The Group Image | Sheila Jones | Interview

The Group Image was a Manhattan, NYC group community enterprise that recorded ‘A Mouth In The Clouds’ album in 1968, after years of park gigs and regular shows.

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Their lead vocalist, Sheila Jones tells an interesting story that involves Wavy Gravy & Diggers, The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, The Tubes and so much more!

“Young and restless youths of the Village”

Would you like to talk a bit about your background? Where and when did you grow up?

Sheila Jones: I was born in the Bronx, New York on October 23 1948. My dad was from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. My mom was from the Bronx. They both were first generation born in America. My dad was six feet four. He went right out of high school to enlist in the Army where he was a Master Sergeant. A real war hero. Strong silent type and handsome as Johnny Weissmuller. My mom lived in an old tenement in the Bronx. All the streets were lined with six story buildings with flights of stairs. Her mother, father and grandmother lived upstairs. Many of them did not speak English. They had come from Eastern Europe and still lived the horrors. They only wanted the best for my mom and my uncle. My mom had to quit school to work during The Great Depression. She was studying to be an artist and had done some beautiful artwork. My grandmother and great-grandmother were seamstresses. All that was left behind. My grandfather used to drive a horse driven wagon where he sold ice. Later on he had a newspaper stand right across the street from the Yankee Stadium. He didn’t speak much and I swear he never said a word to me. He never spoke English but he showed me love in his blue eyes. He always gave me comic books and silver dollars that were in a big bucket under the kitchen sink. They had come from Riga, Latvia. All that was left behind. As for my dad’s side, his father died before I was born. His mother was a seamstress. The most loving person with class I had ever known. They had come from Odessa, Russia. A very large family although my dad was an only child. He was the largest baby ever born in hospital history being 24 inches at birth. After the war my dad was a lifeguard at Rockaway Beach. So, the story goes. In the hot summers both of my grandmothers would rent bungalows at Rockaway. They wound up being neighbors. One had a wonderful son, the other a beautiful daughter. So they met and that was it. They were married in the worst blizzard in New York, 1947.

About one year later I was born. The most adored beautiful little girl. So here’s the ticket. I was so loved by all my family, a super large family on both sides. I was pampered by my mother and fearless from my father. I had incredible amounts of energy. My dad teaches me how to swim by throwing me into the ocean at Rockaway age three, my mother was always panicked. I would get on my dad’s shoulders and he’d take me way out in the waves. So my mom was always fearful and my dad taught me fearless. Between the cement streets and buildings of the Bronx to the Boardwalk at Rockaway. The Circus, Wild Bill Wild West Show, Steeplechase Park, and the boardwalk with all the games and prizes. I knew it was all for my show. I was KO Kelly.

“Every week I’d go to the record store and buy the 45s of the day”

Was music a big part of your family life?

I think I was born with the sound. Always in my soul, in my mind, dancing. In those days, lots of parents wanted their kids to be like Shirley Temple, or a child star. I had this friend (not really), she was the kid of my parents’ friends, who was this singer. Age five? She sang ‘Pennies From Heaven’ and ‘Autumn Leaves’. I just knew I could do that and better. My mom had the radio on while we’d do dishes. Shed wash and I’d dry. ‘The Wayward Wind’, “Come Down from Your Ivory Tower”. She’d always sing offkey.

I wanted my own radio so bad. I was getting an allowance of one dollar a week. I’d go to the candy store and buy five packs of candy, five cents each. I noticed the store across the street had these cardboard boxes in front. I went over and discovered that they were loaded with 78 vinyl records. They were 25 cents each. So I’d buy three a week. We had an old record player from my parents Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey records. So I’d play what I picked and they always turned out to be hits. ‘At the Hop’ by Danny and The Juniors, Marty Robbins, Dinah Washington, Hank Williams, ‘Silhouettes on the Shade’ by The Rays, ‘My Boy Lollipop’ by Millie Small, Fats Domino, and the best of all Little Richard. He made me scared. He was different from everyone else. Keep a “Keep a knockin’ but you can’t come in / Come back tomorrow night and try it again”. I was sure he was gonna break my door down. We had stories and fake words for every song, and we knew them all, every word. Like the song “One Two Three I Shot Mr Lee” by The Bobbettes was a true story about a principal that got shot. We had no mercy for anyone and took no prisoners. Music, songs, stories, the Cyclone Roller Coaster. I was hooked line and sinker. In the meantime I was always writing in my notebooks. I wrote the school poem for Mayday, and the school play in sixth grade. I taught myself piano on a friend’s piano (kind of). Wild in the streets with no fear. I learned to worm my way to get anything I wanted. Never promiscuous, just unstoppable.

The world changed when the 45s came out. Addicted to records now every week I’d go to the record store and buy the 45s of the day. I had every single one of the girl groups, all the soul songs. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Mary Wells, The Orlons, James Brown, Freddie Scott, Rosie and the Originals, Otis Redding, The Ronettes, The Crystals, and so many more.

Where I lived in the Bronx the neighborhood changed and got more dangerous. There were street gangs with razor blades in their hair, The Fordham Baldies. Waiting under the stairwell to cut your throat. I could jump up 13 steps at once. My dad was now a teamster driving a truck in the garment district so he wasn’t home till the early morning and my mom was sure I was the Devil. She had lost complete control. The nicest people to me were my black friends. They would say, “Look at Sheila, ain’t she cute, she can dance and sing. We’re going to let her live”. So, I really didn’t like white singers too much. Especially when they tried to sing like a soul singer. And if they couldn’t dance that was enough to get your ass kicked.

I made friends with kids who also were music crazy, always the rank outsider. I could melt into anyone, but always remained outside. We moved from the Bronx to Queens. At first I hated it, but then the years went by. By sixth grade we had a graduation dance. I looked up at the stage, and there was a live band. It was guys with a girl singer. They sang ‘To Know Him Is to Love Him’. It was that moment, it was the vision of the future. There was no doubt anymore. That was what I was going to be, going to do. I had no idea how, but I was going to be her. To be the singer.

Early days in Queens, my mom decided to have me take accordion lessons. A true death sentence. I hated the teacher, Mr. Itzler. I hated having to carry that son of a bitch accordion. I cried and carried on until my mom caved in. She got me my first guitar. She got it by saving green stamps. I got a chord book and taught myself how to play (kind of). One of the greatest things she ever did for me. I was in deep. Hook Line and Sinker.

When I was in Junior High, seventh grade, I got an amazing phone call. I had have a best friend named Bobby since kindergarten. I had lost contact after we moved. He was on the phone. He found me in the phone book. I couldn’t believe it. He came over with a bunch of his friends. There was Peter, Larry and Bobby. Peter and I became boyfriend and girlfriend. He was my first true love. I lived on the other side of the tracks. Kew Garden Hills. There were no schools near where I lived., I had to take two buses and walk six blocks to school. Fun in the deep deep snow. Bobby and Peter, Larry all lived in Forest Hills. Near Rego Park, where all the rich kids lived. So I started cutting school a lot. Hanging around with Peter and his friends all the time (later on I found out how many bands came from there…including Kiss and The Ramones, Simon and Garfunkel).

Then the whole world changed. My friend Louie came over with three albums under his arm. He threw them at me and left. They were Jimmy Reed, Peter, Paul and Mary and Dave Van Ronk. This was a whole new episode. I didn’t know anything, but absorbed it all like I knew it all my life. Didn’t like Peter, Paul and Mary, but happy to see a girl included. Loved Jimmy Reed…But Dave Van Ronk, no one sang like him. And his songs. They weren’t little love songs. They were serious. “Like Motherless children have a hard time / When their mother’s dead”. This was fitting right in with the anger and resentment I was feeling about the authority all around me. Deeper and Deeper, Hook Line and Sinker.

