come their manager. In a whirlwind of instant fame, The Sparkletones were signed to ABC Para- mount, followed by a recording session the very next day, in which they recorded the Bennett- Denton penned rockabilly tune, “Black Slacks,” which would become their biggest hit, and resur- face almost 40 years later in the Disney film, The Rescuers Down Under, performed by the late John Candy. The record company had a song that they
wanted The Sparkletones to put out as a follow up to “Black Slacks.” The band was slated to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, and they had another song, written by Sparky Childress, that they were thinking about playing on the broadcast. The record company told them that if they played that song instead of the one they had chosen, the Sparkletones would never be back on Ed Sulli- van, and they would pretty much be ticked off at the band. For whatever reason, the band’s manager
decided to let them play Sparky’s song. That blew everything up for The Sparkletones. With several failed attempts at coming up
with a second blockbuster hit, The Sparkletones played for a while, and eventually disbanded. But there were no regrets. They had bathed in the warm light of success longer than most people ever dream of. Joe Bennett went into the Air Force in
1960 as an Air Traffic Controller, continuing to perform during off duty times. In the mid-sixties, he taught music at Clark Music in Spartanburg, and then he transferred to Carlos, California to work with Mickey Hart (The Grateful Dead) at Hart Music Company. Joe had met Mickey while serving in the
Air Force. In the book, Conversations with the Dead, Mickey talks about his meeting with Joe, and the band they formed, Joe & The Jaguars. After the breakup of The Sparkletones, Joe
had become disillusioned with music. Leaving his guitar at home in Spartanburg, he joined the Air Force and got sent over to Spain. About three or four months later, he became tremendously bored, and decided to call his daddy and get him to send him his guitar and small studio amp. One night Joe was sitting in the PX, scorching
through some rock classics like “Johnny B. Goode,” when this guy with a pair of drum sticks
Joe Bennett.
in his back pocket walked in and began to watch him and listen attentively. It was Mickey Hart. Hart had been a world champion in the drum and bugle corp, and when he heard Bennett rocking out, he was drawn in by the sound. Hart didn’t really know anything about
rock and roll at the time. He had been dealing with elevens and fourteens, lots of off-beat drum and bugle formations. Probably no one present at that meeting would have guessed that Hart one soon be known world-wide for his drum work with The Grateful Dead. One thing lead to another, and Joe and
Mickey struck up a friendship. Shortly thereafter, Joe told Mickey that he was starting another band, and needed a drummer. That band became Joe & The Jaguars, and the rest is, as they say, history. To this day, Mickey credits Joe Bennett with teaching him how to rock. Mickey got out of the service first, and
went to live with his Grandparents in Long Is- land, New York. Joe bought a Volkswagen in Spain, and sent it over to Long Island for Mickey to drive around until he got out of the service. The Thanksgiving when Joe got out of the service, he came to Long Island and spent the Holiday with Mick’s grandparents. Then he drove the VW home to Spartanburg. About three or four months later, Mickey’s dad, who had been separated from his mother
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