HAYSTACKS BALBOA
the official site
THE STORY
1969.The sixties were coming to a close. Lloyd Landesman and Mark Mayo met at Forest Hills High School in NYC and played together in the Tangerine Puppets. Across the Borough of Queens, Mark Polott was the bassist in the Innovation Umbrella. After several Summers playing the Catskills hotel circuit, the band went through some personnel changes and as fate would have it, the Puppets had disbanded, and Landesman would join Polott in a revamping of the Umbrella. The current drummer and guitarist were from Forest Hills and knew Lloyd. After several rehearsals, waning enthusiasm and few gigs, the band dissolved. Lloyd returned to a new project that was in its fledgling stages with his former Tangerine Puppets bandmates. He brought Polott along on bass to fill the chair that former Vagrants bassist, Larry West, sometimes occupied.
This group became HAYSTACKS BALBOA, a riff on Haystacks Calhoun, who was a popular wrestler at the time. It featured Mark Mayo on guitar and Lloyd on Hammond Organ. Rounding out the group was drummer Mark Babani, whose basement in Forest Hills became their rehearsal space for 5 days a week during that hot Summer of 1969.
HAYSTACKS BALBOA was managed by Shelly Finkel, then manager of Mountain.
By September, they were opening up for Paul Butterfield at the Pavillion at the old NY World’s Fairgrounds, a venue that both Mayo and Polott had played when the Fair was open, years before. But the band needed a singer. Shelly “knew a guy” in Brooklyn named Larry Cannon. They all met and he learned the set in a few days. The band was ready for the show and somehow, Larry learned all the lyrics. Headlining the venue that summer were legendary bands such as Led Zeppelin, Procol Harum, Grateful Dead, Santana and Mountain. After a few weeks they recorded a demo at Charles Lane Studios in the West Village and were signed to a record deal on Polydor Records. But after several gigs, including one at the legendary Electric Circus on St. Mark’s Place, Larry started showing some signs that he was not the one for the big push. Introductions were made to vocalist Bruce Scott. He was several years older than us, but had a lot of experience as a front man with Childe Harold, a popular local group.
Maybe Tomorrow
Mark Mayo-guitar
Lloyd Landesman-keyboards
Mark Polott-bass
Mark Babani-drums
Larry Cannon-vocals
The Charles Lane Demo
The band rehearsed for weeks. They found a vocalist. Now, they needed a demo tape to continue in their quest.
Through their Vagrants/Mountain connection, they booked Charles Lane Studio in the West Village, and the resident engineer Tom. They recorded five tunes and were already telegraphing their propensity for arranging and stretching out stylistically. Years later, they would discuss how some of these tunes should have been recorded for their album in addition to Sticky Finger, almost two years before the Stones would use that phrase.
Sticky Finger
During one session, Joe Butler from the Lovin’ Spoonful heard their music from the street, came upstairs and joined the party. It was the Sixties, it was the Village…
Soon the boys were recording their debut album, produced by the legendary Shadow Morton. Supposedly, the deal brought Shadow out of retirement so he could buy an Excalibur. They did see the car at a barbecue weeks later. Shelly brought the band to Premier Talent who booked the band a major show at the Schaeffer Festival in New York’s Central Park, opening for Jethro Tull.
The Children of Heaven
Haystacks Balboa toured the country opening for acts as diverse as Ten Years After, Rod Stewart and Faces, Savoy Brown, Mungo Jerry, Elvin Bishop and Eric Burden and War.
Black Sabbath’s first American show. Haystacks Balboa opened the concert, but Sabbath’s amps wouldn’t work on US current so they couldn’t perform. They returned at a later date to fulfill their commitment.
The band was a minor local smash. Haystacks Balboa toured the country and had their 15 minutes of fame but still remained somewhat mysterious. In some circles the group was thought to be from Great Britain… via Queens, NY! This could have been due to its propensity for opening up for some of the top British acts of the day.
In 1970, the band was scheduled to be the opening act of the Powder Ridge Rock Festival in Connecticut. It was cancelled last minute by an injunction and might have been the next Woodstock. Melanie’s “Candles in the Rain” was written about her solo performance there. She managed to sneak in with just her acoustic guitar, while the boys returned to the city and pigged out at an Eastside diner. This festival appearance could have made them “contenders.”
Spoiler
Spoiler
The first gig opening for the Faces was at Goddard College in Vermont. It closed with an appearance by Peter Green onstage in a closing jam. They played together in Scranton-Wilkes Barre, Detroit, Staten Island, and Chicago. The last gig of the Faces tour was at the Hara Sports Arena in Dayton Ohio. The guys woke up after their show in Chicago to a steady snowfall and a long drive to Ohio. Little did they know that there was a timezone switch. The speedometer might have hit 100 as the realization of a very late arrival in Dayton was inevitable. This was the end of the tour and they couldn’t miss this date.
The blizzard started to subside as they pulled into the huge parking lot outside the Arena. A side door was found and the band barged in. They were greeted by a room full of skaters circling an ice rink! Wrong building…
A short run across the lot to the venue, in through the front doors, down the main aisle right up to the stage. Eric Burden was pacing backstage and he was pissed. After several weeks together, a gifted case of wine and some laughs, Rod had held the show until the boys from Queens could arrive. After, they found the car full of snow. The window had been left open…