Later

Later was my primary group in high school and college. Later played 62 gigs between the summer of 1969 and spring of 1972. I played with the group from the sixth job on. We practiced at least twice a week in my parents' basement and often socialized when we weren't playing music. That's a lot of hours hanging out with largely the same group of people.
 

Later was more than a group. It was a subculture, a world view. The icon for the group was the bass player, Greg Farson, who must have been about 6'2" and 260 lbs. He looked like a big bear. He created the signature gesture for Later, the index finger and thumb extended at right angles. Instead of saying, "Good-bye" or "See ya," he and the band members simply gave the gesture and said, "Later." This spread throughout the high school as a way to greet people or say good-bye.

Beyond the Later sign, we developed a number of small rituals, linguistic oddities, myths, and stories that solidified the identify of our unique subculture. Greg was originally from Worcester, Massachusetts, and hung out at a pizza place called Al Pino's. So we started using "Al Pino's" as a code for Highway Pizza in State College. Also, the name of one of our hangouts, Campus Casino, morphed into "Campus Al Pino's," later shortened to "Campus Al's." One of our band members had a dull cousin, Jim, so instead of saying "That's really boring," we would say, "That's really Jim." One of the band members once observed a student by the name of Melvin putting a pebble in his mouth, and this grew into a legend about eating rocks; hence "Mel" became a code word for anything incredibly bizarre. And so forth. There were much stranger things than this, but I won't go into it because the information is basically useless to outsiders except perhaps for understanding some of the messages in my high school yearbook.

Later fashioned themselves after State High's most successful group at the time, Sounds Unlimited (follow link to see a copy of the program for one of their concerts). Sounds Unlimited had an amazingly polished, full sound. When they did Chicago or Blood, Sweat, & Tears, you would swear you were listening to the actual professional groups. I remember playing in a "Battle of the Bands" in the high school gym one evening, and Later played immediately before Sounds Unlimited. We finished with what I thought was a truly remarkable rendition of Vehicle by the Ides of March. (In fact, afterwards a film-maker approached us about doing a soundtrack for a film he was planning.) But then Sounds Unlimited launched into their first number, and everybody immediately forgot about us. I can still recall the feeling of being blown away by a sound that was twice as good as ours and thinking, "Man, we'll never be that good."
 
 
Being the best in town might have been out of reach, but that wasn't so important. What mattered was that we were playing music that we liked, music with horns in it. Our trombone player designed a business card with a script "Later" meant to resemble the script "Chicago" that appeared on that group's albums. I think we did more Chicago tunes than any other group in the area, but we also mixed in a variety of other things, including numbers by the Stones and Hendrix that our guitar player, Wayne Addleman liked. Wayne was probably the most talented musician in our group. He played several different instruments besides guitar. I once heard him play Flight of the Bumblebee on the sousaphone. He eventually moved on to become a professional musician in Nashville. And is currently backing the Bellamy Brothers. Drummer and singer Doug Robb is also doing very well muscially today, working for Austin City Limits and playing with The Heroes. Later Card
Chicago's Second Album Cover

The other thing that made the band worthwhile besides playing music we enjoyed was getting gigs. There's just nothing like performing. I miss that more than anything else in my life. We would play anywhere for almost any amount of money. My first job with Later was the summer of 1970 in the basement of a building in Calder Alley. Someone threw some matresses on the floor, burned incense, and called the place People's Nation. We were the first group to play there, and we made $8 in tips--a dollar apiece.

For some reason I was obsessed with how much money Later made over the two years we were together. Perhaps it was because we made so little ($5600 for 62 jobs, usually divided seven or eight ways). At any rate, my obsession led me to keep an extremely detailed record of our jobs. Now I am happy I did this, because I have a complete list of who played where on what dates. Below is a summary of that record.
 
