Friday, 6 December 2024

Berkeley and East Bay Concerts, July-December 1967 ('67 Berkeley IX)

 

Country Joe & The Fish headlined a Benefit concert in the tiny town of Canyon on July 16, 1967


This blog was the province of Ross Hannan, a friend, co-conspirator and inspirational scholar of 1960s rock and beyond. Ross died on November 9, 2024, and his departure is mourned by all who knew him. I had planned this post anyway, and it seems a fitting send off. Here's to you Ross--gimme an F, wherever you may be.

Berkeley and East Bay Concerts, July-December 1967
At the beginning of 1966, concerts at the Fillmore Auditorium and Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco transformed live rock shows and the music business itself. Rock concerts went from mere personal appearances by entertainers popular with teenagers to full expressions of art, music and culture. The live rock concert business exploded. What we understand as a rock concert today can be traced directly to those early 1966 concerts at the Fillmore and Avalon.

The Fillmore and Avalon had concerts every weekend in 1966, but they weren't large venues. The Fillmore held about 1500, and the Avalon somewhat less. Yet the shows were generally crowded, though few of the bands had even made a record, much less scored a hit. It was a true underground rock scene, that rarest of birds in the rock sky. Not all of the fans came from just the Haight-Ashbury, either. Many came from the Peninsula, and many came from surrounding colleges and universities. Yet no school could have had more Fillmore rock fans than the University of California at Berkeley, since the school was so large, and trans-bay access to the ballrooms was so easy. The Bay Bridge, following the path of the old Key System, took patrons straight from downtown Berkeley to the city, just a quick sprint away from the Fillmore district. 

With so many rock fans in the city of Berkeley, it's no surprise that there was a growing rock scene there in 1967. The City and University were already centers of protest, long hair and rebellion, anyway--why not add some loud rock and roll to the mix? Yet live rock concerts had great difficulty taking hold in Berkeley, or anywhere nearby. I have been working on a series of posts about live rock concerts in Berkeley and the East Bay in 1967.  This post will focus on rock concerts in Berkeley and the East Bay from July through Decmeber 1967 (see below for links to prior posts). Anyone with any recollections, corrections, insights or clever speculation should include them in the Comments. Flashbacks actively encouraged. 

A rearward view at the tiny stage in Provo Park in downtown Berkeley. There were free concerts in Provo Park on many Sundays in 1967. It was a common way for local bands to build an audience.

Berkeley Rock Scene, Status Report: July 1967
Berkeley was a prosperous college town with a flagship State University. Up until the Beatles, however, Berkeley was the kind of place that casually turned up its nose at rock and roll, implying that it was "kid stuff" for unlettered teenagers. Berkeley had some folk clubs, and there was some jazz, and both went well with protest, which was practically a spectator sport. Some students followed the California Golden Bears football or basketball team, but that was considered kid stuff, too.

The biggest venue in town was the Berkeley Community Theater, a 3500 seat auditorium on Grove Street (now Martin Luther King Jr Way), at Allston. The Theater was the city auditorium, but it was also on the campus of Berkeley High School. Not only was it really too large for the rock market, but because it was on a campus, it often wasn't available on school nights. There were some venues on the UC Campus, like Harmon Gym or the new Pauley Ballroom, but they, too were restricted by the institution. In any case, neither UC Berkeley nor Berkeley High needed the money that came from booking shows, so it was tough for would-be promoters. Similar to San Francisco, free concerts in the main city park and on the UC Campus formed a big part of the Berkeley rock scene.

This post will be part of a series looking at the evolution of live rock in Berkeley in 1967. Berkeley's first rock club, the New Orleans House, had opened in January, and had been thriving throughout the year.  A folk club, The Jabberwock, at 2901 Telegraph (at Russell, across from the Co-Op market), sometimes booked rock bands, but they were mostly folk musicians who had bought an amplifier. The best known of those were Country Joe & The Fish, made up of former Jabberwock folkies. Since we have covered the history of both those venues, and Joe & The Fish, in great detail elsewhere, this chronicle will focus on the somewhat-larger-but-not-very venues where concerts were booked. In the East Bay, there were plenty of rock fans. The posts about 1967 rock concerts in Berkeley and the East Bay will focus on the struggle was finding a venue for the type of concerts that people wanted to see, like they did at the Fillmore or the Avalon. During the Summer of '67, the East Bay concert scene was relatively thriving. By the Fall, with San Francisco effectively dominant, the Berkeley concert scene had dimmed considerably.

