Terry & the Telstars have shared the stage with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Blues Magoos, Tommy James and the Shondells, and the Cowsills. The Telstars took second place in Maine in the “Vox Band Battle for Stardom” and were honored in Billboard Magazine for their high ranking in the national competition. This led to recording sessions at Ace Studios in Boston where the band recorded four original tunes. Two songs were released on a 45 rpm record in the late ’60s during a brief period when they had changed their name to White Fluff. Those songs included the pop ballad “Stoned Lonely” and a whimsical ditty titled “Vegetable Binge.” They also recorded “Reasons” and “Stop and Think” which both sat on the shelf for 30 years before being released on the CD compilation “New England Teen Scene.”

Although Terry & the Telstars never achieved the fame they had anticipated, some of the band members later experienced national and international exposure. Drummer Dan Caron played with Oak which toured alongside Bob Seger and recorded two albums on the Mercury label. Their hit song “King of the Hill” reached #32 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the Summer of 1980. A year earlier Oak charted at #56 with “This is Love.”

Nick Knowlton went on to become the lead singer of Katfish which spent six weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1975 with a remake of the Beatles “Dear Prudence.” The song was released nationally on the Big Tree label, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records, and was widely distributed outside the U.S. on the Philips label. Knowlton sang lead vocals on the Katahdin album “Hard Core Rock ‘n Rolla” released in 1982. He also recorded an album of solo material in 2008 titled “Letting Go,” a tribute to his departed wife Joye.

Another subsequent milestone was the 1986 CD solo release by Telstars keyboard player Peter “Pierre” Nadeau titled “Good Things Come to Those Who Wait.” The song “Girls-Boys” from that album was turned into a music video by longtime Telstars friend and photographer Paul Langelier. Fifteen years later the video achieved cult status in Canada when Musique Plus, the Canadian music network, aired three archived videos of unknown artists from the 1980s. It became the station’s most requested video, and helped launch the career of comedian Louis-Jose Houde who parodied the song in his own cover video.

Terry & the Telstars were prominently featured in the rough-cut film version of Bill Maroldo’s “Pal Hop Days,” which was the headliner of the first Lewiston-Auburn Film Festival. The final cut of the film is expected to premier in the fall of 2014.

The Elk’s Lodge is on Lisbon St. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance, or $12 at the door. For additional information, call 207-784-2700 or check the Terry and the Telstars Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/terryandthetelstars.

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