Mark Volman RIP

[Teasing the Korean]

https://variety.com/2025/music/news/mark-volman-dead-turtles-happy-together-1236509450/

[JSngry]

 

[mikeweil]

Proof that humor belongs in music. Not anybody can do it the way he did it. R.I.P.

7 minutes ago, JSngry said:

I still have that 45. Hilarious.

[jlhoots]

I loved The Turtles. R.I.P.

[JSngry]

There was more to them than just the hits, namely a very keen humor and ears to match.

RIP, and I will always laugh with you, not at you (except for that "Magdalena" thing....)

[medjuck]

RIP    I never saw The Turtles but I did see Flo and Eddie as members of The Mothers of Invention.

Edited Friday at 10:28 PM by medjuck

[romualdo]

RIP Mark - wonderful Turtles harmonies

didn't realise he sang on T-Rex's "Bang A Gong"

The "Mudshark" dialogue also came to mind

[T.D.]

R.I.P. Always great to see humor in music, which is surprisingly (IMO) rare.

 

No disrespect, but when I think of Flo the cover of Zappa's Over-Nite Sensation always comes to mind...one of the details is a decal with an extended middle finger directed to "Flo". I've no idea of the underlying story there.

 

[GA Russell]

RIP Mark Volman!

Prior to calling themselves The Turtles, the group was a surf guitar band called The Crossfires.

Their recordings with Mark Volman on saxophone frequently appear on surf guitar compilations.

[mjzee]

Very sad news.  I saw Flo & Eddie with the Mothers at the Fillmore East in May 1970.  This was before Chunga's Revenge came out, so I was surprised when Zappa introduced his new lead singers.  I then saw Flo & Eddie with their band (including Aynsley Dunbar) around the time their first album came out.  Good times.  RIP.

[Steve Gray]

RIP

I saw him with Frank Zappa as well. This was the night Frank was pushed off stage and badly injured.

[felser]

RIP.  I really liked the Turtles early folk-rock period, and found the later Turtles material interesting.  I'm not really enamored of their work with Zappa, which to me was overly crude.

 

[Royal Oak]

Sad news, liked the Turtles, and that first Flo & Eddie LP. I loved "Billy The Mountain" as a teenager.

[sgcim]

15 hours ago, mjzee said:

Very sad news.  I saw Flo & Eddie with the Mothers at the Fillmore East in May 1970.  This was before Chunga's Revenge came out, so I was surprised when Zappa introduced his new lead singers.  I then saw Flo & Eddie with their band (including Aynsley Dunbar) around the time their first album came out.  Good times.  RIP.

The piano player on "Live at the Fillmore East album in 1971 playing his Wurlitzer was a junkie dude named Bob Harris, who was a great jazz pianist and also played and did arrangements for The Turtles. He got the gig with Zappa on the recommendation of Jim Pons, bass player for the Turtles and then Zappa in 1971
.
Harris was also the husband of Judee Sill, the first artist David Geffen signed for Asylum Records.
Sill had written Lady-O, which was one of the last tunes the Turtles did before they broke up. The Turtles had her on salary as their songwriter for about $35 a week.Sill's first album was co-produced by Jim Pons, the Turtles bass player,
, and John Beck, guitarist of The Leaves.

I never heard of Judee Sill until about 1990, and flipped out over her music, so I wanted to find out who the hell she was. I emailed Mark Volman about her, and he seemed to be bugged about her, and kind of blew me off. He seemed annoyed about all the interest in Sill some 20 years after her two Asylum albums were released.
I tried Volman again, and this time he answered all my questions, but was still negative about Sill, but very positive about her husband, Bob Harris (not to be confused with another Bob Harris, who played keyboards and sang for Zappa in 1980). I read Howard Kaylan's bio, and he has nothing but great things to say about Sill, so there must have been something going on with Sill and Volman. I guess we'll never know, like that middle finger deal on "Overnight Sensation" T.D. mentioned.
Anyway RIP Mark Volman.

[felser]

Jim Pons also played in the Leaves prior to his associations with the Turtles, Zappa, and Flo & Eddie.  Sill was an extremely troubled individual, but some of her music was pretty great.  Same is true of Essra Mohawk (Sandy Hurvitz)'s music.

[JSngry]

Has anybody asked Eddie Gomez about Sandy Hurvitz?