“New York was different”

One day when I went into Forest Hills to meet Peter, Bobby and Larry. Larry’s older brother Leslie took us all with him to the city. Leslie was the coolest hustler I had ever met. He wore big rings and ran around with this electric guitar, without a case, his hair was wild and unruly, like his personality. I had no idea what his guitar was. It was a Les Paul. I was absorbing it all like I already knew it all. He took us to this building. There were small offices on every floor…A desk and maybe a piano. I didn’t get it. I met the Left Banke. They were really young like me. The singer was really cute. Word was that his dad was helping them to make a record. The Shangri-Las were there. Mary, too much. (Now I think it might have been the Brill Building. Each office was for writing songs and publishing I guess). All at the same time, the world was changed. Forever and ever and ever. The Beatles…The Beatles. Bobby, Peter, Larry all changed their hair. They were going to start a band. Holy shit.

New York was different. It was Broadway, and the Nightclubs like the Copa and the Tropicana. Places where the old guard performed like Sinatra, Bobby Vinton, Paul Anka. This was all going to shift in an earthquake way. One of the first clubs to have new bands was Steve Paul’s The Scene. The Peppermint Lounge made famous by the Peppermint Twist where Joey Dee and the Starliters played. Later on some members from that band formed The Young Rascals. I don’t remember how exactly Dylan came into my life but it felt like he was there the whole time like a seed waiting to bloom. Peter and his friends were forming a band called The Vagrants. Peter and I were not together anymore and I wasn’t aware of what happened with The Vagrants, or even Leslie. We were together on and off through junior high…In the future Leslie became Leslie West. The Vagrants had a great career. Peter being the lead singer, Larry on bass, Leslie on guitar, Roger on drums, Gerry on keyboards. How could you know anything then? No cell phones, no internet. You just lived your life. I was already going to the Village. In those days, there was only the West Village. It was cobblestone streets, small, bohemian, filled with soot, poets, artists and the smell of Dylan everywhere. I was still so young…I don’t remember having girlfriends. Just me going on my path. I was going to school off and on. I had won control of my family. I had two younger brothers now, and that was enough to keep my mom off my back, and dad, well he just trusted me. I got a job at Figaros on Bleeker and MacDougal street. I met this really wonderful woman named Jean who needed a roommate. She was a teacher. We lived right across the street from Figaros, 177 Bleeker. It was incredible that all these older people just took me in. No questions asked. Here I am now. Loving The Stones, ‘Aftermath’, ‘December’s Children’, ’12×5′. In my peacoat and tinted glasses, I was living the life. No second thoughts, no doubts, no fame. Just one of the young and restless youths of the Village. The group of us all knew each other. I had a friend Barbara who sang in an all girl group named Cake. They were different for the times. Everyone was hustling. Not for sex but for something productive. Something revolutionary. A place to live, a piece of pizza. I didn’t want to see the Beatles or the Stones live. I just wanted the music… Who would want to be involved with that freak show of girls screaming and fainting. Crowds of people. No, I just wanted to listen to the Animals, The Stones, Bee Gees, Them, Kinks, and all the groups that were playing around for free. There was a club called Ungaros. On any night we could go there and see The Miracles, The Temptations, The Four Tops. In a small club. We knew all of their dance steps and could dance right in front of the little stage. There was another club called Ondines. Uptown. So now I was taking cabs uptown, saving all my money for cigs and gum. Downtown, at the same time there’s a whole other scene. The A Go Go, the Bitter End, Cafe Wha?, Purple Onion, Village Gate, and The Night Owl. Too many to mention.

“There was no one like Jimi [Hendrix]”

The job I had at Figaros was so great. They opened up downstairs for the younger kids. The upstairs was there before I ever knew it was. It catered to all the Beats. They would have coffee, play chess and discuss books. Older people than I. So I got to be the waitress for the downstairs where they served ice cream sodas, soft drinks and played all the cool records. It was awesome. All the beautiful kids hung out there. One day a friend came in screaming, “you gotta come and see this guy playing!!” “Now!” So we went down the street and boom. Another life altering event. There was this black guy, playing with a couple of white guys. I don’t even remember who the other guys were. All I saw and heard was him. He was playing ‘Wild Thing’. He was chewing gum, playing the guitar behind his back, playing with his teeth. There was no one there but a few of us. Every afternoon at the Cafe Wha? he’d be playing there. Every day I went. There was nothing, nothing in the world like him. We were friends just because we were neighbors. At the same time The Blues Magoos and The Spoonful were playing at the Night Owl… We were hanging around with the Fugitives, The Left Banke. George and I became boyfriend and girlfriend (kind of). He’d call me from the road. I didn’t even understand what that was (sadly George passed away a couple of years ago. Got to connect with him right before he passed. That was awesome.). The streets started to get packed. You literally couldn’t walk without edging into someone else. But there was no one like Jimi. No one… Meanwhile uptown at Ondines was another scene. All us kids who were underage would get there early, and Brad who was the doorman would let us in. There was a coffee shop on the corner where I’d hang out before going in. One day this blonde headed girl and her boyfriend come up to me and she says “where are you from” and I say “Queens’ ‘ and she says “Oh, I’m from the city” like I was worthless. She was fourteen, and her boyfriend Arty was 20. Of course we became friends. At that time I had no idea how much they would come into my life… Inside Ondines The Buffalo Springfield were playing. They were fantastic. So much energy, best original songs. Didn’t know where they came from or anything else. It just was the moment… Word out was the reason why Neil Young would turn so red when he sang was because he had a brain tumour. Right. Liberace would come in. Rick Derringer with the McCoys, Suzie Quatro, The Stones. Oh yeah, The Stones. When they’d come to America I would see them sometimes walking down the streets in the Village. They were the skinniest people I ever saw. All just hanging out.

Well here’s a Rolling Stones story. They were in Ondines in the back with Jerry Schatzberg who was the photographer for one of their albums. Brian Jones was all dressed in his white suit with a large white hat. He was short and he walked right by me. Absolutely in another world. Just headed right for the back for his bandmates. Jerry was pickling out girls for the Stones to be with. They picked three of my friends. One was a friend from the city, the other was a friend I brought from Queens. Can’t remember the other one. They didn’t pick me. The next day I was so excited to ask my friend what happened. All she said was that their white ruffle shirts were filthy, that they pissed in the streets, and up all night. That was all I got. My other friend was missing. It was like three days later and she showed up. She had a black eye and some of her teeth were missing. She had been with Brian and he wanted her to do something she wouldn’t do. So he beat her up, told her to get the fuck out. The rumours about Brian having a nasty mean side were true. And I still love the Rolling Stones to death. They are the real thing. I’ve come across them in my life in magical ways. Always there. Hook Line and Sinker.

“I hung out for four days and all Jimi [Hendrix] wanted to do was listen to Bob Dylan”

Now everything was going to change again. I had these two musician friends that came to New York to carve their way. I went with them to where they were staying. It was the manager of the Cafe Wha? apartment. One day when I went there I got a bad bad case of the flu. Fever and the whole bit. I couldn’t go anywhere but the couch. As I was starting to come a little to life, there was Jimi. He was staying there too. I hung out for four days and all Jimi wanted to do was listen to Bob Dylan. Over and over. I was thinking why does he love Bob Dylan so much? He was so raw, they seemed worlds apart, I didn’t get it. We were friends. Everyone was friends. We were all starving, living off the streets. But he was the sweetest guy. Really.

Coming to the end of the line in the village. I was blindsided. I had a friend Paul Caruso. We all called him a Dylan wannabe cause he had his hair in an afro. I think he fooled lots of out of towners and hustled them for money. He came running up to my apt. And said take care of this. He put a large something in the oven. I didn’t even look for days. When I did it was a huge envelope filled with crystal meth. I had taken a few pills here and there, smoked really shitty weed, but never saw anything like this. I started to do a little each day. I was panhandling on the streets, a quarter here a quarter there. Still going uptown at night. Every time Jimi saw me he’d give me some change and take me to the pizza place and buy me a slice. We’d listen to the jukebox. He was the kindest, most humble, well mannered, generous, soft spoken, gifted angel on this earth. The way he walked and talked was the way he played. And I never did speed again in my life. Now, all those Dylan songs, ‘Like A Rolling Stone’, ‘Positively 4th Street’, ‘Baby Blue’, ‘It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)’, were exactly the life I was living.

