Thursday, February 11, 2010

The Tune Rockers~ Green Mosquito UA 139





Green Mosquito

AH! the Tune Rockers! I love this tune. Another great early band that I can't seem to find any info on except that they were out of the Buffalo area. They released this gem in 1958 and it debuted in August of that year on the Billboard charts spending 10 weeks there.

This is on United Artists label catalog # 139.

Just got a fabulous email from a member of the Tune Rockers and here is what he said:

"Hi I just saw your posting of our record The Green Mosquito and seeing that you had no info on the group I thought I would contact you and provide a little more info for you. You were correct in stating that the group was out of the Buffalo, NY area. My name is Johnny Cappello and played sax on the record. Other members are Tim Nolan, bass player, now residing in Georgia, Gene Strong, lead guitar, still in the Buffalo area, Vinnie Mancini, drums location unknown and Freddie Patten, rythym guitar who passed on years ago. The mosquito sound was created by sliding an old radio tube down the string of Gene's guitar. The record was a hit for us and we toured all over the country promoting it. We appeared on Dick Clark's American Bandstand in 1958 and there was a video of the show which to this date has vanished. I was also the lead singer in a group called the Graduates and had a hit record called the Ballad of a Girl and Boy. Then we release What Good is Graduation. I stayed in the business until about 1980 and decided it was time to hang up my rock n roll shoes Moved to Phoenix AZ and am still here. Hope this info was helpful. Keep Rock Alive! Thanks, Johnny Cappello"

THANK YOU, Johnny, for the info AND the awesome music! Johnny also provided the above photo of the Tune Rockers and that is Johnny in the middle!






6 comments:

  1. Oh man! This one is great! There are a million artists out there that just vanish... and many of therest just self destruct! Such is life.

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  2. You gotta scroll down a bit but there's a great bio here!

    http://rockradioscrapbook.ca/wbny1400.html

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  3. Orchard Park NY 1958 I knew the Drummers sister or girlfriend (?) M. Hoffman. I know they played in the Hoffman basement one night. I think drummers name was Mickey something and I had a drink w him once in a bar in the Boston Vally NY area. I always wondered what happened to those guys.

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  4. my Dad was in this band in the Army in 58.....not sure I know the whole story, but he played rhythm guitar....Lonnie Wagner.....here is an email he sent me about this story.....I’m gonna suggest that somebody grabbed a wrong pic, ‘cause we were all soldiers.. Ain’t no way that
    band went on.. I went to Kansas, Jim went to California, Rocky went South somewhere. Andy and Chuck Dobbs,
    and Ray I don’t know about... And, there were six of us....


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  5. My grandfather, Vinnie Mancino, was the drummer. He never left Buffalo but he passed away in 2017. He was 83. Fun fact. His brother was Lenny "Boom Boom" Mancini. Mancino was their legal last name.

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