The Cast & Crew

As I may have said before, the house at Camino Palmero was a kind of way station. People passing in and out. There were, however, several semi-permanent residents.

There was Jimmy Webb, obviously. He was the songwriter and star maker. Other than that, he was particularly absent from the day to day duties of the house. He would come down when our barber showed up to cut hair. He would come down for a meal. But he was quite the busy bee and traveled a lot.

There was me, for a time, of course. What did I do at the house? Well, for starters, I could drive one of Jimmy’s cars (either the Camaro or the Corvette) down to Pioneer Chicken and get a big box of greasy, thoroughly enjoyable chicken under any circumstance. This alone made my presence in the house worthwhile. When there was a recording session, I could run down to Pioneer Chicken and get a big box of greasy, thoroughly enjoyable chicken. Now that I think about it… a lot of my duties revolved around Pioneer Chicken. Sad to say — the demise of Pioneer Chicken has left the current generation without that delectable treat.

 There was Mike Reilly. I don’t really know what Mike did. He was just there. I am sure he knew where to procure the ingredients of Alice B Toklas brownies, but other than that I really don’t know what his duties were.

There was Bob Siller, an aspiring songwriter and performer. He was Jimmy’s protege. He wrote and recorded his own album, and later became a member of the group, Mephistopheles. Bob is an American Native and despite the fact that this is rank profiling… he could not hold his liquor. We all enjoyed seeing Robert have a few too many and “go off the reservation”. Apologies to anyone who is offended, but remember — this is the late 60’s. I’m just writing it as it happened.

Then there was Patricia. She knew everybody in town and she was a great source of some of the visitors the house would enjoy. As I mentioned, she was the cook. I think she cooked mostly vegetarian meals (which I why Pioneer Chicken was so highly prized). And honestly, I can’t say whether she was a good cook or not so good. But she was the only cook… so that is what mattered.

I am probably leaving things out… but this was the 60’s. And you know what they say? “If you can remember the 60’s, then you weren’t there”.