In the Summer of '67, Berkeley's biggest event was the annual Folk Music Festival. It was held over five days at various venues from June 30 to July 4. By '67, there were plenty of rock bands

Berkeley and East Bay Rock Concerts, July-September 1967
June 30-July 4, 1967  UC Berkeley Folk Music Festival
Though a city of over 100,000, Berkeley was still a college town, and things slowed down in the Summer. The Spring Quarter typically ended in late June, and all the UC Berkeley undergraduates cleared out. University facilities may have been far more available for events, but their were far fewer students to attend those events. Still, the end of the school year was the regular time for the biggest musical event on the annual calendar. The UC Berkeley Folk Music Festival had been a big event since 1958. It was spread out over several days around the July 4, with numerous concerts, workshops and dances in indoor and outdoor facilities.

The history of the Berkeley Folk Festival, which ran from 1958 through 1970, is sprawling and fascinating, far too much to cover in a blog post. Fortunately, the photos and documents of Festival organizer Barry Olivier  have been archived by Northwestern University, and are accessible at the Berkeley Folk Music Festival site. Professor Michael Kramer has taken the lead in developing the archives into a powerful scholars resource. In order to keep my blog post to a reasonable length (at least by my standards), I will just focus on the rock concert portions of the 1967 Festival. 

Many young folk enthusiasts attended the Festival every year, absorbing the wide range of artists and influences. In 1966, the headline act on the final day was a group of those folkies, by then called Jefferson Airplane. They had booked the gig against the advice of their then-manager (Matthew Katz), since it meant so much for them to play there. They snuck in one of their pals as equipment crew, too, another ex-folkie, Jerry Garcia. Thus by 1967, the Berkeley Folk Festival was in full crossover mode between rock and folk. There were a lot of folk performers, but quite a few rock bands as well.

The 1967 Berkeley Folk Festival included plenty of rock bands

Full Schedule, 1967 Berkeley Folk Music Festival
>June 30, 1967 Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Charles River Valley Boys/Sam Hinton/ Doc Watson/Robin Goodfellow (Friday) Kids Concert 10:30 am
> June 30, 1967 Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Janis Ian,/Rev. Gary Davis/Kaleidoscope/ Tony Thomas/Charles River Valley Boys
(Friday) Concert 8:00 pm
> June 30, 1967 Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Crome Syrcus/Richie Havens/Cleanliness & Godliness Skiffle Band/The New Age
(Friday) Dance Concert 10:30 pm
>July 1, 1967 Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Cleanliness & Godliness Skiffle Band/Doc Watson/Charley Marshall/Robin Goodfellow
(Saturday) Kids Concert 10:30 am
> July 1, 1967 Greek Theatre, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Doc Watson/Steve Miller Blues Band/Sam Hinton/Cleanliness & Godliness Skiffle Band/Charley Marshall/The New Age
(Saturday) Freedom Concert 8:00 pm
> July 1, 1967 Lower Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: James Cotton Blues Band/Kaleidoscope, Rev. Gary Davis/Charles River Valley Boys
(Saturday) Street Dance 8:00 pm
> July 2, 1967 Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Kaleidoscope/Charles River Valley Boys/James Cotton Blues Band/Tony Thomas/Cleanliness & Godliness Skiffle Band
(Sunday) Family Concert, kids free, 2:00 pm
> July 2, 1967 Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Richie Havens/Sandy & Jeannie Darlington,/ Crome Syrcus/James Cotton Blues Band
(Sunday) Concert 8:00 pm
> July 2, 1967 Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Red Crayola/Doc Watson/Crome Syrcus/ Tony Thomas/Cleanliness & Godliness Skiffle Band
(Sunday) Dance Concert 10:30 pm
> July 3, 1967 Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Kaleidoscope/Red Crayola/Crome Syrcus/James Cotton
(Monday) Electric Band Session 2:00 pm
Berkeley teenager Faren Miller, in attendance, reports in her diary that the concert followed a Ralph Gleason-moderated panel discussion with Country Joe and David Lindley, among others.
> July 3, 1967 Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Country Joe and The Fish/Sam Hinton/Red Crayola/Larry Dalton
(Monday) Concert 8:00 pm
> July 3, 1967 Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Kaleidoscope/Loading Zone, other guest bands 
(Monday) Dance Concert 10:00 pm
>July 4, 1967 Greek Theatre, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: with all bands and artists
(Tuesday) Jubilee Concert 2:00 pm
> July 4, 1967 Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Country Joe and The Fish/James Cotton Blues Band/Richie Havens/Charles River Valley Boys
(Tuesday) 8:00 pm

