Elements of Bonniwell's music can be heard in later bands such as the Doors (Ray Manzarek's keyboard style in particular) and Iron Butterfly (especially Doug Ingle's baritone vocal style). The songs themselves showed a sophistication seldom, if ever, heard among their contemporaries.

Visually, the Music Machine had a look all their own, with all the members dressing entirely in black (including dying their hair) and wearing one glove on stage, years before Michael Jackson did his first moonwalk. The name of the band itself reflected Bonniwell's idea to segue directly from song to song for an entire set, never pausing long enough to let members of the audience call out requests that Bonniwell had no desire to play. Bonniwell was one of the first rock musicians to take a holistic approach to his musical presentation. The result is a show with no less than eleven tracks from Bonniwell's Music Machine, one of the most underrated garage-psych bands of the late 1960s.

I thought of doing a tribute set in the second hour, but then hit upon an idea that I think Bonniwell himself would have appreciated: a Music Machine track in every song set. This week's edition of Stuck in the Psychedelic Era is dedicated to Sean Bonniwell, who passed away on Dec. By the end of the show I thought I finally had it all under control, but then, at the last possible moment, Jimi Hendrix betrayed me by tossing out a two and a half minute song to close the show. At that point I tried Vanilla Fudge, always good for an extended arrangement. The third segment was almost a repeat of the second as I tried a Janis Joplin set, but was once again thwarted when Moby Grape kicked off the next set with a song running only 1:53! The capper was in the final segment when the Monkees sneaked in a five second track. In desperation I turned to Black Sabbath, but by then the first hour was over. It worked, but after only three tunes the short ones were back in full force. I knew I had to do something about this so I turned to the old reliable year 1969. I set out to do a normal show this week, but before I knew it I was surrounded! Short tracks everywhere! Not a one of them over three minutes long! It was scary! By the time I got to the end of the first segment I had already played nine (!) songs in slightly under 27 minutes.

Ridoc hair wraps