Mamas and Papas

I wrote this after the death of Denny Daughtery, one of the Papas.

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I was a student at Ohio University in 1966, and Entertainment Editor of College Forum Magazine, a national college publication. To raise awareness of the magazine and to raise money the publisher sponsored a concert with headliners, the Mamas and Papas, at OU.

Because I was a musician, active in the business, I was given responsibilities for the event which including selecting the opening act and hosting the Mamas and Papas.

I had recently performed a show with an act fromFranklin, Ohio, that I thought would be a novel opening for the show. I hired Gary and the Hornets for the opening spot on the Mamas and Papas show and had a contract drawn up with their mother, as Gary (the guitar player) was ten years old. His brothers, Greg (bass) who was 12 years old, and Steve (drums) who was six, made up the rest of the band. They had just released a song, “A Kind of Hush,” which was getting some airplay around Midwest radio stations. As I recall this was prior to the release of the same tune by Herman’s Hermits.

Came the night of the concert and I was excited, not only to meet the Mamas and Papas, but to see how the crowd would take to the opening act. Most of those in the audience were college students. The announcer introduced them and the three boys walked out on the stage and a strange silence came over the crowd, followed by laughter. The crowd thought it was a joke.

Backstage, the Mamas and Papas had arrived. Being a musician of the era I was no stranger to states of altered consciousness, and it take me long to see that all four were “under the influence.”

John was aloof at first. Later he became more vocal and conversational, though he would often get lost in his train of thought and end up in a different conversation than he started.

Michelle was up against a wall, almost cowering….obviously not having a good trip…she was mumbling and seemed to shrink away from anyone who tried talking with her.

Cass was having a great time, jovial, funny and obviously horny as she was propositioning almost anyone in pants.

Denny was went from very quiet to very outgoing and back to very quite. He was quite friendly though and we had a chance to talk a little about his starting his musical career in Canada and how he had met and starting working with the others.

Meanwhile, out on the stage, Gary and the Hornets had taken the crowd by surprise. Although they were just kids, they played together very well, these kids could rock!!! Little by little the crowd had gotten into these three kids playing damn good music, and by the end of their set they had completely won the audience over. They went off the stage to a standing ovation of clapping, stomping, screaming and whistling that lasted five minutes.

Apparently this didn’t sit very well with the Mamas and Papas. They were announced and came onto to the stage within a few minutes of the Hornets exiting, faster than we had expected.

Once on stage they gave a very good performance with their hits but exited in less than 25 minutes. They walked off the stage and into a waiting car, without even coming back for an encore.

The crowd, as you might guess, was not happy.

And I learned that night, the W.C. Fields adage about never going on stage after children, was oh so true.

Charles “Max” E. Million

CEO, American Eagle Recordings

Years later when my own career took off I moved to LA. One of the places that you could always find a party was the house owned by John and Michelle Phillips.