Lizard Records

Gabriel Mekler (1942-1977)

You know how we are only 5 degrees away from everyone else? While working as a carpenter- I built a stage in a little club a few doors down from the Whiskey A Go Go. As I was working, one day, someone from one of the offices above the club came by and asked if I could build them a soundproof room for a small recording studio. I told them I could start work when I was finished. I didn't know it at the time, but I had just met Gabriel Mekler, who was starting his own label (Lizard Records) upstairs. He was quite the producer, having worked with Steppenwolf, Three Dog Night and Janis Joplin. Later, when I was installing the soundproof studio, I remembered seeing gold records on the wall from those artists.

Other than meeting Gabriel, and installing his studio, the most significant event that occurred was meeting the secretary. She was dating Steven Stills, at the time and her family had just purchased a resort in the Giant Redwoods in northern California.

I would end up doing small jobs at her house in Laurel Canyon and eventually end up working at that resort. But more of that later....