The Three Battles
The following contains previous Posts relating to three epic Denver “Battle of the Bands” – Those being the KIMN 1965 Teen Music and Dance Festival at the Auditorium arena; The KIMN and Southeast Denver Jaycees “Battle of the Bands ’67” at the Colorado National Guard Armory on Logan Street and KBTR’s 1967 Battle of the Bands
KIMN Teen Music and Dance Festival 1965
Having posted recently on this KIMN 1965 event – which included a massive “Battle of the Bands” with over a bunch groups from around Colorado participating – it now is pretty clear that this was a one-time blow out which drew many of the ‘big boys’ from the recording industry’s major labels. KIMN’s other premier event came in 1967 and was covered here recently as well.
Following is a November 20th, 1965 article promoting the event – and then a series of photos which appeared post-Battle in the Christmas Day 1965 issue of Billboard.
Johnny Rivers was the headline act for the Festival and Colorado’s Astronauts, Frankie Rino & the Squires, the Soul Survivors and the Moonrakers were the premier acts.
Record Industry Executives In Attendance & Event Organizers
Not pictured were executives from Smash, Liberty, Vee Jay and Philips record labels. KIMN’s program director – Ted Atkins was a major force organizing the event on behalf of the Denver Tiger.

Three More A&R Biggies – Billy James (Columbia), Steve Douglas (Capitol) , and Al Schmitt (RCA Victor)
KIMN’s 1967 Battle of the Bands
Following are the participants and some program pages for the Colorado Jaycees KIMN’s Battle of the Bands which was held in the Villa Italia shopping center (a mere shell of it’s former self these days): If anyone knows any of these guys or something about these groups send the information my way to share with all.
The Blue Angels
Alameda High School’s Blue Angels won the Battle!
The Action Brass (Wheat Ridge)
The Cavemen (Pueblo)
The Congress of Soul (Monte Vista)
Dawn & The Twilights (Boulder)
The Echoes (Limon)
The Geneva Convention (Fort Morgan)
The Kicques (Northglenn)
The Misirlou’s (Aurora)
Phalanx Mass (Fort Collins)
The Precious Few (Greeley)
The Ravens (Littleton)
The Restless Ones (Lafayette)
The Runnaways (Westminster)
Formed in 1965 the group performed at The Acosatic in Estes Park, The Tiki in Boulder and appeared at KIMN Radio events. Most members were from Ranum High School
The Sands of Tyme (Glenwood Springs)
Tyler & The Bandits (Lakewood)
L-R: Jim Stallings, Mike Ziskin, Sitting L-R: Tyler Plotzke, Steve Adler, Wayne Brown
The U.S. Male (Englewood)
The Young Savages (Commerce City)

Bottom L-R: Mike Gallegos, Larry Lavato and Lonny Lovato Top: L-R: Dick Martinez, Ralph Garcia and Tom Archuleta
KBTR’s High School Dance & Music Festival 1965
Colorado rocker Marc Gonzales (3.2 Blues To Go – and many more) was very kind to take time to not only locate some vintage Colorado classic garage-era programs, photos and articles, but got them scanned and sent them our way! In my previous post I highlighted the KBTR event in November of 1965 – which pitted more than 40 Colorado bands in competition to win a spot on the Rolling Stones’ 1965 Denver concert!
A couple of garage bands who are mentioned in the Denver Post article include “The Raindrops”, “The Driving Dynamics” – both new for me.
The winners were the Bluetones followed by
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#2 – The Contrasts
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#3 – Lothar & the Hand People
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#4 – The Boenzee Cryque
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#5 – The Galaxies
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#6 – The Pussycats
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#7 – The Intrigues
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#8 – Tyler & The Bandits
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#9 – The Marauders
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#10 – The Daleks
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#11 – The Time Travelers