The
Trolly
Club was originally known as the Tunerville Trolly Club, and was owned
and operated by Mr. Blaze Lewark. Many of the local radio DJ's stopped
by to spin records in the sound booth, before there was rap, Such as
Burl
Barer, Papa John, and Lan Roberts. Groups such as Bread, Chicago,
Spooky
Tooth & Led Zepplin would stop in after their concerts, and jam.
Blaze
also put on the BFD 1 & 2, 2 later called The Happening, along with
his partner Ken Legg who split after the Happening. The Trolly was also
known as the Chariot Club. Blaze also started the Club known as the
"Clock
Work Orange" on Highway 99.
W.
Jassman, February
2004
When the
Trolly Club
was owned by Terry Schmidt. I did the large psychedelic pictures
that lined the walls inside the club. It was a trip really. Those were
indeed some fun days in the 60's.
John
Hill, September 2004
The Trolly
played
at the Trolly Club quite a bit. We were managed by Terry Schmidt,
the owner.
I also
remember that
Linda Ronstadt played there one night. Her back-up band The Stone
Ponies (some who went on to form The Eagles), couldn't make the date so
the Trolly backed her up.
One of my
favorite
memories of the Trolly Club was the open "auditions" Terry Schmidt
would
hold weekday evenings and Saturday afternoons at the Trolly. My
little
Everett, WA hometown band was invited in on a Tuesday evening in March
1968. We didn't get paid. We expected that the room was
filled
with agents, dancehall owners and DJs who would sign us up for
gigs.
We didn't get any gigs out of the date, but Barry Puhlman keyboardist
for
The Trolly was there, and some months
later helped
me join the Trolly.
In
those days,
EVERY teenager was in a band. Some could actually play and some
couldn't.
There was a group in there one day whose keyboardist apparently was
using
an organ that was color-coded. After one especially bad chord he
played, the guitarist yelled at him, "Red you idiot!" To this
day,
whenever someone makes a major mistake at their job I want to yell,
"Red
you idiot!"
Way funny,
Peter
"Kirby"
Scheldt, April 2007
Our group, Locomotive,
was the house band at the Trolly for 6 months or so in the late 60s.
The
club was one of the hottest in Seattle at the time and a lot of the
concert
acts playing the big venues would come in and jam after their shows.
Robert
Plant, John Bonham and John-Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin jammed,
Chicago
came in, etc. Bonham played his famous bare hands solo while Trolly
chicks
climbed all over Plant.
I clearly remember a couple of the
guys
from Vanilla Fudge (Bogert and Appice) jamming because Tim Bogert
played
my brand new Guild hollow body bass with his shirt off and the next day
the finish totally lifted off. You owe me, Tim! I probably had more fun
playing this club than any gig since! It was rockin’!
Terry Schmidt also managed
Locomotive during
that time, but we were snatched away to Los Angeles by MGM Records and
a big time manager before we signed any contracts. Of course, we got
screwed
in L.A. but… live and learn.
Bill Stroum, October 2012
