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otiselevator
Third Love
United Kingdom
61 Posts |
 Posted - 13/07/2005 : 00:32:35
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| I first heard Love in 1967(?) when I saw the cover of Da Capo at Lesley Brown's Record shop in Stockton on Tees and asked to hear a track...back in the distant days when you could still do that. Stephanie Knows Who with its starburst guitar solo completely blew me away and although it took a while to adjust to the changes of style I quickly bought the first album, FC and just about everything since. I never saw them play though my best friend saw them in Cambridge in the 70s and said they were pretty average. They remained a mostly obscure pleasure for myself and a small band of friends for decades until Arthur's release from prison and his sensational tours with the orchestra. Since then I honestly think the first four albums plus selected tracks from most of the others show Arthur Lee to be one of the most underrated talents of our time. The man can do almost everything from punk through psychedelia to heavy rock (I luv parts of "Vindicator") and has a stage presence that shames most modern performers. I just hope he can get it together again to carry on touring with his GREAT band. My holy grail would be a LIVE recording of the original LOVE performing some songs from the first album with Johnny Echols playing a twelve string solo (or was it a mandolin?).....and Arthur singing his heart out. I don't believe it exists, but perhaps YOU know differently? |
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Loov
Second Love
USA
48 Posts |
Posted - 13/07/2005 : 06:05:22
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Allan, otiselevator (nice name there), Ben , Singin' Cowboy, hello .....thanks for your memories and observations. Every little story kind of enriches and deepens the connection to this, the best band of L.A. in the 60s/70s. IMHO, as the kids say.
Allan, i remember all those places, even Zeidler and Zeidler. I'd eventually live close to Crescent Heights, on Harper Ave, in the 80s.
Many visits to The Corral and ..was it The Golden Bear? in Topanga...what a beautiful place Topanga was for music. Anyone lucky enough to attend plays at Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum there? it sounds like you didn't stay in L.A. for long.
otiselevator, sir, I don't know differently about your holy grail, but lord, that would be an album for the ages, wouldn't it. I'll bet if you start a new topic with that question the Council of Elders here would have tons of leads towards at least pieces of the real thing. I'm dying to know, now that you've put it in my head.
I live in eternal envy of the writers here who saw Love at the Hullabaloo on Sunset. It's really weird to feel like I was 'born too late' when I'm already a doddering 50. (Kidding. No offense to my peers and elders.)
love to all
Loov |
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Singing Cowboy
First Love
United Kingdom
4 Posts |
Posted - 13/07/2005 : 09:42:58
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Blimey, this is disturbing. How many more lies have I told my Daughter? Cream at Lyme Regis? Jimi Hendrix at Bournemouth? (Top of the bill: Amen Corner) Perhaps I'm not off to see Neil Innes tonight after all. More shark oil, please. |
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bob f.
Old Love
USA
1308 Posts |
Posted - 14/07/2005 : 05:22:21
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| Loov- you didn't experience LOVE at the HULLUBALOO( i obviously don't care anymore how i spell it!), because you are too young. i was there because i was born a few years before you! i'm 54, and also saw the BEATLES , AND the Byrds, and Buffalo Springfield, all in '66, plus LOVE! ALL IN LOS ANGELES! |
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myoungish
Fifth Love
USA
264 Posts |
Posted - 14/07/2005 : 08:14:49
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All these vintage memories made me realize I had never asked my dad if he'd ever seen 'em in the sixties. He distinctly remembers playing Da Capo endlessly on vacation in Mexico City with my mother in '66 or so. He was mostly a jazz cat at the time, but Love really intrigued him. He's a bit hazy, but he recalls trying to catch them in L.A. on the way back, but thinks they were a no-show. I would love to have footage of my now 65 year- old pops strolling down Sunset in the sixties with his afro and denims, trying to catch this new band called Love. To this day, he still remembers most of the lyrics to You Set the Scene...He was amazed and nostalgic when I told him Arthur and Love have been back on the scene for a while now.....
Michael Young |
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Loov
Second Love
USA
48 Posts |
Posted - 14/07/2005 : 15:12:08
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Fie on you, bob f.....fie.........waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Seeing the Beatles live never sounded like much fun, anyway, with all the attendant hysteria. So there.
Seeing Buffalo Springfield though, that would have been rapture.
