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This area was one of the worst hit in the nation. We were scheduled for 5 nights, Tuesday through Saturday at a place called The Paul Revere Inn. We performed Tuesday and Wednesday only. Thursday morning we were scheduled to rehearse some new stage material. I woke up that morning and looked out the window of my second story hotel room to find that it had snowed nearly 13"! Needless to say, we had no rehearsal that day and no gig for the rest of the week. The National Guard was called out to keep people off the roads and to help those who might have gotten caught in the blizzard. |
We were not able to get to the club until Saturday to tear down. We traveled on Sunday from Lake Erie to our next gig. The normally 2.5 hour drive took nearly 7 hours. |
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Early in 1978, we entered "Friend", the 'A' side of our 45, in a Columbus, Ohio radio station contest. The station was going to release a collection of songs from the best groups in the area. The album was to be called the "Q-FM-96 Hometown Album". The people judging the material were major record label executives and not the local staff and management of the radio station. That made this album very special because subsequent LPs were judged by the locals. "Reflection" and 10 other groups were selected from nearly 200 entries. Being selected gave us radio air time on Q-FM-96 because they regularly played songs from the album to promote sales. All of the proceeds from the album went to charity. |
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"Reflection" saw it's first member change in May, 1978. This was a devastating blow to all of us. In hindsight, I think maybe we could have worked it out but outside influences and egos got in the way of common sense and objectivity. We replaced the original guitarist with one who also played pedal steel guitar. We had used his pedal steel talents in the recording of "Friend" in September of 1977. Once the change in guitarists occurred, some people thought we were becoming a country band. That year, "Urban Cowboy" was a big hit and it brought country music into the mainstream. Our song, "Friend", had a country feel to it although the flip side, "Headed Home" was definitely pop. We did some of the "crossover" country music that hit the Top 40 charts, but we were still a Top 40 band. |
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During this time, we created a "Golden Oldies" set complete with "Sha-na-na" attire. The set ended with "Mack The Knife" (Bobby Darin). For this song, I would come out from behind the keyboards, bring as many girls on stage as I could, have them do 'line kicks' while I sang. It was a great finale. |
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That 50 minute show was starting to draw a lot of attention. One night during the set, a nearby campus fraternity-sorority toga party "raided" the club and nearly all the women on stage were in togas and not much more! |
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Because the original guitarist was the lead singer on "Headed Home", we had to go into the studio and do another song to replace that side of the 45. We decided to use "Mack The Knife". This was my first experience singing lead in the studio. "Mack", as it came to be called, successfully regenerated sales of our one year old record. With the success of "Friend" on the Q-FM-96 Hometown Album, we had a 'two-sided' local hit. "Mack The Knife" became my signature song. To this day, I still get "Hey Mike! Sing 'Mack' for us!" |
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1978 was the beginning of what was to become a flurry of member changes for "Reflection" over the next several years. In October we added an additional guitarist to enhance guitar and vocal strength. This was the guitarist I had worked with in "Colours", "Eddie Ray & Company" and "Livestock". |
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By December we had replaced the guitarist/pedal steel player with a lead vocalist. We were now what was called a 4+1 musical group. (Four musicians, with a lead vocalist.) The 'nightmare' was just beginning. |
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