Annus 3 A. Lee
Love, 1967 (clockwise from top): Arthur Lee, Michael Stuart-Ware, Ken Forssi, Bryan McLean, Johnny Echols
So let’s take a minute to pour a little out in the gutter on the third anniversary of the passing of the truly unique Arthur Lee… and get ready for the Love tour, kicking off Wednesday night in Hoboken.
That’s right – Love live. Three of the five guys in the above photo – including the two who actually wrote the music and sang the songs – may be dead, but when has that ever kept a good band down?
All kidding aside, this latest reunion-venture thingy is surprisingly legit. Johnny Echols, who grew up with Arthur and was his musical wingman from high school up through the Forever Changes era, will be playing guitar alongside Los Angeles’s Baby Lemonade, who backed up Arthur as the final incarnation of Love from the early ’90s up through 2005. AND… the only other not-dead guy in the picture, drummer Michael Stuart-Ware, will possibly be there as well (there are conflicting reports as to his participation – seems it’s all hinging on some health issues. Regardless, get well, Michael).
Of course, Love didn’t initially embark on this alone – they were part of the “California ’66 Revue”, which also featured Sky Saxon of the Seeds and the Electric Prunes. But as you know, Sky croaked a few weeks ago and, for some reason, the Prunes dropped out (possibly because it’s 2009 and they’re the Electric Prunes). But as Arthur was so fond of saying, “Love on Earth must be”, and, well, there you go…
So fuck it – if you dig Love, this is the closest you’ll ever get again. The Baby Lemonade guys are top-notch and Johnny Echols is the closest living link to Arthur we still have – get out there and see this show. Here are the tour dates and dig the Love Story trailer (again) as well as Lemonade-era Love doing “Maybe The People Will Be The Times Or Between Clark & Hilldale” (which are the cross streets around the Whisky A Go G0 on Sunset , of course).
And Arthur… you set the scene. R.I.P.
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August 4, 2009 at 11:08 AM
As I was leaving a Love show in 1994, Arthur Lee stopped me and was like ‘hey man, did you dig the show’ and shook my hand.
August 4, 2009 at 1:51 PM
Awesome. Was that at the Bay State?
I totally missed the boat on seeeing them live – didn’t get into FC until 2003 and since they were coming to NYC a couple of times a year, there was no sense of urgency on my part. Oops.
August 4, 2009 at 6:50 PM
Hey, you guys read this site too? I’m on this shit every day.