Inside The Velvet Illusions, by Randy “Jimmie James” Bowles

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"Acid Head", 1960's, Classic Rock Collectibles, L. A. California psych bands, Lost psych/garage bands, Pacific Northwest Rock Bands, Performing, Psych, Randy "Jimmie James" Bowles, Record Collecting, THE VELVET ILLUSIONS, Yakima

Psychedelicized by Gray Newell.

[I constantly update this piece. While the Velvet Illusions broke up in 1967, our music continues to be re-released; our history continues to be documented and discussed. New compilation albums, magazine/web articles, YouTube videos, films and blog stories are being created and shared world-wide. So ignore the publication date of April 2015 — this story is up-to-date. The piece is divided into two sections: “When We Were Together”, and “Since We Broke Up”. In the SWBU section, I share continuously updated information about the latest VI-related material which reaches publication. This is a very, very long piece. It’s basically chronological, so scroll to the end to find the newest info.]

Spring 2024 Update: I have my own YouTube channel where you can hear/see 100 of my new recordings including over 50 original songs. I’m still very active in making music. Here is a link (go to it later, as  it will take you away from this story): https://www.youtube.com/@randyjimmiejamesbowles/videos

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(I’ll give you the bottom line first: our elderly management was in a 1930s-1950s mindset, and… unlike us boys in the band, they could not read the room.)

*OK, here goes: Here is my version of the history of the Velvet Illusions, for hard-core fans, journalists and other crazy people. I sometimes use the term, “we”, herein, because it’s easier. But this is my story –- the Velvet Illusions as seen by “Jimmie James”. I was there from the beginning, and I’ve worked very hard, for a long time, to share our history; and to do it in as positive a manner as possible.*

The Velvet Illusions had a brush with fame; but we broke up before we hit the big time. However, in 2024, the band seems to be more popular than ever!

Our story happens in the past, but also in the present. Although we performed and recorded in the 1960’s, our retrospective CD, “Acid Head”, is widely available for purchase on the internet, and cuts from it are aired on Pandora, Psychedelicized Radio, podcasts and broadcast radio. We have a large presence on YouTube. New Velvet Illusions interviews and articles are being published all the time. And, we released something that collectors have to fight to get their hands upon: a limited-edition retrospective LP, entitled “Velvet Illusions”, on Moi J’Cannois Records. The North American continental distributor was Seattle, Washington’s Light In The Attic Records.

While the Velvet Illusions traveled from Yakima, Washington to Hollywood, California and back, our records and legend have traveled around the world! Ask any psych/garage collector if they have our material. Watch them pull out a copy of the Grammy-nominated LA Nuggets set on Rhino. — Or a Pebbles CD.

We have two cuts on this very famous 1979 compilation. I did not get paid a penny…

Perhaps they’ll have a decades-old copy of “Acid Dreams”, which contains two of our songs, or the updated one, called “Acid Dreams – The Complete 3 LP Set”. Perhaps they’ll have our Tune In CD release. But if they’re really lucky, they’ll have one of our 45’s, which go for as high as $1,800 on the secondary market.

Carme Jaen, Velvet Illusions friend, holding her copy of our Velvet Illusions “Acid Head” CD.

Our songs, especially our theme song, “Velvet Illusions”, have been covered by bands world-wide, including Spain’s Phantom Keys and Italy’s Head and the Hares. In the 1980’s, the Austrian group Running Stream released a cover of our infamous “Acid Head”. A French Group, The Vandoperians, have released an entire EP of our music in recent times. Young people produce amazing videos incorporating our music, and then upload them to YouTube. We have an entry in the legendary book, “Fuzz, Acid and Flowers”, published by Vernon Joynson. We gained a mention in the scholarly tome, “Sixties Rock”, published by Michael Hicks in 1999. Our artifacts are contained in Seattle, Washington’s Experience Music Project’s archives (EMP is now known as MoPop). The website, Pacific Northwest Bands, a destination site that rock writers constantly turn to for information, published my history of the band in 2006, and on numerous occasions, it was the number-one read page on the website — out of 3,000+ bands. — We’re known to collectors as a “Lost California Psychedelic Band”. In reality, we were from the small agricultural town of Yakima, Washington!

Core group of recording members, 1966: Randy “Jimmie James” Bowles, Danny Wagner, Dewayne Russell, George Radford, Steve Weed, Dale Larrison, Danny Wohl.

The Velvet Illusions were quintessential outsiders. We were even outsiders in Yakima! While other bands dressed like Paul Revere and the Raiders, we sported a set of distinctive velvet uniforms, and a set of rhythm and blues-styled threads. On that note, our set list included songs featuring the Motown/R&B sound. Most of our competitors were covering English groups, while we covered more American groups; plus we soon came up with our own material. Our original songs also betrayed our outsider status: we sang of scenes which we were not a part of. We sang of watching hippies, not of being hippies. We wrote of people involved in drug use, employing terms of speech that totally exposed our straight-arrow habits. Eventually, we landed like aliens in the La La Land of Hollywood, in the Summer of Love, 1967.

When We Were Together

Early Velvet Illusions: Danny Wagner, drums; Chuck Funk, rhythm guitar; Randy “Jimmie James” Bowles, lead guitar/lead vocals; Larry “Lurch” Linse, bass; George Radford, saxophones. 1966.

In 1966, Chuck Funk (rhythm guitar), George Radford (saxophones), and I, Randy “Jimmie James” Bowles (lead guitar and vocals) started jamming at the Radford family upholstery shop. Chuck and I had jammed, just the two of us, at his house a few times, and he suggested he introduce me to George. So the three of us began jamming. George Radford, Sr., George’s dad, heard us playing around. He offered to manage us, and to outfit us in velvet.

Actual preserved uniform, 2014.

Forming the core group: Instead of calling ourselves The Illusions, as we had originally intended, we could be the Velvet Illusions. Mr. Radford said we would have the finest equipment. We went for it. He recruited enough members to form a core group, grabbing singer and organ player Steve Weed from the Shy Guys, and a tall, friendly bassist named Larry Linse, who was nicknamed “Lurch”. We acquired a great drummer who could play any beat, with flair, Danny Wagner. We got tight and played a few shows around town. With Steve and I trading off on lead vocals, we offered our listeners a lot of variety. — Because Steve and I had such different styles. But we were able to blend our styles and come up with something new and different.

