WADENA REMEMBERED
By Duane Winn
Register Editor
Terry Talbot of the Mason Proffit band doesn't remember much of anything, certainly nothing specific, about the Wadena Rock Festival in the summer of 1970.
He has a valid excuse ... really.
"We did 275 dates a year plus an album each year so it all kind of runs together," admitted Talbot.
Join the crowd, Terry.
The Woodstock rock festival, held less than a year before the Wadena event, has become a cultural touchstone. Nearly everybody in their fifties knows that Janis was there, along with Jimi, Jefferson Airplane and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Many of them even know that it was held on Max Yasgur's farm.
Meanwhile, the festival in Wadena has slipped into relative obscurity. Unless you were there, you probably don't know the players. And if you know that Clarence Schmitt's farm was where
Talbot and his band were reaching the zenith of their popularity when the organizers of the Wadena Rock Festival contacted them to perform. Their regional hit, "Two Hangmen," had hit the airwaves the year before, and they were rapidly gaining recognition as a top concert draw.
In the years since, Mason Proffit has been cited as a prime mover in the country rock movement and an early influence on "The Eagles." The band ... wait a minute, Talbot is able to retrieve something from the purple haze of time.
"Wadena brings back the fact that we did really, really well at that gig," he said.
James Ronan of Decorah can vouch for that.
The chance to hear Mason Proffit perform live was the reason he traveled to Wadena.
His older sister had already introduced him to Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent and other late 1950s rock and roll lime lighters - and he was hooked. By age 15, his musical tastes expanded after he attended "The Byrds" concert at the Inwood Ballroom in Spillville, about the same time "Tambourine Man" reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts. The giant hit propelled the group into international stardom - and sped Ronan on his way to a career in broadcasting and booking live entertainment.
But all that would come later. For in the summer of 1965, it was all about new musical frontiers - the British Invasion, folk rock, psychedelia, Motown, or any other new sound that came down the pipe. Ronan spent most of his waking hours listening to rock, including the ethereal sound of Roger McGuinn's Rickenbacker six-string guitar.
"You don't think that after that ... that got me ... 15 years old ... No. 1 song in the country," he said.
Nearly 45 year later after he set foot in the Inwood. Ronan still sounds like the opening riff on Steppenwolf "Born to be Wild" when he's talking about music.
So when he heard about the Galenafest, that would later morph into the Wadena rock festival. there was no question about him being there. He considered it a natural progression in his musical odyssey - even if he had to rebel against "The Establishment" and tell "The Man" where to go in order to attain his destination.
"My boss was not really happy about the whole deal," said Ronan, who was working at a local grocery store. "He told me, "If you're going to the festival, you're not going to work here." He was already after me all the time to get my hair cut So I said, "You know what, Ozzie, you can't fire me. I quit."
Posted on July 28, 2010
