1967–1969: Becoming a Mad Dog
A little background… From about ’63 on, I played clubs in Los Angeles for about five or six years, five- and six-nighters, as well as various musician gigs. In ’67 or so, I recorded two albums at Leon Russell’s house in the Hollywood Hills. The albums were sold and released on A&M Records—Bluse and Hot Air Through a Straw. I would work five nights, then write two songs on Monday, and record them on Tuesday. Gordon Shryock put all of this together.
So, time marched on, and around late ’68 or early ’69, Three Dog Night recorded a song of mine, “Circle for a Landing,” on an album called Suitable for Framing. It did well. They also put it on the other side of the hit single “Eli’s Comin’.” That did well, and my first royalty check was very nice. So, I think, hmm, I’m gonna be a songwriter and quit the clubs.
Around that time, Leon knew Denny Cordell and Joe Cocker, whom I met and would see at Leon’s house. Lots of laughs in those days. Leon bought an older Rolls Royce in England and had it shipped to L.A. One night, Leon, Denny, Joe, and I were driving around in that  car. It’s possible we were passing something around, because we went to Tiny Naylor’s drive-in restaurant at La Brea and Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. While there, Denny said, “We might be putting something together for a tour. Do you want to come along?” Well, we must have been passing something around because I answered, “I’ve always said that if a space ship landed, I would get on it—and this sounds like it.” Ha-ha, we all laughed.
A few weeks went by, and I went to play basketball in Silverlake. The next day, Leon called and said, “You let me down last night.” I said, “What do you mean?” He answered, “We had the first rehearsal for Joe’s thing last night. Be there tonight.” So I was. There were like ten musicians and ten or so singers, A&M execs, roadies, a film crew (see the movie), and so on. What a tour—nice band, nice people, and mad dogs.
© 2008 Don Preston Guitar
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