Where it all began: the upholstery shop, seen in 2019.

Soon, Chuck Funk had to drop out, because his folks owned the popular Fruitvale Drive In, and he was needed there. I was sorry to see him go. We were close; plus, I had a huge crush on his older sister Sandy. I knew with Chuck out of the picture, Sandy would be out of the picture, too. However, I was also sweet on the beautiful Marta, George Radford’s sister!

Chuck was replaced by another of my besties, Yakima guitarist Danny Wohl. Practically the entire Wohl family played music. Danny basically grew up with a guitar in his hands. And, we added a truly gifted lead guitarist, Dewayne Russel, who could play anything from country to psychedelic music. I had been the young band’s sole lead guitar player; but when we brought Dewayne into the fold, we added a “big gun”. I was glad, not jealous.

After participating in a couple of our recordings, which we made in Seattle, WA at Audio Recording, “Lurch” bowed out, because he was in the military reserves. He needed to devote his time to that endeavor. (I have Lurch to thank for turning me on to the great Indian sitar player, Ravi Shankar. Hearing Ravi’s music really opened my mind to many musical possibilities! I remember riding with Lurch through our beautiful Cascade Mountains, as we made our way to Seattle, to record. He kept Ravi’s music on the entire way. I was astounded by it.) Since Lurch had to leave, another Shy Guy took his place on bass: Dale Larrison, a young guy who really knew his way around the bass. This became the group of boys who recorded most of the Velvet Illusions records. Our lineup was solidified.

Our iconic studio promo shot. The stock photo company Alamay will sell you a copy. Or, you can copy this one, restored by Aldrik Auth, for free.

We began acquiring Vox equipment. We were a “Vox Band”.  I remember Mr. Radford showing us a letter of congratulations he had received from Vox. As you can glean from our photo, we had as much Vox equipment as any band: three Super Beatle amps, a Continental organ, Vox Royal Guardsman P.A. speakers and various Vox guitars, including a Mando Guitar. It‘s been repeatedly stated in the media, and even by the company which released our CD, that Vox sponsored us. — Not. We worked hard to pay for our equipment.

We lead guitarists used Mosrite guitars, including a beautiful double-neck model which our superb guitar slinger, Dewayne Russell, played. We wound up with much of the same gear as Paul Revere and the Raiders; although we felt our guitars were better than theirs. Vox guitars had cool shapes, but Mosrites played and sounded better. Saxman George Radford used at least three saxophones in the band.

We kept very busy playing or practicing, seven-days-a-week.  We even helped reupholster old couches and easy chairs in the Radford’s shop, selling them to help finance the band. We often rented west Yakima’s Nob Hill Grange, where we threw DIY dances and battles of the bands. We usually contracted with a legendary Yakima group, Chuck Gregory’s Fluorescents, to battle us. (Ironically, in 1972, I wound up fronting a country-rock band called Buckwheat, which was made up of Mr. Gregory on bass, the Fluorescents’ drummer Stan Ruehlow, and myself on guitar and vocals.)

KIMA TV “Summer Wild Thing” Performance, 1967, Yakima, WA.

We made television appearances and did in-store performances.  We appeared along with the New Yorkers, who later changed their name to the Hudson Brothers, on Steve Montgomery’s Yakima TV program, “Summer Wild Thing”. — Mark Hudson, one of the Hudson Brothers, went on to produce many of Ringo Starr’s records; his daughter is Kate Hudson. Her mother is Goldie Hawn.

La Grande, Oregon, 1960’s.

One day, we Velvet Illusions traveled to La Grande, Oregon, Steve Weed’s home town, to receive the “key to the city”, where we were met by dozens of cute girls at a menswear shop in-store, who were eager to have our autographs.  We pinned Velvet Illusions ribbons to their blouses. Later, we boys talked about how we felt like real rock stars! That night, we played to perhaps a thousand La Grande teens, mostly female. (We were polite boys, and we always did well with the female set. When we relocated to Hollywood, a group of sweet girls formed The Velvet Illusions Fan Club.)

Why did we not play in the Seattle area, since it was a big town, and a hotbed of Northwest music? Well, we were contemplating a decision to go south, instead.  Way south! (More about that, coming up.)

L-r: Author, Georgy, Mr. Radford, Dewayne Russell, Larry “Lurch” Linse (up above), Chuck Funk, Steve Weed (up above), Danny Wagner.

We were versatile.  In addition to performing rock and roll, we could don suits and ties and play ballroom dance music, although we didn’t want to.  I remember playing a Democratic Party event in Yakima, which was held in honor of then-Governor Albert Rosellini. We watched from the stage as people in suits and gowns stared back at us.  I must say, we preferred playing rock music, for our own age group. The above photo was taken as we headed out to play that event. The photo surfaced in 12/2018. BTW, I don’t have access to our archives, which are in Yakima, in our sax player’s house. I was very fortunate to find a digital copy of this one.

Our young keyboard phenom/vocalist Steve Weed was writing songs; plus we acquired compositions from other writers, including the Northwest legend, rockabilly guitarist Jerry Merritt, a former member of Gene Vincent’s Blue Caps. Jerry became our music adviser. We made several trips to Seattle, to Audio Recording, where we recorded around nine sides. (To the best of my memory, we recorded some songs, including “Bigfoot”, which was written about the Sasquatch craze, one entitled something like “Grow Up Young Man”, and one entitled something like “Lonely Girl”, which have not surfaced since approximately 1967. I cannot speak to their existence on master tapes, one way or the other; but I was on all three recordings, so I know they did exist at one time.)

The ten sides which wound up on our CD, and later, our LP, include “Acid Head”, featuring Steve Weed singing of a girl who descended into a personal hell of drug addiction. Its flip side, “She Was The Only Girl”, was written and sung by Steve in the tradition of “Last Kiss” and “Leader Of The Pack”. He almost weeps as he describes his helpless longing for his true love, who has suddenly died.

