by Sportguynj1 » Tue Feb 16, 2010 9:04 am
Denny has said in previous interviews that The Who and Jimi Hendrix "nearly destroyed the stage" during their performances with knocking over drums and mics and breaking their guitars all over the place. If you watch the Monterey dvd which displays most of the Mamas and Papas' performances at the festival (Disc 3 - the Outake Performances), you'll notice that when the Mamas and Papas take the stage and get ready to sing their opening number, "Straight Shooter," that Lou Adler has to come out and try to adjust the monitors and get the mics working. Cass and John's mics are working but Denny's mic wasn't turned on properly until just before he was supposed to start singing the first verse - you actually see him trying to test the mic and he realizes it isn't working. Somehow his mic comes on right before he has to start singing. I believe that Michelle's mic was either mistakenly turned off or, more probably was damaged as a result of the previous performances by The Who and Jimi Hendrix. The only time you can really hear her in when she's standing close to Cass and her voice - faint as it is - is picked up by Cass's microphone. Obviously, this is just one of the reasons why the group has owned up to the fact that this was their worst live performance.
Rob