Post by the Scribe on May 22, 2022 7:19:21 GMT
Linda Ronstadt: The Secret Los Angeles of Linda Ronstadt
594 views May 21, 2022 The secret and not so secret LA that defined Linda Ronstadt. Join us as we go to Topanga, Laurel Canyon, Malibu, The Sound Factory, Stone Poneys and many more. Visit our sister channel, ROCK ESSENTIALS WITH TIM at www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rockessentialswithtim
All proceeds from this video go to: Big Brothers Big Sisters Of Greater Los Angeles. If you would like to donate go to bbbsla.org/
Special Thanks To Rob Willhoit for all your great insights.
Photos:
David Johnson
The Dutch National Archives
Music: Tim P.
I reserve the right to be on occasion, full of it.
comments:
Pinned by Rock Essentials With Tim
@rockessentialtim
1 year ago
Hey everybody, welcome to the new Linda Ronstadt vid. Did some deep digging on this one and came up with some pretty cool stuff. Hope you like it!
@genevieveschorr3857
1 year ago
Good job a couple of errors. It’s nice and respectful.
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@genevieveschorr3857
1 year ago
We went to meet Jim Carrey because he was recommended to be Linda’s opening act. Then she started to date him for a brief period and Linda helped to launch his career by introducing him to people that lead him to The Duck Factory.
robtempe
1 day ago
It isn’t enough that Linda Ronstadt has taken one of the most interesting career paths of any musician past or present but when you dig down like you have we find a whole ‘nother fascinating aspect of her existence just in the L.A. area alone. She certainly has crossed paths with some of the most famous and ‘infamous’ people in American history: Manson Family, OJ and Nicole Brown Simpson, Jim Carrey, Gov. Jerry Brown, George Lucas, Jim Morrison and any number of influential talented musicians. Her proximity to the first of the Manson murder spree was the epicenter and beginning of what shattered the California Dream and open culture for so many. It certainly put a damper on the Hippie movement. The irony is that Linda herself left Tucson Arizona for California to pursue that same dream. Love the way you weaved her story with the locations topped off with some great bumper music that echoed the theme you were discussing. Very nice touch! Great narrative as well. You left us with this thought “Linda once said that the essence of her voice is musicianship and story. I would hope that in some very small way we have added to that story.” You succeeded! Thank you Tim.
Hiking4Life
1 day ago
Thank you so much Rob. I think it goes without saying but I'll say it anyways, your input was invaluable to me being able to tell the story. Linda is one of the few people that I have covered who's talent is only surpassed by her humanity and as you can probably tell, I had a blast making this vid! I've never met her but more than anything I would have liked to spent a few hours in the studio watching/listening to her record. Be well my friend.
1 day ago
It isn’t enough that Linda Ronstadt has taken one of the most interesting career paths of any musician past or present but when you dig down like you have we find a whole ‘nother fascinating aspect of her existence just in the L.A. area alone. She certainly has crossed paths with some of the most famous and ‘infamous’ people in American history: Manson Family, OJ and Nicole Brown Simpson, Jim Carrey, Gov. Jerry Brown, George Lucas, Jim Morrison and any number of influential talented musicians. Her proximity to the first of the Manson murder spree was the epicenter and beginning of what shattered the California Dream and open culture for so many. It certainly put a damper on the Hippie movement. The irony is that Linda herself left Tucson Arizona for California to pursue that same dream. Love the way you weaved her story with the locations topped off with some great bumper music that echoed the theme you were discussing. Very nice touch! Great narrative as well. You left us with this thought “Linda once said that the essence of her voice is musicianship and story. I would hope that in some very small way we have added to that story.” You succeeded! Thank you Tim.
Hiking4Life
1 day ago
Thank you so much Rob. I think it goes without saying but I'll say it anyways, your input was invaluable to me being able to tell the story. Linda is one of the few people that I have covered who's talent is only surpassed by her humanity and as you can probably tell, I had a blast making this vid! I've never met her but more than anything I would have liked to spent a few hours in the studio watching/listening to her record. Be well my friend.
