Bit: SOL's Legends of Rock presents: The Band That Played 'California Lady'Episode: 1007- Track of the Moon BeastTranscribed by Jeremy Blomstedt
(Mike is wearing earphones and reading from a paper script. Next to him is a monitor--a STONY, in fact--with the image of the Seventies folk-rock trio from the movie on it.) Mike: (brightly) Tonight on SOL's-- (As Mike continues, scenes from the movie are played, with many zoom-ins, reverses of images, and other visual effects.) Mike: The Band That Played 'California Lady' began as a
duo featuring The Fish-Lipped Guy and The Eskimo. They
developed their sound playing this kind of music in
hard-scrabble bars before a growing circle of fans. It
wasn't until they added The Friendly-Looking Backup Singer
the The Band That Played 'California Lady' finally hit it
big with 'California Lady'. The pressures of success were
huge and The Fish-Lipped Guy, who took on the public role of
creative genius, began to take refuge in drinking and a new
circle of fast friends, as he and The Eskimo drifted apart.
That summer, The Band That Played 'California Lady' played
before nearly 300,000 fans at Watkins Glen, New York,
sharing a bill with Wet Willy and Toots and the Maytals.
Backstage, though, The Fish-Lipped Guy's drinking was
beginning to get out of hand. Creative tensions mounted and
a haze of alcohol served only to cover up The Eskimo's
increasing drug use. It was a hopeful sign when The
Friendly-Looking Backup Singer checked into a rehab clinic
to have her blood replaced, but The Fish-Lipped Guy's
out-of-control womanizing led The Eskimo into an
ever-more-deadly spiral of drug use and drink. Drug-addled
recording sessions produced The Band That Played 'California
Lady's follow-up album, the more-melodic 'Rhode Island
Lady', but it failed to crack the charts as The Band That
Played 'California Lady's audience did not follow them into
this new territory. By this time, the drugs, booze, and
womanizing had begun to replace the music. Friends were
troubled as an opportunity to open for Brewer and Shipley on
a world tour went by the boards when The Eskimo slipped into
a long-term alcoholic coma. The Fish-Lipped Guy turned
increasingly to booze, drugs, womanizing, and out-of-control
gambling, and The Band That Played 'California Lady' was no
more. (Mike is back on-screen.) Happily, the last years have
seen a reunion and a new generation of fans have discovered
the magic that is The Band That Played 'California
Lady'. . |