At the same time my parents bought a house and moved out to the Island. During these years of teenage rampage, I still had to return to attend school . When they moved out to no man’s land it was total shock. There was no one like me. No one heard of the Stones. No one smoked weed, and if you didn’t have a car you went nowhere. I managed to make some friends and used whoever I could to give me rides back to the city. I was going down fast. I was skinny, I rented a real slum apt on the lower east side. No running water. Jimi had disappeared too. I felt sad. Some friends from the Island came and got me, and returned me to my parents. I didn’t know it then, but I was about to have my first band. Everything had been in black and white. All the streets, the lights, the clubs, the people. It was about to get in full blooming color…All that was left behind.

What bands were you a member of prior to The Group Image? Any recordings or releases by them?

I took my SATs. I finished them in ten minutes and left. I got my last ride to the Village. Went back to the slum where the energy vampires were sucking the last of that envelope and had lost their minds. I was an art major and they destroyed all my paintings with white paint and broke my guitar in two. There was nothing there for me anymore. Heading back to the Island. School was over and I was free. I was always a smart student. I got high marks on my tests, but never graduated. Heading to the nearest town out there I found the only club that had bands. It was called The In Crowd. I got a job as a dancer. I was a great dancer (kind of). I didn’t have to wear a costume… I made friends with the house band that played there. They played all the cover tunes. That’s how it was then. Not too many people creating their own music. That was going to change soon. At this time The Young Rascals were huge. I mean huge. It was called the Long Island Sound. So many bands were inspired by them. But no one was like them. Dino Danelli was the most incredible drummer I had ever seen. He’d twirl his sticks and hit the drums so hard. He was mechanically awesome. And there was little Eddie Brigati with the voice from heaven, banging those two tambourines on the sides of his legs… Gene [Cornish] on the guitar and then Felix Cavaliere on organ. He played the Hammond B3 with Leslie Speakers. He played the bass pedals with his feet. Eddie had a beautiful voice, but to me, Felix had the most, most soulful voice. He just made love to that organ. I was hooked line and sinker. Obsessed with Felix, his music. They did cover songs but also had originals. Not too many slow songs. Their first big hit was ‘I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore’. What a song.

I’m dancing at the In Crowd. Can not stop listening to the Rascals. In total love with Felix. The house band was called The Moof. I’m not sure if I can remember all the members but I’ll try. There was Auggie, Angie, and Nat. Can’t remember the rest. Sorry guys… They had a manager named Tony. Another fast talkin hustler. I liked him. One night I was approached by the band. They said, “you really dance good. Have you ever thought of singing?” I’m like “huh? Well I sang in chorus in school”. They wanted me to audition. Wow! They told me to pick a song and come back with it to the next practice… I decided to do a Dusty Springfield song. A B side of one of her records called ‘I’m Gonna Leave You’. Also ‘See See Rider’, by The Animals. So I got up there on the stage where I felt like home. Sang the two songs and I’m in the band… They were the nicest guys. All Italians, all older than me and once again I’m taken under the wing. One night we were doing our gig and I looked out and I think I’m having a mirage. Or like there’s something wrong with me. But no. It’s Felix and Dino…They were there and then gone. I didn’t know what to think. I don’t even remember saying anything. I was so young and dumb although I thought I was brilliant. Ha.

I had a really good friend named Tommy. He was another one of those powerful drummers (I love drummers ). He was in a band called the Down Five. They were also another Rascals clone but they had original songs. The organ player Dennis was so cool to me. He’d help me with my harmonies. He was married and had kids. But he took time to help me and he knew his music (after all these years we found each other on the internet. They are still married I’m so stoked to say).

In the meantime I’m so in love with Felix I write him a four page letter about how much his music means to me. How I can feel every note in my soul. How his words and his organ just set me on fire. I put it aside. I’m not sure how this all went down, it was a long time ago. Somewhere Tony took me out to The Barge? Not sure where it was and The Rascals were playing. I thought I was going to die right there. It was really a small place and I had never ever seen them live. I can’t explain how great they were. I was right in front of Felix’s side of the stage. Left side. Tony asks me if I have the letter I wrote to Felix. He says let me have it. Ten minutes later he says come with me. He took me backstage and the whole band was there. But all I saw was Felix. How many hours did I spend trying to sing just like him. Especially at the end of songs where he did his ad libs and screams. I even had a little organ in my room and I’d try to play ‘In the Midnight Hour’ over and over. There he was. I was speechless. This band was the cross between the Soul bands and the new original tunes. They killed it all. Felix looks at me. He loves my letter and he’s so happy to meet me. I don’t remember anything after that. Going home. Nothing.

I think it must have been about a week later. Tony says “hey, you wanna take a ride to the city?” “Yeah” I say. Are you kidding? We stop at a corner. Pull over. He says get out and wait right here. I’m standing there and this limo pulls up and the back door opens. I see the leg and the shoe of a person. And I know it’s him. It’s Felix. He says come on get in.

How is it possible? I mean can you actually visualize something and it comes true? I’m in a cloud. We went to his apt. It’s beautiful. Me from the Village slums? I’d never ever seen a place like this. I think Eddie was his roommate but he wasn’t there. He had a reel-to-reel recorder. He said do you want to hear our new song? Yes Yes Yes. He plays ‘Girl Like You’. I’m floored. I tell him how fantastic it is. We watched TV while the Vietnam War raged on. In the morning he asked me to make coffee and brilliant me says, “I don’t know how to make coffee.” I didn’t. In fact, those days who ate, drank coffee, or slept?

The next thing I remember is that we went into a recording studio in the city. It was about a week later. We were going to do a cover of ‘Open the Door to Your Heart’. I really don’t remember too much. I think the band laid down the track and the singer was up. He got a severe case of laryngitis and couldn’t sing. Felix looks at me and asks, “baby if you can sing this for me I’ll make you a star”. And brilliant me says “nah, I’m too stoned”. I’m sitting on the floor in my pea coat stoned on hash. What a loser. I have always felt that I really let him down and wonder what if? But, I believe that we don’t decide when we get to the corner which way to go. It’s already on the tape. We just have to be hip enough to know the signs. All that was left behind.

Still at the In Crowd. My friend Audrey went to San Francisco. She comes back with this stuff on plastic strips. We’re in her car and it’s raining out at night. She tells me she has acid. Okay let’s eat it. We ate two each and spent the whole night in the car. “Do you feel anything? I don’t know. Do you feel anything?” Idiots. There are no tapes of The Moof that I know of, or the recording with Felix. But there is a webpage that I found with the bands of Long Island from the sixties that mention the Down Five and the Moof. Most people know all the honors Felix has received. He is one of the most adored by others. A legend.

Can you elaborate the formation of The Group Image?

I distinctly remember seeing bright color. I was reading Creem Magazine, lying on my bed. I flipped through the mag. Then, there, on the very back cover my heart raced. There he was. There was Jimi. It said: “The Jimi Hendrix Experience coming to America”. I had all these reactions at once. First I was relieved because for me he just disappeared. He was more than okay. He had been in England. He had an Afro. New satin clothes, rings, and a new band. We all know that story now. But I really can’t express what relief and joy that felt like. Color getting brighter all the time. Brilliantly. Majestically.

The Continuation of Plastic Strips called “window pane”.

After our first experiment sitting in the car all night, we decided to of course try again. It was the fourth of July weekend…1966…It turned out that our friends The Down Five were playing out by the Hamptons. So we took our window pane again, two each and merrily drove down the road. When we got there I noticed there were all these people I had never met before. Lots of them. All hanging around outside the club. I saw this one guy, tall skinny and cute leaning up against the car. I said “”hey man, what’s happening?” He said, “blue, blue blue”. I happened to have a bag of really shit shake and handed it to him.. He said, “wow! Thanks.” By now we’re stoned but we don’t really know it. Not yet. So we look around and grab a little table. I notice that all the tables have red and white table cloths with fresh flowers. We go, “wow, this is so cool. They fixed up the whole place for the fourth.” We walked up to the stage and were totally blown away. “Look! They fixed up all their gear!! It’s all antiqued for the holiday!”” We went back to our table and I guess the guys in the table behind us heard us going on and on. He says in a loud voice, “what the fuck is wrong with you? Can’t you see there’s been a fire here and the whole place almost burned to the ground?!” Oh shit!! No wonder it smells weird. We walk back to the stage and realize that The Down Five’s equipment had not been antiqued but burned to a crisp. There were signs that said Hammond B3 $1.50. Drums 50 cents. Oh man… what a bummer, disaster.

