The Ohio Power- Mitch Pemberton

Mitch Pemberton

Mitch Pemberton
manager

Mitch Pemberton Bio:

When we let our minds wander back to the Lima music scene during mid/late sixties into the early seventies,
it brings a flood of great memories. The British Music Invasion gave an alternate avenue for peer group
acceptance and glory for kids who didn’t have the ability or desire to be athletes. They could pick a guitar,
drum sticks, keyboard, or microphone and maybe even let their hair grow, then follow their dreams.

For over three hundred such dream chasers, that alternate avenue went straight to the doors of Custom
Percussion Music Store, headed by local drummer great Bill Smith. It seemed that every kid in the area
wanted to be in a band, so many were formed. Early ones that come to mind were the Charades, The Mixed
Emotions, Panjandrum, The Decades, The Climax, The Exiles, The Fluorescent, The 3-Way Stop, The MUNX,
The Illusions, and many more.

In the summer of 1965, Mitch Pemberton, accidentally tapped into what would become one of the biggest influences of the local
music scene in Lima when he rented the Springbrook Gardens dance hall to showcase a band called the Charades.

At these venues, Lima teens were exposed to some of the best rock bands of the day. Bob Seger and the Last Herd, Mitch Ryder and the
Detroit Wheels, Terry Knight and the Pack, Grand Funk Railroad, The Outsiders, The Troggs, The Yardbirds (with Jimmy Page), Ted
Nugent and the Amboy Dukes, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Meatloaf (Popcorn Blizzard), The Kingsmen, and local favorites The Ohio Power.

Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels               Beau Brummels

Terry Knight & the Pack                               Kingsmen

Meatloaf (Popcorn Blizzard)                        Syndicate of Sound

Grand Funk Railroad                                    The Travelers

Iggy Pop & the Stooges                               The Outsiders

Goldie & the Gingerbreads                          The Charades

The Troggs                                                    Gary & the Hornets

The McCoys                                                  Frigid Pink

Bob Seger (System /Last Herd)                  Cryin’ Shames

Ted Nugent & the Amboy Dukes                 Rationals

Yardbirds w/Jimmy Page                             SRC

Brownsville Station                                       Savage Grace

The Breakouts                                               The Climax

Sunday Funnies                                            Danny & the Juniors

Ohio Power                                                    Third Power

December’s Children                                   The Dukes

Danny & the Juniors                                    The Scruffy Group

The Woolies                                                  Debutantes

Night Watchmen                                            3-Way Stop

Virgin Dawn                                                   All the Lonely People

Springbrook Gardens and/or the Upstairs Ballroom:

A partial list of 200 bands that performed at

Mitch Pemberton Presents:

As the drummer in The Charades, he was just trying to find a way to promote their band, and inadvertently launched Springbrook
Gardens Teen Club. In just a few weeks, the crowds swelled from a handful of kids to overflowing the hall with one thousand kids every
Saturday night. This continued for four years until the festivities were moved to the Upstairs Ballroom on North Elizabeth Street.