Fact #148557
When:
Short story:
The Turtles and The Temptations perform at The White House, Washington DC, USA. While there, Turtles Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman snort cocaine from the top of Abraham Lincoln's desk.Full article:
Mark Volman (vocalist, The Turtles) : When we got to the White House, during the day, security was pretty tight, I mean, crossing the threshold of the most important man in our country does open the door for the security to be at its utmost. We drove through the gates of the White House, we were allowed with our dingy old Hertz truck which came right up on the circle driveway in front of the White House and, basically, for each member of the band there were two security officers.
They were standing back a little, trying not to give the impression that they were really worried about us, but obviously they were checking us out and trying to get a feel … you know, you get that vibe thing. They were sending out that vibe thing like they were checking to see if any of us were dangerous.
In 1969 the love of President Nixon was not at its highest but, when we got there, we were pretty apolitical about things. We were pretty stoned, I don't even think we knew who the President was. So we were just having a good time, this was all pretty darn exciting for us.
So we were standing there and, lo and behold, they decide they have to start opening our equipment cases. They began opening each one of these and at a certain point in time, out of nowhere, there began a ticking sound. The minute it started, every pair of security officers came much closer to us, security guys standing around on these longhairs and they began to try to find it. They started opening case after case, and it's not there, and they're getting more nervous. Danger is imminent but they can't find it. Eventually they open the drum case and inside is a box and in the box is a metronome. You'd think they'd stop there but it's not enough, they had to open the box. They had two guys who surmised that it's probably not a bomb but let's treat it like a bomb. They open it and they get a screwdriver and start taking the metronome apart, getting deeper and deeper in until they realise, oh, it's just a metronome. When we left the White House the next day, we left the information and they eventually mailed us a cheque for $18.
(Source : http://thebradmercershow.com)
Howard Kaylan (vocalist, The Turtles) : We sniffed cocaine on Abraham Lincoln's desk – that was the high point of the party. It was very strange; there were different types of people there. There were a lot SDS kids passing out a lot of SDS literature – I don't know what they were doing there. The Temptations were there and that was enough for me because we got out of it. By the time we went on I didn't even care where we were.
When we went on, we were so lewd, as I recall, I'm surprised they let us get away with it. Mark fell off the stage at least six times and there were moments when we just forgot what we were singing – it was neat. They stopped us during the afternoon because they thought we had a bomb with us. They were rummaging through the trap cases and the electric metronome started up – they ripped it apart and jumped up and down on it before they figured out what it was. They put it back together, but it never worked again. Barry Goldwater, Jr. was there and at the time he was real tight with Tricia and everybody was going, 'Heyyyy.'
(Source : interview by Harold Bronson, Rolling Stone, September 16, 1971)
Mark Volman (vocalist, The Turtles) : I'm sure that there was a certain aspect of the Pop culture...probably a group of individuals who felt there was a certain political gain we were getting out of it. I never really heard any backlash. I suppose that there was a predominantly liberal audience who probably felt that made us Republicans by playing in the Nixon White House. We never really saw it like that. It was just an invitation that happened to be from the daughter of the President. We never made any choices on it. We were not political as a band compared to many of the other artists that were out there.
(Source : interview with Gary James on www.classicbands.com)
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They were standing back a little, trying not to give the impression that they were really worried about us, but obviously they were checking us out and trying to get a feel … you know, you get that vibe thing. They were sending out that vibe thing like they were checking to see if any of us were dangerous.
In 1969 the love of President Nixon was not at its highest but, when we got there, we were pretty apolitical about things. We were pretty stoned, I don't even think we knew who the President was. So we were just having a good time, this was all pretty darn exciting for us.
So we were standing there and, lo and behold, they decide they have to start opening our equipment cases. They began opening each one of these and at a certain point in time, out of nowhere, there began a ticking sound. The minute it started, every pair of security officers came much closer to us, security guys standing around on these longhairs and they began to try to find it. They started opening case after case, and it's not there, and they're getting more nervous. Danger is imminent but they can't find it. Eventually they open the drum case and inside is a box and in the box is a metronome. You'd think they'd stop there but it's not enough, they had to open the box. They had two guys who surmised that it's probably not a bomb but let's treat it like a bomb. They open it and they get a screwdriver and start taking the metronome apart, getting deeper and deeper in until they realise, oh, it's just a metronome. When we left the White House the next day, we left the information and they eventually mailed us a cheque for $18.
(Source : http://thebradmercershow.com)
Howard Kaylan (vocalist, The Turtles) : We sniffed cocaine on Abraham Lincoln's desk – that was the high point of the party. It was very strange; there were different types of people there. There were a lot SDS kids passing out a lot of SDS literature – I don't know what they were doing there. The Temptations were there and that was enough for me because we got out of it. By the time we went on I didn't even care where we were.
When we went on, we were so lewd, as I recall, I'm surprised they let us get away with it. Mark fell off the stage at least six times and there were moments when we just forgot what we were singing – it was neat. They stopped us during the afternoon because they thought we had a bomb with us. They were rummaging through the trap cases and the electric metronome started up – they ripped it apart and jumped up and down on it before they figured out what it was. They put it back together, but it never worked again. Barry Goldwater, Jr. was there and at the time he was real tight with Tricia and everybody was going, 'Heyyyy.'
(Source : interview by Harold Bronson, Rolling Stone, September 16, 1971)
Mark Volman (vocalist, The Turtles) : I'm sure that there was a certain aspect of the Pop culture...probably a group of individuals who felt there was a certain political gain we were getting out of it. I never really heard any backlash. I suppose that there was a predominantly liberal audience who probably felt that made us Republicans by playing in the Nixon White House. We never really saw it like that. It was just an invitation that happened to be from the daughter of the President. We never made any choices on it. We were not political as a band compared to many of the other artists that were out there.
(Source : interview with Gary James on www.classicbands.com)