“We had a great time out there in Southampton, running on the beach, writing songs and playing with Arty and Nancy’s golden retriever named Banana.”

But…pretty soon things shift. There’s music, live and loud. A band I’ve never seen before. I’m really flying now. Full steam ahead. I’m not aware of anything. I’m just part of this train, storming in fury. Not sure who is there. It’s the music that has me blanketed. Primal, uncontrolled, screaming, trapped. I’m wearing my silver Quadrophenia mini skirt, shirt, and tap shoes. I don’t know if it’s an hour or a minute. There’s a huge hole in the brick wall behind the band that the firefighters had to make to put out the fire. Suddenly a huge bolt of lightning comes through the hole, strikes me and the guitar player next to me at the same time. What happens after that I’m not sure except that I couldn’t stop dancing, smoke coming out of my shoes. Somewhere in this space called time I wound up with this tribe of people, all of them, going to a house in the Hamptons for the night. In the morning things got even crazier. We were taking showers and I looked up at this blonde haired beautiful girl. Crazy? Destiny? Magic? It was Nancy from Ondines. We looked at each other in complete shock. “You???” Yeah. The guitar player that I shared the lightning strike with was Arty. Hook Line and Sinker. We talked and laughed. Arty told me they were from the city, a Multi Media Corporation called The Group Image Enterprises Incorporated. I’m asked to come with them to the city and audition to sing. Oh yeah, this is it. This is what I was born to do. We stayed at a house on the beach belonging to Steven Stump. We took acid and it was better than the strips. Arty, Nancy and I picked right up where we left off. Best friends. We played at a party out there and Norman Mailer was there among others. The person I gave the weed to that night on the fourth turned out to be Ricky, another guitar player. Turns out there were lots of people in this “band”. We had a great time out there in Southampton, running on the beach, writing songs and playing with Arty and Nancy’s golden retriever named Banana.

“We were a corporation. All self sufficient.”

I met so many people and I couldn’t remember all of them. Somehow we got back to the city. I knew this time I was never going home again. The Group Image was unlike anything I had ever witnessed. There was a loft on 83 Second ave. Corner of E fifth street. Actually we had the whole building. Office on one floor, living spaces on the next floor, practice space, and the gear area in the basement. Not only was there a band, but an art department. There was a president, vice president, treasurer, and someone to help answer the phone. Arty brought me over to a small apt on 7th street. There were bunk beds.

I met Paul who was the youngest guitar player. I was tired but couldn’t sleep. In fact I don’t remember sleeping ever. Arty told me that the next day we were going to their ballroom so I could sing with the band. It was the Palm Gardens 310 West 52nd Street. Besides that there was a store on E9th street called Counterart. You could get your Group Image Sucks Tee Shirt. There was so much so fast. I just kept riding that train. Each person from the Group Image will tell you their own story. Like they say, “there’s a million stories in the naked city and this has been one of them”. Everyone has their own way of coming to The Group Image and everyone was in the Group Image. I’m not going to say we were a commune because we weren’t. We were a corporation. All self sufficient.

So next day we head to Palm Gardens. The band sets up on the stage. I can’t even tell you how many people were in the band then. It didn’t matter. They begin to play ‘Dancing in the Street’. Okay I know this song. I get the gig. But this is not a gig. It’s a life. I made a couple of changes. I moved from the seventh street pad to the loft… I made a bed on top of the speakers. Somewhere down the line I talked with Arty about making a real band. Get rid of the ones that were secondary and keep the main ones. So there it was. Arty Schlackman on lead guitar, Rick Kunstler on second lead guitar, Paul Merrill on double neck Gibson rhythm, Doug Metzler on bass, and Marty Perrin drummer.

We had three roadies, Leslie, Duckie, and Tim. The corporation was Jim Swerdlin President, Roger Ricco Vice President, Jim Rudolf, Barbara Garrison secretary, Michael Markowitz treasurer, Uncle Ray, Dennis Pohl and his wife Kathy that owned Counterart, Truth and Beauty who were John Bonano and David Glick (photographers), Peter Sinclair, Linn House Innerspace and all the women. Nancy Lauten (Arty’s wife), Willie Mendes (artist and Ricky’s wife), Peggy the dancer (with Roger), Morning Glory, Sue, Patrice (with Doug), Martha and Mark, Nan and Charles, Karen, Suzie, and too many others to name.

“To be able to play music as loud as you want, and sit on the grass”

How the Group Image members came from all over?

Arty Schlackman’s music story: This might not be exactly right but the best I can do from phone conversations. Like me, Arty was born in New York. The beautiful steel blue eyed pirate who could take your soul prisoner. Wild in the streets. A drooling Les Paul fuzz tone. Hustling around the streets, bouncing here to there. He had made a record way back called ‘Barbara’. When I met him a couple years before he was checking into hotels using fake band names like Stark Naked and the Car Thieves. He’d check in with empty suitcases and run out on the bill. Gotta love this guy. Okay here’s the story: He was working for Kama Sutra Records. They were interested in what was happening with the music scene in the West Coast. Arty had been to San Francisco before and knew Danny Rifkin. So they sent him as an emissary from the East Coast. He was picked up at the airport by Danny Rifkin, Rock Scully, and Neal Cassidy. Whew. He was immediately dosed. They drove out to see the band.

The band was the very early beginnings of the Grateful Dead. They had just recently been the Warlocks. It was the beginning of time. I don’t know much more of that visit, except he had made some very strong connections. Back to New York, Arty, Nancy and their dog Banana are hitching. They get picked up by a group of artists from Wisconsin. They’re living in the city and starting an art community company. So right then and there it’s born. Out of the universe. Arty explains how he is connected to the music world. Immediately the art joins with music and the Group Image is hatched. It’s a corporation, The Group Image Enterprises Inc. The First MultiMedia Corporation in NYC. This all happened about a few months before I got there. At this point it’s wild. The Group Image is an active part of the community in the East Village. The community moved from the West Village to the East. Fighting against the cops for the rights to access Tompkins Square Park. To be able to play music as loud as you want, and sit on the grass. Don McNeill who was the young outlaw writer for the Village Voice is part of the Group Image. Every issue there’s stories and cartoons about the Group Image. Flyers advertising gigs at Tudy Hellers, The Scene, The Balloon Factory… At this point they are looking for a ballroom where they can play indoors to more people. Anyone could be in the band. You could bang pots, clap your hands, dance all night. [Streets That I Have Crossed The Palm Gardens. There are lots of the articles and flyers from the Village Voice on the Group Image done by the Art Dept.]

The Group Image still had to come up with money. Money to pay for the building, money for supplies, the phone, food and the various apartments. The idea from the heads of state was originally to make a movie and that would be the breakthrough. I didn’t really ask questions about things. I felt like I was still on this express train, buckled in with my seat belt. All I had to do was sing. I’m not political, I’m not a revolutionary, I’m a visual. I’m a dancer, a singer, a bullshiter, a comedian. The art department had all come to New York like so many others to make their future. Dreams come true. Peter Sinclair, who was the oldest, was a professor in college. Many of the others went to the same college and all of them came together. I loved them all but my radius was the music. My resentfulness of authority made me shy of anyone with a title like president. I was such a child. The early beginnings of The Group Image was in 1966. By now the Art Dept is working on the cover of Time Magazine. Designing it themselves.

The art department decided that now the first thing to sell would be the music. The band. So, after the line up changed we got our stage names. I became Sheila Darla (I thought Darla would be so appropriate as in the Little Rascals. Darla was the one that Alfalfa and Spanky were always in love with. Arty became Dr. Hok, because one night while Nancy was asleep, Arty took off her diamond engagement ring and hocked it. Ricky became Freddy Knuckles because of the way he played his guitar. His knuckles always bent as he finger picked his Epiphone, Doug became Big Black Doug cause that’s how he looked when he was playing his bass, Paul became William Guy Merrill, his real name and lastly Marty Perrin the drummer became Marty the Flash.