We recorded Jerry Merritt’s “Town Of Fools”, a song which describes a husband and father, too busy chasing the dollar to pay attention to his wife and kids. I was proud to have sung this song then, and I am still proud to sing it now in my solo shows. The B-side, “I’m Coming Home Los Angeles”, was co-written by the great standards writer, Bobby Worth. Bobby wrote the Ink Spots’ hit, “Do I Worry”. However, “I’m Coming Home Los Angeles”, done in the style of the Great American Songbook, was not suitable to be covered by a bunch of teen rockers. I consider it the one clunker in our amazing batch of recordings; however, I often hear from young people, who say they dig its campy sound. So, I’m learning to shut up and go with the flow! — But Della Reese’s version is much better; as is the great Italian-American crooner, Jerry Roselli’s version. His take really swings, and it has a huge backing track! If you haven’t heard of him, Wiki him.

Next, we created and recorded our great theme song “Velvet Illusions”, our psychedelicized bird in the face of the Monkees. The message?  “Beware: the Velvet Illusions are coming!” Check out Steve Weed’s spacey Vox organ sounds. The flip side, featuring the vocals of your humble scribe, was “Born To Be A Rolling Stone”, a Jerry Merritt-penned country-rocker which had been previously covered by Gene Vincent, to which we added a touch of psych organ and an ever-so-slightly out of tune 12-string Mosrite. Can you say garage rock? – Or is that early country rock….

One record, “Town Of Fools”, received quite a bit of local airplay. I remember being in a local pinball emporium, hanging with friends, when suddenly, the song burst out of the place’s sound system, which was tuned in to a local radio station. Everything stopped while we listened to my singing! Wow, did I feel great! (Thanks, DJ Randy Pugsley, for playing my song that night!) — But of course, Yakima radio would not program “Acid Head”. They were happy to play the Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit”, but not our anti-drug song. Mr. Radford announced to us, in fact, that the song was banned world-wide. But that’s fine, because today, “Acid Head” is collected all over the planet, is well-represented on compilation LP’s and CD’s, and is all over YouTube and internet radio. So we did fine with that song! At the time though, we were dealing with small-town radio and small-town minds. We began to wonder if perhaps success lay elsewhere….

In June, 1967, after playing countless gigs throughout Eastern Washington and Oregon, six of our seven core members relocated to Hollywood, with our manager, George Radford, Sr. We moved into a nice neighborhood, renting a spacious house at 1260 North Hobart, which featured a beautiful meditation garden behind the house. I was the cook. I was the only one who could cook. Mr. Radford “gave” each boy one day to cook for the others. He had me go last. I said to him, “No, I don’t think I should go last”. However, listening was not his forte. — But seven days later, when I put a real meal on the table, six happy boys said, “Randy is the cook”. It was a good thing. I felt like it was my band, and I felt like I was taking care of the other six guys. I felt a responsibility, at seventeen years of age. (I thought it was my band then; I see now that without Steve Weed, our group would never have achieved the popularity it has. I realize that while I was a big part of our live show; Steve owned the studio. I have in recent times, referred to him as a young rock god. He was somethin’.)

We set up our huge Super Beatle amps, drums and Vox organ, and practiced all the time in our Hobart home, until the L.A. cops came over so many times to say, “Turn it down, please”, that we practically became friends with them. — After a while, we didn’t practice at home very often. When we really needed to practice at full volume, Mr. Radford rented a practice facility for us. But in Yakima, we had been used to practicing seven days a week, for years! — The whole “moving to Hollywood” thing was devastating to the Velvet Illusions. The last thing on Earth we focused on during our Hollywood days was playing music!

This is *our* label. What is *this* artist doing on it?

We had a suite of offices in Hollywood, on El Centro Avenue, where we regularly gathered, to package and mass-mail our 45’s and publicity material.  We also packaged and mailed records recorded by other artists whom our management had taken on (another income stream for them). We mailed out records featuring a young woman, Judy Curtis, and her band, The Gentlemen. Since there was no real band called the Gentlemen, we became The Gentlemen! Judy’s 45 featured two songs written by Bobby Worth, who wrote “I’m Coming Home, Los Angeles”, which Mr. Radford forced me to sing and record. Thanks to musician and Velvet Illusions fan, Stevie Dee, I’m able to share a photo of this extremely rare record with you. But note, or just to clarify, we are not playing on it. We were supposed to pretend we were the Gentlemen. We were forced to learn her songs and practice with her; and yet we never played one show with her. Again, she was very sweet, so this is not a knock on her. She probably threw away a ton of dough on the project!! (You can find sides A and B of Judy’s record, again released on our label, on YouTube, thanks to Gray Newell, Producer of our “Acid Head” CD.)

Three of us — George, Dewayne and myself — also worked full-time day jobs. So we kept very busy. George and Dewayne worked as ushers at a beautiful Hollywood theater. They’d come home after work, and act out scenes from the movie, “The Dirty Dozen”, which they were forced to view over and over again, ad nauseam. We all found their routine to be very funny. — Except, once, when George asked Dewayne, while eating the dinner I had prepared for all of us, “What is this?”, to which Dewayne replied, “I don’t know; but I think I stepped in something like it once”. Well, I was miffed at that — I thought it was a diss of my cooking. Then they laughed, and said it was a little scene from the movie. — My particular day job was working at a restaurant, where was able to enjoy some very good food, as part of my working there. (I describe working at the restaurant, below; stay tuned for that.)

We were not involved in management decisions (for example, my stage name was changed to Jimmie James, against my wishes). At least some of us were disappointed to learn that Sophie Tucker’s elderly manager, Jack Oliphant, had been hired as our publicity director. Buddy Matola, an associate of the great writing team of Gerry Goffin and Carole King, was also hired as an advisor. Our management team was made up of much older people, whose biggest successes took place in earlier times. They didn’t have the youthful vision needed to carry a rock band forward in the late 1960’s. Had we been consulted, we boys probably would have had better ideas regarding how to move forward in the best manner. We were hard working, thoughtful, dedicated and intuitive.

