Love Street Light Circus Feel Good Machine
I have the most psychedelic experience I’ve ever had playing music.
Hot Smoke was rocketing up the national charts. Suddenly, our audience was growing. Living in Austin, we drew mid-sized crowds. Now that Hot Smoke ruled the airwaves, we packed Austin clubs. The same thing happened in Houston. Before Hot Smoke, we played to decent crowds, but now we sold out venues. We were especially popular at a Houston club, “Love Street Light Circus Feel Good Machine.”
Love Street was a fun and friendly club on Commerce Street near Allen’s Landing at the edge of Buffalo Bayou in downtown Houston. Built in the 1930s, It was run by Cliff Carlin and a woman called Granny. Here’s a picture of Granny and me.
The staff at Love Street were like our family. Many bands booked at Love Street went on to become famous. For example, on any weekend, you could hear Johnny Winters, Shiva’s Head Band, The Moving Sidewalks (Billy Gibbon’s band before ZZ Top), The Red Krayola, The 13th Floor Elevators, and other top bands.
The equipment load-in and out at Love Street was taxing. The club was up three flights of stairs without an elevator. Our poor roadie, Gene, couldn’t move all the gear alone, so we usually had to help. At the bottom of the first flight of stairs was a grassy slope. When loading out after a gig, I discovered I could pitch my drums off the stairs, and they would land on the grass and roll down the hill without damage. I can’t believe I treated my drums that way, but at the time, it seemed practical.
Bubble Puppy had lots of biker friends. Some were sane and friendly, and some needed to be more stable. One night, the bikers were helping with the load-in at Love Street. I was standing at the top of the stairs with a biker who had taken a hefty dose of acid. Suddenly, we saw three cowboys dressed identically in jeans, white starched shirts, and white cowboy hats coming up the stairs. You could feel the instant hate when the biker and the cowboys noticed each other. The biker beside me leaned over and kicked the lead cowboy in the face. The cowboys turned and ran. The biker turned to me and asked, “Why did I do that?” He was conditioned to hate without really knowing why.
The Bubble Puppy headlined Love Street on New Year's Eve. We played our first set in the dark so the light show crew, “The Jelly Wall Eyes Pack,” could project their light show onto the wall behind us. The audience was in the padded "zonk out" area.
Before the second set, the band dropped acid. Halfway through the set, the LSD took effect. As one mind in a seamless transition, the band converted the song we were playing into a jam. And we kept jamming late into the night. The crowd was totally in sync with us and probably as high as we were. The jam was one of the best and the most psychedelic experiences I’ve ever had playing music. When the jam finally ended, I remember someone had to lead me off the stage because I was so “blissed out!”
The band loved our house on East Mount Houston Rd. It was on several acres, half covered with tall, straight pine trees. One day, we each picked a tree and climbed to the top. We were so far out in the countryside that there was no noise. So we all sat in our trees and conversed—just a normal thing to do. We were still kids, and at times, we acted like kids.
As lovely as our East Mount Houston Rd. home was, the drive into Houston to the studio was tedious, so we decided to move to Houston into a house on Fairdale Drive that had been previously lived in by a Houston band named “The Grits.” The Grits were our friends, especially their guitar player, Snuffy. You may know him by his real name, W. G. Snuffy Walden. He became famous as the go-to guy for TV soundtracks, including “The West Wing.”
I loved our new house. It was the most modern house we had lived in. I had a clean, modern bedroom. It was super convenient and close to International Artists Studios. Here’s a picture I took of myself in the house.
The house's parquet flooring was the only issue because it was a mess. The Grits had let the washing machine overflow, and the water got under the flooring and buckled it. Although we had nothing to do with the damage, our landlord did not know that the Grits had caused it. One day, the landlord came by the house, saw the damaged floors, and immediately evicted us. We convinced him to let us store our furniture and possessions in the garage for a few days until we could find a new place to live. Meanwhile, we moved to a hotel. However, a few days later, when we returned to the house to reclaim our furniture, we discovered it was all gone! The landlord had reneged on our agreement and had a junk dealer clear all our stuff from the garage. We lost everything we owned.
Meanwhile, we continued living in the hotel. The band was so busy it was difficult to find the time to look for a new house. Finally, we found a house on Roseneath Dr. off MacGregor Parkway in Houston in what once was a very fashionable area of town. It was roomy compared to our previous homes! It had two stories and four bedrooms. It also had three baths, a large kitchen with a breakfast nook, two living rooms, many trees, and neatly trimmed landscaping. The garage had a guest house. My second-story bedroom featured a large picture window. Whenever a Bubble Puppy fan says, “I stayed at the Puppy House!” this is the house they mean. We had a lot of guests!
All the clubs we played until the release of Hot Smoke were small venues, but that was about to change. We got our first big gig at the Sam Houston Coliseum opening for the Chambers Brothers, who had had a massive hit with “Time Has Come Today.” This gig took us from 200-seat clubs to 2,000-seat concert halls. It was terrifying. The stage at the coliseum was massive, and the sound system was primitive. I didn’t have a stage monitor of my own. I remember hearing only our bass player, Roy, and me. I couldn’t even hear the vocals! I tried to compensate for the puny sound by playing harder. By the end of the show, my arms felt like lead.
Next up, we play and party with Janis Joplin!
Note from the author: If you upgrade to a paid subscription, you will receive a free copy of my new CD, “I’m Too Shallow to Sing the Blues,” when it is released next year!
Thanks Lon! Sorry we never met.
I was with a band called Pure Glass. We ran in the same circles. Never met your band til l hired Sirius to play a Sound Warehouse store opening. You were a great band.