The Poor CD with Randy Meisner

From the Drivin’ Dynamics to The Poor

One of the first bands Randy Meisner was a founder of is a band called the Drivin’ Dynamics in Scottsbluff, NE. It was first formed in 1961 as the Dynamics, and they later changed the name to the Drivin’ Dynamics. Sometime in 1966 they competed in a Battle of the Bands contest in Denver.* They did not win, but the Soul Survivors band (of Denver) was there looking for a new bass player and asked Randy to join their band. He did join and moved to Colorado, and the Soul Survivors stayed in Denver for a short time and then moved to California. Since there was already a band called the Soul Survivors in California, they changed their name to the North Serrano Blues Band briefly and then to The Poor.

*In some sources it states that the Drivin’ Dynamics competed at a Battle of the Bands contest in Denver in February 1966. It is believed this month is incorrect. This is what Steve Cassells (Drivin’ Dynamics keyboard player from 1964-66) says:

“That Battle of the Bands couldn’t have been in February ’66, because I was still with them at the time and I would have remembered it. When I left Scottsbluff for Denver (probably May 1966), Randy was still with the Dynamics. It was sometime in the fall of ’66 when I was at the Exodus nightclub in Denver that Randy showed up, and we had a nice visit. He was with The Poor by then and had returned from California for a brief time, I think.”

Steve Cassells – keyboard player for the Drivin’ Dynamics from 1964-66

Most of the videos mentioned on pg. 2 of the CD insert are posted directly below that page insert. In 1968 The Poor were on two different TV shows. They were on Name of the Game twice and Ironside once. In each of the episodes The Poor was in a band scene.

The radio show interview with Joe Walsh from Nov. 28, 2020 is below on this page, too. Randy tells Joe the story of how he joined the Soul Survivors of Denver.

The Poor CD was released in 2003. Tracks 1-4 of the CD are the Soul Survivors, and tracks 5-13 are The Poor.

Audios and videos on this page:

• John Tobler interview in London – Apr. 19, 1977
• “The Poor” – 1967 CD
• “Name of the Game” TV show aired Nov. 1, 1968
• “Name of the Game” TV show aired Dec. 20, 1968
• “Ironside” TV show aired Nov. 7, 1968
• “Study in Motion #1” – Hell’s Angels on Wheels (original motion picture soundtrack)
• Randy’s interview on Joe Walsh’s Old Fashioned Rock N’ Roll Radio Show of Nov. 28, 2020

The Poor CD front and back

CD insert – pg. 1 (click to enlarge page inserts)

“But through extensive and dangerous detective work in the depths of people’s basements, old tape boxes, guys who used to run local studios, band members and friends, we now have what was once lost forever, the product of those endless hours of pre-production demoing and dreaming…brothers and sisters…the real deal…The Poor!”

CD insert – pg. 2

“Greene and Stone kept moving us from one label to another so that they could collect all the advances! We would be left with some paltry little hand out. I finally woke up to the fact of why all of our singles were coming out on different labels. We had to grovel for food money then!”

The Poor bass drum and Randy’s groovy pants on the Ironside set stage – show aired Nov. 7, 1968

The Poor on the set of Ironside during filming – show aired Nov. 7, 1968

Band members: Randy Naylor, Randy Meisner, Pat Shanahan, and Allen Kemp

CD insert – pg. 3

“Odd frustrations and tensions were starting to surface too I remember…I’d very unwisely traded my Mosrite bass for a Hofner violin bass because it ‘looked cooler’…big mistake!…what a horrible instrument, respect to Paul McCartney for being able to play it at all!…One night in a dressing room somewhere I was complaining about how crap it was when one of the guys (no names after all these years, you know who you are!) grabbed it and manically smashed it to smithereens against the sink!” – (see note below)

Note: Randy’s account above of what happened with his Hofner violin bass conflicts with the photo of him in 1972 with a Hofner violin bass at Westlake School for Girls.

Billboard magazine ad – Mar. 4, 1967

L-R: Pan Shanahan, Randy Naylor, Randy Meisner, John Day, and Allen Kemp

Clockwise from front: Veder Van Doren, John Day, Randy Meisner, Randy Naylor, Allen Kemp, and Pat Shanahan

Clockwise from left front: Veder Van Doren, John Day, Allen Kemp, Randy Naylor, Randy Meisner, and Pat Shanahan

Billboard magazine – Oct. 1, 1966

The Soul Survivors went to a Battle of the Bands contest in Denver to find a new bass player to replace Bob Raymond, and they discover Randy who was there with the Drivin’ Dynamics. They ask him to join their band, and he does.

Excerpt from the book “Desperados: The Roots of Country Rock” pgs. 53-54

Excerpt from the book “Desperados: The Roots of Country Rock” – pgs. 71-72

Joe Walsh’s Old Fashioned Rock N’ Roll Radio Show of Nov. 28, 2020

Randy tells the story of how someone from the Soul Survivors (Gene Chalk) drove to Scottsbluff to invite him to join the band as their new bass player (Randy’s part starts at about 6:05).
Whichever way it happened that Randy was invited to join, it’s good it did because the Soul Survivors and the friendships within the band became a very important part of Randy’s musical history. Joe’s radio show segment with Randy was aired about a month after Randy’s second appearance on Richie Furay’s Back Porch Sessions livestream.

Randy
California – 1966

Excerpt from the book “The Eagles FAQ”

“The band changed its name to The Poor, he said, ‘because we were poor’.”

Alliance Times-Herald (Alliance, NE) – July 6, 1983

Rusty ties together the very early connections between himself, Randy, Poco, Soul Survivors, The Poor, Rick Nelson, the Eagles, and Rusty’s long-time friend Miles Thomas, who seems to know everybody in the music business.

The Courier News (Bridgewater, NJ) – Nov. 9, 2007