‘Worth remembering’ - Sylvester Lohman volunteered to serve in the military during both world wars7/31/2024  Coming from an affluent Cole County family, Sylvester Lohman enlisted in the Air Service in World War I and learned to be a pilot. Years later, despite being in his forties, he again enlisted in the U.S. Army and briefly served in the Coastal Artillery on the West Coast. Courtesy of Greg Scheperle Sylvester M. Lohman was born in Jefferson City on September 19, 1897, and was the third oldest of four children in the family of Louis and Amelia Lohman. His family name was widely recognized in Cole County because of his father’s successful mercantile interests and ownership of the Lohman Opera House, while his uncle, Charles W., left his impression when the town of Lohman was named in his honor.
Yet young Sylvester, having many opportunities at his disposal because of his parent’s prosperity, suspended educational endeavors and chose to serve his country in a burgeoning component of the U.S. military in World War I. Years later, he again volunteered for service in the Second World War. “A History of Jefferson City, Missouri’s State Capital, and of Cole County,” published by James E. Ford in 1938 explained, “(Sylvester Lohman) attended Jefferson City schools to his third year in high school, then went to the University high school at Columbia, following which he took academic work in the state university.” While attending university in 1918, the drums of war in Europe reverberated across several continents and the United States soon entered World War I. The rumors being shared among many young men about the growing use of airplanes in combat inspired a 20-year-old Lohman to enlist in the Air Service on July 29, 1918, at the humble rank of private. “The first U.S. aviation squadron entered combat in February 1918, manned mostly by pilots who had previously volunteered with the French,” shared the United States World War One Centennial Commission. “American-trained squadrons soon joined the fighting, and on May 24 (1918), the Air Service of the U.S. Army was officially formed.” Timing, however, was an element that prevented Lohman from deploying overseas. Following his enlistment in St. Louis, he was sent to the University of Texas School of Military Aeronautics in Austin. It was here that he spent the next several months undergoing initial pilot training. Military records reveal that Lohman was then transferred to the Camp John Dick Aviation Concentration Camp, on April 26, 1918, located on the State Fairgrounds in Dallas. The Dispatch, a newspaper in Moline, printed on November 23, 1918, “Camp Dick, the aviation concentration camp through which nearly all the aviators in the United States Army have passed since its opening January 30, 1918, said today that 7,908 flying officers and 18,066 flying cadets had been stationed there for some periods during the past year.” Lohman was counted among the flyers who performed exercises in rudimentary aircraft over the skies of Texas to help prepare them for overseas combat. While there, he received his designation as pilot and was promoted to second lieutenant. During his training at Camp Dick, Lohman wrote a friend regarding his aviation experiences: “There is no danger or at least you have no time to think of danger when you are in the air. Your mind must be upon your machine.” He continued, “I am making cross country flights now and get to travel all over this country. It is hard to believe you are making such great speed until you notice how easily you can pass an express train two thousand feet below you.” But just as quickly as his military service materialized, the possibilities offered by aerial flight dissolved beginning with the armistice on November 11, 1918. As the war came to an end and scores of military members were discharged and sent home, Lohman was released from the service on December 5, 1918, and returned to Columbia to continue his education at the university. James Ford wrote, “(Lohman) … worked for a time in First National Bank, and in 1923 organized the Motor Investment Company.” The World War I veteran married Lucy Franklin of Eldon in September 1927. Two years later, in 1929, he established the Acceptance Loan Company of Jefferson City—a business located in the Central Trust Building that financed the purchases of multiple products ranging from appliances to automobiles. Lohman and his first wife later divorced and, in 1935, he married Mildred Waddill, whose father was a former chairman of the state tax commission; this union also ended in divorce. Then, on September 16, 1942, the 44-year-old veteran left his business to enlist in the U.S. Army at Jefferson Barracks. “Announcement is made of the marriage of Miss Virginia Finney to Private Sylvester M. Lohman on December 18th,” reported the Sunday News and Tribune on January 3, 1943. “Private Lohman owned and operated the Acceptance Loan Company … prior to entering the service. He is now stationed with the Coast Artillery at Camp McQuaide, near Watsonville, California.” Days later, as military records indicate, Lohman received his discharge from the U.S. Army for the purposes of entering employment in an essential war industry. Years later, Lohman remained married to his third wife, Virginia, and was employed as a real estate agent. His wife passed away in 1965 and the following year, stricken with grief, Lohman passed away suddenly; he and his wife had no children to whom to pass their legacy. He was laid to rest in Riverview Cemetery in Jefferson City, the same cemetery where many of his Lohman relatives had been interred. A tombstone remains as the primary storybook of the interesting life lived by Lohman. He was, like all, riddled with imperfections, but when the nation needed people to serve during two separate wars, he willingly raised his right hand and performed the duties he was assigned. And as President Theodore Roosevelt once proclaimed, it is people such as Lohman who, through their willingness to serve their fellow citizens during tumultuous periods, have earned the privilege of not being forgotten. “Never throughout history,” Roosevelt said, “has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.” Jeremy P. Ämick writes on behalf of the Silver Star Families of America.
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 Dan Smith, far right, holding a washboard, helped found Riverrock—a Kansas City area country/bluegrass band—in the 1970s. Smith later worked as a booking agent for musical talent and although Riverrock never broke into the national music scene, they were inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame in 2011. Courtesy of Dan Smith Dan Smith maintains there have been many talented bands who made it to the brink of stardom, yet because of unexpected circumstances, were never able to break beyond the boundaries of regional notoriety. This is a phenomenon he has witnessed on many occasions, not only through his work as a talent booking agent, but also his career in Riverrock, a popular Kansas City area country band that was inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame. While in high school in the late 1960s, Smith learned to play the drums and briefly performed with a band called Pflash. He explained that they took their name from a premium fuel that was sold at a Fina station where his older brother was working at the time. “I