"The Lovin' Spoonful - Wildest and Weirdest of the New Breed of Hippies!!"
Tiger Beat, March 1966

Zal Yanovsky, 20, puckered up his lips and gave the girl who asked for his autograph a great big kiss. She smiled sweetly, thanked him for the gesture and disappeared down the street.

John Sebastian, 21, took off his glasses, polished them quickly and put them back on. "Zal, my friend," he said, "you're getting to be a better lover all the time. The girls keep coming back for more."

Zal laughed and the two marched along together down the Sunset Strip. They enjoy being together to talk and joke privately without the addition of an audience. Their friendship dates back for years when they met in New York's Greenwich Village. John played the guitar, harmonica, and autoharp. Zal played the electric guitar.

Becoming fast friends is great, but the friendship becomes even more meaningful when you can turn it into a profit. This is just what Zal and John did when they met Joe Butler and Steve Boone and formed The Lovin' Spoonful. Their music and their lives are now practically like one and this is fabulous for all fans of sensational sounds.

Adventures happen to the Spoonful every day because of their attitudes towards life. "We like a good time," yells Zal. He talks loud and is the Spoon who does most of the talking for the group. He nearly overpowers it with his exuberant personality and wild clothes. "I buy some of my clothes at Army and Navy outlet stores because they're cheap and far out," he admits. Along Hollywood's Sunset Strip, Zal is recognized as an 'in-dresser.' He never walks, but leaps from place to place.

"Girls like Zal," confides John, "because he's fun to be with. They like his clothes and his jokes. Me, I'm quieter." John's a native Greenwich Villager. He's one of the few people in the world who was actually raised there. But, it happened, and he grew up to be a kind, sensitive man with such thick glasses that no one can believe it. "They're for real," he admits. "I can't see a thing without them." He's always been an enthusiastic musician and even knows how to make guitars and harmonicas. For one short period in his life, John went to Marblehead, Massachusetts where he intended to make sails. But the man who said he wanted a sailmaker really wanted someone to paint bottoms of boats with rust paint. John was allergic to rust paint so he went back to New York and combined forces with Zal.

"...and I don't know how it happened, but all of a sudden, no more things for free and like that, and there I was, playing with John." Zal talks hip and is hip. He can play it straight when he wants to, but he never wants to. This is his secret charm and everyone loves him for it.

Steve Boone is 6 feet three inches tall and is a distant relative of Daniel Boone. His hair and eyes are both auburn and he's impressed by people who notice this. "Most people think my hair's brown. I like having auburn hair." Steve's very quiet and very polite, a direct contrast to Zal. Steve started playing rhythm guitar at seventeen after an accident which had him in traction for two months. He got many thousands of dollars for the accident. For several years, he played in a swing band, learned rock and roll and spent all his money. He went to Europe, came back and met John and Zal in Greenwich Village.

Joe Butler, 21, has very blue eyes, a cute smile and is well-built. He plays the drums and sings and insists that he has the distinction of being the only person who lived in Greenwich Village who didn't play the guitar.

Crazy is the best word to describe The Lovin' Spoonful. They're way-out guys and way-out entertainers. The 'in-groups' follow them around and at all of their performances, groupies are in the audience cheering their favorites on. Their hats are a trademark and fans send them hats from all over the world.

A few years ago they might have been called 'beatniks,' but this is 1966 and beatniks are out of style. The Lovin' Spoonful are right in style, in step with the times and loving every minute of it. In their private lives, they're always smiling because they don't try to fit themselves into any molds of society. They do what suits them in everything from dating to eating in restaurants.

"Dating a Lovin' Spoonful is a difficult task," relates a girl, "because they live in a way-out world. They're great individuals, but I'd rather spend an evening sitting around talking to all of them in a group rather than date any one member. They're apt to say and do almost anything and this is a fabulous experience. I love 'em all."

Comic characters on the surface, Zal, John, Joe and Steve are quite serious about their careers. They read every word that is written about them and also keep up on what their competition is doing. They think the Byrds are a good group and enjoy going to see them perform. Of course, they recognize the fantastic abiity of The Beatles as being a phenomenon of show business.

Wherever they go, the Lovin' Spoonful are tru to their names. They enjoy giving love and receiving it, even if it's only in the name of laughs.