Ralph Lawler of the Clippers and the age of Aquarius

Here's a side of Clippers' play-by-play man Ralph Lawler that you probably didn't know. When he was working in San Diego early in his radio career, he was a strait-laced and conservative deejay. One day in about 1968, he played the Broadway cast album of "Hair." "Wow, the music jumped right off the vinyl," he says on KCRW's Guest DJ project. Lawler went to see the live show of "Hair" at the Aquarius Theater in Hollywood. The music, anti-war politics and nudity on stage transformed his life. "It changed my political views almost instantaneously....I wound up programming an underground rock station in San Diego a couple of years later... That album had just a profound effect on my life."

He talks about "Hair" in the clip below:

His entire guest DJ set — including cuts from Coldplay and Adele — is at KCRW.com.

Photo: Lawler with KCRW music director Jason Bentley

Previously on LA Observed:
Evolution of the Aquarius Theatre