Pauley Ballroom is on the second floor of the Student Union building, above the Bear's Lair pub. The view is from the North end of Lower Sproul Plaza (photo 2010, but it hadn't changed much)

Rock bands at the Berkeley Folk Festival

Pauley Ballroom, on the second floor of the new Student Union building next to Sproul Plaza, was an auditorium that held about 1000. It was the principal campus rock venue at the time, until rock concerts simply got too big for the little room. In the parlance of the time "Concert" meant there would be folding chairs, and "Dance Concert" meant the chairs would be removed. There were numerous other large and small events at the Folk Festivals, including workshops and panel discussions on things like folklore and fiddle-playing, but I am exclusively focusing on the rock band side of the Festival equation.

Kaleidoscope's 1967 debut on Epic Records, Side Trips. David Lindley upper left.

The Kaleidoscope, who appeared every single day of the Folk Festival, were an absolutely legendary band from the Claremont area in Southern California. The group had formed in 1966, and had released their debut album Side Trips on Epic Records in May 1967. The band pretty much invented "World Music" before any listeners were ready to absorb it. David Lindley, later a legend with Jackson Browne and others, played lead guitar, but also harp-guitar, fiddle and banjo, and the rest of the band (save the drummer) doubled on numerous instruments like saz and electric violin.

Crome Syrcus were from Seattle, but they had moved to San Francisco around this Summer. They would release an album in 1968, and also composed music for the Joffrey Ballet.

James Cotton Blues Band 1967 album on Verve Folkways

James Cotton had played harmonica for Howlin' Wolf and others, and had started recording and performing on his own. The James Cotton Blues Band was among the first to capitalize on the new touring circuit that followed for blues musicians when Folk Festivals and the Fillmore circuit started booking electric blues bands. The Cotton band had just released an album on Verve. Cotton had a horn section, and their music included soul as well as Chicago blues. 

Steve Miller Band, spring '67

Steve Miller, a guitarist from Madison, WI, via Chicago, had come to Berkeley in October 1966. He had promptly sent for some band mates from Madison, since they could play blues better than any San Francisco band at the time. The Steve Miller Blues Band were soon booked regularly at the Avalon, the Fillmore, the New Orleans House in Berkeley and numerous other gigs around time. They played the blues, but in a free-flowing, jazzy way. Miller played lead guitar, sang and played harmonica, joined by Curley Cooke on guitar, Jim Peterman on organ, Tim Davis on Drums and vocals and Lonnie Turner on bass (from Berkeley's Second Coming band). 

The Red Crayola, from Houston, TX

The Red Crayola, featuring Mayo Thompson on guitar, were from Texas. The Red Crayola were freaks from Texas when that meant taking your life into your hand every day. Red Crayola were on International Artists Records, as were the infamous 13th Floor Elevators. The Red Crayola were not at all conventional. At the closing concert on July 4 at the 8500-capacity Greek Theatre, the band supposedly performed their Ice Block piece as their set.  Thompson and bassist Steve Cunningham jammed over a dripping ice block, which acted as the percussionist.  Sitting in was Berkeley guitar legend John Fahey, plugging in with someone else’s electric guitar.  Fahey mostly made electronic sounds rather than picking.

