The Byrds Conclusion: David Crosby House, Roger McGuinn House, Chris Hillman House, Gene Clark House. Laurel Canyon & Beverly Glen, Sunset Strip. The Byrds Part #1: • The Byrds Part #1: The... A
I was able to see Roger McGuinn in concert on Halloween night in 1974 at the Roxy Theater on Sunset Blvd. up in the "On The Rox" concert room when he opened for Linda Ronstadt. At the end of the show they both jammed together for a few songs. Both gave great performances. McGuinn did a little rock, folk and country western. I also got to see Canned Heat and Vanilla Fudge in 1968 at, either it was at The Kaleidoscope or The Trip on the Strip. I can't remember. We finally turned 18 and were able to attend a concert at one of the clubs. I went to a Psychedelic 60's Reunion concert at the Universal Amphitheater in January 1989. Blue Cheer, The Music Machine, Big Brother & The Holding Company with a Janis Joplin sound-a-like, Arthur Lee & Love and Sky Saxon & The Seeds all preformed. That brought back a lot of memories. I just can't get enough of the psychedelic 60's songs.
That is too cool. I never got a chance to see any of those bands but I think that the psychedelic sound is still alive and well. Its more in the Blue Cheer vein but there are a lot of "jam" bands out there now flying below the radar. Kids still wanna trip out I guess!
I still love to listen to my psychedelic 60's CD's I made 15 years ago on the media player. I made 8 CD's with around 25 songs on each one from various best hit LP's and the Psychedelic 60's Golden Nugget series I found at Amoeba Records & Movies in Hollywood. My top 5 songs are: 1-Light My Fire by The Doors, 2- Alone Again Or by Arthur Lee & Love, 3 - Somebody To Love by The Jefferson Airplane, 4 - I Got A Line Of You by Randy California & Spirit, 5 - Incense And Peppermint by The Strawberry Alarm Clock. By 1969 the Psychedelic 60's was just about over as bands broke up, the clubs on the Sunset Strip started to close (except for The Whiskey and The Roxy) and the hippies left Hollywood realizing that peace, love and flowers in your hair was just an illusion. The Tate/LaBianca/Manson murders didn't help either. By then all the rock bands started to play larger venues like The Forum, Long Beach Arena, The Sports Arena, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and even the old Olympic Auditorium in downtown LA. It meant a lot more money and the small clubs on Sunset Blvd. couldn't compete. We used to go to a lot of rock concerts until around 1974 in SoCal. I was able to see The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, Three Dog Night, Iron Butterfly, Sly & The Family Stone, Led Zeppelin, Creedence Clearwater, Canned Heat, Hot Tuna, Country Joe & The Fish, Santana and others I can't even remember. We always had a great time!!!
Loved Spirit. They have been somewhat forgotten but I did get to see them play a couple of times and met Randy California on 2 occasions. He seemed a bit spacey but that's just a general impression as it was a long time ago and I was pretty spaced out myself back then!
@@RockessentialTim I really liked Spirit but they didn't really record a lot of hit songs you heard on the radio. I compare them to Love. They were a really an under the radar group and kind of forgotten. I attended a lot of rock concerts in SoCal from 1969 thru 1974 at the larger venues but the 3 worst concerts I ever saw were: 1 - The Doors at the Long Beach Arena, I think, in 1970. Jim Morrison was so drunk he could barely stand up, staggered around the stage, couldn't sing and finally fell down. Security and member of the band had to help him off the stage and the band played a few songs without him and walked off. We were not happy. People were throwing crap on the stage while yelling and screaming. The house lights came on and it was announced the concert had ended. It was not a happy ending. 2 - In June 1970 at the Olympic Auditorium in downtown L.A. Bill Graham was promoting concerts. One night Country Joe & The Fish headlined while Little Richard was the semi-main event (I'll use that term since it was at the Olympic). The place was packed and the LADP made their presence known. They were coming in on several buses to crack down of rowdy fans and drug use. Anyway, while Little Richard was playing he jumped on his piano and started dancing and invited everyone to come up on the stage and dance with him. Big mistake! A mass of humanity rushed the stage and attempted to climb on the stage. It was getting out of control. The LADP officers rushed to the stage to restore some order but all of a sudden the stage collapsed and there was a huge pile of bodies flying all over the place. The cops were busting heads and arresting anyone who moved. It turned into a riot. We quickly exited and ran to the car and left in a hurry. The rest of the concert was cancelled. Bill Graham lost his concert license in Los Angeles for lack of security. That was the last concert held at the Olympic until the 90's. 3 - In 1972 we saw Led Zeppelin at The Forum. It was right after their "Immigrant Song" was released. There was no opening group. Led Zeppelin was the only act. Both Page and Plant were basically wasted. They stumbled all over the stage and couldn't sing a lick. Their first song was "The Immigrant Song." So far, so good. The next 3 songs each went over 25 minutes while they had a drum solo, bass solo and lead guitar solo and then another drum solo. After those 3 songs we left. It wasn't worth listening to a bunch of solos. While we were leaving a lot more fans were also exciting. I think since Page and Plant were both wasted that was the only way they were going to get through a 3 hour concert. Oh well! Every concert can't be a mind-blowing experience.
