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Paper
Bag
The Early Years
1973
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Paper
Bag
The Early Years
1973
Go to the top of this page
Paper
Bag
The Early Years
1973
Go to the top of this page
Paper
Bag
The Early Years
1973
Go to the top of this page
Paper
Bag
The Early Years
1973
Go to the top of this page
Paper
Bag
The Early Years
1973
Go to the top of this
Paper
Bag
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| The Paper Bag story begins in January 1973 in a basement in Uniondale. The Phil Gagliano Band rehearsed in Gene Jacobs' parent's house on Walton Ave. The original lineup for the band was |
The Phil Gagliano Band
- Mike Guido, on Miller-boy's Framus bass, saxophone and vocals
- Marc Dattoma on flute and vocals
- Doug Dattoma on guitar (Gretch Country Gentleman) and vocals
- Gene Jacobs on the "orange bomb" guitar and vocals
- Jerry DeCarlo on keyboards and funny drawings
- Don Civitella on drums and vocals.
- Larry Lupo and Rich Tedaldi provided moral support.
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The Real Phil Gagliano
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| While we were looking for a name (which is always the hardest thing about forming a band, thinking of a name) All we could think of was "Dumbo." A DJ on the radio by the name of Pete Fornatel happened to mention Phil Gagliano, who was a ball player who had played for the Cardinals, Cubs, Red Sox and Reds, and said that he liked sound of the name. The DJ went on to state that a band should name themselves after this ballplayer. As a matter of fact, if he ever did hear of a band with that name he would play all their records, whatever they sounded like. We immediately became "The Phil Gagliano Band." As a logo we chose an anchovie pizza alongside a bottle of chianti. We rehearsed on Saturdays or Sundays in Gino's basement. At around 10 in the morning we would begin setting up, soldering together, monkey rigging and assembling the equipment that passed for guitar amps. My original bass amp was the chassis from a Webcor tape recorder, with a wire soldered to a speaker from an old black & white TV that had a shredded cone. There was no PA system. We sang directly into the tape deck microphones. We would rehearse for about 4 hours and tape the whole thing on Gino's Tandberg reel to reel. We then would climb the 2 flights of stairs and listen back to the entire 4 hours . . . and laugh our heads off. This pattern has continued throughout the ensuing decades. Anyway, one night, the band went to the Uniondale Mini Cinema and saw the film Pink Flamingos. Naturally we were all piled into one car (maybe Dougie's Nash). The premise of the film centers around a competetion (of sorts) to determine who is the most disgusting person alive. The principal character is a 400 pound transvestite named Devine. Well . . . as we were on the way home from the movie, Don says "Remember that music behind the scene where they slaughtered the cops with machetes?" - we say- "yeah" he continues "That music was really paper bag." and we laughed. The next day at rehearsal, Don comes in with his new song - "Paper Bag" It is a 12 bar blues in the key of E, with a distinctive E to D figure (which was the da- -dadadadadada- -dadadadadada- - thing even then). By December 1973 , Gino and Don, and their wives, had moved into a house in Hempstead. The band inhabited the basement. We had a PA that included the Blue Newtons, huge stadium horns that had been donated from some athletic park reclaimation project. There was a lot of feedback at rehearsal. A lot of feedback. A tremendous amount of feedback. We had also purchased Earth amps for guitars and bass. Big black plush cabinet things. Mike Guido graduated to the Hoyer "Ham Sandwich" Bass. Gino had a black Strat. Doug played a Gretsch Country Gentleman. Jerry played an organ he borrowed from Doug, and then bought an electric piano. He eventually sold the piano to, who else, a one-armed piano player.We used to buy stuff from some guy named Phil who lived next to Gino and had this basement stacked from floor to ceiling with amps, guitars, basses, drums . . . Anyway, the first public performance of the song "Paper Bag" occured on March 23, 1974 in Gino and Don's basement to which we had invited friends. Naturally, as was our custom, we taped it. Gino probably still has hours of our stuff on a shelf at his house. The songlist from that night included: |
March 23, 1974 - The Phil Gagliano Band
performs in Gino's basement |
Original tunes
Bessie (come on Bessie, take a ride take a ride . . .)
Paper Bag (what a drag)
Make Me a Memory
Anchovie Pizza (an "E jam" song)
Midnight Rocker |
Covers
Under My Thumb
Aqualung
Locomotive Breath
Wind-Up
Evil Ways
Go Cry on Somebody Else's Shoulder
(a Frank Zappa doo wop number) |
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| Jimmy Hofstede enjoyed a brief tenure as resident conga player and band lunatic (mandated by New York State Law at the time) "Paper Bag" was performed several times during the summer of 1974, notably at Gino's sister's pool party on July 4 weekend (where nobody listened to us. On the ubiquitous tape, dogs can be heard barking and a swim race goes on in the background when we finish our songs. Nobody applauds). We had a gig at a house party in Lynbrook that paid actual money ($90 total) and naturally (as anyone who has ever been in a band can relate to) we had a huge "band argument" the night before. We were, of course, a big success that night. |
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The Camping Trip During the summer of 1974 we went on a camping trip to Laconia, New Hampshire. The guys in the picture at left are (clockwise from top) Doug Dattoma, Mark Dattoma, Gene Jacobs, Larry Lupo, Ricky Winston and that is me, Mike Guido, with the afro and the yellow shirt. We hiked 5 miles up an old logging road and camped for a week. This is what we looked like on the way out. We clearly didn't bring a brush or a comb.
Click the picture to see a larger image and to read a hysterical story. |
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| Don Civitella, our drummer, had to leave the band. Marc Dattoma recalled that he used to date a girl who had a "little squirt kid brother" who was supposed to be a good drummer. Thus, I met Billy Cramer who has become my lifelong friend. |
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The Phil Gagliano Band experienced their heyday through February, 1975. We did some mean covers of Alice Cooper. We then morphed in to the band L.A.G.N.A.F. sporting a line-up that included: |
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