Electric Music For The Mind And Body, by Country Joe & The Fish, was released by Vanguard Records in May, 1967

Country Joe & The Fish, Berkeley's first, best and most famous psychedelic rock band headlined the Berkeley Folk Festival. Their debut album Electric Music For The Mind And Body had been released on Vanguard Records in May. It was getting played regularly on the new FM underground station, KMPX (106.9), and "Not So Sweet, Martha Lorraine" was even a kind of local Top 40 hit. The Berkeley quintet were regular performers at the Fillmore and Avalon, and starting to get known nationwide. Here they were, headlining the biggest gig in their home town. 

Berkeley's Cleanliness & Godliness Skiffle Band were not yet a rock band, although they would get a drummer and become one within a year. At this time the group was mostly acoustic and played skiffle music, which was the dancable version of Jug Band music, done New Orleans-style 


The New Age
were led by folksinger and guitarist Pat Kilroy, who had released a 1966 Elektra album called Light Of Day. He was joined by flautist Susan Graubard, who also played koto (a Japanese stringed instrument), and a conga player. They played ethereal acoustic psychedelic music. When you say "isn't guitar/flute/congas kind of typical New Age music?" you have to remember that no such genre existed. The New Age kind of invented New Age music, even if no one noticed it. They recorded an album for Warner Brothers, but Kilroy's unfortunate death from Hodgkins Lymphoma on Christmas 1967 caused it to be shelved. It was finally released in 2007. 

Oakland's Loading Zone had nothing to do with folk music, really, but they were one of the most popular local rock bands in the East Bay. Loading Zone had been founded out of a Berkeley band called The Marbles, and featured guitarists Steve Dowler and Pat Shapiro, with organ and vocals from ex-jazzer Paul Fauerso. Loading Zone was the first band to prove you could mix psychedelic guitar and organ solos on top of funky R&B, and that hippies would dance to it. The Zone kicked open a door walked through by Sly & The Family Stone and later Tower Of Power. We have looked at their complex history at great length elsewhere.

Mad River on stage somewhere (not likely Provo Park), circa 1967 or '68

July 2, 1967 Provo Park, Berkeley, CA: New Delhi River Band/Mad River/Sangeet/Hastings Street Opera (Sunday) free concert
Berkeley's "Provos," and off-shoot of The Diggers, had been putting on free concerts in the city's downtown part on Sundays, complete with free food. The park was officially named Constitution Park, but the Provos persuaded everyone to call it "Provo Park." Most people in Berkeley knew exactly nothing about the Irish Republican Army, but they didn't know the real name of the park, either, so you can still google "Provo Park" and it will point you to the corner of Allston Way and Grove Street (now Martin Luther King Jr Way).

The city of Berkeley had officially sanctioned the concerts earlier in the year, since they couldn't stop them anyway. This concert took place during the Folk Festival, when some of the Park regulars like Loading Zone were booked at the Festival itself. New groups would come to Berkeley from elsewhere, and had learned that if they played for free, they had a chance to get heard and possibly develop an audience for a paying gig. 

The New Delhi River Band were Palo Alto's second psychedelic blues band, and were popular in the South Bay and Santa Cruz County. They played in a style similar to the Butterfield Blues Band. Members included David Nelson and Dave Torbert, later in the New Riders Of The Purple Sage. The NDRB played numerous free concerts and benefits in the Berkeley area, but they never managed to build a paying audience in the East Bay

Mad River had arrived from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH in the Spring of 1967. They immediately fell into the Berkeley scene, living on Blake Street, playing at New Orleans House and Provo Park, and releasing their own EP record. Mad River had a feedback-drenched psychedelic sound, but they didn't "jam the blues" or play modified folk songs. Their carefully directed music had much in common with what would be called progressive rock. No one in Berkeley was ready for them in 1967.

Hastings Street Opera is unknown to me. The band name can be seen on a few Berkeley listings in the Barb during July '67. Hastings Street was at the center of the Detroit African-American business district. "Hastings Street Opera" was a famous record from the late 1940s. that was sort of a spoken word description of the scene, accompanied by blues piano. There were many bands from out of town in Berkeley and San Francisco during this summer, so possibly Hastings Street Opera was from elsewhere.

