1962
Roger was
tuning his 12-string guitar backstage at the Flamingo when Bobby Darin came up
to him.
“Jim, I think you might want to stay
around after your segment to meet Henry Fonda’s son, Peter. Sandy and Peter just
finished making one of those “Tammy” movies and Peter was the doctor. They will
be coming backstage after the show.”
Bobby Darin pulled
Jim McGuinn out of the world of folk music to the world of Vegas and the fast
lane of the “rat pack” when he saw Roger perform as a backup musician for The
Chad Mitchell Trio at Hollywood’s Crescendo Club, opening up for Lenny Bruce.
Before Lenny took the stage, Bobby went backstage and offered Jim twice the
money The Trio was paying him if he would join Bobby on stage for a folk
segment in his Vegas show. From that moment on Bobby Darin became a mentor to
Jim McGuinn.
The backstage
was filled with people after Bobby’s show. Jim was standing against the wall
watching everyone, when Peter Fonda walked toward him with his hand
outstretched and a big smile on his face. “You were great up there man!”
Jim recognized
the Fonda look and immediately was drawn in by his smile. Peter jumped into a
conversation like they were old friends. The normal questions: “Where are you
from? No one is from Las Vegas.”
“I’m from
Chicago.”
“Chicago! My
best friend is from there. Where did you go to school?”
“The Latin
School.”
“Wow…Stormy
McDonald!”
“Yeah! ... he
was MY best friend in high school”
And their friendship began on the love of a mutual friend.
1964
The BYRDS were
formed and performing every night at Ciros’ night club on Sunset Strip, creating
music and a new Hollywood scene. The buzz was on and the audience was filled
with entertainment’s elite. Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda and new hopeful
groups including Sonny and Cher. Backstage was always buzzing. Jim introduced Peter
to the band and their friendship picked up where it left off a few years
before.
“Mr.
Tambourine Man” became a world wide hit and Peter wanted the BYRDS to play at
his sister Jane’s birthday party in Malibu at Henry Fonda’s house. What Peter
didn’t count on was that the BYRDS’ followers who were referred to as “freaks”,
followed them everywhere and crashed the party. It didn’t bother Peter, but Henry
was a bit astonished. The “freaks” were
being freaks, smelling of patchouli and dancing up to Henry Fonda in the strangest
of ways. Henry asked Peter to try to get the Byrds to turn down but Peter just
told them “Play as loud as you like.”
The BEATLES
came to town and sent a limousine to pick up Jim and David Crosby. Jim had the
driver stop to pick up Peter. After slowly maneuvering through the hundreds of
fans that camped at the Beatles’ rented house, they made it through the front
door. David was always the man with the best drugs; LSD was handed out.
Everyone except Paul took the acid. John, George, Jim, David and Peter went
into the huge master bedroom shower to escape the prying eyes of the security
and the fans. As they passed a guitar around, the stories abounded. It was in
this shower where John was inspired by Peter to write, “She Said, She Said.”
Peter and Jim
lived close to each other; when they weren’t working, they were playing like
school friends. In 1958 the Class B CB radio became available to the general
public. Jim and Peter were fascinated. The radio was the size of a shoe box
with tubes. To put it in a car, you would first have to make an antenna to
attach to the outside shell of the car. Jim went to Peter’s house and the two
of them proceeded to make the antennas. Peter taught Jim how to solder. After
burning his finger several times, he became proficient with the tool; it is a
tool Roger uses to this day very efficiently. Once the CBs were ready, they
would get into their separate cars and drive around the Hollywood hills talking
to each other with dialogue mimicking two pilots flying around Los Angeles air
space. They even mastered the International Phonetic alphabet: Alpha, Bravo,
Charlie, Delta, Echo. There was no limit to their imaginations. Peter became Roger's gadget mentor. When Roger finally got some extra money, he would call Peter and ask what was the best brand of the gadget he was looking to buy. From recorders, musical equipment and laser beams, Peter always had the answers.
