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Loov
Second Love
USA
48 Posts |
 Posted - 30/03/2005 : 17:33:46
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I'd love to hear people's stories about their introduction to the music of Love. Especially our old folk who have memories from the '60s.
I was only 12 in '67, but had the older sibling benefit and so was turned on to Zappa, Love and others of their ilk. Too young to get to clubs to see Love, but we had a tenant, Erica, (http://www.ericagavin.net/) who was a great fan.
We had the sidewalk in front of our house repaved and everyone contributed graffiti of various sixties images and phrases...a quote from Eldrige Cleaver, a vast-ish graveyard with the phrase 'The Silent Majority", and Erica added 'the 5th's fixed'.
By the time I was old enough to go to the Whiskey, etc., Lee was gone from the scene and rumors were that he was an acid causualty who never left his house. You Set the Scene and so many other Love songs were so important to me, and I found this to be so TERRIBLY sad.
I hope someone who was older than I has some stories of seeing or just hearing Love from this time. Would so much appreciate hearing about them!
Loov |
Edited by - Loov on 23/07/2005 04:55:41 |
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Loov
Second Love
USA
48 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2005 : 17:01:39
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I reply to myself... John E, I just read you being referred to as a gentleman of a Certain Age. Have you no tales to tell from the '60s?
Maybe this is tired old territory and I need to review archived posts...?
I haven't had a chance to see Love yet. Texas is not high on the list as a tour stop (nor as much of anything since the Beast was incubated here).
Loov |
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Allan
Old Love
USA
560 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2005 : 18:10:10
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Loov-Susan B is a member here. She lives in LA, and would see LOVE in the 60's during their heyday. I lived in Laurel Canyon from April to October of 1970, but didn't get to see LOVE during that time. But I do have some wonderful memories of LA and particularly Laurel Canyon. Here's a link about Hollywood in the 60's
http://hollywoodhangover.com/index.html
Allan |
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bob f.
Old Love
USA
1308 Posts |
Posted - 02/04/2005 : 06:34:24
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| i'm from L.A. saw love first time in '66 in hollywood! with Bryan Maclean! i was hitch-hiking one day ,o.k, it's vague either late '66, or early '67,somewhere in hollywood , and Johnny Echols gives me a lift! we chat, i ask him about some NEW RECORDS. he's driving and explaining to me that LOVE is working on a new album. this album was certainly F.C.! IT STILL AMAzes me that i remember this incident , but at that time, LOVE was HUGE in lOS ANGELES, AND it was my favorite band, hAVING ALREADY seen them live ,and had all the records. i have continued to enjoy LOVE , having been to some recent shows , and yeah, old shows pre- 80s! i also saw them at the Whiskey durring the blue thum "LOVE 4 SAIL" ERRA ! I'D SEEN love in L.A. EVERY TIME THEY PLAYED RECENTLY, and Arthur Lee blows me away each time! you know that this is the real deal. he is always going to surprise us. the flow will flow, or the human condition will add it's vibe to the stew! all in all, it's a brew of bitter-sweet NOWness! |
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jazmaan
Fifth Love
USA
315 Posts |
Posted - 05/04/2005 : 04:57:24
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I'm kind of fuzzy on the dates, but when I first met Arthur, John Sterling was his guitarist. I do remember watching the first Leonard/Hearns fight at Arthur's pad around this time, so I guess it was 1981. I had just started working for a talent agency and they said "You like rock and roll? Okay you can represent Love and Marmalade." I knew Love but I had no idea who Marmalade was. And neither did anyone else in California! I loved their music, but man they were a tough sell! Not that Love was much easier!
Anyway, I got out of the agent business pretty quick but somehow managed to remain friends with Arthur, maybe because he liked my harmonica playing. |
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Loov
Second Love
USA
48 Posts |
Posted - 05/04/2005 : 15:20:26
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bob f. and jazmaan, thank you for those morsels. Riding with Brian MacLean and watching fights with Mr. Lee. REPPING Love when they were scattered to the winds. There's a challenge.
