We were out in california in the summer of 68. Suzy and i wound up in the haight; the rest of the band were in the fillmore area. It had its good points. We practiced at an episcopal church about one street off haight near asbury. We actually kept our equipment in an unlocked closet in the church and never thought about it getting ripped off. Incredibly it didn’t. We would set up in the morning in a big main room in the church and we would be surrounded by dozens of kids who had come out to frisco and needed a meal and were being fed by the diggers. The diggers were a group who provided free food in the panhandle part of the park. They also fed the people at the church in the morning. They got big bowls of oatmeal with brown sugar; it was pretty good. And we did get to play here and there.
I had a connection from 66 when I was there and we got mentioned some in the papers. We even played the avalon ballroom several times on two special free shows for some of the 3000 bands then in the bay area. We were somewhat nervous facing an audience of thousandas of musicians, we were less than a year old as a band after all. Perhaps the real reason we got booked for this is that the vulcan gas company light show from austin was going to do its light show for these concerts, and when they realized we were out there they insisted we be included. By the way, the vulcan show was better than anything we saw in cali or anywhere else. The show had sets by sir douglas quintet, it’s a beautiful day, santana, a band I think was black pearl, and shiva’s. On the second show doug did a second set and I sat in as bassist; we were joined by carlos santana and had a nice jam. Carlos said he thought I was a pretty good bass player. We played a few gigs here and there, like provo park in berserkley, as we called it, and of course there were always benefits. I guess we had some following because we got listed in ralph gleason’s column (he was the music critic of the day in SF) among the 200 best acts in the region. So somehow we got involved with the cal political scene and got booked to play at the state capitol in sacremento for a big young democrat rally. Coming into sacremento reminded me of coming into dallas; the same uptight, arrogant idiots. Makes you want to turn around and go home, but you a mission to accomplish. We couldn’t even get served in a restaurant there. I don’t remember the exact date but I bet its in the local papers of the time. We set up on the capitol steps and got ready to play. We assumed there would be other bands, but it turned out it was just us doing the whole thing out front were about 20 thousand high school and college kids. At that time the voting age was still 21, so these were youth being courted by the democratic party. A group of folks appearwed at set side who would be the day’s speakers. As it happened, I was the only MC as well and after we played a song I would introduce a speaker. Among those I remember were diane finestein, san francisco council woman and mayor pro-tem; alan cranston, majority leader of the senate; jerry brown, I believe was an alderman at the time and son of former governor pat brown; and the one I remember best senator john glenn, america’s first spaceman. I was so intrigued with him that he had to remind me that he was there to address all the other people. So we had thousands of kids in front of us, the core of democratic power beside us, and then gov. ronaald reagan in his office behind us. And we played a number between each speaker. Then, after the rally, we packed all our stuff to the state fairgrounds where all these kids would be camping out. We set up in the midst of maybe a thousand tents and did a good-night show for the kids; of course ending with song for peace. But there would be no peace that summer, not in vietnam or in the streets of chicago; as these same kids saw themselves betrayed by the same democratic party cynically voting to keep an unjust and unpopular war going. Soon there would be turmoil on campuses everywhere, eventually leading to the kent state tragedy. Do the lessons of those times have something to teach us? Must we keep re-learning old lessons until we finally get it? Probably.
You are here:
