From the Tiger Beat Archives, October 1966
An interview by Ann Moses
1. What was the greatest Christmas present you ever received?
Zally: A pocketknife from my best friend when I was 10 years old. I cut my leg with that about 15 minutes after he gave it to me. I remember it because I’ve got a big scar on my knee.
John: The giant post office desk which I received last Christmas. Laurie got it for me. I’ve wanted one ever since I was real small and I always hated to write things down. So I figured that when you really sat down and wrote things and you are a grown-up, then you’d have to use a post office desk to be fully legitimate. I feel very legitimate since Laurie got me the post office desk.
Steve: Hunting suit. I don’t know why it was the greatest, I never gave it any thought. I just liked it.
Joe: A bike, because I wanted one and I had to ride my sister’s bike and that was a drag because everyone on the block already had one. Also because I couldn’t reach the handlebars and I had to extend my arms over my head to reach it. I was about 6 then.
2. If you had a hammer, what would you be most likely to break?
Zally: I’d hammer in the morning. I’d hit Peter, Paul and Mary.
John: I’d smash all the restaurant speakers, you know the music that piped into hotels, elevators and things like that. I hate to hear it. It’s the way they play the songs–it’s aimed not to have you listen to it, as to be background music. It never calls your attention to it. It’s so bland, that it’s almost nonexistent.
Steve: A plate. I’ve always wanted to break a plate.
Joe: Bad sound systems.
3. When you hear “roller coaster,” what comes to mind?
Zally: A good time. Also, 3D movie with Edmund O’Brien. I forget the name of the movie, but there’s a scene where a guy falls out of a roller coaster. I remember it because it was really neat.
John: Well, the horrible roller coaster I went on at Coney Island. I really got scared because I was pretty young at the time. I went and I just held on and said “This has just got to come to an end.”
Steve: Amusement parks. I can remember almost getting sick once, but we don’t need to go into that.
Joe: Speed, screaming and clank-a, clank-a, clank-a, clank-a, clank-a, clank-a, clank-a. I still go to Coney Island and ride the one there sometimes.
4. What is the one thing you never mustered up the courage to do.
Zally: Play Russian Roulette.
John: Go out and get a driver’s license. I guess it’s not a matter of courage, it’s having about 85 things that are much better and more fun to do today than it a driver’s license.
Steve: Kiss a girl.
Joe: I’m not afraid to fly. I’m going to get a glider. I know I’m going to do it as soon as I get some time. I was a weatherman in the Air Force and from what I learned about the air masses and things.
5. Finish this sentence, “I am a natural born…”
Zally: I’m a natural born Jew. Which is true, because both my parents were Jewish, so I was too.
John: Idiot.
Joe: Show off. No, I guess I’m a natural born hustler. If I want to do something usually do it pretty well. If I’m trying to learn something, I work until I know it.
6. Why is your best friend your best friend?
Zally: Well, I don’t know who my best friend is. There’s a girl named Jackie and there’s Steven and John and Joe–you see, I have a lot of friends. I haven’t seen for years, but if I run into them tomorrow, will be best friends. Denny of the Mamas and Papas–we’ve been good buddies for five years. There’s some I see about once every two years for about a day. And they are my best friends.
Steve: I don’t know, it’s just the person I like best of all my friends.
Joe: Because we see eye to eye and we can talk about things like “What do you want to do with your life?” You can’t go up to a stranger at a party and say “What you want to do in the next three years?” People look at you funny and say “Have a drink and shut up.”
7. What does love mean to you in one word?
Zally: Togetherness.
John: Happiness.
Steve: Love.
Joe: Happiness.
8. What rules would you be most likely to break?
Zally: No rules. I break no rules, I’m a law-abiding citizen. I smoke when it says “no smoking” all the time.
John: I’m a great one for “no smoking” and “silence in the library.” I could never maintain. I could never do that. I used to drum on the tables and tap my feet. “Do Not Touch These Instruments”–I always have to try them out.
Steve: Traffic laws. I’m constantly in violation of the law. Like speeding and passing when I shouldn’t.
Joe Joe: Anything that involved me personally and nobody else. Like a suicide law. It’s me and whatever I do as long as I don’t injure anyone else then it’s my business. Those are the type I’m most likely to break.
9. Do you usually tell the truth or what you think people want to hear?
Zally: I always tell the truth.
John: I tell the truth pretty consistently.
Steve: I usually say what sounds nicest to me or has the most benefit to me.
Joe: A little of each. I don’t tell the truth when I think it’s going to put someone uptight or hurt them. If you’re clever, which I’m not, there are people I know who always tell the truth and never offend anybody.
10. What one travel poster stirs up the gypsy in you?
Zally: Sea Rock City in Kentucky. I’ve seen it a lot, that poster. I’ve seen it in people’s rooms, on garbage cans, you see it everywhere.
John: I don’t have one.
Steve: The South Pacific Islands. I don’t know why.
Joe: I’ll tell you what stirs me up are pictures of the astronauts. As a matter of fact, I’ve invited Zally to go jumping on the moon with me in about 30 or 40 years.
11. What kind of music best describes your personality?
Zally: Whatever I’m playing at the time.
John: The music I write. There are often projections–projecting myself into the situation or another perhaps. Like in “Jug Band Music.” I talk about 100 situations that I’ve never been in, really. They’re just fantasy, but I wouldn’t write anything I didn’t believe in.
Steve: John Philip Sousa Marches. I’m sort of a bouncy person.
Joe: I can get bored easily, that’s why when we do a piece of music, I try and make my part interesting. I really dig interesting music, like all the top 40. I think I’m pretty normal, like apple pie.
12. What do you like to do after a rainstorm?
Zally: It depends upon what I was doing during the rainstorm.
John: Sit and watch it dry off.
Steve: Go outside and see if it smells good.
Joe: I like to go out in the rain. Especially in a thunderstorm. When I was in the Air Force I had to stand a lot of shifts when there were hurricanes. We had to fly up into the storm and chart directions and things and it was great watching the thunder and lightning.
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