--John, Denny, and Michelle had to beg Cass to sing with them on the audition. (She didn't want to, because she was upset with Denny and Michelle's little island flirtations.)

--John dubbed Michelle as "The California Girl" He claimed she was the first hippie-type girl with the long flowing blonde hair.

--Denny's singing pal in the Halifax Three, Zal Yanovsky, went on to make a little magic with The Lovin' Spoonful

--John's daughter, Mackenzie Phillips, is named after friend and fellow Smoothie/Journeymen Scott McKenzie.

--Mackenzie plays the part of Molly Phillips on the Disney TV show, "So Weird."

--As far as I know, John has had three wives (don't kill me if I'm wrong): Sue, Michelle, and Genevieve

--Jazz legend Bud Shank plays the groovin flute solo in "California Dreamin'," a #4 hit for the group in 1965.

--Although Michelle's name is on the credits to "California Dreamin'" with John, she merely was his transcriber. Michelle was asleep while John was writing. He had a burst of inspiration, and woke Michelle up to tell her about it. Michelle wasn't interested, mainly because she was half-asleep. But, she wrote down the words John told her to and went back to bed. The words were the lyrics to "California Dreamin'." Michelle called it: "The best wake up call she ever had!"

--Cass came up with the name for the group. She overheard some tough biker on an LA talk show say that he called his women "mamas" and Cass declared that she and Michelle were "The Mamas" and John and Denny, of course, "The Papas."

--Cass hated her stage name.

--Both Michelle and Cass thought "Monday, Monday" was a bit of a mistake.

--"Monday, Monday" was the Mamas and Papas biggest hit, winning a Grammy for Best Rock & Roll performance of 1966.

--Cass Elliot's sister, Leah Kunkel, supposedly dated Peter Tork of the Monkees, not Cass.

--Cass's lead pipe incident gave her a slight concussion, a 3-night hospital stay, and eventually a place in the Mamas and Papas.

--Cass idolized John Lennon. In the song "I Call Your Name," written by Lennon/McCartney, Cass literally calls out John's (Lennon) name.

--The Mamas and Papas hit, "I Saw Her Again" is definitely written because of Michelle and Denny's affair. John said himself said "I wrote that song to punish Dennis." But, strangely, Denny actually helped John write it!

--John fired Michelle from the group after she kept flirting with her boyfriend on stage. John got pissed, chased Michelle off the stage and into the parking lot. Next day, he asked that Michelle be removed.

--Before the previous factoid happened, Michelle and John split up for a while. She lived in her own apartment, as did Cass. But, John and Denny were actually roomates. According to Denny, "We were together so we couldn't be with her."

--The Mamas and Papas had lots of "omens." The first one was when John, Denny, and Michelle were connecting with the Beatles, meeting Cass Elliot, and finding out the effects of LSD. First, they tried the LSD, then got high (of course), and Denny placed the speakers, blasting the Beatles' tunes, right against John's head. Meanwhile, there was a knock at the door, and as Michelle opened it she came on to the acid. There was Cass, wearing a pink angora sweater, white pleated mini-skirt, and matching white go-go boots. Also, her hair was flipped out. John said she looked like a "Giant pink mushroom." Michelle, upon looking at Cass, said, "Wow! This is an AMAZING drug!"

--When Cassie came to St. Thomas, she had a tiny bottle with liquid. When she met Duffy she told him to open his mouth, and she took out the eye dropper in the bottle and dropped some of the liquid on his tongue. The liquid...was acid. She put Duffy on a trip! So, her morning task was to wake everyone up, place acid on their tongues, and be all perky.

--To keep an eye on Michelle and Denny, Cassie got Duffy to hire her as a waitress. She was a terrible one, serving only about 3 beers in the time she was a waitress. That was also when she began singing harmonies from the floor.

--Another wonderful omen occured when John's credit card ran out. John, Michelle, and Denny had to hop a boat and got as far as Puerto Rico with 50 bucks to their name. John had a brilliant idea: go to the Casino. They all headed to the crap table, gave Michelle the dice and she threw 17 straight passes at the crap table! Although they got enough money to fly first class back to New York, some of the other players were making 20 grand to even 100 grand!

--The group was a favorite of TV personality Ed Sullivan. The Mamas and Papas were seen several times on his variety show.

--John, Michelle, and Lou were responsible for the greatest rock party of the 60's: The Monterrey Pop Festeval. (*For More info on the festival, go to Meg's Page.

--The Mamas and Papas would have broken up before the album 'People Like Us,' but they were obligated to record one more album.

--'Dream a Little Dream of Me' was a sort of goodbye present from the group to Cass.

--If you still think Cass Elliot died from choking on a Ham Sandwich, you need a smack on the head: Cass died from a heart failure. :(

--John almost didn't make it through his drug addiction. He survived years of drug abuse and a liver transplant to now be clean and sober. Unfortunately, some of his children followed his path. Mackinzie is also clean and sober now.

--During John's worst times of drug addiction, Michelle took care of their daughter Chynna, as well as his other children. She said that his daughter (with Genevieve) Bijou scared her.

--Bijou Phillips is a successful model and an aspiring musician.

--Chynna Phillips joined up with the Wilson sisters to form the group Wilson Phillips, which was very successful. Now Chynna is Mrs. Billy Baldwin (I think ;).