“Get people high without the drugs. Or on drugs.”

When I came along there was a lot of buzz going on in the loft… There was going to be a large article printed about the band. About the change in the climate. I really didn’t get it through my thick head that this was Time Magazine. All I had to do was put on my seat belt and sing. Be the visual. Our ballroom was open. It was the Palm Gardens at 310 west 52nd street. Every Wednesday night we had our show. Once a week. It was $1.50 to get in. There wasn’t any other place to play. We had to do it ourselves. Get people high without the drugs. Or on drugs. We had the dancers that would show up at every show and would go all night with us. In the mornings after the show, the floor would be littered with paper and acid tabs. We had the largest strobe light on the Eastern SeaBoard. We had our own light show, and each show had a theme. So there was light, sound and magic. The balcony upstairs at the Palm Gardens was perfect. We could set up our light show from there. We also had a large fog machine and a scrim.

A scrim is a thin piece of material that you could see through or project on. I think we were the first to use one in this kind of venue. In the early days there was no Fillmore East, so we were the place. Many bands that were starting out played with us. But we decided who, what and when. Due to the fact that Arty already knew the Grateful Dead, they would come to play with us. We hosted them when they had their first gigs in New York. They opened for us, unreal.

Not that many people knew who they were. Pigpen was awesome, kind of the leader of the band then. I always felt sorry for me and Bob Weir. Both in the front of these intense bands and only 19 years old. The East Coast was very different from the West. Really not the place to be tripping. No trees, just concrete and people. But it was all good each and every day. Especially when we played.

“Andy Warhol was at every show”

Some of the bands that played at our shows were: The Illuminum Dream, The Wind in the Willows (Debbie Harry of Blondie and her sister ), The Soft White Underbelly (Blue Öyster Cult), Elephants Memory (John Lennon’s backup band), Richie Havens, Federal Duck (Buzzy Feton), Garland Jeffries, Country Joe, and many more. One of our shows was called the “Marty Perrin Show”. Marty was our drummer. We set it up like the Johnny Carson show. He had a desk and all the band members sat on the couch. The large scrim was set up around the stage, which was outlined like a large TV set, the scrim being the screen. The set would begin and the band took the stage. According to which song, the fog machine would go off and the music would get more intense. The faster the sound, the harder the sound, the strobe light would react. The people went crazy. Each show was packed. Before I came to the Group Image it was a wild tribe of people who were part of the counterculture changing the scope of restrictions. Every issue of The Village Voice reported all the political happenings in the Village. When I came things changed. The band now was the main vehicle to push the Group Image Enterprises Incorporated into more attention.

“We would drive around and pick up people, give them acid, and see what they had to offer.”

You played for two years in various locations in Manhattan, NYC, including its own productions/shows at the Palm Gardens, and the Cheeta Club, and shows with the Grateful Dead in Central Park and the Fillmore East, and other outdoor shows in parks such as Thompkins Square Park in the East Village. Various artists such as Tiny Tim and Wavy Gravy participated in the shows from time to time, as did the Diggers and others. How did that come about?

Now we had our ballroom. At the same time the Time Magazine came out. It was called The Hippies, July 7th,1967, beautiful cover. We did a fantastic job. We became like a virus that spread to everyone in the city. The article in the Time issue was about how the system is trying to understand what is exactly going on in the counterculture, or how to sell it. Constantly being at war with the authority and the police. The Vietnam war was raging but we were in our own space. Every month, all the time, years, just melted into one moment non stop. If there was any happening, any discord going on would show up and play for free.

There was a person that went awol and was held up at Columbia University. We showed up and played for free. The whole university was shut down. Students locked themselves in classrooms. It was a strike, all out war. I remember walking through the halls and seeing students sitting on floors with no food, no beds, no school, just shut the mother fucking system down. I don’t know exactly how we attracted characters that joined our tribe. We had the stage. We had the platform, so we were all together. Hugh Romney (Wavy Gravy) used to MC our shows. He’d come out and do his money money money rap.

He wasn’t Wavy Gravy yet but he was on his way. Abbie Hoffman would also share our stage. The Diggers, Peter Coyote, Jerry Rubin, and others would drive around in a black van. The Diggers were cool. They had a freestore that had free clothes, places to stay, lending a hand. Andy Warhol was at every show. He was one of the first artists to have a loft in the Bowery. They were so cheap then. I think the Factory and The Velvet Underground were the only other group like us. Except they were hardcore and they called us those “Hippies”. Timothy Leary would show up, Alan Ginsberg, Owsley the Bear whenever the Dead were in town, and their whole tribe. When they came they always had the best acid. I was always in fear when they would come cause I knew we would get really high. It was great. Then, no one was really revolutionary or violent.

It was all fun, all one, a community. Abbie was just a comedian. But with all these seeds of friendship things changed in the couple of years to come. So, if you ask me how all these things came about. Who called who, or talked to who to make all the connections for the shows and gigs, I would have to say it must have been heads of the corporation, and others at the loft that ran things. For me, when you’re that young and taking acid almost everyday, learning how to sing on the stage, relating to others outside of our family, I just had to sing.

That was all. That’s how I survived. Just sing. There were too many magicians, poets, teachers, and prophets that wanted to put you on their trip. We all had our jobs. Being a tribe in NYC was not like what was happening in California. Who the fuck cared. We were from the greatest city in the world. Most people grow up and can’t wait to come to New York. And we could see them coming. Oh yeah, welcome, give up your money and go home.

We had an old Police paddy wagon. It was white and spray painted with black flowers and on the back it said “flower suck” The Suckmobile. We would drive around and pick up people, give them acid, and see what they had to offer.

If they couldn’t add to the Group Image they were out on the street. We were the survival of the fittest. The Wednesday shows at the Palm Gardens was the gig that made us some money once a week. After the shows at like two or three in the morning we’d go to Smilers on Sheridan Square and buy our once a week big meal. Wed go back to the loft. Bacon and Eggs. We were like savage pirates and if you didn’t grab some food you wouldn’t eat.

“There was Abbie Hoffman with a real live pig in the bathtub”

In between our weekly shows we played anywhere and everywhere. We set up on a flatbed truck in the middle of eighth street and played in the daytime to about five thousand people. That was a lot then, by word of mouth. The idea was against the “pigs” I ran up to the loft after our set and there was Abbie Hoffman with a real live pig in the bathtub. He’s going to bring it outside so everyone can see it. Fuck the pigs!!! We played on the Hudson Line Ferry all around Manhattan. We were really rockin ‘and rollin. I can’t remember the exact dates of all these events. I was interviewed by a very young Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Band). He was 16 and very sweet. I think it was for Crawdaddy Magazine although I never saw it.

Arty and Nancy got married by Jim Fouratt (who later became a leader for gay rights). They were married at one of our shows and was covered in the Sunday section of The New York Times Magazine. Everything was exploding. All these Madison Ave execs and Time Magazine editors coming to the loft. Arty and Nancy went on The Newlywed show and won a trip to Jamaica. Arty came back with the first Reggae music I had ever heard.

We were invited to Millbrook, where Timothy Leary lived. Everyone was on acid. We stayed for three days and played. A group called The Third World filmed the whole thing. Lost forever in time. There were people living in teepees, running around with axes on LSD. Getting crazy. Leary took us all up to Lunacy Hill. He was wearing his Indian Chief headdress. We all sat there, to watch the sunset… And I swear he made it go up and down and up and down twice. I couldn’t wait to get back to my city.

“We threw fake money down from the balcony in the strobe. All these execs with their sweat and loose ties thought it was real money and they were crawling all over the floors.”

Back at the Palm Gardens some of the other shows we did were called “Nobody’s Safe”, “Moonlit Dips”, “The Anual Chrome Brain Awards”.

