One of my favorite musical groups of the sixties was The Turtles. It wasn't so much that I liked their music as that I just liked them. They clearly didn't take rock stardom seriously and it always seemed like whatever they were doing, they were having a great time doing it…and some of their music was pretty good. I mean, how can you not love a group that will stick "et cetera" into the lyrics of a love song? The Turtles broke up around 1970 and the two key members, Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, worked for a time with Frank Zappa, then struck out on their own under the names "Flo and Eddie" for a while. Now, they've regained the legal right to the name "The Turtles" (they lost it for a while, which is why they were Flo and Eddie) and they occasionally tour and do "oldies" shows and such.
Our clip today is four minutes for a documentary that was done a few years back on The Turtles. In it, Volman and Kaylan explain the group's constant wars with those who would manage them. A friend of mine in the record business told me that these four minutes should be required viewing for anyone who's thinking about becoming a professional musician. It's a tale that is, alas, not unique.