by Kathy O’Connell, Host of Kids Corner on XPN

By the mid-1960’s, Long Island’s Westbury Music Fair was transitioning from a home for summer stock touring plays to a home for great music shows. Between 1966 and 1968, my friends and I trekked to Westbury to see Herman’s Hermits, Sonny and Cher, the Young Rascals, the cast of TV’s “Laugh-In,” and—most memorably—the Lovin’ Spoonful.

Still deeply involved in Beatlemania in 1966, I had developed a system for choosing which member of any given band was my favorite.  I went for either quiet and soulful like George Harrison or quirky and funny, like my favorite member of the Lovin’ Spoonful:  Zal Yanovsky. 

Zalman Yanovsky did vocals and lead guitar for the Lovin’ Spoonful, which he co-founded with John Sebastian in 1964. Rolling Stone Magazine’s 2002 obituary for Yanovsky quotes John Sebastian: “He could play like Elmore James, he could play like Floyd Cramer, he could play like Chuck Berry. He could play like all these people, yet he still had his own overpowering personality. Out of this we could, I thought, craft something with real flexibility.”  When Yanovsky and Sebastian met, Zal was in a folkie trio called The Mugwumps, with Denny Doherty and Cass Elliott.  This historic time is immortalized in The Mamas and Papas’ “Creeque Alley”:

Zally said, “Denny, you know there aren’t many
Who can sing a song the way that you do; let’s go south.”
Denny said, “Zally, golly, don’t you think that I wish
I could play guitar like you.”
Zal, Denny, and Sebastian sat (at the Night Owl)
And after every number they’d pass the hat.
McGuinn and McGuire still a-gettin higher in L.A.,
You know where that’s at.
And no one’s gettin’ fat except Mama Cass.

When Cass was a sophomore, planned to go to Swathmore
But she changed her mind one day.
Standin’ on the turnpike, thumb out to hitchhike,
“Take me to New York right away.”
When Denny met Cass he gave her love bumps;
Called John and Zal and that was the Mugwumps.
McGuinn and McGuire couldn’t get no higher
But that’s what they were aimin’ at.
And no one’s gettin’ fat except Mama Cass.

Mugwumps, high jumps, low slumps, big bumps—
Don’t you work as hard as you play.
Make up, break up, everything is shake up;
Guess it had to be that way.
Sebastian and Zal formed the Spoonful;
Michelle, John, and Denny gettin’ very tuneful.
McGuinn and McGuire just a-catchin’ fire in L.A.,
You know where that’s at.
And everybody’s gettin’ fat except Mama Cass. 

The Lovin’ Spoonful played Westbury Music Fair in 1966, at the height of their fame from hits like “Daydream” and “Summer in the City.”  By this time, our obsession with following Soupy Sales had made my friends and I experts at figuring the best moment to make a run for the stagedoor, hoping to catch the object of our affection. And on that night, our object was Zal Yanovsky.

The show was great. We did the obligatory screaming, danced in our seats, and generally enjoyed the outstanding musicianship of the Lovin’ Spoonful. They sang the songs we knew, and Zal performed his solo (complete with gargling) of “Bald Headed Lena.” My friend Jackie and I waited for a moment that signaled the last song of the show, and we climbed over my less experienced “civilian” (non-Soupy stalker) friends to make our way up the slanted aisles of the Westbury Music Fair and out to the Lovin’ Spoonful’s waiting car. Unfortunately, they were ending with one of our favorites (probably “Summer in the City”), and like Lot’s wife, we turned around for one last look at them. 

That was the moment Zal Yanovsky pointed directly at Jackie and me, standing in the middle of the aisle at Westbury Music Fair, and yelled, “SIT DOWN!!” Needless to say, we didn’t sit down, but our mouths dropped open and we squealed with joy, “he yelled at US!!!” We danced to the exit, in search of the telltale limo that would signal the band’s retreat. We never found it, but it didn’t matter.  The band…The Lovin’ Spoonful…had singled out US.

Zal left both the band and the United States not long after that. You can read about the circumstances in any biography of Zal. But for one crazy, wonderful, fun moment, Zal Yanovsky was the greatest thing in my life, and he yelled at ME.

Lovin’ Spoonful singing “Bald Headed Lena” on the “Ed Sullivan Show,”  lead vocals by Zal Yanovsky

You can read a great article about Zal Yanovsky, written by Gary Pig Gold, by clicking here.