If you vividly remember all the wonderful music and related culture of the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, you probably weren’t there, as it’s said.
But now, vague recollections can come alive with “Every Picture Tells A Story,” Janie Grier Kelley’s 236-page package of four booklets recounting decades of Central Illinois rock ‘n’ roll, with more than 1,200 images of hundreds of artists and related people, places and things.
I met Janie in 1985 when three young women calling themselves the Aquanettes wore shimmering gowns and sang girl-group numbers at a party: Sally Weisenburg, Nancy Slevin and Janie.
“I couldn’t sing but we all looked good,” she remembers, laughing.
Last fall, the 72-year-old native Peorian who graduated from Central and SIU-Carbondale before spending 34 years at Dynamic Graphics, Multi-Ad Services, and a stint at Caterpillar before retiring in 2015 felt a now-or-never impulse to do this project.
“Last September we had a musical reunion at Expo Garden’s Opry House and talked and raffled posters, and I just thought it was time,” she said. The “music has been and continues to be one of life’s greatest gifts to me.”
Ask people from her work as a graphic artist and the consensus will be that she’s a sweet soul.
An effort that’s encyclopedic in scale, if not text, “Every Picture” is sure to result in reflection and appreciation about a special time and place.
In her introduction, Janie writes, “This is not intended to be a comprehensive study of local bands in Central Illinois in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and early ’80s. Rather, it is a window into that world as I experienced it.”
An old friend, former Illinois Entertainer publisher Ken Voss, adds, “Well, it’s a window to the world of rock and roll anyone who lived in that era experienced. And to modestly says it’s not comprehensive – it certainly is.”
Sometimes, treasures can be burdensome but Janie’s handled that load with her love of those times and people – and years of boxes, files and digital copies to spend months sharing it.
Local pal Marty Wombacher – a blogger (present here through his P.O.P./People of Peoria magazine) – says the booklets “tell, show and embody the music, the venues, the journalism and the bands and musicians that were the music scene in Peoria through the ’50s into the ’80s.”
Dedicated to Bob “Whale” Miller “Every Picture” is less of a scrapbook than a time travelogue, enormously helped by Royal Publishing, which generously volunteered to produce it, plus contributions from characters including Art Karaganis, Tim Meidroth, Craig Moore, Lee Ranson, Mike Rea, Dan Sutton and Ron Volz.
Words alone are insufficient, so you should have this gem for the full visual tour: the Rock 106’s “Basement Tapes,” promoters such as Hank Skinner and Jay Goldberg, broadcast personalities such as WWCT’s Jim Reeves, WIRL’s Lee Ranson and Bill Houlihan (“Houli’s Hi-Fi Club” TV show), national acts that played here then or hometown musicians who became global hitmakers, topped by Dan Fogelberg and Gary Richrath – reminiscent of former colleague Nick Vlahos’ meme of Peoria as COTU (“Center of the Universe”), publications such as Sam Mahony’s Nearby Nite Life, the Prairie SUN, material appearing in the Observer or Penny Press, and venues from Pizzaworks/The Other Side to the Poison Apple, studios Golden Voice in Pekin and GDS in Morton, and 12 pages of reunion snapshots.
I won’t share every artist listed; Janie did, thank God. But here’s a sampling to spark memories:
Actual Proof (with Kris Lewis), Brillo & the Firebirds, Kenn Carlyle & the Cadillac Cowboys, Captain Strobe, Dave & the Dynamics, Dave Chastain, Dave Hoffman, Eargazm, Elvis Brothers, Flying D’Rita Brothers,
Gonn, Greg Williams, Gregg Clemons, Hurricane Ruth, Jets, Jetz, Jimmy Binkley, Kool Ray & the Polaroidz, Kriss Kross, Mackinaw, Monterey, New Watermelon Rhythm Band, Peter Parkhurst, Poker Flatts, Pork & the Havana Ducks,
Ready Steady Go, the Rockin’ R’s, Rockin’ Billy & the Rhythm Riot, Sally Weisenburg & Don Berbaum, Screams, Smokehouse, Somerville, Speechless, Squids, Streetwise, Timothy P & the Rural Route 3, Uptown, Vanessa David Band, the Vectors…
Beyond name-dropping, Janie’s deftly sequenced artists, creating a musical genealogy of the area – all assembled with warm respect. “Every Picture” may elicit some sentimental whimsy or melancholy glee, but it’s worth far more than $25 and your time.
“My hope is that this book brings back some good memories, introduces you to a few stories you may not have heard before, and helps preserve a small piece of Central Illinois music history,” Janie said.
Maybe she couldn’t carry a tune, but she definitely carried this off.
Proceeds from “Every Picture Tells A Story” will be donated to Harmonize Peoria, a non-profit helping to provide area youth with access to music education, instruments and chances to perform.
Priced at $25, the book is available at the Peoria Riverfront Museum store and Younger Than Yesterday records on North University Street, plus, to pick up or be delivered, order from Harmonize Peoria:
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