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A (not so brief) History of
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Where to begin?
Let's see...back in 1963 Jim Hines was fooling around with
his first guitar, a Harmony acoustic. The fact that Jim only new 3 chords and not a single
song all the way through didn't deter him from his goal of playing in front of people. In
1964, with The Beatles as his muse, he set out with his next door neighbors, the Woods
brothers (Larry and Gary), Chuck Hintz, and Ken Berry (a guy who really could play
drums), to start "The Bopators IV". Swell name huh?! O.K. it was 1964, whadda ya
expect? The Bopators IV lip synced every song by The Beatles and other popular bands of
the era at birthday parties, cub scout meetings, nursing homes, you know...anywhere they'd
let them loose. Jim continued to practice his guitar 4 or 5 hours a day applying what he
had learned from 4 years of classical piano training.
Then one day Ken, who was dying to really play music, had a suggestion... |
| ...he knew two
other guys from Oelwein High who played guitar and they were interested in starting a
band. And so began The Pages. Rich Michael played guitar, keyboards, and sang lead vocals. Paul
Bezilla... well Paul was the only one willing to play bass. |
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First
Song List Kicks |
| The Pages practiced, and practiced, and practiced some more. Soon they were out playing the same Cub Scout meeting circuit as the Bopators 4 before them. One night Jack Mihall, a DJ with KOEL AM in Oelwein, heard The Pages and invited them to play at Lakeside Ballroom with him during his 15 minute breaks. |
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| The rest was history. Within a year The Pages were letting Jack "spinnin' a few just for you" Mihall play during their breaks. The Pages dreamed about the future. They dreamed of having Vox Super Beatle amps, just like the big stars of the day. Someday...someday they hoped! Little did they know... |
December 28, 1968 |
...that
by 1968 they would be the top drawing band at almost every ballroom in Eastern Iowa,
pulling in crowds of over a thousand people at Hiway Gardens in Stanwood, Dance-Mor in
Swisher, The Gayla in Independence, Matter's in Decorah, and all the rest of the classic
old ballrooms in Iowa. They were playing all the county fairs in the area. They played most of the high schools and colleges. The Pages were invited to play at the Iowa State Fair.They performed in concert with The New Colony Six (from Chicago), Paul Revere and The Raiders, Climax, Tony Orlando and Dawn, just to name a few. In 1968 they recorded a 45 on UA records (High School/Sugar the Road). The Pages had a huge sound and light system including the first strobe lights in Eastern Iowa (2,000 watt strobes) and, yes, they had already been through a couple of Super Beatle Amplifiers. |
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In 1967 Debbie Kolz joined The Pages as a featured vocalist. Debbie was from Garber, IA and had a fantastic voice. She sang with the band for almost two years adding yet another dynamic presence to the Pages stage! |
| In 1968 Ken Berry graduated High School (a year ahead of schedule) and went off to college. the Pages quickly added Bill "Saki" Megonigle on the drums. They continued to dominate the music scene in Eastern Iowa. That year was capped with two performances on WMT-TV's "Where It's At" music show. |
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| The Pages went on playing over 125 nights a year until Paul, Rich, & Jim graduated in June of 1969. The band went to the back burner and the three new grads went off to ISU in Ames. |
| When they started to play again in 1970 they added a new twist. Jon James (trumpet, sax, flute, and vocals), Mike Ruse (trumpet), and Jim Enke (trombone) played with Top Brass during High School. The Pages recruited them and were shortly playing all of Chicago's big hits. |
 Click on image to enlarge |
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Their popularity skyrocketed, they went on tour up through Minnesota and Wisconsin. They began playing a few originals. Crowds loved their musicianship, charisma, and dance music. Things were looking bright. But Saki got married and left the band in Spring/1971. Needing a new drummer, The Pages hooked up with Denny Carlson, a UNI Jazz Band drummer/percussionist. He was astounding! After six months or so, Dennis talked the band into letting Enke and Ruse go and enlisting fellow Jazz Band musicians Al Naylor (trumpet) and Loren Fagen (trombone). They too were very, very talented musicians and The Pages were even better than before. But discord was beginning to strike. The musical style was changing... | |
| The Pages break their own record! Over 2,184 people at December 20, 1969 |
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| As with many musical groups- diverse goals, differing musical tastes, and the usual personality conflicts were driving The Pages apart. Jim was interested in doing more originals and liked playing songs in the blues and rock genre, while the other guys were headed towards a jazz-rock fusion type of sound. | The Pages Road Crew Wally South Without these guys The Pages
couldn't have put on the shows they did for over 9 years! |
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| In the summer of 1973 Jim and The Pages went their separate ways. Jim played out The Pages contracts with a temporary line up of musicians from Iowa City. The rest reformed as the band "Chance". Jim continued to play professionally, full time until the mid 1980's. Chance eventually broke up; Rich and Paul turned to careers and eventually families after college. |
After The Pages, Jim went on to play with Shatter, a very successful band in the Midwest. Jim continues to play to this day, his most recent band being ONE 80. He is an Emergency Room Physician Assistant in Marengo, IA. Paul is an attorney in Minnesota teaching music law and still plays bass. Ken Berry lives and works in Rochester, MN. Rich Michael is a contractor in Georgia. Debbie Kolz lives in Minnesota. Jon James farms near Oelwein and Jim Enke is a Senior Executive with an apparel company in Toronto. Mike Ruse is in Indiana. The jazz band players: Denny works in data processing in the New York area, Al Naylor teaches music in Marion and plays with the popular group Orquesta de Jazz y Salsa Alto Maiz. Loren Fagen is jamming in Norway (that's right, the country!). Bill 'Saki' Megonigle lives in Houston, TX.
and still misses "those days" -- as do we all. |
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| "It's
Only Rock & Roll... But I Like It" rolling stones |
 The Pages 1972 six months prior to disbanding Click on photo to enlarge |
The Pages were one of a few Iowa bands to make a lasting and profound impact on the Iowa Music Scene. An inspiration to many aspiring musicians, The Pages are to this day regarded as a legendary group from a most influential era in Iowa's Music History. |
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