Egad, I just realized I have the entire Chet Baker & the Mariachi Brass LP collection. However, that’s not the subject.
I wanted to reminisce about a live Baja concert I saw…I think it was the summer of ’67…at the Chicago Opera House. Julius and the boys were an opening act for warbler Jack Jones. Arriving early, I recall seeing Julius & various band members coming in through the stage entrance near Washington Street @ Wacker Drive…but I was too nervous to talk to them. (I was very shy in my younger days, plus they looked a little shady!)
At show time, they made their trademark entrance with a lazy walk-on from various points, stage right and left. The recording of “Comin in the Back Door” played up to the raucous Dixie break, and then, with the band in place, they finished the song live. This was how they opened many of their TV appearances. Next was the up-tempo version of “Brasilia”.
Julius then sauntered from behind his Marimba to the front of the stage and said, “I bet you thought we were going to be rotten! We’re a little new in the concert business, in fact, we do our first show tomorrow night.”
It was so long ago; I don’t remember the whole show or sequence of tunes. They did “Yours”, “Georgy Girl” (which was their newest single at this time), “Spanish Eyes”, and “Acapulco 1922”. Curry Tjader was featured as a “master” of the Castanets for a wonderful Spike Jones like comedy bit on “Ghostriders” complete with bad timing, missed cues, falling asleep on and knocking stuff off the music stands during the quiet passages.
A real showstopper was Frank Devitos’ vocal on “Winchester Cathedral”. As he started to sing, through a megaphone, the only illumination in the theatre was from a strobe light that gave the illusion of watching a frantic scene from an old-time movie. Tjader took over on drums while Frank was front and center.
The band finished with “Gay Ranchero”, the audience happily clapping along at the urging of Dave Wells. This travelling band also had Lee Katzman, Bernie Fleischer, Frank Decaro, and Mel Pollan. If memory serves, this was shortly after Bud Coleman passed away and we were seeing Charlie Chiarenza for the first time. What has become of Charlie?
Most of the attendees came to hear Jones, but raved about Baja at intermission. I hope that the guys sold many records as a result of that concert. Sadly, I would not hear the band again until their 1980’s comeback. More on that another time if anyone’s interested.
I wanted to reminisce about a live Baja concert I saw…I think it was the summer of ’67…at the Chicago Opera House. Julius and the boys were an opening act for warbler Jack Jones. Arriving early, I recall seeing Julius & various band members coming in through the stage entrance near Washington Street @ Wacker Drive…but I was too nervous to talk to them. (I was very shy in my younger days, plus they looked a little shady!)
At show time, they made their trademark entrance with a lazy walk-on from various points, stage right and left. The recording of “Comin in the Back Door” played up to the raucous Dixie break, and then, with the band in place, they finished the song live. This was how they opened many of their TV appearances. Next was the up-tempo version of “Brasilia”.
Julius then sauntered from behind his Marimba to the front of the stage and said, “I bet you thought we were going to be rotten! We’re a little new in the concert business, in fact, we do our first show tomorrow night.”
It was so long ago; I don’t remember the whole show or sequence of tunes. They did “Yours”, “Georgy Girl” (which was their newest single at this time), “Spanish Eyes”, and “Acapulco 1922”. Curry Tjader was featured as a “master” of the Castanets for a wonderful Spike Jones like comedy bit on “Ghostriders” complete with bad timing, missed cues, falling asleep on and knocking stuff off the music stands during the quiet passages.
A real showstopper was Frank Devitos’ vocal on “Winchester Cathedral”. As he started to sing, through a megaphone, the only illumination in the theatre was from a strobe light that gave the illusion of watching a frantic scene from an old-time movie. Tjader took over on drums while Frank was front and center.
The band finished with “Gay Ranchero”, the audience happily clapping along at the urging of Dave Wells. This travelling band also had Lee Katzman, Bernie Fleischer, Frank Decaro, and Mel Pollan. If memory serves, this was shortly after Bud Coleman passed away and we were seeing Charlie Chiarenza for the first time. What has become of Charlie?
Most of the attendees came to hear Jones, but raved about Baja at intermission. I hope that the guys sold many records as a result of that concert. Sadly, I would not hear the band again until their 1980’s comeback. More on that another time if anyone’s interested.
I just don't remember much about what they played because I was more interested in the girl that went with me(now my wife) 
I do recall that they seemed to be very proficient players and had a very good concert sound.
