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Hall & Oates, the Ohio Players, Boz Scaggs, the Spinners, and Earth, Wind & Fire were topping the charts in 1976, and the Bee Gees were back with a new energetic sound and style that would soon merge with the "Saturday Night Fever" craze to radically change the Midwest music scene for many years to come.
One Minnesota group was at the cutting edge of this new trend that spotlighted the blue-eyed soul of the seventies and recreated the original rhythm & blues sounds of the 60s, and that band was "Spangle". Lauren "Larry" McArthur recruited Gail Hensley, Ron "The Pickle" Pekrul, Dick "The Rev" Erickson and Eddie "Wah-Wah" Wells to create a new first-class dance and show group that would both pack the dance floor with popular high energy music and entertain their audiences, with flashy costumes, professional arrangements, and talented performers.
With a band made up of some of his best friends and a musical perspective that matched his own, Bob talked Spangle into expanding to six members and they went on to amaze and astound fans at popular Midwest venues such as Mr. Nibs, the Hippogriff, the Tempo Bar, Pudges, and the Maplewood, Hopkins and Burnsville Bowls.
Patriotic and colorful red, white & blue stage costumes helped them to gain recognition as the "Official 1976 Bicentennial Band of America". Spangle also distinquished itself with medleys by the Diana Ross & the Supremes and the O'Jays, a sermon by "The Rev" talking about that "Bad Luck", drummer Ron Pekrul telling everyone how to "Feel the Need", and worst of all, Bob as the mysterious, obnoxious, and always entertaining, "DangerMan"!
In their second year, Spangle spotlighted a fresh new talent from the cornfields of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, by the name of Kathy Corning. With Kathy and Lauren out front, a talented group of musicians and entertainers backing them up, unique arrangements of classic R&B hits, show-stopping medleys and the latest and greatest hits of the day, Spangle dominated the Twin Cities nightclub scene during this time.
And they might have done so for many years to come - but the "Saturday Night Fever" tsunami was on the horizon, and only the versatile and the strong would survive the DiscoMania that lie ahead. |
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