The Doors Forum

Michael,

During your time with the band, what kind of presence did each member of the group have? By that I'll use the Who as an example: you had Townshend leaping about, windmilling on the guitar, Daltrey stomping and using the microphone as a lariat, Moon a lunatic on the drums and Entwistle a rock of sobriety in the madness about him. Did you have any element of showmanship in your performance or were you more of a "just take care of business" person on stage?

Actually, Love was pretty much cut from the same cloth as most of the bands from the mid-sixties (visually speaking). The Animals, The Kinks, Them, The Byrds...the members of those groups were serious musicians, and they, for the most part while on stage, just stood there and did their job of playing music.

I guess Johnny maybe did a little dance in place once in a while, or Arthur would step back from the mic to play the tambourine, then step back up to sing or play the harmonica, but that was about it.

The early Stones were like that as well. There was none of that running around the stage and flapping one's elbows and swinging the microphone by the cord, and the other flamboyant visual silliness that Mick and the others, engaged in later on. I guess The Who must have been the first band to employ that schtick. I know...somebody might say, "What about Bill Haley and the Comets, or Chuck Berry and his duckwalk, or Jerry Lee Lewis playing the piano with his shoes?" Nevertheless...never cared for it much myself. If you're a musician, just play the music.

Are there any incidents involving audience behavior or interaction with the band that are particularly memorable to you?

Well, Vito's dancer's got up on stage during a performance at the Hullabaloo around late-December of '66, and then again at the Hullabaloo, I think I already mentioned the guy was trying to shoot some footage of us near the end of the catwalk, but that got aborted, so... that's about all I can remember as far as audience interaction goes.

MichaelStuart-Ware wrote:Well, Vito's dancer's got up on stage during a performance at the Hullabaloo around late-December of '66, and then again at the Hullabaloo, I think I already mentioned the guy was trying to shoot some footage of us near the end of the catwalk, but that got aborted, so... that's about all I can remember as far as audience interaction goes.

I had read that Vito's dancers really got the Byrds crowds going. Were the Dancers loyal followers of Love or just anywhere there was a "happening"?
Were Vito's dancers associated more with one venue(s) or did they go up and down the strip?

I have the impression that one or two clubs encouraged them (paid them) to make appearances to give the impression it was THE place to be!

Were they ever shown the door for being too wild?

Follow up questions in keeping with fan interaction. In general terms, how would you describe a "LoVE" audience? Age range, racial makeup, were they "heads" or "squares", mostly male or female?

Also did you all do encores as a rule?

Vito's dance troupe appeared for the most part at Ciro's when The Byrds were playing. Only occasionally did I see them at other places, but I guess they could have shown up at the old Brave New World when Love was playing before I joined the group.

They were quite a spectacular sight indeed. Like you, I also heard they were paid to dance, as well they should have been.

Love audiences...mostly young and hip male and female. We never did encores that I can recall but if someone remembers otherwise, I stand corrected.