Whisky-A-Go-Go

The History of The Whisky-A-Go-Go

Latest Update: January 23, 2006

The Whisky-A-Go-Go, 8901 Sunset Blvd at Clark, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA

All this great stuff has been researched and prepared by Corry Arnold

with formidable contributions by Jerry Fuentes and Mark Skobac (and further assistance from John Einarson, David Biasotti and Ross Hannan)

The Whisky A Go-Go became the principal hangout of musicians and hipsters in Hollywood in the 1960s. Johnny Rivers was the first sensation to come out of the club, soon after it opened (on January 11, 1964), and that is when the club initially started the whole ‘trend’ of having a mini-skirted girl dancing above the crowd in a cage. Somehow, the Whisky became the cool place for bands to play.

The Whisky always had two or three bands playing, but they were not always billed. Often the unbilled bands were simply local bands, but it being Hollywood and all, sometimes unbilled local groups acting as the house band went on to become hugely famous. Bands all got union scale. At times, the billed bands couldn’t make it, and another band was substituted. While this is common in nightclubs, what was uncommon about the Whisky was that the band substituting could be just as good or better (and possibly even better-known) than the band it is replacing. These listings are generally from advertisements, and at times they overlap or conflict with other performances by these groups. It was not uncommon for a group to be booked for a week at the Whisky and then to skip a night for a larger gig. It appears that the Whisky was open six or seven nights a week, with local groups playing when no one well known was billed.

I have included some notes about the specific lineups of each group at the time they played, and some interesting remarks about some of the lesser known groups, but I have not attempted to relay every fact about every group, particularly with respect to recordings.

Thanks to everyone who contributed and commented on this list. Most especially, the detail and accuracy of this list would not be possible without the formidable contributions by Jerry Fuentes and Mark Skobac (and a shout out to John Einarson, David Biasotti and Ross Hannan). This list represents the best of my knowledge at this time. All additions, corrections, memories and insights gratefully received by contacting us.

