48 years ago tonight, three Ravens - Steve Blodgett, Brian Lyford and Peter Young - broke into the Stowe Community Church in Vermont, playing a rock n roll LP over the steeple PA... it could be heard 8 miles away... all three members went to jail, effectively breaking up the band...

 

listen and download for free the 45s they'd recorded over the previous months at www.myspace.com/miketheravens

60 days in jail for trespassing, 58 suspended - on probation for six months; had to get pardoned later in the '60s by Vermont's governor so they could hold jobs... didn't get back together because being underage, parents sent them off to college - this was '62 mind you, rock was still the devil's music! Mike reformed the Ravens immediately with new members - you can hear their one stab at rock n roll immortality on the above website's "Oobie Doobie Do," which was unreleased at the time (I found the master tape in 2004)... after he left, that band morphed into the Thunderbolts and did a nice Brit Invasion style 45 called "Heart So Cold" - recorded around the same time as the Beau Brummels first sides, although it wasn't released until mid-'65. The original Mike & The Ravens did get back together 45 years after their last 45 to record - don't shudder: Chuck Eddy of "Billboard" named their album to his Top 100 Albums list of 2008. You can hear last year's release, "No Place For Pretty," at www.myspace.com/miketheravensnow

Way cool! Yeah, I am curious to how long they were banged up... Why didnt' they just reform when they got out? Or was it one of those crass make an example john sinclair situations?

How long was their sentence? Assuming the stunt put the morality of youths in an 8 mile radius at risk.

Punk rock!