At least I got to see (Fat, WhiteCape) Elvis in Vegas, getting squeals for his cheap fake karate kicks and throwing sweat-logged scarves.
Who has ever been to the Cheetah? Did Love ever play there? That looked like the coolest club on earth, for a time. My parents used to go to Bido Litos, which I believe they did play.
I've been trying to figure out if it was the same place as The Sewers of Paris and then The Gaslight in the 80s. Alley entrance, around the block from the Ivar Theatre?
Loov |
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MikeW
First Love
1 Posts |
Posted - 19/07/2005 : 23:19:19
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MikeB: I can distinctly remember John Peel playing August on Top Gear prior to Four Sail's release.
I discovered Love when Forever Changes was released (and had She Comes in Colours on the Select Electra collection) Listening to John Peel in endless anticipation of the next allbum was an after school ritual. Then finally he announced he had a new Love album - white label only - no info - he played Good Times and commented afterwards that he guessed it was called Good Times. A memory filed with hearing, at the same after school time, David Jacobs (v straight UK pre hippy DJ)on Whats New playing a track from the first Dead album - saying how much he disliked it and what a rough bunch they looked from the album cover. |
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Allan
Old Love
USA
560 Posts |
Posted - 23/07/2005 : 15:22:49
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Loov-LOVE definitely played many gigs at Bido Lito's. They may have even been the 'house band' for a while. Wasn't that alley named Cosmos Alley? I heard that the owners of Bido Lito's used to change the admission price, based on how many people were standing in line in the alley. Like if the Whiskey and the other clubs were packed, thus the crowds migrated toward Bido Lito's, the admission price would somehow go up. 
Allan
P.S.-Loov-you're not getting old. I'm 56 and still holding onto my youth
(although I have become somewhat follicly challenged  |
Edited by - Allan on 23/07/2005 15:26:09 |
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Susan B.
Third Love
USA
84 Posts |
Posted - 29/07/2005 : 22:24:41
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Loov:
The Golden Bear was in Huntington Beach. It was awesome. It is no longer there since developers modernized Main Street and call the city Surf City. I saw many great shows there. Did
I went to the Cheetah many times. At the end of the Santa Monica pier. Great light shows and lots of room to dance. I remember waiting for the Doors who were 3 hrs late for their show. I think they had to wait for Jim to sober up. It was well worth the wait.
I saw Love at the Hullaboo. The set up was great. In the 1950's it was called the Moulon Rouge. A game show was filmed there every day called Queen For a Day. In the early 60's it was a dinner theater. I remember when I was a little girl my parents took me there for my birthday to see Liberace. What were they thinking? I had to go up on stage with him because I was the B.D. girl. Mid 60's it became the Hullabaloo. In the 70's it was the Aquarius Theater. Hair the musical played there for years. Great show.
I can't remember what it is now. Just a little Cal. history. |
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Loov
Second Love
USA
48 Posts |
Posted - 30/07/2005 : 03:14:00
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So THAT's where the Golden Bear was! And I thought I remembered seeing the Cheetah on the Strip.... I'm all kinds of turned around in my memories.
Nice story about your Liberace birthday, made me chuckle.
Sounds like this Surf City business is a Chamber of Commerce gambit, and H.B. offically still has it's orignal name. I was a little shocked, there.
I do remember the Aquarius with the great murals by The Fool. I was in junior high when Hair played . I was a refusenik, convinced that a broadway show about the youth movement would have to be lame and offensive. Wish I'd seen it now, just for the 'participating in an era' aspect.
The Cheetah sounds like it was every bit as cool as I imagined. Did you ever go to The Temple of the Rainbow on Sunset in Silverlake in the late 60s?
Allan - you're right, it WAS Cosmos Alley! I wish I could just visit the Bido Lito days, see my parents hang out, and a couple years later, see Love in that tiny room. I did a search for The Sewers of Paris and it appears lost in the mists of time.
myoungish, your daddy sounds like an interesting guy. I have to wonder if I might have seen him from my parent's car sometime, looking hip and me coveting his coolness.
Loov |
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bob f.
