After leaving the Electric Prunes in the summer of 1970 I had
three choices of as to where I was going to live and work. Thank
goodness I chose British Columbia, Canada - a georgous provence
in western Canada. Brett Wade had moved back home to Canada after
leaving the "Prunes." Months later he called and said
he was living in a cabin on Cultus Lake near Chilliwack, BC with
the foundation of a band composed of both great singers and song
writers. I was immediately intrigued and flew to the western provence
of Canada - British Columbia and ended up staying for almost three
years. The group was truly a "musician's band."
We recorded our album at the A&M Hollywood studio in 1972
- spending less than a week in production.
The album was produced by Claire Lawrence - (member of Chilliwack).
Two coast-to-coast Canadian tours followed the albums release
on the Heida Records (distributed by A&M Canada). The first
tour culminated with a live performance on CBC in Montreal. One
of my favorite theater shows was in Toronto (a favorite city of
mine)...what an incredible performance and beautiful venue!
Unfortunately, the abundant amount of material and talent didn't
guarantee success. Although the majority of my favorite musical
experiences occurred while in this band, an incredible amount
of music never made it past the taping process. Fortunately, I
still have a tape of eleven songs that were favorites in concerts,
but were never placed on an album.
Even though we had enough material to record several more albums,
the opportunity would not present
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Whetstone in 2007
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itself. I've yet to be in a band that had as much vocal harmony
ability. Live shows were dynamic, musically inspired and exciting.
Years later I continue to have countless late night, vivid dreams
where I was performing with the band. Something deep in my psychic
has never been able to let-go of those musicial days of youth
and creativity, nor have I found a replacement that musically
inspired me to the same degree.
I live in Colorado and keep the creative fires burning with photography
and drumming on several of my restored 60's and early 70's drum
kits. I keep one such set of black 1968 Ludwigs in Tulsa, for
when I perform in Oklahoma with Little
Joe McLerran. Additionally, I am a licensed real estate broker
and currently involved in several entrepreneurial pursuits.
- 2007 Little Joe McLerran recorded a live CD titled
Live At Last at Nissis in Layafate, CO - R J Whetstone
(aka Damprock) was on drums and additonally was credited
with designing the CD cover and incert graphics, along
with the photography. Little Joe went on to win the 2009
International Blues Challenge in Memphis (more)
- Performed at the Oklahoma Blues Festival 2006 in Tulsa
with Little Joe
and Robbie Mack; additional performances in Colorado
- The two final Electric Prunes albums (Warner Bro./Reprise
Records) that I sang and drummed on in '67 & '68 were
re-released in October 2006. Just Good Old Rock &
Roll and Release Of An Oath...were re-released
almost forty years later on Collectors
Choice Music. Brett Wade played base and wrote
several songs for 'Good Old Rock & Roll.
- My photography of musicians at the International Blues
Challenge in Memphis 2006 - 09 are being shown on several
websites across the country and around the world. Photos
from the New Orleans Jazz Festival also can be seen below
in this photo gallery preview:
Whetstone
Images - Gallery Preview
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Memphis TN - Beale
St.
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Dr.
John - New Orlesns
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Kermit
Ruffens - New Orleans Jazz Fest
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Here
I am at Cesars Place
with camera - Las Vegas 2007
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Low
resolution photos shown in 72 dpi
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