graduated from high school in Overland Park in 1971, later attended a community college and then went to work as a salesman for a real estate company,” he said. “But then I went to work for a place called Midwest Inventory, and that’s where I met Jim Blanton, who shared similar musical interests.” Blanton, who was also a fan of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, was learning to play the fiddle. After about a year of discussing the possibility, the friends decided to form Riverrock and began rehearsing as a five-piece band with John Mumma, Paul Mumma and Steve Hall. “I decided to learn to play the washboard because the drums just seemed to overpower the acoustic performances we were doing,” Smith explained. “That worked out well and set us apart from a lot of other bands.” He continued, “We played our first performance live on July 4, 1974, and only had about an hour’s worth of music, but everybody loved it.” His mother, Janet Smith, initially helped as their booking agent and worked to find venues where they could share their unique fusion of bluegrass and country. They soon were able to make a five-song demo and took a copy of the cassette to a bar in the River Quay District (now River Market). After the owner of the bar heard their music, Riverrock was given a job as the house band and began performing six days a week. As Smith explained, such repeated performances helped them refine their craft as musicians. One evening when Riverrock was playing before a small audience because of wintry weather outdoors, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was in town and one its members, John McEuen, came to see their show. He was invited to sit in with Riverrock, leading to a lasting friendship between Smith and McEuen. “Around 1976 we had a booking agent that went to conferences for county fairs, and we ended up getting a bunch of dates from that,” Smith said. “For several years, we were busy doing shows and shared the stage with a lot of acts. We opened for groups like the Oak Ridge Boys, Pure Prairie League, and Hank Williams Jr., among others.” In the late 1970s, Riverrock earned some widespread attention by appearing on the Tulsa Opry Show. They also had the opportunity to perform with Minnie Pearl, who, after one of their shows, expressed how impressed she was with Smith’s playing of the washboard. By this time, Riverrock had recorded two albums—one in 1975 at Sound Recorders in Kansas City and a live album in 1977. Then, while still highly popular in the Kansas City region, they recorded the album “Midwest Man” in Nashville in January 1980, featuring the vocals of Rick Harrelson. “Country music was kind of getting out of fashion in the mid-1980s and there was some conflict within the group, so after some change in personnel, I remained the only original member and decided to shut it down,” Smith explained. He added, “I had started my own booking agency in 1979 and began managing other bands such as Glow and Dixie Cadillacs. Glow was my brother’s band, and it came really close to making it to the big time, but it just never came to fruition.” Continuing his booking agency work, Smith decided to put a new version of Riverrock together in 1991. For a while, the group found some renewed success with LaRose, an African American R&B artist, as its lead singer. Regrettably, she later had to leave the music scene for health reasons. “I was still booking a lot of stuff and making a living as a musician, but by the early 2000s, Riverrock was only playing an occasional reunion,” Smith said. “I was also busy operating a recording studio and got to the point where I didn’t have a lot of time to play on the side.” Smith teamed up with Allen Blasco in 2009, a popular local musician whose mother wrote “My Happiness”—the first song recorded by Elvis Presley. They put together Riverrock for a show, which was at the time comprised of three original members. In 2011, Riverrock was inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame. Since then, Riverrock has continued to perform at shows throughout the Kansas City area with Smith and the Mumma brothers. “I believe every town has that kind of story like Riverrock, where a certain band almost makes it to the big leagues but just can’t get over that last hump,” Smith said. “Riverrock has survived a lot of changes in musical tastes, and it’s certainly been a lot of fun.” Smith reflected, “I don’t feel slighted in any way regarding our career in music; I’m just very fortunate to have been able to perform as long as I have and to have become friends with so many wonderful musicians.” Jeremy P. Ämick is author of “Movin’ On,” a biography of the band Missouri.  Riverrock experienced a level of renewed success in 1990s with the addition of LaRose, an African American R&B singer. Courtesy of Dan Smith  Rick Bacus, a native of the Kansas City area, played clarinet in school but was inspired to become a rock guitarist after seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan in 1964. He went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in music education and joined the band Morningstar in 1973. Morningstar was signed by CBS Records and released two albums in the late 1970s. Courtesy of Rick Bacus Morningstar was a band that came out of Kansas City and achieved the sought after achievement of being signed to a professional recording contract in the 1970s. But the music industry of that period, explained the band’s lead guitarist and principal songwriter, Rick Bacus, was defined by changing interests in styles of music and resulted in the band being dropped from their label after their second album. A native of the Kansas City area, Bacus attended Shawnee Mission North High School in Merriam, Kansas. Coming up in a family of amateur musicians, Bacus for many years played the clarinet but after seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show, chose to learn bass guitar. “I continued playing the clarinet in a band in school but was also playing in local rock bands in high school like The Fables and the Amelia Earhart Memorial Flying Band, the latter which had Sly James, the mayor of Kansas City, as our vocalist. This band later became Manchester Trafficway.” Bacus added, “After I graduated high school in 1969, I kept playing in local bands but also enrolled at Baker University (Baldwin City, Kansas) to study for a music education degree,” he added. During his first year in college, Bacus continued playing bass guitar for the band Stonewall, with whom he played for the next couple of years. “After I left Stonewall in 1973, Alan Cohen took my place as bassist,” Bacus said. (A few years later, Cohen joined the rock band Missouri and remained with the group through the recording of their two studio albums.) Bacus continued, “I joined Morningstar in late 1973, and the band had been going since 1969. I was lead guitarist and songwriter, and we went full bore into creating music and writing songs.” He added, “But I had to take a break for a few weeks in January 1974 to travel to Vienna, Austria, for a school music study program.” Returning to the band, he finished college in mid-1974, earning his degree in music education. Bacus explained that the band’s keyboard player, Mike Waggoner, had essentially quit Morningstar as a musician but was working as their manager to shop the band to various record labels. With Bacus demonstrating his range