The Seed That Grows

During the summer of 1970, I was floating through a purple haze in and around Ojai, California, camouflaged as a long-haired, pot-smokin, Ripple-drinkin, acid-droppin, skinny, goateed hippie.  A bunch of us lived together in a big old house with our mentor, “John With The Beard,” who provided the required sustenance.  Some of us worked at John’s company, Gladstone Electronics, as a form of payment, and had formed the Gladstone Blues Band.

The band played irregularly around town, usually gratis, although we did actually get paid for playing a couple of times at The Ojai Club.  We often played at parties, usually receiving payment in the form of various mind-altering chemicals.  During one of our many nonworking spells, our lead guitar player, Norm Lowe, came to me with a proposal.  He had been commissioned by a young (19) local girl to help with a fascinating project.

Sue Eakins had enlisted some friends (Phil Wilson on bass, Dick Muldoon on congas, and Norm) to help her record an album.  She was working with Dean Thompson, who had a pretty sophisticated multi-track recording studio set up in his garage.  He lived out of town in a big house on Hendrickson Road, hence the name of this album.  But Norm felt that congas as rhythm were limiting the capabilities of the band, and that an official drummer (me) should be involved.  Sue was convinced, and therefore Mr. Muldoon’s contribution to the album was limited to one song, “That’s All There Ever Was.”

And so began one of the most exciting and enjoyable experiences of my life.  Sue (who spelled her name “Akins” on the album to indicate the correct pronunciation) had written a number of songs, and wanted a backup band on some of them – and that band became Phil, Norm and I.   

The experience was doubly fascinating for me, being the techno-geek that I am.  I had always been interested in stereo / hi-fi / recording.  Dean Thompson was agreeable to allowing my assistance in mixing some of the cuts.  You can hear me putting in my two cents worth on Dick Muldoon’s conga as it floats from left to right on Track 9.  We all had a lot of fun and satisfaction in assembling the various songs, each of us suggesting and developing new ideas.  Norm came up with some interesting arrangements, such as the 4/4 – 3/4 time changes on Track 7, “Tomorrow Your Sorrow”.  Sue performs solo on five of the songs using multi-tracking to generate harmonies and several guitars, including an autoharp on Track 10.  Listen closely to my favorite, her sweet and haunting “Helping Hand” – the harmonies are breathtaking.  The band joins her on six cuts, and I even got to play piano on “Sunny Day Rain.”  

Using various forms of whining, Norm and I convinced Sue to allow us to record one number of our own.  She relented, and Track 11, “Yesircantoo” was hatched.  Phil Wilson was replaced by Norm’s brother Curt on bass, and we added Ken Rose on sax.  It’s a complex and interesting song that was great fun to record.  There’s a story behind the “HEY” heard at the beginning of the song. I was renting a room at the time from a woman in Ojai, and we had all set up our equipment in her house to create / rehearse our song.  We had decided to open with a drum shot, then begin the song.  The lady was in the room at the time (undoubtedly worried about her possessions), and when I hit the snare, she leapt three feet and shouted “Hey!”  She beat a hasty retreat; her comment remained.

That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it ... DON MENDRO