The Rock & Roll Universe lost Mike Parks to cancer three years ago today, January 7th, 2018. This is for him.
The Retreads – circa 1989-1990 – consisted of Mike Parks (guitar & vocals), Phil Stokes (bass & vocals), and Jim Johnson (drums). The basic idea of the band was that after an introductory set, they would attempt to play ANY SONG from ANY ROCK & ROLL ERA beginning with Elvis Presley and concluding with disco that ANYONE IN THE AUDIENCE WOULD CALL OUT. And I’ll be damned if they didn’t pull it off at least 80% of the time; eight out of every ten audience requests would get worked up, reamed, steamed ‘n’ dry-cleaned right in front of said audience’s eyes.
I first saw Mike Parks and Phil Stokes play guitar & bass respectively back in the dim, long-lost, mythological days of the mid-1960’s when the Downtown area of Columbus, Ohio was still a going concern. The two top department stores – Lazarus and Morehouse Fashion – were right across the street from each other at the corner of Rich & High Streets. Both would feature rock & roll bands on Saturday afternoons in their upper-floor meeting rooms to lure in teen-girl shoppers for the latest fashions, and teen-boy shoppers for records & instruments and to gawk at the teen-girl shoppers IN those latest fashions.
That would have been 1966 to 1968, but I didn’t KNOW I was seeing Mike & Phil in those bands until 1989 when I met Mike Parks in Willie Phoenix’s True Soul Rockers and we discovered our shared West Side Rocker roots. (editor’s note; for more detail on a lot of that stuff, see Ricki’s previous blogs Mike Parks; Guitar Slinger (2014) and Guitar Slinger, continued 2020, linked here.)
But I digress, I believe we were discussing The Retreads in 1989:
During the “Stump The Band” segment of the shows Mike & Phil would huddle at center stage of Bernie’s Bagel’s, work out the chords, figure out who knew more of the lyrics to the songs to decide who sang lead, then count it off and launch into the rock & roll. Half the time they wouldn’t even tell Jim what the song was, they just expected him to jump in and power through. He’d look at me at the side of the stage and yell, “What are we PLAYING!!???!!!” as Mike & Phil leaned into the intro of “The Kids Are Alright,” The Syndicate of Sound’s “Hey Little Girl,” “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” by Bob Seger, or whatever else of a dozen tunes the audience would call out for. And then Jim would nail it, every time.
After a few shows as roadie (you know, I don’t remember even ONCE ever tuning a guitar or bass during those shows) I was given a “budget” of $5 to buy bizarre canned goods to hand out to the audience members as prizes when The Retreads couldn’t satisfy their requests. But Phil & Mike didn’t want to reward the crowd for stumping the band by giving them something they might enjoy - like peaches or corn - so they had me buy weird vegetables like okra & Brussel sprouts. (They always wanted me to get canned rutabagas, but I could never find them anywhere.) More than half the time the “lucky” audience member wouldn’t even take the offending legume, so we saved all kindsa money.
But you know what? Let’s take a break from all the historical content. Last night I had a really vivid dream that I was hanging out with Mick & Keith from The Rolling Stones during their 1969 American tour, a dream I believe Mike beamed down to me as a way of saying, “Hey Ricki, forget all the prose-droll and just get to the rock & roll.” So let’s skip the exposition, here’s all you need to know: 1) Mike Parks, Phil Stokes and Jim Johnson were rockers, bandits & pirates, NOT the YouTube/Instagram/Tik-Tok pussies, pouters & preeners who litter what constitutes the “rock & roll” landscape today; 2) Mike Parks played rock & roll from his teens until well into his 60’s. He played from the time he was a fresh-faced kid to the time he was a guy wracked with cancer who had to be helped onstage at the Ohio State Fair for one of his last gigs, but still finished that show standin’ strong and “playin’ guitar just like a-ringin’ a bell,” to quote one of Mike’s main guitar heroes.
We will not see his like – or Phil Stokes’ or Jim Johnson’s – again. Mike, I miss you. This is for you, my brother. – Ricki C. / January 5th & 6th, 2021.