Job Date Place Personnel
1 Fall Term 1970 State High First Mixer Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
Ed Hoffman (Drums)
Dave Hartman (Lead Vocals)
2 Fall Term 1970 Westerly Parkway Jr. High Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
Jerry Wilson (Drums)
Dave Hartman (Lead Vocals)
3 Spring Term 1970 Westerly Parkway Jr. High same as above
4 Spring Term 1970 State High Smash same as above
5 Spring Term 1970 Boalsburg Carnival Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
Ed Hoffman (Drums)
George Hastings (Vocals)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Oren Bachman (Trumpet)
Herb McKinstry (Trumpet)
Joe Rabinowitz (Organ)
Dave Hartman (Lead Vocals)
6 Summer Term 1970 People's Nation Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
John Almquist (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Blair Pfahl (Trumpet)
Herb McKinstry (Trumpet)
Dave Hartman (Lead Vocals)
7 Fall Term 1970 Bald Eagle High School Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Ed Hoffman (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Blair Pfahl (Trumpet)
Herb McKinstry (Trumpet)
Nancy McKinstry (Lead Vocals)
8 Fall Term 1970 Bald Eagle High School same as above
9 Fall Term 1970 Phi Sigma Kappa same as above
10 Fall Term 1970 Kappa Delto Rho Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
John Almquist (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Blair Pfahl (Trumpet)
Herb McKinstry (Trumpet)
Nancy McKinstry (Lead Vocals)
11 Fall Term 1970 Grier School for Girls Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
John Almquist (Drums)
Blair Pfahl (Trumpet)
Herb McKinstry (Trumpet)
Nancy McKinstry (Lead Vocals)
12 Fall Term 1970 Houtzdale High School Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Ed Hoffman (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Blair Pfahl (Trumpet)
Herb McKinstry (Trumpet)
Nancy McKinstry (Lead Vocals)
13 Fall Term 1970 Bellefonte High School Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Blair Pfahl (Trumpet)
Herb McKinstry (Trumpet)
Nancy McKinstry (Lead Vocals)
14 Winter Term 1971 State High same as above
15 Winter Term 1971 Harrisburg YMCA Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Blair Pfahl (Trumpet)
Herb McKinstry (Trumpet)
Kim Esber (Lead Vocals)
16 Winter Term 1971 Westerly Parkway Jr. High same as above
17 Spring Term 1971 Park Forest Jr. High Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Kim Esber (Lead Vocals)
18 Spring Term 1971 Battle of the Bands Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Blair Pfahl (Trumpet)
Herb McKinstry (Trumpet)
Kim Esber (Lead Vocals)
19 Spring Term 1971 Park Forest Jr. High same as above
20 Spring Term 1971 Westerly Parkway Jr. High same as above
21 Spring Term 1971 Park Forest Jr. High same as above
22 Summer Term 1971 HRB Splash Bash Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Blair Pfahl (Trumpet)
Jeff Davies (Trumpet)
23 Fall Term 1971 Delta Sigma Phi Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Jeff Davies (Trumpet)
Kim Esber (Lead Vocals)
24 Fall Term 1971 Kappa Delta Rho same as above
25 Fall Term 1971 Westerly Parkway Champ same as above
26 Fall Term 1971 Delta Sigma Phi Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Blair Pfahl (Trumpet)
Jeff Davies (Trumpet)
Kim Esber (Lead Vocals)
27 Fall Term 1971 Kappa Delta Rho Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Kim Esber (Lead Vocals)
28 Fall Term 1971 Bald Eagle Nittany Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Jeff Davies (Trumpet)
Kim Esber (Lead Vocals)
29 Fall Term 1971 Lock Haven YMCA same as above
30 Fall Term 1971 Westerly Parkway Xmas same as above
31 Fall Term 1971 Dick Shady's Bar same as above
32 Fall Term 1971 Bald Eagle Christmas  same as above
33 Fall Term 1971 JCs New Year's Party same as above
34 Fall Term 1971 Westerly Parkway Girl Scouts same as above
35 Jan. 8, 1972 Dick Shady's Bar same as above
