“Echo in the Canyon” (1960s Laurel Canyon music scene documentary): May 24, 2019

is that the opening sentence of the "mr tambourine lp" liner notes? if so, i get the hat tip. someone would thank you. yes, but no.

i wrote extensively on this stuff decades ago when we had the first "insiders club" called the velvet rope on aol. i sifted through offers of "help" in a treatment chapter to be shopped, but people need to eat. jerry hopkins was not going to co-write "almost infamous" with me ha. alas.

so since, and i'm not a "writer" per se, and my chin tires of the keyboard from my laptop dancer who holds my straw... though, thanks for the kind words.

this will be the last place i share any of this .. ( whatever ) **** lol.

 

here's the "groupie" that @frummox referenced upthread. "butchie". she was a doll and immortalized on the john sebastian tune ( like she cared he was leaving?! ha )

she had two gorgeous daughters "jana and dewey" ( probably named the young one after dewey martin of BSpringfield ) and we played dr and nurse while bob and butchie would fight upstairs. they were 8 and 9 maybe 10. i was ten.. maybe 11? heh. bob denver was living with her at the time. he was the most famous guy on tv as gilligan at the time.

i have great stories.

 

Thanks ... you've probably seen that conspiracy stuff
in regards to Gene Clark? Weird stuff, the guy has a
whole blog's worth of claims.

 

The film is also playing in Berkeley CA. Filmmakers Slater and Dylan appeared in person on June 7.

 

I saw this today and loved it. I can kind of understand why some posters here are a little disappointed, but once I realized the film was not going to be a historical document of the scene, but more a loving tribute to the music by Jakob, I went with the flow and truly loved it. Heck, no one else saw fit to do a project like this about this music. This is certainly some of my favorite music ever, and I thought Jakob and friends did a fine job with the music. But the interviews and old clips are what make the film truly worth seeing.

 

Vickie saw this the other day. She loved the documentary parts, but not really the music recreation so much.

Part of the reason they did that is it it's far cheaper to record somebody doing an old song now than to license the original for sync rights.

 

I would hate to think that was totally mercenary. I got the impression from watching this that Jakob Dylan loves this music and thinks it was worth celebrating. I hope that is the case!

 

Not mercenary, just the harsh economics of documentaries. The documentary Rock School spent $600,000 on music rights, and that's with Gale Zappa and Ozzy giving the filmmakers a very good deal.

Vickie mentioned a clip in a guitar shop where someone started playing a famous song, stopping and saying "Sorry, you can't afford that one."

 

Loved the movie and thought the new version of the classic songs worked very well. Especially Go Where You Want To Go where Michelle Phillips listens to the mix with Jacob. Also enjoyed seeing Fernando Perdomo (the guitar player with the bowler hat behind Jacob) in the movie, we have enjoyed his band The Out To Sea Band while on our yearly Cruise To The Edge trip.

 

Wow, lotta publicty and buzz for a film that's shown in about 12 theaters so far...

 

I believe you mean David McGowan. Yeah, he goes way out on a limb and then jumps up and down. And yet, and yet: there's the 10% of his writing that's probably true.... just his factual history of David Crosby's family heritage is worth pondering for a few minutes. No one gets to be that big of an A****** unless backed up with something other than hippie delusion. The Center for an Informed America

 

Does McGowan have an alias? I seem to be thinking of another name
but that's probably the guy. Yeah, his blog or whatever, I saw it exactly
once, is fascinating reading but there is a strong whiff of WTF thruout.

 

mcgowan and i spoke twice. my contributions were to have been included in his next edition of that weird book, but he died before that became possible.

*some* of what we wrote, based upon my personal experiences there at the time from 65 until i moved out of the canyon in 2010, was accurate. some was far afield.

as for me, i've decided to "pass" on seeing this ( whatever it should be called ). before even having seen it, i am reminded of seeing oliver stone's doors film pre-release and standing with holzman, manzarek and rothchild after the screening at sony and we all shook our heads in disdain at how little was factual vs how much artistic license was taken.

i just don't need it.

 

Went to see it opening night in NYC. It was a fancy theater with a bar so while I waited a guy in a derby sat down next to me. He let me know he was the guitarist for Jakob Dylan and the band would play after the movie. Spoke to him for about 20 minutes, talked guitars and music. Very low key guy. Told me it was too expensive for him to live in Laurel Canyon now.

 

Someone could do a great multi part series on the various L.A. music scenes not just this canyon.Although... if I had a time machine I think I'd head for Cass' place!

Not something I will likely pay to see, it sounds okay but yeah, that one Rolling Stone article probably has more info, and I'm not really sure there is a whole lot of rare footage either going by the trailer (I've seen all that Mamas & Papas stuff a hundred times).

This book by Michael Walker is pretty good (recommended as worth the cover price)...

It comes in colors (this is just the version I got).

Model Shop was on TCM recently... Randy got a couple of lines; was great to see and hear Spirit!

 

Yes Fernando is a great guy and is known as a Human Jukebox, he can play any song. He works with Dave Kerzner these days (great progressive artist from Miami) and his own music which can be found on Bandcamp is very good.

Fernando Perdomo

 

I enjoyed but was not 100% satisfied at the end. Would have preferred more coverage of the period films and videos from the 60s and coverage of a wider variety of musicians who lived and played in the Canyon during that period. It would have been fun to see photos or videos of John Mayhall's tree house. It took me a while to warm up to the younger musicians performing the older songs, but their musicianship was very good and the female vocalist were fantastic. If you are a fanatic on this period of music then it is a must see. If you are curious and just enjoy you might wait for it to reach streaming services. The examination of the cross pollination of influences and sharing of ideas was very interesting and I wish they would have gone into this deeper. It was nice to hear that the Beatles picked up on and used styles from the Valley as the average person (not the SH forum folks ) typically believes the Beatles influenced everyone else and not vise versa.

 

Today is the anniversary of the 1981 bloody Wonderland murders that happened in Laurel Canyon. Some say that was the end of the 'old' '60s vibe.

 

I just saw the film in Berkeley today (matinee). I enjoyed it, although it seemed a little too Jacob-centered (tribute concert AND studio recordings). I get that the contemporary (re-) recordings and the tribute show make the statement that the influence of the music of late 60s Laurel Canyon continues, but that would be true and self-evident anyway, I don't need it to see be demonstrated.

Spooky to see that (other than vintage Buffalo Springfield clips) Neil Young only allowed himself to appear at the very end, ghostlike behind recording studio glass (a rocking out ghost, but still...). He obviously participated in the studio recordings Jacob made, so it's curious that he didn't want to seen talking and sharing his views and experiences in the film.

 

I am curious as to why there was no mention of Jonathan Wilson who is living or should I say re-living the life in Laurel Canyon. From what little I know about him he has a very creative group all centered in the Canyon playing and sharing music. Their music does harken back to those days in the 60s more so in my mind than does Jakob Dylan's.

 

That's a good point raised.

 

This film tried to be two films in one, and it didn't really succeed at being either. They should have gone one way or the other.

 

I have to say in fairness to Crosby he seems to be contrite these days, to some extent positioning the upcoming Cameron Crowe doc as a sort of 'apology' as well as reflection. No one seems to be publically reciprocating with forgiveness so far. One wonders how a scene that ostensibly began in all sunshine and rainbows became so corrosive. Unless McGowan is right as far as positing there was a dark side to the whole thing all along...

 

David Crosby said that Bob Dylan was the first time that "poetry" had appeared in pop music.

I guess he never heard Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, or Lorenz Hart. Either that, or the old hippie's memory is fried.

FAIL.

 

Not to mention Nature Boy by Eden Ahbez.