Though their singles were pulled from production and
distribution due to the Gemcor label going out of business, this unfortunate
reality hasn't negatively affected the legendary status of The Rumors' lone
single, Hold Me Now b/w Without Her, in the slightest. Both sides of the single
have been frequently comped, and Hold Me Now received perhaps the greatest
compliment afforded a '60's garage band song by being selected for inclusion in
the Nuggets box set. Drummer Norman Prinsky recalls his days in the band for
60sgaragebands.com.
An Interview With Norm Prinsky
60sgaragebands.com (60s): How did you first get interested in music?
Norm Prinsky (NP): Probably first by hearing musical records when a child, and
then when I was forced to take piano lessons at about six or seven years old.
60s: Was The Rumors your first band?
NP: I was in many, many bands - I believe I mention these on my website (
www.aug.edu/~nprinsky) - besides The Rumors. (Much information also
appears in the liner notes/insert on our CD The Cicadelic Sixties '60s, Vol. 8).
My first band, formed at about age thirteen or fourteen, was with Neil Seidel
(from a family of professional musicians, and who went on to be in the orchestra
for the Dinah Shore TV show, I've heard), who played guitar, and Bob Ohrling,
who played alto sax, and with me on the drums. The group had the Klassy name of
The Kool Kats. A couple of years later, a longer-lasting group was composed of
Neil Seidel, Jon Wexler (alto and tenor sax), and me, with the name (influenced
by the Modern Jazz Quartet - MJQ) of the NJN trio (Neil and I always argued
about who the first "N" was). This group won a prize on a local Los Angeles TV
station, sponsored by an Oldsmobile dealer, called Rocket to Stardom. In several
groups, Larry Scher was the bass player, and he was the one who suggested
bringing me into The Rumors.
60s: Where did you know Larry from?
NP: Our parents knew each other, and Larry and I knew each other, from
elementary school onwards.
60s: When was The Rumors formed?
NP: The group was in existence at least a couple of years before I joined it on
drums. One of the central forces of the group was always Ben Turner (keyboard,
harmonica, and lead singer).
60s: Who comprised the group?
NP: Ben Turner (keyboard, harmonica, lead singer); Larry Scher (bass, backup
singer, lead singer; the one who brought me into the group); and "the two Mikes"
(two Michaels who played rhythm and lead guitar, respectively).
60s: Who were the "two Mikes"?
NP: I can't recall the last names of the two Mikes, though Larry told me some
months ago what the names were.
60s: Were you familiar at all with the band prior to be asked to join?
NP: Actually, I had not heard about the group, but I was impressed by (a) the
instrumental ability of the members; (b) Ben Turner's energy in moving the group
forward; (c) the friendliness and good nature of all the band members; and (d)
the rousing quality of Hold Me Now. I hope to have a reunion with Ben Turner,
and the "two Mikes" as well, though I have the most history with Larry Scher.
60s: Where did the band typically play (schools, parties, teen clubs, etc.)?
NP: All (of those types of ) venues, but occasionally at some upperclass affairs
like a party for the Thalians (a group from important society circles in Los
Angeles and Beverly Hills).
60s: Did you play any of the local teen clubs? The Sunset Strip?
NP: We would have played the Sunset Strip, with The Byrds, if our 45 r.p.m. had
gotten into the Top 20 - which, unfortunately, it didn't. We got as far as
Hollywood Boulevard, in our successful appearance at the Palladium in Battle of
the Rock Bands.
60s: What can you tell me about that Battle?
NP: We did well in Battle of the Rock Bands at the Palladium, where a young man,
Michael Greisman, heard us and later became the producer who put our songs first
on an vinyl LP series and then the CD series called The Cicadelic Sixties/'60s,
and then facilitated the inclusion of our song on the classic expanded 4-CD set
Nuggets. Michael also got or kept a copy of the program for the Battle of the
Rock Bands, a reproduction of which, with our name, is included in the insert on
Vol. 8 of Cicadelic Sixties/60s.
60s: How would you describe the band's sound? What band's influenced you?
NP: The band's sound was uptempo sixties: a mixture of The Kingsmen's Louie
Louie, The Hollies (favored by the lead guitarist), and - in the songs I
composed - by the British Invasion, particularly the Zombies (and especially
She's Not There).
60s: Did The Rumors have a manager?
NP: For some time, Ben Turner acted as manager as well as group founder,
keyboardist, and lead singer.
60s: How popular locally did The Rumors become?
NP: On a fairly small scale, although the group did have a semi-official fan
club, partly as a result of our appearance at Battle of the Rock Bands and our
record (listed in the Goldmine Book of Collectable 45 RPM Rock Records).
60s: How far was the band's "touring" territory?
NP: As far as Bakersfield and Fresno, primarily for publicizing the 45 r.p.m.
record. Generally we worked in the greater Los Angeles area.
