RO: And I assume you get a lot of Native Americans tell you how much they enjoyed the sentiment behind "Indian Reservation."

ML: Every time we play a casino, I get a lot of bear hugs from my Indian brothers (laughs). And I'm part Cherokee!

RO: I saw you once here in Houston at the Arena Theatre in the late '80s. You were with Flo & Eddie of the Turtles, Herman's Hermits, and Rob Grill of the Grass Roots. Any particular memories of Houston?

ML: We played Houston a lot...but it's really tough to have specific memories because it all blurs over the years...oh, wait, yeah, there is one! But, um, I can't tell you what it is (laughs). Let's just say that I remember once having a great time in Houston (laughs).

RO: Finally, is it true that at one point, you lived with Terry Melcher at 10050 Cielo Drive in L.A.... the same house that was shortly later the site of the Charles Manson-led Sharon Tate murders of Helter Skelter?

ML: Terry Melcher and I lived in that house in Benedict Canyon, and it was a party pad. Jimi Hendrix came by, everybody did. I was on the road a lot, and one day I came home and walked in the door and there was a business meeting going on. Terry was there and Dennis Wilson from the Beach Boys and some high-powered attorneys.

So I walked into the kitchen to get a drink and there was this guy squatting against the refrigerator on the floor wearing this work shirt and jeans and looking really scruffy. So I said "Excuse me" and tried to open the door, but he wouldn't move, he was just like a doorstop and stared straight ahead. After trying a few times, I walked into the other room and said "Hey, who's the weird dude in the kitchen?" And someone said "Oh, that's just Charlie. He's okay!"

So the deal was that Dennis had gone out into the desert and got really high with this guy and all these girls he had with them, and brought them back to the house. This guy Charlie said he was a songwriter, and he came up two or three times to make a publishing deal. But after a few meetings, it was apparent to Terry that there was something drastically wrong with this gentleman. So Terry [backed off] and Charlie got really pissed.

So there are two theories about [the Helter Skelter murders]. One is that Charlie sent his minions up to the house to get Terry. But Terry told me when he was still alive that Manson knew he had moved up to the beach, and that Manson had chosen that house because he had been in there and knew the layout. And that was how he was going to get back at the establishment.

I do know that by the time that happened, I had moved out because Terry was going with [actress] Candy Bergen, and everytime I came home, I felt like the third wheel! And then they broke up, and Terry sublet the house to Roman Polanski. And the rest, as they say, is history.

For more about Mark Lindsay, visit www.marklindsay.com.