Gary James' Interview With The Author Of
A Dose Of Rock And Roll
Nancy Lee Andrews
Nancy Lee Andrews met and was friends with many of the most famous Rock and Rock 'n' Roll musicians of the 1960s. She even took the time to write about it in her book, A Dose Of Rock And Roll. We spoke with Nancy Lee Andrews about her life and friendship with so many of the most celebrated "names" in music.
Q - A Dose Of Rock And Roll almost sounds like something a doctor would write if he or she was traveling with a Rock band. Where did you come up with that title?
A - (laughs) I know. It's a song that Ringo recorded. I can't remember who it was written by, but it was on one of his albums. When I was looking for a name for the book, my friend said, "Why don't you call it A Dose Of Rock And Roll? I said, "I like it," because it is a dose of Rock and Roll with all the rockers in it.
Q - How well did that book do for you?
A - It did pretty well. The first edition was a limited edition in a clamshell. We did a printing of I think 2,500 and it sold out. Then we did just a regular book edition, not signed, numbered, and that did very well too. So, it was a small printing, but we did well.
Q - What was your entree into the world of Rock And Roll?
A - I was a model in New York. The Fillmore East had just opened and a friend of mine was the guy who loaded in all of the equipment. He let in the Stage Manager and the equipment for the bands that were playing. He would say, "C'mon down. I'll let you in the back door." And I said, "Oh, okay." So, I started going down there, bringing a girlfriend or two, other models. I started hanging out with musicians backstage before they went on, from The Association to... one weekend The Mad Dogs And Englishmen came and I just fell in love with these crazy, wacky people. I had a loft in New York and I invited them all up to my loft for a party. I had no idea what was coming. It was on the third floor. I had a floor loft. Coming up were these crazy Gypsies. The big guy was one of their "roadies", and was carrying a tank of nitrogen oxide up to my apartment. I was a girl who was a vegetarian. I was saying, "Would you like some carrot juice?" They were coming up with boxes of white, red and luncheon meat and potato chips. They just like came in and took over my house. I remember I was making something in the kitchen, which was an open concept, and Carl Radle and Jim Keltner were standing there, drinking tequila, watching me. I said, "What are you guys doing?" They said, "Have you ever had tequila?" I said, "No." And they said, "Here, have some tequila." That was sort of my intro into hanging out with rock 'n' rollers.
Q - Did you get to see the shows at The Fillmore?
A - Oh, God, yeah. And so they were great people. I went to bed and when I got up in the morning there was at least twelve of them sleeping around my loft. (laughs) Those people knew how to party. They said, "Why don't you come on the road with us. We've got three more dates." And I said, "Okay." I went on the road with The Mad Dogs And Englishmen for about three dates and just had the best time with them. That's when I kind of connected with Carl Radle, the bass player. And then a couple of months later they came to town, but it was just The Leon Russell Band. After Mad Dogs, Leon just took advantage of that and went on tour by himself. Carl called me and we just struck up a relationship. So, he was like my first Rock 'n' Roll boyfriend.
Q - The Fillmore East, having been owned by Bill Graham, I take it you knew him as well.
A - He was great. He produced a lot of their concerts. Not just at The Fillmore, but in California. I have some great pictures of him that are in the book. Bill Graham was an awesome guy. He was a Russian Jewish guy who was completely a character. He looked like a guy who put up the tents for a circus. (laughs)
Q - He was a tough guy, but then he had to be in the business he was in.
A - Yeah.
Q - The Fillmore opened in what year? 1967?
A - I think it was '67.
Q - I just have to ask, did you ever cross paths with Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison or Janis Joplin?
A - I did. Janis Joplin in passing. Jimi Hendrix was at a party in Manhattan. We were all sitting in a living room and these people were smoking pot. He was there and he had a woman under each arm. I remember him looking at me and saying, "You're quite a fox, aren't you?" I said, "Yeah, I guess so. I don't know." He kind of scared me. Jim Morrison: The Eileen Ford Agency was on 59th Street and right down the street was Ondine's, the club. Sometimes at the end of the day, in the early evening, some of the girls would go down to Ondine's, have a Coke and watch the band. And the band happened to be The Doors. Jim Morrison was up on the stage. The stage was about three feet off the ground. It was a small club. There was this drunk guy who kept trying to grab his leg. Jim Morrison jut kicked him in the head and kept singing. The other time I was on a small aircraft that held about twelve people, coming down from Oregon, down to L.A. I was on the plane with Jim Morrison and a band that was opening for him called The Rockin' Foo. He was so drunk and it was twelve o'clock in the afternoon. And the guy sitting next to me was the drummer for The Rockin' Foo. And Morrison was laying down in the middle of the aisle. I don't know how he got on (the plane). It was a flight to San Francisco and on to L.A. from Eugene, Oregon. He was just drunk. He ended up sleeping in the aisle, curled up. It happened in front of these seats in the aisle. So, I sat next to the drummer (for The Rockin' Foo) whose name was Les Brown, and he and I became friends to this day.