Sangeet is unknown to me. 

July 7, 1967 Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Strawberry Window (Friday)
Strawberry Window were a four piece Oakland-based band with Jack Eskrich and Marc Rich on guitars, Steve Wilson on bass and Andy Kennedy on drums. Two tracks recorded at Golden State Recorders were released on the Big Beat CD What A Way To Come Down. The band later changed their name to Dandelion Wine.

July 8, 1967 Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Mad River/Cleanliness and Godliness Skiffle Band/Hastings Street Opera (Saturday)  “We Won’t Go" Rock Dance Resistance Benefit
Students who rented Pauley Ballroom had to dedicate excess profits to a charity. While I'm sure the organizers and attendees didn't want to be drafted, the charities were required in order to book the show. It didn't necessarily mean that money was handed on.

July 9, 1967 Provo Park, Berkeley Country Joe and The Fish/Notes From The Underground/Second Coming/Haymarket Riot (Sunday) free concert
The Sunday after the Folk Festival, Country Joe & The Fish headlined a free concert in Provo Park. In this case, the band was probably looking to attact attention to their new album, as they were already Berkeley's most popular homegrown band.

Notes From The Underground had been regular performers at New Orleans House during the first part of the year. They, too, had released an EP, in their case on Arhoolie Records. While it didn't really sell any copies, it gave the band a certain level of credibility. In the 60s, bands that had released records seemed like "real groups," even if the records weren't popular. Ultimately, Notes From The Underground would release an album on Vanguard in 1968.

Second Coming was another Berkeley band who were regulars at the New Orleans House. For much of the Summer of '67, Second Coming played both Sunday and Monday at the club. Second Coming featured guitarist Vic Smith and David Lieberman, with Mike Lafferty on keyboards. John Francis Gunning, formerly of Country Joe & The Fish, was on drums, with Marc Pessar on bass.

Haymarket Riot was a band of Berkeley High School students. They would evolve into the group Lazarus.

July 9, 1967 Steppenwolf, Berkeley, CA: Country Joe & The Fish/Loading Zone/New Delhi River Band/Notes From The Underground (Sunday) Provo Bus Benefit
The Steppenwolf was a coffee shop and performance venue at 2136 San Pablo Avenue, just across University Avenue (between Addison and Allston). It was South of New Orleans House (at 1505), the Freight and Salvage (at 1827)  and Mandrake's (at University and 10th Street). The Steppenwolf mostly booked theater and folk music, but there were occasional rock shows there. 

Country Joe & The Fish were by now far too large for the Steppenwolf, but that wouldn't have stopped the band from doing a set. The Loading Zone and Notes From The Underground could probably have filled the Steppenwolf on their own. New Delhi River Band had less of a following in the East Bay, but were making a point of playing the higher profile gigs in town. The number of bands tells us that this was a real benefit, not a money-making gig masquerading as a charity show. The benefit seems to be to facilitate the Berkeley Provos purchase of a bus (the Provos were Berkeley's equivalent of San Francisco's Diggers).

On Monday and Tuesday (July 10 and 11), Loading Zone headlined the Steppenwolf for regular paying gigs. An intriguing, but utterly unknown-to-me band--this makes them really obscure, I assure you--called UFO played July 23. Notes From The Underground played Steppenwolf on Monday, July 24. Notes From The Underground had formerly been known as "UFO" but the band booked on Sunday, July 23 was listed in the Barb as "all-girl." Research continues....

July 12, 1967 Oakland Auditorium Arena, Oakland, CA: Grassroots/Moby Grape/E-Types/Harbinger Complex/Strawberry Window (Wednesday) moved to Oakland Auditorium
July 13, 1967 Oakland Auditorium Arena, Oakland, CA: The Doors/Chocolate Watch Band/Peter Wheat & The Breadmen/Mark and Stanley and The Fendermen
(Thursday) moved to Oakland Auditorium
The rock and roll business was still linked to teenagers, which meant that Madison Avenue did not take it seriously. A Tuna company sponsored two shows at the newly-opened Oakland Coliseum Arena. Patrons got half-off of their ticket ($1.50 v $3.00) with three White Star Tuna labels as proof-of-purchase. The stated purpose was to remind teenagers of White Star Tuna so they would buy it when they were young and married--presumably about a year later.

