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Nancy Deedrick

Our 15th Year!

 


RAGGI's RAMBLINGS
 
Her Morrison Memories


One quick story...Daryl DeLoach wearing my green silk underpants
 w/ my beautiful green velvet vest that I got at the little shop 
behind Thee Experience, wearing a salad bowl on his head and a bandolero across his chest singing sympathy for the devil....but wait there is so much more....please respond. do I know you?

Then there was the night on delongpre that morrison got my dog drunk. then there was the night of one of those delongpre parties that i threw bonzi the notorious roadie who never left home w/out his whip, down the stairs. then there was the day that morrison decided my bunny could not be named petrice but fucker and then he decided to set him free in that little park just above Franklin by the frank Lloyd Wright house.  oh and yes, that apartment is where ode to Brian Jones while thinking of la was written one very hazy summer day in 1969 and Marsha Brevitz brought her son Michael over to meet Jim who spent the afternoon showing Michael how to spear pickles from a jar in the worlds smallest kitchen.
           raggi

             
Raggi, 1971            


as i read on it appears we "knew" too many of the same people. 
I also lived w/ denny on Harper. spent too many nights crying over morrison and more than some in sublime, stupid happiness. Chas chandler, I first met in Miami where he put his foot through the floor of my mothers Chevy. we need to talk!
raggi


Raggi in red dress
Richie Chimelis, in striped slacks, managed Thee Experience
Jackie Read, dark hair in background
Angie Bucci, blond in background
Pilgrim, in red shirt
Raggi's mom, Ruthie, short hair in background

hey nancy, what fun to come to work this morning and have all these wonderful emails. sugar bear and i were in a wedding party together at Denny's apartment on Harper. he was the ring bear-er and i the old maid of honor. den was the preacher man. it was a great wedding, ya should have been there. of course, i knew Susie creamcheese. no doubt the bracci bros. and cooker but you know about the memory fading...as for photos they burned in a fire at my home 2 years ago. a shame. i had great photos of a jam at the whisky w/ jimmy, lee oskar, Eric Burden, pinera ( whom i've just spoken to ) we've been friends since 66 in Miami. in fact i kept begging them (blues image) to come to la and give fame a chance. mike's doing wonderfully and living in Northridge (very valley). i worked w' charlotte at the rainbow and the whisky. do you remember Corinne? she married Michael Maglieri at the bow. Corinne and i were roommates for years in lake Hollywood. I've got a million stories and there's one about Daryl, Erik Braun and Steven weis that is going to come your way once i get a little work done, I'll probably come in on sat. so I'm on my own time. did you know Katherine James? we worked together at thee experience. you may absolutely use anything i send you and publish my email address. I'm computerly challenged so don't expect miracles from me but ellynn,to whom i've forwarder your emails is the one who found all this. this is almost as good as being there. sharing memories of the most magical time w/ people who know that it's all true. raggi

 

       
Her friend, Angel, and Raggi, 1971

it was 1969,summer, i think, but don't bet the farm on my memory. anyone who was a sunset stripling remembers that we served a traditional english breakfast at thee experience after hours. this particular night the dead had been playing and w/ them was their pal stanley augustus owsley, (yes, that owsley). as i recall he was not much bigger than i and i am small person then and now. it seemed that everytime i'd go in the kitchen to pick up orders from chrissy the kitchen martyr (as he was lovingly known) owsley would pop a piece of ice cream into my mouth. i thought, how cute, and kept taking bites. turns out he was doing the same to almost everyone in the club. suddenly i found myself sitting on the steps that acted as bleachers in the back of the room w/ some customers burger which i was finding mesmerizing. i kept throwing it up and down and it was turning into the most beautiful colors i'd ever seen. at some point, don't recollect when i became horribly afraid of that killer burger and began to cry and cry and cry. the next thing i remember i was shooting pool at the little 
bar by the chinese restaurant. i'd been saved either by 
doug lubahn or dallas taylor. i only wish i knew which one, 
but if either of you read this thanks.
          raggi

