WEBVTT - Karla Bonoff 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:12.360 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to the Bob Left Sets podcast. For 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:15.760 those of you new to the show, I interview musicians, 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:18.640 tech stars, business people and hope to give you some 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:22.000 entertainment and some education at the same time. For those 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:25.240 who've been listening for a year already, you know the drill. 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:31.120 My guest today is songwriter and performer extraordinary Carla Bonoff. 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:33.720 I normally don't give a huge intro, but I'm going 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:36.720 to it this case. How did we know the name 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:42.320 Carla Bonoff? She wrote songs on the Linda Ronstad album 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:47.400 Hastened Down the Wind, and I moved to l a permanently. 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:49.960 I was here a little bit before that, but permanently 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:51.600 in the summer of seventy six, and I used to 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:54.400 go to this record store which no longer exists, called 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:58.319 Grammy and Granny Records in Westwood and one of the 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:01.320 benefits of living in Los Angeles as you could buy 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:05.640 promo records people cash them in. This is what it was, 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:08.760 still vinyl before CD. I get a few tales about 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:13.800 selling my promo c d s. But in the bin 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:17.800 I saw Carla's debut album. Okay, I still have it 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:19.560 with the price stick around it because I kept all 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:21.480 my vinyl. It could have been it was either a 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:24.040 dollar ninety nine or two forty seven. And I came 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:26.640 home and I played it. I loved it so much. 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:29.399 I literally went back and bought all the copies and 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:31.640 gave them to my friends. And I can tell you 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:35.840 story after story about turning people on to the first album. 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:38.640 In any event, Carla, glad to have you on the show. 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:41.800 Thank you. It's a privilege to be here. So how 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:47.120 did you get those tracks on the ron Stad album? Oh? Wow, 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:50.040 there's a lot of history. I mean, that's what the 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:54.000 shows about. Well, it really goes back to Kenny Edwards. Okay, 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:58.000 tell my audience who Kenny Edwards was an incredible musician 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:02.320 and songwriter. But he began in the Stone Ponies with 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:05.920 Linda Ronstep. So when Linda came out from Tucson with 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:08.799 Bobby Kimmel and they got together with Kenny and they 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:12.720 formed that band. So I met Kenny right after the 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:17.000 Stone Ponies broke up and we started our own band 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:20.920 with Wendy Waldman and myself and Andrew gold Um called Brindle. 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:24.720 So we got signed to A and M. We made 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:29.000 a record they dropped us, which fell apart, and Kenny 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:31.280 and Andrew went back and started playing in Linda's band. 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:34.480 Right about the time she was really hitting it big 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:38.200 with that heart like a will. So Kenny would go 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:41.200 off on these tours and I would I was writing, 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:44.560 and I would give him cassettes and you know, hey, 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:48.320 maybe just put this in Linda's person Um, nothing would 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:50.520 ever happened really with it. And then when one day 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:52.359 called me up, he goes. You know, I decided maybe 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:55.400 if I just picked up a guitar and played the 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:59.400 song for her myself, um, and she would hear it, 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:01.360 and he did, added a sound check, he played her 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:05.600 Lose Again and she totally loved it, and they learned 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:09.320 it right there and it was in the show. And 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:11.840 so they came back to play the universal lamphitheater. She 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:15.360 was playing like twelve nights. That was the day before. 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:19.240 There was a roof before they down, and yeah, that 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:22.640 was a fun that was a fun run. But that's 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:27.399 when she started doing them. So that's lose Again, did three? 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:31.600 She did if He's Ever? So she was getting ready 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:35.160 to make the next record. I guess um hastened down 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.000 the wind. So then then she asked me if I 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:40.640 had more so. Then I just started, well, how about 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:42.680 this one? How about this one? So that's how it 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:46.160 ended up being three once I think her mind kind 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:49.440 of opened up to the idea. Then she then all 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:53.160 of a sudden it was three. And it was kind 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:54.800 of weird for me because I was getting ready to 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:56.600 make my own record too. I didn't have a whole 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:59.360 lot of other songs. Those are my good songs, so 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:01.920 we can talk about that. But I ended up recording 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:04.440 them all those same three songs, right right, And I 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:07.160 think your versions are much better. Usually the person who 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:10.800 wrote the song add something extra that someone does not. 