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The Doomsday Refreshment Committee was a Southern California
rock & roll band that "volunteered" to entertain US and allied
military forces throughout Vietnam in
1970.
Skip was just out of the US Army and was at a New Years
(1970)
party where he encountered his old band-mates Pete and Ken (an Army
Vietnam vet) who were both
looking for a band change. Intense rehearsal began in the 1st week of 1970 and within a couple of
weeks, we had a steady gig at a bar.
Within a few more weeks we had a much better steady gig at a very popular
club. The chance to do the Vietnam tour came one afternoon after
Ken had discovered a newspaper ad looking for "all girl
bands for
overseas travel". Ken made the phone call and we quickly assembled
our "girl" section by enlisting Ken's wife Ginger and her sister
Margie Kane who were both very hot dancers. Our keyboard player and
vocalist, Pete Parker, could not make the tour so we enlisted
the aid of our old friend, Steve Hyde. Before we knew it, we were
stepping off a 707 in Saigon. We discovered and
'enlisted' our bass
player, Sammi, as well as our featured female vocalist, Gerri Iris
Bryant (also from Southern California), shortly after
arriving in Saigon.
"Doomsday" was contracted with a private
corporation that was contracted with the Commercial
Entertainment Branch of the US Army Vietnam (USARV)
Special Services. Unlike the
USO shows that were "escorted", we were
essentially on our own for meals, lodging, transportation, etc.
Since we were Americans and especially since we had the ladies with us,
there did not seem to be anything that we could not get and we certainly
were never without company. One of the big problems we did
encounter was the
occasional GI we would meet who would go AWOL and follow us as we
toured. We spent many
hours convincing them to return to their units. We
played shows from just short of the DMZ in the north to Soc Trang way down south in the Delta.
We traveled by every imaginable means of transportation, performed at
some of the most unlikely venues, and had
the pleasure of performing for thousands of US, Australian, and Vietnamese
military and civilians. We could not have found better, more enthusiastic audiences anywhere on
earth. The time we all spent among the men and women who served in
Vietnam will be cherished always.
After many months of constant touring
within Vietnam, we arrived at the same conclusion most of the GI's had
already come to - "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" - at least
for a while. After leaving Vietnam, we traveled to
Bangkok, Thailand where we were the first
act to play the new, just opening, night club "The Tug".
After arriving there we were joined by guitar player and singer, Terry
Thaddeus and spent many months playing 7 nights a week. We were
thrilled by the occasional visit by GI's we had met in Vietnam who were in
Bangkok for R&R.
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The Doomsday
Refreshment Committee band members were: |
| Gerri Iris Bryant |
vocals -
joined us in
Saigon in early 1970 – from another show
that
was leaving Vietnam |
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| Steve Hyde |
keyboards & vocals |
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| Ken Johnston |
guitar & vocals -
US Army 1966-1967 - Vietnam combat veteran
with the 199th LIB, 4th Infantry Division |
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Ginger Kane
Johnston
9/21/1951 - 12/27/2000 |
dancer
& vocals - wife of Ken Johnston, sister of Margie |
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Margie Kane
1947 - 1999 |
dancer
& vocals - sister of Ginger |
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| Skip Metheny |
drums
- US Army veteran 1967-1969 – all of 1969 in Thailand
with the 40th MP BN,
USARSUPTHAI |
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Sammi Govindas
Moutayapoulet |
bass
- joined us in
Saigon - of Indian heritage, resident
of
Vietnam, with a French passport (!) |
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| Peter Parker |
keyboards & vocals
- original keyboard player and singer - prior
to Vietnam tour |
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Terry Thaddeus
10/15/1947 - 5/12/2003 |
guitar & vocals -
joined us in Bangkok |
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Steve, Sammi . . . . . where
are you?
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Questions? skip@skipmetheny.com
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