![]() “One lunchtime, I came home from school early with no intention of attending my afternoon classes. He found his place as he was given a number of weekly slots on Bruin Radio. Intimidated by the size of the classes, Howard volunteered as a campus DJ at the school’s radio station. Since he won a full scholarship sponsored by the Bank of America, his parents were extremely proud of Howard as he was the first family member to attend college. It was also the time for Howard to enter UCLA. For Howard and Mark, that meant they put down their saxophones to become singers as the group drifted into a cover band. beach scene and eventually landed a gig as the house band for the Revelaire Club in Redondo Beach playing for visiting stars the Drifters, Dick and Dee Dee and Bobby Vee.īy 1964, the Beatles changed the direction of rock music. Being a surf band near the beach, they were the top band in the community.Ĭhanging their name to the Crossfires, the band became popular around the L.A. So now the band consisted of Howard on tenor sax, Mark on alto sax, Chuck on bass, Al Nichol on lead guitar, Jim Tucker on rhythm guitar and Don Murray on drums. Howard learned years later that Mark took lessons from the same clarinet teacher as he did. Mark’s dad objected to his son not sharing the meager pay so he bought his son a sax. Since the Nightriders were an instrumental group and Mark didn’t play an instrument, he became the roadie. When Volman discovered Howard was in a band, he wanted to join. It was in this class that he met class-clown Mark Volman. Now in high school, Howard was in his words, a “real nobody.” Still, he looked forward to his favorite class, a cappella choir. With a loan of $125, the group cut a record and appeared on a local TV show called Dance Party, hosted by future game show host, Bob Eubanks. A schoolmate by the name of Chuck Portz asked Howard if he’d like to join their band, the Nightriders. Once Howard saw the groups on TV playing the saxophone and not a clarinet, he convinced his music teacher to make the switch. Inspired, he would rush home after school to watch American Bandstand. Howard, who now signed his name as “Kaylan” was bitten by the music bug when the only station he could get on his transistor radio, was KDAY an R&B station, which featured the current artists of the day. It was his first foray into music but also the start of a career that this twelve-year old would never forget. Since students at his school were required to play a musical instrument, Howard chose the trumpet but later switched to clarinet, which seemed more natural. Uprooted from his home in Brooklyn, followed by a year in Utica, young Howard Kaplan found himself in Westchester, California as his father found a job with Hughes Aircraft.
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