Yeah , that was my interpretation of it , that using misspellings like "Thee"(OK , if you're talking about The Bible or Shakespeare , that'd be correct , but saying "Thee " and meaning "The" can also mean a way of stressing one's importance. You know how you hear a famous name , and say "Not THEE whoever". ). I can't say , for certain , whether The Midniters used "Thee" to get certain gangs to patronize them , or just to leave them the Hell alone when they were working . It could have just been to avoid confusion with Hank Ballard and The Midnighters. But , I have to stress , this was not just an LA thing or just a Latino thing.
There were still a lot of White gangs in Chicago in the mid - 60's , and they liked to fuck shit up at shows , particularly if they did'nt like the band that was playing. They patronized certain bands , and harrassed others. I know certain bands made concessions to gangs to keep from getting their gear stolen or an unprovoked ass- kicking . It depended where you were. The Greasers were notorious in Chicago , and went on into The 70's , but they seemed more like a loosely knit aggregation than an organized mob , AS THEY LIVED AND HUNG OUT IN DIFFERENT AREAS. There were , of course , Greasers in other parts of the country (See "The Outsiders" , the book and the movie.). I once asked Dave Aguilar from The Chocolate Watchband why Gary Andrijasevich , their Drummer , was the only member of the group who did'nt wear his hair in a stonesy bowl cut , but , rather , in a "Greaser" 'do . He said it was because , depending on which neighborhood you were from , you could get beaten up on a regular basis if you did'nt wear your hair a certain way.
But , I digress. Glad you liked my attempt to explain where the "Thee" came from.
