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, those 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 really clearly, you probably weren't alive then. Also, if you are mentioned (or not and should be), and you are mis-characterized 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. This site is dedicated to the fans who supported us through thick years and thin. Thanks from all of us.
NEWS
Unfortunately, we have a serious attempt at hijacking our community forums by Internet pirates that has required shutting down the forums temporarily. I'll try to get something a little less vulnerable in place soon.
LAURIE AND I recently caught B.J. Thomas at a summer concert series here in southern California. He sounded terrific and put on a great show that we enjoyed immensely. We were pleased to run into Sandy Martindale, Wink Martindale's wife. We knew her better many years ago as Sandy Ferra, daughter of Tony who owned the Rag Doll, which was our home when in LA, and the Red Velvet in Hollywood. During the years we played at the Rag Doll, The Red Velvet was home to Ike and Tina Turner. Sandy looks great and sends her best to the band guys. Also there were Beau and John from the Knickerbockers who recorded the british sounding 1966 hit, 'Lies'. They were sorry to hear the Lenny was gone and reminded me that Buddy had passed on in 1998. We are now officially 'geezer bands'.
I RECENTLY visited the grave site of Lenny Souza, our drummer and one of our brothers. It was an important journey for me and on behalf of those who live in distant states. Here is the link to a few pictures and a video if you'd like to see it. This was so personal to me that I wasn't sure whether to put it here or not but Mac and Dave have both asked that it be here for all of Lenny's many friends and admirers.
IT HAS BEEN GREAT to hear from Chuck Diaz, who ran the Raintree in Torrance, California. I want to post his email to me in the forums when we get them running again. The Raintree was a home club for us in the south bay of Los Angeles back in those wild and crazy days. Great to hear from you, Chuck! Hopefully we'll get some Raintree stories up here soon.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE BAND'S HISTORY
From my point of view the band is one long string of events. To
me, I was only ever in this band that began as a vocal group, mutated,
evolved and eventually became Stark Naked. So the reason the band members
are listed in the Original Player's page in
the particular order they are, is because that is the order in which
they appear to me, kaleidiscopically joining and changing the only group I've ever been in. It has caused some distress to 'original' members because life is actually a parallel process experienced by each individual. Many things
were going on outside of my limited and sometimes impaired perception but I cannot speak to those things or viewpoints I didn't share. So despite this limitation,
my point of view will supply the backbone, the structure of our story
in broad strokes so that other individual stories, other "viewpoints"
or vignettes, can be "linked" into this broad narrative if others are willing to donate them.
Hopefully, this narrative will be passed on to others who participated in the history of the band who will make their voice heard here as well. I'll try to represent
the consensus of the group members despite my linear recital, while individual
comments links will link individual viewpoints throughout, so keep your
eye open for those links. That's probably where the good stuff will
be.
Stark Naked's history can be broken up into
chunks so I've taken a whack at those below; I think they will sub-divde as things go along but these chunks are a good place to start. Those moments that are related inside these arbitrary frames
were very important to us in our growth as people. Sometimes they are uncomfortable but we were just doing the best we could at the time. These words may resonate with
others who passed through those amazing, dangerous, revolutionary but
rarely boring years of the sixties and seventies in California's era
of peace, love and music . That would be cool.
Larry Dunlap 2004
Let's clear up Question number one right now. WHERE
DID WE GET THAT NAME!
THE BANDS BEFORE THE BAND
Before there was Stark Naked and the Car Thieves, there were the Reflections,
the MG's and the Casinos ... |
THE FIRST TOUR - WE'RE NOT YET NAKED
When we made the decision to become a traveling club band, it was New Years Eve,
1963. Dave had lost his milk truck, Les his Coke truck and Larry was about
to lose his Wonder Bread truck. Mac wanted to get back to the world he
knew and, poor Chuck has lost his gig ... |
NAKED IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
The gods were either smiling or laughing when Dave pulled his '63 Ford convetible up at the
Santa Monica pier and the guys asked for directions to Hayward, California
.... |
NAKED IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Our comfy home at the Galaxy was over and we were off to a new club called
the Pink Carousel in Downey, California ... |
NAKED IN SIN CITY - LAS VEGAS
While we spent most of our nights at the Sky Room of the Flamingo Hotel,
we began at a sleazy little club called the Pussycat A-Go-Go, right on
the strip. Our first booking was interesting since it was a ruse that
got us to Las Vegas ... |
THE NAKED FELLOWSHIP IS BROKEN - THE ORIGINAL
BAND FRACTURES
Las Vegas takes its toll. As Les whispered to us on stage when we came
out to open Nero's Nook at Caesar's, "We've finally made it to the
top of the bottom.". It was prophetic, the drive for a hit record
was stalled and dead as the distraction and ... |
THE LATER DAY NAKEDS
For the next seven years of the band's existence, it sheltered many of
Los Angeles, career musicians and the odd star between gigs, most notably
Michael McDonald, between Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers and Iron
Butterfly's Doug Ingle. |
OFFSHOOT BANDS
Stark Naked's experiment with three front singers in a packaged band
led to the formation of other bands. Some because original members wanted
to try out experiments, like Mac's American Headband, and some were influenced
by us, like Three Dog Night. |
THE NAKED HONOR ROLL & WHERE ARE THEY NOW
Here's where the original band members are and others who played in the
band over the years, as best we can determine. If you know of any of the
guys and where they are, contact me and I'll update this list. |