Years later, the music industry spit Randy Fred out of his job as a talent agent. They broke up within three months of arriving. Not ideal, but it worked because they were immensely talented.Īs for my old band-Los Angeles wasn’t great for them either. At every gig, Dave and Jan would play a few instrumentals, Pamela would sing a few songs and then the three would perform a few numbers together. Pamela moved in with Jan and Dick disappeared. Not weeks afterwards, Pamela fell in love with Jan Tangen. Pamela tells me the original vinyl is worth hundreds of dollars. Gentle Soul was recently re-released as a CD. She and her dog Canina took up the living space that my old band had left when they went to same rock ‘n roll dream in Los Angeles that Pamela was fleeing from. Pamela swore she would never sign a major label contract again. It played an important role in helping launch the careers of Linda Ronstadt, Carole King, Jackson Brown and Elton John. Singer/songwriters regularly played there in the nineteen sixties. The Troubadour nightclub is still around. The producer was Terry Melcher (The Byrds, Paul Revere and the Raiders, etc.) She had recorded an album titled “Gentle Soul” for Epic Records that featured her singing harmonies with folkie Rick Stanley accompanied by Ry Cooder on guitar, Paul Horn on flute and Van Dyke Parks on harpsichord. There was a blue pottery cop that was a gift from her brother, an address book and makeup. A plastic bag carried the spices for an elaborate three-course vegetarian curry dinner, which she cooked for all of us a few days after she moved in. One pouch carried a maroon velvet jacket and white satin camisole top another a pair of ornate silver teaspoons for tapping out tunes, a dying folk art. She carried a large velvet paisley purse that seemed to contain everything important to her. She was wearing a velvet skirt and a lacey top that let her full breasts swing and heave. They moved the piano and themselves into my house. The first song I heard Pamela sing was played on the piano on top of the pickup. Dick Gabrio, a blonde swashbuckler guitar player I met in Mexico, drove her there. Within a month of my new management career, singer/songwriter Pamela Polland arrived on my doorstep, her dog Canina in her arms and her upright piano on the back of a pick-up truck. “Nowhere.” “Well how would you like me to manage you?” I began getting them gigs. At the end of the evening, I asked them where they were performing. I listened entranced to the acoustic guitar medleys they had composed. While at a laundromat in Mill Valley, I found a business card: “Jan Tangen, lessons in rock and blues guitar.” I called him up and was invited to come hear him and his partner Dave Friedman, rehearse some music. My boyfriend felt whipped by the rejection and became determined to learn how to play rock-n-roll guitar. The real reason was a slick-talking talent agent named Randy Fred (his real name!) lured the rest of the band to Los Angeles with promises of fame and fortune. They said my 45-year old boyfriend was just that-too old. They also fired my boyfriend/guitarist who founded the band. I didn’t have connections in the business. Eventually I found them good paying work in a Holiday Inn in Palm Springs playing a mix of top-40 pop and their own compositions. You can cry or laugh, but if you let it get to you, it’s as quick as quicksand to bury you.ĭespite my advice to the contrary, the band I was managing from Mexico moved to the Bay Area. Rejection in the music business is as common as dirt.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |