E-Mail Of The Day

From: William Hinsche
Subject: A Buffalo Tale…

Bob,

I went to a birthday party for my friend and schoolmate, Deana Martin, at her family’s home in Beverly Hills circa ’66 – ’67.  I think it was her (significant) eighteenth birthday and she wanted the Buffalo Springfield to perform at the party; so the band showed up, set up and played out by the pool.  It was real bare bones: no stage, not even a riser, just drums and amps on the asphalt in front of the length of the pool; of course, no special lighting whatsoever.  Dino, Desi and I were already enjoying a modicum of success and I was a big fan of this new LA group.  I had listened to their eponymous album, loved the songs, studied it closely and learned a lot of new guitar technique; like on "Rock ‘n’ Roll Woman" I even started employing my amplifier’s vibrato / speed function during some of our own live performances and recordings – so I couldn’t believe they were playing in the Martin’s back yard.  I’ll never forget how Neil was dressed in his full-on fringe jacket regalia that was his signature look.  They did "Clancy," "Sit Down, I Think I Love You" and more – they sounded great.  

So the story goes, at one point in the evening, Dean, who was in his upstairs private den / bedroom area of the house and within earshot of the concert, couldn’t handle the "loud music" anymore, so he anonymously called the BHPD and complained of  "a lot of noise at the Martin’s house."  The cops arrived shortly thereafter and shut everything down.

Epilogue:  Deana was not happy about it when she found out, but Dean got a big kick out of this stunt and used it a few more times whenever a party got too loud for him.

True story,

Billy Hinsche

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