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| Jo-Lee Jorgensen Smith November 20, 2010 Details about her friends on Faces 5: Linda Lee was dating Bernie from John Mayle. She moved back to her home town and started working in a bank. Rachael, Candie and I lived together just before I moved to England. Rachel moved to New York and we lost contact. Debbie Dyal lived here in England for quite a few years, then moved back to the states and I lost contact with her. JoJo's story...... I was a waitress at the Whisky A Go Go from 1967 till 1971. I'm living in Wales UK with my husband Ray Smith who
use to be in a band called "Heads Hands and Feet." They played the Whisky in
1971.
Ray also went on to compose and play for Jerry-Lee Lewis (London Sessions) Don Everly (Sunset Towers) Shirley Bassey (Sea and Sand) and the list goes on and on. He's still composing and rocking :) I hope you are all well and happy... Will be keeping in contact and spreading the word of your site. Lots of love JoJo Smith Ray and JoJo can be reached at pegnog@hotmail.co More from JoJo on News 2 for October 26, 2010
I saw your blog about Tony Peluso. He was a very good friend of mine. I managed The Abstracts in 1968-69, and was in the Fort Worth studio when we recorded their one and only LP, a copy of which I still have. Tony died of a heart attack. I had talked with him just a few days before his death. Hank Dandini remains a friend, and is the only other member of The Abstracts with whom I am still in touch. Pierre Vigeant committed suicide many years ago, and the last I heard Mike Thatcher was playing drums in a Christian rock band. Mike is also from Dallas, and lived not far from where I grew up, and VERY close to where I played as a kid in the 50's and 60's. Tony's parents were operatic performers. His dad was an opera producer and his mother was a major opera singer. His family was huge in the entertainment circles of Hollywood. Family friends included people like Burt Bacharach and Hal David, among many others of their ilk. Tony grew up in music and he learned the lessons well. As a guitarist, he tuned his axe to an open tuning (I do not remember the exact tuning) and developed his entire chordal structure around that tuning, which gave his guitar a unique sound. All the guys in The Abstracts were excellent musicians. Hank is a classically-trained organist. I know that Tony, Hank and Pierre all read music, but I am not sure about Mike's reading abilities. Tony sang lead vocals and overdubbed some of the background vocals on the LP. Hank and Pierre also sang backing vocals. Because of his family background in the music business Tony handled most of the bands business negotiations based upon a group opinion about what they wanted to do. The stuff he did with Mark Lindsey and Paul Revere, and later with The Carpenters, was (in my opinion) less than his best work. He was limited by the roles he was asked to play and the material they were doing. The guy was a hell of a composer, though his best work is not necessarily reflected in some of the songs on the LP. He produced albums for Danny O'Keefe, The Four Tops, Smokey Robinson, Kenny Loggins, Seals & Croft, Michael Jackson, and numerous other artists. Recently, while talking with Danny O'Keefe, he mentioned Tony as a producer of some of his records. I told him that I knew Tony very well, and Danny asked if I knew how to contact him. I put them in touch with one another just a couple of months before his untimely death. Sadly, he never had the chance to work on Danny current project, which is why Danny wanted to find him. Tony lived a reclusive lifestyle that kept him out of the limelight. I think that he was perfectly happy being an engineer and producer working his magic in the studio rather than on the stage. He had a distinctive voice, but it was his guitar work that really stood out - even on a Carpenters' record! Marc http://canoeman.com/ http://southwestpaddler.com/ canoeman@canoeman.com Evan Marks May 13, 2010 Evan Marks I used to go to Bido Lito's quite often. Seems like Sky Saxon and the Seeds were there more than any other band. I always tried to catch "LOVE." I used to run in to Arthur all the time in the Canyon and ask him when he'd be there. I lived in Sherman Oaks and had to hitch till I got a car. When I was 17 (1969), I took an altered birth certificate and some supporting documents to the DMV and got a drivers license from saying I was 22. No way did I look it, but hey, if the licence says 22, it's 22! Two photo's attached are of My 27 year old stripper girlfriend was Julie Norman and one with my Corvette. We broke up after 3 years & she ran her Sunbeem Tiger (the car Maxwell Smart used to drive) into a freeway embankment at 90 mph. There was very little to be found. As the car was so small (like an MG Midget) and the top was down. They believe she was asleep upon impact. Though I was saddened to hear about it, I was glad we had broken up acouple of years prior. I met her at the "Hello Dolly" on Magnolia in North Hollywood. I used to really like Smokestack Lightning and Black Pearl. They used to play on the same bill a lot at the Cheetah. You most likely never heard of my bands. The best known was the Marshmallow Steam Shovel. We mostly played in the Valley and at the Teenage Fair at the Hollywood Palladium. We played at the Sewers of Paris a few times. Thank you for all you do, Evan Email from Evan on News 2 and photo's available on Faces 9 for May 13, 2010 