In the early 1960's six young men got together in Indianapolis, Indiana and moved to California where after many zany adventures they had hit after hit, their own television show, and became a famous rock band, whose influences on the history of music rival those of the Beach Boys, the Temptations, the Beatles and the Four Seasons ....

Well that was the plan anyway. This website is a little history of how a band assembled itself into the group of guys who ended up in California known as Stark Naked and the Car Thieves. It is a story of adolescent fantasy meeting the reality of being far from home. It is about learning the necessity for hard work and coming to depend upon others no more dependable then oneself. And while it's a nostalgic website about a group of guys coming of age in California, hopefully it's more than that. It is also about the fresh eyes of musical immigrants arriving in the mid-sixties in a special era in Californian and American history. Stark Naked never became a household name, never had that big hit that we dreamed of and chased through seven different record labels, so why, is it our story to tell? This is a band that was within a heartbeat, a handshake, a hairsbreadth of many of the events that shaped the times, fun, scary, good, bad and ugly. We were often one degree of separation from the idealistic dream of 'peace and love' and it's polar opposite, the gritty reality of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll. We touched a lot of people in these very special years, including our own psyches. And maybe we wee a hairs breadth away from hit city as well but that's not really for us to determine. Despite the fact that it was a thrilling and wonderful ride that none of us would ever take back, only some of us survived and thrived in this environment. Some of us didn't, and some of us were damaged.

As a player in the band, I would want this site to be a comfortable place where we can kick our shoes off, put on slippers and reminisce about a time that continues to press upon our present and future. Whenever we get together we remember our adventures in little vignettes, stories. So I hope to recreate that here. It is my hope that it will never quite be finished, that it will always be organic, continually growing and changing, trying to capture in words, pictures, and music the emotions and color of the times, as they were a-changing, from our point of view. For you as a visitor or contributor, we hope you find it interesting, amusing, informative and fun. For me, I'm trying to bring these things we experienced and those from contributors into a living, breathing repository of our memories for ourselves and to express to others who don't really understand when we try to tell them. This is an attempt to get it right, one more time ...

NEWS

Since last summer I have been writing a personal memoir of my years in Stark Naked and the Car Thieves. I put several months of research into those years between 1965 and early 1971 prior to beginning. With the first draft complete I'm beginning the first rewrite. If you'd like to follow along you can find information on My Life as A Naked Car Thief on FACEBOOK where you can LIKE the book and be kept up to date, or if you would prefer, the A NAKED CAR THIEF site will show all postings as well and still allow you to do a Facebook Like.

Most important, enter your email below so I can keep you notified as My Life as A Naked Car Thief hits milestones including availability and you'll receive premiums for your help. Your support is really appreciated.

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I recently found the last few things I produced at my studio, City Recorders for Easy Street Productions, circa 1980.. These are only instrumental tracks but I think they showcase the studio and the caliber of engineers and musicians we could call on. You can listen to them at this link: EASYSTREET.

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Updated the links page. Some of the links had gone the way of all things made of bits and bytes. Doing research has led me to various interesting sites. Some old, some new.

Nice note from Evan Marshall, who is reviving a website for the old PUSSYCAT A GO GO in Las Vegas. No matter where we were playing, The CAT was always a home to us in our Las Vegas years. He' s trying to locate PUSSYCAT A GO GO photos and pictures of memorabilia, histories, stories, anything that can help enhance the site and bring back memories of that amazing place and time. I've asked Evan to put a link on the STILL NAKED AFTER ALL THESE YEARS blog, so look for his link there to contact him with any help you can give him. Below is a link to the PUSSYCAT A GO GO website.

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Okay, I did a video track to LOOK BACK IN LOVE. You can see it in the blog. Be gentle, please.

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If you haven't, check out the blog at STILL NAKED AFTER ALL THESE YEARS or on the menu as Stark Naked blog.

To post or answer blogs, you will need to register. Look in the META section of the blog in the right side column and choose Register. A window will ask for a user name and an email address and then will send you a confirmation email to start writing. That's it.

Believe me I notice how horribly dated this site is, yet I see a lot of mention of it around on different places on the Internet so it seems to be getting a surprising amount of traffic. I would like to update it but for several reasons that may not happen any time soon.

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Here is the link to a few pictures and a video of Leonard Souza's gravesite if you'd like to see it.

IMPORTANT: This site features a lot of people who played in the band that was, the groups that came before, and the bands that came after Stark Naked and the Car Thieves. However, where information on this site is not directly attributable to a specific individual, the opinions and facts related here are entirely my responsibility. Any inaccuracies, minor or egregious are mine, and mine alone. I am hopeful that if anyone notices an inaccuracy that they will alert me to it so that I can correct it. But hey! a lot of the site is about the sixties and seventies and if you remembered it all that clearly, maybe you weren't alive then. Also, if you are mentioned (or not and should be), and you are mischaracterized in some way please let me know. And don't ever confuse any of my twisted humor or biased insight with any intention of meanness in this site - it would never happen. In one way or another, I love all my brothers who I played and sang with in this band. This site is dedicated them and to the fans who supported and cared about us through the thick years and the thin. I know we want to say to those fans, "Thanks from all of us who ever hit the stage as a part of this vocal group or band".