36 Jan. 14, 1972 Bald Eagle Nittany Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)s
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Jeff Davies (Trumpet)
Steve Bucher (Sax and Flute)
Kim Esber (Lead Vocals)
37 Jan. 15, 1972 Dick Shady's Bar same as above
38 Jan. 21, 1972 Kappa Delta Rho Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Jeff Davies (Trumpet)
Steve Bucher (Sax and Flute)
Kim Esber (Lead Vocals)
39 Jan. 26, 1972 Kappa Delta Rho Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Jeff Davies (Trumpet)
Kim Esber (Lead Vocals)
40 Jan. 28, 1972 Kappa Delta Rho Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Jeff Davies (Trumpet)
Steve Bucher (Sax and Flute)
Kim Esber (Lead Vocals)
41 Jan. 28, 1972 State High same as above
42 Feb. 4, 1972 Kappa Delta Rho Wayne Addleman (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Jeff Davies (Trumpet)
Kim Esber (Lead Vocals)
43 Feb. 5, 1972 Dick Shady's Bar Don Jackman (Guitar)
Bill McCoy (Guitar and Bass)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Jeff Davies (Trumpet)
44 Feb. 11, 1972 Kappa Delta Rho Chris Taylor (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Jeff Davies (Trumpet)
Steve Bucher (Sax and Flute)
Rich Coble (Lead Vocals)
45 Feb. 11, 1972 State High Hearts Dance same as above
46 Feb. 12, 1972 Town Tavern Chris Taylor (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Jeff Davies (Trumpet)
Steve Bucher (Sax and Flute)
47 Feb. 19, 1972 Phi Kappa Theta same as above
48 Mar. 4, 1972 Lock Haven YMCA same as above
49 Mar. 10, 1972 Lock Haven Jr. High same as above
50 Mar 11, 1972. Town Tavern same as above
51 Apr. 7, 1972 Phi Kappa Psi same as above
52 Apr. 12, 1972  Kappa Delta Rho same as above
53 Apr. 21, 1972 Kappa Delta Rho same as above
54 Apr. 22, 1972 Delta Upsilon same as above
55 Apr. 28, 1972 Phi Kappa Psi Chris Taylor (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Steve Bucher (Sax and Flute)
56 May 6, 1972 Phi Kappa Psi Chris Taylor (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Jeff Davies (Trumpet)
Steve Bucher (Sax and Flute)
57 May 12, 1972 Phi Kappa Theta same as above
58 May 12, 1972 Kappa Delta Rho same as above
59 May 13, 1972 Kappa Delta Rho same as above
60 May 25, 1972 Lambda Chi Alpha Chris Taylor (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Jeff Davies (Trumpet)
Steve Bucher (Sax and Flute)
Kim Esber (Guest Vocalist)
61 May 27, 1972 Clearfield Co. Country Club Chris Taylor (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Jeff Davies (Trumpet)
Jerry Aberg (Flute)
Rich Redding (Saxophone)
62 June 3, 1972 Phi Kappa Theta Chris Taylor (Guitar)
Greg Farson (Bass)
John Johnson (Keyboards)
Doug Robb (Drums)
Bill Rathfon (Trombone)
Jeff Davies (Trumpet)
Steve Bucher (Sax and Flute)

Set List

Well, the infamous "Lost Later Tape" remains lost. All that remains is an empty box labeled "Later Rehearsal Tape" with a list of personnel and the numbers we practiced that evening. Musicians listed include myself, Wayne Addleman, Greg Farson, Doug Robb, Barry Phelps, Kim Esber, Bill Rathfon, Blair Pfahl, and Herb McKinstry. The following is a verbatim description of the songs:
  1. Attempt to learn "Hope You're Feelin' Better"
  2. Some Grand Funk song
  3. Beginnings - Barry Phelps on Lead Vocal
  4. Soul Sacrifice
  5. Attempt to Learn Free in medley with I'm A Man
  6. Vehicle - Kim Esber on Lead Vocal

    7. " Take 2
  7. A Little Help from My Friends - Kim Esber L.V. John & Wayne on falsettos
  8. Color My World - K. Esber lead vocal

    9. " take 2 Barry Phelps lead vocal
The good news is that I found another scrap of a Later practice buried within another tape. It contains Make Me Smile and Gravedigger and an extended attempt to write an original song during the practice! The tape contains four long takes of the original song; only one take is posted here. Updated January 11, 2019 RealMedia files replaced with mp3 files