Before "One Fine Morning": Lighthouse, Part 1 Quiz

Answer: Magic People

In addition to the minor hit single "Magic People" and an album of the same name, The Paupers were signed by superstar manager Albert Grossman (Bob Dylan; Peter, Paul & Mary; Richie Havens; Janis Joplin; and many more). Plus, the band members were competent enough as musicians that they earned extra money as session musicians for Grossman's other clients; they were the backing band on the Peter, Paul and Mary hit "I Dig Rock & Roll Music".

Answer: Monterey

The Paupers were indeed the second act to appear at the Monterey International Pop Music Festival, after The Association and before Lou Rawls. However, they were omitted from the "Monterey Pop" movie, because (after a great performance at the sound check) their festival performance echoed Murphy's Law: anything that could go wrong, did.

Innovative bassist Denny Gerrard dropped acid before going onstage and was out of sync the entire set, while guitarist Chuck Beale's amp intermittently but frequently malfunctioned.

Instead of stopping, the band tried to push on, which was also a mistake. "Rolling Stone" co-founder Ralph Gleason said that The Paupers were one of the biggest disappointments at Monterey. Beale later said, "That performance at Monterey, although we didn't realise it at the time, was the beginning of the end [of The Paupers]."

Answer: Al Kooper

Today, Kooper (also the co-founder of The Blues Project) may be best known as the organist on "Like a Rolling Stone" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want". Kooper asked Prokop to play drums in a series of live concerts that Kooper was putting together with his Dylan and "Super Session" bandmate Mike Bloomfield on guitar. Prokop agreed, and the concerts produced the album "The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper", which led Prokop to quit The Paupers and remain in New York City as an in-demand session musician.

Answer: percussion quartet

From the beginning, Lighthouse was planned as a 12-member band: a classically-oriented string quartet (two violins, viola, cello); a jazz-oriented horn quartet (trumpet, trombone, two saxes), and a rock quartet (guitar, piano, bass, drums). It became an "unlucky" 13-member ensemble when Prokop and Hoffert decided that the band needed a separate lead singer, instead of just using Prokop on vocals.

Answer: Ralph Cole

After Prokop offered Cole the job, Cole immediately moved from Kalamazoo, Michigan to Toronto and helped put the band together. He ended up having to stay with Prokop's parents due to the band's lack of income during this time.

Answer: RCA Victor

Two days after signing to MGM, Vinnie Fusco of Albert Grossman's office became Lighthouse's manager (after Grossman himself turned the band down). While Lighthouse was in New York City recording its first album for MGM, Fusco negotiated a six-figure advance for the band from RCA Victor, which may have been somewhat less than ethical.

However, after some behind-the scenes negotiations, the MGM contract was voided and Lighthouse released its first three albums on RCA.

Answer: Woodstock Music & Art Fair (August 1969)

All of the acts that had played at the Monterey Pop Festival (or their successors) were invited to perform at Woodstock. Lighthouse was viewed as the successor act to The Paupers, just as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young was to Buffalo Springfield and Blood, Sweat & Tears was to The Blues Project. Prokop and Hoffert initially accepted the invitation, but they then canceled after the pre-festival controversy concerning the location (which caused the festival to move from Wallkill to Bethel, about 30 miles away). Prokop worried that the concert would become a disaster for Lighthouse, just as Monterey had been for The Paupers. Considering that Lighthouse was an excellent live band, rated equal with Woodstock phenom Jimi Hendrix by attendees at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, this lost opportunity subsequently rankled Prokop.

Answer: Eight Miles High

"Eight Miles High" was the last Byrds composition credited to Gene Clark, Roger McGuinn, and David Crosby, with impressionistic lyrics based on Clark's unease about flying to London and music drawn from McGuinn's love of jazz musicians John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman.

There were more than enough musical ideas in the song for a group with the diverse talents of Lighthouse to turn it into a lengthy show-stopper, and the band later recorded an 18+ minute version of it on its 1973 double live album "Lighthouse Live!".

Answer: Rock opera

Among Lighthouse's many side projects during 1969-70 were several joint performances with symphony orchestras in the USA and Canada, including the Edmonton Symphony (whom Lighthouse later recommended to Procol Harum, resulting in their most successful album), a rock ballet entitled "Ballet High" with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet (which debuted in Ottawa in 1970 and then toured Canada), and Howard Shore's "Variations on a Bolero Theme", a symphonic composition that developed from the ballet.

The only area that Lighthouse didn't tackle was a rock opera, such as The Who's "Tommy".

However, since RCA was opposed to all of this side activity, Lighthouse eventually bought its way out of its RCA contract in November 1970.

Answer: Howard Shore

"Lorne" was Lorne Michaels, who created "Saturday Night Live", and Howard Shore and Lorne had been friends since their teenage days. Shore and pianist Paul Hoffert were Lighthouse's principal arrangers during their RCA years (including the symphonic and ballet performances), and Shore also composed songs and sang lead vocals with Lighthouse, but Shore later became far better known as the musical composer for such film masterpieces as the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy (for which he received three Oscars), "The Hobbit" trilogy, and "The Silence of the Lambs".