There has been much said about Bob Markley that most now know he wasn't a real player in the musicianship of the band. Lloyd and the Harris Brothers apparently had only scorn and contempt for him (breaking an instrument over Markley's back?). Ron had once commented, "They could have went somewhere else, but seemed to like the fact Markley covered the Studio expenses. Despite Markley's faults, he put his money where his mouth is... a bunch of money." When I met Markley in 1967; he seemed quite reserved and actually displayed much fondness of Ron. Markley may have looked to Ron, because Ron brought to the table experience* and talent that was much needed. Back in 1967; the talk was that Dan Harris was out due to a mental break down, Shaun Harris was a singer/songwriter/bass player and Ron was in the position to make the best of the situation. "The musical talent in this band belonged to who?!!!"
Ron came back home just before recording WCPAEB Part One; he was staying with this woman. It wasn't 2 days when she called me and said, "come and get your brother... I'm throwing him out". Naturally I asked why and she said, "he's been practicing his damn guitar ever since he arrived". I chuckled and said "okay... I'm on my way". Ron immediately started talking about this very important recording opportunity... that he needed to get his chops up for it. Ron continued to practice at home ( I still lived with our Father ) and of course I was paying full attention!!! Ron was working on his Jeff Beck influences; finger picking, note bending and a new way of sounding like a steel guitar by moving the volume control knob with his pinky finger [he also wanted to capture a sound that makes the notes sound backwards as in the song "Tomorrow Never Knows" by the Beatles]. In addition, Ron was trying to get a vibrato-whammy bar effect by shaking his left hand on the strings and neck of his instrument. Ron actually thought Eric Clapton had mastered this... later after viewing a film clip of Clapton, he saw Clapton was using a whammy bar. Ron was so animate when he discovered this and said, "fuck, I went to all this trouble... but hell, now I can do what he can't do" with his familiar madcap sort of grin.
If Ron knew that Markley and he would be the "out" guys, the insignificant, the reason for the others to place fault for their lack of confidence in the direction of WCPAEB; Ron would have not have tried so hard and perhaps would of quietly moved on. Ron was not Markley's "bitch" as the Harris brothers would like everyone to think... nor did Ron come in with a mission to out-due anything Lloyd had done. The dates in the recent [first] Shindig article are in error; Ron recorded the Part One in 1966 and Lloyd was already gone; Ron played the Yardbirds concert in 1967 [ I was there ]. When I heard the WCPAEB Volume One disk after it's release several years ago - it probably sounded much like what Ron heard; but may have been musically edited and updated. Makes me think of when I was booking/ managing bands during all of the 90's; the first thing you don't want to do is; doctor up a recording and give it to an agent, then sound like shit after you're hired for live performances.
The story cannot be told in simple terms, but must be sensationalized and hyped up to get anyone to notice. Especially if you're writing about a virtually unknown - unsuccessful project as WCPAEB was then and still is. I believe the underlying motive in the shallow comments, is to get attention at all costs... there has to be a fall guy, a casualty. At what costs is controversy and sensationalism going to be in the next (2) articles? I believe, "I did that, that's me" only makes it appear as a [very late] desperate claim to fame and Ron never went to that... and now others are saying he should have, why he is not getting the credit... hmmph.
Thus, listening to all the WCPAEB issues [including Where's My Daddy] and the recent release of the "JJ Light" recordings [Ron mentioned this to me and said he liked giving the material a "American Native Rhythm and feel"].
Not only do I know how Ron played, I knew his sound, his musical approach and am the only cat on this rock that does. Ron didn't talk much about "Where's My Daddy" and wanted to distant himself from it. I think Ron could feel the bad chemistry by then and probably knew what he did may become insignificant.
Prior to WCPAEB Part One; Ron left Peter and the Wolves because they; especially Peter Lewis wanted to go up to San Francisco to get into that scene and Ron was hoping the WCPAEB was going to amount to something. Also, Ron wasn't too fond of Matthew Katz (which later proved Ron's reasons in the bitter Moby Grape ownership battle).
In the summer of '67, Ron and I went up to Santa Barbara to catch Moby Grape in concert. They put on a high energy rockin' performance and Skip Spence was a phenomenal performer; Ron and I were blown away. After the show, we went back stage and Peter Lewis was very glad to see Ron. Peter asked, "hit the big time yet?" and a humble Ron just said, "not at the moment," and Peter replied, "Ron, you deserve to".
Note: Some people actually have commented on the first Moby Grape album, which was released shortly after Ron left Peter and the Wolves, "has Ron written all over it".
Again I will repeat; is it possible no one will acknowledge an unknown in fear of not getting all the credit?
Or perhaps it is possible the credit others have already taken... may raise questions of why? Robert
[read more here or scroll down for more links]
in L.A. 1965
is being edited and will be back in 2009