of musical ability on guitars and keyboards, and assisting in songwriting, the rest of the band consisted of Jerry Chambers on guitars and vocals, Greg Harris on drums and Greg Leech on bass. In 1976, they added Michael Edmunds to the band as lead vocalist and guitarist. Morningstar was signed to CBS records in 1977 and recorded their debut self-titled album the same year. Bacus recalled that many of the tracks were recorded at Quadrafonic Sound Studios in Nashville while a few others were done at another location. The front cover of the album featured a mace (medieval) weapon and the band’s name, the history of which is explained on the back cover. “Morningstar, while commonly thought of as the elysian name for a bright planet (usually Venus) seen just prior to sunrise, was the deceivingly pleasant name of the medieval instrument sometimes called the mace. Named Morningstar because it looked like a globe with rays streaming from it, it symbolized strength and power.” It continued, “This Morningstar also shall command immediate, total respect. Their music, like their namesake, reflects the power of the day.” Morningstar returned to the studio in 1978, and the following year their second album, “Venus,” was released. The album was recorded at Studio in the Country in Louisiana. “The album cover was stunning because it was done by Richard Corben, the same artist who did the cover for the Meatloaf ‘Bat Out of Hell’ album,” he emphatically added. Musical styles changed radically in the late 1970s and suddenly it appeared as if all focus was on disco and dance music. Morningstar was one of 65 bands that were dropped from the label the very same day. “Steve Hodgden (a member of the popular Chesmann and Chessman Square band) once told my bandmate Jerry Chambers that we were three minutes from disco,” Bacus laughed. “And he was right. Disco and dance music exploded around that time and bands like us, who were very successful just a few years earlier, were being thrown to the side.” The years of playing music in the Kansas City area introduced him to fellow musician Janet Jameson, who played with groups such as Cole Tuckey and The Janet Jameson Band. A talented violinist, she has for many years been performing with Shooting Star. Bacus and Jameson began dating, married and together had a son Eric. When Morningstar came to an end, Bacus spent about six years performing with various configurations of Jameson’s band. For many years, he did a lot of freelance studio and recording work. Additionally, he shared his musical talents for seven years performing in the Eric Clapton tribute band "Journeyman," playing a number of festivals. “I was also a music director for a church, but the church folded during the COVID pandemic,” he said. “Since then, I began teaching guitar lessons in Shawnee, Kansas, and now have about 28 students.” Bacus and the Morningstar band strived to create arena rock music that would be embraced by large audiences, but when having the privilege of viewing their journey in hindsight, it was simply a matter of timing. He said, “We might have been successful had we hit the scene with our music in the mid-1970s. But the music business is who you know, what they can do for you and how much support they can give you. But it’s all been a good experience and I love that I got to be part of it all.” Stonewall and Morningstar have both been inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame. Jeremy P. Ämick is the author of the soon-to-be released biography of the band Shooting Star.”  Morningstar’s second album was released in 1979, at a time when most record companies were focusing their efforts on dance and disco groups. They became one of 65 bands dropped from the label on the same day. Courtesy of Rick Bacus  Schep’s Backwoods Bar opened for business near Russellville in the fall of 1983 and for many years hosted competitive league softball games. The bar side of the business became a destination for customers traveling for miles around to listen to popular area bands like Mystery Express. The business closed several years ago and now serves as a private residence. Courtesy of Greg Scheperle After Greg Scheperle graduated from Russellville High School in 1976, he entered the hardworking trade of bricklayer. In his off time, he played on local competitive softball leagues for recreation, but soon realized that the closest field for hosting games not belonging to a school system was several miles away in Apache Flats. He then resolved to build a ballfield along with a bar near Russellville. This venture soon developed into a destination that was regularly packed not only with those participating in softball games, but people from surrounding communities coming to watch popular area bands perform. “My cousin, John Crum, became a partner in the business with me for the first few years,” Scheperle explained. “The ballfield and bar area were built on six acres that had been a part of the farm owned by my parents, Oliver and Audrey Scheperle,” he added. Construction on the location began in early 1983 with another cousin, Elwyn Scheperle, completing the excavation for the ballfield and the foundation of the bar. As Greg Scheperle recalled, the bar was going to be just big enough to accompany the ballfield, but as he continued to lay it out on paper, plans continued to expand. “Beer and ball seemed to go together quite well back then, and the building ended up being about 3,000 square feet,” he recalled. “The bar didn’t have any air conditioning, but I did have an old woodburning stove in it for a while. I would open the bar in the fall and then close the following summer to work my bricklaying job.” While on a trip to the Stover area to purchase tables and chairs for the new bar, Scheperle unexpectedly stumbled upon the inspiration for the name of their new business. “There was a place we saw called Backwoods Barbecue,” he recalled. “That got me thinking that Schep’s Backwoods (Schep’s as a shortened version of Scheperle) would be a good name for the business.” They opened for business along State Highway C at their location approximately a mile east of Russellville on a Tuesday night in October 1983. In celebration of this inaugural event, Scheperle hired a popular local band called the “Moonshiners.” “It was a great turnout and I had five beer taps on the walk-in cooler in addition to serving bottles and cans,” he recalled. “Back at that time, we served several of the popular beers brands like Stag.” He continued, “We also had Mystery Express and Hot City, both very popular bands, play there regularly. Some nights we would have double shows where both the bands would play in the same night.” During one of these double performances, Scheperle recalls they collected around 58 cases of returnable bottles, which did not include the draft beer and cans that had been sold. But in addition to the entertainment booked, the focus of Schep’s Backwoods remained that of a softball venue. Ball leagues continued to enjoy using the field while other groups, such as the local fire department, sponsored games as fundraisers. Other times, when the ballfield wasn’t being used for games, they managed to draw large crowds by hosting other interesting activities. “One time we did backseat driving, where the driver is blindfolded and a person sitting behind them tells them how to move forward in the vehicle,” Scheperle