The above photo was taken at a Kempy and the Guardians show at Rocket Skating Palace in 1967. Dean Brown, one of the Guardians, tells me it’s the only old photo he has of the band, a part of the Oak Cliff garage-rock scene, which we wrote about last year.
“The tall guy on the organ was David Smith, who passed away a few years ago,” Brown says.
The Rocket Skating Palace was on Cockrell Hill Road between Jefferson and Davis. The neon letters in the picture, R.S.R.O.A., stand for Roller Skating Rink Operators of America, according to Lee Ann Cannon.
Kempy and the Guardians had a reunion last month in Richardson, the first time they’d all been together in 40 years, Brown says.
Here they are, in a garage:
And here again is Kempy and the Guardians’ awesome single, “Love for a Price.”
[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWglMRErST0[/youtube]