Due to the incessant promotional work of Mr. Radford and ourselves, our songs did become nationally noticed.  Cash Box Magazine, the juke box industry’s house organ, designated our 45, “Velvet Illusions”/”Born To Be A Rolling Stone” as a Best Bet. This meant that it should have wound up in every juke box in America. I don’t know why that didn’t happen. And while “Acid Head” was being banned by more and more radio stations, in some ways that helped, because we and the song gained more notoriety. We learned that “Acid Head” was popular in Japan. Our music is popular in Japan as I speak. I correspond regularly with some really cool cats in Japan. Some of them are incredible young guitarists! (In another odd coincidence, in 1971, I found myself in a band with two members of Tokyo’s Flower Travellin Band, aka The Flowers. Their records are also collected around the world. Please find a link to my writing on this subject, at the end of this article.)

Taken from the Yakima Herald-Republic newspaper, Summer, 1967.

We performed at LA International Airport as part of the welcoming entourage for the “Queen of English Music Hall”, Two-Ton Tessie O’Shea, the star who appears in an iconic photo with the Beatles.  We, of course, had to have a similar photo taken with her!  The famed New York newspaper columnist, Earl Wilson, wrote a story about this, saying Ms. O’Shea had a special connection to the Velvet Illusions, because young Steve Weed had written her to ask for ukulele instructions.

Ms. O’Shea, planting one on Steve, who looks thrilled.

Truth be told, this was only a story, made up by the old gent, Jack Oliphant, who just happened to be Tessie’s manager. Ukes were not popular in our set; not at all! This was a little before Tiny Tim released “Tiptoe Through The Tulips”, and way before Eddie Vedder released a CD of uke tunes.

Speaking of our songwriter/keyboardist/singer, Steve Weed, and our time in California:  many websites and DJ’s continue to perpetuate the myth that he was either the boyfriend or husband of Patty Hearst, the newspaper heiress who was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974. – Not. That was a different Steve Weed. In fact, that fellow was known as Stephen. — Even the record company which released our 2015 LP tried to use that connection to sell more product. But they took it a ludicrous step further and referred to Patty Hearst as our “lefty manager”. That is simply ridiculous. I made them correct that in their publicity material. They were, honestly, a bush-league record company. I got no royalties; nor did most of my fellow core members, from that LP. And it sold out its entire production run.

Being kids from Yakima, we did had some fun living in Hollywood during the “Summer Of Love”, when we weren’t busy with our day jobs, or with mailing out 45’s at the office.  We sometimes dressed up as “hippies” and walked up and down Hollywood Boulevard, waving at all the gawkers.  We thought this was so funny! Another thing we did, in real life, was flip off the Monkeemobile every time we saw it pass by on the Hollywood streets! — Yes!

We also enjoyed visiting the Stash head shop. We were totally straight-arrow kids, who didn’t even drink, so this establishment really opened our eyes to what was happening. We saw our first black light posters. It was amazing how they glowed; their images seemed to jump right off the wall. It was a great day when the Stash added one of our 45’s to their juke box, right next to the Door’s “Light My Fire/Crystal Ship”! Eventually we were barred from visiting the Stash by Mr. Radford, who by this time, we called Ratass, behind his back. Our management’s goal was to keep us innocent and squeaky clean, so that we could be marketed as the alternative to dirty hippies. (I had to wait a year or so before I became a dirty hippie.)

As I briefly mentioned above, a group of neighborhood girls formed a Velvet Illusions fan club. When we did have a little free time, we had fun just hanging with them on the lawn, sharing talk and soft drinks. They were very sweet. On a totally voluntary basis, they formed our fan club. They also shared their extra food with us when they saw that we were undernourished. True! — I actually heard from a couple of them via the Velvet Illusions Fans Facebook Page a few years ago! That was pretty cool…

I worked at Hody’s Hollywood and Vine Restaurant as a busboy, and later as a “soda jerk”, 40 hours per week, and I got to know some of my co-workers a little. They came from all over the world. I made my first Iranian friend: “Toraj” managed to sneak me into the famed Haunted House nightclub, where this under-aged Yakima boy saw a band with a horn section throw down on a sensational version of Booker T’s “Hip Hugger”, while smoke poured out of the huge red-eyed bat’s nostrils, as it glared at us from the stage. — Very striking, to say the least. Before we were escorted out by the club’s owner, I had a great time soaking up the atmosphere of the joint. When I later noticed its presence in one of those teen-exploitation movies, I said, “I was there!”

Little Eddie Hodges and Michael J. Pollard.

I also had the pleasure of waiting on some Hollywood stars who frequented Hody’s, including Michael J. Pollard, an actor my dad idolized, who played C. W. Moss in Bonnie and Clyde, and “Little Eddie Hodges”, whom I idolized due to his work in various Disney movies, and because of his recording of “Girls Are Made To Love”. I was girl-crazy, and as a young teen, I really, really dug that song; I sang along to it every time it popped up on Yakima radio.

Billy Barty.

Also, the famed actor, the little person, Billy Barty, paid a weekly visit to Hody’s, bringing with him enough beautiful starlets to fill our largest booth! They would have a big party every time they came in. He was very easy to help. A nice man who loved being a star, who enjoyed being around a lot of women, at once!

When I look back, it’s memories such as that, which I cherish the most. I was seeing the real Hollywood. But I wasn’t part of it. I was, as usual, an outside observer. But I had fun working around those stars; and it was a respite from having to think about the band’s problems.

Because, in the face of what looked like success, we boys wound up moving back to Yakima and splitting up. Rather than getting into a lot of details here, let’s just say that we were very young and far from home; and we eventually became discouraged and/or homesick. We worked very hard, but we had no say in decisions, we played almost no shows, and we saw little return for our efforts. We slowly started migrating back to Yakima, and out of the band. I left in the late summer of 1967. – The subject of our breakup has been covered elsewhere. It seems whenever we are written about, our troubles and eventual breakup are emphasized, rather than our successes. I realize that writers and fans want to know those kind of things; but we surviving members do not agree on just what are the facts. I’m throwing out an olive branch here by filtering my comments. There’s too much good which I can speak of. [2022 note: that said, I have published shorter VI stories on my blog, where I do line out some of the ridiculous things we were forced to do — things which directly led to our breakup. Look for those on the http://www.]

L-R: On The Mayor Yorty Show: George Radford, Sr., manager; George Radford, sax; LA Mayor Sam Yorty; Jon Juette, drums; Bruce Kitt, rhythm gtr; Roland Bautista, lead gtr; Steve Weed, vocals/organ.

