|
It
was 1974 and we had changed management firms. We were now
with Caribou Management, which was Jim Guercio, Larry
Fitzgerald and Howard Kaufman. Jim had been the producer and
manager for the group "Chicago," for a long time. Larry went
on to manage Toto and Vince Gill, among others. Howard, at
HK Management has Don Henley, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty,
Chicago and Jackson Browne, to name a few. The Caribou
management firm had a place called Caribou Ranch, located in
Nederland, Colorado, just north of Boulder. It had a
full-blown multitrack recording studio, a central ranch
house where meals were served, as well as cabin
accommodations, horses, a few old army jeeps that didn't
require a key to start them, and acres of mountain land,
including a ghost town, to roam and explore. A beautiful
place. Elton had just done an album there and we were about
to make our next album at Caribou.
It
would be called, "Comin'
Down Your Way"
and would be released in May, 1975. Jimmy Ienner once again,
did the producing.
Although
there were a few good songs on this album, I found it to be
one of the most disjointed, scattered and unprepared efforts
at recording that we ever made. Out of the entire album, the
only song that does it for me is, "You Can Leave Your Hat
On." A great song, with a really terrific vocal performance
by Cory. Randy Newman speaks loud and clear to him. I felt
like we "copped" a great track for that song. Real moody and
sneaky sounding, with an oozing kind of low-down sexy guitar
fuzz thing, with just a bit of tongue-in-cheek, as well.
Randy is such a killer writer. He's amazing.
There's
another song on the album called, "When It's Over" that
spoke to me about the group in ways that I just wasn't ready
to hear. The lyrics didn't really address our situation, but
in my mind, they did. The ranch was fantastic, but the band
was disorganized and just plain old "not together." This was
the epitome of an "unmusical" endeavor to me. I'm amazed
that it was ever finished. It's a tribute to Jimmy Ienner
that he kept it together enough to wrap it up. This album
was my so-called "swan song" with the group, at least for
the 1970's. I never received a gold album for it, although
it did turn gold. I would be gone before it was even
released.
|
Let
me allude to a couple of stories that are still
funny to me. Consider this the last of my "war
buddies drinking" type stories, albeit
drugs.
1) Although psychedelic drugs were not a problem
within the group, Jimmy and I had taken LSD
numerous times back in the 60's, before Three Dog
Night was formed, and then once again about 1970,
when we were in Tacoma, Washington, touring with
Steppenwolf. Having a day off, we got up early,
took the "acid" and drove off in a rental car into
the beautiful wooded area just outside of Tacoma.
The drug was "coming on" as we pulled over and
ventured down deep into the forest. There was a
little brook that was bubbling and gurgling so loud
that it sounded like it was talking to us in
surround sound. Ever since then, we have referred
to it as, "The Babbling Brook." I have a picture
somewhere of a solid green forest, with this "red
thing" right in the middle of it. The "red thing,"
being Greenspoon. He looked like some sort of high
contrast rooster, as he was perched up in one of
those trees in a "hippie's daze." I'm not sure if
this episode is the reason I used to call
him"Super
Rooster"
or not (due
to his flaming hair and inherent
wireyness),
but it could have been. If I remember correctly, we
even stripped down naked and wandered through the
forest "au natural." Not terribly uncommon back in
the days of the Haight - Ashbury. I ended up with
tears in my eyes, because it all looked "so
beautiful." I even tried to phone my mom from a
tree, because I wanted her to see it.
(brilliant,
eh?)
Finally, at the end of the day, we were digging
around in the woods and found this ONE piece of
wood that looked so fantastic that we just had to
take it back to the hotel with us. Somehow, we had
come to some amazing revelation that this
particular piece of wood held within it ... "The
Meaning of Life." Oh yes, LSD can make quite an
impression on you out in the forest. Profound shit.
We ended up back at the ubiquitous Holiday Inn,
pulling the 7 foot long, 4" wide branch, out of the
rental station wagon and dragging it into the hotel
room. Keep in mind that we were on the road
touring. What the hell were we thinking we would do
with it? We "crashed" and upon waking many hours
later, decided to order room service. When the guy
delivered it, he looked down on the floor at this
huge branch in our shared room, that now had every
bug in the world coming out of it, and asked us
what it was. We looked at each other, laughed, and
said, "It's the Meaning of
Life."
God,
there were bugs EVERYWHERE!
Wait!
I think I can simulate the "high contrast rooster
in the foilage" picture that I just told you about.
Hmmmm, let's see. I have this picture of Jimmy in
the forest in Guam. Yes, with a little digital
orneriness, I believe I can show you about what it
looked like up east of Tacoma, Washington. Scroll
down and take a look.
Yes, that's pretty close (minus
the sign).
If you're really curious ... click on this
"Meaning
of Life"
link to see the digital history of creating this
simulation.
2)
I tell the first story as a lead-in to events of
1974. While at Caribou ranch and recalling our
stupidity in Tacoma, Jimmy and I decided that we'd
take LSD, just ONE MORE TIME, so we did. The plan
was to wait till we were "high," then jump into one
of the jeeps and head up to the ghost town that was
on the property and see if we could make contact
with a spirit or two. By the time we got up there,
it was almost midnight and there was a full moon.
We were a mess, and starting to get a tad spooked,
although laughing. I took the lead as we stepped
out of the jeep and said, "If there's anybody here,
could you please make yourself known to us ..... IF
YOU THINK WE COULD HANDLE IT!" And with that, we
jumped back in the jeep and bolted back down the
mountain to the safety of our
cabins.
That
was the very last time I took a psychedelic drug
and will never take it again. I consider myself
lucky to have gotten through my late teen years,
having taken it over 100 times. The way I see it, I
was just too damn naive and too stupid to be
scared. It was like a cartoon to me. Funny
memories, but I'm lucky I didn't go crazy in the
process. Never again. You've heard stories of
people jumping off of buildings, thinking they
could fly. Some may discount that as being sheer
"bullshit," but to me, it's not that much of a
stretch to imagine someone "conceiving" the feel of
flying and thinking they could do it. It's a much
more powerful, mind-altering drug than MOST of the
public realized, then or now. Truly amazing, but
very dangerous and unpredictable in its lasting
effect. More than just a few of you know exactly
what I'm talking about. An entire generation,
really. Glorifying drug use is not why I'm writing
this book. I fear for my own children, that they
may fall prey to peer groups and the "current hip
thing to do." This is NOT an endorsement for
recreational drug use in any way. Just an old rock
dude remembering some of the ignorance of his
youth. Nothing more.
|
1974:
Caribou
Earlier
in the year, we added a new member, Dick Kell, to our road
crew. Dick is a wonderful human being, with a tender heart
and a great sense of humor. From time to time in your life,
you come across special people who stick out as a
particularly "good" person. Dick Kell is one of those
people. We had great times together. Here's a picture of him
preparing for his future as an old man by practicing a
"rocking chair sit-in" at Caribou Ranch. On the right: Dick
on the porch of his cabin at the ranch.
|