August 8, 2002

I first met denny in fort lauderdale at a coffee house called the pegasus. he was playing at the time w/ a group called the halifax 3 and i was longing to be a beatnik. my sister was also singing there and though 4 years older was kind enough to bring her baby sis w/ her. i met up w/ him again when he lived on lookout mtn. dr. but since the house as i'm sure you remember party central only went there w/ other people so there was no romantic relationship (not that den was very romantic) in any case. i ran into him again after i came back from florida. he was starting to play music again w/ lee montgomery, dewey martin and bud fanton. buddy was about to marry a woman named mady, who had worked w/ me at thee experience and who was a close friend. she and buddy were living in dennys kitchen behind a curtain. this was a tiny place referred to as the garden. we all lived there together surviving on wine and sandwiches from john and petes liquor store on la cienega. it was one crazy year or so which ended when  things got too nuts even for me. denny and group moved to connecticut. i stayed in la where glam was taking over and boy was it ugly. that's about the time i went to work at the whisky and rainbow, during the time of el grande de coca cola and cycle sluts. were you still in la?did you know that denny has a kids show on pbs? he's harbour master denny and he's wonderful on it. when i have more time i'll tell you the story about he, my mother and i and our trip to san diego for my cousins wedding.  ps just read the message, but do not remember this person. my sister does though not kindly. she says she lived w/ she and her husband and abused that hospitality by having an affair w/ him. still i'm intrigued!!! i'll be working on some jim stories. by the way i'm in touch w/ pinera and am going to tell him about this site later today. love,peggy

      
Raggi's friend, Ellymelly (Ellynn Levin)


August 9, 2002
 hey nancy,

i'm here unusually early as my dog ( the worlds cutest cocker spaniel) thought that 5.00 am seemed like a great time to get up. about mike pinera, whom you have on your list of hollywood people...mike was originally w/ the blues image my buddies from miami. later he joined the dreaded iron butterfly, also good friends. i dated erik braun, the singer who replaced daryl for a long time. i have tons of stories on blues image. originally,when they came out to la they all lived in a big house on margarita, in santa monica, where many fine parties took place. does that ring a bell. later they moved to a ranch in granada hills which we all called camp granada.joe lala is acting and was here in louisville a few years back doing city of angels. i made thanksgiving dinner in summer cause he wanted a home cooked meal. malcolm jones now lives in catalina and another old friend, angel rissoff, with whom i've just been back in touch says he visited him last year. pinera is still playing on oldies tours. last time he was in town it was a show w/ tiny tim and many other used to be's. i'm sure you know him and yes, he was quite young but then so were we all. he's a dear person, very spiritual, always was and no doubt always will be. i've got a few emails to answer, one from angel. you might know him too. i can't remember the name of his group but they played thee experience often, also miami boys. once i've had some more coffee, i'll attempt to get my story telling head in gear and tell some. be proud that your website has brought so many old friends together and so much enjoyment.
love, peggy

    
Jackie Read and Richie Borkin
Raggi has lost the whereabouts of Jackie
and would really like to find her.


This is Corinne, who worked with Raggi at the Whisky.
Corinne married and divorced Michael Magliero, Mario's son.
 David, on the left, owned the Speakeasy on Santa Monica

              
Raggi, in 1988 or 89


here is a wee tale of one night at thee experience.
i'm supposing by my choice of jewel encrusted breast plates 
(from a sleazy jewelry shop on hwd. blvd. near las palmas) that it must have been summer. in any case it was a night like many others at marshall's club....everyone was there. ellynn worked the door, sitting pretty in her window, saying yes or no, depending on who was trying to get inside. this particular evening marshall brevitz (a dear man, no longer w/ us) had just sent wild man fisher to the close-by laundromat to wash his clothes before he could join the frolic. what he wore while his clothes were washing i gratefully do not remember. he was singing his favorite song, merry-go-round, boop, boop, boop and entertaining the
tourists. mayor rodney b. had arrived with a contingent of beauties, as usual, with side kic kim fowley, splendiferous, of course!
all of a sudden across sunset cynthia plaster & partner (whose name i can't remember at all) got out of a taxi, with their little tool boxes in hand. as she crossed the street dressed in what i was certain was a shower curtain she was promptly knocked down by a red vw. don't fret, cynthia was not to be deterred. she knew that led zeppelin were there and she had work to do. so as marshall was freaking and ready to call an ambulance, miss cynthia, picked herself up, retrieved her"tool box" and marched right in...she had important work to do!! there is a sad ending to this endeavor though, alas! her prey of the evening were in fact there for one of our kipper and cold baked bean breakfasts they so loved, but otherwise entertained, under the table as was so often the case. does anyone remember a very tall, very thin groupie named dani? well it was her turn under the table much to miss cynthia's dismay. after that it seemed that for the next month or so every time she would show up she would be hit by a tiny car of some sort. i swear it's so.  ah well, just another hollywood night.
love, raggi

