Monday night, a bunch of us showed up at the Troubadour for the Troubadour Family Reunion 1964-1974. The Paradox was represented by Penny Nichols, Bruce Kunkel, Jackson Brown, and myself. Running the Paradox hoots when Steve left gave me the training I needed to pick up the slack when the Troub's hootmaster, Larry Murray, left for Nashville to see if the grass actually was greener, and I spent much of 68 as the MC, until SF beckoned, and I bailed.
The invitations went out, via Facebook, to anyone from that time period who worked at the Troubadour for more than 6 months, headlined the Troubadour, hung out at the Troubadour bar, or slept with anyone who did. Since I hit all four bullet points, there was no way I could pass this up. And it was a superb party. I got to find out where people had gone, what they'd done, and to remake a lot of old acquaintances. I even got to publicly snub Dr. Hook's old manager. The one who made millions off us and left us broke. OK, that sounds small of me, but damn.... It was satisfying. The first time he sees me in 30 years, I'm having a wonderful time, hugging old friends and jabbering away, and he's alone at the back of the bar.
Bruce and Penny were smart, and did early sets. And they sounded wonderful. They always do. I was scheduled to go on as a duet with John Beland, from the Burrito Brothers, but we got sandbagged when a couple of old folk acts went up and just rambled, running out the clock.. The first one spent 30-40 minutes, and finally closed with her hit. People were drifting off to the bar and the sidewalk. Then Jack went on and just killed. He did a couple or Warren Zevon tunes, and then a couple of his own, and the crowd that had refilled the showroom gave him a well-deserved encore. He remains a class act. He was followed by a couple more old folkies who cleared the house and ate up our set. Which was fine. There were more people on the sidewalk in front of the place and in the bar than there were in the showroom, and they set up a couple of rock bands.
The vibe, however was great, and it was wonderful closing circles with folks. Also a bit weird seeing a number of middle-aged ladies who were underage the last time I saw them. But you know, we've all gotten on.
It was a great time, well worth the drive, but I'd forgotten that it was a different vibe than the Paradox. More cliquish and competitive and, well, Hollywoodish. It made me miss the rest of the Paradox gang even more. Norma and I are so looking forward to PIII
14 comments:
Wish you had posted this before it happened. I would have been there in a heart beat! I hope someone got a plug in for The Paradox.
I would have even been there! That sounds fantastic!
But have no fear, Rik ... you'll be front and center when the Paradox tours.
It was by invitation only and they were strict about it. I heard that they turned 200 people away, and a number of excellent acts never made it on. John Batdorf and James Lee Stanley, who had had their CD release at the Troub, among others.
It wasn't about the acts, so much as it was about talking and reconnecting. One contingent hung at Tana's, next door, and hardly came into the Troub at all.
Wonderful post, Rik... as always. Sounds like a grand gathering, for sure. With "hung out at the Troubadour bar" as one of the criteria for participation, it's no wonder a lot of folks were turned away. Did you sort of have to apply for entry... make their case for being legit? Who was in charge of making the thumbs-up and thumbs-down decisions? Tough assignment, especially if that decision was made in real-time at the door!
You also filled in one of my Paradox knowledge gaps... explaining that you'd taken over MC duties there after Steve left... for his VISTA training, I'm assuming. I'm still a little foggy as to how you and I never met at the Paradox... and I'm really hoping you don't come back with a recollection that we did. Oy! My window of Paradox involvement was quite short... from Sept '65 thru about Oct '66. Will you bracket your Paradox time for me?... and others, I suspect.
I spent three amazing weeks with Noonan in NYC in Oct 1966... played behind him at a few Village coffee houses. Talk about some great memories... and catching some really great folk singers in their early prime. I entered the service in late Nov and was pretty much out of the Paradox picture thereafter, being away from CA for the next four years... maybe completely out of the Paradox picture, now that I think about it. Yet another reason I, too, am really looking forward to PRIII.
Thanks again, Rik, for a very interesting and entertaining post!
Well Tony, I was pretty tentative and low key for the first month or two that I started coming to Paradox. I'd already done a couple at the Troubadour and, as I said, it was pretty cliquish and competitive. I didn't start mouthing off for a while. I think I started coming in August of 66.
But I remember you well. I spent a lot of time watching your hands.
The Troubadour invitations were sent out by a core group of three former waitresses who did the sleuthing of who was where by means of Facebook. Then, as people signed on, many of them also had suggestions of who else to invite. But in the last couple of weeks running up to it, Artie Wayne,a former music biz publicist and fame whore, started posting about it in his blog, and getting invited became a big deal amongst a certain set of kingpins from the 70s. Still, there were about 100+ at the event, and Naomi told me that they turned down 200-300 people, many of them at the door.
Cool! If LA wasn't such a scary place for us, we would have gone.
Oh, reading further....the uninvited.....
LA was very weird for me. The west side that I grew up in is unrecognizable with all the new highrises. I felt a lot more claustrophobic there than I do in New York. Too many people, too many cars, and everything moving too fast. It's huge.
I had a great time, and was happy to get away. Bruce left the party around 10:30, and headed straight home to Santa Rosa. I rolled out the next morning after sleeping in, and found bumper-to-bumper traffic moving at a walk on 405 between Venice and Wilshire, and said screw it. Got off and took a leisurely drive over the Santa Monica mountains by way of Sepulveda. Got back on in Van Nuys and got the hell out of there.
410, Dammit. They've dumped all the freeway names and given them numbers.
Thirty-five years ago I'd have called it the San Diego Freeway, and y'all would have known what I meant.
You were right it is the 405 and we still called the San Diego Freeway even in the traffic reports.
"You can check-in anytime you want but you can never leave"!
Scary? Oh, no, I have to go there at the end of April! To Rik's old stomping grounds -- USC. I hope it's not too scary there.
I'm thinking of not renting a car like I did in Huntington Beach -- that made the trip near perfect. But then I'm wondering how I can get down to Santa Monica if I do that. This trip will take some planning I guess.
I could probably be talked into playing taxi driver. Just give me a little heads up before hand.
Thanks, Gary! I may take you up on it. In any event, I hope we can get together for dinner while I'm there.
What was so nice about Huntington Beach was that I took the van to and from the airport and then I was free to wander around without the stress of parking etc. But the USC campus is sort of in the heart of LA, and the designated hotels are all in that downtown area. I'll keep you posted when I know more.
This was a great event! Thanks Rik for the kind words. And yes, it was great being again on one of the major stages I performed many times in my youth. Lovely evening and great getting a really warm reception for my song content and performance... to be seen and validated by this group! Jackson was wonderful and I was disappointed that Rik didn't get an opportunity to perform. I am so grateful for this life and all the re-connections that are happening now. Big love to all of you and look forward to Summer!
Wish we'd all been there cheering you on!
Sherry Miller and I were talking the other day about how we used to go to the Troubadour all the time -- particularly when the Dirt Band was playing. Those were the days!
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