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I started singing at a very early age. Not long after that, I picked up the harp and drove my parents crazy. Later on, while at Pasadena City College, I got a group of guys together and formed Paper Bag. At the time, we had grandiose ideas of making it big but the band didn't last very long...just another fraternity band casualty. I met Mike at PCC and we formed St. John Green. Kim Fowley, notable Hollywood record producer, impresario, songwriter and musician produced our album on the Flick Disc / MGM label. My most memorable event was playing The Corral in Topanga Canyon. If you were a R&R musician in the 60's, you lived in either Topanga or Laurel Canyon. All the legends (and not so legendary) played the Corral. Today, SJG is a psychedelic cult band on YouTube. Not to beat Topanga to death but that's where we found our first lead guitarist for Jumbo, living in a makeshift treehouse...pretty typical in those days. Paul Butterfield was my harp hero and many of the licks I learned were through listening to his songs over and over again. I remember one night sitting in at a club on the Sunset strip and jamming with Mickey Dolenz and Buddy Miles. That was the first time I used a wah wah pedal with a harp...that was unique. One of my fondest memories is playing at a celebrity charity show where I met some interesting people; sexy Tina Louise of Gilligan's Island; Mission Impossible Martin Landau (RIP) and his lovely wife actress Barbara Bain, and so many others. But I can't forget being the house band at Bill's Beech Inn in Pasadena, the greatest bunch of groupies ever! As I'm writing, all these images are crossing my mind, like the time I fell asleep at the wheel after playing a gig and crashing into a telephone pole. And...memories of my favorite pants that kept getting holes in them. I would stitch stars and all types of things on them to cover the holes so they would last as long as they could but finally I was stitching patches over patches and there wasn't much material left. Eventually, they became my trademark...of sort. |
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