Raggi's friend, Ellynn has stories on the way, also.
In the meantime, she has sent the following photos from the 60's


Ellynn and Raggi


Jay, Ellynn, Mark

               Mom is far right and Ellynn's brother in rear

I love this letter from Ellynn about her first day in Hollywood:

hi Nancy 
Sorry its taken so long to actually sit down and begin the process of digging up these memories, and there are so many. I'll start with the first day! There I sat on the runway at JFK waiting for the 727 to take me to LA. It was my very first plane ride. A month before my family had driven from Miami to NY and I spent the first part of the summer working for my cousin who owned a travel agency in the city to make enough $$ to go to LA to chase after my dream. I had also sold my prize aqua blue '65 Mustang for the same reason. I had only planned on spending the rest of the summer there and returning to Miami to finish college but fate had other plans. When I landed at LAX I could absolutely feel there was something different in the air. I cant tell you what it was but I know I felt it and I'm willing to bet everyone else who was there knows exactly what I am talking about! Just a little bit of magic in the air, a feeling that everything was slightly just left of center (or maybe right), just different. As I rode back to Raggi's apartment, which is what I would soon call home, everything twinkled and shined and everything was possible! Raggi (who I never ever called Raggi, she was and is and will always be Peggy to me) was busy getting ready to go to work at Thee Experience on Sunset and i was so exhausted but not about to miss out on going to the club. The club owner Marshall Brevitz, I knew in Florida when he opened a couple of "clubs" there, which is how I came to meet Peggy in the first place. I had met Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes of Spirit when they had a huge hit in South Florida. They even came to my house to meet my family and "break bread" in the summer of '68 as you can see in the pictures. On their 3rd trip to Forida Mark was seeing a cute little blonde named Angie who was a life long friend of Peggy's and ,as it turned out has become a life long friend of mine.Thats how Pegs and I got together. Anyway, I walked into this club "Thee Experience" named for Marshalls pal Jimi Hendrix and I saw familiar faces everywhere. It was almost overwhelming in the beginning. I was introduced to the staff and was warmly welcomed by all and felt instantly part of the family.I met so many people but I sort of zeroed in on a guy named Upsy who was a roady for Jimi Hendrix because he would be playing the following day at Devonshire Downs along with Spirit and alot of others that I cant remember at this moment. I had tickets to this festival , didnt know how I was going to get there, didnt know a soul save pegs, and she wasnt going,  but was determined to go and see my boys! I couldnt tell you who gave me a ride to the festival and I cant tell you what gave me the balls except that ignorance is bliss. I think I may have had 30 minutes sleep but when you are 18 years old thats more than enough!!! ...blackbird singing in the dead of night...Well , i arrived with my phantom ride , said thank you, was promptly abandoned, then gazed upon this sea of stoned people before me. So ,I did what any ignorant ,naive ,wet behind the ears kid would do...i walked directly to the locked gate that led to the trailer dressing rooms for the rock groups and told the big guy standing on the other side that I was there to see Jay ferguson and Mark Andes and that I was a friend from Miami . Either I was too well groomed to be one of the crowd or my sheer obliviousness to the fact that you couldnt simply just tell the gate guy you wanted to get back stage and GET BACK STAGE bought me enough time for Upsy to be walking by and swoop me back stage. Suddenly I had this tremendous laminated backstage pass hanging around my neck and Upsy shoved me in a trailer and said "wait here" since I had told him the night before that I was going to the festival to see Jay and Mark. As I sat alone in this trailer it began to dawn on me what I had just done. I was scared and excited all at the same time and then i realized where I was. I was sitting in Jimi Hendrix's dressing room. I never did get to see Jimi that night but shortly after Upsy came and got me because Spirit was coming off stage. As I walked out there they were. What a great moment! We went into their trailer followed by Lou Adler who was the producer. He was very upset to see me . I guess he thought I was a groupy and he said "you know boys you cant have girls back here!" to which Jay said "Oh Ellynn, she's our whole Miami thing". To be very honest the rest of the night is a total blur and I cant even remember how I got back to DeLongpre, but I did...and that was my first 24 hours in Hollywood.













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