Band Histories

U.S. 1 East at Yale and Dartmouth 1970-1971

U.S. 1 East formed at Yale in the fall of 1969. We chose the name U.S. 1 East because it defined our locality. U.S. 1 is a highway that runs 2370 miles north-south from Key West to Maine. The only state in which the road signs read East and West is Connecticut.

Over the ensuing two years, the band played many colleges at Yale — Branford, Saybrook, Trumbull, Pierson, Timothy Dwight and Davenport — as well as Dwight Hall. Other venues included various frat houses and Alumni Hall at Dartmouth, Albertus Magnus College, the University of Connecticut and local parties and halls. The band reunited from time to time over the ensuing decade to play various spots in New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Connecticut, finishing off with the Class of ’71’s tenth-year reunion.

U.S. 1 East comprised Dean Pailler (Trumbull ’71) on guitar, Vic Machcinski (Branford ’71) on guitar and vocals, Bob Prechter (Branford ’71) on drums and vocals, and four consecutive bass players: Tom Evans (Davenport ’73), Billy Michael (local), Bill Schnaper (Branford ’71) and Gary Friend (local). The Afterlight light show run by Joe Barna (Branford ’71) enhanced many a show.

Bob sometimes recorded the band live with a Sony reel-to-reel tape recorder, placed wherever it would not get stepped on. The sound is decidedly lo-fi, but considering the ancient technology of 55-year-old tapes, second-generation reel-to-reel dubbing, a pair of cheap microphones and far from ideal mic placement, it is amazing that the results came out as well as they did.

Presented here are selections from 1970-71. Tracks marked with an asterisk* are original compositions. Crowd noise and the occasional off note confirm these are all live recordings. For the most part, the psychedelic leads are Dean’s, and the bluesy leads are Vic’s.

The two collections provide a good overview of the band’s personalities. The songs on the first collection are somewhat raucous, the second more structured.

The audio files here are low-quality MP3s. Just email darrylh@elliottwave.com if you would like high-quality CDs.

Anyone who would like to touch base is welcome to email bobprechter@hotmail.com or bobp@elliottwave.com.

U.S. 1 East – Out on a Limb

U.S. 1 East at Yale and Dartmouth 1970-1971

U.S. 1 East – Tight as a Drum

U.S. 1 East at Branford College Courtyard
Saturday June 12, 1971

News and News+ in Connecticut and New York 1972

            In the fall of 1971, impresario Marty Kugell put News together after hearing the prospective members of the band record, at different times, at Dynamic Studios in New Haven. Starting members were Jeff Fortgang, Bob Prechter and Vic Machinski, all class of 1971 at Yale, and Gary Friend, a graduate of Quinnipiac College and member of a local country band.

            The plan was to record demos of Jeff’s original songs while playing gigs at hotels, motels, clubs, bars, restaurants and resorts to make enough money to live on. You can hear all the band’s original demos on the “News — Early Edition” CD: https://snewsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/early-edition.

            After two days of batting possible names around, Marty’s wife Sharon came up with the name. “You know, as in ‘Have you heard the’?” None of were crazy about the name, but since opinion was finally unanimous, we settled on it.

            Jeff played a Farfisa organ, Vic played a Gibson SG, Gary played a Fender bass, and Bob had a set of Rogers drums. Jeff had been the pitchpipe (leader) of the Whiffenpoofs at Yale, and he arranged our four-part and later five-part harmonies. He also emceed.

            News’ first gig was at the bar of the Oasis Motor Inn in Oneonta, New York, which billed itself as “The Big O.” The stint started on December 6, 1971 and lasted a couple weeks. The bartender/manager was the father of Jerry Jeff Walker, so of course we had to play Mr. Bojangles every night. While in Oneonta, we made a silent 8mm movie of hijinks that was later fit to News’ original recording of Easy Street. You can find the video on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g98QBbHh71w.

            News played the rest of December at the Mystic Lounge in the Granit Hotel and Country Club in Kerhonkson in the Catskills. Accommodation was akin to a bunkhouse at a summer camp. The movie The Gig depicts the experience accurately.

            In January 1972, the band played two months at The Steakeater restaurant in Waterbury, Connecticut. One night at this venue, Vic was arrested for protesting to a cop as his car was being towed away from the parking lot. Had News been a famous band, the incident might have sold some records.

            For the first two weeks of March, News played at La-Ray’s Lodge at Kenosia Lake in Danbury, where Bob recorded the band. News then spent a week at the Holiday Inn in Groton and the next week at the Hampton Pub in Peekskill. In April, News played The Abbey restaurant at the Holiday Inn in Norwalk, where the waitresses wore cutoff brown monk outfits. News felt very much at home at that venue and returned to it several times.

            News was contracted for the month of May 1972 at the Red Garter Steak House in Meriden. We backed up The Chiffons for two shows there on the night of May 3. In the wee hours of the morning after closing on Saturday, May 20, the Red Garter declared bankruptcy, and the place was locked down tight. We had to talk our way past cops on Sunday morning to get our equipment out of the building before creditors took it.

            Michele Montanye was a native of Newtown and graduate of Connecticut College for Women. She had tried her hand at theatre in New York, taught high school Russian in Florida, and became a folk singer in Connecticut, where she was spotted performing at The Crossroads in Westport one Sunday evening. She started rehearsing with the band in mid-May. News now had an even more eclectic makeup. Jeff was a fan of big-band singers and standards, Gary had been in a country band, Vic and Bob were rockers, and Michele was a folk singer.

            We booked the new lineup into the DeVille Country Club in South Fallsburg NY in the Catskills for the last week of May. News played the Four Winds in Bridgeport for the first week of June, then The Crossroads from June 6 to July 8. We spent July 10-22 at The Cabaret, a lounge within the Ramada Inn in Binghamton NY. As Google Search explains it, The Cabaret “was a significant entertainment venue in the area during the 1970s and later.”

            That summer, News recorded a demo of Jeff’s song, Some Guys Have All the Luck, at Bell Studios in New York City. Don Kishner wanted the song but not the band. The song made the Top 40 twice. We also recorded three “get tested for VD” PSAs at Connecticut Recording Studio on Main St. in Bridgeport, the only recordings we made that we got to hear on the radio.

            In September, News returned to The Abbey restaurant at the Holiday Inn in Norwalk, where we made more live recordings. Somebody To Love on “Rockin’ the Abbey,” with our added musical twists, is probably the band’s peak performance, with Gary’s ending bass slide owning the night. News returned to The Abbey in November and The Cabaret for December. By this time, Jeff had added a Hohner Pianet to the mix and stacked his two keyboards. We worked up a Beatles medley, a Stones medley, an oldies medley and an early ’60s dance medley, where each of us took a lead vocal.

            News played New Year’s Eve 1972 in the Banquet Room at The Abbey and the first week of January at the Crossroads. The band was officially dissolved on January 11, 1973, after thirteen months of activity. Below are three collections of live cover songs by News and News+.

            Jeff and Michele continued to work as a duo, while Bob, Vic and Gary brought in Mark London on pedal steel and continued gigging as NEWS. This configuration, with input from Jeff and Michele, recorded an album of original material in 1973 titled Hot Off The Press: https://snewsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/hot-off-the-press. Videos are posted here and here.