LPSS Matters - Lorne Park Secondary School Alumni Website Intro

Volume 5, Issue 3 Page 10
Spartan Stuff
1957—1964 Fred Hilditch (‘63) - fred@businessdata.on.ca
I have scanned all the year books up to 1965 which I have distributed free of charge to a few individuals
(Everybody wanted to pay – costs to me $2.50). I will mail out free a CD containing all our year books
(57/65) if you provide one LPSS contact information from the student list of 1957 to 1965 on pages 2 & 3 of
the last newsletter & make a donation to cancer. Email addresses are what we are looking for, but we accept phone
numbers and/or addresses. We will use this info for the upcoming Re-union in 2007. The donation to cancer is because I
am a volunteer driver for cancer but if you have a favourite charity go ahead and twist my arm. Mark October 19-21,
2007 on your calendar. These are the dates for the LPSS 50th Anniversary Reunion. More information to follow. Carole
Tompkins- LPSS 1961 - No I have not received anything regarding the year books. In one of the newsletters I noticed
that you were asking for contributions to the cancer society for a cd of the year books. Is this still the case? Carole got
her CD.
Mike Ellis LPSS 1964 - Hi Fred...sometime ago I was reading your email concerning the possible reunion of the band
The Last Words for the 50th coming up...I happened to be working last week with an old friend and schoolmate John
Smith (deNottbeck) LPSS 1964 and of course I believe he was in the band at one point. He sounded intrigued.....you
could contact him at ……… cheers Michael. Bottom Line: We have made contact with John and Graeme Box LPSS
1963. Looks like they are going to play at our Re union.
The Last Words formed in the early 60's in Clarkson, Ontario. They were all school chums and decided in 1965 to give
the music business a shot. Graeme's Dad, Keith, came up with the group name and helped the boys immensely with
sound business advice. Keith introduced the group to Dave Marsden (aka Jack London) who became their first manager.
Formerly the leader of Jack London and The Sparrows, (who eventually morphed into Steppenwolf) Dave had many
contacts and was instrumental in placing the group in Yorkville Village, the "hot spot" for Toronto in the 60's. They wrote
and produced three singles. The first, "The Laugh's On Me" was recorded and released on the Canadian RCA label in
late 1965, and received little air play. After a planned US tour fell through, the group then split with Dave Marsden, and in
1966 recorded their second single, "I Symbolize You". Keith Box helped them obtain a distribution deal with Columbia
and the single went to #1 in many Canadian cities. It reached #14 on the prestigious CHUM chart in Toronto, no mean
feat in the early days of Canadian rock. In 1967, the third, and what would become their final single, "Give Me Time",
was also successful. ARC Records took the group under it's wing, and set them up with Brian Ahearn, Anne Murray's
producer. The chemistry wasn't there, however, and nothing came of the deal. The Words tried to inject some fresh
inspiration by adding two new members, vocalist/guitarist Bill Meisner (aka Bill Marion), formerly of The Paupers, and
guitarist Neil Mattice. During rehearsals, this led to creative differences wtihin the group, and they played their last
engagement as a foursome on July 1, 1967 in London, Ontario. Bill Dureen left and the other original members
continued with Meisner and Mattice for a short time. The final split came when bassist Campbell left to join The Paupers
who were leaving to try their luck in New York with Albert Grossman, Bob Dylan's
manager. Grossman also managed Janis Joplin, and Campbell eventually left to
play bass for The Full Tilt Boogie Band, her last group. When Joplin died , Campbell
returned to Canada. The Last Words got together again in the 1980's to back
vocalist Gerry Arpa as The Flashbacks, and played the Ontario bar circuit until
1990, when Arpa left. Members of The Last Words are still good friends and jam
frequently. Carol Macnab LPSS 1963—Wow Fred, how interesting. I know Graeme
Box was in this band and Ron Gunther (I think) but I didn't even know they did as
much as they did. I did hear their first song "The Laugh's on Me". I thought it was
really good! I have not heard anything about Graeme in years. They lived around
the block from us and my brother Ian and Gary Box were best buddies and still keep
in touch. That would be great to get them together for the 50th.
Comments we received from the email regarding Johnny Carson & Friday (Jack Webb) Movie Clip - We have an old
computer. We do not have - nor need - high speed access. This took nineteen minutes to down load, tying up my
computer. We can not open the attachment anyway. It was not funny. Thanks Fred, they sure don't make shows like
that anymore! Well I thought it was funny so you can pass that on - ha! I've seen this before. Is it not the funniest thing?
Johnny Carson is struggling to keep a straight face, which makes it even funnier. thanks for sharing. From Fred - In
future my son, Shawn will put these large files on our web site and you can down load them from there. By the time you