I vaguely remember hearing , on the radio, that The Byrd's tune * Mr. Tambourine Man " was a song about drugs (Heroin)) , where The Tambourine Man Was assumedly the SMACK dealer . ( SMACK is nickname 4 Heroin).
I have a good friend who lives there and sometimes when he walks on Saturday nights he comes across people having impromptu performances on their cul-de-sacs. He saw one just before covid at the Gene Clark location---so its still happening if you hit it right. There is still nowhere like Laurel Canyon anywhere.
Gene's "If You're Gone", to me, is not only one of his greatest songs but also one of the very best creations in the entire Byrds' catalogue. Whoever had the idea of the relentless, beautiful vocal drone accompanying Clark's passionate vocal gets my vote for being touched by genius!
Appreciate the low-key tour. The Beatles rented Gabor’s house, threw a party with everyone, and dropped a couple hits, feel like I was there ha. 👌🏼 Those are some seriously narrow roads lol.
Back in the psychedelic 60's we used to cruise the Sunset Strip and see all the rock star' names on the marques. We also cruised up in Laurel Canyon but you had to cruise there during the late day or you'd get lost up there. We found out where Cass Elliot (her first small house), Frank Zappa (his first old wooden house), Joni Mitchell, Jim Morrison (across the street from the Canyon Country Store), Carol King, John & Michele Phillips , Arthur Lee and Johnny Niichols of Love lived. It seemed every time we drove by Cass Elliot's house the music was blasting away. I guess she was throwing a party. Great times!
Me thinks its better to have misspent your youth than to have saved it for later. As for myself I spend an awful lot of time now acting like a teenager--or at least eating like one. Thanks for the comment!
Many youtube vids are predominately filler (chatter, gossip, personal philosophy with a little bit of substance sprinkled in). Not so Hiking4Life! Highly informative, highly entertaining and - gratefully - thoughtfully edited! Thank you!
@@RockessentialTim Also, I have a son and his family who are visiting Josh. this weekend, camping. I sent them the Rolling Stone Article 1973 regarding Gram Parsons. We've camped there but never visited the Rock or the motel. It'd make for a great video if your inclined to get away for a couple of days Tim.
You are so good! I just love your videos, especially about the LA music scene! I want to explore Laurel Canyon more, when I come up to LA from San Diego!
Great tours! I was @ Art Center in L.A. studying to be a car designer in the late '60s & The Byrds were IT. Greatest night of music ever was the "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" Byrds @ The Troubadour in early '68. Augmented onstage w/Doug Dillard & Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Gram Parsons was mesmerizing. Most of the audience just wanted to hear the hits, though. Still an evangelist for Gene Clark, too. Keep walkin' 'n' rockin'!
We knew he lived up there right? But I had no idea the history of that house. BTW: It looks like they're working on it. I had passed it many times and it was kinda run down.
@@RockessentialTim They have done a lot of outside work on it, thanks again for mentioning it. He did not stay there long...his fans found out his address so David and his room mate Sam Hyman moved to his Haslem Terrace home. They stayed there for awhile and had to move again because of his fans.😢
@@lisaowens7629 Did you know it had been Roger McGuinn's house? I ask because it was a total bitch to find it and I know you had told me about David Cassidy living there before. I just didn't put 2 and 2 together until I finally found that McGuinn had lived in Don Henley's house which had been David Cassidy's.
@@RockessentialTim I am like you, I only knew about David being there for a short while. I am glad you found out more on his place. I love knowing the history and the going ons of an area, thanks for bringing that to us☺️
you did it! Thank you so much. I love all of your information and having the extra script on top of the driving footage was perfect. I know you didn’t change it for me, you just seem like a guy who would if it was helpful for folks. Thank you for your work. Keep rockin’!🙏🎸
Great stuff. Was blown away when I heard Mr Tambourineman for the first time on Dutch radio back then. Saw the Byrds later in Amsterdam and at the Kralingen Pop Festival, the Clarence White line up. Did see the Flying Burritos, but the Rick Roberts line up. I read about the Troubadour, Ciro's, Laurel Canyon but seeing the real thing is great and fills in my memories, so thanks!