explained. “They would have to navigate around obstacles, and judges assessed penalty points if they went out of bounds. Whoever ended up with the fastest combined time was declared the winner.” When his cousin decided to leave the partnership, Scheperle continued managing the bar and ballfield, closing only during the summer months. During the early 1990s, State Route C was moved to the south of the ballfield, but it did not significantly diminish his business since it was now more clearly visible from the highway. It was also in the early 1990s that Scheperle had lights installed around the ballfield, affording him opportunities to expand upon the hours of use. “We held all-night softball games and tournaments that lasted for 24 hours—and those were some long days,” he said. “My aunt worked with the Special Olympics and sponsored tournaments there to raise money for the organization, too.” Dart, pitch, and pool tournaments were also held at Schep’s Backwoods for entertainment. Additionally, Scheperle explained, local racoon hunters for many years donated meat to be barbecued and shared with customers during an event called the “Coon Hunters’ Ball.” Scheperle left the bar side of the business in the mid-1990s, but three other individuals went on to operate it throughout the next several years. He did, however, continue to manage the ballfield for a while, but games stopped being played there around 2004, “I remodeled the bar and I lived there with my family for about ten years,” he said. “I later moved onto my parents’ farm and sold the Schep’s Backwoods a few years ago and a new family now uses it as their home.” As motorists travel along State Highway C before entering Russellville from the east, they can see the remnants of the ballfield, a site once bustling with activity and serving as a significant attraction for many years. This former business, though only a minor slice of local history, remains a frequent topic in discussions between many area residents. “A lot of people met their spouses at Schep’s and if I had to guess, probably ninety percent of them are still together,” Greg Scheperle said. “It became a popular spot because of the ball games, bands, and other entertainment, and provided something for people in the area to do after a hard day’s work. “A lot of younger folks,” he added, “might never know that it existed, but it’s a part of our past and provided some enjoyment for many people from all over Mid-Missouri for several years.” Jeremy P. Ämick is the author of the historical compilation “Moments on the Moreau.”  Elwyn Scheperle is pictured in early spring of 1983 dozing the ground that became part of the ballfield for Schep’s Backwoods Bar. In the background is part of the building that is now Covered Bridge Market. Courtesy of Greg Scheperle  Greg Manahan was given his first guitar in 1969 when he was only eight years old. He went on to play with rock and roll bands in high school and later performed with the popular regional band London Drive. Since 2006, he has been a member of Head East and most often plays bass guitar. Courtesy of Greg Manahan The rock album Flat as a Pancake by Head East was a popular release during the time Greg Manahan was attending junior high and high school. Little did he realize that his experiences of playing in his first band in junior high would mark the starting point for his amazing journey as a musician and culminate decades later with being asked to join Head East. In 1961, Manahan was born in Los Angeles, where his mother was employed at the city hall. His family continued living on the West Coast until he was five years old, at which time they relocated to Kansas City. Manahan recalls receiving as a gift his first guitar shortly after turning eight years old in 1969—a $12 classical guitar from Sears. The following summer, his mother hired a high school student to begin giving him guitar lessons. “When she left for college the following summer, my high school guitar tutor told me to wave to her when I played on the Ed Sullivan Show,” Manahan grinned. “I always wanted to play guitar and had grown up a fan of the Beatles and remember watching the Monkees on television,” he added. He practiced the guitar on his own until reaching junior high school, when he and some fellow students began putting together rock and roll bands. Their first paying gig, he explained, was for an event titled “Teen Town,” where each of the musicians participating in the performance were paid ten dollars. It was that very moment, he affirmed, which solidified his resolve to become a professional musician. “The first band I was with in school was called Experience,” and I was later in a band called Axe,” he said. “One of these guys I played with in these first two bands, Mark Murtha, became a guitarist with me in Head East years later.” Following his graduation from Oak Park High School in Kansas City in the spring of 1980, Manahan spent the next few years working in restaurants jobs such as a cook. It was this type of employment that did not require him to cut his hair so that he could maintain his rock and roll appearance. Eventually, he was able to reunite with his friend and high school bandmate, Mark Murtha, and the two went on to perform in the popular regional bands Toymaker’s Dream and London Drive. Not only did London Drive play covers of popular songs by other bands but they later entered a local studio and recorded eight songs that were released on cassette. This was followed up by the release of a compact disc featuring a total of thirteen of their songs. While playing various gigs throughout the Midwest, Manahan began taking over the role of bass guitarist, but often demonstrated his musical flexibility by continuing to play rhythm guitar on several songs. “Our CD got a little interest in Europe, but nothing really took off for us,” Manahan explained. “I continued to play in some version of the band until the opportunity came for Head East a few years later.” It was in 2006, Manahan recalled, that Roger Boyd, a founding member of Head East, considered disbanding the group since he was having trouble locating musicians that were a good fit for the music. The booking agent for Head East also happened to book London Drive and suggested that Boyd consider auditioning them for the band. Manahan, along with Glen Bridger and Darren Walker, was among the members of London Drive who auditioned with Boyd; they were offered a position with Head East on the spot. Since 2006, Manahan has been playing and performing with Head East while London Drive disbanded a couple years later. For several years, he worked full-time in the information technology field for the Kansas City Art Institute. He is now employed by the school district in Liberty, Missouri, continuing his work in information technology. For the past 26 years, he has been married to his wife, Jodie, and enjoys bicycling in his spare time, oftentimes completing 100-mile rides. “It’s very exciting to be able to go out and play in front of crowds of people who are there to see your band,” Manahan said. “It is also a privilege to have been part of the new album Head East has recently released called Full Circle, which features two songs that I wrote.” Darren Walker, the lead singer for Head East and formerly of London Drive, plays bass guitar, Manahan explained. However, just as they did in their previous band, Manahan will occasionally switch out with Walker on certain songs, affording him the opportunity to play rhythm guitar. He added, “Years ago, I was banging around KC with my other bands and although I had a lot of fun, it is certainly a step up to be given the opportunity to play in Head East. We’ve just have a lot of fun and continue to do so.” Jeremy P. Ämick is the author of the upcoming biography of the classic rock band Shooting Star.  