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:14.960 But without making it about Ronstad, how did you feel, 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:17.400 I mean, this is a totally different era. There are 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:20.400 many fewer records out. Linda Ronstadt one of the biggest 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:23.919 acts in the country, and she's going to record your tracks. 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:27.240 In an addition, you're gonna get paid. So what was 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:29.760 going on in your brain? Well, I mean it was 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:32.840 huge for me because I'd been, you know, playing with 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.719 my sister and playing in Brindle and playing the troubadour, 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.200 and I mean I've been out there for ten years really, 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:42.640 from the time I was fifteen till maybe twenty five. 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:46.000 When this happened just you know, not going to college, 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:48.520 trying to make a living. So it was like an 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:52.479 overnight for me, like three songs on that album. You're right, 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.240 I mean not only the recognition, but the fact that 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:58.320 I would suddenly probably make like a serious amount of 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:01.400 money from Okay, So how long did it take to 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:05.599 see a check after the album came out? Trying to 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:08.880 remember it takes a while, I know, That's why I'm 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:11.839 asked you. Yeah, probably a year. Okay. So when the 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:16.000 money came in, did you treat yourself to anything? Well, 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.839 I actually had a business manager who was also Linda's 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:21.320 business manager, and he said to me, you you need 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:24.919 to either buy a house or invest your money or 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:27.520 do something because otherwise Uncle Sam's just gonna take it. 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:30.760 And he was a great business manager. And so I 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:33.800 bought my first house, which I lived in for twenty 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:38.400 one years. So where was that house in the Hollywood Hills? Okay? 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:40.440 And now you live in Santa Barbara. I think that's 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:43.279 a well known fact. We're not going to give the street. Um, 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:45.479 did you move from Hollywood Santa Barbara? Was there some 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:48.400 place in between? Now? I moved straight from twenty one 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:51.039 years in the Hollywood Hills to Santa Barbara. What was 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:55.640 the decision there? The decision, I think was the fact 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.400 that A the music business was not really you know, 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:02.839 centered here, and I was touring mostly, and I realized 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.320 I can't fly from anywhere. I don't have to live 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.679 here to go on the road. And I think also 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:12.160 the traffic had gotten so bad that I wasn't leaving 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:15.040 my house. I was stuck in my house except for 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:18.479 maybe these these hours between eleven and one where you 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:21.920 could go out. And and I just went, why am 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:23.720 I doing this? I don't need to live here. I 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:28.200 don't have a job here. Um, And I was tired. 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:30.560 You know, I'm born and raised here. I wanted to 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:33.400 live somewhere different, never lived. So how many years ago 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:36.800 did you move to bar Twenty years ago? Now? Okay, 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.080 and that worked for you. You were glad about the position. 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.200 I wish I'd done it sooner. Okay, let's go back 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:45.080 to the beginning. You're born and raised here where West 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:47.599 l A West? I mean for those of us, I 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:50.560 literally live in West l A. So we're in West 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:52.159 l A right New u c. L A. On a 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:56.039 street called Warner Avenue. Okay, I don't I can't I 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:57.520 know the street. Where is that? You know, we're a 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:01.839 Hillgard Avenue of course, so it's Hillgard comes down to Wilshire, 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:07.880 it turns kind of into Warner exactly for those people 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:10.280 don't know. It just really right up beside U C. 