The Queen of Laurel Canyon

Punk Rock Colleague & Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

Nilsson was concerned about letting the flat to Moon, believing it was cursed. Townshend disagreed, assuring him that “lightning wouldn’t strike the same place twice”.[149]

Viewing an episode of Carol Bennett at bedtime as part of my humorous dissent into the world of dreamland. I saw one with Mama Cass. I always love seeing her cameos. It dawned on me of how she died. Or so I was told years ago that made me sad.

Was told she died while eating a chicken [ham] sandwich. She choked to death.

That haunted me many a night. Yet I felt a strange awareness to look it up on my hand-held device of vast knowledge, or at least a place to find original sources.

And so, this triangular story emerged to my strange delight. A relationship between three talented artists that ran over a few generations, but which music still fills me with joy.

As those who grew up as a Generation Jones type of character within our moving along culture, these three artists have made an impact on us personally and or collectively.

When all we had were a few radio or TV channels to engage us. Or the local record store head shop, where we could spend our pennies.

I was easier then and we kind of were all on the same wavelength. Hidden and curious of what was going on around us. In tune with the songs often easy to hear everywhere.

I am touched by the intimacy which Harry Nilsson shared with both Keith Moon and Mama Cass. Like many popular and successful artists who get to travel the world but seem to navigate in the same hubs.

The narrative is well-documented and frankly it is something I just found out about a few days ago out of a flash of insight now backed up by the facts.

So, this Thanksgiving I am remembering and saying thank you to Mama Cass, Harry Nilsson, and Keith Moon. Three ghosts that came to visit who inspired generations with their songs. They are continuing on.

I am surprised to find out that Harry Nilsson ended up living in Agoura Hills California. Right down the 101 Hwy from my home town of West Hills. Which makes this story a little more special to me.

“Elliot retired to an apartment in Mayfair at Curzon Place at which singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson allowed her to stay. Several hours after Elliot left Jack Martin’s cocktail party, she died in her sleep at age 32.

According to Keith Simpson, who conducted her autopsy,[35] she died of a heart attack, and there were no drugs in her system.[38][39][40] Elliot died in Flat 12, 9 Curzon Place (later Curzon Square), Shepherd Market, Mayfair, London, owned by Harry Nilsson.

Four years later, The Who’s drummer Keith Moon died in the same bedroom, also aged 32 years.[41][42][43].”

Mama Cass, The Queen of Laurel Canyon [1]

(Passed away at aged 32) Mama Cass, July 29, 1974 Mayfair, London, England

“But you gotta make your own kind of music

Sing your own special song

Make your own kind of music

Even if nobody else sings along.”

~ Make Your Own Kind of Music, Cass Elliot

Keith Moon

(Passed away aged 32) Keith Moon, 7 September 1978, Mayfair, London, England

“I know there’s a place you walked

Where love falls from the trees

My heart is like a broken cup

I only feel right on my knees

I spit out like a sewer hole

Yet still receive your kiss

How can I measure up to anyone now

After such a love as this?”

~ Peter Townshend / The Who

Harry Nilsson

(Passed away aged 52) Harry Nilsson, January 15, 1994 Agoura Hills, California, U.S.

“Me and my Arrow

(Doodle-dee-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo)

Straighter than narrow

Wherever we go

Everyone knows

It’s me and my Arrow.”

~ Harry Nilsson

I was age 16. I grew up with her voice on the radio.

I was 20 years old just entering the punk scene.

34 with a two-year-old son when Nilsson passed away. Here is a fun LP that he did with John Lennon.

Original source.

[1] “‘There Was No Doubt Gertrude Stein Had Come Back to Life.'”. Amontheradio.com. Retrieved June 11, 2021.

[35] Baker, Rob (January 4, 2020). “The Death of Cass Elliot and Keith Moon at Harry Nilsson’s Macabre Mayfair Flat”. Flashbak.com. Retrieved June 11, 2021.

[38][39][40] Elliot-Kugell, Owen. “Biography”. The Official Cass Elliot Website. Richard Barton Campbell & Owen Elliot-Kugell. Retrieved August 28, 2016.

“Cass Elliot, Pop Singer, Dies; Star of the Mamas and Papas”. The New York Times. July 30, 1974. Retrieved June 20, 2008.

“Cass Elliot’s Death Linked to Heart Attack”. The New York Times. August 6, 1974. Archived from the original (paid archive) on December 9, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2008.

[41][42][43] Wilkes, Roger (February 17, 2001). “Inside story: 9 Curzon Place”. The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2011.

“Shepherd Market History”. Shepherdmarket.co.uk. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved September 27, 2011.

West, Rachel (July 29, 2020). “Mama Cass Of The Mamas & The Papas Did Not Die By Choking On A Ham Sandwich, According To Obit Writer”. ET Canada. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020. Retrieved July 20, 2023.

