Jack Casady - Jack grew up a few blocks from Ron MacDonald in Northwest Washington D.C.

Jack's dad, a dentist practicing out of a medical office in Jack's house, had a penchant for good jazz. While Jack's dad was upstairs drilling peoples' teeth Jack and Ron were down in the den checking out Dad's jazz albums. Meanwhile, Ron's dad ran a fancy schmanzy place called the Ambassador Hotel and by the time the boys were fourteen years old they were jamming in one of the Ambassador's spare conference rooms (I haven't been able to confirm that Ron's dad knew anything about this.). Well, factor in mutual friend and neighbor, and soon to be Jeff Airplane guitar wiz, Jorma Kaukonen and future Rayman Mike Hunnicutt and you have the first lineup of the Triumphs.

The Triumphs - At the extreme left, partially outside photo range, is Jack Casady playing his signature model "Jack Casady" Epiphone bass. The front man is, of course, Ron MacDonald and behind Ron is Johnny Sneed playing his gorgeous emerald green Godin electric. At far right is local sax legend Joe Stanley.

The A-Bones - Someday when people look up the words "garage band" in Webster's Unabridged they'll simply see a photograph of the A-Bones.  The cat singing his heart out is a guy named Billy Miller. He is one of the biggest Link fans in the world. Not only is he the front man for this NYC based Link loving rock and roll institution, but he started his own record company (with A-Bones drummer Miriam Linna) to support Link and their other heroes. The most accurate audio documentation of Link's career can probably be found on Norton Records and I personally feel that the single greatest compilation of Link's earlier classics is Norton Records' "Link Wray And The Raymen - Mr. Guitar". Believe me, the included twentyseven page book (written by Billy Miller himself) more than justifies the outlay for the two CD set.

Lars Espensen - Original A-Bones brass man blowing it out in memory of Link.

Bruce Bennett - A-Bones guitarist, raises more Link inspired hell lying down than some guys raise standing up. 

Jerry Dallman - Not exactly a household name, Jerry Dallman none the less made an indelible mark on rock and roll in the late fifties. In 1956 Jerry and his buddies started a band called Jerry Dallman And The Knightcaps. In late '58 they started appearing with, among others, Link Wray And The Raymen at the Hyattsville (Maryland) Armory and became popular for a song they wrote called "The Bug". The song correlated to a dance that involved (Bear in mind, this is long before psychedelics became popular in this country.) passing an imaginary bug around a circle. The Bug was released on Milt Grant's Punch Records label in 1958, Grant taking undue credit for some of the writing by placing his pseudonym, M. Cooper, on the record label next to Jerry's name... Does this scenario sound familiar, Link fans? Though the song was rated number three in the D.C. market place, it never received the national attention it could have with proper handling. Interestingly enough, filmmaker John Waters, who included Link's The Swag in his 1971 classic, Pink Flamingos, gave The Bug some new life by including it in his 1988 movie, Hairspray.

Billy Hancock - Another Washington D.C. area rock and roll legend, Billy actually hails from Virginia. Billy, like Ron MacDonald, was very much involved with Danny Gatton's career. In the mid seventies Danny and Billy were in a band named Danny Gatton And The Fat Boys, the likes of which resulted in 1975's acclaimed album, "American Music", on the Aladdin record label. What many folks don't realize is that Billy not only sang and played bass on American Music, but was its producer as well. And as if that weren't enough, Billy and his brother Dale had purchased Aladdin a year earlier to, among other things, help insure the success of American Music.

Before beginning one of the songs from his set at El Boqueron II, Billy painted a remarkable picture for Link's fans, a picture of a scene from the early 1970s in Accokeek, Maryland at Wray's Shack Three Track. He was there with Danny Gatton and, of course, Link, Doug and Vernon, and others. Billy told us that what occurred during that recording session was one of those magical moments that happens only once and can never be repeated. The result was "Fire And Brimstone" from the 1971 Polydor album entitled, simply, "Link Wray". Billy and his band, none the less, attempted to duplicate that moment for the El Boqueron II crowd with a loyal and moving performance of Fire And Brimstone. 

One day in 1962 Billy Hancock, only 15 years old, went to the Bladensburg Fire House to see and hear Link Wray And The Raymen. After the show Link signed the back of Billy's guitar with a pocket knife and gave Billy a private guitar lesson, teaching him "Lillian", an instrumental Link had written about his mother. On January 15th, 2006 Billy, still remembering that guitar lesson, performed Lillian so well that, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Billy's lead guitarist, Dave Chappell, staring at Billy in utter amazement.

Billy Hancock - After performing a set with his own brilliant band, Billy took off his sunglasses, changed his threads, turned in his Epiphone SG-400 for a Danelectro Longhorn bass and prepared to support everyone's favorite rockabilly singer, Robert Gordon.