I'm sure I heard the music of the
Turtles all throughout my childhood on AM (and the burgeoning FM
“oldies”) radio, but my first conscious memory of Howard Kaylan
was in 1975, when he and Mark Volman, then and forever billed as “Flo
and Eddie,” guested on an episode of the PBS series
Soundstage hosted by Martin Mull. It was called
“60 Minutes to Kill.”
I was blown away entirely by that show
(at a very young age) and have been a big Flo and Eddie fan (as well
as a major devotee of Mull's comedy) ever since. Thus I was quite
pleased to recently have the opportunity, on the evening of Howard's
signing of his thoroughly entertaining, anecdote-filled, new
autobiography Shell Shocked at the Morrison Hotel
gallery in Soho, NYC, to speak with Howard for a full 90 minutes (it
was actually close to two hours, but the cameras were only on for 100
minutes, so why split hairs?).
It was a delight to find out that he's
as funny and articulate offstage as he is on. The man has a LOT of
stories to tell, and tell them he does in Shell Shocked (that sports a cover illustration by Cal Schenkel).
I take particular pleasure, though, in the moments where I got him to
tell tales that are not included in the book. For instance, the two
items below, a wonderful account of time spent (on plenty of acid)
with a young Warren Zevon, and Howard's account of his meeting with
his TV hero Soupy Sales and their subsequent friendship (which
involved plenty of laughter and, yes, the occasional partaking of
certain “substances”).
Thus, I offer a preview of my interview
with Mr. Kaylan. First his story about Zevon, and the “gift” that
the Turtles gave to Warren:
And a nice chunk of our talk, wholly
devoted to the subject of the one and only Soupy!!!
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