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TRAVIS PIKE'S TEA PARTY |
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TRAVIS PIKE'S TEA PARTY |
| “California Dreamin'” The totally unrecognizable head in the upper left corner of the polarized photo (above right) belongs to Karl Garrett, lead guitarist, arranger and third vocalist. Midway down the left side of the frame, is bass player Mikey Joe Valente, and slightly above, to his immediate right, about a third of the way in, the face with the whiskers is Travis Pike. Opposite Travis, about a third of the way in from the right, is rhythm guitarist and second vocalist George Brox and half-way down the right side of the page is drummer, Phil Vitali. The photo above appeared in the August, 1968 edition of New England Scene magazine, just about the time the group emigrated to California. |
| “Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds” The move to California was the beginning of the end.
George Brock disappeared to Cape Cod for the summer and could not be located,
so the band left without him. In Los Angeles, they found a replacement
rhythm guitarist and vocalist, but he took too long to learn the now nearly
200 original tunes in the Tea Party repertoire. Unable to take the
promised gig at the Whiskey in Hollywood, the band took a booking at “The
Posh” in Pomona and began playing pop tunes for the first 30 minutes, with
Travis coming on to perform his original songs for just the last 20 minutes
of each set. Playing became working, and the music scene was changing
dramatically. Drug abuse was rampant and the Tea Party name was attracting
pushers and users, despite the fact that the Tea Party remained drug free.
“It was really sad,” Travis says. “Our name came from the historic
incident in Boston Harbor that heralded the American Revolution.
Our break song came from the Mad Hatter's Tea Party in Walt Disney's 'Alice
in Wonderland,' but with Gracie Slick's 'White Rabbit,' even that had become
suspect. Of course, we knew 'tea' was popular slang for marijuana
when we named the band, but it was all a joke, then. To us, 'psychedelic'
was a musical style, not a life style.” Travis, with a new wife and
daughter, quit the band and Travis Pike's Tea Party scattered to the wind
in 1970, but their fans still say they were the best while they lasted!
Excerpt from Travis Pike's Tea Party rehearsal of "Bad Week" on MP3 (2:13) This was not a typical TPTP
tune, but what was? I open it a cappella
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| Defining characterists: minstrel. n. [ME, minestral; OFr., menestrel; LL. ministerialis, a servant, jester, singer, from L. minister, a servant.] 1. any of a class of lyric poets and singers of the Middle Ages, who traveled from place to place singing and reciting, usually to the accompaniment of a harp or lute. 2. a poet; singer; musician. [Poetic.] 3. a performer in a minstrel show. (Editor's note. Did you notice the "jester" reference? Albeit the period question persists . . .) |
| Sixties Fans CLICK
HERE for the revealing online Lance Monthly interview covering
Travis' rock 'n' roll
career from the Jesters (1959) to the break up of Travis Pike's Tea Party (1970). |
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