[2] While studying at La Salle High School in Pasadena, California, he formed his first group, the Mad Mountain Ramblers, who performed around the Los Angeles folk clubs.

[1] It included Feldthouse's "Egyptian Gardens", Darrow's "Keep Your Mind Open", and versions of Cab Calloway's "Minnie the Moocher" and Dock Boggs' "Oh Death".

Crill, for reasons he never made clear (but ex-bandmates speculated had to do with concerns about overreactions from his "straitlaced" parents), was credited as "Fenrus Epp" on the first album and adopted various other pseudonyms on later recordings.

[1] Keeping the same line-up (but with Crill now billing himself as "Max Buda") the band's second album A Beacon from Mars was released in November 1967, to generally good reviews but poor sales.

The title track, inspired by a Howlin' Wolf musical riff originally in his song "Smokestack Lightning", was recorded live in the studio, and featured a long psychedelic electric guitar solo by Lindley, which later caused Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page to refer to Kaleidoscope as his "favourite band of all time.

Another live "no overdubs" track on the album was "Taxim," with solos from Lindley on a "harp guitar" and Felthouse, who played oud and saz on the lengthy cut.

However, Darrow returned briefly for studio work when the group backed first Johnny "Guitar" Watson and Larry Williams on their 1967 single "Nobody", and later Leonard Cohen on "So Long, Marianne" and "Teachers" on his first album.

[1] After the end of Kaleidoscope, Lindley became a highly respected session and live musician with Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne and others, before forming his own band, El Rayo-X, in the early 1980s.

Darrow joined the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band after Kaleidoscope and later formed the Corvettes with Bernie Leadon before becoming a leading session musician and solo performer.

Crill became an underground comic writer for a time, co-writing the Mickey Rat series, and also produced the first 78rpm record by R. Crumb's group, Armstrong's Pasadenans.

In 1976, ex-members Brotman, Crill, Darrow, Feldthouse and Lagos reconvened for the reunion album, When Scopes Collide, which was released on Michael Nesmith's Pacific Arts label.

Greetings from Kartoonistan (We Ain't Dead Yet),[1] again brought together the same line-up (although this time Crill only billed himself as "Max Buda" in the band member credits), with Brotman contributing the instrumental, "Klezmer Suite".