Before the ultimate breakup, Steve Weed, George Radford and some new guys, including Eastern Washington rhythm guitarist Bruce Kitt and drummer Jon Juette, not only appeared on the Mayor Yorty show; they also recorded four essential, iconic sides, sung by Steve Weed, at the famed Sunset Sound Recording. I was shocked to find out in February, 2015, that the guitarist on at least some of those records was none other than Roland Bautista, who went on to be a long-time, legendary guitarist for the truly amazing Earth, Wind & Fire! Upon learning of his involvement with EW&F, I attempted to contact Mr. Bautista, to ask him to share his Velvet Illusions story. However, I learned from his producer that he passed away in 2012. His producer confirmed that, indeed, Roland had been in our band. I wish I could tell you which songs Roland played lead on. I wasn’t there, so I can’t. But I’m proud of those songs, even though I’m not on them. I’m glad I helped form the band that eventually recorded those final four songs.

Here is a little detail about the songs which the band recorded at Sunset Sound Recording:

“Hippy Town” addressed the LA hippie scene, as viewed by young, small-town outsiders. The song included a wailing, psych-jazz sax performance, done inventively by George Radford. Side B, “Mini Shimmy”, was written about a beautiful girl who danced in her miniskirt, all night long. The sound and subject of the song shows that the band came of age playing scores of teen dances in the Pacific Northwest.

Labros MrGenieman, Velvet Illusions friend, holding his copy of Mini Shimmy/Hippy Town.

Also recorded during the Hollywood sessions was “Lazy”, the fastest song ever played about lying around doing nothing. It sounds like Iron Butterfly on speed. Check out the San Francisco-styled lead guitar. And finally, “Stereo Song” was a great song about the joys of listening to records. The song approaches the subject with a punk-rock attack.

Note: here, the band is listed as Georgy &…. There are many references on the www to Gregory &…. — a misspelling. Renaming the band Georgy &… simply caused confusion, as well as bad feelings in the band.

These four songs surely helped establish our place in rock history. They’re garage/psych gems. I wish I could say I played on them; but as I mentioned, I’m very proud of them, as I helped start the group which recorded them. I promote them as if they were my own. They”re constantly being included on new compilation sets, including the 2022 Cherry Red Release, “Heros & Villains”, a 3-CD set of 60s L.A. music. And, many bands have covered the songs. Look on YouTube…

Since We Broke Up

After the breakup, in the fall of 1967, Steve Weed, Dale Larrison, Danny Wagner, Danny Wohl (the rhythm guitarist who had stayed behind when the rest of us relocated to Hollywood) and I reunited in Yakima as the Peppermint Tea. We provided the half-time entertainment for the famed Harlem Clowns basketball show in Yakima’s Eisenhower High School gymnasium.  We played just what we wanted to play, and had fun. However, our new group didn’t record, and we didn’t last. We were unable to find suitable management in that small town. And, Mr. Radford formed a new band around sax man George, calling it the New Velvet Illusions. That group also didn’t last.

Flower Travellin Band LP Cover.

I went on to form my own psychedelic blues band, Felix, which played loud, hippie concerts all over the Yakima area. Later, I formed a band with two members of the Flowers, Katsuhiko “Katz” Kobayashi and Remi “Lemi” Aso, playing hippie country music. I later led my own country rock groups, playing behind several legends of country music, including Rose Maddox and Japan’s Eddie Fukano. Relocating to Seattle, Washington, I joined Stampede Pass, a very popular country rock band. Willie Nelson and his bassist, Bee Spears (RIP), sat in with us for two hours, at Barbie’s West Veranda, a huge nightclub located on the shores of Seattle’s beautiful Lake Union. We also played a show with the late, great honky-tonk singer/guitarist, Hank Thompson, and his Brazos Valley Boys. We did many shows where we acted as the backup band for Rusty Draper, who previously had his own national TV show. We backed up Bob Luman, who was an early rockabilly star;  we backed up Mayf Nutter, who had a huge country hit with “Rub It In”.  — Bob Luman was great to play with. He was quiet and moody and true rockabilly. One of the best performers I’ve ever played with.

2022 finds me performing 3-hour marathon, solo folk-rock concerts at the age of 73. Often, my audiences are young enough to be my grandchildren. I love playing for them. They just want to soak up music. If you ask me about the members of today’s generation, I’ll simply say, from my heart, that I love them. If I had my choice, and could do anything I want to, I would move to Tokyo, Japan and do a tribute to Bob Dylan five-nights-per-week. I would be tickled to do that, and it would get me out of my senior citizens apartment building! I am way underutilized; I have way more to offer, if I can just do it.

Here are the latest photos I can find of some of the guys:

Steve Weed, still writing, still playing.

Danny Wohl switched from rhythm guitar to drums.

Sad to say, I haven’t seen any of my former band mates in over 40 years. I hear them every single day on our songs! But I don’t ever see them. However, I’m in touch with Steve Weed and Danny Wohl, of the ones I played with.

Jon Juette, playing with the WA State band, The Highway 12 Band. They had a 2018 CD release, “Milepost 15”.

I’m also in touch with drummer Jon Juette, with whom I never had the pleasure of playing. I must inform you that drummer Danny Wagner and lead guitarist Dewayne Russell passed away years ago. I recently learned that our first bass player, Larry “Lurch” Linse, passed away in 2011. As I mentioned, Roland Bautista passed away in 2012. Dale Larrison, our second, and primary bassist, passed away in December, 2014. There is no way the original band can ever reunite; but as long as Steve Weed and I are around, and can play, there’s always a chance he and I could do a project. We of course, would not even call it by the old name. It’s not ours to use, anyway…. — We could call it Velour Mirage.

George Radford lives in Yakima, and plays SynthSax.

