Tuesday, January 3, 2012

WHO THE HELL WERE THEY?


Here we go. I've been poking around smelly bins of music minutiae for years, and I still run into stuff I can't find anything about. In this case, a band called the Parkays. First off, it may be just a small coincidence that the first time I ever heard of the Parkays is when the Mystery Suggester hipped me to their groovy "Last Date" a while back. Soon afterward, she pointed me towards the Martinis "Hung Over."

Exhibit A: The Martinis featured one Packy Axton, a sax player who was in the Mar-Keys, and partied his way out of a steady gig at Stax (owned by his mother and uncle). He went on to form a series of combos, among them bands called the Packers and the Pac-keys. Exhibit B: You will note that similarities between the Mar-Keys' "Last Night" and the Parkays' "Green Monkeys." Exhibit C; The similarities in band names, the Mar-Keys, the Parkays, and the Pac-Keys. Exhibit D (the only sketchy one): All references to the Parkays point to the ABC-Paramount label, who, though based in New York, "licensed finished masters from independent producers and purchased regionally-released records for national distribution" (according to the Wikipedia entry for the label).

This is where I get off. I may continue the poking around later, and I may not. Who knows? I might get a wild hair and become the unofficial biographer of the Parkays, seeing as how there doesn't seem to be anybody else stepping forward. Maybe I'll just start a Parkays Locator Club. Wanna join?

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
The Parkays - Green Monkeys mp3 at Diddy Wah
Visit
Diddy Wah for another Parkays cut
The Mar-Keys - Last Night mp3 at Rock 'n; Soul Ichiban
The Pac-Keys - Dig In mp3 at Office Naps
The Packers - Hole In the Wall mp3 at The Hound Blog

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