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:13.160 L A. So in Westwood, which, of course, in the 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:15.880 seventies was the hippest place in l A. And I 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:19.720 was a ghost top really well. When my parents bought 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:25.160 this house in the you know, in the fifties or forties. Um, 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:26.880 you know, it was a little college town. It was 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:30.080 a sleeping college town. You know, they wanted to live 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:34.240 there because it was quiet. Okay, let's stay there. Your 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:36.760 parents or your father did what for a living? My 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:41.840 father was a radiologist, okay, and so was my grandfather. 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:46.440 My grandfather, Um, was the first radiologist in Los Angeles, 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:51.160 actually first radio has doctors didn't specialize then, they were 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:55.520 general practitioners. So he went to USC and and actually 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:59.640 specialized in being a radiologist. This is your grandfather, my grandfather, 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:04.160 and and your father followed in his footsteps. And okay, 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:07.840 so it's married to your mother. Did your parents stay married? Yeah? Okay? 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:10.400 And how many kids too? I have an older sister, 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:12.440 an older sister, what's she up to or what it 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:14.720 was her life about? Um? She and I played music 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:19.080 together a lot and starting as teenagers. Um. And then 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:21.480 she decided she didn't really like it that much, so 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:23.960 she went back to school and got a PhD at 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:27.360 U c l A. And what in history of religions? 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:30.920 And what was your career if if there was one 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:35.319 after the PPD ended up teaching college. Okay, so you're there. 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:40.040 And did your parents make you take piano lessons? And yeah, yeah, 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:44.800 every young Jewish kid has certainly did. So what age 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:48.720 did you start at? Young? Like five six seven? We 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:53.120 had a very strict Russian piano teacher and that was 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:59.040 your parents idea, not your idea, okay? And did you practice? Yeah? 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:02.640 I did, but it was she expected a lot like 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:06.320 two three hours of practicing reading music, And so I 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:10.000 developed a definite distaste for it, and and finally rebelled 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:12.920 and went, I don't want to do this anymore. After 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:15.240 how many years, after three or four? I think by 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:17.120 the time I was eight or nine, I was no, 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:19.400 I don't want to do that. And did you give 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:21.840 up music completely playing music at that point? No? I 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:26.120 played clarinet in school. Yeah, and like yeah, in sixth 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:28.360 grade orchestra. Do you think you could still play it? 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:32.480 I don't know, okay, sexually. And when you go to 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:36.440 school where? I went to school at University Elementary School, 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:38.320 which was part of u c l A, which was 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:43.000 kind of an experimental grammar school, very liberal arts oriented, 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:47.000 lots of music and art. Um. I love that. Um, 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:49.000 it's on the campus of u c l A. Really, 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:52.200 And then I went into public school, which was horrible 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.640 from where where was high school? University High School right 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.400 in West l A, where a lot of musicians actually 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:02.000 went both before and after you. Okay, so you're in 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:04.880 your house now. It's hard for me to view this 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:08.520 through the eyes of a woman, But in my era 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:14.480 were very similar ages. Um, you got a transistor radio, okay, 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:18.000 which was a really big deal. And when you were 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:22.280 a boy, you listened to sports first. So were you 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:26.080 a radio listener? Were you addicted in that way? Yeah? 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:29.280 I remember having that transistor radio and listening to kf 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:32.959 W B B Mitchell read. But B Mitchell Read late 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:35.840 at night would play things like the Stone Ponies. That's 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:38.480 where I was hearing music like that. Okay, But what 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:41.520 you're I mean, let's let's go back before when the 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:45.480 Beatles hit in sixty four. Are you listening to the radio. 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:47.280 Are you up on popular music? Or is that a 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:51.160 turning point? Oh? Yeah, I was listening to all of it. Basically, 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:55.160 Beatles and Motown on transistor radio was a k h J. 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:59.720 I'm trying to remember definitely, But before that, because they're 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:03.040 really was Beatlemania where a beat you a big music 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:07.480 popular music fan. Well, I'm trying to place my years, 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:10.040 but I mean, what would what would have been before that? 