Most music fans know about the Milwaukee bands of our day. We may have even heard a few stories about the bands that were around a bit before our time. But how many of us know about the great Milwaukee bands of days long since passed (sorry, guys!)?

Gather 'round, young ones, and we'll tell you the story of a most unusual Milwaukee band. The Velvet Whip grew out of a desire to fuse classical instrumentation and contemporary music and quickly became one of the hottest acts on the counterculture scene, playing at the Avant Garde Coffee House and other venues in the second half of the 1960s.

"The genesis of The Velvet Whip goes back to my high school days and my involvement with the Milwaukee Music for Youth," remembers violinist Dan Ball. "I was playing the violin and hooked up with a cello player named Henry Steinfort. We hit it off and proceeded to try to learn the Brahms 'Double Concerto.' We didn't succeed but threw around the idea of starting a Young Composers Society dedicated to performing our own music. We rehearsed and performed at a grade school in Milwaukee and that lasted for about two years. It was a thrill to hear our music performed somewhat professionally."

By 1967, Ball and Steinfort -- having flirted unsuccessfully with making a go of an avant garde ensemble ("Unfortunately, our cutting edge group was not in demand," Ball admits) -- turned their gaze to the music they heard all around them. And for the same reasons most young guys pickup guitars.

"Henry and I then had the bright idea of starting a rock band. Since I played violin, I could obviously play guitar and Henry could transfer from the cello to electric bass. Little did we know how inadequate those ideas were. We were clueless about the rock band scene and had no experience, just desire. It looked like fun and a great way to meet girls."

So, the duo set about assembling The Velvet Whip.

"Since we had no idea about how to get people who could play to join us, we looked for all the long haired guys in town to join our band," says Ball. "Long hair was a novelty and it seemed like all the 'cool' guys were starting to grow their hair and beards. There were three candidates with long hair. Two could play guitars and the other was just an experience all unto himself."

Ken Blochowiak, an engineer at WUWM -- where Ball also worked as a DJ and engineer -- was hired as the guitarist. Tom Ruppenthal joined as bassist after first denying any musical inclinations.

"When I first encountered Tom it was on a stairway at 'Uncle Bob's' apartment on Warren Street," recounts Ball. "Uncle Bob's was a gathering place for all the young hipsters and always had a number of people just hanging out. We found out he played guitar and bass and we persisted and recruited him for our seminal journey into psychedelia."

Completing this unorthodox quintet was -- no, not a drummer -- but rather "The Richard." Ball explains:

"Richard Bussian danced, introduced the music and hit a pie tin with a drumstick. His spasmodic dancing was called 'doing the Richard' and he became 'The Richard.' He was unique; sort of like the Laughing Buddha with the private chuckle. His vision and offbeat ideas would become one of the hallmarks and quirkiness of the Whip."

Steinfort concurs. "A legend in his own time, 'The Richard' was 'THE RICHARD'! The Tambourine Man, top 10 list designer, skit/monologue writer, with flair, wit, sarcasm, flamboyance and a bit of the bizarre thrown in for good measure! He was the band's 'Standard Bearer' -- a vital aspect of the band's creative uniqueness!"

In a 1975 article in the now-defunct Bugle-American, Carol Frinzi recalled the band and its antics.

"I seem to remember them having a real whip in the act, too. It was during a song called, 'Little Girl's Dream (19?? Early Whip Trip),' I think. Richard (Bussian) would yell and scream into the mike and lash the whip all over the stage and then the strobe light would go on and the band would all run back and forth, going crazy. It was nuts."