About Friar Tuck and the Monks
- General Facts
- The Personnel
- Where Are They Now
- The Equipment
- The Clubs
THE GENERAL FACTS
Friar Tuck and the Monks formed in 1966. Ron Fitch (lead guitar) and Ron Bowell (bass guitar) had been together in bands (The Mau-Maus, The Coachmen) since 1965. They in turn were acquainted with Gary Livingston (tambourine and front man) and Richard France (drums). Fitch and Bowell found Don Pippitt (organ) in a Dodge City garage band and were impressed with his skill on keyboard. All five eventually came together to form one of the most well known bands in Dodge City history.
Friar Tuck and the Monks played a variety of music but the main criteria was that it had to be “danceable”. Psychedelic, rock, top forty, and even soul music found its way into the Friar Tuck play list.
The band headquartered in Dodge City and later Emporia (the guys were students at Dodge City College and later Emporia State Teachers College). The travel area consisted of all of Kansas, Eastern Colorado, southern Nebraska, and northern Oklahoma.
Travel was accomplished in a custom painted hot orange psychedelic 1951 Chevy bus. The bus had four bunks and room in the back for equipment.
The group disbanded on good terms in the summer of 1969 as the majority had made it through four years of undergraduate work and needed to go their own ways.
THE PERSONNEL
Ron Fitch (nickname Fitchy, lead guitar) was a self-taught guitar player. Many a night when the rest of the guys went out, Ron would stay at home and play his guitar. The discipline paid off, as he became a great lead player.
Ron Bowell (nickname Bowlzy, bass guitar, lead vocals) had received training in voice in high school and put the training to work in Friar Tuck. He started at rhythm guitar but moved to bass early in Friar Tuck’s development and also doubled on drums at times.
Don Pippitt (nickname “Shtuttle or “Peep” or “Wilson Pippitt“, keyboards) was undoubtedly the best musician in the band as he had been trained formally in the piano. His interjection of classic themes into Friar Tuck’s music was innovative and his lick on “Light My Fire” is awesome.
Richard France (nickname Reech or Scrooge, percussion and lead vocals) never met a drumstick he couldn’t break. He was also known for his higher than average vocal range, which allowed the band to cover many songs like “Bread and Butter” and “Stay”. He was also known for his out front theater while singing lead on some of James Brown’s tunes. Reech did most of the booking for the band and worked face to face with the managers of the clubs. He also handled most of the money, hence the nickname Scrooge.
Gary Livingston (nickname Doc, tambourine, MC) did a great job at keeping the show moving. He had the ability to work a crowd, always learning names and something about them. He would then use this to connect with the crowd as the dance progressed.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
THE EQUIPMENT
The equipment used by Friar Tuck and the Monks evolved as time went by. They started out like a lot of bands with Silvertone (Sears and Roebuck) amps and guitars. By the end of their time together they were using the latest and most powerful equipment available at the time.
Ron Fitch played a blond Rickenbacker guitar. Amplification was supplied by a Fender Dual Showman amp running into a pair of 2x12 Fender Bandmaster cabinets. The sound was enhanced by the famous Fuzz Tone distortion pedal. Ron Bowell used a cherry red Gibson EB0 bass guitar. His power came from a Fender Bassman amp played through a pair of 2/15 Fender Dual Showman cabinets with Altec Lansing speakers. Don Pippitt used a Farfisia organ. It had one of the most distinct sounds on the market. It was powered with the coveted Vox Super Beetle amp and cabinet for amplification. Richard France played Premier drums. Gary Livingston unsuccessfully searched for a tambourine that would neither break nor wear a hole in his pants leg.
The PA for the band consisted of a 100-watt tube type Bogen mixer/amplifier and twin 2x15 Dual Showman cabinets. Monitors? What are those? No monitors in 1967.
All lighting for the band was “homemade”. Four-color spots of 150 watts each were placed on both sides and in the middle. The band was also one of the first in the area to develop and use strobe lights in their show. These were wooden boxes with slits in them along with sewing machine motors on a rheostat for speed control. Three hundred watt spotlights were used inside the boxes, which resulted in more than one “fire in the hole“. What a trip!
THE CLUBS
The club Friar Tuck played the most was the Hillcrest Inn in Dodge City. The Starlight room was another dance spot in Dodge. Other clubs included The Lamplighter in Salina, Beachcombers in Great Bend, Jo-Jan-Gae-Re in Ulysses, Me and Ed’s in Manhattan, Red Dog Inn in Lawrence. Red Dog Inn South in Wichita, The Dark Horse Inn in Hays, Rusty Bucket in Colby, The Palladium Club in Chase, The Touch of Gold Club in Topeka, Renfroe’s in Emporia, Coya‘s Castle in Lenexa.
Probably more of Friar Tuck’s dances were played in National Guard Armories and rented halls all across Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado. These jobs were pure capitalism. A hall would be rented, a front man would be sent to the town to put up posters, and the band would show up on dance night expecting a large turnout. The main problem with this method was that the Friar Tuck and the Monks poster quickly became a collectors item and often the posters would come down about as fast as they were put up.
The remainder of gigs were made up of high school proms and homecomings, fraternity dances, and out door fairs and festivals. One highlight was appearing with Gary Lewis and the Playboys at the Dodge City Civic Center.
All in all the guys made a pretty good living and were able to pay bills and stay in school.