If you have been following my blogs, you will know that I hold the late 60's as the pinnacle of creative genius. For my parent's it was the big band era of Benny Goodman and Glen Miller, a clear second, preceded by the classics of the 19th century. There were many roots and influences that brought forth the 60's including gospel, bluegrass and the early blues and rock from the deep south. Folk merged with the bluegrass of the Weaver's and the post-war music of America was predominantly feel good sounds, other than the emerging jazz fusion and avant guard movements.
i was there in the 60's and witnessed both the British Invasion and the major American Rock influence on the whole of society. My first concert was the concert debut of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. I would attend around 100 major concerts in my youth. CSNY would remain one of my very favorite bands, and I would develop a friendship with Graham Nash in the late 70's. In the late 60's and early 70's my favorites would include Pink Floyd, the Doors, Joni Mitchell, Carol King, Frank Zappa, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jackson Brown and the Eagles. What I didn't realize was how close I once lived to all of these favorites.
I was recruited and played football in college east of LA in '71 and '72. Only a year earlier the Manson murders occurred not too far from campus, and Frank Zappa, living 45 miles away in Laurel Canyon would teach at one of our combined campuses in 70-71. It turns out that Laurel Canyon was one of the most fertile communities for the American folk/rock movement of the 60's. David Crosby, Jim Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raite, Linda Ronstadt, Graham Nash, Carol King and members of the beach boy's, the eagles and the monkeys owned homes or rented apartments in this small canyon community. After the Manson murder's (Charles Manson played in an early band called the Grass Roots), and an invasion of a new breed of self absorbed youth, the migration began, with my friend Graham Nash buying a Victorian in San Francisco, having to evict the 17 people who were living there at the time (a little clean up as well). Frank Zappa held on for many years, but the rise and fall of Laurel Canyon was less than a decade, though the music that was created there will remain for our lifetimes and those of our children.
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