Illusion-to-Network

Once upon a time, in the year 1969, on the Island of Long, there were 5 friends; John Vinci, Mike Maniscalco, Chuck Alder, Mike Ricciardella, and Richie Cerniglia. They all played musical instruments and decided to form a psychedelic rock band. They called themselves The Five Illusions and people in and around Long Island liked them very much. They liked them so much that the band was able to drop “five” from their name, and released their first record,“The Illusions.”

“Did You See Her Eyes” was a moderate national hit, peaking at #32. It hit #1 on a few NY charts but it was their only song to get inside the Top 40. The record is a great reminder of everything that is right with garage; drum solos with a vengeance, a little bubble gum, a little fuzz, and a whole lot of fun.

The band toured a lot, usually opening for other bands like The Who, Sly and the Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix, and Chicago. But after 3 records, and confusion of the band’s direction, they broke up.

Chuck Alder joined various bands over the years and taught bass on Long Island. He lost his battle with cancer in December of 2025

John Vinci and Mike Maniscalco went off to do their own thing for a bit {See ya later, guys!”}

Richie Cerniglia went out to play with Hall & Oates.

That left drummer Mike Ricciadella. {drumming record background}

His friend, Peppy Castro from the Blues Magoos happened to be in the Broadway

cast of “Hair” with songwriters and musicians, Bobby & Billy Alessi (who were also from Long Island). They decided to form a band. And in 1973, their band, Barnaby Bye released their first record, “Room to Grow.” Not many people cared. So in 1974, they put out another record called “Touch.” Even less people cared.

Both records are just sort of boring. Basically, ELO-type harmonies accompanying soft rock songs that would feel bullied by The Bay City Rollers.

In 1976, the Alessi Brothers had a UK Top Ten hit called, “Oh Lori” and they went off to tend to their over-seas fame.

That left Peppy and Mike. They got a hold of former The Illusions Members, Mike Maniscalco and Richie Cerniglia and asked them if they’d like to be in a band. They said, “Yes, but we need a bass player.”

So they asked their other friend, Dennis Feldman if he would play bass. He said, “Sure, but I want my name on the record to be, “D. Santiago.” Everybody said, “OK!” and they put out the self-titled “Wiggy Bits” in 1976.

Wiggy Bits comes off harder than other records these guys had put out. But there was nothing exceptional about it. Polydor tapped the song “Ellie” for a single, but even with Tommy Mottola and Jimmy Iovine on the Wiggy Bits team, the band only put out one record. Which was probably OK.

Realizing this isn’t working out for the best, Peppy Castro went off and started his band, “Balance.”

Dennis Feldman formed “Speedway Blvd” and played a lot with Michael Schenker and Michael Bolton

That left Mike, Mike, and Richie. They reached out to some other people and said, “Hey! Want to be in our band?” And they all said, “Yes!” so in 1977, Network was formed with George Bitzer on Keyboards, Jean Paul Gaspar on Percussion, Howard Davidson on Bass, former Illusion lead singer John Vinci, Richie Cerniglia and Mike Maniscalco on guitars [record exec slowly pops up] and Mike Ricciadella on drums.

“You sound great, guys! But you! Your names sound too Italian! From now on, Richie Cerniglia! You will be known as “Richie C.”

Mike Maniscalco, you will be known as “Mike Coxton.”

“What about me, Mike Ricciardella? What will I be called?”

“The drummer.”

The first Network record may be one of the purest forms of yacht rock available. Take that as you will, Yacht rock isn’t terribly interesting. These guys knew how to play together but unlike the Illusion records, the energy just isn’t there.

Even with Barry Gibb and his production team of Ahlby Galuten and Karl Richardson, there just isn’t much to run with. The record fizzled then flat–lined.

So, before their next record, the band decided to make some changes. John Vinci was out as lead singer, and musical theatre actor, B.G. Gibson was in.

Epic Records swapped the Bee-Gee Production Team for Eddie Leonetti who just got out of the studio with Angel.

And Mike Ricciardella wrote more rock-driven than yacht-driven songs. The result; “Nightwork” was an album akin to a New-York-ish Styx or Kansas.

They did include one cover, the Gerry Goffin-Carol King composition, “Halfway to Paradise.” A weird choice, since its a crooner song.

It was first recorded by a 16yr old Tony Orlando, almost 10yrs before he would become part of Tony Orland and Dawn.

English singer Billy Fury’s 1961 version went to #3 in Canada and became his signature tune in the UK,

and even The Polish Prince, Bobby Vinton covered it in 1968.

All three of these versions are pretty interchangeable; lots of strings, surging background vocals, pretty typical arrangement of the time. The song was written as it is to be performed. It is Goffin-King, it does what it is expected to do.

Interestingly, Nick Lowe put it out as a single in 1977, the year before Network included their version on “Nightwork”, their final record.

Network’s version of “Halfway to Paradise” is probably the most original of all, breaking away almost entirely from earlier versions, but It wasn’t enough. The record did nothing and the band went their separate ways.

Information about Jean-Paul Gaspar and Howard Davidson is unclear.

B.G. Gibson went back to singing in musical theatre, and

George Bitzer played keyboards for *Barry Gibb*, Barbara Streisand, and Diana Ross among others.

The remaining members of Network and the Illusion continued to perform as studio musicians or in their own bands.

In 2023, The Illusion was inducted into the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. Mike Maniscalco’s wife accepted her husband’s honor, as the guitarist died in 2018.

This was the second time Mike Ricciadella received this honor. He was inducted in 2012 with the Alessi Brothers and Peppy Castro for Barneby Bye.

These records are probably all available in the cheaps. Maybe a dollar or two more on Long Island. I put up full record links on Bandsofthelost.com along with other weirdness. If you’d like to hear about other records you may or may not have owned back in the day, feel free to subscribe to Bands of the Lost YouTube channel or check us out at bandsofthelost.com.

Happy Digging

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Lynn@bandsofthelost.com