The
University Of South Florida at Tampa, 1970: Paul Forney was playing gigs as a
bass player when a good friend of his Charlie Souza (later of Cactus fame) gave
him Ben Schultz's number. Ben invited Paul to play a gig with them, straight
jam. no rehearsal. Ben apparently took an immediate liking to Paul. Chris Luhn
was Brother's roadie. Ben Schultz met Chris during his sophomore year at the
University of South Florida in Tampa.
When they were not performing on stage, they
were rehearsing, writing and jamming with everyone in sight. The road trips
consisted of a 1967 Pontiac Bonneville pulling a U-Haul trailer full of
instruments, amps, and a half-assed p.a. system that Ben and their then-manager
had soldered together in Ben's family room. The highlight of that first summer
"tour" was the Goose Lake Festival, outside Detroit.
Wizard
crashed with the members of Third Power, and spent the better part of two weeks
sleeping all day. and jamming all night with the Power, and whoever happened to
drop in. including some of the people from Catfish, Frijid Pink, Bob Seeger.
And God-knows-who else. By the time they bull shitted their way on to the
program at Goose Lake, they had been together for only about ten weeks, but had
logged about 1,000 hours of rehearsing and jamming. Chris was the oldest member
of the group at 19 but the guys nevertheless managed to achieve a great sense
of pride and accomplishment in their work.
Eventually,
Wizard caught the attention of Decca
Record's Bob Fletcher, who brought the group to Atlanta for a recording
session. The session lasted only a few days. Virtually every song on the album
The Original Wizard was a "live" take (i.e., no dubbing and no
multiple tracks). The following winter, they played one of their more memorable
gigs at an indoor festival at the Hollywood (Florida) Fair-grounds. Van
Morrison was the big draw for the night, and they were supposed to have gone on
in the morning. Because of some snafu, the band wound up sitting around the
fairgrounds until about 5:00 p.m. when they were practically shoved onto the
stage.
Although
Wizard continued to perform on the same stage with groups like Chicago.
Mountain, Rod Stewart and Iron Butterfly, they never made it back into the
studio. Within 16 months of forming, the group born so spontaneously just
called it quits. After the break up of Wizard. Paul went on to play with the
trio "Bacchus" for several years and played a lot of clubs in Southern
Florida. He did stints with Timmy Thomas.
Little
Beaver, Gwen Macrae, and the Jimmy Castor Bunch until finally quitting the tour
circuit in 1980 and earning a degree in Electrical Engineering from USF. He
retrained in classical music but now enjoys a career in industrial automation
and lives, plays, and works in Southern California. Ben Schultz went on to both
live and studio work with the likes of Carmine Appice, Schultz & Butcher,,
Buddy Miles , Belinda Carlisle, Gregg Alexander, Barefoot Servants, Steve
Stills, Diana Ross, Small Faces, Rod Stewart, Ric Ocasek and Rick Nelson.
He now
resides in Southern California. Chris wandered wandered in and out of college
before settling in in Baltimore where, in 1982, he went back to school, getting
a law degree in 1985 and set up a law practice in upstate New York. None of the
band deludes themselves that this release will do anything other than gratify
some collectors and trivia buffs. Still, here it is, for whatever it is worth.
After twenty-seven odd years, Ben, Paul and Chris have reestablished their
friend-ship, and are humbled to know that there are some "out there"
who still care about raw, loud, no-holds-barred rock. They hope that this
offering satisfies a small measure of that craving.
from 1999 CD Liner-notes
Tracks
1. Freedom (Forney, Luhn, Schultz) - 5:15
2. Come and See The Bride (Forney) - 2:58
3. What Do You Know About Mary? (Forney) - 2:25
4. Opus Ate (Forney, Schultz) - 3:26
5. Coin' Away (Forney) - 1:49
6. Killing Time (Schultz, Luhn) - 3:58
7. Got To See My Way (Forney, Schultz, Luhn) - 2:38
8. Ride (Schultz, Forney) - 3:03
9. Seance (Forney) - 3:48
10.Talkin' To God (Forney, Schultz) - 2:30
11.Evergreen (Forney) - 3:53
12.Got Love (Forney) - 3:09
13.Freedom (Forney, Luhn, Schultz) - 4:03
Wizard
*Ben Schultz - Lead, Rhythm Guitars, Vocals
*Paul Forney - Lead Vocals, Bass Guitar
*Chris Luhn - Drums
Free Text
the Free Text