Manahan, far right, was for many years with the band London Drive. Several of the band’s members became part of Head East in 2006. Courtesy of Greg Manahan  Patricia (Hodgden) McAllister, seated, is pictured in the mid-1970s with her first rock band, Thrush. She grew up in a musical family of three brothers who went on to perform with renowned groups such as Missouri and Shooting Star. McAllister credits her parents’ support in the success of their bands. Courtesy of Patricia McAllister Growing up in the household as the only daughter and youngest child of Glen and DeLouris Hodgden, Patricia (Hodgden) McAllister recalls music always being present in her life. Her three older brothers went on to have their own bands and experienced a level of musical acclaim, thus inspiring her at a young age to pursue her own career as an artist. “I was raised in south Kansas City and my grandmother was a church organist and taught piano as well,” Patricia McAllister recalled. “I was about five-year-old when I started learning piano and my brother Ron, who was twelve years older than me, was always in the basement rehearsing with his band.” When she was ten years old, she began playing organ and piano for funerals, weddings, and other events. By the time she was thirteen, she was performing as a solo act in local coffee shops. Days around the Hodgden home were often frenetic, she recalled, since her father operated a contract delivery route for the Kansas City Star and there were frequent guests coming and going to either play with or observe Chesmann Square, the band formed by her older brothers. “I started with the band Thrush when I was fifteen years old and was their lead singer all through high school,” she recalled. “Ron had been with his band Chesmann Square for about ten years and when they broke up, he came and played guitar for Thrush for the last year and a half we were together, until he started the Missouri band. Graduating from Center Senior High School in 1975, Thrush broke up the following year. She helped form another band, this one called the Nice Guys, and performed with them for about three years. When this group broke up around 1980, Patricia was hired to work at the studio owned by Randy Bachman of the band Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO). “Shooting Star, which was a band my brother Gary was with, had recorded an album in Bachman’s studio and their sound guy went to work for the studio,” she said. “He ended up contacting me and asking if I wanted to come up there and work for them.” Patricia accepted the job and lived for about a year-and-a-half at the studio in Lynden, Washington, situated along the Canadian border. She worked as a bookkeeper and hostess, assisting bands who came to record at the studio, in addition to occasionally playing piano for Bachman during live performances. For a brief period, she lived in San Francisco and flew to the studio in Washington whenever a band was booked to record there. But in 1982, she decided to return to Kansas City and, the following year, she and her husband became parents to a son. “Whenever I had time, I was practicing piano by myself and then got in a band called Hush Hush,” she explained. “I played with them for about three years …,” she paused, adding with a smile, “and it seems like I stayed with everything for about three years back then!” She added, “We performed in local clubs, during concerts hosted by the Crown Center in downtown Kansas City and even in Jefferson City, but we only worked about four times a month. Years earlier when I was playing with Thrush, we never had a weekend off, it seemed.” In 1991, she gave birth to her second son and, after divorcing, married Jim McAllister in 1992. She had come to know McAllister many years earlier when he played lead guitar with her brother in Chesmann Square. McAllister’s husband worked for several years writing and composing jingles to be used for area marketing ads while Patricia sang or spoke the vocal accompaniment. She also worked at Superior Sound in the early 1990s—a company that rented, sold, and installed PA systems. “There came a point when I wanted to make a little more money, so I decided to return to school and earn my degree,” she explained. “I began taking classes at UMKC but eventually earned my bachelor’s in accounting in 1995 from DeVry University.” Now busy with her career, she stepped away from performing with bands and worked briefly in the business office of a local college. Then, her husband, who was operating a business established with his father to export surgical instruments to Japan, became her new focus and she began to do the bookkeeping. Patricia gave birth to her third and final son in 2001. Five years later, her husband passed away and soon their once thriving export business collapsed after changes to customs laws and regulations. More recent years, she frankly remarked, have been invested in addressing personal health issues. McAllister’s youth was filled with many endearing musical experiences and successes while her brothers also enjoyed their own achievements in recording and performing. But she acknowledges that none of this would have come to fruition without the support of their parents. “My father worked hard but in his rare moments of spare time, helped fix and maintain the buses and vans that my brothers used to travel to their gigs,” she said. “And our mother, she essentially worked as a booking agent finding the venues and places for us to perform. “And in those later years,” she added, “after having my first child, my mother helped watch my son since I was going to college, working and performing in a band—it was quite a busy time. But again, mother was a driving force behind our music, and she did everything she could to back our bands.” Jeremy P. Ämick is the author of "Movin' On," biography of the rock band Missouri.  This promo shot was taken for McAllister’s second band, the Nice Guys. She later became the vocalist and pianist for the group Hush Hush before leaving the music scene. Courtesy of Patricia McAllister ‘I am a rocker’ - Puddle of Mudd co-founder Jimmy Allen continues to embrace songwriting, producing7/17/2024  A native of Southeast Kansas, Jimmy Allen moved to Kansas City in 1990. He later became the co-founder of Puddle of Mudd and in addition to writing many of their hit songs, continues his solo career as a songwriter and helping produce emerging bands. Courtesy of Jimmy Allen Jimmy Allen gained significant recognition beyond the Kansas City region as a member of the rock band Puddle of Mudd. But his journey into music, he explained, was one that began on the brink of adulthood and revealed an aptitude not only for playing guitar, but also for writing songs that have been embraced by a large fan base.