Since our breakup, the Velvet Illusions’ career has definitely gained momentum. In 1987, twenty years after our split, I discovered that our records were being collected, sold and resold, and compiled onto, at first, LP’s and then CD’s. I remember a day in 1987, when I was talking on the phone with the great record collector/re-release man/rock music writer, Neal Skok, discussing a famous psychedelic blues group we both liked, Canned Heat. Neal chanced to ask if I had been in any bands of note. I mentioned the Velvet Illusions. After having me hold for about two minutes, Neal played one of our songs over the phone. I just about died! Well, when Neal told me how collectible our recordings were, when I found out that people cared that much about us, I began strategizing to make our music even more well-known. I was also concerned with protecting our legacy and history. I spent a lot of time contacting various websites, writers and publications, asking them to correct glaring errors in their Velvet Illusions bios. Among other things, I wanted it known that we came from the little desert town of Yakima, rather than LA.

In 1993, Vernon Joynson published his huge tome dedicated to our style of music, “Fuzz, Acid and Flowers: A Comprehensive Guide To American Garage and Hippie Rock (1964-1975)”. We Velvet Illusions were rightly featured in the book. The information printed about us was not quite accurate; but it still served to get us noticed. The book has been periodically updated; and I am assured that any future update will feature a correct, proper Velvet Illusions entry.

Over the years, I began hoping that we surviving members would work together and release a retrospective CD of our songs. Well, quite a few years went by. I finally discovered the existence of the Pacific Northwest Bands website, a reference source which lists thousands of classic Northwest bands. In 2006, I penned and posted a long Velvet Illusions bio there, which is now quite out of date. But on more than one occasion, our entry has been one of the most visited on that site. And, industry people found it and took notice! In 2009, we were contacted by Warner’s Rhino Records, who produce the great Nuggets series of records and CD’s which spotlight 60’s psych and garage band music. The upshot is, our “Acid Head” wound up on their Fall, 2009, 4-CD release, “Where the Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968”. The set was nominated for a Grammy; but it lost to a Beatles re-release project. Also nominated for the Grammy were a Hank Williams re-release project and a Buddy Holly re-release project! So we were in good company!

Warner Brothers Rhino 4-CD Nuggets set. Grammy-nominated.

In early 2010, Londoner, Gray Newell contacted us with an offer to produce a CD containing ten songs, to be released on the well-respected label, Tune In. I’m so happy to say we released that CD, “Acid Head”, in 2011. It contains a 12-page booklet penned by Gray, which contains rare photos, facts and a complete discography of our music. It continues to be available via the internet. This is easily our crowning achievement. (Although fans of our subsequent, vinyl LP may dispute that.)

Gray Newell later authored a six-page Velvet Illusions article for the great print fanzine, “Ugly Things”, which was published in 2012.

I was later very pleased to learn that the awesome Pandora internet radio station added Velvet Illusions songs to its playlist, as did Psychedelicized Radio. I wrote a bio for our Psychedelicized Radio page; plus I recorded some “promos” for them, which air on a regular basis, to this day, which is 11/2022. Once, I was listening to a live recording of a Pentangle show which Psychedelicized Radio presented in April of 2015; my promo ran immediately after that great show concluded. — A very good friend of mine heard the promo just the other day.

I’m happy to say that our “Acid Head” song is no longer banned! The above fine internet stations program it. It and our other songs are also played by DJ’s on podcasts and traditional broadcast stations around the globe.

A visit to YouTube land will reward you with page after page of Velvet Illusions videos: young, talented people have taken our songs and coupled them with their inventive videos. You could spend hours viewing these. Some feature other bands covering our tunes, some are made by skateboarders. And then, other folks, including YouTube itself, have generated scads of videos featuring our songs, without using any true video to accompany our music. I don’t have much respect for those videos or their makers. They show no creativity whatsoever. They just use our songs, for free. But look for the good videos — those made by the  music video creator from Scotland, Ally Smith, and a very creative man whose YouTube handdle is eavenlyblueorange, from Czechoslovakia. I’ve embedded some of their work at the end of this magnum opus post.

In June, 2013, New York Magazine/Vulture.com’s pop critic, Jody Rosen, posted a Spotify song list entitled “100 Years, 100 Songs”. The list includes great songs recorded by everyone from Bing Crosby to Barbara Streisand, to Willie Nelson, Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin. Our “Hippy Town” was 1967’s iconic song!

In September, 2013, the internet music site, “Cosmic Mind At Play”, whose motto is “Exploring wigged out garage and psychedelic sounds from the swinging 60’s to the present day”, named our theme song, “Velvet Illusions”, and its flip side, “Born To Be A Rolling Stone”, #64 on its Classic Singles list!

New York Magazine surveyed its critics, asking them to list “60 Great Albums You Probably Haven’t Heard”. The article was posted on Vulture.com in November, 2013. Our “Acid Head” CD made the list for the 1960’s!

The premier cover photo for “Velvet Illusions Fans” Facebook page, by Bill White.

In March, 2014, I created the Facebook Page, “Velvet Illusions Fans”, an unofficial Page for fans. I combed the internet for the best photos, YouTube videos, articles, and other Velvet Illusions goodies, and put them all onto one Page. Whether you are a fan, a record company staffer or a writer, the Page is the go-to source for all things Velvet Illusions. Lately, I’ve posted photos of happy young fans from all over the globe, holding their Velvet Illusions recordings. I’m always working to make the Page more interactive. And lately, I’ve been posting links on VIF to shorter blog pieces I’ve been writing about the band. — I have a million stories to tell.

New Velvet Illusions poster, created by friend of the VI’s, Chris Cook, of Germany. Chris is the leader of the acclaimed psych band Vibravoid.

I now find myself being Facebook Friends with kind young people from around the world. Fans in Japan, Iran, Greece, Scotland, Italy, Spain, England, Sweden, China and more, have “friended” me; we chat about music which was made decades before they were born.

I let go of most of my personal archives recently, selling the two, scratchy Velvet Illusions 45’s I had husbanded for 49 years. I was sure to give my two young Facebook friends an extra-good deal. I wanted those 45’s to go to people who would appreciate them. I found the perfect guys!

In May, 2014, the rock writer, Kevin Rathert conducted an interview with Steve Weed and me, resulting in a 32-page, very frank interview published in the on-line zine, “It’s Psychedelic, Baby”. I wrote two articles for the same publication, “When Yakima, Washington’s Velvet Illusions and Tokyo, Japan’s Flowers Came Together”, which was published in August, 2014. Then, I wrote “Randy Bowles of the Velvet Illusions Interviews Randy Bowles of the Velvet Illusions”, which appeared in It’s Psychedelic Baby in September, 2014. — The magazine also appears in a print edition, and I am hoping at least one of the three pieces will appear in a print issue.

