number of bands, ranging from country [[Big Frank) to jazz [[the Jazz Babies), and taught guitar. He also worked with drummer-vocalist Mike Dragoo and the late bassist Steve Munson in the well-remembered Soul Avengers, as well as booking gigs under his own name. A disc of Soul Avengers music from a decade earlier was released in 2003.
By that time, Bruce was suffering from hepatitis, which he believed he had picked up during a Far East tour with Michael Jackson's sister Rebbie. He continued to play guitar intermittently until his death.
Memorial donations can be made to the Mike Bruce Medical Fund, c/o Samaritan House, PO Box 939, Rogers, AR 72757.
".....local boy named Bob Seger..."? Thanks for posting the obit. It answered a couple of questions.
I heard Seger tell a story about the time he, David, Mike and Skip Knape [[van winkle) were on the road and had a couple huge biker body guards. The body guards fell asleep so they went to some local joint for some food. Dave started getting harrassed about his hair and they had to drag him back to the hotel before a fight broke out. Seger used this to pen Turn the Page.
Was in Tulsa last night for Leon Russell's birthday concert, and got to thinking about my childhood days in North Tulsa. In 4th grade [[1962) I played baseball with Mike Brown, Skip Knape's half brother. Mike and I got to be buddies, and he invited me over to spend the night one week-end. I remember well walking in the front door and seeing the baby grand piano that took half the space of the small living room. I met Skip and was amazed to hear him play that piano. I really didn't know about his musical aspirations. He was always nice to me, like a big brother. He helped me with my batting, and rendered first aid when I cut my foot playing on the school yard. Leon just turned 70, and I did a little math, wondering if Skip and Leon may have crossed paths. That's when I Googled Skip Knape. I had no idea he was the Van Winkle with Teegarden.
Talk about a blast from the past...
I remember Teegarden & VanWinkle, because they played at our Junior High School Graduation ceremony [[back then they didn't have "Middle Schools"). And they were so loud that my ears were ringing for 3 days. I swore that I would never attend a rock concert again without wearing ear plugs. Good move on my part.... now decades later... many of my friends are at least somewhat hard of hearing... and one friend drives me nuts watching TV with closed captioning...
But my hearing is still very good... thanks to Teegarden & VanWinkel! :D
I dunno. In the early '70s, I still thought Lawrence Welk was a little far out.
What ever happened to Tex Beneke?
Last I heard... he's living with some gal in Kalamazoo-zoo-zoo-zoo...Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray1936
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFv_PoZ2iP0
[[See if you can spot Jackie Gleason and Cesar Romero as well as Tex Beneke and Glenn Miller.)
Thanks for that link, Gistok. Now, THAT'S a band! Those guys can even read music, unlike most of todays wanna-be's.
Flame at me all you want, gang, but I think today's so-called music absolutely sucks. It appeals to those who know nothing of music. Music is properly defined as "a harmonious combination of sounds", not friggin' noise.
Ray1936,
Not to flame out or anything here, but you can't say all of today's music sucks...there are some fantastic musicians out there both on the national and local scenes. I cruise the internet nightly to find new, unheard of artists and love hearing them. All genres are covered, there is new big band music coming out along with hip hop, rap, country, gospel...you name it, it's out there. A lot of these talented artists have thier stuff on YouTube and internet radio stations for free just for the exposure. Try looking for a style of music that moves you personally and you may be surprised at what you find...better than saying it all sucks...
And yes, I buy the tracks [[usually albums) I like and see the bands I like...
I dunno, I kind of miss the classic crooners who had a message, like Larry Wild Man Fischer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluenote132003
Merry go, merry go, merry go round....
Thanks for the earworm.
Hmmmmmm.......the 70's. Don't remember that decade too well. Too many drugs back then!Quote:
Originally Posted by Ray1936
source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/allinthefamilylyrics.htmlQuote:
Boy the way Glen Miller played
Songs that made the hit parade.
Guys like us we had it made,
Those were the days.
And you knew who you were then,
Girls were girls and men were men,
Mister we could use a man
Like Herbert Hoover again.
Didn't need no welfare state,
Everybody pulled his weight.
Gee our old LaSalle ran great.
Those were the days.
Yesterday I resurrected Mahavishnu Orchestra's Birds of Fire.
Plug your ears, Ray. ;)