The Elves
by Tony D.
It's burned in my visual memory, as well as my AUDIO memory
forever.......I'm 50 now, but for all intents and purposes,
I'm still 17/18, and at either the Lower Level or St.
Joesph Auditorium, in Hazleton Pa.......it's a Sunday night
in the summer, and the sight of wouldbe hippie chicks in
their tube tops or t-shirts with no bra and hard nipples,
and low slung bell bottom jeans with bare midriff was more
than I could take..........some were barefoot, "di rigour"
for the period.......
A crowd.....a huge crowd, always gathered outside the
venue, where ever it was, waiting for the band, and they
were like nothing we had ever seen before in this small
coal mining town of 29,000.
The huge silver truck parked outside, and the muffled
sounds of a roadie inside saying "check 1,2.. check
1,2......" indicated that the doors would soon open, and
when they did, there was a rush inside after paying the
$2.50 cover charge (imagine that: $2.50) to get in. All of
us "would-be's," meaning simply that as a "would-be" you
fell into two catagories: (a) You wanted to be in a band,
but your parents wouldn't buy you a guitar when you were in
your teens and music started to excite your loins, or (b)
You did play in a band (local, of course), and only DREAMED
of what you could/would be, well.............we all would
rush to surround the band as they tuned and got ready to
start.............they bearly had any breathing room, the
crowd got so close, and we bearly had ear drums left.
The Elves were, quite simply, THE most professional band to
ever play in the town, at the time. We had never seen
anything quite like them before..........INCREDIBLY LONG
HAIR, MID BACK AND THICK, ALL ONE LENGTH on all of
them...........stacks of equipment like we had never seen
before, and could only hope to have...............Marshall
amps and Sunn Pa system, stacked so high you'd swear the
roadies had to put on spike boots and breathing apparaus to
climb them to disassemble when they were done for the
night.
The band did a combination of cover tunes from the
prominent albums of the time, as well as a few cuts from
their own...............lots of Led Zep, The Who (Tommy, in
entirety), Abbey Road.
Ronnie Dio was, of course, always the main front man, and
occasionally, Doug would be featured...............In our
case, as would-be virtuosos, we would not take our eyes off
of Dave Fienstein, our idle, who at, what?..5'1" might as
well as been the Jolly Green Giant the way he handled that
sunburst Gibson guitar with deadly accuracy, especially
during the Led Zepplin covers.
Me? I used to watch Mickey Lee Soule, since I was an
aspiring keyboardist, and could only hope that I could save
enough money to buy a Fender Rhodes like his.....and I
might add that as time went on, I noticed that he changed
to an electric piano that had no moniker on it....don't
know what it was............as a matter of fact........I
also recall seeing him use a small "miked" upright one or
two times, and if I recall correctly, it was a true honky
tonk, and after their first alum was out, in which case,
since his parts/solos were so "LeonRussell-isk," it made
sense.
I remember that Davey had a "very close female friend" whom
he saw every time they played the area........she was as
tiny as him, and although I do remember her name, I'll keep
it annonymous and tell you that she now lives in the
Carribean, happily married with kids.
Ronnie NEVER relinquished his bass for a mike........he WAS
the bass player, period, and of course, as his career grew
over the years and his prominent voice took center stage
with other bands, that changed.
My friend, who was a drummer, used to talk to Gary Driscoll
during the band's breaks, so, of course, being the
starry-eyed guy that I was, I joined in............We would
ask him question after question about his equipment, the
band's equipment, etc. .............Gary was a very quiet
guy, and I remember now, thinking back, that he looked like
a young Beau Bridges (the actor), facially, except of
course for the super long hair.
The Elves played Hazleton, I think, probably 50 times in
several years.........ALWAYS drew a crowd..........hell, I
could remember BLIZZARDS, and these guys still made it to
Hazleton from New York, and the place was STILL PACKED.
Every once in a while they would play with other bands from
the Cortland/Binghamton area, like FREE WILL and BRIAN'S
IDLES, who were also very, very good, but no match for the
Elves, not only in their "polish," but in their presence
too. ...........I think the only other band that came close
to them was "WOOL" (formerly Ed Wool and the
Nomads).......there was always an argument, who was better,
and Ed Wool did indeed play a mean GEETAR that could go one
on one with Davey Feinstein, but somehow Davey just had a
presence to him that made him the favorite among all the
aspiring guitarists.
In their own way, and this is an observation, The Elves
actually helped the other New York bands that came down to
play......most of them from either Cortland, Binghamton, or
Watertown...........Once word got around that their was a
gig at either the Lower Level or St. Joes Auditorium, and
that the band was from New York, we just presumed that
thery were as good as the Elves..........somehow they never
were........somehow we were always dissapointed, but
because of our presumption, there would be a crowd for the
night and, I'm sure that premise followed through at other
venues/other areas, as well.
I remember when word got around that the band had broken
up, it was kind of an incremental thing that grew in
stature............first we heard that they were going on
tour with Deep Purple........didn't know if it was true or
not, but we hoped it was.......then we heard that Ronnie
was the new lead singer for Rainbow, and ten different
people heard 10 different things.......yes he was, no he
wasn't.....yes Davey was also with him, .....no Davey
wasn't with him.....this one quit, that one was fired....it
was endless..............eventually, I read in the trades
of Ronnie's individual success, and then a girl I knew from
Berwick, Pa., who was very close friends with Doug, told me
of HIS success on the other end of the business, booking
and so forth.......
A while back someone told me of Davey's success in the
restaurant business in the Cortland area, with plans for a
second one soon.......and of course, Gary is
dead......sad......very sad.............
They were and still are fabulous memories that I, and many
others like me, will have for a lifetime.............and it
makes you wonder, given the cult following here, and the
story behind it...................it would make a GREAT
MOVIE, wouldn't it?
Tony D.
Hazleton, Pa.