These guests were friends of my parents, one of whom is the actor and artist Russ Tamblyn.
Larry Tamblynwas born in Los Angeles in 1943 to performer parents who toured theOrpheum Circuittogether in their heyday.
Both my father and uncle would go on to follow in their parents artistic footsteps in different ways.
Larry Tamblyn (forefront) with the Standells, who recorded the garage-rock classic “Dirty Water”Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
It did well on theBillboardcharts and catapulted their unruly rock & roll sound into the mainstream.
(That, and probably seven shutout innings by Pedro Martinez.)
As their cover ofSometimes Good Guys Dont Wear Whitebegan, my dad laughed.
You know whose song this is?
Yeah, Dad, its Ian MacKaye, I said like a little know-it-all who clearly knew nothing.
No, he smiled.
The Standells were the original cool band, informing culture in ways that would go on for generations.
They performed in cult classic films likeRiot on Sunset Strip, and even appeared in an episode ofThe Munsters.
They may have dressed and looked like the Beatles, but they sounded like something far more far out.
When garage rock gave way to the age of disco, Larry pivoted, refusing to be pigeonholed.
He showed me how it all worked while playing me some of his songs.
My uncle was a progressive, through and through, and a feminist at heart.
He sounded unfamiliar, almost childlike.
I asked him how he was doing.
I lost my little brother today, he said to me.
ThecoolTamblyn, I said, trying to make him laugh a little.
But it wasnt a joke.