60s: What other local groups of the era do you especially recall?
NP: I was too busy in our group and some groups playing other kinds of music
(e.g., jazz, cocktail music, wedding reception music) to notice many. I heard
great things about Pat and Lolly Vegas (phenomenal guitarists) on the Sunset
Strip, who exemplified how great talent didn't ensure a recording or success.
60s: The Rumors released one single: Hold Me Now b/w Without Her. Where was the
45 recorded? What do you remember about the recording session?
NP: The owner of the recording studio, Bill Bell - who also did radio
advertising - was a perfectionist and demanded that the group did take after
take after take. It was reminiscent of a scene in the film La Bamba, starring
Lou Diamond Philips. Also, I was shocked that the group didn't have a second
original song to put on the B-side of the record, so I was under great pressure
to quickly compose and arrange the B-side song - Without Her - which shows the
influence of the British Invasion and the Zombies. Bill Bell had Sonny & Cher's
production people listen to the record, and their response was (a) they were
surprised that the two songs were by the same group, since the sound was so
different; (b) they liked the B-side, Without Her, better than the A-side, Hold
Me Now; and (c) they suggested adding orchestral effects - brass and strings -
to the B-side. I was a hard rocker and refused; in hindsight, this refusal was
an immature mistake - Sonny & Cher's record producers knew what they were doing.
Radio stations outside Los Angeles also, to our surprise, often favored the
B-side over the A-side. Hold Me Now was always a crowd rouser.
60s: In fact, a snippet of Hold Me Now was used in a MacDonalds' commercial.
What year would this have been in?
NP: Because Bill Bell did radio advertising in his studio as well as music, he
naturally selected one of the three records produced by his company (Gemcor) for
Officer MacDonald to break into for a Big Mac alert in 1965 or 1966. Hold Me Now
was a more conventional uptempo song to interrupt for such a commercial than the
songs on the other two records from Gemcor. (NOTE: One of the other singles was
The Becket Quintet's No Correspondence b/w It's All Over Now, Baby Blue).
60s: Who wrote Hold Me Now?
NP: Ben Turne
r did words and music and arrangement for Hold Me Now, and I helped polish the
lyrics a bit. I did words, music, and arrangement for Without Her, composed
sitting at my parents' Ivers & Pond upright piano in our home in central
Hollywood.
60s: Do any (other) '60's Rumors recordings exist? Are there any vintage live
recordings?
NP: The Rumors only did the one 45 r.p.m. I have been told that Larry Scher,
bass player and technically the savviest of the group (then and now; Larry
teaches TV and media at Rio Hondo College in Southern California), has some
audio tapes, but whether they're from our jobs or not, I'm not sure.
60s: Did the band make any local TV appearances? Does any 8mm or 16mm film
footage exist of the band?
NP: The band did appear on some local TV stations in Fresno and Bakersfield. I'm
not aware of any 8 mm or 16 mm footage of the group - just still photos.
60s: Why did the band break up in the '60's?
NP: I think we were somewhat disappointed by the record not climbing the charts,
and I had to leave the group to go to graduate school at Yale.
60s: What year did the band call it quits?
NP: I'm not sure, but I would guess 1967 or 1968.
60s: Did you join or form any bands after The Rumors?
NP: In college, I was in a group, all students at Reed College (in Portland,
Oregon), called T and the Mystics. The group showed enough promise that we were
invited to Seattle to make a demo. Nothing came of the demo, and later, when I
was able to arrange financing to get the group to assemble in Los Angeles, the
wife of the lead guitar player forbade him from coming down from Oregon, which
prevented the group from continuing.
60s: What about today. Do you perform at all?
NP: Today, in Augusta, Georgia, I have sat in with a couple of locally prominent
rock groups, especially The Tony Howard Band. I still have my blue sparkle
Gretsch drum set (nowadays, "drum kit"), but am an associate professor of
English at Augusta State University (cf. "word man" in the film Eddie and the
Cruisers) and do a lot of academic publishing (listed on my ASU website).
60s: As you've alluded to, Hold Me Now was included on the Nuggets boxed set -
firmly entrenching the song as a classic. What were your thoughts when learning
of the honor?
NP: I was thrilled, first, when a photo of our group appeared on Vol. 8 of The
Cicadelic Sixties/'60s, and second, when Michael Greisman telephoned me from
across the country to say that Rhino Records had picked up one of the songs for
Nuggets. I was also proud that some fans had put our song on the old Napster; as
I tell my students, I thought that was real fame.
60s: How do you best summarize your experiences with The Rumors?
NP: Uniformly happy, and now happy nostalgia in memories. All the members of the
group were - and are - good guys and talented musicians. Larry Scher and I have
known each other - and his folks knew my folks - since childhood, and I was
lucky to have a reunion with him (and his new wife and my new wife) in April
2003 in Las Vegas.
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