The Grassroots were pretty much invented by producers PF Sloan and Steve Barri (who had scored with "Eve Of Destruction," "Secret Agent Man" and others). When the single "Where Were You When I Needed You" became a late '65 hit, Sloan and Barri found a San Mateo group called The Bedouins to tour around as The Grass Roots. Sloan and Barri continued to record Grass Roots songs in the studio, and the former Bedouins resented that, so most of them quit. Sloan and Barri found a new group called The 13th Floor (not the Texan group 13th Floor Elevators), and they became the Grassroots, now as just one word. The Grassroots were led by bassist Rob Grill and guitarist Creed Bratton (who decades later was in The Office). By mid-67 they had a hit with "Let's Live For Today."

The Doors were huge, meanwhile, and getting huger. Their debut album had been released on Elektra in January, and the single "Break On Through" had been a big hit. By June, "Light My Fire" was an even bigger hit. FM rock radio had literally just started, with KMPX (106.9) going live with album tracks in April of '67, but outside of that all airplay was on Top 40 AM radio, so The Doors management pointed them towards the teenage market.

In fact, both shows were moved from the 15,000-capacity Coliseum Arena to the 5.400-capacity Oakland Auditorium Arena, 6 miles to the Northwest and near downtown Oakland. There was a problem with falling ceiling tiles that required the shows be moved, but they could only be moved to the much smaller venue if ticket sales were dismal. The concerts passed without notice in any of the newspapers, as rock concerts were not considered "art" worthy of review outside of at the Fillmore. 

By the time of the show, Moby Grape's name was more prominent than that of the Grassroots. Moby Grape had released their debut album in May, and Columbia had gone all in. In fact, Moby Grape was a great band, and Columbia thought they had the next Rolling Stones on their hand. The massive publicity, however, had the opposite effect, and Fillmore fans were suspicious of the hype. Playing a show for a Tuna company didn't give them any hippie cred, either, no matter how good they were (I have discussed this show and its implications in much greater detail elsewhere).



A flyer for the concert in Canyon, CA, on July 16, 1967 included a map. Although just a few miles from Berkeley, most Alameda County residents did not even realize the community existed.
July 16, 1967 Eucalyptus Grove, Canyon, CA Country Joe & The Fish/The Youngbloods/Blackburn & Snow/Notes From The Underground/Paul Arnoldi (Sunday) Benefit for Canyon General Store
The tiny, unincorporated community of Canyon lies just over the hill from the Montclair District in Oakland, a few twisty miles from Skyline Boulevard. The winding Pinehurst Road is the only road to Canyon, which has about 80 homes and 300 residents. Even today, most Berkeley and Oakland residents have no idea the community even exists, nor have never been there, since you can only go there on purpose.

The community was founded as a logging town in the 1850s, which makes it very old for California. Ultimately the redwoods got logged out, but a railroad company had built an electric line from Oakland to Sacramento. What was initially the Oakland, Antioch and Eastern Railway became the Sacramento Northern, a subsidiary of the Western Pacific line. In Oakland, the rail line ran over the Oakland Hills on the approximate path of today's CA-24. 

A 1931 route map of the Sacramento Northern Railway. Canyon at lower left.

Instead of going through the Caldecott Tunnel, however (as CA-24 does now), the Sacremanto Northern passed Lake Temescal and turned Southeast through Montclair (currently CA-13). It then headed East, up Shepherd Canyon and then through a mile-long tunnel that ended at a place called Eastport, now on the hairpin of Pinehurst drive. Canyon, a few miles South, was named for the Redwood Canyon. There were train stops at Canyon, Moraga and St. Mary's, so the Sacramento Northern was essential in developing Contra Costa County as a commuter suburb for Oakland and San Francisco. Meanwhile, the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) had purchased much of the land in the canyon. With the construction of the San Leandro Dam, EBMUD completed the Upper San Leandro Reservoir in 1926, intentionally flooding some existing small towns, and further isolating the community of Canyon.

