Exene Cervenka Wrote The Poems That Often Became 'X' Songs. The Unmistakable Combination Of Her Voice

John wanted to form a band, so he put an advertisement in the Recycler looking for a guitarist. At the same time Billy did the same thing. They both noticed the overwhelming overlapping similarity of their classified ads and called each other. Billy told John about this drummer and his marching snare and by that time John and Exene were an item and were writing together. They made a band, called it "X" and played the Masque.

Poetry is how it started. Regular attendance at the Venice Poetry Workshop in the early-mid 1970's was the equivalent of a Masters degree in modern post-Beat poetry. Every single Wednesday night for years we would sit on folding chairs, couches, and worn out easy chairs in a circle in a storefront on what is now called Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice. Back then it was Washington. Everyone would read a poem and then the rest of us would hack it to pieces. If you stuck it out and didn't storm out yelling, "What do you idiots know?", and went on every Wednesday night to submit your work, you could learn to write.

One memorable moment in the story of 'X' was the ceremonial "signing party" when they signed their contract in early 1982 with Elektra Records, which resulted in the release of "Under The Big Black Sun", arguably one of their best albums. Everyone was in pretty good spirits, and beer was plentiful. Shown here are John Doe, Denise Zoom, Exene, Billy Zoom, Rodney Bingenheimer, DJ Bonebrake, and 'Dinky' Bonebrake.

Don and Dinky, at record release party, Cherokee Studios. Dinky was Don's girl, I forget if they were married or not. I also don't remember if I ever knew her real name, but I'm sure if I knew it I'm sure I promised her I'd never tell. I encouraged the idea that the whole gang, the band, the crew, the entourage, was a family. Dinky was very supportive of that concept and helped keep everybody happy. -Jay Jenkins

John, Alpha Male, leader of the pack.

The arrival of Ray Manzarek was the equivalent of sitting under an apple tree and having an apple fall to the shady grass right at your side. Ray's presence showed them all that "X" was just an edgy, darker, literary rock band in the same tradition as the Doors, a link in the same chain. Maybe John and Jim had something in common.

There's a windowed room upstairs on the southeast corner of the Whiskey and you can look out and see an amazing view of the bejeweled city at night. Once Ray and I were up there and we looked down at the sidewalk and there was a line around the block to get in. He said, "Man, we own this town tonight."

Ray Manzarek, Exene, John Doe, Billy Zoom, Top Jimmy (seated).

This is one of my favorite photos from my 'X' days. It's such a contrast of the scruffy backstage area upstairs at the Whisky, and the grand outfits of John, Exene, and the late 'Top Jimmy'. They were dressed up for the wedding of guitarist Billy Zoom and Denise, which took place on stage there at the Whisky, in '82, with Ray Manzarek playing the strains of "Here Comes the Bride" on his famous keyboard, the same one he used for "Light My Fire".

These two ladies, Belinda Carlisle and Jane Wiedlin, were very nice and very talented. They started from absolutely nothing at the Masque. Billy Zoom taught them how to play music. They formed a band first and then learned how to play later. That said something significant about the spirit of that time. I think it worked, for a while anyway.

This is backstage, upstairs, at the good ole Starwood. These girls and their band mates were an integral part of the formation of the LA punk scene, but their music could not be contained in those parameters; too much pop in it. The Go Go's were the one band in that scene that scored mainstream commercial success with hits on the radio.

John Duchac, who would soon take the moniker "Doe", played bar band bass in Baltimore and came out here in, I think it was about 1976. He had hair hanging down in his face at first. Soon after he came to town, he started to spend his Wednesday nights at the Venice Poetry Workshop. He had a presence and an intensity and a talent. His poetry was pretty good and even the seasoned cynics in our circle had good things to say about it. It was unspoken, but we all knew he was special.

Tyson Kindell was recording in the Rockabilly genre as "Billy Zoom". He had an album on a small independent Rockabilly label. I still have it in my garage. He had one song called "Bad Boy" that went "They call me 'bad boy' but I'm just misunderstood". He is a terrific guitar player and fancied a silver Gretsch. He had a leather motorcycle jacket, the kind with all the zippers and the epaulets, which he dyed silver. He and I were the same age. He stood on stage with his legs spread wide and always wore a big smile, even when he didn't mean it, and the only things moving were his fingers.

He was raised a guitarist by his father, who played with Django Reinhart.