K Busby
13 days ago
Lived in Tucson for a number of years. Great to see Linda's journey highlighted here. I will say she was the only one in Barney Hoskyn's book, Hotel California, that came across as a truly wonderful person in addition to being a world class vocalist. Your videos are always so well done. Keep up the great work.
Hiking4Life
13 days ago
I read that book and he's a might tough on a lot of people, but I agree about how she is portrayed. I've never read anything about her not being down to earth and kind.
@robtempe
1 year ago (edited)
Hiking4Life Here is another interesting story your viewers might like from a guy named Gerry L who lived in Linda's old house on Old Topanga Road next door to the Hinman house ten years after the murder:
From Gerry L: Back in 1979 I moved from Colorado to Southern California and rented a house on Old Topanga Road. On Halloween Eve I was reading 'Helter Skelter." When I got to the chapter about Gary Hinman I read that his address was on Old Topanga Road. I walked down the outdoor steps to the road and looked at the mailboxes. Wow! The mailbox next to mine was Gary Hinman's. It sure made for a spooky Halloween night thinking about what had gone on next door 10 years earlier. I wondered if Gary's ghost still haunted the place. I felt a connection to him because I was from Colorado and I used to make mescaline back in the day. Spooky shit. (Gary Hinman also made drugs at his home)
I rented that house in 1979. I didn't know Linda Ronstadt lived there years earlier. The landlord was a creepy dude. The house caught on fire because of his crappy installation of a pot bellied stove. He tried to blame me but I had called the Topanga Canyon fire chief over to inspect the cause of the fire after I put it out. The fire chief noted the stove pipe went through the wood ceiling without insulation and told me to call him if the landlord tried to blame me because he was pissed at the code violation. . Sure enough the guy tried to blame me. I called the fire chief and he came over read the guy the riot act. The rent was $700.00. I lived there (at the Ronstadt house) about eight months before the landlord evicted me and my girlfriend and he kept our deposit -- but at least I didn't have to pay for major repairs.
I could see the (Hinman) house from my house. Whoever owned that house next door had two dogs that barked all night every night. I really liked living up there because I had lived in Colorado up in the mountains and I was used to driving back and forth down into the city from up in the canyons there. And then there all the musicians, artists and actors who lived up there -- it was a trip.
Anyway, here's a 'maybe' Charles Mansion story. One day back in '69 when I was in college in SoCal a friend and I were driving around tripping on LSD and we picked up a couple of hippy chicks who were hitch-hiking on PCH. They asked us if we wanted to go with them to a ranch at the end of Topanga Canyon Blvd and meet some guru dude who was like Jesus Christ and was going to save the world or something. They acted so weird and hoodoo'd that we ended up just letting them out of the car at PCH and Topanga Canyon Blvd.
*note: The Hinman murder happened the end of July 1969 which marked the beginning of the Manson Family murder spree. There is a good chance Gerry L's hitchhikers were some of the Manson girls. Linda commented she would see them hitch hiking all the time.
From Linda: During a chat with Mojo magazine, the legendary singer revealed that she has an ugly connection to Charles Manson and his infamous Family, explaining, “They murdered my next door neighbor, Gary Hinman. We knew those girls. They used to hitchhike through the canyon all the time. After (the murder), I didn't go home for a couple of weeks. Eventually, I moved out. Topanga Canyon had a very dark undertone. A funky, dark place, with a lot of those communes; I always shied away from that stuff. And there were floods all the time. I moved to Beechwood Canyon, which was very handy for the Troubadour.”
Thanks Tim for putting a 'live' face on the locations for us!
Rock Essentials With Tim
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@rockessentialtim
1 year ago
robtempe Right on, Rob. Great story!