In July, 2014, the producers of the famed “Acid Dreams” compilation, in which “Acid Head” and “Velvet Illusions” first appeared in 1979 (unbeknownst to most or all of us ex-members), recently released a 3-LP limited-edition, hand-numbered set, which again features those songs. Sadly, most if not all of us, again receive no compensation for our work. It’s hard to feel honored when our songs are appropriated; but at least our music is included in an extremely notable release.

Peter Garami, Velvet Illusions fan,  holding his copy of our LP, “Velvet Illusions”.

The Swiss record company, Moi J’Connais, secured the rights to produce and release a limited-edition (1,000 copies) Velvet Illusions LP. The LP, simply entitled “Velvet Illusions”, was released in February, 2015. It sports a striking DIY-look cover. — Why? Because their original “genius” idea was to have our name spelled out in bubble gum! Steve Weed and I pitched a fit, via email. We said, “Don’t you know what bubble gum music was? It wasn’t us!” So they screwed their brains in and created a truly beautiful cover. The package contains Gray Newell’s text from our CD, and the ten songs from the CD. Later on, the record company told me they sold out the entire run. Sadly, I received no royalties at all from the two young men’s business venture.

Next, a young fan created a Velvet Illusions entry for Wikipedia; he also created an entry which spotlights our “Acid Head” recording. To think that a young person would be interested in the band to the extent that they would create Wikipedia entries about us was truly heartening. However, not all of it was accurate; and he actually wound up scamming me out of one of my two copies of our LP! Do not use that Wiki entry as the authoritative text. It is not. I’m still kind of glad it exists…

Another young fan, Austrian Aldrik Auth, also paid tribute to us by restoring, colorizing and/or color-correcting the bulk of our iconic photos. I was able to utilize these photos in a much-viewed blog post entitled “The Velvet Illusions In Living Color” (see link below). Aldrik is just one more of our great, talented friends who contribute to the cause. He’s taken our photos into the 2020s. I’m a very big fan of Aldrik Auth.

Available on Cherry Red’s website and/or Amazon.com

On January 29, 2016, Cherry Red, a collectors’ record label, released a 3-CD set entitled “Looking Stateside.” The Velvet Illusions’ “Lazy” is on it. The set takes a wide-ranging look at American music from the day. It includes a number of soul groups, and of course, garage and psych groups similar to us. It’s great that two other seminal Pacific Northwest groups, The Sonics and The Wailers, are also represented. The first rock show I attended was presented by The Wailers. Tht in itself would make a great story. And, I worked at Seattle’s Experience Music Project (now known as MoPop) with Sonics bass player/vocalist, Freddie Dennis, in the 2000’s.

On June 19, 2016, our hometown paper, the Yakima Herald-Republic, honored us with a full-length story, both on-line and in the Sunday paper. They paid tribute to us on the occasion of our 50th anniversary. Please see below for a link to Tammy Ayer’s great story. That was followed up in October, 2017, by Pat Muir’s Herald story about our highly-collectible 45’s, “Music notes: It’s tough — and pricey– to find 45s from the Velvet Illusions”. See below for a link to that article.

In August, 2017, the great Green Monkey Records named our album their album of the month. Considering it was released in 2011 and contains songs from 1966 and 1967, it’s a great honor. To know that our songs have that kind of staying power feels very good.

In June, 2018, L’est Republicain Newspaper’s Said Labidi published his story about Frenchman Pascal de Vandoeuvre’s project to make and record awesome, new, original versions of Velvet Illusions songs. It also chronicles the friendship of Pascal, his daughter Mailys, and myself. Please find a link to the story, below. Plus, I’ve provided a link to Pascal’s fabulous cover version of “Acid Head’, which includes a vocal contribution by Mailys. Pascal calls his group The Vandoperians. There is also a new audio collaboration which features The Vandoperians and a past member of the Velvet Illusions: Jon Juette plays drums on the cut, a new version of “Town Of Fools”, which I originally sang the lead vocal for in 1966. Please see the YT link for that, also below. I make a guest (visual) appearance in the video.

On May 27, 2022, Cherry Red Records released the highly anticipated 3-CD set, “Heroes And Villains”, which includes two Velvet Illusions cuts, along with cuts from the Beach Boys, Monkees, Byrds, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Frank Zappa, Gram Parsons and many more great L.A. acts. We are so honored (and sadly uncompensated) for being included on this major release. — Cherry Red did send me a copy in lieu of royalties. Here are images of the front and back. If you really hurry, you may be able to find a copy.

I will NEVER open my copy. Keeping it pristine. However, that means I won’t be able to read our bio in the 80-page booklet!

I’ve contacted my peeps at Cherry Red to suggest they use our “Town Of Fools” on their next compilation. I sang lead on it.

On June 21, 2022, “Some Northwest Rock n Roll Stories”, a documentary film spotlighting the classic, legendary bands of the Pacific Northwest in the 1960s, was released. It includes our theme song, “Velvet Illusions”. Sadly, just as the narrator declares the saxophone to be dead in music, our song is played. Yes, it includes saxophone. — Will someone please let Georgy know that the sax was dead? — Thanks! In spite of that super-gaff on the part of the crack team who created the documentary, I’m sharing a link, here. If you are a fan of the Sonics, the Kingsmen, Paul Revere and the Raiders, the Ventures, the Wailers and Merilee and the Turnabouts (as well as being a fan of ours), you’ll probably enjoy this film. (You might want to finish reading my story before you click on the link, as it may take you away from the story.) [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSCze31xNI8&Rel=0%5D — BTW, and this really sucks: The flick’s producer, one Craig Kelly, told me they were removing us from the film when I fact-checked them regarding them using our music to illustrate the sax being dead. So, honestly, I don’t know if we’re still in the film. And I don’t care! But you could watch it and let me know… Ha, ha.

I recently created a brand-new version of “Town Of Fools”, with the help of the aforementioned Aldrik Auth. Aldrik recorded all of the music and shared it with me. I used his track to back me as I video’d myself singing the lead, 55 years after I did the same as a 17 year old boy. Here is that video: [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8NpOIdAbyg&Rel=0%5D

Breaking News:

Iconic Velvet Illusions Advertisement Comes Home To Velvet Illusions HQ.

