Chapter 21 - The Beat Goes On

pictured - John Marshall Battjes

 

 

MEANWHILE BACK ON planet Earth, Joey was still part of the band when he absolutely needed to be, otherwise he was nowhere to be found while chasing the elusive dragon. I can only guess it was something to make him feel whole or maybe give him a sense of individuality. It really was a shame because Joey had a heart the size of a Mac truck, but his demons proved to be too strong. Nevertheless, when it was time to record at the Plant we were all there with bells on, even Joey. While Miguel was playing drums for his mother and also pursuing his father's trade of acting and Chas was warming his hands by some English country fire, we were pounding the sunny streets of Los Angeles looking high and low for a new bass player and drummer.

There was this drummer we all knew from the Rainbow named John Marshall Battjes, who looked a lot like a Cajun pirate with his long black hair, mustache, and golden earring. He liked being called by his middle name, but I couldn't help calling him John. The year before he had come over to Oakhurst Drive, my old haunt, in his Ford Econoline van. We were just about to head out to Palm Springs when he noticed Mick Jagger dressed in white clam digger pants and blue and gold Hawaiian shirt walking down the path of the duplex right next door. While I was waiting on the front lawn, Marshall screeched the van to a halt, jumped out of the car yelling, “Hey Mick, what's going on?” I couldn’t believe he had the moxie to run right up to Mr. Jagger like that, even though I had met him a year or two earlier at Sunset Sounds. I always felt that famous people ought to be given their space, but it was right next door to where I spent the better part of my life, so I played along. Standing alongside the two of them, I listened to Marshall go on about how he had met Mick before in this, or that place. I smiled uncomfortably, thinking how we were taking up the time of such a busy man when Mick unexpectedly returned the smile and I saw it. He had what appeared to be a diamond in his front tooth glistening off the late morning sun, almost blinding me. I imagined saying how strange it was to meet up again, and what in heaven’s name brings you down to Baja Beverly Hills. I then heard him laugh at that turn of a phrase. In reality, I don't think I said more than a “Hello Mick” or a “How, you doing, man.”

    After fond farewells, we got back in the van and headed east on Interstate 10 looking for trouble. We ended up spending time with George Gobel's (famous comedian and entertainer from the 50's) daughter who had an enormous stucco retreat in the desert with a nice pool. Once again, as it happened so many times in my life, someone else got lucky while I got a tan. Marshall eventually moved to Florida where he worked construction while still partying and playing his drums. I heard he took a terrible fall on the job that severely inured his back. I don't know if it was related to his fall, but he sadly passed away on August 30, 2012. He will be missed by many.

Marshall was invited to play drums on some tracks in the studio while I played bass. Blair played piano and Stephen sang lead vocal on a beautiful song they wrote together called Angelique It was very classically influenced and spoke of tales of auld England and a man who came to be with his true love by way of a time machine. Very Wellsian. At this time, I never really knew if Jon Marr was in the band or not. Stephen insisted that we needed better vocals and Jon is a “natural singer” which I am not. He did have an amazing blend for harmonies, especially with Joey. Either you’re a singer or a stylist and I was the latter. What makes all the difference is swagger and I had plenty of that. Jon, not so much, down deep I think he suffered with a bad case of good old stage fright. Maybe that’s why he made so many absurd excuses. “I can’t rehearse today, I just found out I have pleurisy,” or, “Guess what, I’m leaving tomorrow for pilot school in Oklahoma.” It all comes down to confidence and belief in yourself.

We did cut this great track called Here I Am with Marshall on drums, I played bass, Blair on the 88's. Later, Stephen and I overdubbed a couple of dueling Fender guitars at the end of the song. There were some really lame lyrics in the verses but the chorus' were solid, especially these great back up parts, the "tell me, tell me's," that Jon and I sang at the tag. At one point, in the beginning of the vocal overdub recording, we were singing on separate Neumann U-87 microphones and Bob Merritt was getting some interference, some kind of a conflict in the sound. He couldn't figure out what it was, but I thought it may be the conflict in personalities causing the disturbance. We ended up singing the part into my mic which solved the problem.

There was a giant pipe organ in studio C, the kind you might see at St. Patrick Cathedral in New York. It was a monster with more stops and presets than you could ever know what to do with. Bob managed to get us a few hours in that sanctimonious chamber to have Blair overdub a part on that beast. This, I think, was the greatest among the many contributions he ever donated to the cause, that part was brilliant. The tantalizing reed and bell sounds gave it that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band vibe, years before he would cut Hungry Heart. The overall sound was a cross between Derrick and the Dominoes, Badfinger and the Boss, but unfortunately the verses were never fixed and the only mix that survives is an instrumental with the "tell me, tell me's" backup part at the end.

    Now it was the middle of October and more than just the leaves were changing. There was a pretty buck-toothed blonde that Blair knew, Candace, who seemed to have more money than sense. She offered to send him to New York to attend Peter Gries' wedding to Louise Clark. It was going to be an upscale event by the banks of the Hudson River, real Sleepy Hollow territory.  I felt left out again. Being the middle-child, I had experience with this. When I was about six or seven my dad was in my room with my sister, brother and me putting together a bed. Trying to make a game out of it, he suggested we all think of our favorite western hero. He knew how much I loved the old westerns, my two main heroes were Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. Robbie blurted out, “I'm Daniel Boone,” then Susan shouted, “I'm Davy Crockett.” Left without a hero to claim I said, “I'm not playing”. This is a recurring defect in my personality that I have tried to conquer but it may be too deeply ingrained.

          I didn't want to be the odd man out. Candace, who saw me brooding and pacing around the floor, asked what was the matter. I told her the truth, I wanted to go but didn't have more than fifty bucks to my name and I wasn't about to hock my 54 Sratocaster, serial number 0535, for a wedding. “Oh Jimmy,” she said, “that's no problem. I'll buy you a ticket.” I felt guilty as hell. This was Blair’s girl or whatever she was to him, not mine. How could I pay her back in any reasonable time? So, times being what they were, I accepted her kind gift. I figured time away from LA would give us all some perspective, maybe write to a different beat, new influences, besides it would be fun.

The red and orange leaves scattered on the Hudson greeted me as I imagined a headless horseman galloping at any minute through the wedding procession. There is nothing more beautiful than October in Upstate New York. The next day we went back to the Plaza Hotel on Columbus Circle where Martine and Robin (Blair’s former squeeze) had gotten a room there. I remember watching a new channel on the tv that had music videos. It was MTV. All music television, It ain’t that way anymore, baby!

There is nothing like a trip to the Big Apple, my hometown, to spark up one's enthusiasm, and I was in full throttle now. In the city, in every restaurant, every club, we were singing. Even Blair started to show some confidence in his voice. For the first time in my life, I felt I was part of something bigger than myself. Even though I wasn't Daniel Boone or Davy Crockett, I was becoming something. Was it part of what we hoped would be the next big thing in music? Who knew? I was glad to be living in these times and couldn't wait to get back to LA and finish our record. Unfortunately, there were a few bumps in the road coming that would change things for Silverspoon again.