The year 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the disturbing song “Timothy.” Banned by radio stations and called "the worst song ever recorded," its lyrics about cannibalism in a Pennsylvania coal mine eerily parallel the real-life Sheppton disaster.
Written by playwright Rupert Holmes, the Billboard hit launched the career of The Buoys. They went on to perform at the legendary Whisky a Go Go, Stone Balloon, and the Satsop River Festival which they kicked off in front of 150,000 fans. The Buoys toured the Netherlands, got hustled in a pool game with Sly Stone—before his massive ten-mile traffic jam, hung out with Blue Öyster Cult—before their riot at the Kingston Armory, received a lecture on libertarianism from musical genius Frank Zappa, and were mentored by Delaney Bramlett—before cocaine ruined his life.
Morphing into Dakota, and produced by Chicago’s Danny Seraphine and Rufus’s Hawk Woliinski, the band played on the same stage as the Beach Boys during the national Bicentennial Celebration. They were invited to replace the Pure Prairie League’s Vince Gill and joined Freddie Mercury and Queen on a sold-out 35-city tour ending in a three-day standing-room-only Madison Square Garden concert.
Here is the story of an amazing American AOR band with more than ten recorded albums who, despite the infamous “Dakota Curse” and the Coal Region Hoodoo, achieved acclaim in Europe, Korea, and Japan. Their story also depicts a cautionary tale of substance abuse, the pitfalls of fame, and the true price of the rock and roll fantasy.
Maxim W. Furek is among the first wave of regional Rock Journalists. He is founder of Timothy: Northeastern Pennsylvania's First Music Publication, created "to promote Northeastern Pennsylvania's musical talent," and named after The Buoy's "Timothy" (1971), at the time, the region's most successful rock song. Curiously, through a strange sequence of events, Timothy Magazine evolved into the highly successful Pennsylvania Musician and Maryland Musician.The cultishly popular Jordan Brothers from Frackville became the focus of Furek's first book, The Jordan Brothers, a Musical Biography of Rock's Fortunate Sons (1986). The Jordan's were the first group to release "Gimme Some Lovin'" -written by England's Spencer Davis Group. On November 12, 2011, Furek inducted the Jordan Brothers into the Schuylkill County Council of the Arts Hall of Fame.In 2008 he published The Death Proclamation of Generation X: A Self-fulfilling Prophesy of Goth, Grunge and Heroin, investigating the connection between grunge music and heroin, and the origins of the opioid crisis and has been utilized as course material at Penn State University and College Misericordia.Furek's latest book, Sheppton: The Myth, Miracle and Music, (2015) explores the supernatural mythology surrounding the 1963 Sheppton mining disaster and has been popular within paranormal circles.The author is a regular contributor to The Sober World and his column, "Cultural Trends," appeared in Counselor, the Magazine for Addiction and Behavioral Professionals. He has written for numerous music publications and has crafted LP liner notes for rock groups Hybrid Ice and the Glass Prism.