Corry Arnold

Plainsboro, NJ August 2005

A List of Whisky-A-Go-Go Shows

1966 Shows

Date	Artists	Notes
January 21-28, 1966	The Rascals/The Enemys	The Rascals were a slick New York band who seamlessly remade themselves into a Fillmore type band. The Rascals remake of Good Lovin’ (originally recorded by LA’s The Olympics) was on its way to a national #1 at the time.
February 4-11, 1966	Paul Butterfield Blues Band/The Leaves	The Butterfield Blues Band was America’s premier white blues band. The twin guitar attack of Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop established the blueprint for every multi-guitar band in the sixties and seventies. The group’s groundbreaking debut album on Elektra was released in October 1965. Butterfield and The Grass Roots may have played some of the next two weeks as well, according to Mark Naftalin’s comments in the Mike Bloomfield biography If You Love These Blues (Miller Freeman Books 2000). A version of the Butterfield Blues Band’s epic East-West, recorded during this period at the Whisky, was included on the group’s East West Live CD (Winner 1996).
February 25-March 10, 1966	Love/The Leaves	Love had been the hippest group in Hollywood for some time. The Leaves, originally from the San Fernando Valley, had had a hit with Hey Joe (played live by every Hollywood group).
March 11-17, 1966	Grass Roots/Hard Times	The Grass Roots initial records were concocted in the studios by performer-producers PF Sloan and Phil Barri. A Bay Area band called The Bedouins were drafted to be the “live” Grass Roots, but other than some vocals by singer Bill Fulton, this line-up had almost nothing to do with the first Grass Roots album (featuring the hit Where Were You When I Needed You).
March 18-24, 1966	Beau Brummels/Grass Roots	The Beau Brummels were a San Francisco group, but they preceded the whole Fillmore scene. They had a hit in 1964 with Laugh, Laugh.
April 1-7, 1966	Otis Redding	Otis Redding recorded his album In Person at the Whisky a Go Go during this series of shows.
May 3, 1966	Grass Roots/Buffalo Springfield	The Buffalo Springfield had only been performing in public for a few weeks at this point.
May 9, 1966	The Doors (audition)	The Doors, then playing other, lesser clubs in Hollywood, have a successful audition and by June they become the “house” band for the next few months, playing every night regardless of whether other acts are booked.
May 11-22, 1966	Johnny Rivers/Buffalo Springfield
May 23-27, 1966	Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band/Buffalo Springfield/The Doors	Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band were from the High Desert area around Lancaster, and were known as the heaviest blues band in Southern California.
May 28-June 1, 1966	Love/Buffalo Springfield/The Doors	The Van Morrison list has Them starting a residency on May 30, with Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band opening, sometimes with Frank Zappa sitting in with both Them and The Magic Band. Them had June 1, 1966 (Wednesday) off, so Love perhaps headlined that date.
June 2-18, 1966	Them/The Doors	Strange as it may seem today, Van Morrison’s moody but dynamic performances as the lead singer of Them were a significant influence on Jim Morrison’s Lizard King persona as lead singer of the Doors. Buffalo Springfield and The Association were probably second billed in the subsequent weeks, along with The Leaves and The Grass Roots. During this month, Them, The Doors, Buffalo Springfield are all regular performers almost every night, although the other groups named appear as well. Typically the Whisky had three groups at this time, and everyone performed at least two sets.. On Saturdays and Sundays, all groups played a 4:00 pm all ages show. On the last day, Them and The Doors play together for the last set, including a 25 minute In The Midnight Hour and a 20-minute Gloria.
June 22-July 10, 1966	Gene Clark and The Group/The Locos/The Doors	Gene Clark had left The Byrds in March 1966 due to his fear of flying. This was a rare performance by Gene and his band The Group, featuring Bill Rinehart (ex-Leaves) on lead guitar, Chip Douglas (ex-Modern Folk Quartet and soon-to-be Monkees producer) on bass and drummer Joel Larson (ex-the ‘original’ Bay Area Grass Roots).
July 16-July 23, 1966	The Turtles/First Review/The Doors	The Turtles are now dismissed as a trivial pop band (with lead singers Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan colluding with Frank Zappa to trivialize their history), but in fact the group were first-class musicians who played excellent contemporary folk-rock.
July 27, 1966	Johnny Rivers/Chambers Brothers/The Doors	The Chambers Brothers had been part of the Los Angeles folk scene at the Ash Grove, but the multi-talented group was remaking themselves as a sort of psychedelic soul outfit. The initial single of Time Has Come Today was recorded around this time, although the longer, more famous version was not recorded until 1967.
August 1-4, 1966	Johnny Rivers/Chambers Brothers/The Doors
August 7-9, 1966	Johnny Rivers/Chambers Brothers/The Doors
August 10, 1966	The Doors	Elektra’s Jac Holzman sees The Doors this night. It’s not clear who else was on the bill, but Jerry Fuentes thinks it was Love.
August 11-21, 1966	Love/The Doors	On August 21, The Doors are fired one night when Morrison misses the first show entirely (not for the first time) and although the band drags him back from his hotel, he is not really in a state to perform. His obscene rant on The End causes club owner Elmer Valentine to fire the band, who has already signed with Elektra.
August 27-28, 1966	The Turtles	The Beatles were staying in the Hollywood Hills, and some members of The Turtles attended a party after their gigs at The Whisky, which is how this date is known. It seems plausible that the Turtles played the whole week (perhaps Whisky management wanted a band more predictable than Jim Morrison), but I have never seen an ad.
September 1-11, 1966	The Byrds/Daily Flash	Gene Clark, who had left the Byrds earlier in the year due to his fear of flying, was making an effort to rejoin the group, which only lasted for a few weeks. For most or all of these shows, David Crosby was sick, so Clark effectively took Crosby’s place. The Daily Flash were Seattle’s top psychedelic band. They moved to Hollywood and shared management with the Buffalo Springfield.
September 14-24, 1966	Chambers Brothers/Hard Times
September 27-10.2, 1966	The Mothers of Invention	The Mothers have played many other clubs in Hollywood, and had already headlined at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Their first album Freak Out had been released in June 1966.
October 5-15, 1966	Beau Brummels/Daily Flash
October 19-30	Love/Sons of Adam	There was also an additional act for the ‘All-Ages’ show on October 30 (the poster is unreadable). The Sons of Adam were a Hollywood band featuring guitarist Randy Holden who would later go on to join Blue Cheer.
October 22, 1966	Buffalo Springfield/Sons of Adam	Buffalo Springfield substituted for Love on this date, and Jim Fielder played bass for an indisposed Bruce Palmer. Buffalo Springfield biographer John Einarson has photos of Fielder playing this show. Fielder would briefly end up as a member of the Springfield (from March to May 1967).
November xx, 1966	Fever Tree, Mandala	Fever Tree started out in Houston, Texas as The Bostwick Vines - this being one of the very first shows under the new name. In 1968 they would hit the charts with "San Francisco Girls (Return of the Native)". Mandala were a rock 'n' soul band that had been formed Five Rogues in Toronto in 1964. Despite a number of singles, theyt achieved little commercial success.
November xx, 1966	UFO	UFO performed for two days according to TeenSet magazine (likely opening for another group).
November xx, 1966	Sir Douglas Quintet/The Sparrow (one week)	Both of these groups had been transplanted to the Bay Area. The Sir Douglas Quintet had escaped Texas due to a pot bust and were based in San Francisco, while The Sparrow had felt stifled by being a cover band in Toronto, and were now starving in Sausalito. Sparrow had emerged in Toronto as Jack London and The Sparrows, who recorded an album in 1965 for Canadian Capitol. Jerry Edmonton, Dennis Edmonton (perhaps better known as Mars Bonfire), Nick St. Nicholas and Goldie McJohn were joined by German-born John Kay (Joachim Krauledat) to recreate themselves as The Sparrow. Subsequently the band evolved in to Steppenwolf.
November 12, 1966		Throughout the Fall of 1966, larger and larger numbers of Southern California teenagers drive into Hollywood to hang out on the Sunset Strip. The Strip is the height of cool, and in any case there isn’t that much else to do. The police start aggressively enforcing curfews and other laws, and the teenagers do not respond well to authority. This culminates on the night of Saturday, November 12, 1966 when there is a sort of riot resulting from the police trying to close a club called Pandora’s Box. This event was the inspiration for the Stephen Stills-penned Buffalo Springfield hit For What Its Worth, released in January 1967. Ironically, the Springfield are in San Francisco playing the Fillmore on the night of November 12, but the song is no less telling for that. The Sunset Strip ‘riots’ were also the inspiration for the 1967 Roger Corman Teensploitation movie Riot On Sunset Strip. Given that the movie has a budget of about 11 dollars, it isn’t as bad as you might expect. While the movie is hardly documentary realism—or even convincing—it does give a long-gone snapshot of some of the fashions of the time, and a great Chocolate Watch Band lip synch. I do not know who was scheduled at the Whisky the night of the Pandora’s Box riot. While excessive teenage congregation seems comical now, Los Angeles had suffered through the very destructive Watts Riots of August 1965, and the police preferred an aggressive stance.
November 19-20, 1966	The Turtles
November 21-26, 1966	Buffalo Springfield/The Poor	The Poor, from Colorado, featured future Eagles bassist Randy Meisner.
December 2-12, 1966	Jefferson Airplane/Peanut Butter Conspiracy	The Jefferson Airplane list has November 28-December 4, whilst the Peanut Butter Conspiracy list has December 1-12, but I am inclined to go with Jerry Fuentes dates here. Bookings at the Whisky were often subject to change. The Peanut Butter Conspiracy were similar to the Airplane, with harmonies and a female singer. Also, Airplane drummer Spencer Dryden had been in the group when they were called The Ashes.
December 13-18, 1966	The Outsiders	Presumably this is the group from Cleveland who had the classic hit Time Won’t Let Me.
December 18, 1966	Leaves/Iron Butterfly	The Iron Butterfly were still probably based in San Diego at the time.
December 21-22, 1966	Buffalo Springfield
December 23-31, 1966	The Turtles/Iron Butterfly

