Met a legend today at Skyline Studios: Johnny Perez of Sir Douglas Quintet!

Great story, I would love to see pictures of the studio.

Back in the late 70s I was studying art at Parsons right across the street from the Lone Star Cafe. I went in for a beer and burger one afternoon and saw the Doug Sahm Band sound check. After playing a few hits like Mendicino Doug sat at the bar with some of us art students shotting the breeze. He was a great guy and really down to earth, I'm sure Johnny is the same way.

 

SDQ and Doug Sahm

There's no such thing as too much SDQ or Doug Sahm, and it's great to hear that Johnny Perez is still active in the business.



http://www.texasmonthly.com/preview/2010-02-01/feature4

 

Any pictures, Steve?

 

Fixed.

 

Cool! I just finished reading the new Doug Sahm Texas Tornado biography (a bit short, but sweet), so I've been on a Sahm/SDQ kick lately. When I was down at SXSW one year, I spotted Doug holding court in the middle of the Austin Convention Center lobby and was too chicken to go over and say anything. He passed away a short time later. At least I saw the SDQ at the Austin Music Awards in 1997.

 

So you recommend the book? I've been wanting to pick it up, but I thought the mere 200 pages seemed way too brief.

 

That's such a groovy record too. I love it when I come across a piece of history like that.

 

that's a great story, Steve . . . after having several hits pkgs on cd & lp, i'm finally acquiring most of the orig vinyl SDQ very recently, and it's great listening--one of those "important" bands that's almost always underrated.

btw, have you read CANYON OF DREAMS; there's a thread here separately, but it really nails the history and 60's vibe of Laurel and environs. Just now reading the section around the time of the Manson murders, and how it affected everyone. Were you in that vicinity at the time? (small part of the book; overall, it's a great tribute to the cultural influences of the area).

doug

dc

 

When the book arrived, I was a little surprised at how thin it was too. That said. it is a good read and about the only place you're going to find a fairly detailed portrait of Sahm's life. However, other than going into the sessions of the first Atlantic album, the author doesn't examine many of his albums, especially the later ones. Most of these are dismissed with just one sentence. Maybe Doug did record a few weak works, but music was his life, so it would have been interesting to find out more about what went into it.

 

Maybe the few folks the author could find to talk to about the later lp sessions
are now too old to remember . . . or were too stoned in the first place??

Geoff Emerick's Beatles book is riddled with errors and he was hardly a stoner.
Only a social drinker, it seems.

 

here's a photo of Johnny Perez I took at Skyline last year.

 

maybe the author didn't look hard enough. I made several recordings with Doug.

 

People seemed to remember the Atlantic sessions quite clearly and those took place even longer ago (and probably with even more drugs). It's clear the author didn't like a lot of this music, so I think he didn't want to make the effort, which is annoying.

 

OMG!! Its my Uncle Johnny...My dad is gonna be so happy to see that pic. I have a few pics of the studio when I visisted back in 2000

 

Too cool....

Whilst always aware of Mendocino etc. I have recently discovered the likes of LP's 'Together After Five' and the totally awesome 'Rough Edges' released with zero fanfare on Mercury in like 1975 ish. Outtakes from the good days and most excellent. Doug Sahm is now an alltime hero...cannot get enough. He's now up there with Ronnie Lane for me...My english hero!

So, flashback to around 1987 (I was around 22)...went to live back in LA with my dear late Brother, Tarka Cordell, and we used to go hang out, play music, get high etc. at the 13th Floor Studio just off Pico. Yup, Johnny Perez's studio. how spoilt I was! didn't even know about SDQ then...

Gonna pass by Skyline this summer when I go to LA.

Hi Steve! Loved your Steve Todoroff interview.....

Keep it real...!

BC