[149] Townshend 2012, p. 268.

To find and seek, not so much anymore.

Dionysian Hollyhock and Morning Glory

I am saturated

Full of life

Books read

Music

And words.

I don’t need

To find and seek

I found so much

Already…

My garage is full

I am content.

I don’t need to see bands

So much anymore.

I don’t need more than a pint.

I eat half of my food

It all is neat

How more clearer life is

I love to create

My passion is

But not filled with crazy hormones.

My anger is full

At injustice

But the seesaw will

Always go this way or that.

To D. Ecstasy ….

Jenn

Je Souhaite, Episode aired May 14, 2000

The X-Files

Jenn (played by Paula Sorge) was the name given to a very powerful jinniyah by Fox Mulder in 2000.

Jinni money

“That’s the price that we all pay

And the value of destiny comes to nothing

I can’t tell you where we’re going

I guess there was just no way of knowing.”

Today I believe I am the jenii out of an episode of the X-Files.

A couple of weeks earlier I found forty bucks rolled up on the ground.

Today sitting in my local pub, I watched the world go by. I just received my 5^th Covid-19 vaccine from Kaiser.

“Mulder: What would your wish be if you were in my place?

Jenn: I’m not you. It doesn’t matter.

Mulder: No, but I just, you know, I’d like to know.

Jenn: I wish that I’d never heard the word “wish” before. I’d wish that I could live my life moment by moment, enjoying it for what it is instead of worrying about what it isn’t. I’d sit down somewhere with a great cup of coffee, and I’d watch the world go by.”

A freedom. No phone.

My Nutty Burnett

A Pint instead of a coffee.

What is on my mind are all the ugly apartments built along the streets.

The San Fernando Valley is a mixture of apartments, the homeless and cars.

A strange hopelessness is in the fast air.

A cruelty place where there are too many manifesting cars. No planning, just more building.

Across from the old Rocketdyne is a homeless camp. In the far-flung distance one sees the massive apartment building just built during a pandemic and drought here in California.

Out of reach for these homeless people. Apartments built that no one is leasing.

So, I finished my free meal today, a pint of beer and appetizer of Ahi Poke paid for by jinni money.

“I used to think that the day would never come

I’d see delight in the shade of the morning sun

My morning sun is the drug that brings me near

To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear

I used to think that the day would never come.

That my life would depend on the morning sun.”

This is dedicated to Jenn… thank you.

Heavy Receptivity Octopus Rock

Punk Rock Colleague & Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

Revealing Art form The netherworld… captured by Hudley.

“What is underway is a Plutonian process of change at a cellular level. Kali, the Great Dark Mother, demands that here and now we have the strength to be with what is. To learn radical receptivity to darkness.

Pluto brings to the surface ideas and attitudes that are past their expiration date in order for them to be let go- that is the matrix of transformation and regeneration.”

– LORNA BEVAN MA

http://www.hareinthemoonastrology.co.uk

Tonight is a heavy night… so these three songs bobbed up from my subconscious… and floating there… my dance tonight about the dark night…

“The subterranean is a bottomless pit
The vinyl vultures are after it
Moulten lava, sulphur vapours
Smoulder on to obligerate us.”

“You’ve got me pretty deep, baby
Can’t figure out your watery love
I gotta solve your mystery
Sitting it out in heaven above”

“Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow”

Pluto Love

In my neighborhood I know of a place

I know of a place,

In my neighborhood,

Where the Goddess is.

A tall cypress tree,

Taller than a mature,

California Palm tree.

It’s tip top,

Into the heavens,

As I perceive also,

The God Attis plays,

As the fulfillment of nature.

Freedom and beauty,

As you look up up,

From a distance.

Dark sparkling perfume,

Glowing green,

Weaving and mingling,

With the wild ivy,

Filled with blooms,

Small blossoms,

Circular and pointed,

Illuminated and clothed by bees,

Humming is the swarm,

Of their glories,

Their love bees.

Praying Mantis Sacred

Love Is a Burning Thing.

Punk Rock Colleague & Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

“Ring of Fire” is a song made popular by Johnny Cash when it appeared on his 1963 album Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash. Written by Cash’s eventual second wife, June Carter Cash, and Merle Kilgore, it was originally recorded as “(Love’s) Ring of Fire” by June’s sister, Anita Carter, on her 1963 album Folk Songs Old and New.

The taste of love is sweet
When hearts like ours meet
I fell for you like a child
Oh, but the fire went wild

I fell in to a burning ring of fire
Went down, down, down
And the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire.

A couple days ago while moving from the garage to the house while setting up Halloween decorations husband announced

“Watch out see the small lizard?”
I looked down and saw a very small one with a very long tail. It had a reddish orange line on its back and knew I was seeing a salamander.