Not to be an ingrate, but moremoremore stories, details of stories, sidebars, insert quotes, stick figures! Did Love ever play one of the Human Be-Ins or Love-Ins in Grifffith Park? Were you there?
Allan, I enjoyed Susan B's Hollywood Hangover for a few days. A bit depressing as well as fascinating. The underbelly doesn't get much play, except for what can be extrapolated from all the ODs and suicides. I personally know a woman who was gang raped at 16 by one of the bands that are fondly noted there.
However, Allan, Laurel Canyon was a magical place when you were there, wasn't it? It will always have a certain mystery and beauty, but that period, generally was amazingly vital. Would love to hear your stories, even if they aren't Love-related.
Loov |
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Allan
Old Love
USA
560 Posts |
Posted - 05/04/2005 : 16:12:33
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Loov
Susan B is a member here. She checks in now and then.
Hollywood Hangover is run by a nice person named Nancy. I agree with you...lots of fatalities are talked about on the site. But there's lots of good stories too. The 'stories' from the site may be made into a movie.
I lived at 8865 Wonderland. Carole King lived next door. I used to hear sing 'Child of Mine' to her daughter.
One morning I went to the Country Store. It was about 10:00 A.M. In there were several Mothers of Invention buying 50 cent bottles of Ripple Wine. They were all laughing and calling it 'breakfast of champions'
If you go all the way up Wonderland, at the top there's a bluff that was called Lookout. There's a street in Laurel Canyon also called Lookout, and if you take LookOut all the way up, it also ends near the bluff (it comes in on the opposite side of Wonderland). I used to spend a lot of time up there because all sorts of people would go there and kinda just hang out. On clear days, you can lookout over the city, and sometimes you can see Catalina Island. On one such day, I met 3 guys from Oklahoma, who had come to LA just to take it all in. We shared psychedelics and had a great time. There was no fear back then...everyone was cool. Everyone was friendly...it all felt like everyone was extended family
Allan |
Edited by - Allan on 05/04/2005 16:24:55 |
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astrolobe33
Fifth Love
USA
381 Posts |
Posted - 05/04/2005 : 16:31:56
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Hi guys & gals!
Been lurking awhile here, now I'm saying hello!
I, like Loov who started this thread, missed most of the action at the time. Myself, I was but 2 in '67, however I somehow picked up on the vibe even then, and have fastidiously carried on in that way ever since, if you get my meaning, and I know you all do. ; )
Oh, I've done a bit of time travel as well, but it's still not the same, I too have a persistent craving for tales of those days of yore. Also likewise, I'd like to hear even non-Love-related stuff, including dear Loov, about your lovely tenant Erica Gavin. Did you all realize this lady was the star of the first film to receive an 'X' rating from the MPAA--Russ Meyer's "Vixen"?
Too far off-topic? Sorry, just introduced myself and I'm already misbehaving!
Through a crack of light,
Jon
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bob f.
Old Love
USA
1308 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2005 : 05:13:16
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| Loov- i'm sure LOVE did not ever do any love-ins in L.A. I was at most of them in the '66-68 era , but do remember seeing Buffy St. Marie, Youngbloods, Country Joe and the Fish, The Flying Burrito Brothers(with Gram Parsons!!!) and others which i don't remember at the LOVE-/bE INS either at Griffith Park, or Elesian Park, in Groovy Los Angeles during that magical era. GOD!!!! IT WAS A SPECIAL TIME!!! during that era, i also went to concerts for the Beatles, Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Doors, and , of course, LOVE (with Bryan) , all of these concerts in Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley! Love didn't play enough at that time, but Arthur has been making up for it the last several amazing years!!!! of every musical/recording artist i've loved and experienced in my life...LOVE has always been the magical vibe that presents MY own expression of growing up in Los Angeles during the mid-sixties. and Forever Changes changed ME when it was first released! |
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Loov
Second Love
USA
48 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2005 : 05:14:10
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Bob f....sorry I screwed that up, you rode with Johnny Echols! Just as wonderful.