Born in 1972 and raised in Chanute, Kansas, his father established a successful company, Jim Allen Packaging, in the years after his service with the Marine Corps. The young Allen and his two older sisters would go on to attend the local high school, where he soon acquired an interest in rock music. “A friend of mine, Troy McCoy, took me to a concert in Kansas City to see Motley Crue and I just loved the sound,” Allen said. “I then got into other acts like Ratt and Ozzy Osbourne, and decided to begin learning to play the guitar,” he added. He developed an interest in songwriting, taking the time to dissect and analyze popular rock songs being played on MTV. During his high school years, he performed briefly in the local band Kidd Punch, doing covers of such bands as Metallica, while also refining his songwriting skills. He recalled, “When I graduated from Chanute High School in 1990, I went to school at Wichita State University for about a year. I played some with a band called Gypsy Blue and we opened for Foghat and Quiet Riot at local shows, but the music scene really wasn’t happening there.” Allen continued, “I left school in 1992 and moved to Kansas City. My dad had a printing factory in North Kansas City with an apartment above it that I lived in. I was basically poor and would walk to the local music store down the street to play guitars and noticed an advertisement on a bulletin board searching for musicians. The ad had been posted by Kenny Burkitt, a local drummer seeking to start a rock band. Allen and Burkitt then paid for a practice space in a building along the Kansas City River Bottoms and started auditioning musicians. The building where their practice space was located was also being used by other aspiring bands and musicians. Wes Scantlin showed up to practice with another band in the area and was invited by Burkitt and Allen to come practice with them. “Wes screamed into the mic on a couple of songs and sounded great,” Allen recalled. “We soon had our band formed but didn’t have a good name yet, but a couple of weeks later, the flood of ’93 occurred and covered our practice area in mud and water.” He added, “I said that it looked like a puddle of mud, and that’s how we got our name, but I added a second ‘d’, and it became Puddle of Mudd.” At the time, Allen was barely 21 years old, but they practiced regularly while he continued to write songs for the band. The following year, in 1994, they recorded the “Stuck” album at the Red House in Lawrence, Kansas. The popularity of the band quickly exploded and was followed by a busy tour schedule and subsequent recordings. “I was chosen as songwriter of the year by ASCAP twice—once for my song ‘Blurry’ and the other for ‘She Hates Me,’” Allen explained. “But things began to get a little crazy in the band because of addictions and I left in 1996 to go do my own thing. I had the opportunity to write songs for bands like Buckcherry and Bif Naked.” “She Hates Me” peaked at number thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2002 while “Blurry” became a number five hit for Puddle of Mudd. Throughout the next few years, he remained a ghostwriter on several of the Puddle of Mudd albums while the band continued touring with a new mix of musicians. In 2001, he moved to Los Angeles and remained focused on songwriting while also learning the production end of music working for a studio. Allen shared that he grew disenfranchised with living on the West Coast and returned to Kansas City around 2011. Since then, he has been a member of the band Against All Will and helped produce local talent at the studio he maintains. He remarked that he has essentially been “out of the mainstream music scene” since his departure from the West Coast but finds motivation and satisfaction helping write and produce new and emerging artists in the Kansas City area. “Music is and has always been an important part of my life and I enjoy collecting and building guitars in my spare time,” he said. “My girlfriend and I have also helped rescue neglected animals that are now our pets.” The structure of the music industry has changed significantly since Puddle of Mudd was founded in the early 1990s. Music is now being released digitally, Allen remarked, and there seems to be little impetus for listeners to seek out full album releases. “With everything being digital now, you miss the experience of holding the actual album in your hand … enjoying the cover art and reading the inserts about the band,” Allen said. “It all seems really stale now since people might release an album, but you don’t really anticipate or look forward to it like we did years ago.” He added, “But I am a rocker and a music purist, and in this world where so much music sounds computerized and soulless, I still find pleasure in enjoying my music through listening to vinyl and compact discs.” Jeremy P. Ämick is the author of the upcoming biography of the band Shooting Star.  Born and raised in St. Joseph, Eddy Jones (left) revealed an early interest in being a drummer. Throughout the years, he has played with several rock bands and, in 2006, became the drummer for Head East. He is pictured in 2015 with one of his role models, original Head East drummer Steve Huston, who passed away in July of 2023. Developing an early interest in playing drums, Eddy Jones became like many working musicians—employed at a full-time job while performing with rock bands in the evenings and on the weekends. Throughout the years, this has provided him with opportunities to play before a variety of crowds and, since becoming the drummer for Head East, has embraced the many chances to meet musicians he idolized in his youth. A native of St. Joseph, Jones grew up the oldest of his three siblings. When only three years old, his parents noticed his rhythmic capabilities while watching him beat on pots and pans. The following year, they purchased him a drum kit and a new musician was soon born. “My grandfather was a musician and I played with him at square dances and local fairs,” Jones recalled. “He bought me a guitar and I understood how to play it, but it never resonated with me.” He added “Drums are always what I had a passion to play.” While in high school in the late 1970s, he connected with a classmate who played guitar and was a fellow fan of KISS. His friend’s brother happened to be a bass player, and they formed a band of sorts and practiced in their homes. After graduating in 1980, he continued working full-time for the St. Joseph Parks and Recreation Department and rehearsed with his drums in his spare time. In 1983, he played some gigs with a band at small private parties. “My first legitimate band was probably in 1985 and we played bars and some small venues,” he said. “That band was versatile with two guitar players, bass, keyboards and me on the drums … and we had an amazing lead singer.” Simply named “City,” the band had the privilege of opening for Shooting Star at a famine relief concert held on the football field of Missouri Western College in the mid-1980s. Their lead singer then decided to quit the band and joined the group Faze 1 from Kansas City. Jones was recruited to the band, along with guitarist Glen Bridger, who he would meet up with professionally in Head East several years later. “Faze 1 later disbanded and Glen and I teamed up with two current members of Head East—Darren Walker and Greg Manahan—to form Toymaker’s Dream and we even recorded a CD,” Jones explained. “I did take off a couple of years in the early nineties to spend some time with my family and to have a break from it all,” he