That show was when Madison Ave hired us to have a show for them. It was funny. The art dept made these invitations on beautiful paper with two dysfunctional looking guys in shirt and tie giving each other an award. With the music beating to a frenzy and the strobe light at full speed, all these guys just lost control. One of them got on stage with me and started dancing. He says boy this is great!! This is all free and reaches to grab me. I pushed him off the stage and said not that free!! We threw fake money down from the balcony in the strobe. All these execs with their sweat and loose ties thought it was real money and they were crawling all over the floors. The Grateful Dead played with us each time they came to New York They would always yell out “Who the hell is Arty Schlackman”, I remember going to the top of the Chelsea Hotel to play with the Dead. I was so sick I had a fever and couldn’t breathe. There was a ladder to the roof after all the stairs. I could hardly climb up. There’s someone giving me a hand up and it’s Simon and Garfunkel. There was another gig in the city, at the Longshoreman’s bar. We were playing ‘I Grew Up All Wrong’ and I was singing and dancing, eyes closed. When the song ended I looked up and there was Janis Joplin standing right in front of me. We became friends. And Doug, our bass player and Peter Albin, bass player for Big Brother became friends. They were born the same day. Great times. The Art dept would always make the flyers for the gigs and they were plastered all over the city. They did features in The Village Voice like “Group Image Flakes” and the “TV Glide”. Even Banana Arty and Nancy’s dog had a cartoon. “Banana Split”. I can’t remember all the shows or gigs because there’s always been very little about the Group Image out there. It was all too early. It’s not until the internet that all of a sudden things started to show up. I had no idea. All in this fury, the record companies are starting to come around. They all want to sign us. It’s the new thing. The only problem was we were not going to sell out and we were not going to be told what to do. Besides that, no one had the equipment to record us. We blew up every studio we went to. William Morris agency wants to handle us. We’re going to office meetings with ancient old men. Max Lerner. I’ll never forget him. So somewhere in there we are going to record. Besides playing at our shows and happenings, the bands from California are coming. Now we are doing shows at Central Park, daytime gigs with Clear Light, Moby Grape, Country Joe and the Fish, MC5. I was always compared to these girl singers I had never heard of. Janis Joplin and Grace Slick. I never really knew who was out there in the crowd. It was just who you passed by. Members of Big Brother were coming. Members of lots of bands. Someone finally played their records for me. Wow!! Now we are being managed by Gary Keys, a black man who managed Dionne Warwick. We are going to record at Ultrasound Studios outside of the city. Produced by Vinnie Testa and Shadow Morton. Vinnie Testa produced The Vanilla Fudge and Shadow Morton has worked on endless recordings. He was a legend. I think we recorded it in two days or a week.

Your album, ‘A Mouth in the Clouds’ was self released, how many copies were made? What can you tell us about the cover artwork? Were you inspired by psychoactive substances like LSD at the time of writing the album?

The Group Image made our own record label called Community Records. It was distributed by Atlantic Records. I think there were 10,000 copies made. The Art Dept did all the artwork and came up with all the language and print. The photos were taken at Saint Mark’s Church in the East Village, and somewhere in a studio. Cartoons on the cover of band members drawn by the art dept. (over 40 years later I found out that the album had been rereleased on Fallout UK. I have no idea how this happened. None of us has ever received a penny except for the initial money at signing. $400.00. We never even used our real names on the publishing). It was never about the money anyway. As far as substances influencing us, I’ll never tell…

There’s one special mention. Don McNeill who had been our savior at the Village Voice, and a beloved friend to so many, drowned at the Hamptons. It was devastating. He was only in his early twenties. We dedicated our album to him. It’s on the album jacket. There is now a book out by Don McNeill. It’s called ‘Moving Through Here’. It has lots of his writings that were released after he passed. There’s a whole chapter on The Group Image and has great info on what it was like in the early 60s in NYC.

What influenced the band’s sound?

Never practicing. Each one just made it up as we went. Arty, Ricky and I wrote most of the songs, with the help of all the band members. We didn’t even put our real names on the album. Right before we recorded the album, our drummer Marty had too much of everything and had to go home. It wasn’t easy to keep it together for anyone unless you were as tuff as the concrete in the city. We got a new drummer from out of town. He was actually a formally trained musician that played with an orchestra. He even wore love beads. Ugh. He wanted to practice everyday. Arty and I were against it. Against him. He wanted money. He wanted to change the songs. He wanted to sing. We signed our record deal contracts at Max’s Kansas City and turned the place upside down. Literally. I think I got four hundred dollars and I was so happy. Young and blind. But happy, so happy. We were never loud enough. We had no money to buy real equipment. Our sound man was Guy Lauten who was Nancy’s younger brother. He started at eleven years old. All of us were so young. Everyone else out there seemed so old.

Would you share your insight on the albums’ tracks?

It was a real battle when we recorded the record. It didn’t sound like us at all. We were so loud and aggressive. All the songs were cut to please the producers. Arty was screaming at them. We had the final say in the “artists rights”. We all walked out. We came back and tried again. Some of the songs I really loved. But they all sounded weak. You have to imagine three guitar players. Arty had his Les Paul with an outrageous fuzz tone. Ricky had a soulful sound. Paul had a double neck Gibson and played rhythm with all his heart and soul. Me, I never stopped dancing, screaming, and we were loud. Loud. That was live, not recorded.

The first track was called ‘New Romancing’. Kind of a song they wanted to release for the radio. We never played it too much. I thought the harmonies were good. So commercial and not like us at all.

I loved ‘Miss Flower’ Ricky wrote that and it sounds like he’s behind a wall. The sound is so small. Fantastic lyrics, and Ricky has a great voice.

‘Grew Up all Wrong’, Arty wrote. I love that song. I remember doing the hand claps. That was great.

‘My Man’, I wrote and I hate it. They made me sing it over and over, softer and it came out so bad. I was not used to recording vocals separate from the band. Sucks.

‘Voices Calling Me’, another one I wrote about my cowboy dreams and came out so bad. Another suck.

‘Moonlit Dip’ was Ricky’s song. Another one that was chopped and made so poorly. Live it was great.

‘Banana Split’ was another song that Ricky wrote. It was about Southampton. We had a large black light box at the shows that people could get day glow painted in. Peggy the dancer used to do her thing in there. At one show, the Banana Dog ate day glow paint. He had gone blind. He disappeared from the show. All of us were desperate looking for him. With no luck we went back downtown. When we got home there he was. He had taken the subway and found his way home. That’s why the song is called ‘Banana Split’ and the chorus is “I know he’ll see some sunny day”. If you listen carefully right after or before the backward tape part you can hear him bark. Love that!!! This is another song that was so awesome live. And then the new drummer Leon Luther Rix, the Professor, had to sing it.

To me, the only song that really sounds like us is ‘Hiya’. That song was done once with me doing the vocals separately. I couldn’t take it. I insisted to do it one take live with the band and that’s what you hear on the record. One take live…Because it was so long they also put out a 45 which I can’t even listen to. I was influenced by James Brown and Arthur Lee of Love. ‘7 And 7 Is’ (head inside an ice cream cone) vacuum can. Ha. It’s a family secret.

There’s a video out on YouTube which is the only video that exists of the band. It’s from the TV show we did in Philadelphia. We are lip singing of course, but its funny, really funny.

 

‘A Way To Love You All The Time’ was written by Ricky. Another good song but you can’t tell from the album.

‘Aunt Ida’ was by Arty. It’s kind of about relatives when you’re growing up.

‘The Treat’ was a song by Ricky. It has great words and another example of poor recording.

In hindsight, Ultrasound Studio was one of the first to have 24 tracks instead of 4 on the reel to reel. I’m sure they were trying to record this new crazy music and really tried. But who could put up with us.

I’m sorry if I got any of the song credits confused. It was a very long time ago.

What can I say about that album? We all hated it pretty much and were ready to do another album. It was going to be more soulful and we had new songs.

People were trying to grab at us, change how I dressed, singing lessons and finally going to see the people at The Ed Sullivan Show. They wanted me, not the band. I told all of them to fuck off. Arty and I were on our pirate ship and taking no prisoners. The band was tight. For a while.