Allan, thank you for the Moreagain. I think I remember that bluff, and I think Pamela desBarres mentions it in one of her great books, or did I just insert it there? Getting high there with the Flying Burrito Bros, or something. A friend of my older sister's was nanny to Moon and Dweezil for a while, and gave them German lessons (pre-Ahmet). Her name was Luitgard Paschotta.
We need to find a good site about the canyon somewhere, don't we. I took flute lessons from a lady named Libby Schneider up there in about '74, and knew a fillmmaker named Dick Wedler up there. And Norman Klar. Just in case you crossed paths.
astrolobe33, I'm so glad you joined the thread. Being young is no excuse. What was the first song that grabbed you? Why?
Yes, I know about Erica. She was a lovely person and very sweet to all us pubescent kids in the Big House (not prison). She was filming Beyond the Valley at the time she lived with us. It did not do wonderful things to her head at the time.
The address was 2315 N. Vermont Ave. in Los Feliz (not far from the Rock Castle), but I've been recently and the sidewalk has been repaved again, all traces gone. There are mad rubber trees that push up the sidewalk every few years, so...
My darling brother Paul was the first to buy all the Love albums. I bought my own when he left home. I'd listen to them over and over in my olive green bedroom with the Mucha posters. I heard the wisdom of the ages, guidance and solace in the music. No better music to be high to. No sweeter friend, those sounds.
Loov |
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Loov
Second Love
USA
48 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2005 : 05:21:56
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Whoa ,bob f.! You just beat my last post....which if you read you KNOW I KNOW what you're saying, baby! I went to Love Ins every Sunday at the merry go round in G.P. and one memorable one in Elysian Park. Never saw but surely felt the Love.
I remember seeing Jefferson Airplane at a G.P. Love in, and yes, the Youngbloods (Darkness Darkness...what a wonderful song) and others. Free music and friendly if rowdy Hell's Angels, riding huge ice blocks down the hillside. Dancing in the sun, all day long.
Thank you dear bob f.!
Loov |
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astrolobe33
Fifth Love
USA
381 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2005 : 18:26:10
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quote:
Originally posted by Loov
astrolobe33, I'm so glad you joined the thread. Being young is no excuse. What was the first song that grabbed you? Why?
Thank you Loov. My li'l Love story:
Around this time of year, about 1981 I was just starting to seek out '60s music--a development from my love for the Beatles since the times when they were still together (I was a rockin' toddler). A pal of mine had a new Creem magazine with an article on psychedelic music, that's where I first heard of bands like Cream, Blue Cheer, and... Love. Of course we began to buy these records and others (cd's were still nonexistent thank goodness), and one day soon my friend turned up with Forever Changes. Somehow enough time went by after that that I still hadn't heard it, and he loaned it to me, along with, (of all things) Black Sabbath's first album  . I still clearly remember being in my room after dinner, with candles burning, and hearing for the first time the sweet trickle of acoustic guitar notes followed by the soft rush of a rhythm like wind and thunder, and then: "YEEAH--Said it's Alright, I won't forget..."
And I thought to myself, "this ain't psychedelic!?! Not really... I mean it's pretty cool, I kinda like it but..."
LOL!!! I had a lot to learn! Actually I did concede at the time that Red Telephone was in fact, 'at least quasi-psychedelic'. That was the first song that really grabbed me, I'm sure because it's so spooky. Funny to think now of all those judgements of a 16-year-old who was still about 2 months away from his first joint.
Needless to say though, that album sure grew on me fast, rapidly attaining "Mystical" standing in my book. The debut lp and Da Capo came to me soon after, then Four Sail, then no others for a long time. They all perplexed and confounded me somehow, as much as they bore me up. It's hard to explain, but they seemed almost to defy scrutiny...