SIX QUESTIONS FOR RETREADS DRUMMER EXTRAORDINAIRE AND ROCK & ROLL SURVIVOR JIM JOHNSON
1) How did you meet Phil Stokes and Mike Parks to form The Retreads?
I knew Mike & Phil from the Sugar Shack days. Phil was in Shakedown, easily the best band to play there, and Mike was in Flasher, doing his violin bow thing way back then. We crossed paths often. I was playing in Lizzy Borden with Frank Harrison. Mike & Phil also played together in Shakedown. A lot of people went through that band. Phil & Mike wanted to do a band that could play anything from the 60's. I was up for that. Phil knows every song from the 60's, literally. Phenomenal bass player. We practiced maybe once. Everything else was on the fly. (blogger’s note: Huh, here a Certain Theme begins to emerge. I’m pretty certain that Mike & Jim’s later band with Colin Gawel & Dan Cochran - The League Bowlers, live footage below - didn’t rehearse even ONCE the last TEN YEARS the band existed.) When Phil and Mike were growing up, playing in high school bands, between the two of them, they must have learned every song from that ‘64-‘68 era. Luckily, most of the drum parts were easy, or I made up my own parts that fit. It was all blues-based.
2) What was your favorite venue to play with the band and - further - do you remember your favorite individual gig?
We actually played a lot of places. Lots out of town. The only place in town we played was Bernie’s. We had a gig booked there on the night Mike's 1st kid was born. It got to be 10 pm and Mike still wasn't at the gig. He was at the hospital. Finally, about 10:30, Mike shows up, straight from the hospital, and played the gig in hospital scrubs, including the mask. We used to take a lot of requests. People would try to stump us. I think we played every request we ever got. Luckily, no one ever asked for any rap songs.
3) Were their any guest stars (or members) I may not be aware of?
We were playing the OK Cafe in Marion, when Deb Yates asked to sit in. She sang "Bobby McGee" with us and sounded exactly like Janis Joplin. She was great. We wanted her in the band from then on. We played a lot with her. Having three people that could sing was a big plus for the Retreads.
4) Would you say it was accurate that the Guiding Principle of the band was that you would play any request audience members could come up with, the parameters being from Elvis Presley to disco?
Yeah, pretty much. We had all been playing for a long time in bands, so between us, we knew a lot of songs. Phil knew more than anyone, and could tell Mike the chord progression, and we could pull off most anything, not always exactly, but our motto was "close enough for rock & roll."
5) How did the band come to an end? (And did it entirely precede yours & Mike's stint in Willie Phoenix' True Soul Rockers, or did the two bands co-exist for a period of time?)
The two bands co-existed for a while, but Mike and I got too busy with Willie to keep The Retreads going. It was fun while it lasted.
6) What’s the first ten or fifteen songs The Retreads played that come to your mind now, 30 years later?
Jeff’s Boogie / Can’t Explain / Substitute / Till The End Of The Day / Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White / Ramblin’ Rose / Kick Out The Jams / / Psychotic Reaction / Baby Please Don’t Go / Pushing Too Hard / Blues Deluxe / Where Have All The Good Times Gone? / You Really Got Me / Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood / We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place. (blogger’s note; Jim, given you guys’ pedigree, I’ve GOTTA think somes Stones tunes got played.)
I couldn’t locate ANY live footage of The Retreads anywhere (largely, I guess, because nobody was much into videotaping local bands playing in the basement of Bernie’s Bagels in 1989, but don’t you kinda wish they HAD BEEN?), so here’s maybe the next best thing. The League Bowlers; Colin Gawel, vocals & guitar / Mike Parks, lead guitar & vocals / Dan Cochran, bass & vocals / Jim Johnson, drums, live at the Valley Dale Ballroom, September 10th, 2017.
Tune in January 27th when Pencil Storm will be featuring issues of The Intreader; The Retreads band/gig newsletter, written and illustrated by Mike.