Editing The Lovin' Spoonful (section)

==== First live dates ====

{{quote box|quote= We were still trying to come up with a name when I ran into [[Fritz Richmond]], a friend and musician. I asked him for suggestions. Fritz asked what we sounded like. I said a cross between [[Chuck Berry]] and [[Mississippi John Hurt]]. Fritz suggested ''the Lovin' Spoonful'', a line from Hurt's 1963 song "Coffee Blues." The name was perfect.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Myers |first1=Marc |author1-link=Marc Myers |title=The Story Behind 'Darling Be Home Soon' by the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-story-behind-darling-be-home-soon-by-the-lovin-spoonfuls-john-sebastian-1482957136 |work=[[Wall Street Journal]] |date=December 28, 2016 |url-access=subscription |ref=none}}</ref> |source=– John Sebastian, 2016 |width=25%|align=right|salign=right|style=padding:8px;}}

In early{{nbsp}}1965, in preparation for their first public performances, Sebastian, Yanovsky, Boone and Carl continued rehearsing at the Bull's Head, while Sebastian and Yanovsky searched for a group name.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=54–55}} [[Fritz Richmond]], the [[washtub bass]] player for the [[Jim Kweskin Jug Band]], suggested to Sebastian the name ''the Lovin' Spoonful'',{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=54–55}}{{sfn|Von Schmidt|Rooney|1994|p=246}} a reference to the lyrics of the song "Coffee Blues" by the country blues musician [[Mississippi John Hurt]],{{sfn|Myers|2017|p=74}} with whom Sebastian had previously worked.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=124}} Sebastian and Yanovsky were enthusiastic about the suggestion and adopted it as the band's name.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=55}}

Joe Marra, the owner of Greenwich Village's Night Owl Cafe, knew Sebastian from his time backing other artists at the club, and Marra offered to book the Spoonful at the venue.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=54}} The Night Owl was formerly an after-hours bowling alley at [[3rd Street (Manhattan)|West 3rd]] and [[MacDougal Street]]s, which Marra had recently converted into a 125-person capacity coffeehouse and restaurant for folk music acts.{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|pp=215–216}} The band made their first live performances in late January 1965 at the Night Owl, holding a two-week residency.{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=214}} One show, which Jacobsen recorded on a tape recorder, featured a mixture of Sebastian's originals ("Good Time Music" and "Didn't Want to Have to Do It"), folk songs ("Wild About My Lovin{{'"}} and "My Gal") and rock and roll ("[[(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66|Route 66]]", "[[Alley Oop (song)|Alley Oop]]" and "[[Almost Grown (song)|Almost Grown]]").{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=57–59}}{{refn|group=nb|Decades later, the recording was considered for release on CD as ''Live at the Night Owl'', but Sebastian rejected the idea. The recording has since circulated as a [[Bootleg recording|bootleg]].<ref name="Unterberger interview">{{cite web |last1=Unterberger |first1=Richie |author1-link=Richie Unterberger |title=The Lovin' Spoonful's Steve Boone Opens Up About the Infamous Pot Bust that Broke Up the Band |url=https://pleasekillme.com/lovin-spoonful-steve-boone-interview/ |website=PleaseKillMe |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221127091756/https://pleasekillme.com/lovin-spoonful-steve-boone-interview/ |archive-date=November 27, 2022 |date=May 3, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>}} The band received a mixed reception, due in part to their loud playing style in the small venue.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=57–59}} Marra was unimpressed and returned to booking folk acts.{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=215}} Cavallo and Jacobsen recommended rehearsals and that the band replace Carl as drummer. Carl, who was six years older than his bandmates, clashed with them in terms of appearance and playing style, and he was subsequently fired by the band's management.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=57–59}}
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[[File:The original Hotel Albert, 40 East 11th Street (2) (cropped) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|The band rehearsed for weeks in early{{nbsp}}1965 in the dilapidated basement of [[Greenwich Village]]'s [[Hotel Albert (New York, New York)|Hotel Albert]] (''pictured 2023''). [[Joe Butler]] later said, "It inspired us, because it made us frightened of poverty".{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=135}}<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Roxon|first=Lillian|title=The Lovin' Spoonful: Do You Believe in Magic|date=May 1968|magazine=[[Eye (magazine)|Eye]] |pages=32–33}}</ref>]]

Having fired Carl, the Spoonful could no longer play at the Bull's Head and were in need of a new rehearsal space.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=60, 62}} The band had little money and had been living with Elliot in her Village apartment at the [[Hotel Albert (New York, New York)|Hotel Albert]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=46–47}} The Albert was frequented by many local folk musicians, and the building's proprietors allowed musicians staying there to rehearse in its basement, a decaying space with standing pools of water, chipping walls and a bug infestation.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=47, 60, 62}} While at the Albert, the band befriended one of the building's permanent residents, Butchie Webber, who often fed them meals. Though the two were not romantic, Webber married Sebastian, so as to prevent him from being drafted into fighting in the [[Vietnam War]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=62, 151}} Butler, who still played drums for the Sellouts, auditioned for the Spoonful in the Albert's basement. He impressed the others when he broke a drumstick but continued performing by hitting the cymbal with his hand, cutting it in the process. The band were inspired by Butler's energy and hired him as their drummer.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=124}}{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=60–61}}

