Stooges/Cherry Vanilla Party pix 1973/Who Has Richard Creamers’ negatives?/Torreyson Drive

The guest list is pretty astounding: Kim Fowley, Sable Starr, John Cale, Lee Black Childers, Shady Lady, Z-Man, Cherry Vanilla, the great LA Times critic Richard Cromelin, Le Petits Bon Bons, the “Raw Power” era Stooges and every pal of Sable’s from the Sugar Shack in the Valley. Where is Zolar-X?





Each picture is worth a long, long glance. After reading Nick Kent’s excellent account of another party thrown in the Stooges honor in “Apathy for the Devil,” it makes sense to me after all these years (37 exactly) why none of the Stooges crashed their own party. Were they living in Lee’s house at the time or staying at the Riot Hyatt? Kent’s book is highly recommended to any rock aficionado. I know some have questioned the veracity of the whole thing. Who gives a toss if you cant put the book down! There are some serious hoots in them pages. The Stooges on the Sunset Strip in 1973-74 is the stuff of legend now. Among the crowd witnessing the amazing run of shows were pre-Weirdos John Denney and Cliff Roman, Don Waller and co., the Denim Delinquent crowd, all of the South Bay intelligentsia including Phast Phreddie Patterson and the rest of the Back Door Man crew, Kid Congo Powers, Claude Bessey, Danny Sugarman and Manzerek, Silverhead, etc etc. Obviously we can now add Z-Man to the equation as well! Was the only actor or actress the Stooges could pull in 1973 Z-Man? Was Mackenzie Phillips there hiding in the back? We all know about who witnessed the Velvets in their final Max’s days but these LA Stooges shows (and the Dolls LA invasion documented so well by Bob Gruen), laid the groundwork for the late 70’s LA music scene which is still today lionized around the globe. Who else saw these show? We need to know.

Other than the party taking place at the Source Family house in Los Feliz about 20 minutes away that night, the party Souther and Henley were throwing in Laurel Canyon celebrating the fact that “Desperado” was climbing the charts ("ka-ching$") or even the Cher/Geffen soire on the westside, this was THE epicenter that late summer night in 1973. At least I can say I was in the same city at the same time. Enjoy the barn excavation.

Source: Rock Scene (September 1973), “Hullo t’ Slade” issue