Back in the day, the Valley has its own array of musical talent that originated right within the area. This is part one about a group of talented local musicians, who fostered their love of music by developing a band, which led to them playing all over the Valley and eventually creating a record to put in local jukeboxes.
The Group started up about 1965 and originally consisted of Gordon Hornbeck on the drums; Jim Hooper on lead guitar; Aaron Burnett on rhythm guitar; Glen Kerestes on bass guitar and Raymond Fulford on keyboards. In 1966, the band underwent some band member changes with Hooper and Kerestes leaving and Doug Scales joining in.
“I recall being in Grade 10 and Mrs. Clara Stirling was my biology teacher at the time,” said Hornbeck. “One day we assembled at her class to find her sitting on the edge of the desk and she asked if any of us had seen the Ed Sullivan Show the previous evening. The whole class erupted because it was the Beatles who appeared on the show. Everyone got very talkative in class about the phenomena of popular music.
“After that discussion, I went home that night and talked to my parents about it. It was a short time after that, I found a friend in high school, Jimmy Hooper, who had an electric guitar and I told him I had an acoustic guitar. He invited me over to his house.
“I met Jimmy’s parents and while we were talking, his mom kept playing the piano,” said Hornbeck. “She was crazy on the piano and played everything you could think of. She kept asking if there was anything we wanted to hear. She played by ear and all these songs with such enthusiasm. Looking back, I kind of associated her with Jerry Lee Lewis, because she had that same enthusiasm for music.
“A few weeks later I had Jimmy over to my house to see what I had set up to play my guitar in the basement. I had a quiet section in the basement all to myself. Jimmy picked out the song with chords and flat-picking; it was Wildwood Flower. It’s a famous old song that talks about the effects of smoking cannabis. Jimmy played the song so perfectly; you’d think you were listening to a recording.
“I suggested we meet more often so he spent a lot of time at my house and we spun 45 records from Scalf’s Music Store,” said Hornbeck. “That was a source for studying music. Jimmy could listen to that song off the portable record player and identify each chord by listening to it. Without any formal music training or education, Jimmy had the same talent as his mother and could play by ear. He really had the inside track to listening and copying music. We were so drawn to his musical talent.
“Aaron Burnett was another friend from school who heard about our enthusiasm for listening and playing music. Aaron wanted to join us and bring his guitar. He came over and we plugged his guitar into Jimmy’s amp and started making some real noise. That was the beginning of the band.
“Another friend of mine from school, Glen Kerestes, was working as a furniture deliveryman,” said Hornbeck. “He got his older brother’s guitar, took the top two strings off and tuned down the bottom bass strings. Once he had it to where he wanted it, he said he would join in playing bass.”
The newly formed band began to experiment with their sound during rehearsals and soon found themselves upgrading musical instruments and equipment.
“By then this little amplifier of Jimmy’s that had a speaker the size of a butter plate was really overloaded,” said Hornbeck. “Jimmy set out to get an amplifier in the Sears catalogue. He found a Sears Silvertone amplifier that had two 12-inch speakers and a separate power head on top with about five or six inputs. For the first year, which would have been 1965-1966, we played everything through that one big amplifier.
“One day we went outside and set it up to play in the backyard. The next day at school, a couple of classmates told me that their parents heard us playing music in the backyard from about three miles away. We must have been playing pretty loud, but when you’re playing rock n’ roll music, you don’t always know how loud the volume really is.
“Eventually Glen purchased a Fender Mr. Bassman amplifier and a Fender Jazz bass guitar,” said Hornbeck. “Then Aaron went out and bought a Fender Mustang and his own large amp. Now we were really rocking.”
It wasn’t long after before the band was asked to do their first live stage performance in town. Luckily Hornbeck’s father captured all those early moments on stage by filming it.
“We were soon asked to play live music for the Canadian Girls In Training (CGIT) dance behind the United Church in Swan River,” said Hornbeck. “It was our first gig and my dad had this small 8 mm movie camera came out and started filming the band and the crowd. I still have those 8 mm movies and transferred them to DVD, which allows me to watch it anytime I want. It’s amazing to be able to watch that live stuff from the past.
“We all decided that if we were going to perform as a band, we were going to have to be presentable. So for that first performance, we wore white T-shirts with red cardigan sweaters, white pants and white tennis shoes. I have lots of photos of us dressed like that. There was no money involved and the greatest joy was to be asked to come and perform.”
After their first performance, they realized they needed a name for the band if they were going to continue on taking bookings and performing.
“Once the dance was over, we all sat down and realized we had a golden opportunity to form a band, but we had no name,” said Hornbeck. “We went through a brainstorming session in my parents basement and were throwing out names. We knew the names of all the popular bands at the time. Glenn was very quick and came up with some names. We couldn’t come up with a name that we could all agree on, so we decided on the name called The Group.”
Hornbeck has many classic memories of The Group and some of the adventures they had as a band. This was the beginning for many of the band members to develop a long-time love for music and the start of their musical careers.
“I have the original stamp we used for the dances at the Legion and community halls we would rent on a Friday or Saturday night to play a dance,” said Hornbeck. “We had a guy sitting with the stamp and a cash box at the door. The admission price was one dollar and he would stamp their hand to show they had paid.
“We travelled and played in community halls numerous times. At that time, it became popular to have a light show travelling with the band. Bands would perform and this different array of lights would come on. So I got some coloured lighting from my parents Christmas floodlights and I wired them all up through a board at my feet so my high hat foot could punch these switches on and off. It also allowed me to rotate the lights, which allowed me to put on a light show. Looking back it was pretty psychedelic for our time.
“There was this one time we were set up to play in Bowsman,” said Hornbeck. “We had the stage all set up and I wired up the lights.
We figured we were going to have a real good show that night. Well to my surprise, I had wired up the perfect short circuit, so about the third song into the first set, I start punching the lights and my foot goes down and there’s an explosion under my foot and fire going across the stage.
Bang! All the lights and cords were melted, the entire Bowman Hall breakers went at once and it was pitch black, so everyone turned on their cigarette lighters to see. The amplifiers have tubes and they don’t die instantly, they make a strange sound cooling off. I will never forget our amplifiers making that sound. It was definitely a night I will not forget.”
The story of The Group will continue in next week’s Star and Times.

