Two Rock 'N' Roll Groups Ready To Entertain Fellow AAHS Pupils

Ann Arbor High School students don't have to travel far to find rock 'n' roll groups to musically entertain them. Indeed, they only have to look in their own "backyard" to find nine talented young men who make up the "Hideaways" and "Our Mothers' Children," two popular Ann Arbor musical groups. The five-member Hideaways and four-member Our Mothers' Children are all composed of Pioneer students or graduates. The title of oldest rock 'n' roll group in our fair city (excepting the Rationals) belongs to the Hideaways, organized a little over two years ago. It consists of five musicians: Bob Benford, a 17-year-old senior who pounds the drums, Don Munster, 18, an AAHS gradúate who plays the organ, Jeff Jones, a 17-year-old senior who is lead guitarist, 17-year-old Terry Brown, a senior who plays bass guitar, and Al Jacquez, 16 and a senior, who heads up the rhythm section. What kind of music do the Hideaways offer? Well, the boys hastened to emphasize that they do not play "psychedelic sounds," which they defined as "loud, brash and formless noise." Instead, their repertoire is quite varied, according to Benford. "We play rock 'n' roll, blues and rhythm and blues," he said. "We also do a lot of our own arranging," Benford added. The Hideaways, who practice a great deal during the summers and at least once a week during the school year, play their tunes at fraternity parties, private parties and 'teen night clubs- the night spots far and away being their favorite places to work. They performed on the same bilí last year as the British group "The Who" at Ann Arbor's "Fifth Dimensión," for example, and have also been engaged by various Detroit 'teen night spots. The members of the Hideaways are also relatively longhaired, which doesn't mean they dig Beethoven! "Everyone just happens to like it," one of the boys explained, "and besides, long hair looks better on stage," he declared. The boys, all of whom except Jones and Jacquez have had formal musical training, plan toi stay together after all have graduated. They all hope to attend the U-M, and thus will be able to continue playing together. Our Mothers' Children, formed about a year ago, is distinguished by its "hard rock" tnusic. (In case you don't know rock 'n' roll terminology, "hard rock" features an exciting, original type of stage performance accompanying the music.) Jerry Michelson, a 16-year-old junior, is the group's organist and pianist, whi1e 17-year-old senior Bhil Edholm plays lead guitar and is a vocalist, Thom Holt, 17 and a senior, plays bass guitar and also sings, and Dave Morgan, a 16-year-old senior, is the drummer. The Our Mothers' Childret musicians write many of their own songs, and plan to copy right some of them in the inture. The boys also do a great deal of their own arranging. i "No one else has a style like ours," remarked Holt. "We try to take a piece and change it over to our style." Like the Hideaways, Our Mothers' Children enjoy p 1 a y i n g 'teen night clubs most of all. They played at Ford Auditorium in Detroit last year with Spencer Davis, and have also entertained at the left Banke and the Fifth Dimensión in Ann Arbor. The boys say that they are very busy most weekends, what with the continual rounds of "TGIF" fraternity parties and other campus functions. This much work, of course, calis for a lot of practiee, and the boys faithfully comply. Four days a week after school are spent boning up on arrangements, while during the summer, the group practices seven days week, five hoúrs a day. All of the boys have had some formal musical training, and are planning to keep the group together when they are in college, in order to earn some of their college-related expenses.