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@robtempe
10 months ago
@hiking4life182 Linda talks about living on Beechwood Drive to interviewer Greg Shapiro:
GS: Warren Zevon is another songwriter whose songs you put your stamp on, including 'Poor Poor Pitiful Me,' which is on The Very Best of Linda Ronstadt. How has the news of his failing health affected you?
LR: Warren—what a great songwriter. He was one of those guys who were around Hollywood in those days. I moved into an apartment on Beechwood Drive up in the Beechwood Hills in Hollywood, right under the Hollywood sign. He (Zevon) had lived in the apartment before I did. Harry Dean Stanton lived out in the back. The guy (Elliot Ingber) who wrote 'Don't Bogart That Joint' lived under the garage. And the guy who lived downstairs was another comedy/ songwriter. I just felt that his (Zevon's) stuff came with the pad that I rented (laughs). I got to have those songs in addition to the house. Again, he was one of those writers that all of the other writers sat around and talked about. They would talk about 'Hasten Down The Wind' at that point.
GS: Oh, and your version is so stunning.
LR: Well, thanks. I've never heard it since I recorded it. But, I remember liking it a lot and remembering the times and what was going on with him. God, what an interesting writer. Talk about a guy who throws all the rules out. People write from their personal experiences, but he brought in a lot of other stuff. He'd just read about it and find the parts that he identified with in his reading. (For example) 'Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner,' I guess he was reading those magazines …
GS: Soldier of Fortune?
LR: Yeah, he used to read that (laughs). Who knows what was going on with Warren in those days. I'm really sorry that he is ill. I hope the best for him.
(congrats on hitting 100K views. no small feat)
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@judycolson6047
43 minutes ago
I think Linda is the one responsible for getting Warren noticed and famous for his songs and eventual hits he had. @robtempe
@sherrybarnettphotographer
1 year ago
Excellent! I am a widely published music photographer with a book titled "Eye of The Music". Linda has a copy of the book herself and has said that she finds it "very impressive". It includes rare shots of Linda onstage beginning in 1969 when Bernie Leadon was her guitar player pre Eagles (then called The Corvettes), as well as The Troubadour in the early 70's when Steve Martin opened for her. (Having a comedian open a show saved $ and also time to have two bands set up.) I have serendipitous LA connections with Linda over the years, including living around the corner from her in Beachwood Canyon and later going to the Brentwood house to give her a photo slideshow. I also lived in another beautiful Spanish style Beachwood house above the Beachwood Market that Linda said was her favorite house in the canyon. She loved canyon living! I appreciate how you put the timeline together of Linda's time in LA. She chronicled her journey in her own book too of course, "Simple Dreams". Thanks for your travelog! What a great discovery!
Rock Essentials With Tim
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Rock Essentials With Tim
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@rockessentialtim
1 year ago
Thank you. You have a very impressive history with her!
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@lindaronstadt5384
1 year ago
thank you so much for following & supporting my music.💕 Seriously, you are super appreciated. Do you usually listen with Apple Music or You
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@sherrybarnettphotographer
1 year ago
Linda Ronstadt CD's and YouTube!
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@lindaronstadt5384
1 year ago
Are you one of my fans
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@butterflymoon6368
1 year ago
Linda Ronstadt wth? please stop trying to scam people "linda WRONGstadt".
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@robtempe
1 year ago
I love the "Impeach Nixon" button Linda is wearing in your USC concert photo 1974. That's "our" Linda captured beautifully!!
From Henry Carrigan, reviewer in No Depression online magazine: In Eye of the Music, Barnett tells a story that is more than her story: “It’s a visual story of the world of the performing musician — some just embarking on their path, some in their prime, and other reinventing themselves as they mature as artists, giving us a second chance to appreciate their enduring talent.” ( there are eight pages devoted to Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris) Every page of Barnett’s Eye of the Music is feast for our eyes and souls; she gives us a front seat to memorable scenes from music history and glimpses into the lives of the artists who made those moments come alive.