Passenger service on the Sacramento Northern ended in 1941, although freight service lasted until the late '60s. The Eastport tunnel was sealed, and a landslide covered the entrance. Even as towns like Moraga exploded as suburbs, the thoroughly isolated Canyon became even more remote. By the 1960s, Canyon was a sort of hippie enclave, with an active group of avant-garde filmmakers (google "Canyon Cinematique"). There was one store in Canyon, but it had burned down. So the Berkeley bands got together to hold a benefit to rebuild the store. The flyers and ads had to include a map of the route to Canyon.

The Youngbloods were based in Cambridge, MA at this time. They spent six weeks on the West Coast during the Summer of '67, however. On this weekend, for example, they were booked at the Avalon (as they had been in June). The group had just released their second album Earth Music on RCA Records. The Youngbloods were a quartet fronted by singer (and bassist) Jesse Colin Young, guitarist (and singer) Jerry Corbitt, and Lowell "Banana" Levenger on steel guitar, banjo and piano. Their six-weeks on the West Coast were so fruitful that they moved to Marin County in September 1967, and the members remained there throughout the 20th century and beyond. 

Jeff Blackburn and Sherry Snow were managed by Frank Werber of Kingston Trio fame, and they were a folk-rock duo. Often they were backed by a few rock musicians on stage. Jeff Blackburn was later in Moby Grape and then The Ducks, and he wrote "Hey Hey My My" with Neil Young. Paul Arnoldi was a folksinger from Cambridge, where he had been a member of the Charles River Valley Boys (playing bluegrass versions of Beatles hits).  He was also a Berkeley graduate student.

Canyon is obscure, so we don't really know anything about the actual concert. It's still there, and East Bay residents don't know it exists. A few people I know from Moraga and Lafayette have told me that visiting Canyon is fairly odd--the locals aren't unfriendly, but they know you aren't local. I believe the Canyon General Store was rebuilt. I'm not aware of any other concerts in Canyon.

July 28, 1967 Cafetorium, Berkeley HS, Berkeley, CA: Notes From The Underground/Motor (Friday) 8pm-1am Berkeley Parks and Rec presents
Throughout 1967, there were numerous efforts to move the Provo Park scene indoors. Berkeley High School was contiguous with the Park itself. As for the "Cafetorium," most California public schools at the time had what was called a "Multi-Purpose Room" for eating, assembly, sports and other functions. I assume that the Cafetorium was Berkeley High's version of it. The show was presented by the Berkeley Parks and Recreation Department, and admission was 50 cents. The Barb listing says "Provo Lights," and a light show signals a Fillmore-style dance concert. It also says "bring spoons," which indicates soup would be served, another feature of the outdoor Provo Park shows.

Notes From The Underground and Motor had been regulars all year at the New Orleans House, Berkeley's first rock club. Guitarist Bob Zuckerman explained the history of Motor (personal email): 

My old band Motor was formed in 1966 by myself on guitar and my friend Stu Feldman on bass.  Our original lead singer was Paul Wright, drummer was Ralph (can’t remember his last name right now, I’ll get it to you with some stories later - ) and Greg Turman on lead guitar.  Paul left the group, and we reverted to a 4 piece.  We wrote almost all of our own material, which was heavily sarcastic/humorous/political, as well as a few rock standards, blues, etc.  We  performed every Sunday for about two years at the so called Provo Park along with the Loading Zone, and many other groups.  Stu was the guy who did the bookings (bands, times, dates).  We played at all of the stop the draft week rallies, people’s park rallies, as well as local clubs.  The New Orleans House was one of our regulars.

July 30, 1967 Provo Park, Berkeley, CA: Loading Zone/New Delhi River Band/Lee Schipper/Anonymous Artists Of America (Sunday) free concert
Berkeley was pretty quiet for the Summer of '67. San Francisco was crowded with the Summer of Love, and there were numerous rock shows at the ballrooms and for free, so Berkeley rock fans had plenty to see elsewhere.