This 55 year old, 8×10″ advertisement may be the world’s only one. My thanks to Hungary’s Peter Garami for returning it to me, after it was in his safekeeping for quite a few years. I want to donate it to a museum. The likely choice is Experience Music Project (again, now called MoPop), where I worked from 2000-2004. I live five blocks from MoPop. In 2000, museum curator Pete Blecha told me that Velvet Illusions artifacts are in their collection, which was started by Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen.

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So, as we celebrate our 58th anniversary (as of 2024), the Velvet Illusions’ story goes forward! While we “survivors” are getting fewer, and longer in the tooth, our music will stay young forever, and it will be collected, covered, programmed, written about, and loved, far into the future. To all loyal Velvet Illusionites: thank you, one and all from “Jimmie James”. I’m 75 as of this writing; I’m in great shape; I plan to keep chronicling the band’s history, as long as I can. And I assure you: there is more to come. For instance, the Israeli band, the Zombieheads, are planning to go into their newly-created studio, and record covers of some of our songs. I’ll add links here, when that happens.

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OK, here’s a bunch of photos and links. You get it all here, folks… Do to the clumsy WordPress program, you may have to use a search engine to access some of the following. WP wouldn’t let me properly link everything for you. I was an early IT pioneer; I know how to do this. Their program is frustrating. Please bear with any tech difficulties.

The author in 2015 with his copy of the Velvet Illusions LP. I was scammed out of it!

Velvet Illusions CD, “Acid Head”, released on Tune In Records in 2011.

“Velvet Illusions” LP, Front Cover, released in 2015 on Moi J’Cannois Records.

“Velvet Illusions” LP, Back Cover.

(You may need to copy/paste some of these links which follow. The WordPress program is tricky and touchy.)

For much more information, videos, photos, etc., visit the Facebook Page, “Velvet Illusions Fans”: https://www.facebook.com/fansofthevelvetillusions

For even further information, here are links to various articles and interviews, including a slew of shorter VI-related blog pieces I’ve penned as companion pieces to this huge story:

“Randy Bowles of the Velvet Illusions Interviews Randy Bowles of the Velvet Illusions”:https://randybowlestories.wordpress.com/2014/09/04/the-velvet-illusions-randy-bowles-interviews-the-velvet-illusions-randy-bowles/

“When Yakima, Washington’s Velvet Illusions and Tokyo, Japan’s Flowers Came Together”, written by Randy “Jimmie James” Bowles: https://randybowlestories.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/when-one-of-yakima-washingtons-velvet-illusions-and-two-of-tokyo-japans-flowers-came-together/

“It’s Psychedelic Baby 2014 ‘zine interview” (interview by Kevin Rathert): http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-velvet-illusions-interview.html

“Psychedelicized Radio Bio”, written by Randy “Jimmie James” Bowles: http://psychedelicized.com/playlist/v/the-velvet-illusions/

“My Journey From Garage To Grunge”, by Randy Bowles: https://randybowlestories.wordpress.com/2015/04/13/my-journey-from-garage-to-grunge/

“I Was An Unwitting Participant In A Bigfoot Scheme!”, by Randy Bowles — You will have to paste that, along with the word, “WordPress” into your search engine to find that one. The WordPress program is not letting me put the link here.

“Stereo Song, Or, Progress Never Stops”, by Randy Bowles. — You will have to paste that, along with the word, “WordPress” into your search engine to find that one. The WordPress program is not letting me put the link here.

“The Velvet Illusions In Living Color, by Randy Bowles: “https://randybowlestories.wordpress.com/2016/05/27/the-velvet-illusions-in-living-color/

“‘Moon River’ Songwriter Johnny Mercer Pitched A Song To The Velvet Illusions In 1967!”, by Randy Bowles — You will have to paste that, along with the word, “WordPress” into your search engine to find that one. The WordPress program is not letting me put the link here.

“The Velvet Illusions: We Just Wanted To Play Our Rock And Roll”, by Randy Bowles.– Again, you will have to paste that, along with the word, “WordPress” into your search engine to find that one. The WordPress program is not letting me put the link here.

Tammy Ayer’s Yakima Herald story in honor of our 50th anniversary: http://www.yakimaherald.com/news/local/yakima-band-the-velvet-illusions-marks-years-since-founding/article_ba1809aa-34e4-11e6-82ce-536cbd150bf5.html

Pat Muir’s Yakima Herald story regarding collecting our records: http://www.yakimaherald.com/scene/music/music-notes-it-s-tough—-and-pricey/article_12458efa-b9bd-11e7-baee-6b2df7238e9b.html

Here is a link to Said Labidi’s L’est Republicain Newspaper, June 2018 article: https://www.estrepublicain.fr/edition-de-nancy-ville/2018/06/19/le-leader-des-velvet-illusions-propose-un-duo-a-son-fan-vandoperien

Here is a link to The Vandoperian’s great video of their original cover of “Acid Head”:

Here is a link to The Vandoperian’s newest VI’s cover, “Town Of Fools”, featuring Velvet Illusions drummer Jon Juette. This was created in France, and WA state, thanks to modern recording technology:

There are many, many more VI stories in my blog. Go there and click on the Velvet Illusions category, or enter this in your browser’s search engine: Randy Bowles WordPress The Velvet Illusions to find more of those stories.

Thank you, Domenic Priore and Timothy Gassen (RIP Tim), for helping me nail down the name of the Hollywood nightclub I visited. I had thought it was called the Bat Cave.

Please visit and “like” the Facebook page I created to spotlight my ongoing acoustic music career: https://www.facebook.com/RandyBowlesMusic/?eid=ARAlPegIkpeoqMhQnrAyiIx0mXKPM0Jb_06j3uyXCypQ5ERFZXInoaCUe0YLKxswRc-_f-t2koJv-OJ0

Here is Ally Smith’s “Stereo Song” video:

Here are more great videos by heavenlyblueorange:

 

— Randy Bowles, beginning in May, 2015, with ongoing updates, through… infinity! Right now it’s Spring 2024 and I wrote a new VI post today on our FB page…