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This is: Operation M.I.S.T.
What I want to do is help musicians get together. Before I even get into
how it works though, I want to make it clear that I'm not charging up front
for this service. If something happens you do form a group or get a project
or venture going through this service, then that is the only way there will
end up being any kind of a fee involved. Even then it will be based upon
the success of the activity itself and not a set fee. You could say that Im a
Manager In Search of Talent!
The way I choose to work is confidentially. Until you give me
permission to let anyone hear any of your recordings, see any of your
promotional material, or know your identity, I won't disclose any of that
information.
You submit what you want me to hear, see, or know, and what you are
trying to accomplish as far as putting together a band, just wanting to cut a
demo, looking for a songwriting companion, someone to submit songs to,
etc.and
I'll try to find someone that may be compatible to you.
Once I find what I think is a connection,
I'll contact you and seek your permission to proceed after giving you general
information.
By that time we should have a good channel of communication built
where we can customize our approach to achieving our goals.
Make sense to you? If not, please send me your questions so I can
attempt to clarify anything that you may not understand.
Submit me your material! You have absolutely nothing to lose and possibly
much to gain!
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Swifton Vito, Autobiography
Well, I finally got my own website so maybe I should tell a little bit of my background, an autobiography of sorts.so, where to start? I guess the beginning is appropriate.
I started out early in life with music, my mom was a music teacher and by the time I could walk or talk I was encouraged to sing or hit pots and pans, pound on the piano or just make noise! My dad was a coach so that accounts for the athletic side of me. When I was about 4 years old I started singing in church choirs and continue to do so to this day when I can. At the age of six, a friend I grew up with, Susan (Crabtree) Taylor and I were mascots for the North Pemiscot Mustangs marching band either twirling batons, carrying wooden guns, or carrying flags. My mom was the director so I guess I kinda lucked into that gig! I also started taking piano lessons that year from Ms. Poppins in Hayti, Missouri. That continued for about 2 years under her instruction and another 6 years under teacher Jerry Chillicutt until it supposedly interfered with my sports at about age 14. By that time I had been also playing trombone in concert and marching bands at school. On my 15th birthday my mom and dad surprised me by dragging in a Premier 5- piece drum set for me. I bet they kick themselves for doing that even to this day! Thats when the fun really began!
I remember staying up late and trying to learn by playing along with my Aerosmith, Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers, Styx, Black Sabbath, Rush, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chicago, Mahogany Rush, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and Im sure other albums I listened to back "in the day." Luckily my room was on the far end of the house and we lived way out in the country back then. It was normal for me to stay up until 3 or 4 am playing drums on any given night during my high school days. Id also go to see Hustutler, Jett, or Dirty Work play and try to emulate their drummers and find out how certain licks were being played. It wasnt too long before a friend of ours, Billy Crabtree blessed my brother Aspen and closest friend Dallas (I always called him Dwight back then) by jamming with us every once and a while at the gymnasium or music room at school on a weekend. Billy had played with Charm, and Zig Zag and was highly regarded as THE bass guitarist from the area. There wasnt anything that he couldnt play it seemed. My brother played keyboards and so did Dallas so it was my brother on either piano or organ and Dallas was on either / or also. It was kind like we were a King Crimson , U.K. or Emerson, Lake, & Palmer style combo.
We once were in a talent competition in Kennett Missouri where, unless Im mistaken, we came in second to a young Sheryl Crow! All we knew was whoever won the competition got to go compete at the Cotton Carnival in Memphis, Tennessee and we sure were disappointed! I remember we went to Sikeston and rented an amplifier for Dallas to use that day and I believe that was our down fall since none of us really knew how to set it so.what to do? Well, wouldnt you know, we came up with the idea to just turn all the knobs on 10! Not a good career move to say the least! Anyway, we had fun and we ended up getting in a couple of other competitions and winning those.