Right. I'm babbling. Well,
I'll see you again,
Jon
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John E
Fifth Love
United Kingdom
322 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2005 : 21:19:41
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Hi Loov,
Somehow I missed your thread till now, mainly because I've been focused on the Concerts section during the past week or so. Anyway, here are my earliest Love memories (I'm a very youthful 53 year old , by the way). In 1968, I was eighteen, and studying at an all-boys grammar school studying for my O-Levels. My only escape from this tedium was listening to people like John Peel on the radio. "My Little Red Book", "7 & 7 Is", "Stephanie" and "The Castle" all registered strongly with me, but it was "Alone Again Or" that really got to me. One day, with the song haunting me, I had to visit a girl's school, where I chatted up a girl with her leg in plaster. Sometimes, I think my entire life is enscapilated in that moment! (the Love song and the wounded woman). There was a shop in Camberwell, South London where they had "Forever Changes" in the window. I used to stare at it in awe, as if it was some mystical artifact. I didn't dare buy it at the time...I felt that these mysterious, dangerous and druggy looking Californians were a world apart from the one that I knew. Fast forward two years...and by then I've left school, grown my hair, smoked a joint or two, bought a hi-fi system, purchased "Alone Again Or" and "The Castle" on 45s, and also seen the Stones in the Park, plus Dylan, Hendrix and the Doors at the Isle of Wight! At the time, I had some friends in Chesterfield where there was a shop called "Some Kinda Mushroom".
The owner Dave McPhie was a Love fanatic, and it was he who sold me my original red Elektra copy of "Forever Changes" (unfortunately it was very crackly, and I didn't play it that much at the time). Come 1970, I was reading Zig Zag magazine, and finally got to see Love live at The Imperial College (their second-ever UK gig). All I remember was that some guy kept shouting for "Singing Cowboy" (which I hadn't heard before) and the band played it as an encore. I also remember thinking that it was totally incredible that A WHOLE TWO YEARS after the release of "Forever Changes", I could STILL hear Arthur Lee singing "Alone Again Or"! Love forever, John E |
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John E
Fifth Love
United Kingdom
322 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2005 : 21:54:17
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| Further to my post above...something important to remember is that in 1970 most bands thought it was uncool to play what people wanted to hear. Sets were often rambling and unfocused, and would consist mostly of new material. What we are hearing from Love at present is arguably 1000 times better than what we heard then! Love, John E |
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trevor
First Love
United Kingdom
9 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2005 : 00:09:30
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| Totally agree with you John E. For my part, I am indebted to my college friend Phil for bringing Love to my attention when we met in Portsmouth in 1973. I loved FC but did not rate the first two albums very much at the time - not the case now! Saw Arthur Lee at Essex University in 1976, rumours of his 'difficult personality' sadly proving too true as the gig was completely unmemorable. After continuing to marvel at FC, wondering how such a genius had not been rewarded, I harboured no thoughts of ever seeing a Love gig again. Even when the anniversary tour was announced I did not want to risk seeing such a master reduced to a cabaret turn and so I studiously avoided the event. But everything changed with the Glastonbury coverage - it blew me away! Within days I was driving through the night to catch a gig at Wrexham. The rest, as they say, is history. Compared to all previous incarnations of Love, there can be little doubt that the present band is right up there with the best. Sorry if this is not really an old Love story, but I am an old timer! |
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bob f.
Old Love
USA
1308 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2005 : 05:09:36
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| Loov- i first saw Love in about '66 at the theater on Sunset Blvd. that later was the Aquarious. i remember Arthur singing Signed DC. everything else is foggy! in '69 Love (the Blue thumb version) played the Whiskey a-go-go. i left after the show with my ears ringing and my acid-reflux head in over-amptness! then in about '76-77, i went to a "punk rock" show in downtown L.A. the GO-GOs with LOVE. YEAH, believe it. it's true! i believe it was one of those forgotten episodes of rock history. well... i was really blonkered, but do remember ARTHUR and band doing 7&7 IS.whatever his band was. after that , the NEW , free , post prison LOVE shows have had me at most events. i was at Love's second show since freedom, at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood , and will Never forget it! i await for LOVE to return to L.A. SOON! Griffith Park merry -go-round area on Sundays i was always there, the hippies, bikers, stoners, mods, crazies, flower children, weirdoes, junkies,musicians, artists, activists, it was all a trip, and good f***ing music as a backdrop! wow! |
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Old first-hand Love stories?
