I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: JAPANESE BREAKFAST-“California Dreaming'” (2018).

As I was thinking about what song to put with this book, Japanese Breakfast released a cover of the wonderful original.  I don’t know too many songs by The Mamas and the Papas, but this is one of my all time favorite songs in general.

I was a little disappointed as the song started because it just Michelle Zauner singing over a delicate organ (it’s the harmonies that I love so much about the original).

But then it becomes evident what Zauner is doing.  The song is dirgey and cold, as the lyrics suggests, which is kind of cool.

And then after for the second verse she drops a big beat which adds a cool guitar lick and backing vocalists.

It brings a cool, sensual twist to the song which in the original is kind of poppy, yet dark.  The production of the song is quite nice, but it really can’t beat the amazing harmonies of the original.

[READ: July 20, 2017] California Dreamin’

This is a delightful biography of the woman who would become Mama Cass.  I knew little about The Mamas & The Papas, and I knew even less about Mama Cass, so this proved to be an excellent and fascinating introduction.

And it is all told with Bagieu’s wonderful drawings–there’s something so wonderfully French about her drawings of the hippie sixties in the US–it’s wonderful.  She also makes Mama Cass–who could be drawn fat and unpleasant–as perpetually pretty and sexy, which is pretty cool.

The scene opens in the summer of 1965 (although in the shopping center there is Kohls which I don’t think was in California in 1965, but whatever).  A DJ is asking kids what they love about the Mamas and the Papas.  They all say Cass obviously,  she’s the nicest and coolest.

Then we flashback. And I love the way that she has constructed this story–it focuses on a different person in each chapter.

The first is Leah.  Leah is Ellen’s baby sister.  Ellen is the girl would would become Mama Cass.  And from the start, she was the center of attention–playing music and showing off and being a bundle of fun.  Ellen refuses to eat (there’s a scene of her giving a pork chop to the dog).  But then when Ellen was old enough to really know what was going on, Leah was born.  And that’s what got Ellen to eat.  And eat.  (The drawing of the annoyed Ellen is fantastic).

Next we meet Joey, the little brother.  He doesn’t figure in the story much except when their father told them the story of Florence Foster Jenkins.

Next is Ken, a dorky theater guy who meets Ellen in school. The first thing she said to him was, “I’m going to be a star.”  After spending a day with her, he knew it was true.  I love the drawing of her in school–long hair, short skirts, tight shirt, braves, and yet really strangely sexy.

Next is Sharon, who is Ellen’s best friend and then Shirley, Ellen’s voice teacher–she doesn’t want to like Ellen, but she has to admit that Ellen’s voice is amazing.

After meeting some friends in school, she winds up in a group called The Big 3.  There’s Tim and Jim (Jim’s real name was Jimmy Hendricks–really) and then Ellen.  They were splitting $50 a day and they were happy.

The Big 3 morphed in The Mugwumps (who did release an album).

Meanwhile there was  band called The Journeymen with  Scott McKenzie (real name Phil Blondheim–I love the way he’s drawn in this book with this little mustache. He and John Phillips formed the band with a 17 year old model Michelle.  She was so beautiful that John left his wife and children to run off with her.  [John had two children with his first wife, one of whom was Mackenzie Phillips, then he married Michelle and his child with her was Chynna Phillips of Wilson Phillips.  He had a third child with another woman and that child was Bijou Phillips.  None of that is in this book though].

Scott wanted to leave The Journeymen and go solo.  He tried to recruit Denny from the Mugwumps to join The Journeymen.

And so with The Journeymen a new trip, and Cass having a huge thing for Denny, she followed them around.  John was pissed about it. And so was Michelle (even though they knew Cass had a great voice they couldn’t get past their idea for what they wanted the group to be).

Eventually, though, the four became The Mamas and the Papas.  And I love the scenes of them writing and pitching their hit “California Dreamin.”  I learned a lot about the fascinating history of this band (and this woman).  And it got me to listen to more of their music.