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 and 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 the 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 of the time 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 and 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 ...

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.