Now the album or ‘Hiya’ is being played on the radio. We couldn’t believe it. Screaming for joy. It’s number seventeen with a bullet in Billboard. Now we’re going on tour. We play all the East Coast. None of us want to go to California. The West Coast. Why? We’re from NYC. West Coast is for dropouts. We play in all the big ballrooms. The Kinetic Playground, Aragon Ballroom, and The Boston Tea Party. When we played in Chicago we came in for soundcheck. Right there on the stage at the same time was Muddy Waters, with his whole band. Luther Tucker, Buddy Guy, all of them. They invited us up to play with them and we all jammed on Stevie Wonder’s ‘Uptight (Everything’s Alright)’ that you ask yourself “did that really happen?” But at the time it was all normal. Part of the gig. We also play all the Colleges and get in fights with the deans. This is not what they expected. Arty is throwing cheeseburgers at their faces. They are screaming at us to “Turn it down”. No way. We played at Swarthmore, Stoneybrook, and can’t remember the rest. Back at home in NYC there’s a change. The Anderson Theatre that was across the street from the loft was rented out to Bill Graham. It was called the Fillmore East. Everyone in the community didn’t like it. This was big business coming into our sacred space. And he hated us. We went over and told him he couldn’t just take over our theatre, and if he did he had to let The Group Image in for free, all the time. So what if there were 100 people in The Group Image. He really hated us. So we went out one night in the Suckmobile, and with white paint and stencils, painted all the New York City sidewalks saying Group Image every Wednesday night Palm Gardens $1.50 naked get in free. Bill Graham was pissed.

“We also played at the first Woodstock Festival which a lot of people don’t know about. It was called a Music And Arts Festival.”

On Easter Sunday there was a huge event in Central Park. We played there in the afternoon and then went to ABC television studios. We were on a show called Previews with Adam Batman West and Dion Warwick. We did a new song called ‘Open Your Heart’. Never saw it again. I called ABC and they said they didn’t save anything that was that old. In Philadelphia we did a TV show with The Iron Butterfly.

Now after almost 50 years it appeared on YouTube. Someone told me. It blew me away, I had no idea it was out there. We found out that we couldn’t use the Palm Gardens anymore. We decided to rent out the ballroom at the Hotel Diplomat. The last show at the Palm Gardens was called the Destruction of the Palm Gardens.

The art dept built these huge cardboard boxes painted red and people had to walk through them and break them to get in. Then we put everyone in buses and took them to our new ballroom. Bill Graham got nasty and pushed Nancy when she was pregnant with her second kid. She must have been only 17 years old by then. Arty got into a fist fight with him. Still we got in for free and I have to thank him because I got to see every single great band that played there till middle of 69. Every single one. Finally we got our chance to play there. It was so bad. We sucked so bad. While we were playing this huge naked girl jumped up on the stage and grabbed me while I was singing and I couldn’t get her off of me. No one helped me. There was no security in those days. Finally the band helped me. That was our big Fillmore flop. Arty always said they can love us, hate us, but never like us. True that. We also played at the first Woodstock Festival which a lot of people don’t know about. It was called a Music And Arts Festival. We played outside at night in a huge field. The powerful strobe light was beaming. Suddenly there’s a big light in the sky beaming back at us. Everyone says it’s a UFO. Word was that Dylan was there.

This was when Woodstock was still small. Before the gold rush. On the way out of town we got pulled over. I don’t know if it was just the way we all looked or the smell of a joint. The cop wants to write a ticket but he doesn’t have a pen. Immediately our roadie Tim Styles says “You know what you are? You’re a fuckin doo doo cop without a pen!”. We all start chanting “You’re a fuckin doo doo cop without a pen”, really loud. He takes us all to jail. Next morning we all went to court. We made such a scene the judge paid us fifty dollars to get out of town and never come back. We didn’t. We got a gig to play at the opening of The Electric Eye in Toronto. We drove up there with the Suckmobile and a yellow van. I was in the van with some of the other band members and other people. One of them suddenly had an acid flashback and it was pretty heavy. All the way there he was holding the bible and crying saying “we are all one, we are gods children, we are in the yellow van”. Hours later we arrive and there’s no change. So we decided to leave him at the motel room. We get to the gig and for the first time there’s like a computer. It’s set up to project on a huge screen what the music is projecting. We’re playing and it’s saying “Hate, Hate Hate”. More and more people are coming. It’s getting a little better. Then our friend we left at the room appears. He had escaped. He’s supposed to collect the check for the gig. He’s in no shape, and Arty seeing the opportunity grabs the money and buys himself a guitar. That was the end. Leon, the new drummer quit right there. Doug, behind him whose old lady always wanted to go to California decided to go. Leon went on to play with very famous people, Bette Midler, and Dylan. Doug went on to play with Country Joe. Arty, Nancy, Paul, I and a few others are still in NYC. Now we have a new flat at 51 Christopher Street. It doesn’t have everything, but it’s nice. It’s above a bar and every night you could go to one part of the flat and hear Diana Ross and in the other part another song on another jukebox. I heard it was owned by the mob. There was this guy named Iggy and he kept bothering us.

We told the landlord and he just disappeared. We never saw him again. The bar downstairs turned out to become the famous Stonewall, where all the riots happened for gay rights. We didn’t know how to pick up the pieces. I hardly remember those days. I do remember Capitol Records called and wanted to resign the band. I said no ones here and hung up. We ran out of records, really, ran out of records. How? I swore I would never tell anyone that I was in a band.

Never want to see the Grateful Dead again or go through all that. I’m going to be normal. By now it’s 69 and the whole atmosphere is changed. Tompkins Square is chained off. The Black Panthers are marching with big dogs, baseball bats, and bags. It was over. Just like that.

What happened after the band stopped? Leon went on to play with Dylan and Bette Midler, Doug Metzler with Country Joe and The Fish. How about the others?

I came out to California, cause Doug was here and we stayed with Peter Albin. Ricky came out too and Barbara. Barbara also was in Arizona., There were a bunch of people called the TeePee Town Tribe that started out at Millbrook. They were in Arizona too. Barbara and I hooked up in San Francisco. She told me she had some friends she met In Arizona and they were living in the city. We went to this house on Broadway to meet them. I couldn’t believe it. These people were like the Group Image. They came to San Francisco from Arizona. They were artists and a band. They were
called The Beans but changed their name to The Tubes.

I was managing North Beach Leather and trying to pay my bills, raise my kids, and go out at night. I made friends with a great bunch of guys who were in a band called Naughty Women.

They all were born and raised in San Francisco and played loud intense original English rock on Hiwatt stacks. There was a great scene in the city, places to dance, places to see bands…Van Morrison, Sly and the Family Stone, Boz Scaggs, and Sylvester. The Tubes were just starting to get their costumes to each song more elaborated. I became really good friends with Prairie Prince, the drummer and Michael Cotten. Michael wasn’t in the band yet, and they had two drummers. Sadly Bobby Macintosh who was the other drummer with Prairie passed away. Fe who had been the roadie became the front man. One of the best. Michael joined playing synth. All of them were so gifted, talented. Like the Group Image they had a family of people. Singers, dancers and a huge stage show. Michael and Prairie went on to be well known legends in the art field. Prairie has played with just about everyone. Check his website. Michael has done all the stage and lights for Michael Jackson, Shania Twain, Miley Cyrus, and Carrie Underwood. He also worked with Disney. You can google Michael as well. The Tubes still play as a four piece with original members. The girl singer was Re Styles and she was the most beautiful girl in San Francisco. Her and Prairie were together. Barbara and I were asked to be The Punishment Sisters in the Mondo Bondage show. It was Re who was tied up on a dolly with an apple in her mouth and Barbara and I wearing paper chains, singing ‘Chains’.

I remained really good friends with members of the Tubes till today. Re Styles and I have remained friends thru all these years.

As I met more people I also met the love of my life. Of course it turned out that he knew the Grateful Dead. Right back to where it all started. Can’t get away from who you really are. I also met my best friends through him and got to see the Dead in their full glory. I was speechless. It was funny when I finally admitted to them about The Group Image. First they thought I was full of shit. You had to be there from the very beginning to know about those early shows in New York. I passed the test. We were remembered. Nothing but the kindest people. They have always been so good to me. I also met another friend of my old man who was the bass player in a band called Freestone.