Two local youth have been trending on the streets by selling lemonade and iced tea to keep the people around them hydrated during the warm weather. Here,
Benson Bordian (left) and Landen Rooks (right) work together on selling some fresh iced tea.

The Dauphin Lake Golf Club hosted its annual senior open golf tournament, last Thursday, with 65 golfers teeing off.

The women’s tournament drew 24 participants, with Donna Davidson topped the field with a score of 88, finishing one shot ahead of Gail Tycholiz in the championships flight. Marilyn Schwitzer was third with a 92.

A countback gave Myrna Fox first place in the first flight after she and Carolyn Heschuk tied with a 101. Third place went to Beth Tarrant, who shot a 105.

A countback determined the top three spots in the second flight. Florence Burdeny was awarded first place, with second place going to Pennie Karlson and Gladys Rea in third. They all carded a 115.

Shawn Pangman shot a 74 to win the men’s championship flight by one shot over Wayne Olson, while Brad Carefoot was third after shooting a 76.

Gerry Musey captured the first flight crown with an 82. He finished one ahead of Kent Wieb, while Gary Sweetman was awarded third place on a countback. He finished with an 84.

Doug Cooke’s 90 was good for top spot in the second flight. Mike Zazulak was awarded second place on a countback ahead of Wayne Vanrobaeys after they tied with a 91.

In the third flight, Jim Todoruk shot a 95 to finish in first place, ahead of runner-up John Lesyshyn. Frank Douglas was third with a 99.

As the dogs days of summer continue through the month of August, thoughts of back to school start to come to mind for parents and students alike.

For some that means a return to school sports, as well.

The Dauphin Clippers football team began workouts, Aug. 3, and have continued practicing twice a week.

While the numbers vary from practice to practice, team manager Cam Bennet said they could have as many as 40 players by the time the Rural Manitoba Football League season starts next month.

