Soma Records

["Joseph E. Vine, Jr." <sentaur@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/1306/soma.htm
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>Heilicher's hit `Surfin' Bird' catches another wave on CD

>Star Tribune; Minneapolis, Minn.; Oct 16, 1998

>Jon Bream; Staff Writer;
>
>
>Amos Heilicher, godfather of the Twin Cities record business, has a 
habit of
>hanging on to things.
>
>He's had the same assistant for 42 years (she's retiring today). He 
still
>has extra copies of a 22-year-old magazine featuring his former 
business.
>And, in the front of a red-leather scrapbook, he has the original test 
copy
>of "Surfin' Bird," the biggest record in his storied career.
>
>On its plain sleeve is a handwritten note from his then-partner in a
>Minneapolis recording studio and a record-pressing plant, Vern Bank:
>"The Bird" is the worst I've ever heard. Must be a hit. Call me if 
you're interested. Vern.
>
>Heilicher trusted his partner's taste and never listened to that 
audition
>recording by the Trashmen. But at every dance the group played, they'd 
tell
>teens to look for the song on Heilicher's Soma Records. After inquiries
>started coming into record shops, he finally decided to distribute 
"Surfin'
>Bird."
>
>Founder of the Musicland chain and one of the most influential U.S. 
record
>distributors in the '60s and '70s, Heilicher touted the single to his
>distributor friends around the country: "I said, `It's the worst record 
in
>the world, but we've got a hit in Minneapolis. See what you can do,' " 
he
>recalled this week. It became a hit nationwide, peaking at No. 4 on
>Billboard in 1964.
>
>"I laugh every time I hear it," Heilicher said with a chuckle. "It's 
that
>bad."
>
>The million-selling "Surfin' Bird" is one of 48 songs on the new 
double-CD
>"Big Hits of Mid-America: The Soma Records Story 1963-67." And on 
Saturday,
>the Trashmen will join the Del Counts, Castaways and the High Spirits 
in
>concert to celebrate the release on CD of these mostly regional hits.
>
>"To this day, I get calls for these songs," said Heilicher, 80. Even 
though
>he's been out of the record business for 20 years, he still thinks like 
a
>guy who's trying to sell records. "I didn't know what they planned to 
do
>when I turned over some of the old tapes," he said of the reissue
>compilation. "When I saw it, I was kind of shocked; it's one of the 
nicest
>looking packages I've ever seen on a CD."
>
>From Dylan to Castaways
>
>Sitting in his Golden Valley office, he reminisced about Soma (that's 
Amos
>spelled backwards) with his son, Ira Heilicher, 52. While Ira was still 
in
>high school, he co-owned a band booking agency, and he'd pitch acts to 
Soma.
>"Ira was more hep than I am," said his father, who, in the late 1950s, 
once
>kicked out a barefoot high-schooler named Bobby Zimmerman (whom his 
daughter
>had met at summer camp) for banging on the piano in the Heilicher home. 
That
>pianist went on to sell a few records under the name Bob Dylan.
>
>Being the boss' son didn't mean carte blanche for Ira at Soma. A 
committee
>consisting of the buying, sales and promotion staffs as well as 
Heilicher
>voted on which acts the label would take on.
>
>Ira got particularly excited about a band who invited him to their 
recording
>session even though he'd never seen them perform. He stayed in the 
studio
>with the Castaways until 4 a.m., offering ad-hoc advice on the 
recording and
>money to cover the session. "I was standing at {Amos'} door at 6, going 
`You
>gotta listen to this,' " Ira recalled. "He didn't say `Yes' right away, 
and
>he brought it in to the group and they listened to it."
>
>Soma put out the song, "Liar Liar," which went to No. 12 on Billboard 
in
>1965. Every once in a while, Ira will hear the tune on an oldies 
station,
>turn up the volume and get excited all over again.
>
>Soma virtually disappeared in 1967 when Heilicher Bros. merged with 
Pickwick
>International. Simitar Entertainment, run by some former K-tel 
International
>executives, put together the current reissue - named after the two 
volumes
>of "Big Hits of Mid-America" that Soma issued on LP in the '60s - as a
>tribute to the Twin Cities' first indie label.
>
>"Some younger people know `Big Hits of Mid-America Vol. 3' that 
Twin/Tone
>put out {in the late '70s} but don't know about the first two volumes," 
said
>Steve Wilson, executive producer of the reissue, which also includes 
songs
>from other local labels.
>
>Amos Heilicher may not be hep to the punkier bands on Volume 3, but he
>remains loyal to his Soma groups. Three years ago, when he owned a 
suburban
>bar called the Country House, he booked the Castaways and the Del 
Counts. 



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