1967 Shows

According to Jerry Fuentes exceptional research, the Whisky switches from a rock and roll Booking policy to a “Motown”, i.e. Soul, style entertainment roster. This is certainly evident during the first six moths of 1967. The thinking was that Soul acts would bring in a more adult crowd who were less likely to be unruly. I would be fascinated to learn if other clubs changed their booking policies, and how much influence the police or other non-musical entities had in influencing the Whisky in this respect.

Date	Artists	Notes
January 1-2, 1967	Peanut Butter Conspiracy
January 6-7, 1967	Love
January 12-22, 1967	Smokey Robinson and The Miracles
January 26 to February 5, 1967	Jimmy Castor/Young-Holt Trio	Jimmy Castor had been a professional R&B singer since he was a Harlem teenager in the 50s. In the early 1970s he had a hit with “Troglodyte”.
February 2, 1967	The Elgins/The Olympics	The Olympics were a classic Los Angeles R&B group, who did (among many songs) the original version of “Good Lovin’”.
February 23 to March 4, 1967	Jimmy Reed/John Lee Hooker
March 8-16, 1967	Anthony & The Imperials
March 17-19, 1967	Anthony & The Imperials/Peaches & Herb
March 21-26, 1967	Hugh Masakela/Stu Gardner Trio	Hugh Masakela was a South African jazz trumpeter and vocalist who had a surprise hit with “Grazing In The Grass" and would go on to play at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June.
March 29 to April 9, 1967	The Temptations/Brenda Holloway
April 13-23, 1967	Gladys Knight & The Pips
April 25-30, 1967	Hugh Masakela
May 5-14, 1967	Martha & The Vandellas
May 16-21, 1967	The Doors/The Byrds	Two of the most famous bands to graduate from the Whisky herald the return of rock to the club.
May 28 to June 4, 1967	Four Tops	The guitarist and principal songwriter of The Impressions was Curtis Mayfield.
June 11-24, 1967	The Impressions
June 26 to July 4, 1967	Sam & Dave	Sam & Dave are initially booked through July 7, but appear to be replaced by Mitch Ryder and Eric Burdon.
July 2, 1967	Jimi Hendrix Experience	The Jimi Hendrix Experience had arrived in the States from England to play Monterey International Pop Festival and played a surprise guest set at the Sam & Dave show.
July 5, 1967	Mitch Ryder Revue
July 6-9, 1967	Eric Burdon and The Animals	Enthralled by the San Francisco Scene, Eric Burdon had recreated the Animals as a psychedelic band and was performing songs like Sky Pilot and San Franciscan Nights. Despite Burdon’s occasional histrionics, all the evidence suggests that they were an excellent live band.
July 13, 1967	Buffalo Springfield	The Byrds apparently were billed all week, but McGuinn falls sick this night and the Buffalo Springfield fill in. Jerry Fuentes thinks this event may actually refer to the Byrds dates in May.
July 14, 1967	The Paupers/Youngbloods	The groups may have played more than just this date. The Paupers were a popular but erratic Toronto band with great promise which they never lived up to. The Youngbloods had yet relocat