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:12.360 I think, well, that was like the Four Seasons, the 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:16.439 Beach Boys. Yeah, I mean whatever was on the radio, 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:19.880 we were absorbing. So you were definitely hooked on the radio. 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:24.800 And at what point does it cross your mind, WHOA, 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.880 I want to do this for a living? Well, see 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:31.920 that's a guitar lessons and that kind of well a 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.000 little bit slower, right. You gave up the piano after throw, 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:38.320 I gave a piano. I played violin and clarinet, and 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:41.839 I finally picked up a nylon string. That's how it 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:48.960 all started, a harmony nylon string from Westwood Music, and um, 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:51.200 you know it just sort of rang about for me. 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:54.679 I got that and so when in this history because 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:58.000 we had a nylon string guitar in the house that 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:01.160 we didn't play during the folk era prior to the Beatles, 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:03.560 and then after the Beatles we started playing that and 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:05.800 then went to electrics whatever. So did you get your 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:08.880 folk guitar to play Beatles songs? Or we were playing 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:12.400 you know, we were playing folk music, folk music, Train 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:16.480 Puff the Magic Dragon right right right. It was Peter 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:21.120 Paul and Mary was sort of early music. Yeah, and 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:24.560 five Miles and all that other stuff. So you got 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:27.160 the guitar from Westwood Music? Howd you learn how to 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:30.360 play it? I ha got guitar lessons, but I taught 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.600 myself a lot by ear. I remember just having the 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:36.480 turntable and like putting on the Peter Paul and Mary 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:39.679 record and just you know, learning how to play it. 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.720 I just could figure it out. Okay. At this point, 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:45.440 do you feel okay? You said you played music with 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:48.600 your sister. Was she playing the guitar too? We were 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:52.720 both playing Okay. But outside of the house where you 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:54.400 had did you have a lot of friends who were 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:58.680 also into playing music? No? No, this was my I 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:00.440 would just get my school work done and then go 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:05.600 into my own head and that was my escape. So 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:08.280 so you were really dedicated. You would really sit there 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:10.960 with the records, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. It was the only 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:14.280 thing that held my attention really, and maybe because public 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:18.000 school was so bad, we didn't have great teachers. But 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:21.880 and then I was fortunate enough I kind of outgrew 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:24.679 this guitar teacher. I had Prayabe when I was thirteen 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.480 or fourteen, and she said, I don't think I can 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:29.400 teach you anything else. I think you need to go 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:32.440 to the fellow that taught me. Who was this guy 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:36.400 Frank Hamilton's. It was in the Weavers and taught right 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:39.400 around the corner from here. Were in downtown Hollywood now 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:42.800 Barney Kestle's Music World, which is at the Yucca and 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.560 Vine Street I heard about. I've never been there before 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:47.959 my time. L It was a music store and then 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:52.280 little cubicles with guitar teachers. So Frank, of course was 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:57.240 just what an amazing talent. And you talk about learning 0:13:57.360 --> 0:13:59.600 the real folk music, you know, he was teaching me 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:02.640 those arrangements from the Weavers. That's where I learned the 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:06.160 waters wide and Okay, so you govern the guitar lesson 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:09.360 traditionally half an hour you call them. You really practice. 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:15.120 This was your thing, okay, and at what point a 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:17.480 do you think, well, this could be a career path. 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:20.800 You know, what happened was I started I don't know why, 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:24.480 I just started writing melodies and music. I wasn't writing lyrics. 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:28.760 My sister was really into poetry, so and we were 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:31.760 both playing acoustic guitar. So we decided, I think this 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:35.120 was right about when Joni Mitchell's first came, right that 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:38.960 we wanted to make music like that. So we started 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:42.160 trying to write songs like that. Okay. For those of 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:45.240 us who grew up outside of Los Angeles, California was 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:49.000 a dream. Okay. We had the Beach Boys, we had 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:51.240 all these other things. We watched all the shows made 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:55.720 in southern California. Now, were you here realizing that you 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:58.280 were at the epicenter of the scene, that the acts 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:01.840 were in Laurel Canyon and you go see in the clubs, etcetera. 