One competition that we won really stands out in my mind since it was the most embarrassing to me. It was the Bicentennial celebration at North Pemiscots Wardell Gymnasium and we were scheduled to play in the middle of the afternoon. Well, we kicked off playing when it was our turn and played all of our songs flawlessly until the final number.. The final tune had a part where the keyboards held a few measures of just chords while I played a drum solo through each chord change, I should mention here that Billy didnt actually ever play out with us at any of the shows, we were 3-piece, 2 keyboardists and me on the drums. All were strictly instrumental tunes, no vocal parts, and written by us. The name of our band was "Destination" and we thought we were really on our way! Anyway, back in those formative years I didnt have the fore-sight I now have to make sure to always have extra things handy. Namely.extra sticks! Well, wouldnt you know it, it came to my solo part and about half-way throughI dropped a stick. It bounced just out of my reach so I had to get up and go pick it up if I was to continue through, and I was as embarrassed as any 15 year-old could ever be! Well, I got up while Dallas and Aspen held their cords for me.and went to retrieve my stick. Here comes the hilarious part and the most embarrassing of my life as far as being an entertainer. Oh I was really entertaining that day all right! You see, back in those days I had a real cheap throne to sit on that had three legs on it. The 2 back legs hooked onto the front leg to form a little tripod seat. Well, I guess when I got up to go pick up the stick I knocked one of the legs loose! Yeah, you guessed it, when I sat back downI SAT ON DOWN!!!! I was in shock for several seconds, it was so very surreal! But I finally got back up, re-hooked the legs to my throne, finished my solos and we finished the song. THE CROWD WAS STILL ROLLING WITH LAUGHTER!!! Man, Im sure my face was red!!! People told me later that they thought it was part of the act. I told a few people it wasnt but not very many so. in case you were there and thought it was part of the act.IT WASNT!!!
From there I continued to play in marching and concert bands at school and right before my senior year in high school I moved to Benton, Missouri and attended T.W. Kelly High School. There I played in the marching band, concert band, and jazz band as well. Thats also where I hooked up with Jeff Jackson and Snap Turner for the first time.
END OF PART I (to be continued....)
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Here's A write up by Frank Zirone
Dogpatch - Hanover's Last Show
From the Hanover Fist Memoirs
By Frank Zirone
By the time April of 1986 had rolled into typical spring weather in Toronto, Hanover Fist had been off the road for nearly two weeks (I always default to the band as Hanover Fist because the decision to change the name to Hanover came from the powers that be). One hundred days of intense audition and rehearsal followed by another 60 days and nights of touring across Canada and America had finally clocked by, and the Hanover Fist tour was over.
The breathtaking run as opening act for British heavy metal aristocracy "Saxon" had ended with equally heart stopping deceleration, and after a fortnight of mostly sleep, eat and sleep again, I had finally rejoined the land of the conscious. Its difficult to truly describe the lost feeling that follows a period of non stop adulation, brotherhood, gruel, and performance, but it suffices to say that everything else pales to the buzz. I had received official word that tour continuance was on hold, and management had invited me to leave my Toronto home and spend time at management home base in Mountain Home, Arkansas, where I could write new songs for the next Hanover Fist album.
From a trailer in the isolation of Arkansas forest, my pen, guitar, and a small four track recorder were literally grafted onto my hands and head. Writing in a forest setting and in isolation was a great opportunity and an unusually enriching experience, and after a few weeks of the process there magically appeared songs, but there was no band to give the songs life. Without a band crunching out the new heavy songs, it all sounded like demented folk music. Of course there is no mountain made that man cannot climb and with the help of local musical compatriots and dedicated Hanover fans, we mounted a campaign to put together a band that could perform these songs. Management would work their end to secure a venue where the temporary Hanover could test these new gems of sonic dynamite on live subjects.