Symbolically bringing up the mythology of fire. Then I thought about the Annular Eclipse this October 14, 2023. Well, that is a nice synchronicity.

I don’t know about you reader, but yes, I have been very emotional fiery the last few weeks. Wars and politics on the world stage can fire us all up.

Ring of Fire

This song came up into my brain today that brings in an element we all need to focus on when we look at the Solar ring of fire annular eclipse, this electric element is the “world is love.”

Fire, love and electricity and the foresight and continuity of life can be a group focus. I will be watching this event this Saturday by way of the Weather Channel. Maybe have a beer or shot of Hudson Baby Bourbon Whiskey.

Another ring of fire.

Social Distortion – Ring Of Fire 1990.

“Ring of Fire” is a song made popular by Johnny Cash when it appeared on his 1963 album Ring of Fire:

Anita Carter- Ring Of Fire 1962 (Orginal)

Fanzine, Records and Live Videos

Chinatown Punk Wars

Ed Kuepper from The Saints (public domain image)

In the late 1970s, two Chinese restaurants became the unlikely epicenter of L.A.’s burgeoning punk scene. The emerging music form featured fast-paced songs and hard-edged melodies with anti-capitalist messaging. As told through interviews with John Doe (X), Alice Bag (The Bags), Keith Morris (Circle Jerks, Black Flag, OFF!), and Martin Wong (Save Music in Chinatown).

https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/artbound/episodes/chinatown-punk-wars?mibextid=Zxz2cZ

Another documentary about the early punk scene and Los Angeles / China Town. If you want to get a general full and in real time read of this early punk scene by a fanzine that captured it. There is Los Angeles Flipside Fanizne # 54 Ten Year Anniversary Issue. The many early punk voices who created a growing scene.

Los Angeles Flipside Fanizne # 54 Ten Year Anniversary Issue 1977 to 1987.

Lived 1977 – 2002.

Fanzine, Records and Live Videos.

Interview with Rodney Bingenheimer, “Rodney on the ROQ, a radio program that ran on the Los Angeles rock station KROQ-FM” by Pooch and Larry Lash for Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine # 5 December 1977

Also look for a possible showing of Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine the Narrative Documentary / Film Epeisodion One, Two and Three playing at a global film festival near you.

The creation narrative of Flipside Fanzine. A fanzine that captured the early Los Angeles punk scene and beyond. All the many voices of the early punk scene.

Flipside Fanzine Staph…

Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine Staph 1977 to 1989 Those Who Caused Considerable Trouble.

Click on image to see list of Flipside Videos

Click on image to see Post about Flipside Records

All the bands and hands in the cookie jar, punk wise….

Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine the Narrative Documentary / Film.

Click for more information.

Purchase anywhere through direct publishing Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing …

The Seminary of Praying Mantis Publishing.

Just click on cover image for a paperback edition for your reading and viewing punk rock pleasure….

Excerpt from punk paperback just click on the image below for some punk rock herstory…

“The Go-Go’s played a Flipside Fanzine benefit night at the Hong Kong Café in Chinatown. I saw Belinda from the Go-Go’s sitting outside the club on a bench all by herself. It was dark and there she was looking at me as though waiting for me to approach her to talk. She was beautiful and very calm. I like how she was then, round and plump. I always thought she was so feminine. Damn it I wish I had talked to her that night, but I was hanging with the Flipside gang and only looked at her as I walked by.

She had a slight smile on her face as though somehow passing on a look of mutual respect. That moment is burned in my memory as if played in slow motion every time I think of it. I think Belinda liked what I was wearing, a purple velour mini dress with mod black and white checked boots. I regret not saying hello to her. I was so shy on the inside even though I was anything but shy on the outside; maybe she was just as shy as I was.

Keith Morris (Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Midget Handjob and Off) was there at the benefit. He was drunk (as most of us were.) Keith was complaining about the price of the drinks at the club. Then he asked if I wanted a beer. He pulled a can of beer out of his pants and gave it to me. Keith said he had a six-pack hidden down his pants and it was getting cold. He said that his balls were frozen. I never laughed so hard in my life and enjoyed the beer.”

~My Punkalullaby By Hudley Flipside

GO To The Garden

New category for posts that concur with the many film-doodles I do.

Film Doodling by Hudely Flipside

It is the creative endeavor that is real and mine to share.

I love my garden and am so close to the ways of nature. Yet as a human being I endure the other man-made things. It is a life I was born to. Yet I think we can learn the power of nature by listening and hoping for the best to inspire us to be better human beings.

I think there is a relationship with how nature is and us in general. Our feelings and emotions.

Yet often even though nature speaks to us we don’t listen.

As I am a listener and follow the ways of ancient traditions I like to share.

Creatively embracing and helping for a better world.

Wild ways, music and nature are how I endure and so it goes.