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:03.640 You know, when you're in the middle of it, you 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:07.520 don't you don't see that. Of course, looking back now, 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:10.520 it's like insane when I think about all the music 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:13.160 I could go here, and what was happening at the 0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:16.040 troubudaor I mean, it's crazy that we could see Joni 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:19.240 Mitchell play for two weeks, two sets at night in 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:21.520 the Tribute or a hundred and fifty people in there. 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:23.960 But I mean it never occurred to me. What's it 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:28.280 like growing up in somewhere in Michigan. I had no idea. Okay, 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:31.240 so you're playing guitar with your sister. At what point 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:34.120 do you start going out to hear in music? Well, 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:36.160 we were already going out to hear music. I mean 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:38.720 we were going to the Tributor every chance we could 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:40.920 get to. Okay, people, this was now you had to 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:43.040 driver's license or how did you get that? She did? 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:45.720 She would drive us. Okay, So you would go to 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:49.240 the Troubadoor. Where else would you go? We went to 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:52.320 the Tribuador God. We would go to the Santa Monica Civic. 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:56.280 They were concerts there. There was this um place called 0:15:56.320 --> 0:15:59.680 the Valley Music Theater that turned into a Jehovah's Witnesses 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:04.120 that had like we see the Doors and Jefferson Airplane. There. 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:07.320 There was a place that Cheetah on the Venice Pier 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:10.560 that had like the same kind of acts. Um the 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:15.120 Hullabaloo here in Hollywood. UM had a revolving stage that 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:17.320 would go around and they would switch the band so 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.600 it'd be like Neil Diamond and then the stage would turn. 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:23.680 It would be Iron Butterfly, and then the stage would 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:27.640 turn and it would be UM the Sunshine Company. I 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:30.360 mean all those groups. And okay, so you went with 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:32.560 your sister, But was there a whole group of girls 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:34.760 who would go with these shows that you would know 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:37.040 or just the two of you? It was just us, 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:40.000 but we met people. We met other people like in 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:43.480 the Troubadour who were doing the same thing we were doing. 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:47.160 And there were a lot of people on those Monday nights. Okay, 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:50.320 well from my audience talked about Monday night. UM. During 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.720 the week the Troubador had national acts like James Taylor, 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.920 Joni Mitchell. Earlier than that, we went to see people 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:01.440 like Joe and Eddie and Buffy st re right right right, 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.800 you know, Um Joe and Eddio from Toronto. Bob ezbrind 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:06.679 goes on to me all the time I had had 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:08.320 a dial them up on the internet. I've never even 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.360 heard of them. Yeah, so there were acts like that. 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:14.840 I remember Tim Buckley was of course one of the 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:17.840 great albums. Yeah, and Robert Klein would open for Tim Buckley. 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:22.639 Really they always would have comedians. So I'm trying to 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:24.720 think of all the people we would go see everything 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:28.399 that was happening there. Um. So you're in terms of money, 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:30.560 you're in my family. If it was had to do 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:33.639 with the arts, there was unlimited money. And in terms 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:37.360 of going to the show, where did the money come from? 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:39.920 Your allowance or your parents? Dug into the roll and 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:43.399 thought about that. I guess it wasn't expensive to go 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:46.800 to the True Door. It probably was like six dollars 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:49.720 or five dollars to get in there. I think we 0:17:49.800 --> 0:17:52.400 never had any trouble getting in there. Okay, so it's 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:56.720 Monday night is hoot night. Monday night was whot night. Um. 0:17:56.840 --> 0:18:00.280 And maybe there were four or five slots in that 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:02.920 you could get on, just to be clear, because I 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:06.520 was this is before my time, so there were only 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:09.720 four or five acts a night. Well, I think that 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:13.359 the record companies maybe would put acts on for just 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:17.439 those of us who were connected to anything there. The 