Q - What would you say your overall impression was of these people? I take it you weren't too impressed?
A - No. What's that saying? You don't want to meet your heroes?
Q - Because they might disappoint you.
A - Exactly. Although I had a great time with Mad Dogs, Jim Morrison? It was sad. I thought it was just sad. What amazes me after being around these incredible musicians is they can get so crazy and messed up and then they walk up on that stage and get a guitar or bass, they play like gods. They're just awesome. I don't know how they do it.
Q - You met all the guys in The Beatles, didn't you? You knew Ringo and John.
A - Yes. And George.
Q - And Paul?
A - Yes. I met Paul. I didn't spend time around Paul like I did with George and John.
Q - Was it tough to get an introduction to meet those guys?
A - No. We'll go back to my boyfriend, Carl Radle, the bass player. You know who Carl was, right?
Q - Yes. He was with Eric Clapton. Derek And The Dominoes.
A - Yeah. Carl was a very sought after session musician during the early '70s and I would go on sessions with him. We wound up living together. We moved to Oklahoma and I would go on sessions with him from Muscle Shoals to Tulsa to L.A. to Texas. He played on the John Lennon "Rock 'n' Roll" album. He did a couple of cuts on that with him. That's when I met John. I just adored John. For some reason he and I hit it off. So, that's how I met John. And then when I broke up with Carl, I met George at the same time during "Bangladesh" 'cause Carl was playing on that with Leon. I was on the road with him and Leon. George called him to come in and lead the band. So, we went to New York. So, I was hanging out with everybody there and that's when I met George and Pattie. When I broke up with Carl, I moved to L.A. a couple of years later and bumped into May Pang and John. David Andreol, the great producer, he was a very close friend of ours, he and his wife. And so David got me a job at Ode Records. He said, "Lou Adler is looking for a Second Assistant. You should go in and work for him for a year and you'll find out who everybody is in this town." I went and had a interview with Lou and he hired me. And I bumped into John and May Pang. He said, "What are you doing here?" I said, "Well, I've broken up with Carl." He said, "You've got to hang out with me and May. There's these wild dogs, the men here in this town. It's a crazy town." I said, "Okay." So, I started hanging out with John and May, going to his recording sessions, dinners, lunches or whatever. That's when John introduced me to Ringo. So, that's how that happened.
Q - Were you with John the night he was heckling The Smothers Brothers at The Troubadour and got thrown out of the club?
A - Yes.
Q - Tommy Smothers told me it was a terrible night with that heckling.
A - It was Harry Nilsson. The Troubadour is a very small club. I was sitting at a table to the side. Our group was large. It was Harry Nilsson who was instigating the whole thing. Harry was the instigator.
Q - What was he doing? Shouting up remarks?
A - Yes.
Q - Put downs?
A - Put downs and slurs. He was the instigator and kept it up 'til finally they came and asked him to leave.
Q - What was John doing? Did he take part in it?
A - He kind of took part in it for like the first minute or two. It was kind of funny at first, but Harry was the one that kept it up. Harry Nilsson was the bad boy in that. He was the one who instigated it and kept it going.
Q - Back to Ode Records. What did you, as a Second Assistant, do?
A - I was his (Lou Adler's) assistant to his main girl. I answered the phones. I was at the front desk. She and I both had a desk in the front room, but I was the one who greeted everybody. It was built on the (Charlie) Chaplin Studio lot. So, these buildings were built in the '20s and they were small rooms. The wooden structure was quite a magical building. I just started working for him and I became more and more important in his group. After I was there for about six months he came back from England. He'd been seeing Britt Ekland and he'd seen a play in England in the West End called Rocky Horror Picture Show. He got together with Michael White, who was the producer, and said, "Let's open it up at my new club. I'm almost finished building on Sunset Blvd." No one's ever opened up a play from England in L.A. (laughs) So, I started doing a lot of publicity for Ode Records, especially the Rocky Horror show. That's pretty much what I helped them do. I was doing some of the decorating in On The Rocks. Finding pieces for them. Furniture. Having them covered. Then I took over the after party for the Rocky Horror show and being on call for Tim Curry. It was amazing back then. The fellow who was handling all the music was this young guy up in a little cat perch with a Moog synthesizer and everything, doing the music. His name was David Foster, who's a huge producer now. Little Davy Foster. I would go up there and say, "David, what do you need?" He said, "Just keep the Coca-Cola coming. I need Coca-Cola," and I said, "Okay." And I would deliver French fries and Coca-Cola to him. (laughs)
Q - It was a more innocent time.
A - It was. He was just a sweetheart. And young. And brilliant. Just brilliant.
