by Dave McGowan | Jun 22, 2008 | Laurel Canyon
“As all halfway-decent managers in the rock era have done, [Jim] Dickson worked on seducing the in-crowd and creating a buzz around [The Byrds] … The timing was perfect … LA’s baby-boomers were mobile, getting around, looking for action. And now they were joined by... by Dave McGowan | Jul 24, 2008 | Laurel Canyon
“No one here gets out alive” Jim Morrison Sometimes pieces of the puzzle just seem to fall from the heavens. I don’t really know why that happens – and to be honest, I find it somewhat disconcerting at times. On Sunday, July 6, the venerable Washington Post, in a most... by Dave McGowan | Aug 10, 2008 | Laurel Canyon
“Everybody was experimenting and taking it all the way. It opened up a negative force of energy that was almost demonic.” Frank Mazolla, editor of the film Performance “There were a lot of weird people around. There was one guy who had a parrot called Captain Blood,... by Dave McGowan | Aug 29, 2008 | Laurel Canyon
“By the time Manson shifted base from Rustic Canyon to an old ranch in Chatsworth, he’d begun formulating the notion that he and his followers had to prepare themselves for a race war with Black America.” —Barney Hoskyns (in Hotel California, his take on the... by Dave McGowan | Nov 13, 2008 | Laurel Canyon
“By that, I mean, ‘Get me a lead singer. He’s got sort of an androgynous blonde hair, very pretty. We need a guitar player, sort of hatchet-faced, wears a hat, plays very fast, very dramatic. He must be very dramatic. Get me a pound of bass player, pound of drummer …... by Dave McGowan | Nov 27, 2008 | Laurel Canyon
“I’d have to say that, personally speaking, Crosby was worse for the good feelings of [the local] rock’n’roll [scene] than Manson was.” -Terry Melcher “I had been to Terry Melcher’s house on Cielo Drive many times.” -David Crosby I believe we were discussing the Byrds...