Steve Koontz and Shatterstar November 30, 2009 I joined the band "Shatterstar" due to a missed link with John Bolin (brother of Tommy Bolin) who is actually still playing in Black Oak Arkansas. I had been in the music business for most of my life as a performer and had some limited success but not enough to keep my interest. By 1975 I had moved on to engineering and producing in a local studio when my friend Bob Marlette who I had been working with for several years calls me and says he has been asked to join a band that has recording connections in New York and there is an opportunity for me to join if I was interested. Paula Negron Servetti July 2, 2009 I left Los Angeles 16 years ago and now live in Oregon. My maiden name is Paula Marlowe-Goetten for those who knew me in my school years. Then, I became Paula Negron for those who knew me otherwise. I've also lived in Vermont, Mexico City. Servetti, is my mother's maiden name. I know most people don't even know me by Servetti, but that is O.K. Adieu! O.K. More should be said, I've been told. Well,I am an easy going person, and am quite madcap, at times. But oh, so very serious about humanity and the price of avocados. But, don't ruffle my feathers to far. Especially, all you Republicans and religious buffs,or any craggy pirates that might be lurking out there. Lastly, I am blessed with five beautiful,intelligent,and hysterically funny, children, who have all inherited my sense of the ironic. They are Shaunti, Luke, Gustavo, Byron and Sara. Their tempers came from their fathers. And of course, my specials, my grandchildren, Bowie, Rye, Chloe and Mia... Jennie Meisner March 31, 2009 Ex-wife of Randy Meisner formerly of "The Eagles". I was born Jennifer Lee Barton on December 9th 1944 to a middle class family in Nebraska, I had wonderful hardworking parents who certainly paid their dues in this world. I also had a sister eleven years older than I, we were taught that this country of ours was truly great and we were extremely lucky to live under an umbrella of freedom, or so I thought! I have always been overly shy and so my years in school went by without much fanfare. In May 1963 I married my high school sweetheart, Randy Meisner, age 18 and 17 respectively, not a wise thing to do, he didn't finish high-school nor did I and before he turned 18 we had our first son, Dana Scott Meisner, born on September 18th, 1963. Dave Travis Monday, September 15, 2008 Rest in Peace Dave Travis (59) Nov. 16 1948 to Sep. 12 2008 Current mood: thankful On the night of Friday September 12th, David Travis passed away in his chair at work. From what we can tell his death was mundane, quick, and easy. Though it pains us who survived greatly for his loss, we are confident that he died happy and content with his life. Dad suffered from a number of ailment.The two major ones being a life threatening heart condition, the result of his previous heart attack and Diabetes. While his death was a shock in it's suddenness, we are relieved that it was not a painful death and I am personally very thankful to God that he died quickly, rather than rotting away waiting for the moment to arrive. I estimate that he died at approximately 7:30 Pacific Time and one of his coworkers who had spoke with him at 7:00 said that when they talked he said he felt like shit, but that he didn't feel any worse than usual. As I'm sure many of you have heard, I believe that Dad died at, if there is such a thing, a good time. For years he has struggled to turn his music into something and fought to keep himself in work. I can confidently say that my dad's only fear was that he would become useless, or a burden to the family. This is why I say he died at a good time. While he was doubtlessly happy with his life, the recent months were filled with elements of joy for him. Only a short while ago, about 2 months Dad and I spent 2 weeks driving up to Wyoming to see Grandpa, Grandma, and my uncle Jeff. Though I can't recall if he said it or not, I believe this was one of the best times of his life, and his last great road trip on the way up we were able to visit the Carlsbad Caverns, in it's entirety, which he had always wanted to do. Upon returning home things only got better. Though his condition would never get any better he seemed to have been rejuvenated by our trip, and though he must have known his time was short, though none of us thought this short, he was happy. For years he has been writing music, as I'm sure many of you know, and it finally started to pay itself off. He had always felt that this perfect outlet of his thoughts would not pay itself off and had always tried to work from home and in these last few weeks it did just that and he did and scheduled several home-jobs. One of the other great loves of my dad's life has always been his instruments, which not only played the sounds of his music, but connected his listeners to his soul. In the last couple of months he finally got the only two things he's ever wanted besides me and mom, a baritone 12-string guitar, and a fretless Bass guitar. I personally have no idea how he played either of the damn things, but they are wonderful instruments, and I think still very much a part of my Dad. There are a million things I could say and a million things I could leave out, so I leave you with this: "We never know how much time we have with those we love, so we should spend all the time we can. However, inevitably they will pass and so shall we, but we must