Iron Butterfly live at the Topanga Corral

The Topanga Corral was a small little club ensconsed in the Topanga Canyon between the coast and the valley. The best thing about this place was you never knew who the house band was going to be. One night it could be Canned Heat or some other seminal hippie band, because alot of them lived up in the canyon. One night my best friend John Hutchison's sister Ann had randomly decided to go there for beers and the band turned out to be Neil Young and the Santa Monica Flyers! So you just never knew. So on this night we decided to take a trip to the club for beers, not really knowing who would be there. As it turned out, the four original members of the Iron Butterfly had decided to regroup and use the club to practice. Of course we stayed long enough to hear In A Gadda Da Vida(baby!) I'm still not sure of the year, but the Butterfly had been out of circulation and regarded as a novelty act(or a joke) by the eighties. But for their signature tune they Had to of had their amps turned up to stadium levels. The sound filled that little place and I thought the roof and walls were coming down. Once in a while I have to play this one at that same sound level and relive the experience, complete with the squawks and feedback. And I'm back at The Corral!