Jay
Farmen ~ Bass
David
Higginbotham ~ Lead Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Wally
Ramsay ~ Tambourine, Vocals
Charlie
‘Chuck’ Rosera ~ Drums
Jerry
Woelke ~ Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
Crew
Larry Koffler ~ Roadie
Jerry Woelke
The Passion Flower Hotel Story Formed out of the remnants of Johnie Fair and the Soul Searchers of Woodburn, Oregon in the Fall of 1966, David Higginbotham and Jerry Woelke enlisted drummer Charlie Rosera from Mt. Angel, Oregon; bassist Jay Farmen, and vocalist Wally Ramsay to form a band that would perform material by bands such as The Byrds, The Rolling Stones, Love, and The Animals.
At the beginning the name was ‘The Passion Flower Hotel and Novelty Theater’, taken from a paperback novel that was being read at the time. Almost immediately ‘and novelty theater’ was dropped because it didn’t fit on the bass drum head. The band felt the name was in keeping with the ‘flower power’ fad of that era.
One of the first local bands to use a light show, they were active in and around the mid-Willamette Valley and quite popular for local school dances, and also participated in a Battle of the Bands in Salem, Oregon, near the end of their career, but lost to a good band from the Chemawa Indian School. The ‘hotel’ had some problems with their gear that night, but it was generally felt that the judges didn’t quite know what to make of the casual cool of The Passion Flower Hotel.
Disbanding by summer of 1967, after the graduation from High School of lead guitarist David Higginbotham, the remaining members performed only loosely from time to time at various events, but not under the Passion Flower Hotel banner. The band never recorded professionally and only one recording of the band is known to exist and is the song ‘Satisfaction’, taped at a rehearsal.
David Higginbotham, December 2012
