Here Are Five Numbers Of Whom To Take Note

Musical Misses

Members of Another Dawn, a local music group, are (left to right) Marsha Mabrey of 383 Hilldale Dr., Carmon Alexander of 520 Packard, Laura Braeseur of 931 Pleasant Dr., Janet Wilson of 3055 Charing Cross and Cathy Wright of 8324 Talladay, Willis.

Here Are Five Numbers Of Whom To Take Note

By Norman Gibson

Five bouncy girls who have got the beat—ranging in ages from a high school senior, who is the group’s drummer, to a high school English teacher-make up a local rock and roll group named Another Dawn.

Marsha Mabrey of 383 Hilldale, singer and rhythm guitar player, brought to the group the original philosophic soul song, with lyrics asking where life has gone when the music’s gone, which is used as the group’s name.

This is one of 26 songs which Miss Mabrey, a sophomore music student at the University, has written. To date, it is the only one of Miss Mabrey’s original songs which the group has rehearsed thoroughly. However, a tape has been made of two other songs by Miss Mabrey, and they may appear soon as a record, with “Why?” on one side and “Love” on the other.

“We are a young group,” explains Mrs. Janet Wilson of 3055 Charing Cross, who this fall will begin teaching English at Ypsilanti High School. “We rehearse almost every night, playing folk rock to soul music, searching for an identity that is truly our musical sound and hoping for additional engagements, so we can display our arrangements.”

The formation of the group as a quintet is a sort of tribute to the “it pays to advertise” slogan, for the members came together as the result of newspaper advertisements.

At first, there was just Mrs. Wilson and Cathy Wright of 8324 Talladay, Willis, who works days at University Hospital. With Mrs. Wilson playing the guitar, Miss Wright pounded on the drums. Although they made some very large and good sounds as a duet for 1½ years, they decided they needed a bass player, advertising for one. The ad turned up a drummer and singer, so Miss Wright turned to the guitar. She also sings and writes original songs.

Laura Braeseur of 921 Pleasant PI., a senior at Roosevelt High School, came to the group with the recommendation of her drum teacher, and has settled into that playing position with the group.

Carmon Alexander of 520 Packard, who keeps the group amused with her quips and constant chatter marked with a native, mellifluous Arkansas drawl, rounds out the Another Dawn membership as singer— sometimes solo, sometimes in duet with Miss Wright. Miss Alexander is a legal secretary, daytimes.

Mrs. Wilson and Miss Wright originally came together as the result of a newspaper ad, when Mrs. Wilson answered the ad placed by Miss Wright.

A teacher at Hartland last year and at Dundee earlier, Mrs. Wilson originally is from Canada. She took up folk guitar in 1962, while attending the U-M. Sessions at Smith College and especially Harvard summer school brought Mrs. Wilson into contact with a couple of the greats of folk music—Tim Harden and Tom Rush, who were in Boston at the time. Mrs. Wilson was able to take lessons, improving her technique.

Miss Alexander absorbed her feel for country and western music from another part of the country—Nashville, Tenn., land of Floyd Kramer, Boots Randolph and Eddie Arnold.

At the same time, Miss Mabrey comes from a classical music background, concentrating on the viola in the University’s School of Music. However, friends say she is just as expert at playing the violin and flute.

Miss Braeseur decided she wanted a drum set, and when she got one for a present, she began practicing in earnest.