know that the time we spent with them is worth immeasurably more than the times we didn't." I don't know what the last thing my dad thought was, and I don't care too. The first time he had an attack, when he came back he said he saw before him large iron gates and that god told him he needed to take care of us and finish his music. Now I don't know if he thinks its done or not, but tonight I listened to the song he was working on and I don't think anything could make it better. I know that wherever his soul is now he is at peace and I pray only that God protect and care for him. If there ever was someone who fulfilled their goal in life, it is my Dad. Mitch Travis Carolyn Levesque Dave Travis and I met in the mid 1960s in Redondo Beach [where I lived] and were married during the years of Nov 1968 and Dec 1971 - no children - when he had the band the Extremes. Some of the members of the band, Pat Kelley, Robert Wilson and Marty Brown went to the local high school [South High] and were friends of my older brother Tom. I designed and drew the "Dave Travis and the Extremes" drum cover and business card used during that period. We lived in Hollywood and he worked at DCT Recorders [owned by Hank Waring] mixing and mastering records. Other than music, his interests were skin diving and herpetology and the one bedroom in our Hollywood apartment was dedicated to a large saltwater aquarium with specimens he'd caught in local waters and the cages for his many snakes and lizards [some CA natives and others exotic]. He and his mother had a music publishing company and label and were able to get some air play in Germany in the 60's of a single that brought in some small ASCAP checks from time to time. He recorded his first album at Wally Heider's, where he got the use of the facilities for $7 an hour if he waited until they were empty. I understand the album was sold to a record company, but it was never released. Dave and I had lost track of each other until two years ago when I looked him up on a whim while researching family genealogy. I went to his birthday celebration/memorial at the Unurban Cafe in Santa Monica on Nov. 16, 2008 where his life was celebrated with song, video and stories. His widow Monica was gracious and his son Mitch looks astonishingly like Dave did at that age. Dave lived his music close to his heart, and helped others to reach for their stars too. Michael McCarty Michael McCarty, along with Terry Rae, Wolf Marshall & Mike DellaGala (replacing Rolleston on Bass) are still playing together. They’ve been playing THE SUMMER OF LOVE CONCERT PARTY, for the last ten years running. “It’s wonderful, getting together at least once a year, to play Summer Of Love. We’re all still great mates, and everyone plays & sings better than ever.” The Band Set of Nines ~ Michael produced, wrote, played, sang and engineered the CD. For the past 25 years or so, Michael McCarty has been working in Post Production as an Audio Engineer/Mixer, he composes musical underscore for Film & Television, and does Voice-Over work on Cartoons & Animated films. His website is: michaelmccarty.biz Don Adey's Story The Churchill Downs as I remember it Dirk Acree introduced me to Gary Stovall who was living in Downey, California I believe at his dads house. We rehearsed in the living room and then we got a gig at Gazzarrie's on the Strip in Hollywood. We used to play six or seven nights a week. There used to be as you know 3 bands performing. We took turns during sets. We used to play some great songs. During our breaks we would go over to Shaws a coffee shop across the street from Gazzarrie's. We recorded some songs with Gary Paxton in Hollywood. I remember the Knack and Sweet Wine coming to see us play. It was a very exiting time and the Girls, oh yeah! We would all watch each other play our sets. It was our Hamburg Hollywood style. The Knack used drive up in a red Ferrari with Mike Chain, Larry Gould, and the boys. Great guys! I don't know how I left the band, but I do remember wearing the colored Sergeant Pepper suites with narou collars and doing "I'm A Walrus." and "Anyone Who Had A Heart," by Cilla Black and some real cool B sides of The Kinks, Stones and Vanilla Fudge, "You Keep Me Hanging On" I loved playing with those guys. Lots Of Love,Don Adey Teri and Hylan Hylan and I worked at the a rock club called "The Kaleidoscope", where Janis Joplin and The Doors performed and the plays "Hair" and "Tommy" premiered there in L.A. Also, my father was a tailor and made Hylan a purple, bell-bottom suit to wear for his wedding. His fiance's mother threatened to call the wedding off if he wore it. He did and they have been married ever since. Carol with Brian Jones We lived for the Stones. Whenever they were in town we would find their hotel just so we could see them and hopefully meet them. We caught them here. One day I came home from school and Brian Jones standing on a porch on my block. He and the other Stones were staying with Joey Page, a Hollywood musician who lived on my street. Jason Pandora I'm the legendary Sunset Strip Club that will live on in infamy. On Nov. 12th, 1966, a protest against the shackling of 14 & 15 yr olds, arbitrary arrests of youths plus disrespect and abuse of youths by police turn into a "Riot on the Sunset Strip" and broke out on to the sunset blvd out in front of Pandora's Box. Sadly the club was demolished Aug. 3rd, 1967 and where Pandora's Box once stood, an access lane of Sunset now curves into Crescent Heights. What you can expect to hear at Pandora's Box is the juiciest, rawest, dance floor filling 60's/Mod, Psych, Garage, Freakbeat, Funky Rock, Late 6t's Euro Groovers and Fuzzy Blue Eyed Soul hits for the hip spun by regular DJs and hosts Jason Pandora, New Untouchables co-founder, and Lord Albert Cozzette III from The Chocolate Watchband & Love-Maker. Joined monthly with top International and Local Guest DJ talent. Bonnie Sarnelli Hey there