While waiting to be signed to a record label, the Spoonful played at night clubs on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village, including [[Cafe Wha?]] and Café Bizarre.<ref>{{harvnb|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=65–66}} (waiting, Café Bizarre); {{harvnb|Fletcher|2009|p=215}}: (MacDougal); {{harvnb|Einarson|2005|p=63}}: (Cafe Wha?).</ref> The band held a brief residency at Café Bizarre,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=65–66}} playing several sets a night for six days a week,{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=215}} leading Sebastian to later reflect, "We learned more at that crappy little club than almost any other gig."{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=216}} Marra had been especially critical of the band's earlier performances at the Night Owl, but he was impressed by the band's newly professional approach,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=65–66}} and in May of 1965, he offered for the band to return to performing at the Night Owl.{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=216}} The Spoonful shared their bill at the club with two other electric groups whom Marra booked, [[Danny Kalb]]'s band [[the Blues Project]] and the Modern Folk Quartet,{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=216}}{{sfn|Unterberger|2005}} the latter of which Sebastian sometimes filled in for on drums.{{sfn|Colby|Fitzpatrick|2002|p=90}} The Night Owl's triple-bill was immediately successful,{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=216}} and other established acts sometimes came to watch, including members of the American band [[the Byrds]] and [[Mary Travers]] of the folk-trio [[Peter, Paul and Mary]].{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=73}} Around the time he began booking electric acts, Marra moved the venue's stage towards the front street-facing window to draw in passers-by,{{sfn|Fletcher|2009|p=216}} and he printed a large color photo of the Spoonful and placed it in the club's window, which helped elevate the band's local popularity.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=65–66}}

[[File:The Lovin' Spoonful KRLA Beat Oct 9, 1965.jpg|thumb|The Lovin' Spoonful performing live, 1965]]

On June{{nbsp}}7 and 8, 1965,<ref>{{cite magazine|title=...{{nbsp}}And Coffee Too|magazine=The Broadside|date=June 9, 1965|volume=4|issue=8|pages=12–13|url=https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/mums1014-v04-n08-i001|via=[[UMass Amherst]]}}</ref> the Spoonful performed at [[Club 47]], a folk music club in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]].{{sfn|Von Schmidt|Rooney|1994|p=247}}{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=77}} Boone remembered feeling hesitant to perform at a club known strictly for folk music,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=77}} but Sebastian recalled that he and Yanovsky were immediately enthusiastic at the prospect of challenging folk enthusiasts: "Did we want to {{em|kill}} in that room!{{nbsp}}... We were going to be face to face with the folkies at last."{{sfn|Von Schmidt|Rooney|1994|p=247}} The band played at the venue at the suggestion of Fritz Richmond,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=77}} who encouraged the group by pointing to Bob Dylan's recent transition to electrified rock,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=77}} first heard three months earlier with the release of "[[Subterranean Homesick Blues]]",{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=126}} and the newfound popularity of the Byrds,{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=77}} whose [[folk rock]] cover of Dylan's song "[[Mr. Tambourine Man]]" reached number one in North America that month.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|pp=135–136}}{{sfn|Einarson|2005|pp=61, 65}} The term "folk rock" had been coined in the June{{nbsp}}12 issue of the American music magazine ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' by the journalist Eliot Siegel, who used the term principally to describe the music of the Byrds.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=129}} Siegel also counted "the Living Spoonfull"{{sic}} as an act working in the New York area with "a folk-rock sound", even though the group had not yet released a record.{{sfn|Jackson|2015|p=129}}<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Tiegel|first=Elliot|title=Folkswinging Wave On – Courtesy of Rock Groups|date=June 12, 1965|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|pages=1, 10|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qCgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA1|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|Boone later reflected that he and his bandmates had mixed feelings about the success of the Byrds, something they found encouraging but also disappointing because it meant that another group had beaten them in breaking the new folk-rock sound into the charts.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|pp=73–74}}}}

The Spoonful performed two sets at Club 47 and initially received a mixed reception; many folk fans walked out of the first set due to the band's loud sound.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=78}} Years later, Sebastian recalled a moment from the first set: {{quote|[This woman] carefully [got my] and Zally's attention, points out toward the amplifier, and puts her fingers in her ears. And Zally gave her his broadest and most affectionate smile, and turned his amplifier up as loud as he could. That was a real transition.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=164}}}} During the second set, the band received a warm response from the remaining crowd.{{sfn|Boone|Moss|2014|p=78}} In retrospect, the author [[Richie Unterberger]] describes the Spoonful's appearance as a "watershed" moment in the history of folk rock.{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=164}} The rock journalist [[Paul Williams (Crawdaddy)|Paul Williams]] attended the shows, and his review of the performances for the magazine ''Folkin' Around'' marked his earliest work as a music writer.{{sfn|Williams|2002|p=120}} Williams later reflected, "For a band like that to come to Club 47 was revolutionary, in terms of Cambridge['s] holier-than-thou purist attitude about folk music."{{sfn|Unterberger|2002|p=164}}
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