George Frayne, a student in graduate school at the University of Michigan in 1967, put a band together with his pal John Tichy, an engineering PhD condidate. The first group was more of a "happening" than anything else, featuring the Tap Dancing Green Sisters, Pat the Hippie Strippie and, of course, the Galactic Twist Queens with a supporting cast of anywhere between five and fifty hippies, featuring a kazoo section of up to six degenerates. The CommanderCommando Cody, Skymarshall of the Universe, the original rocket man, the star of the movie "The Lost Planet Airmen" (Republic Pictures 1952).
After graduation, in 1968, Cody was not able to cope with an actual job situation (Assistant Professor of Art) at Wisconsin State University, George drove fourteen hours a week back and forth to Ann Arbor every weekend to appear with the band and their new singer/harp player, Billy C. Farlow, of Decatur, Alabama.
George and Billy C. penned the first original tunes, "Down to seeds and stems again" and "Back to Tennessee" in a library during a break in finals. After two semesters, George quit teching and jumped into the Ozone Van with Billy C. and the steel guitar player, then the West Virginia Creeper, and headed for the coast.
In San Francisco for the summer of 1969, the band caught the tall end of the famous psycedelic scene. They found a home in the saloons of Berkeley and after packing a local dive known as "Mandrake's" every night, they got some executives from Paramount Records to sign them up.
Bill Kirchen, who had previously left the band in Ann Arbor from San Francisco was the key ingredient in Cody moving west. After a year, John had gotten his PhD in Engineering from GA Tech and moved to California. Andy Stein moved out in the Fall of 1968 and the band was complete. That is, after pilfering Charlie Musselwhite's rhythm section for Paul "Buffalo" Bruce Barlow on bass and Lance Dickerson on drums. The eight piece band bought an old Greyhound bus and hit the road.
The first album, "Lost in the Ozone" coughed up a hit single, "Hot Rod Lincoln" which sold a million records and launched the boys into Rock and Roll History.
They recorded four albums for Paramount Records, which are released today on CD and cassette by MCA. They next did three albums for Warner Brothers and broke up after a long European tour in 1976.
The last of the three albums was a historical two album live set ("Got a Live One Here") with Norton Buffalo, who joined the band for their last tour.
In 1977, Cody, Kirchen, Stein, Tichy and Billy C. all went in different directions, Cody making two albums on Arista and working with Delaney Bramlett and Nicolette Larson. He teamed up with Bill Kirchen's Moonlighters in 1979, and some of that personnel are featured on the Relix Release "ACES HIGH". (April 1990)
In 1992, the Lost Planet Airmen included vocal and guitar master Peter Walsh (formerly with Seatrain and Hoodoo Rhythm Devils), bass guitar monster Dave Tolmie (formerly with Maria Muldaur, Roy Rogers, and the Delta Blues Band). Glen Sherba (Burbank based guitar gunslinger studio sessions - Cher, Badfinger, etc).
In 1995, Dave Erdmann replaces Billy C. on lead vocal and designated songwriter, and Ed Michaels joins the band on drums (formerly with Roy Rogers and Norton Buffalo).
AIM Records (Australia) released a seventeen tune CD called "Worst Case Senario" in the summer of 1994. Rounder Records is looking to distribute it in the States in late 1995.
Written and compiled by Bert van Rijn (brijn@xs4all.nl).
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