Leather and Lace (Eddie Roundtree)

California

"Oh California, I'm coming home/ Oh, make me feel good rock 'n roll band/ I'm your biggest fan/ California I'm coming home"

Layla Dunne: California was another world and my adult life really began there. Oh my God, it was fun! I mean it wasn't always glamorous. I was broke most of the time and I worked as a waitress and at first I had no stable housing but I loved all of it. I was surrounded by music, always at shows and with musicians. I didn't think of myself as groupie, though I know some people have referred to me that way before I started performing. I just loved the music. I used to get in with all the bands, sometimes I'd get on one tour bus and stay with them till I got bored and then find another band or someone to take me back to L.A.

Teddy Price (recorded interview): Summer of '69 Layla Dunne comes to L.A. And by '72 she was really on the scene, a real force. She had talent, she had star quality, I mean she needed to polish up a bit sure, but she had it. And within a short time of being in California, she knew everyone, before she was even performing. I mean the connections that girl made were really something for some kid from Pittsburgh. But if you knew her you understood how all these people wanted to be around her. I wanted to sign her as soon as I saw her perform, but she made me work for it [laughs].

Daisy Jones: I met Layla at a party [smiles] we were wearing the exact same outfit, like exact same. Everyone was saying to me 'I didn't know you knew Layla' and 'Are you here with Layla?'

Layla Dunne: All night people were coming up to me 'oh did you come with Daisy Jones?' or 'Hey you look just like Daisy Jones' I'm thinking Who the hell is Daisy Jones? [smiles].

1970

      The party was alive and well. People were crammed together inside, wall to wall, as Layla squeezed her way through them to the backyard for some fresh air. She had come here tonight with a guy she was sort of seeing but mostly just sleeping with. She was getting sick of him but at the current time he was her only option for a roof over her head. She had been trying to figure out how to leave for two weeks now. The guy, Miles, was a bartender at The Whisky, which is where they met. He could be worse, she had certainly met worse, she just didn't really care for him and she was sure he didn't care for her all that much. Last she saw him tonight he was talking with some blonde who couldn't have been more than seventeen. The sight put a bad taste in Layla's mouth.

Once outside she kept walking further into the backyard, away from the crowd. She wasn't focused on anything in particular until she took in a woman with long red hair wearing the exact same denim vest, pattern skirt, and boots that Layla had on. They were both even wearing their hair in long braids. All the confusing comments made to her tonight came to mind. The woman seemed to notice Layla at the same time, a mirrored look of shock and amusement crossed her face.

"Any chance you're Daisy Jones?" Layla asked as she walked up to her.

"Yeah, I'm guessing you're Layla?" Daisy responded.

"Yeah, I'm Layla. Love your outfit." She joked and Daisy laughed. The two immediately felt familiar to the other.

"Thanks, I think you wear it better." She winked.

"Oh I'd say we're tied for best. So, I'm thinking we should stand by each other all night just to make everyone think they're seeing double." Layla proposed lifting her glass to Daisy with a smile.

"Agreed" the girls clinked glasses. "I can't believe I haven't seen you around before, everyone else seems to know you."

"Ditto, why don't we have a cigarette and try to figure out this great mystery?"