A band consisting of Swifton Vito (drums), Dennis Stone (guitar), and Joe Feeney (bass) transpired seemingly out of nowhere, like a twister in the Ozarks. There followed a day and night blur of rehearsal in that cramped trailer (which must have sounded like a full scale war in the peaceful forest setting) while we waited for word on which venue would be blessed with the sonic assault of new Hanover Fist songs. I had lived through many similar experiences by that time in my life, it seemed like my musical world was on an endless loop. I noted that just like the many times before, bands that begin with a passionate drive and defined purpose, develop a sense of brotherhood quickly and deeply (and that includes the gut busting laughs along with the fiery arguments).
When the gig date was announced and booked, we had burned through a week of rehearsals and had about four days left to prepare for the show.
"Wheres the gig?" we asked.
"Harrison, Arkansas!" was the reply.
We were ecstatic, Hanover Fist had performed in Harrison and had a strong following there, and we could count on a responsive audience to try the new tunes on.
It was to be a daytime event at an outdoor venue, and every performer will tell you that these are the most difficult shows to keep audiences entertained, the absence of show lighting or visual effects means much more work on the artists part. The last four days of work in the trailer were spent in preparation for the show, finalizing song structures and the show highlight solos for everyone in the band. As much as I can tell you that everyone in the new band was a professional throughout the entire process, I will assure you that uncommon fear was evident in those four days. Sure, everyone in the band had been in bands before, and they had played gigs in clubs where people come to dance and party, but they had never come close to playing a concert where the entire focus of the audience would fall on them in microscopic detail.
This concert was not exactly in Harrison, although I believe it was in the same county. As I got the history, the area was known as Marble Falls and the gig was to be at the centre stage of a theme park based on the Lil Abner comic strip, a theme park named Dogpatch!
On the day of the gig, the fear lifted like an Arkansas fog and the faces on the members of the band which was to be Hanover for one show, had shifted from fear to resolve. We got there a couple of hours early for the sound check and the size of the venue and sound system was sufficiently impressive to incite a confidence in the ranks.
An hour or so before show time as we approached the backstage, I noticed what appeared to be a hundred or so people already gathered out front of the stage and I remember thinking "well if thats all the folks that show up today, its plenty enough to rock out these new songs."
We gathered backstage, suited up, tuned guitars, had some laughs, and then the magic kicked in to full gear. That magic that I never really understood whether I was the master of or the slave to, seemed to follow Hanover like a mystical and predictable force. Fans started to show up at the dressing room door, first a few, then a dozen, then too many to count as they continued outside of the dressing room and throughout a backstage courtyard in a thick crowd. Again I remember thinking that the group I had seen out front of the stage must have got word that we had arrived and decided to all come backstage for autographs. I also remember how impressed I was with the guys in the band, with their new found confidence and grace under pressure, and how they had attained in under two weeks what some performers dont achieve for years (if ever).
The countdown to show time was called and security escorted the fans out of the backstage area. We went back to the dressing room and went into standby mode. When show time was called in on the telephone, we huddled and broke with all the enthusiasm of an offensive line and ran the security escort route around the backstage and on to the stage. As we climbed the steps to the stage we were awestruck with the sight of thousands of fans, screaming loud enough to knock us back on our heels. Surprise, turned to elation, and finally morphed into that better than everything buzz, and all before we even played a note.
Although I can never remember any full gig in its entirety, I remember the high spots of every gig Ive ever played from the time I was 14 years old. From this gig I remember 4500 fans, screaming, rocking, digging the band and the songs old and new. I remember ZROK. I remember a perfect late spring day in an otherwise quiet and pleasant theme park which would vibrate this day with the electricity of sound, stomping feet, waving arms and the voices of the audience singing along to every word of the songs they recognized.
Most bands have to pay an extreme amount of dues in order to justify a concert with that many fans, and that usually means that by the time they reach the concert status, most bands are jaded to the true rush of the show. What I can say about this band (that went from 0 to 4000 in less than a month) was that each moment was like a precious experience in which they were both performer and observer at the same time. Every second on that stage was felt by band and audience from outset to encore.
