Sometimes a year or two can feel like a lifetime and that was certainly the case of my time with the band Maiden Cane. Marty Stanfill started the band in the mid 70's and I remember seeing them play in the Youth Building at Expo Gardens around 1976 or so. They were playing good loud hard rock and remember their version of Queen's Now I'm Here being a standout. A tall blonde bass player was with them named Jim Kiefer and drummer John Jenowski and singer Scott Somerville completed the quartet. They were very good!!! I had just turned 16 and some of my friendsand I would see local bands in town. I remember seeing Maiden Cane another time in a different hall, but I'm thinking it was still located somewhere at the Expo Gardens. This time, bthey had a different bass player named Joe Laforest. I can't remember which configuration I saw first, the one with Joe or the one with Jim, but both times, the band were on fire.
I had been playing with my band, Glaze through out that last couple of years of high school and I graduated Limestone in 1977. By 1978, I had met Roger Baysinger and Marc Keefer at Illinois Central College and I was playing in the ICC Jazz Band. Marc was playing with the Illinois Country Opery and Roger was in a local band called Sunfield. One day at school, Roger asked me if I'd like to attend a band rehearsal and see if I'd fit their band. They were looking for another singer and a second guitarist. I remember auditioning with the song, Riding The Storm Out by REO Speedwagon and I passed the audition. Joining Sunfield was a big step up for me since they were established with a lot of gigs and they had top notch players with great equipment. I was excited as hell with the setlist. We were doing, Magic Man by Heart, Long, Long way from Home by Foreigner, Sail On Sail Away by Styx and a lot of Fleetwood Mac. I was having a great time playing with Sunfield but there was some internal friction in the band due to the fact that the singer was married to the Guitar player. It was essentially their band but I could see lines being drawn in the sand.
It all happened so fast, but one day I remember Bill and Tina telling me they had met this guy named Marty and he used to play with a band called Maiden Cane. I told them that I'd seen them before and they were quite good. I guess their band had broken up and we were going to add Marty on Guitar and Bill was to play bass. I'm still not sure why Roger was out. I have forgotten the reason, but we became the NEXT VERSION of Maiden Cane. I remember playing a gig in Glassford at a place called Joe's Double Diamonds on my 19th birthday.
Several months passed and the band played several weddings and out of town shows before tension within the band could be felt. By this time, Denny Propst was playing drums and the original keyboard player and drummer had left. I think it's possible they may have all left about the same time as Roger..... leaving Bill and Tina on bass and keyboards, Marty on Guitar, Denny on Drums and me on Guitar.
Bands are a lot like organisms, they occasionally split and divide into other organisms. Maiden Cane divided again and this time, Bill and Tina were out, Jim Kiefer, Maiden Cane's original bass player was back in. Now it was Marty, Jim, Denny and me. This lasted a few months before the late great Eddie Booe joined the band on lead vocals. Now we were a force to be reckoned with!!!
Drummer's came and went during late 1978 and into 1979. First we lost Denny, I'm not sure why Denny left but I was happy as hell to have my fellow Mardell Manor and Limestone Rocket, Mark Moretto sitting behind the drums. We were being booked regularly by PME and were playing lots of out of town dances and shows. We practiced in Jim Kiefers basement located right on the Illinois River. It was winter and we'd practice in our overcoats while snow made its way into the room courtesy of a defective back door. A small wood burning stove would take some of the chill out of the air. I don't have any recordings from this period but once again, we had a new drummer.
When Mark decided to move on, I suggested my next door neighbor and excellent drummer, Darin Bloomfield. We did record a couple of Marty's songs with this line up. A few years before Eddie Booe passed away, he found some old 8mm film of Maiden Cane playing at the Prospector in Peoria. There was no sound, so I edited the short film into a loop and used one of Marty's songs as the audio. The video had Denny Propst on Drums but the audio is Darin on drums. It was a Halloween Party and we were in costume. Eddie was an Elf, I was a Cat and Jim and Marty dressed in drag!
In February, Maiden Cane played a show at the POISON APPLE in Peoria. It was a packed event and since we were playing Soul Man by the Blues Brothers and Don't Ya Think I'm Sexy by Rod Stewart, both hits at the time, I suggested that we use a couple horn players for the evening. I was playing in Jazz Band and knew a couple guys who agreed to play with us.My friend Marc Keefer suggested we do a Chicago song called, State Of The Union and with that, we had a three song mini set to play within our regular rock sets. It was to Darin's last night with us. Mike Isenberg and Graham Walker of the Jets had been in the audience that night and liked Darin's drumming. We were drummer less again.
Enter Mr. Marc Keefer. Marc had been a friend of mine for the past several months and after some gentle persuasion, Marc joined the band. By this time, Eddie had quit and we were a four piece band again.... and soon after that, Jim left the group making us in search of another bass player. Well as they say, all things eventually come full circle, and Roger Baysinger from the Sunfield days was in the band and playing bass. I even talked Todd Muir to joining us on saxophone. Eventually, Marty talked Scott Somerville back into singing with the band and we now had yet another successful version of Maiden Cane.
During 1979 and into 1980, this version of the band played often and eventually was one of the winners of the 1980 basement tapes. One of the prizes was to be taped live for a future TV show. That show was broadcast and I'm happy to say, those performances still exist.
May of 1980, found us with yet another new bass player, Joe LaForrest. Joe had played with Maiden Cane back in 1976 and was a great guy. I enjoyed our short time together, but the band was breaking up. Marty, drove off into the sunset one day and we found out he had had enough. I remember there were a couple meetings about carrying on with Mike Somerville on guitar. Mike was Scott's brother and former member of the band, HEADEAST.
As for me, I decided that this band life was getting the better of me. I was tired of being broke, so I moved back home with my tail between my legs. My beloved ORANGE ROOM had been repainted and now belonged to one of my brothers. I was told to sleep in the basement which I did.
I eventually, signed back up for classes at ICC but not before starting a new band called the Untouchables. Marc, Joe and Scott did team up with Scott's brother and became SOMERVILLE. Marty, went on to organize another version of Maiden Cane with Rick Martin and some other musicians but that too didn't last long.
Jim Kiefer had been living in Florida for a bit when he joined forces with a couple guys and with Marty's blessings, dusted off the name, MAIDEN CANE once again. Currently the band known as Maiden Cane are a very successful band playing large venues around SW Florida.....but there would be one more twist!!!!
In October of 2022, The old SECOND CHANCE reopened it's doors under a new name and hosted a concert consisting of many of the bands from the late 70's and early 80's that had played there. Jim couldn't make the show but Marty Stanfill, along with Marc Keefer on Drums, Roger Baysinger on bass, Todd Muir on Sax, and myself on guitar played that night. Scott wasn't into the idea, so we asked Joey Wright to sing. We even got Jim's permission to use the Maiden Cane name one more time. It was a magical night and I felt 20 years old again.
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