---

:: The Turtles - Too Young To Be One::

Ok, so this isn't very obscure. Basically, it's classic rock, or maybe pre-classic rock. In any case we've all heard of The Turtles. At least I'm not going to subject you to "Happy Together".

"Too Young To Be One" is a nice little tune by a tuneful little band. The Turtles hailed from my home town of Westchester, CA. When I was five, I started taking drum lessons at Westchester Music on Sepulveda Blvd. just north of L.A. International Airport. My teacher, Kay Carlson (yes, a chick drum teacher in the early '60s) didn't think much of that whole rock & roll thing, until one of her students, a guy named Don Murray hit the big time as drummer with the Turtles. Suddenly I was assigned to learn how to play the "Turtle Beat", which Murray supposedly invented and which was prominently featured on one of their early hits, "You Baby". This turned out to be a very valuable lesson indeed, and that very same beat is still widely over-used today. A more contemporary example of it's use can be found on a little song you may have heard of called "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Dave Grohl, meet Don Murray.

Don called it quits by the time the band went into the studio to record their biggest hit (Happy Together), and was replaced by Johnny Barbata who went on to play with Neil Young and Jefferson Starship, fer Chrisake.

Many years later, I worked with Turtles lead singer Howard Kaylan's brother Allan, who still lives in the family home within earshot of LAX in Westchester. Allan has many great stories of his big Brother's exploits in the rock & roll meat grinder, including a stint in the Mothers of Invention, a career in radio with Turtles partner Mark Volman as "Flo and Eddie", and as a background vocalist session man extraordinaire for numerous recording artists over the years. Today, Howard and Mark still tour the oldies circuit as The Turtles, and their current drummer plays the Turtle Beat every night.


Mike

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 03, 2005 at 6:22 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.