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:18.720 way you had to do it was you had to 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:21.600 line up at the box office, um, and wait for 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:23.280 them to open the window and then if you were 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:26.000 one of the first four to sign up, you could 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:29.840 get on. So I would literally cut school. I would 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:33.120 climb over the fence at Uni, go to the troubador 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.600 and then sit there in that little alcove in the 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:39.280 window and and get my sister and I on to 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:42.679 that thing, you know. And it was terrifying. I was 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:46.400 so afraid doing them. But I mean, Jackson Brown would 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:49.159 be doing them more every now and then somebody like 0:18:49.240 --> 0:18:51.360 Neil Young would just come and doing for fun. I mean. 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:53.560 And in those days that the you know, the bar 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:57.560 was on the inside and record company people were there, 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:01.200 and it was scary because a lot of people would 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:03.320 see you. Okay, so do you remember what year you 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:09.360 first appeared? Um? I was sixteen, so probably, um, sixty 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:13.920 nine maybe, Okay, so you're there. Are you any good 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:16.919 the first time? I don't think so. I mean, I 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:20.879 think my sister and I had some promise we could play, 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:24.560 and I think I was writing some interesting music, but um, 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:28.800 I wasn't singing well and we were very young. Really, 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:32.200 you would you bill yourself as the daughters of Chester 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:37.560 p What does that mean? My dad was Chester Paul 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:39.879 bon Off. So we came up with that name for 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:44.200 because Lisa and Carlos seemed stupid. So okay, so how 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:48.159 many times do you do that? At the Troubadoor? We 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:50.760 did them a lot. We also went down to Pasadena 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:54.720 and did the ice House. We did that. There was 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:57.240 a little restaurant in Santa Monica called the Attica. We 0:19:57.280 --> 0:19:59.959 would get up and play there. Um. One of our 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:03.359 very first I told the story the other night um 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:05.840 jobs that we got was at this club called Artie 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:09.480 Fat Buckles, which was at Sunset and Gardener, down some 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:13.720 little steps and we got hired. And the people that 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:16.240 hired us said, you'll be opening for these two guys. 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:20.919 Their name is Long Branch Penny was and we were 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:24.719 like who Um, So we walking in there was JD. Southern, 0:20:24.800 --> 0:20:34.080 Glenn Fry twenty three and nineteen. Now you're there and 0:20:34.119 --> 0:20:36.159 you're having these Are you I hate to use the 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:39.520 modern term, but I will anyway. Are you networking with people? 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:41.679 Are you saying are you just waiting for things to 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:46.199 come to you? I don't think anybody was thinking I wasn't. 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:50.080 We were just excited to be playing there, and I 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:54.560 think to be just in the environment. Um. When Jackson 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:56.600 would get up and play a new song. It would 0:20:56.640 --> 0:20:59.200 just be amazing to me. I mean, I don't think 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:01.840 I was really thinking about getting a record del yet. 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:05.720 I was just feeling whether that could be something I 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:10.720 could actually do. Um. We did ultimately make a demo 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:14.560 for Electra. I still have a coffee of it. It's 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:18.439 pretty My sister and I did. We got um. I 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:22.480 went to school with Jim Densmore, who was John Densmore's 0:21:22.520 --> 0:21:25.639 younger brother, and some have the Doors of the Doors. 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:33.320 John got us an audition UM with David Andrew Ley. Yes, 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:35.600 so we went in and they had us go in 0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:40.399 the studio and play our repertoire live just you know. 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:42.200 So I actually have a tape of us playing that 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:46.520 and laughing and being embarrassed. And we didn't get signed. 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:49.320 But what do you remember what they said to not 0:21:49.400 --> 0:21:52.679 make a deal. He said that we needed to remember this, 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:54.600 that we were too young and we needed to go 0:21:54.600 --> 0:21:57.000 out and live a little, and we were just we 0:21:57.000 --> 0:22:00.399 were horrified. Okay, now what comes to time to go 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:04.280 to college and you come from a family of radiologists, 0:22:04.960 --> 0:22:11.280 how does that go down? Not? Well? Not well? Um, 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:13.320 they just said to me, we would like you to 0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:15.359 try to at least go. I got into u c 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:19.760 l A. Um, go to college just for one semester, okay, 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:24.320 but when did you decide you weren't going well, I didn't. 0:22:24.440 --> 0:22:26.840