MY MAD SIX-YEAR RIDE WITH
STARK NAKED AND THE CAR THIEVES
through a magic rabbit hole of cultural change in the mid-sixties. A fantastic journey from the Midwest to northern California dive bars to Hollywood clubs and recording studios, and the rarified air of the biggest Las Vegas resort hotels. But most important to me were how my personal relationships, my loves and losses, my friends and band brothers changed me. We found ourselves continually bumping against history and memorable characters as "the times they were a'changing", and so was I...
- Larry J. Dunlap
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"This time Mona's dad put his shoulder into it, slamming the pistol across the top of the car seat and into the right side of Jan’s head... I didn't care about getting our recording contracts back anymore. I was pretty sure there was going to be a murder tonight and willing or not, I was going to end up being part of it. Wouldn't he have to kill me too ?"
More changes probably took place in American society during the 1960s than any other decade of the 20th century.
"SING IT, BABY, SING IT"
Grinning ear to ear the movie star yelled encouragement to Dave high above her. He was bracing himself to hit the big note near the end of "I've Got You Under My Skin" when Debbie Reynolds suddenly appeared below us in the new Neros Nook Lounge at Caesars Palace from a nearby aisle table. As Dave's rich tenor swept into his high, full-voice and then higher yet into a dramatic falsetto run, she reached up and tugged on the only part of him she could reach, his left pants leg just above a white patent leather boot. She shook it like a dog with a sock puppet. I was sure Dave was as astonished as the rest of us but he just closed his eyes, pushed the mic further up and out, leaned back and let those golden pipes rip."
"As the jet leapt up into the tropical sky
I looked down at my two hands cupped in front of me. With all that I’d endured, now I held those precious few hours we’d had last night like a little bird, delicate and quiet in my two hands. No sudden moves; don’t hold this fragile moment too tightly but don’t let it get away either. Here it was, the story book ending. After I’d given up all hope, here it was. Maybe it could happen in real life after all. Why not? If I could just hold it gently, quietly ..."
"It STArted with a drum beat
that Reno laid down. Reno's sense of time was often altered by mind-bending substances but this night Reno found a tempo that reached something primal, deep and sensual that would have gotten attention in an Amazonian jungle,...
Carlos found a playfully menacing counterpoint bass line and didn't overplay it, giving emotional direction to the pounding drums, ....
The sharp snick of Mickey's Fender Strat cut through to snuggle itself into the 2 and 4, solidifying the structure that Reno and Carlos created ....
The syncopation completed a rhythm track so powerful my heartbeat tried to escape the jail of ribs that encased it."
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Still Naked After All These Years
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