Bill the bass player had a girlfriend named Linda Clark and we immediately bonded forever. We learned how to play electric together, she on bass and me on guitar. We got Michael Pickle, the drummer from Naughty Women to play with us.

We were loud. Michael like Keith Moon, Linda with her SVT and me with my Hiwatt stack. Three pieces, simple. Quick fast songs, no harmonies, no elongated lead guitars. Just heavy rhythm and me on vocals. Linda and I wrote and produced. We also at times had Willie Braun sit in and Byrd from Naughty Women on guitar. Also two other drummers, Jimmy and Billy. We were called The Workers. Mike Pickle’s drum kit was amazing. He was incredibly hard of a drummer, and played with two kick drums. He also has been a friend through all these years.

Freestone made a record called ‘Bummer Bitch’. It has become a very rare punk record. You should look it up and listen to it. Nothing else like it. Freestone became The Fans and Prairie Prince did all the artwork on their cover. They should of had more exposure.

Journey came out at the same time and they took all the spots.

Bill of Freestone and Fans was also a great bass player. He played with with Luther Tucker, one of the last blues greats from Muddy Waters school.

Luther had a girlfriend named Jill that played harp also. I told Luther we wanted to call ourselves The Mother Tuckers and he said, “that’s not nice”, too much. Through the years Linda and I had different formations of the Workers.

It turned out that Vince Welnick (keyboard player from The Tubes) and his wife Laurie were living in the same town as me. I was helping them to sell their house. It was just around then that Brent the keyboard player from the Dead had passed away.

I went to Vince’s house and told him you can get this gig. So between my friend at the Dead’s office and someone from the Tubes office, Vince got to audition and got the gig. Life changing to say the least.

He loved Jerry so much. Jerry loved the way Vince sang. Vince learned one hundred and thirty songs in three days. Sadly and devastating Jerry passed. Vince never was the same, as for many many people. My family and I were living in Mexico off and on for years. Vince and Lourie decided to come down too. They started to do shows there, benefits for the ecological center. Bob Weir, and Prairie, and Re came down.

I sang with them. Bobby and my old man became good friends. Diving together. It was sweet. Bobby and his wife have always been so good to me. The sweetest people you could ever meet.

I’ve remained really good friends with Barbara all these years. She married Arthur Kane from the New York Dolls and has appeared in some films and has published a book called ‘I, Doll: Life and Death with the New York Dolls’. It’s also on DVD. I speak to Arty and keep in touch and have seen him all through the years. He also came out to Calif. He was in Los Angeles and managed Naughty Women. You can look up Naughty Woman on YouTube. Look for ‘Soiled Dove’.

 

I talk with Doug, and Ricky thru Facebook. I’ve seen Tim Styles a couple of times when he came from New York to California. I also keep in touch with Dennis Pohl who is a well known artist now living in Mexico. Roger Ricco has had high end art galleries in NYC. I speak with Nancy, and keep in touch with Michael Markowitz. Arty and Ricky have been in many music projects thru the years. Ricky Lee Jones even wrote a song about Arty called ‘Ghost Train’ when he changed his name to “Jupiter Ray”.

I think the biggest tragedy of the Group Image was the death of Paul Merrill, rhythm guitar player. After we broke up it was really hard on him. Some of us were gone. We were his only family. He wasn’t even nineteen. He was found in the middle of East 6th street, pushed off the six story roof, landing in the middle of the gutter. He was living with Uncle Ray. They say it was burglars. That was truly the end. Nothing could be put back together again. Hook Line and Sinker.

As I’m finishing this interview, I just received this email from Dennis Pohl. I’m going to quote him here.

“Hello Sheila Darla. This is the up-dated revised GI story. Peter Sinclair (RIP passed away Jan 1 this year) was our art teacher at University Wisconsin Minnesota…mine, Roger Ricco, and Jimmy S. We all moved from Milwaukee to NYC in the early 60s. In the process of making – it as artists, Roger Jimmy and I worked at Sculpture House at Union Square. Then we each went our own ways. I opened a store/studio along with Kathy, my wife, and our friends Bob and Martha on East 9th street. Roger came to see me one day and said that something was happening — join us “The Group Image”, we did and the store became GI Counterart, where we sold tickets to Freakouts of live Music—GI Band: Sheila, Arty, Ricky, Doug, Paul, Leon—and Light Shows. I photographed events, gave the prints to Peter, and he collaged them into what became the Time Magazine cover July 67. This was only the beginning. Besos, Dennis.”

Ricky Kunstler also got in touch.

My first cousin is William Kunstler (the famous attorney from the Chicago Five case among others). My parents had me late in life. The years with The Group Image are indelibly etched in my memory. We were fearless trailblazers, haha After The Group Image I joined Mr. Flood’s Party to record a little on Cotillion and do live shows. Coincidentally Long Island Boys’ Tommy (drummer) and Marcel (bass), you know them, hooked me up. A few gigs with watered down Left Banke, and some demos with Country Joe to no avail. And had a shot that I imported (co-lead) with Cashman and West, but when Jim Croce’s plane went down, that project died with him. So in Frisco I played with Mike Wilhelm’s Loose Gravel for a while. Made a demo with Nick Gravenites using some of Bloomfield’s blues guys but left to spoil on the vine.

I was born in NYC 103 street and Riverside. At 8 we moved to a little village 20 miles up river called Irvington. Left for college when I was 18 on Staten Island. I spent a college year in Austria. Then back to the city to the school of Visual Arts in 23 street. Then met Swerdlin on Second Ave one night. Asked him to help me move a discarded mattress to my pad. The rest is history. Shadow Morton production company and Vanilla Fudge had their equipment in the room I remember a limo ride back home to the Lower East Side. As far as copies I really don’t know, but I remember Scott Muni (radio dj) playing it because I heard it on the speakers in an upper east side boutique.

It completely blew me away how we wind around life to wind up in the same places with the same people. For me it started with The Down Five. If I hadn’t went to see them on the fourth, I never would have met The Group Image. 

When I look back none of this would of happened without all of us. It wasn’t about the band, or the record. It was about all of us at a time of glorious freedom, inspiration, and revolution. No one did hard drugs, no one drank. It was different than now for sure. Things that we believed in came true. Legalization of marihuana for instance. On the other hand, when acid was legal then, now it is more of a crime than heroin.

In NYC it was hard to have peace and love. Starving in the canyons of New York is not peaceful. I’m so glad I grew up there. If you can’t make it there you can’t make it anywhere, as they say. The bond all of us had can never break. When I look at the pics I don’t remember that young thing…

I have two adult kids (that are my parents, turn it down mom) and a beautiful Neon Granddaughter. I’ve lost a lot of friends and family but I have to keep going. That’s all we have. Everything happens at once, time was invented to prevent it. Better put on your seat belt.

What currently occupies your life?

As you get older the story gets longer. I still write everyday and play music all the time. I love my guitars and the endless road music takes you on. My teacher is Keith Richards. Not for the drugs, but because of his rhythm and dedication to his beliefs, loyal, and so brave. The open tuning to G is a revelation. Like he says, your guitar is the antenna. You never know what will come through, but you have to play. Amen to that.

Thank you for taking your time. Last word is yours.

I am very humbled and grateful for Klemen. He found me out of the ashes and brought the Group Image back to life after fifty years. Only someone dedicated to music would undertake what he has with his magazine. A true hero, thanks so much. Sheila (you make me feel so young) Darla

Klemen Breznikar

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More about The Group Image here!

All text written and copywritten @ Sheila Jones (A Chocolate Malted With Nuts In It). The Group Image pics and flyers by GI art dept. Photographers include Dennis Pohl, Kenny Greenberg, Truth and Beauty (John Bonano, David Glick) and Jay Good. Art dept, Peter Sinclair, Roger Ricco, Dennis Pohl …

All photo materials are copyrighted by their respective copyright owners, and are subject to use for INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY!