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Jeremy
Gaston/Herald-Chronicle
Plain
Jane promotional photo from 1972, with members, from left, front
row – Owen Evans, Jim Bond, Ron Hall; and back row –
Doug Renbarger, Scott Stone, Richard Williams. Evans, Bond and
Hall all grew up in Osage City; Renbarger, Stone and Williams
were from Topeka. Williams went on to become a founding and
current member of the band Kansas.
Jeremy Gaston | Reporter
LAWRENCE—Three decades of music and musicians were honored
with the induction of Plain Jane into the Kansas Music Hall
of Fame. The group, a multi-genre band from the 1970s and 1980s,
has roots leading back to Osage City.
Three decades of musicians were recognized at ceremony Saturday
at Liberty Hall in Lawrence. The event included a 30-minute
performance from the band, along with other 2010 inductees,
including the Moanin' Glories, Morning Dew, Green River Ordinance,
Vernon Sandusky, Pott County Pork & Bean Band, and Tree
Frog. This year’s inductees join a list of KMHOF members
that include Kansas, Melissa Etheridge, Martina McBride, and
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Gene Clark and Big Joe
Turner.
The performance by Plain Jane began with members from the band
during its peak popularity in the 1980s: Jim Bond, Rick Aubrey,
Steve Gibson, Jeff Frost and Ron Hall. Bond was the only founding
member of the band, which began almost five decades ago in Osage
City.
Bond and Owen Evans, also of Osage City, formed their first
band with Bruce and Kenny Tribbe, Burlingame, and performed
gigs around the area in the early 1960s.
“Jimmy was 10 and I was 13,” Evans said. “Our
parents used to take us to the jobs.”
They were later joined by Steve Croucher and Ron Hall, who along
with Evans and Bond, made up the Imperials. The band played
in the late ‘60s, around the time its members graduated
from Osage City High School.
Hall, Evans and Bond continued playing through college with
several lineup changes, but the three remained part of the band
until 1975, when Evans left the band to move to California.
Hall continued playing with the band until 1980.
Bond remained with Plain Jane through the height of its popularity
in the 1980s, when the band was featured on the soundtrack for
the movie Zapped.
“Jim Bond was probably the reason the band was so successful,”
Evans said. “His personality and stage presence.”
He later joined Liverpool, a popular Beatles cover band from
Kansas City, retiring recently due to health problems.
Hall, Evans and Bond returned for Saturday’s induction
ceremony. Hall joined the original lineup as bassist, for their
half-hour set, with Bond singing lead vocals. Evans joined later
in the set on guitar.
Evans returned to Osage City for his mother’s, Mary Ellen
Evens’, 95th birthday party Monday at Marilynn’s
Restaurant. He is now a retired computer programmer and lives
in Whittier, Calif.
Hall lives in Lawrence, where he recently retired after serving
as the city’s information technology manager.
Bond lives in Osage City.
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