added. It was during this timeframe that he was not only employed as a warehouse manager for a label-making company, but taught drum skills to several dozen students each week. Additionally, the band often played gigs about five nights a week, so it was a needed hiatus. Jones eventually formed the band Backtraks, an 80’s tribute band featuring Dean Foltz, earning a regional following, and opening for Blondie. He also performed with bands such as Switch, the latter of which features Rusty Crewse and Dean Foltz, both of whom perform with the class rock group Missouri. “My career nearly came to an end in 2000 when I was hit head-on by a drunk driver,” Jones explained. “It severely injured my foot and I had to adjust the way that I played the bass drum.” The drummer experienced another exciting moment when the band he was with, Saucy Jack, opened for Head East during a concert on Halloween 2005. “Roger Boyd is a founding member of Head East, and he went through several iterations of the band since the early 1980s,” Jones said. “He had reached a point where he wanted to shut it all down, but an entertainment manager told him he should listen to me and some guys I perform with.” At a specific date and time, Jones, vocalist Darren Walker, bassist Greg Manahan and lead guitarist Glen Bridger, met with the entertainment manager and Roger Boyd for an audition. “We played ‘Gettin’ Lucky’ (a 1977 studio release by Head East), and then Roger and the manager went outside,” Jones said. “Then they came back inside and said, ‘You’re hired.’” Since then, Jones has continued his daytime employment while also performing shows with Head East as a working musician and playing with the local band K-Audic. The original drummer for Head East, Steve Huston, who also wrote many of their iconic songs, symbolically passed the baton (drumsticks) over to Jones at a show in 2015. “Steve was one of my role models and, unfortunately, he passed away recently,” Jones lamented. “And it’s a pleasure to be able to perform with musicians like Mark Murtha, our current Head East guitarist.” Some of the former members of Head East, including John Schlitt (who went on to perform with the Christian rock band Petra), have joined the more recent iteration of the band to record the new album, “Full Circle.” It features newer recordings of original Head East songs along with some more recently written. “Sometimes I have to pinch myself because I can’t believe that this whole thing is happening to me,” Jones said of his continuing performances with Head East. “It has allowed me to make friends with some of the musicians who were my idols, like Todd Sucherman from Styx and Kelly Keagy from Night Ranger.” Jones added, “Head East has also been a blessing from the standpoint that I have high expectations for myself and want to play well—and when you are in a national band, you learn to consistently practice so that you stay on your game.” Jeremy P. Ämick is the author of "Movin' On," biography of the rock band Missouri.  Jones, far right, was recruited to play drums in the Kansas City area band Faze 1 in the 1980s. Courtesy of Eddy Jones  A native of the St. Louis area, Rusty Crewse came of age in the late 1970s listening to the song “Movin’ On” by the band Missouri on local radio. In 2019, after having played in several bands in Kansas City, he was invited to become a member of Missouri. Courtesy of Ashley McDaniel As an aspiring musician coming of age in the St. Louis area in the late 1970s, Rusty Crewse recalls hearing the iconic song “Movin’ On” by the rock band Missouri frequently played on KSHE 95 radio station. Four decades later, his musical journey came full circle when he was invited to become a member of Missouri—an opportunity that he does not take for granted. Crewse was born in St. Louis area in 1964 and learned to play the alto saxophone in the school band when only ten years old. His saxophone performances later included participation in his school’s symphonic, marching and jazz bands. “I loved the saxophone, but I got bitten with the rock and roll bug in my junior year of high school after Van Halen’s debut album was released in 1978,” he recalled. “I had begun playing acoustic guitar a year or so earlier, but that’s when I started learning the electric guitar,” he added. Smiling, he added, “I could have done better in school if I hadn’t spent eight hours a day playing guitar instead of doing my homework. But I put a lot of things in my life to the side to make way for my focused goal of playing rock music in a band.” He performed with a rock band in high school, playing some basement and backyard parties. When Crewse graduated from Parkway Central High School in 1983, he enrolled in college in Springfield, Missouri, choosing to major in music. One day, while perusing a bulletin board in the college’s music hall, he noticed an ad for a band seeking a guitarist. “I auditioned for the band and was hired,” he said. “It was for a power pop band called The Business and I played with a bunch of older guys … I was the only college student in the group.” He added, “I learned so much from that band and what it meant to perform on a stage in front of people.” Crewse recalled that he met a woman named Stella at the college’s cafeteria one day and invited her to watch his band play. The two were soon engaged to be married. After a couple years of college, Crewse left his educational pursuits, clinging to youthful aspirations of going on the road and making albums with a rock band. Experiencing some successes and hardships, he remained in the Springfield area until his fiancée graduated from college. In 1987, he and Stella married. He explained, “We decided to move to Kansas City after we married because the job market wasn’t great in Springfield at that time. Once I got to KC,” he added, “that’s where it really took off for me as a working musician.” Answering a newspaper advertisement, Crewse became a member of the southern rock style band ButlerFields, with whom he performed for nearly two years. From there, he would go on to play in “one band after another,” refining his skills during the frequent shows they played. From the late 1980s into the mid-1990s, he wrote and performed original music with the band Synifus. With this band, he gained further music industry experience when they recorded their debut album in Kansas City. “That really gave us a lot of momentum and in 1994, we went to Los Angeles to record our second album,” he said. “But the L.A. music scene is much different than the Midwest and we were taken advantage of, and our record wasn’t released until about ten years later. They chewed us up and spit us out, and we came back to KC and broke up.” In the ensuing years, Crewse became a member of more cover bands and experienced some success with “The Breeze”—a southern rock band that opened for such national acts as Molly Hatchet, April Wine and Foghat. “One band led to the next and I was never not in a band,” he said. He entered the world of tribute bands in 2006 when he co-founded the KISS tribute band Almost KISS. The band members wore full make-up with boots and wigs, taking them two hours to prepare for their shows. This band became KISS Alive in 2007, with whom Crewse remained until 2014. Throughout the years, Crewse also often performed in multiple bands at the same time, including a Boston tribute band in addition to Stairway to Zeppelin—a tribute to Led Zeppelin. He joined Switch in 2010, a very successful Kansas City area band led by Dean Foltz. “Dean was my connection to Missouri,” Crewse said. “I got a text one day from him saying, ‘Guess who’s auditioning for Missouri.’ I replied, ‘Do they need a guitar player?’ It turns out they did.” Crewse auditioned for Missouri on February 25, 2019, and has since then been the second lead guitarist for the band. Lane Turner, the original guitarist for Missouri, plays lead guitar solos from Missouri’s self-titled album released in 1977; Crewse performs the guitar leads from the “Welcome Two Missouri” album from 1979. The band’s founder, Ron West, passed away in 2020 but Crewse and his Missouri bandmates all share the attitude of “bring on the shows” as long as they are still able to perform. Crewse said, “Being from the St. Louis area, it’s very special to be in a band that was so popular in the area and that I grew up listening to on the radio.” Grinning, he added, “It’s certainly a special feeling to be part of a historic musical legacy and being able to tell all my St. Louis friends that I’m in the band Missouri, and they are like, ‘No way!’ “I can’t’ believe it’s happening to me and I’m still hanging on to this unbelievable feeling that I’m in Missouri!” Jeremy P. Ämick is the author of “Movin’ On,” biography of the band Missouri.  After moving to Kansas City in 1987, where he and his wife raised two children, Crewse has remained a working musician in several area bands. Courtesy of Rusty Crewse ‘Great group of people’ - Mark Murtha shares journey to becoming lead guitarist for Head East7/11/2024  Mark Murtha has been the lead guitarist for the classic rock band Head East since July 2022. In years previous, he played with several popular Kansas City area bands to include London Drive. He recently assisted with playing on the new Head East album “Full Circle.” At an early age, Mark Murtha pursued an interest in music that continued to grow through the encouragement of a classmate with whom he performed in bands for several years. He would go on to refine his musicianship and eventually became a member of the classic rock band Head East, embracing opportunities to learn from the experiences and leadership of one of the band’s founders, Roger Boyd. Many of Murtha’s formative years were spent living in locations like Dallas, North Carolina, and Long Island, since his stepfather was frequently transferred because of his work. But in 1973, when Murtha was 11 years old, his family finally settled in Gladstone, Missouri. “I attended Oak Park High School and became friends with a student named Greg Manahan, and we spent a lot of time together,” Murtha said. “When I was about fifteen years old, I bought a Teisco guitar, which wasn’t anything fancy but good to learn on.” He continued, “I remember going over to Greg’s house and he had a Gibson SG guitar that sounded amazing. He let me play it and I was really impressed … and then I had to go home and practice on that old Teisco until I could afford something better,” he chuckled. Since Greg Manahan had already been playing guitar for a few years, Murtha was able to learn several things from him, such as using barre chords in rock songs. Additionally, Manahan taught him to play iconic rock songs like “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry and “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas. “During high school, we formed a band called Axe and played events like high school assemblies,” he shared. “We would practice quite a bit at Greg’s house and were pretty loud, but his parents were fortunately quite tolerant of all the noise.” Graduating in 1980, Murtha, Manahan and another friend moved into a house owned by Murtha’s grandparents. They were in a band called 133 and continued to practice and further develop their skills as musicians. Manahan, he recalled, soon began playing in another band while Murtha started performing with the local group London Drive. When London Drive broke up a few years later, Murtha played with several other groups but in the late 1980s, he and fellow musician Carl Worden re-formed London Drive. “I played for a number of years with London Drive,” he said. “Greg Manahan joined the band around 1990 and several years later, Darren Walker, who is now the lead singer of Head East, joined.” Murtha remained active in several capacities outside his band performances by operating a studio in his home from 1989 to 1994. In the mid-1990s, he obtained a full-time job at Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City, retiring from there as a computer science faculty member in 2016. “Education was important to me, and I went on to earn my master’s degree in communication studies at the University of Missouri—Kansas City” he said. In the early 2000s, Murtha was extended the opportunity to begin performing with Oscar Polk, a jazz-influenced saxophonist. During the times when he was not able to play guitar with London Drive because of commitments to Polk, his friend, Glen Bridger, filled in for him. “Glen eventually took over for me in London Drive because of his availability,” said Murtha. “Then, in 2005, Greg and I started a band called Now and Then that was an eight-piece band. That band also included my wife, Lisa, and Oscar Polk.” Although he is no longer with Now and Then, Murtha explained that the variety group still performs. The next major step in his music career came when his friend, Greg Manahan, asked him to fill in for Glen Bridger. “By this time Greg and Glen had been members of Head East for sixteen years,” he said. “I agreed to do it and had only a short time to learn all their songs. That first show had me a little nervous, but I had a lot of fun. A week after that I was asked to fill in for Glen at another show Head East was playing in New York, and a few weeks, another show with Kansas—and that was incredible.” Murtha added, “Both Head East and Kansas are bands whose music I had grown up listening to … and the entire experience just blew me away.” In July 2022, Mark Murtha officially became lead guitarist for Head East. Since that time, he has continued being a “side man” in other bands but is appreciative for all the experiences he has been given with Head East. “We have a new album, Full Circle, that came out recently, and I was able to play acoustic and electric guitar on it, do some singing, play keyboard parts and even helped with some aspects of the production,” he explained. “Also, my wife sang some backup vocals on it.” In conclusion, he added, “I’ve known most of the Head East guys for years since we’ve played together in other bands—and they are great people who would do anything for you. And Roger Boyd, the band’s leader, and a founding member, is a pleasure to be around. He has so much knowledge from his years in the music business and is a fantastic advocate for the band." Jeremy P. Ämick is the author of “Movin’ On,” a biography of the band Missouri, in addition to the upcoming Shooting Star biography.  Murtha, center, is pictured as a member of London Drive in 2000. Many members of this band later were recruited by Roger Boyd to play with Head East. Courtesy of Mark Murtha |
AuthorJeremy P. Ämick is an award-winning author and historian dedicated to preserving music, military and local histories. Archives
July 2026
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