The Impact of Brass

I came across a CMA (Creative Management Associates) catalogue of artists the other day in my Impact of Brass stuff up in the attic. It was from 1970 and reminded me of how much time we spent away from our home base of Crossway Airport Inn that year. The catalogue listed the acts and attractions that CMA was promoting and we were one of them.

That time on the road worked out well for many reasons, not the least of which being that Ray Barbarino, the proprietor of the Crossway and our mentor had decided to remodel and enlarge the “Flight Deck” Lounge since we’d started to outgrow the original room. I think we spent close to nine months on the road that year, broken up by a couple of weeks in the “Boom Boom Room” of the Fontainebleau on Miami Beach, which could have been considered a totally different audience market from the mainland of Greater Miami.

Looking back 50+ years when we were performing for audiences all across the country at State Fairs, College Concerts, Industrial date one-nighters, etc. and even began building a following in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe, Nevada. We opened and appeared on the bill with the biggest names in the business, Bob Hope, Paul Revere & The Raiders, John Davidson, Englebert Humperdinck, Charlie Pride, Oliver, James Darren, The Gold Diggers, George Kirby, The Osmond Brothers, Bobby Goldsboro, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Red Skelton…and on and on! That year we were introduced to all of their audiences across the country and CMA booked us into so many of those dates giving us exposure to new audiences which was just what we needed. It was a pretty heady time for us, not to mention the learning experiences. And I might add it seemed natural after our first break 3 years earlier spending the summer opening for and then backing up The Rhodes Brothers, (Ruey, John, Tom and Eddie).

So here’s a video of that time with pictures from the CMA Catalogue and some of our adventures. We were so lucky to have fans like you!
Much Love, God Bless & Peace.