Air travel was a passion for Jim. On one
Lear Jet ride to Pensacola, FL for a BYRDS concert, Jim invited Peter to join
the group. John Lear, Bill Lear’s son,
was the pilot. Roger was sitting on the jump seat at the front of the plane
when John told Roger to tell the guys in the back to buckle up. “We’re about to
have a thrill.”
John commenced with a “split-s”
and Jim’s coffee cup didn’t even spill a drop when the plane twisted upside
down. Peter wrote about that wild ride on the liner notes of the Byrds’ “Easy
Rider” album.
After the wild Lear Jet ride,
Jim wrote a song called, “2-4-2 Fox Trot (Lear Jet Song.)” He even used the sound
of John’s Lear Jet engines on the recording with the control tower talking in
the background.
John Lear loved the song and
gave Jim 25 hours of free Lear Jet time. A quick phone call to Peter, a fast drive
to Van Nuys airport and they were flying to wherever John was ferrying folks.
One trip to Vegas was to pick up of a very serious stocky man wearing gold. He
sat down, looked at Peter, pointed at him and said, “I know your father.”
1969
Peter wanted to make a difference. With friend Dennis Hopper, they decided to beat the Hollywood game and make a film like no other on a shoe-string budget. They would be the main characters with a young Jack Nicholson. After the film was in the can, Peter gave Dennis his entire record collection to put on the sound track as a place holder. He and Dennis loved the effect. Contemporary sounds on a contemporary movie.
Peter wanted one song that was written expressly for the movie, so he carried the film cans to New York and screened it for Bob Dylan.Bob watched the movie. Bob didn’t like the ending; he scratched some words on a paper napkin. Handing the napkin to Peter, he said, “Give this to McGuinn, he’ll know what to do with it.” Peter, took the film cans, got
back on a plane, flew to Los Angeles and drove to Roger’s house (by now Jim had
changed his name to Roger). Peter reverently gave him the paper napkin, “Bob
wants you to have this man. I think this is a little pastoral. Maybe you can put
an edge on it.”
Roger got out his guitar, made
up a tune and finished the words. The line “All they wanted was to be free”
cinched the song for Peter. Dennis asked Roger about that line. “Hey man, what does
it mean?” Roger said, “Think about it” After a few moments, Dennis exclaimed in
a whispered voice, “Wow ... that’s heavy man.” Peter also asked Roger to record
Dylan’s song, “It’s Alright Ma” for the movie.
After Roger saw the movie he said to Peter, "Wish I could have been in it. " Peter smiled, " You were man."
2015
Years passed. In August 2015
while performing at the Historical Iao Theater in Wailuku, Maui, Roger was
surprised backstage with a visit from his old friend Peter. Parky, Peter’s
wife, and I stood watching two old friends flashing back to the days when they
shared adventures. We were smiling and commenting on how they looked like two
school boys laughing at their memories.
2018
Roger received
a phone call from Peter. Peter was excited about celebrating the 50th
Anniversary of the movie “Easy Rider” and wanted Roger to be part of it. The
idea was to show the movie with the sound track being performed live by the
artists. Roger would do anything for his old friend and the thought of seeing
Peter again was definitely worth it even though there were logistical problems.
2019
“OH NO!”
I didn’t think Roger would be
that upset over the increase in the Spectrum Cable bill. When I turned my head,
I saw the anguish on his face. He had just read that Peter had died. Peter wasn’t
with us anymore.
Roger immediately said he didn’t
want to go to NYC because he was just doing it for Peter. I pointed out to him
that Peter had called and asked him to do it. Roger had to go perform “The
Ballad of Easy Rider” and "It's Alright, Ma" for Peter at the celebration of Peter's movie “Easy Rider.”
Roger will be singing for the celebration
of “Easy Rider” but more importantly; Roger will be singing
for the celebration of a
dear friend’s life;
Peter Fonda
