Michael Stuart-Ware (drummer on LoVE's classic albums Da Capo and Forever Changes) and Johnny Echols (lead guitarist and co-founder of LoVE) have joined us here on the Forum to answer your questions about their time with LoVE.At this moment they are not active as members and are not answering questions but I'm proud to have them both aboard at The Freedom Man Forum!
Michael was happy for me to share this email....I asked him about his gigs at the Fillmore West--
Santa Monica Auditorium gig a week before Love appeared at Fillmore WEST
I know it's strange to think that there are no tapes of early Love, but it was a time pre-Woodstock...slightly before music fans began to think of live rock performances as something that should be preserved on tape or film for eternity. They were there to just have a good time. I remember the Fillmore West gig when I was still with the Sons of Adam really well, right down to where we stayed (with some cool people in an old apartment in the Haight) Kenny [Forssi of LoVE] spent the night there with us too, for some reason. He was sleeping on the floor and he woke up the next morning and said, "Man, my lungs feel like they've been to a barbeque." Chet Helms was there the night before. He was smoking opium with another guy from a big long pipe. Dipped a stick into a small jar then wiped the opium over a tiny bowl. He offered some to Randy [Holden] and Randy said "No". The Sons of Adam didn't even drink booze.
When I was with Love we stayed at The Richelieu. Much more upscale. Even had a coffee shop.
Take care, Michael
Last edited by jamestkirk on Wed Nov 30, 2011 6:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music".
Thank you jtk and Michael for sharing. It must have been some culture shock going from the relatively staid SOA to Love. Alas, nobody really did know how important rock would become hence not much recording, but I think it was correctly stated that the lack of documentation was part of the freewheeling attitude of the times. What was produced still soars way above any other era.
That is a great pic. Must be JLH/Revelation being performed. Interesting to see the audience; they are packed like sardines, particularly up front.
What's interesting to me is that when we ask our favorite musicians about a certain show from those days, we are interested in the music because we have no live LOVE documents. But the answer many times from the performers like Michael, invariably, ends up being about events surrounding the shows....such as the ones Michael related. That's what sticks i guess--the times, the people, the friends and the smoke filled rooms!
The music?....it was just another show--- no matter how fun, it was always the venue, the hotel stay, the people they hung with that marked the day...
"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music".
