BIG SOUL HORNS & A TRUE SUPERSTAR LOOKING BACK AT THE AT THE PLA MOR

vocalist. Soon after starting college Piller was drafted, so Keith Goins’s brother Denny, became the new drummer for the group. Now the Chancellors were presented as an eight-man group wearing three-piece suits and a full horn section and so much talent.

In 1967 they participated in Omaha’s KOIL Radio’s Battle of Bands. Over 50 bands participated in the contest and the Chancellors won the event! It is fun to note that the Beach Boy’s father, Murry Wilson was one of the judges for this KOIL Battle of the Bands. With that win the band was now billing themselves as “Mid Americas Number One Brass Show & Dance Band.”

How many times have you heard me say in my columns, “Watch the musicians in the background, you may never know who you are seeing.” That is most definitely that case with this month’s Pla Mor Ballroom band and there is so much great history to the entire group. You will like this one, the story of Lincoln, Nebraska’s Chancellors.

In 1962 in the Nebraska community of David City, a high school band was formed by four kids. The new name chosen for the band was the Chancellors and the kids/musicians included: Bruce Piller-drums, Bob Codr-rhythm guitar & sax, Bob Sabata-bass and trombone and Robert Gingery-lead guitar and trumpet. You know, that is a lot of Bobs for one band. Soon those high school years were coming to an end for the four guys with the Chancellors, so in 1966, they all relocated to Lincoln NE to attend the Univ of Nebraska. This is where things started to change in a big way for the band.

At college the band decided to add in more horns and a keyboard player to give them that big sound like the Fabulous Flippers. Like so many bands, they were heavily influenced by the Flippers.

Added was Chris Foreman-sax, Jim Kreizinger-keyboards, Keith Goins-guitar and vocals and Bert Marshall as a featured

Codr left the band as a touring member, but created a booking agency to sell and market the Chancellors. The agency was CID Productions. Codr was very skilled in terms of the music business and played a huge roll in the success of the band. They entered Sears Studios in Omaha and recorded their first 45 record on El Cid Records, which was named after Codr’s CID Productions. The record, El Cid #2132 featured “Everybody’s Got To Lose Someone Sometime/It Was A Very Good Year.”

In 1970 Keith Goins left the group to join the super successful Smoke Ring from Norfolk, NE. This was just as the Smoke Ring was signing with Buddah Records and their hits would feature Goins on lead vocals. At this time Codr took over complete operations of the Chancellors including owning the band’s name.

The Chancellors did not miss a beat, as they added keyboard master, Max Gronenthal from Norfolk, NE. Max was an incredible vocalist. More on Max later.

With Gronenthal in the band, the Chancellors re-entered Omaha’s Sears Studios and recorded again with Gronenthal and Bert Marshal taking over the lead vocals. This session saw the release of “Places We Once Knew/Something For Sure” on the band’s own Chamus Records label, #3446. An exciting and highly sought-after record.

Later in 1970, Dennis Loewen, from the Fabulous Flippers, was putting a new Flippers together and was handpicking the very best musicians for the band. As a result of those efforts, Gronentahl was asked to join the Fabulous Flippers and he said yes. The Chancellors lost a very key member of the group. This was a real blow to the band.

Soon many of the founding members of the band would start leaving the group. Codr would take on the name of the Chancellors and found new members for the band. Like Lawrence, Kansas’s Mid Continent Productions, who owned the name of the Fabulous Flippers, Codr owned the name of the Chancellors and kept new groups on the market until 1975 as the Chancellors.

For their career, the group released two records, played Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, South Dakota and Colorado. They would perform with the Who, Herman’s Hermits, Beach Boys, Blues McGoos, the Grass Roots and Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels. They were even booked once to open for the Four Tops, but the Tops no-showed. In 1997 they were inducted into the Nebraska Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Included in that career was two trips to our Pla Mor Ballroom with one bring in May of 1970, before Gronenthal had left the band.

I mentioned earlier that a superior star came from the Chancellors. After Max Gronenthal left the Fabulous Flippers, he was signed to Chrysalis Records and released two LPs under the name of Max Carl. After his LP sessions he created Max Carl & The Big Dance then later joined Jack Mack & the Heart Attack while fronting both bands. Soon after these two bands he was asked to join 38 Special (“Hold On Loosely”) and currently fronts Grand Funk Railroad (“We’re An American Band”). What a talent.

You just never knew who you really were seeing on stage in Fort Dodge. I sure hope you were one of the lucky ones at the Pla Mor for the Chancellors.