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California Dreamin'
In this typical 60's graphic, the totally unrecognizable head in the upper left corner (above right) belongs to Karl Garrett, lead guitarist, arranger and third
vocalist. Midway down the left side of the frame, is bass player
Mikey Joe Valente, and slightly above, to his immediate right, about a
third of the way in, the face with the whiskers is Travis Pike. Opposite
Travis, about a third of the way in from the right, is rhythm guitarist
and second vocalist George Brox and half-way down the right side of the
page is drummer, Phil Vitali. The graphic above appeared in the August,
1968 edition of New England Scene magazine, just about the time the group
emigrated to California. |
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Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds The move to California marked the beginning of the end.
George Brox disappeared to Cape Cod for the summer and could not be located,
so the band left without him. In Los Angeles, they found a replacement
rhythm guitarist and vocalist, but he took too long to learn the now nearly
200 original tunes in the "Tea Party" repertoire. Unable to take the
promised gig at the Whiskey in Hollywood, the band took a booking at The
Posh in Pomona and began playing pop tunes for the first 30 minutes, with
Travis coming on to perform his original songs for just the last 20 minutes
of each set. Playing was no longer playing, but working, and the music scene was changing
dramatically. Drug abuse was rampant and the "Tea Party" name was attracting
pushers and users, despite the fact that the "Tea Party" remained drug free.
It was really sad, Travis says. Our name came from the historic
incident in Boston Harbor that heralded the American Revolution.
Our break song came from the Mad Hatter's Tea Party in Walt Disney's 'Alice
in Wonderland,' but with Gracie Slick's 'White Rabbit,' even that had become
suspect. Of course, we knew 'tea' was popular slang for marijuana
when we named the band, but it was all a joke, then. To us, 'psychedelic'
was a musical style, not a life style. Travis, with a wife and
daughter, quit the band and "Travis Pike's Tea Party" scattered to the wind
in 1970, but their fans still say they were great while they lasted. |