Great videos and great history. Love what you are doing. I will never get to these areas in my lifetime so you are bringing this right to my living room. Thanks.
I just love your videos! The quality of them is excellent, but what is even more impressing and exciting, is your story telling along with the choice of music. All of this put together in your videos, and I swear, you make us go back in the time where all this was happening, you can just feel the spirit of it all. Your channel is very unique as I love your sense of humor. I can truly say that I experience pure joy and contentment when watching your videos. And, thank you so much for putting a lot of effort to make all this happen.
What I love about RU-vid is the comment section. I put a lot of work into making these and its really nice to know that folks like yourself appreciate it. Thank you so much!!!
Its still a pretty great place to live. When I was shooting, people would come out and chat me up. A real sense of community still seems to exist there.
This one is great, and I've enjoyed them all. I may use your vids for a walking tour of Laurel Canyon one day. And you're right about No Other. Believe I'll spin it right now. Thanks!
Thanks, but I'm basically just pointing and shooting. Its a Gopro 9 and it works great if its a sunny day. Prolly why almost all my vids are sunny days!
Nice seeing your newish video man.! David C stopped by my studio in Maine when he was out touring around with his son and his band. Thank gosh I was out having lunch at the time ha! just kidding but he did sign me guest book. ROCK ON FREAKS H.L.
Congrats, Tim...another spot-on vid! You are a most affable host, and your content shows you really do your research (hell, you've probably simply LIVED it!). Thanks for another wonderful interlude in my otherwise silly-ass day.
Cool video, thanks so much for doing this! I’m 54 and a total Byrds, Love, Buffalo Springfield, Brian Wilson freak, and the musicians that visited them at Laurel Canyon……..
Excellent video! Thanks for posting. It reminded me of the Outpost District of the Hollywood Hills I lived in during the early 80's. Only, we were five minutes from Hollywood Blvd, not Sunset.
Love every thing you do. I wish you would do more vlogs. I was an immature teenager in the sixties. Asphyxiated on the Laurel Canyon singers and groups of that era. I visited that area many times currently just to walk around and try to still breathe and feel that time of my life.
I've been young and high, as well as middle-aged and high, on a variety of treats, but not famous and high! Sweetheart of the Rodeo ignited the 70s singer-songwriter scene that had hints of country rock. The Grateful Dead's spinoff New Riders of the Purple Sage became big. The Flying Burrito Bros.' bassist Chris Ethridge went on to join Willie Nelson's band for 30 years, until his passing. That partnership inspire the Outlaw Country scene of Willie, Waylon, Jerry Jeff, Jimmy Buffet, Hank Jr., etc. All from Gram Parsons joining the Byrds.
I guess I never did the lineage but you have a great point. I get a lot of comments about Gram, people either love him or hate him, there doesn't seem to be any middle ground.
I loved the synchronicity. Couldn't recall if you had done an Eagles rock walk and then momentarily after having that thought you give the Don Henley anecdote with the Roger/David/Don house in Laurel Canyon. My fleeting "connection" to any of this is that Irving Azoff's sister, Shari, was my Spanish teacher during junior high in the late 70s. Great vid as always. Well done!!
Its weird, after doing 10 or so of these type of videos certain houses come up more than once and that one on Cole Crest is one of them. So does the Blue Jay Way house. I'm actually researching for an Eagles vid now....
Brilliant stuff once again Tim. Amazing how you acquired all the info about these musicians from the 60's and 70's. Hey I'm not sure if you're a Steely Dan fan, but I was wondering if you had any info / stories about Donald and Walter's time living in LA ? Would love to see a video on that if you have any interest.
Gotta tell you this and your other videos are so informative and seeing the locations where musical history was made is really something else. Spent much time in la over the years and traveled to many of these locations but your videos have filled in some of the info that I wasn't familiar with although my birthdate is 27 August when Presley met the Beatles and 2 years later on that date Brian Epstein passed. Thanks again. Stay safe. Rog. Pacific sunset records.
Thanks. I really wanted to hang out a little more thouroughly at Neil Diamond's studio but the best I could get was his engineer Sam Cole to take my camera around for a minute. Still, really thrilling to take a look inside. Neil Diamond is a guilty pleasure of mine and I'd love to do something on him!