Betty, Thanks again..lots of kisses xoxoxoxoxoox, Bonnie The Pride members:Phil Kachaturian-Lead Guitar and Vocals~Soundtrack's to "Gone in 60 Seconds," "Deadline Auto Theft" and others. Rock Peterson-Keyboards and Vocals. Dave Vaught-Bass~FlyingBurrito Bros. and The Association-Recording Studio Engineer. Don Murray-Drummer-died March 22, 1996~best known for his work with The Turtles and The Pride. Thank you to Phil for the info! Mick Newton Information from Sandy Newton was that: One summer day, Mick was playing in the swimming pool with his grandchildren. He stepped out of the water and collapsed and died of a heart attack. Ruben de Fuentes Ruben has been in several bands including: The Winding Roads, Blue Cheer, Steppenwolf, The Hollywood Stars, and his current band Firefly available on my Links page. He was asked to be in the Eastside Kids, but was only 13 at the time. his stories: The Hollywood Stars 1974 One day Terry Rae called me about a group a guy named Kim Fowely was putting together. It was suppose to be a west coast answer to the New York Dolls. I went down to the rehearsal studio and the rest is history. Within a few weeks we were headlining The Whisky A Go Go and every superstar in town was coming to see us! John Lennon came one night and applauded after every song! We got a record contract with Columbia Records and started working with various producers such as Bob Chapmen, Dave Clark (from the Dave Clark Five), Bob Ezrin (Alice Cooper), Jack Niche (Phil Spector's string arranger). We ended up with Bill Szymezyk (The Eagles) producer at the The Record Plant but his engineer Alan Blazek ended up doing it without the knowledge of Columbia or our great manager Sepp Donahauer. After our demise one song (King of the nighttime world) ended up being covered by KISS on "Destroyer". Another song (Escape) was covered by Alice Cooper on "Welcome to my nightmare" also about Meatloaf In the late
Sixties my band The Winding Roads and I were hitchhiking on the Sunset Strip and
a guy in a yellow convertible and a yellow Indian nehru shirt picked us up. He
said: "Hi, I'm ML I came to Hollywood to become a movie star" We looked at each
other rolling our eyes and thinking "Yeah, sure buddy". We started hanging out
and he came to our band practice and asked to sing with us. He commenced to wail
"Jail House Rock" without a microphone and we could hear him loud over our
amplified band. Needless to say we were all in shock and begged him to join the
band. Meatloaf (ML) became like my big brother guiding me in positive direction
and is one of the nicest dudes I ever met. I hear he is still like that and
never changed. Our site is definitely a work in progress but little by little it continues. We spent some time hanging out on the strip back in the day. When I was playing and singing in the band we worked in LA about half the time. Though we didn't play a lot down on Sunset we did play all over town and a lot at the Hullabaloo after hours when that was hot. Loved that rotating stage! I have so many great memories. After I left the band to manage it, the band continued to play all over Los Angeles county. A lot of musicians played in Stark Naked & the Car Thieves in those days. For about 6 months, while he was between The Doobie Bros and Steely Dan, Michael McDonald played in the band as well as a lot of other players. Some of them ended up in Bill Medley's posse. Even Doug Ingle from Iron Butterfly played with them for awhile. Eventually I had a recording studio called City Recorders at Sunset and Gower for several years in the seventies and had an office just west of the Roxie on Sunset, so guess that made me a Sunset member as well. I had a great time as a player but the business side of music was pretty rotten. Escaped from the rock 'n roll biz into the games/cable tv business in the early eighties and later ended up in computer related work. Odd how things work out isn't it? I'm happy to see sites about the old times because I know those days meant so much to all of us. I don't think I was ever more alive then in those days despite the craziness. There are just story after story of those days that I really want to write down before I get so old I forget them. Our band was kind of special because we stayed together as a unit for 7 years. Not something many bands do. A lot of that because we came out here together from the Midwest in the mid-sixties to northern California. We were up there in San Francisco for a year and a half, not far from the Haight playing in North Beach when that area was so hot and there was so much music going on everywhere. North Beach is all run down and terrible now, disappointing last time I went by there. But being from far away we had to depend upon each other a lot and that made us close. That close relationship continues to this day for the original band members. Anyway, best of luck with your site, please let me know if there is anything I can do to help. Larry Stark Naked |
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