The old Westbrook music scene features prominently in a new book from Bath author Will Anderson about rock ‘n’ roll in Maine, circa 1955-1960. From concert venues to musician Al Hawkes and his Event Records recording label, Westbrook was a hopping spot “When Rock ‘n Roll Rocked Maine.”
The book, released last month, covers the key players in Maine’s music scene, with old advertisements for hops dug up from newspapers around the state. Westbrook was home to a number of music venues. The Anchorage, Riverside Ballroom, the Varsity Club and Matty’s were all host to big nights of local bands, with Matty’s drawing some of the biggest crowds around Portland.
“Portland had strict controls over who could get permits for live music,” Anderson said on Wednesday. Matty’s, once located at 529 Main St., had been around since World War II and advertised its growing business from Brunswick to Biddeford.
“It was really a jumpin’ joint, so to speak,” Anderson said.
Unfortunately, Anderson couldn’t find any photos of the spot.
“I guess we were too busy dancing to take photos,” he said.
Anderson has written 10 other books on some of his favorite Maine and New England passions, from sports to beer to food and now music. When rock ‘n’ roll was storming through Maine, Anderson said, he was at a prime age – 13.
“Of course, my parents hated it, which made me like it more,” he said.
Inside the book is a punching boxing-glove ad for AM radio station 1440, “The Jab,” (“The most talked about station since the first in the nation”), located in Portland just across the Westbrook line on Warren Avenue. Now a sports station, it was once was a rock station that hosted hops for teens at the Westbrook Armory, boasting free Pepsi, Circus Time chips and hundreds of records.
While the book covers the entire state (“It’d be hard to find a public library in Maine that I haven’t done research in at some point,” Anderson said), Westbrook is featured twice on the cover. There is an ad for “Maine’s finest and largest hop,” with Happie Howie Leonard spinning records at the Riverside, a venue just this side of the Westbrook border from Portland, and a photo of The Dreamers 45 for “Ding Dong (Du-Wadi-Wadi),” released on Event Records.
Event Records was the only label in Maine, started in 1956. Hawkes still lives in Westbrook with his wife Barbara, the city clerk, and is still an avid participant in the Maine music scene. He showed up for the Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival in Brunswick, which starts Thursday, four days early.
Hawkes recorded a number of musicians at his studio, including the Statics, Dreamers, Del-tones and Javalans. According to Anderson’s book, if there were a Maine Music Hall of Fame Hawkes would be inducted as “The Sultan of Sound.”
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