@@RockessentialTim I saw Neil Diamond in '67 at the Hollywood Bowl at one of those mega-concerts with the Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix, Buffalo Springfield, Byrds, Love, Lovin' Spoonful, the Leaves, etc. Diamond was first on the playbill. He had only his first hit "Solitary Man," and the crowd barely responded. Jimi Hendrix was also new, he'd just come in from London, and nobody knew what to make of him. This was just before the Monterey Pop Festival, I think, or maybe just after. I think half the people just came to see the Beach Boys.
I’ve been binge watching all your music related stuff. Really interesting commentary. You’ve got me interested in checking out some bands I never really listed to. 👊🏼
@@RockessentialTim thanks for the reply. Yeah, I could hear the future coming in that song. I saw him do "everybody's been burned before" in a small venue doing it solo and acoustically. You can Google or RU-vid that and it's interesting to hear and you can also learn how to play just by seeing him it do it. However, when he does it with the birds the rest of the group really adds an ethereal electric atmosphere I found mesmerizing. Crosby's lyrics in everybody's been burned couldn't be better. It's a one-of-a-kind for me... that is, I've never heard anything sounding or written that compares.
@@RockessentialTim it takes me three notes but he's unique. I love his stuff and I play a lot in open tunings. Crosby said when he walked into a coffee house and her Joni Mitchell playing in a small Coffee House venue, he said he just fell back against the wall in awe... completely blown away. Furthermore, when he produced her first album he said the best thing that he did was just keeping everybody else off of it !! I hope you cover Joni Mitchell on that I imagine you will. I had all their albums on vinyl until Hurricane Andrew. Now I've got most of them on CD. I'm really excited about what you're doing with the music history of Our Generation...so thanks ❤️👍🙏!!!
@@Raymond-rr5iv Great info from the above threads. I hope @Hiking4Life does indeed do a vid on Joni, her house which she still owns is in Laurel Canyon and where her inspiration to create her third album, Ladies of the Canyon came to life as well! Not forgetting that after Graham Nash moved in with Joni in December of '68 and along with David Crosby and Steven Stills formed a band called "the Frozen Noses" a named inspired by the trio's fondness for cocaine. Peace
Hey, this was a great tour for several reasons: (1) a lotta cool trivia--some of which I knew but much I didn't; (2) cool host (Who ARE you?); and really kick-ass production music.
Thanks, it was a really enjoyable episode to do. I'm just a music loving hiker who happens to be a musician so I'm really glad to know someone likes the background music. Cool!
Love this! Was just there last night. I'm a student of it all.. Pace is my fave spot to eat. Also - they sell my book in the Canyon Country Store. Forgive if I've told you that already on a different post.
Hey everybody, if you find yourself at The Canyon Country Store, BUY THIS MAN'S BOOK! Warren, feel free to post the details so everyone can check it out!
Thanks for this, Tim - fascinating trip down memory lane. Laurel Canyon ought to be put on the National Register of Historic Places! Can't imagine attempting to negotiate those roads in a Ferrari or Porsche (or anything with wheels, for that matter), especially given the amount of partying that went on. But when you're young, you're invincible - or at least you feel that way - I guess. Agree with you re "Feel a Whole Lot Better", but Gene wrote so many incredible songs, it's really hard to say which one is the "best". It's just a pity he never received the recognition or achieved the success as a solo artist that he deserved during his lifetime. Anyway, this was great By the way, has anyone ever mentioned that you bear a slight resemblance to Anthony Bourdain? (This is meant as a compliment - lol!)
@@RockessentialTim ahh so you have English blood running through your veins. I await the cockney accent one day. Great video as always though. 👍👍👍👍👍👍🇬🇧
David Crosby took a Ravi Shankar album to George Harrison's home outside of London, as he tells it, introducing George to the great Indian virtuoso's music. Not at the house in Hollywood where the Beatles stayed. IMO, Gene Clark's great talents as songwriter and vocalist were put on the shelf, with the focus put on McGuinn, who "Bogarted" the limelight. I believe that had an effect on abbreviating Gene's tenure with The Byrds. Aside from the minor error, it was very interesting to see the locations. I didn't know that Gene Clark lived across from Barry McGuire. It was McGuire who urged New Christy Minstrels leader Randy Sparks to hire Gene Clark as a NCM singer. ---Byrds fan since MTM, '65.
You are right about Crosby claiming he turned Harrison on to Shankar in London--But Roger McGuinn remembers it as he who turned George on to Shankar at the Zsa Zsa house. Its really a matter of who's story you go with and honestly, McGuinn's account sounds better in the vid. My personal fave location was the McGuinn house on Cole Crest. It was a needle in the haystack!
