THE FINAL CHAPTER
Living together in Kensington had stressed relationships among the band members, so it was decided to find separate housing in LA. Richard and Dottie found an apartment on Barrington Avenue. Jimmy, Bill and Bicey rented a small house on Sherman Way in the Valley. Paul and Debbie found their own place. Tony, however, had decided it was time to call it quits, and returned to Pennsylvania.
To make matters worse, it was discovered that another band already had a record in the stores under the name “White Heat.” It didn’t matter that no one knew of that band -- it was time for a new identity yet again.
They ran through all of the possible other movie titles that might be applicable, but nothing clicked. Thinking about their tendency to be classified as Jazz / Rock, they mixed up the words and settled on Jack Rozz. It seemed to fit pretty well. T-shirts were made. Doing a search today reveals there are several bands named Jack Rozz. Oh well.
There was an ongoing attempt to get record company interest, but no offers were forthcoming. Everyone was in bad shape financially, and without a bass player they couldn’t even play any gigs. Not that playing gigs would have helped the money situation -- in LA the competition among bands was so fierce that the clubs could actually charge THE BANDS for the privilege of performing on their stages! Bicey went back to tree work, Bill got a job installing alarm systems. Things were bleak.
Jimmy Hayne couldn’t stand the thought of just hanging around LA watching all the work of the previous 8 years crumble around him. A long-time friend of his -- Peter Donaghy -- was having some success as a guitar player breaking into the new Punk music scene in London. Peter and Jimmy had been discussing where to go next in their careers, and Jimmy decided to change his name to Hawkins and cut out for the UK ASAP.
Bill helped Mr. Hawkins crate up his guitars and amplifier, and drove him to LAX early one morning for his flight to London. Bill sold the van (to repay the loan), and moved back to Bryn Mawr (for a while). Bicey stayed in LA, as did Richard and Dottie. Paul found other work and moved on. And that was it.
EPILOGUE OR FORWARD... INTO THE PASTURE
Not with a bang, but a whimper, the status quo won, and the surviving members of Duck Soup / White Heat / Jack Rozz all set off to start new lives without getting a chance to play their music for the masses. It was a noble effort, and everyone involved can look back on those years and consider it time well spent. A long, strange ride. An experience that enriched their lives, maybe left a few scars, and bounced them off into new directions that they otherwise would never have discovered. So it goes.
More than 40 years have passed since the dissolution of the band, and many still fondly remember the band and its music. It is a tribute to the quality of the songwriting and the musicianship that the recordings still sound interesting and even relevant. I hope this stroll down memory lane has been as much fun for you as it has for me.
-- Bill Koepnick, July, 2011 (site re-built and moved to WIX February, 2021)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
BILL HAYWARD -- Deserves much credit for spearheading this effort, and re-establishing contact among the various cast members.
BILL “BICEY” FERGUSON -- Must be praised for being The Keeper of the Tapes, and protecting them from entropy lo these many years.
JOHN SENIOR -- For his patient unravelling of the multiple copies of the same songs on different reel-to-reel tapes, and his engineering skills in digitizing the lot.
ROB HYMAN and ELM STREET STUDIOS -- for providing the facilities to do many of the analog to digital transfers. Rob was formerly in another Philly band called WAX. You can see their retrospective website here: www.meltedwaxmusic.com. Rob is a founding member of The Hooters, and a very successful songwriter (Cindy Lauper).
DOTTIE GROSSMAN -- For filling in many details that had faded from memory, and providing many photos and press clippings.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?Click HERE to learn what happened afterwards to all those we can still track down
