"They showed countless Minnesota musicians that four guys from flyover land could become stars."
So writes Rick Shefchik in the prologue to his adulatory new book, "Everybody's Heard About the Bird: The True Story of 1960s Rock 'n' Roll in Minnesota."
In that particular passage, the longtime Pioneer Press reporter and columnist is referring to "Surfin' Bird" hitmakers the Trashmen, who are the centerpiece of his 350-page chronicle of local rock pioneers. However, Shefchik also spreads the love to many other bands of that era that weren't as successful but were as worthy of making it out of flyover land — from forerunners Augie Garcia and Mike Waggoner & the Bops to the Underbeats, Castaways, Gestures, Rave-Ons, Litter and Dave Brady & the Stars.
Just like "Surfin' Bird" and the other songs of that era, the best word that could be used to describe Shefchik's book is simply "fun." It captures the youthfulness and overriding naiveté of rock's infancy. Here are eight standout stories that reflect that spirit.
1. Augie Garcia owned 32 pairs of Bermuda shorts. "He was a little bit of a character," Mike Waggoner is quoted on Garcia, the West St. Paul native who returned home from the Korean War to land Minnesota's first hit rock 'n' roll record, 1958's "Hi Yo Silver." Garcia donned those goofy shorts as a signature look and needed 32 pairs because, as Shefchik recounts, his band played two shows a night, five nights a week, at the River Road Club in Mendota.
2. "Elston Gunnn" was not fired by Bobby Vee. As is well-known in Bob Dylan lore, a teenage Robert Zimmerman played two shows under his three-n alias with Fargo-reared "Suzie Baby" hitmaker Vee and his band, the Shadows, in 1959. It's agreed he wasn't very good, but that's not why he was let go. "Equipment issues" is how Shefchik glibly refers to the fact that Zimmerman didn't actually own a piano.
3. Only one band stunk that legendary night in 1964 at Danceland. "When we played, everybody got up and danced. When they played, everybody sat down and had a Coke." So remembers Waggoner & the Bops bassist Butch Maness of the night they shared a bill with the Rolling Stones on June 12, 1964, at Big Reggie's Danceland in Excelsior, an account substantiated by many other attendees — including Mick Jagger last summer at TCF Bank Stadium.
4. The Trashmen dealt with a lot of trashed crowds. Right after "Surfin' Bird" became a hit, the band was often hit on and/or just hit when they played to heavily drinking crowds at such outlets as the Showboat Ballroom outside Luverne, Minn., or Woodley's Country Dam near Amery, Wis. "The girls would be smiling and winking at you," guitarist Tony Andreason remembers, "and the guys were waiting for you at the end of the night."