@@RockessentialTim Ah yes, you're right about the story, but I kinda hafta laugh a little. Selective memory -- if you remember those times, you probably weren't there, as Carlin (?) or somebody said. Having a "different story" is often why bands break up. I have my impressions about both Crosby and McGuinn. Anyhow, thanks very much for your entertaining and informative videos.
Great video! Just wondering.....did the artists like Joni Mitchell and David Cassidy buy these homes or rent? If they rented, what was rent like back then, price wise? Also, what do homes in Laurel Canyon go for today? Any "big name" musicians or actors still live in Laurel Canyon?
I don't know much about if they rented or owned but I do know that Joni Mitchell STILL owns the house on Lookout Mt. She rents it out. Here is a website with an interesting list: rockandrollroadmap.com/places/miscellaneous/los-angeles-area-miscellaneous/laurel-canyon-frank-zappa-the-byrds-jim-morrison-joni-mitchell/
Another fascinating video from your backcopy. I used to love 'Mr.Tambourine Man'. Crosby looked different back in those days. Now to listen to 'No Weather' or was it 'No Other'?
2:39 - 2:50 - Tim, the only thing that matters about Zsa-Zsa's digs is . . . . . . DID FRANCIS HALL GIFT THAT LEFT-HANDED RICKENBACKER BASS GUITAR TO PM HERE???
Once again, you failed to mention the King of all ACID droppers, Jimi Hendrix, when you displayed that under-construction space at 2850 Benedict Canyon Road....he stayed there for a month, but did spend a lot of his time recording at TTG studios, in LA....not much came of those sessions, but a lot of Rock royalty stopped by there, to visit him.
Imo Crosby was a glorified backup singer. People admit he couldn’t play or write, but say he was a great harmonizer. That’s true and it proves my point.
Thats a shame, to me it was a great album and it also paved the way for the final phase of the band with Clarence, who made a major contribution to the album. It also sealed their status as being in the first vanguard of country rock bands.
They got Sweetheart of the Rodeo right the first time. Totally overrated piece of work and Parsons' vocals were replaced by McGuinn's vocals with a voice pretty much ill-suited to what became alt-country music, as the overall lifelessness of latter day Byrds' albums attest to. Ironically Gram was the genre's greatest exponent of a true, authentic sound. Luckily for him, and Hillman, both moved on to record The Gilded Palace of Sin with The Burrito Bros, an album which to my mind is far, far superior to Sweetheart and in fact, has to this day really had no equal in the history of alt country.
I couldn't agree with you more about Gilded. Sin City and Dark End Of The Street are on a level all their own. But I still don't know if the Burrito's would have happened without Sweetheart.
@@RockessentialTim There's truth in what you say but only because McGuinn carried on with The Byrds name, certainly not their stellar legacy, and with players that were never Byrds, especially insulting in light of the creative masterpiece that was The Notorious Byrd Bros which preceded Sweetheart I believe. "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" got some radio play and Gram's beautiful "Hickory Wind" likely captured listener attention but still the guy showed up in LA after fronting the very little known International Submarine Band so you'd have to say that impressing Hillman and McGuinn with his talent and of course finding new friends Bernie Leadon, Chris Etheridge, Sneaky Pete Kleinow put Gram's career on an upward trajectory. So despite having his role in "Sweetheart" severely curtailed and all the moral issues and squabbles about "The Byrds" playing in South Africa, it is certainly a possibility that the stars may not have aligned so quickly without McGuinn, (as I am assuming it was his decision to make about Gram's joining the group.) But you know, Parsons had to have been some kind of force of nature to even meet a pair of Byrds and be considered for membership in The Byrds club in the first place. Just listen to his vocal on " Hot Burrito #1," and I'm sure that Keith Richards would agree, that the post 1970 Byrds were far too lightweight a vehicle to carry the genius level talent Parsons possessed. Respect to you.
In the annuls of "Funny you mentioned it" --I am going up to Topanga tomorrow to photograph the little cabin that was the cover for The Notorious Byrd Bros.
@@RockessentialTim That's great. Great picture, great album and beautiful area of the city. I hope I get to visit one day. Do you know if Arthur Lee and the rest of Love had a home there? Thought they did but now not sure. They rented a place which resembled a castle if I'm not mistaken. Another great LA band gone but never forgotten. Like your videos and excellent tour guide style. Safe hiking.
Looks like a glorified dump to me. In every bit of footage... garbage cans everywhere. LOL! Of course given the population density of LA an OC, that's everywhere you go.