Old Love
USA
1308 Posts |
Posted - 30/07/2005 : 04:09:08
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| glad to meet you, Susan B., ( fellow Hulluballooo LOVE SHOW attendee!!! iremember Arthur singing Signed DC. THE REST OF THE SHOW...????? how would i remember THAT much more? i was there 'cause i WANTED to be there. this was just before i became "experienced"! i sure would like a video of THAT concert! i'd settle for audio! i'd settle for even a review of the show! |
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Loov
Second Love
USA
48 Posts |
Posted - 13/08/2005 : 16:17:16
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Hello all. Someone was nice enough to try to contact me, but I accidentally deleted the email before having a chance to read it. Please try again.
Loov |
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Gabardine
First Love
USA
1 Posts |
Posted - 04/09/2005 : 00:49:01
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"My parents used to go to Bido Litos, which I believe they did play.
I've been trying to figure out if it was the same place as The Sewers of Paris and then The Gaslight in the 80s. Alley entrance, around the block from the Ivar Theatre?"
Hi, Loov, I was trolling for "Bido Lito's" on the Internet and I ended up registering on this site! I can confirm for you that the Gaslight was definitely once Bido Lito's. I went to the Gaslight one night a few years back with my pal Johnny Legend to see the old place. That must have been at least ten years ago, although I can't believe it was as far back as the late eighties!
What year did the Gaslight go out of business?
When was the place called "The Sewers of Paris?"
When we walked into The Gaslight, the joint was jumpin' pretty good. Top Jimmy was there, making the scene, and Johnny introduced us over drinks. Having previously witnessed Top Jimmy's work during an infamous onstage fracas at the Starwood, I was star-struck!
Sky Saxon was there too, lookin' just like a faded-picture version of his old self! I had seen him play many times at Bido's in '66, and now he was hitting me up to buy a beer for his buddy, who was up on stage at that moment. I hesitated, but my friend nudged me in the ribs and muttered, "do it." So I did. 'Cause it was the right thing to do.
So I took a walk around the place, took a look upstairs. It was the same old place, all right, but it sure felt different. The thrill was, well, gone.
But then again, to not see the place for a quarter-century and then drop in one night from out of state and just run smack into Top Jimmy and Sky Saxon, that's pretty amazing!
I saw Love play at least once at Bido Lito's, but I don't remember it too clearly. My sharpest memory of hearing Love is none too sharp -- it comes from hanging around outside the side door of The Hullaballoo one night while Love was inside playing "Seven and Seven Is." Once in awhile the side door would open to let somebody out, and the music would get real loud. Then the door would swing shut, and the music would get muffled again.
I do recall that when Love was scheduled to play at Bido Lito's while I was hanging around there, that it was regarded as something of a "homecoming" by the regulars. Love had been a sort of "house band" at Bido's before this, and this would be their first time back in awhile, maybe their first time back since they signed with Elektra. People were excited about it.
To bob f, The Hullaballoo is one of several names for the theatre on Sunset that you mentioned. After The Hullaballoo expired, that venue next became The Kaleidoscope, and then The Aquarius. And of course, before all that it was the Earl Carroll Theatre, through whose portals passed the most beautiful girls in the world!
I have a Bido Lito's business card in front of me. It says "fine food -- fine arts -- dancing -- entertainment -- BIDO LITO'S BACKSTAGE -- 1607 N. Ivar -- Hollywood -- HO 5-5235."
So while their street address was on Ivar, the entrance to Bido Lito's was a half-block over, on Cosmo Alley, right behind Shelley's Manne-Hole. Sometimes the jazz musicians would come out the back door of Shelley's into the alley and practice their licks.
If anyone out there has any memories of Love at Bido Lito's, I'd sure love to read about it!
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bob f.
Old Love
USA
1308 Posts |
Posted - 04/09/2005 : 04:33:14
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| hi, gabardine!!! i was also at the Aquarious for the " Aquarious" SHOW in 1968. |
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thenewguy
Second Love
48 Posts |
Posted - 04/09/2005 : 08:22:23
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quote:
Originally posted by bob f.
Loov- you didn't experience LOVE at the HULLUBALOO( i obviously don't care anymore how i spell it!), because you are too young. i was there because i was born a few years before you! i'm 54, and also saw the BEATLES , AND the Byrds, and Buffalo Springfield, all in '66, plus LOVE! ALL IN LOS ANGELES!
And don't forget Iron Butterfly and Steppenwolf and god help us -- the Yellow Payges. I distinctly remember seeing the Monkees at Oakland Coliseum too... |
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Old first-hand Love stories?