Q - When did you start taking photos?
A - It started off in New York. It became a hobby. So, I always had a camera. So, A Dose Of Rock And Roll is a coffee table book of photographs.
Q - It's an A to Z of Who's Who in Rock 'n' Roll.
A - Yes. That's what's so great about A Dose Of Rock And Roll. It's like three hundred pages of these encounters that I had and the pictures are just so relaxed.
Q - Are you still in contact with people you knew way back when?
A - Oh, yeah.
Q - They still call you then?
A - Yes. May Pang was just in town a few months ago. She did a pop-up show and had me at dinner. I've been in touch with Pattie Harrison-Boyd-Clapton. We'll call her Pattie Boyd.
Q - I should have asked earlier, did you ever meet Frank Sinatra?
A - Yes.
Q - What was he like?
A - He was wonderful. I went to see him twice. I saw him at Albert Hall. And I got to see him at Caesar's Palace and had dinner with him after the show. There was a private room for dinner. It was called The Orgy Room, if you can believe it. (laughs) We sat at his table and had dinner with him. That was really wonderful.
Q - What was dinner?
A - I don't even remember what we ate. Probably chicken. Who knows? There were about thirty or forty people. Tables of about eight or ten. Round tables in this small dining room. It was a real testosterone group, if you know what I mean. It's funny how he and Elvis liked having their posse.
Q - Did he talk to you?
A - He did. We had a conversation. He said, "Where are you from?" I said, "Oddly enough, we're from the same area, Frank. I grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey." He goes, "Get out of here! I'm from Hoboken." I said, "I know." He said, "Oh, my God." So, we started talking about Monticello Avenue and St. Adam's Church. It was very funny. It was two people realizing they were from the same city. It was very relaxed.
Q - You met Dean Martin. What was he like?
A - He was very sweet. I became friends with his wife, Jeannie Martin. His son, Dino hung out with us a little bit in L.A. and invited us over. That's how we fell into that crowd for a bit. He gave his daughter a 21st birthday party at The Bistro, which is a really groovy Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills, on the outskirts of Beverly Hills. We went to her birthday party, Black Tie, which was wonderful. We get there and Dean would be a little lit and by the time we left he'd be propped up in a chair somewhere, completely blitzed.
Q - I always thought that was an act.
A - No.
Q - Did you ever meet Elvis?
A - I met Elvis once.
Q - Where was that?
A - That was in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was living with Carl and he was on the road. Eileen Basset, who really ran Shelter Records for Denny Cordell and Leon (Russell), was in town. She said, "Do you want to go with me. Elvis is playing. I've got tickets." She knew his publicity people. I said, "Absolutely. Let's do it." And she said, "Okay." I went and brought my camera with me. We had great seats. Afterwards we went backstage. I remember he looked at me and said, "You're a pretty thing aren't you?" I went, "I guess so. I don't know Mr. Elvis." He gave me one of his scarves that he would give people. I don't know where it is to this day. Something happened to it. He gave me a spitty kiss on the cheek.
Q - Did Elvis sign the scarf for you?
A - He did. And Frank Sinatra signed a Caesar's Palace napkin for me because he said, "My daughter's name is Nancy." I said, "I know." Coming from New Jersey it must have been the name in that time in the '40s.
Q - Did you ever want to try your hand at acting?
A - I thought about doing acting. I wound up making friends with people who were either a director or in the film business and would give me jobs. But, it was something that I never lusted after.
Q - So, you never really pursued acting then?
A - Not to any great interest.
Q - Have you ever been in a movie?
A - Yes, I have. A really good friend of mine was a writer and director with the Roger Corman Group. He wrote a movie called Saturday The Fourteenth. He wrote a part in there for me as a vampire, the wife of a male vampire. I also did all the photography and the special effects photography for the movie. I would get all dressed up as a vampire with a ponytail down to my butt. Me and my husband, who was Jeffrey Tambor. We were the vampire antagonistic couple in the movie. It was fun.
Q - So, what do you do with yourself these days? Have your photos ever been on display in a gallery or a museum?
A - Yeah. After A Dose Of Rock And Roll came out it spawned gallery shows. I've done gallery shows all over the world. I wound up doing gallery shows from Europe to California, to book signings. That was quite another part of my career that I hadn't really thought about, but it happened. And now I have people come over to my house and they want to buy prints. I still have prints. I have a website up. I sell prints. And, I've just been writing. I'm writing a book.
Q - Is the book a memoir or an autobiography?
A - Pretty much. Yes, it's a memoir.
Q - You can still recall everything that happened to you after all these years?
A - I kept a diary.
Q - That can really jog your memory, can't it?
A - It's amazing. It's like opening up a portal. I'll go to a page and read two or three sentences and it's just like a portal. It sucks you right back.
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