“The guys seem to be in pretty good shape coming in. Some people have been doing some summer workouts on their own,” he said, adding there is a good mix of rookies and veterans. “I know a lot of the rookies, too, Gerald Lopez has done a great job with the junior program. So there are kids coming in that have played football. They know what 10 yards is. I’m hoping we don’t have to explain the rules to as many as we usually do,” he said. “So it should be a good season.”

The Clippers reached the RMFL championship game last year, falling to the Swan Valley Tigers. Bennet said there are 15 to 20 players back from last year’s squad, though they did lose some key players.

“But I’m hopeful that some of our younger guys are going to step up and become key guys this year,” he added.

Although he doesn’t know what other teams have in terms of players, Bennet is confident that with the numbers they have, the Clippers will be right in the mix for another championship.

“I’m always a believer that when you’ve got a lot of numbers, if you’ve get injuries, you’ve got guys that can go in. We’re really lucky in the sense that we draw from a large area,” he said. “Some of the smaller schools struggle to get 20 kids out. So we’re at an advantage already by having the size and the numbers. So I would expect us to be in the top four, for sure, and hopefully in the final.”

An exhibition game against the Neelin Spartans is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 2. The regular season begins, Sept. 8, against the Tigers in Dauphin in a rematch of last year’s final. Game time is 4:30 p.m.

Dauphin’s Breken Brezden, pictured with Canadian men’s champion Keegan Messing, has had a busy and successful summer.

After competitions in Kitchener and Montreal, Brezden won a silver medal at an event in Mississauga this past weekend, recording a personal best in the process.

She is now preparing for the Sask Skate competition in Regina in October.

The Northwest Métis Council Inc. (NWMC) held its annual regional meeting in Dauphin, Aug. 13. Local executive members from 24 Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) Locals in the region came in to hear about the NWMC’s year in review, projects for the future, and the launching of a new and substantial health care initiative.

“I’m proud at the amount of staff that the NWMC has employed in the region,” said NWMC vice-president Frances Chartrand. “We now have 42 staff members working out of the administration office, 55 summer students placed across the region, 20 staff working our Michif Children’s Place and another 20 staff to be hired in the Swan River Daycare. Our new governance office should be opening soon and we will host 125 staff there.

“Other highlights for our region have been the new builds that are taking place, from the Michif Children’s Place daycare that is up and running, to our new governance office here in the City of Dauphin and the new daycare being built in Swan River. We’ve also purchased a house next door to Métis Child and Family Services that is currently being renovated and will be fully furnished.

It will be used as a medical stay place for people who have to travel in to Dauphin for medical appointments or day surgeries and need overnight accommodations.

Get the full story in this week's Dauphin Herald!

As they have for years, the Road Rebel Rendezvous ended their cruise of classic cars at Asessippi Beach and Campgound.

In the morning of Aug.14th the group of enthusiasts left from Brandon and made their way up to Clear Lake taking the leisurely drive on the winding road through Riding Mountain National Park before stopping in Dauphin for lunch and show and shine with car enthusiasts there.

After lunch they headed west to their final destination at Asessippi campground where they met up with classic car owners from Saskatchewan.

Check this week's Banner for more!

We are about to have an election, an election to not only provide input into who will represent us, but an election that will help shape the future.

On October 26, residents of Mountain View School Division (MVSD) will choose trustees for the next four years.

They will be responsible to govern education within our division.

Find more details in this week's Review!

It took a one-hole playoff between two former champions to determine the winner of Roblin’s postponed Roblin Moonshine Daze Men’s Open which finally played out Aug. 13 at the Roblin Golf and Country Club.

The tourney was originally slated for July 16 but had to be postponed due to a lack of entries.

More results in this week's Roblin Review!

Just after the Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) held its 2022 elections, all MMF Locals across the province have either held an election in their community or are in the process of having one.

Recently, the Roblin MMF Local held its elections and a brand new executive – which hopes to inform Métis citizens about programming and services available to them as well as promote more cultural diversity.

Check this week's Review for more!