MEET PLAIN BROWN WRAPPER (continued)

Dave Livingston at the second reunion (2016 Concert) “The whole thing was a trip,” Dave was the bassist/trumpet player,  and also the in-house manager for the Wrapper. “We played a lot of concerts with guys everyone’s heard of, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent, MC5. There were a lot of great bands in the state, outdoor summer concerts were a big deal.”

Sure, PBW shared stages with hard rockers, but its sound was far left of that typical riff-driven band. The Wrapper always stuck to its horn-heavy jazz-rock sound – similar to Chicago or Blood, Sweat and Tears. Unfortunately, the band recorded one album that was never released, so, for now, that experimental sound remains shelved.

During its impressive run, PBW toured various parts of the country in a converted school bus, with a setlist of both originals and revamped covers.

Beyond that, the band of longhairs even inked deals with Beachwood Music (a Capitol Records subsidiary) and Wooden Nickel Records (an RCA subsidiary). Both deals fizzled out and so did the band, according to Livingston. Another “almost famous” scenario — though the band went out in grand fashion.

“Our final concert was at the old Lansing Civic Center with a 200-voice choir and a full orchestra,” he recalled. “After that concert, we parted ways in the spring of ’73.”