We performed a one-hour show beginning with "Should be Rockin" and ending with "Dont Let it Stop". At the end we were soaked and probably about 10 pounds lighter, completely stoked by and I remember that we came back for our encore and did an ultra heavy rendition of the Grand Funk hit "Locomotion". I remember that the show was vibrant even without stage lighting or effects and that each band member took their turn to shine with a greedy satisfaction during their planned solos and each member got more than their anticipated response as the audience let loose on them.
Hanover shows were magic, each one of them held stories and experiences that have enriched my life to this day. It was unknown to me at the time that the Dogpatch show would be the swan song for Hanover. In fact, there was one more show performed after this one, but it was without the magic that I mentioned above, so I believe that the entire investment of mystical energy that makes a band and its audience into a single force was fully expended at Dogpatch.
Like the end of the fireworks on July 4th, there was a sadness in the realization that it was over, but I am eternally grateful to have had Dogpatch as the experience which marked the end of the Hanover. It was like a dying candle that suddenly burst into a flame thrower with its last breath.
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Please write and let us know what you think of the article. We'll be sure and forward your comments on to Frank.
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ADDITIONAL INFO_________________________
Swifton is or was a member of the following bands:
Destination
Legend
Bad Habit
Sam & Co.
Strutter
Power Exponents
Peach Creek
Spiderwolf
The Mystery
Voyage
Brittan-Vito
High Cotton
Triple Play
Hanover
Picasso
Catch-22
The Good Lovin' Blues Band
Memphis Bad Boys
The Boogie Blues Band
Melted Butter
The New Memphis Mafia
Kidd Sundown
Moxxie Rocks
Looser
Swifton has opened for and / or jammed with the following people or groups:
Rufus Thomas
Bo Diddley
Lou Rawls
The Doobie Brothers
Little Jimmy King
Rick Harvey
The Melroys
Michael Mason
Bruce Zimmerman
Denny DeVette
Jon Roth
Tony Spinner
Anthony Corder
Jessie Dupree
Big Joe Turner
Jim Dandy
Black Oak Arkansas
Bobby Whitlock
Free World
Herman Green & the Green Machine
Dennis Gurley
The Crime
The Willys
Bob Ketchum
Cobra
Mandy Meyer
Medieval Steel
The Radio Kings
Gravy
Rellik
Narvel Felts
Bubba Felts
The Biscuit Hounds
Butch Mudbone
Ruby Wilson
James Cotton
Preston Shannon
Jerry Moss
The Famous Unknowns
Jerry Lassiter
Drop 17
Mixin' Up the Medicine
...and more that will be listed later...
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As a final note, please always remember all of the ones that have gone on before us....
Keith Knutsen (the Doobie Brothers, drummer, friend)
Danny Joe Brown (Molly Hatchett)
Randy Leiner (the Melroys, friend)
Scott Barnett (drummer, friend)
Bobby Burdin (bass guitarist, friend)
Shawn Lane
Chuck Hanna
Rufus Thomas
Lou Rawls
Little Jimmy King (legendary Memphis entertainer, friend)
Rick Harvey (legendary Memphis guitarist, friend)
Bubba Felts (son of Narvel, drummer, friend)
Joe Tate II (business associate, best friend, side-kick)
George Paul Eldridge III (manager, Blues City Cafe, friend)
Cozy Powell
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Lonesome Dave Peverett
Jimmy Griffin (Bread)
Don White (drummer)
Tommy Boyce (of duo Boyce & Hart, "Last Train to Clarksville", others, met him in Memphis)
Tommy Bolin
Randy Rhodes
Bon Scott
Albert King
Mandy Stevens (Guitarist, Britton/Vito project, friend)
Butch Smith
Jeff Healey
Jerry Wayne Howell (Guitarist, vocalist, friend)
Our buddy, Tippy Wilson
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