When The Ravens rocked The Langdon

Date:

In November 1964 Syd Alder, owner of Port Alfred’s Langdon Hotel on the west of the Kowie River, invited the Ravens rock band from Grahamstown (now Makhanda) to audition or do trial runs as the hotel resident band for the 1964/1965 Christmas holiday season.

ROCKING RAVENS: The Ravens band warms up prior to a wedding reception in the Graham Hotel ballroom in November 1964 before heading to Port Alfred and a Christmas-season contract at the Langdon Hotel. The members are, from left, Doug Pashley, Gavin Reid, Sid Penney, Piet Gerber and Peter Muddle. Picture: SUPPLIED

The auditions were bop sessions and young peoples’ dances over weekends, and the Ravens five-man outfit was confident and ready to rock! The band’s manager was Dudley Raven (after whom the group was named) and the members were Piet Gerber (vocals), Doug Pashley (lead guitar), Gavin Reid (drums), Peter Muddle (bass guitar) and Sid Penney (rhythm guitar). Gerber and Penney were working at the time; the other three were Graeme College pupils.

The Ravens rocked the rafters of the outdoor dance floor and the auditions went so well, that they received news by phone the following week that they had been booked for three weeks over Christmas 1964. The contract entailed Friday and Saturday night dances, plus Wednesday evening ‘cocktail hour’ music of a more subdued nature.

Prior to the auditions, the Ravens had received encouraging compliments from the famed Staccatos band from Johannesburg who had been on a nationwide tour of South Africa. The Ravens were a support act for the Staccatos at a packed Grahamstown City Hall, and the Staccatos were impressed with the local band.

Having previously provided the music for myriad functions in Grahamstown, the Ravens were looking forward to ‘hitting the Kowie’ and rocking the Langdon. They had even played a few songs before the big screen at His Majesty’s Theatre (HM) during interval at a Saturday afternoon matinee.

RAVENS FANS: While they played at the Langdon Hotel in Port Alfred over the 1964 Christmas holiday season, two members left the Ravens band and and two new members later replaced them. Here, four Ravens are with Assumption Convent pupils while setting up their equipment for a February 1965 concert at the school. L to R: Errol Fellows, Gene Smith, Gavin Reid and Sid Penney. Not present for the photo: Doug Pashley. Picture: SUPPLIED

The five-member Ravens band arrived at the lovely setting of the Langdon Hotel in Beach Road alongside the Kowie. Today it’s the Ferryman’s Hotel and not the ‘Grand Old Lady’ it was back in 1964. The three-storey hotel was within an easy walk of the hugely-popular West Beach which attracted hordes of holidaymakers from up north and elsewhere over the holiday period.

Back then, rock bands across the country wore ‘uniforms’ and looked oh so smart on stage. The Ravens’ outfits comprised satin-type waistcoats (black for the vocalist, bright red for the others), black trousers, white shirts and black bow ties.

Those who knew the Langdon in the 1960s and 1970s, and those who pass the present-day Ferryman’s know that there’s a parking area between the hotel itself and Beach Road.  Below the parking area were the covered outdoor dance floor and lawns. The dance floor came with a roof and was surrounded by a low wall and fence – ideal for summer months!    

There was a stage for performers and electric plugs galore for amplifiers and other equipment. 

Band members had ample room to move about on stage and dancers had ample room to gyrate and twist to the music of the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, The Ventures and all the others of that era.    

Numerous tables and chairs were scattered about the ample lawn, with easy access to the bar area. The dance floor buzzed and the bar buzzed, the Ravens raved and rocked while the patrons danced – and the waiters waltzed and scurried back and forth, trays in hand, with refreshments of the brewed kind. Oh, Christmas time in the Kowie!

Occasionally, Langdon management made rooms available to the Ravens – just one of the perks for the stars, you know! Langdon management once arranged a ‘larney’ dance for older folk on its dance floor, so the Ravens moved across the river for a rock ‘n roll night at the Lagoon Café, where the Royal Alfred Marina is now. In this time vocalist Piet Gerber and guitarist Peter Muddle left the band, but Gavin Reid and Doug Pashley took over the singing. Soon after, Gene Smith (vocals and guitar) and Errol Fellows (bass guitar) joined the Ravens and proved a huge acquisition.

ICON: The outside of the Ferryman’s Hotel, in Port Alfred, where The Ravens were at the heart of Christmas in the Kowie. File photo: ROB KNOWLES

Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve were the best nights for the Ravens: the crowds numbered several hundred – and boy, did they party! The streets and lanes near the Langdon were packed with cars night after night – so too the beachfront areas.

The Nash Rambler provided band transport, among Morris Minors and Minis, maybe also a Studebaker Lark and a Chrysler Valiant. There were also Ford Anglias, Ford Cortinas, plus Vauxhalls, Triumphs, and Borgwards – maybe also a ‘buzz-bike’ or two, perhaps a Santa Maria 50cc or a Puch. Remember, that was the era of jukeboxes, LP records, Coke floats, stovepipe jeans, ducktail haircuts, luminous socks and Chappies chewing gum! 

Syd Alder has since passed on, so too have Dudley Raven, Peter Muddle, Doug Pashley and Gene Smith. Gavin Reid lives in Cape Town, Errol Fellows in Durban; he still plays bass guitar, while I, Sid Penney, continue to live in Makhanda. Nothing was ever heard of original singer Piet Gerber once he left the band.

Every time the writer drives past the Langdon (oops, the Ferryman’s) he remembers the happy, carefree days of young people bopping, rocking and twisting away on the dance floor. 

And now all that is just a memory, covered by a parking area.  

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