Anonymous Artists Of America had been formed at Stanford University in 1966, where the members were students, or else employed there Their name was a play on the idea that everyone was an artist. They lived in a rambling old mansion in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and had some equipment that had been given to them by Ken Kesey's Pranksters. Among the members was Sara Ruppenthal Garcia, Jerry's now-separated wife. 

Lee Schipper (1947-2011) was a local modern jazz musician, playing vibes. He also earned a PhD in astrophysics from UC Berkeley, and worked at Lawrence labs for decades. A vibe-playing astrophysicist is as Berkeley as can be.

August 4, 1967 Cafetorium, Berkeley HS, Berkeley, CA: Loading Zone/Second Coming (Friday)

A flyer for the opening of Bill Quarry's Concord Coliseum, at 1825 Salvio Street, with the Chocolate Watch Band on August 4, 1967

August 4, 1967 Concord Coliseum, Concord, CA: Chocolate Watch Band/Harbinger Complex/Virtues
(Friday) Bill Quarry and Bill Vavrick Present
Bill Quarry had been one of the principal rock concert promoters in the East Bay, with his "Teens N Twenties" (TNT) company. Their principal venue had been at a roller skating rink in San Leandro, The Rollarena. In 1966 and through July 1967, Quarry had put on rock shows every Friday night at the 2000-capacity venue. Mostly they featured local East Bay bands playing cover versions, and appealed to the teenagers who cruised East 14th Street in San Leandro, just like in American Graffiti. Sometimes, though, the Rollarena had exciting headliners, like Them, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield or Jefferson Airplane. Still, by 1967, those San Leandro teenagers wanted to go the Fillmore or Avalon, and see the real thing rather than cover bands. The Rollarena faded away by July 1967.

Quarry's next major venture was East of Berkeley, just across the hills, in Contra Costa County. Towns like Concord and Walnut Creek were booming and full of teenagers, as well, even if Walnut Creek was still full of walnut groves in those days. Parents in Contra Costa weren't too thrilled with letting their teenagers borrow the family station wagon and go to the Fillmore, so Bill Quarry planned to bring the Fillmore to Contra Costa County. The Concord Coliseum was at 1825 Salvio Street. It was a converted supermarket, apparently, with a casual, unfinished feel. There was barely a stage, and long-ago fans report that they could pretty much look bands in the eye. 

Many of the groups that played Concord Coliseum were the local bands who played many of the TNT dances. Still, there were some Fillmore-level headliners. Chocolate Watch Band, for example, was easily the best band in the thriving San Jose market, and absolute rockers on stage. As for the other opening night bands, Harbinger Complex was a Rolling Stones type band from Oakland, managed by Quarry, and the Virtues were from Contra Costa. They would later evolve into the band Country Weather. 

I have written at length about the forgotten history of the Concord Coliseum, as well as about other venues in the Concord area during the 60s. The Concord Coliseum to some extent ensured that Berkeley was not going to draw significant numbers of teenage fans from Contra Costa County. Of course, any Concord teenagers who could borrow the family car and get through the Caldecott Tunnel, with or without permission, was probably going all the way to San Francisco anyway.

August 5, 1967 Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley, CA: Melvin Q Watchpocket/Second Coming/Skins (Saturday)
Melvin Q Watchpocket was a Berkeley band featuring guitarist Charlie Cockey, formerly of The Jaywalkers. At various times Watchpocket had backed Dino Valenti (when he wasn’t in jail) and was also affiliated with Moby Grape/Airplane manager Mathew Katz.  Also in the band were bassist Ralph Burns Kellogg and guitarist Bruce Stephens (and presumably a drummer). Kellogg and Stephens were from the Sacramento area, and they would go on to form Mint Tattoo and later join Blue Cheer.

The Skins were an occasional group that featured four conga players. Typically they played between sets at the Fillmore. Local jazz vibraphonist Ulysses S Crockett was a sometime member of The Skins. 

August 25, 1967 Cafetorium, Berkeley HS, Berkeley, CA: Motor/Hastings Street Opera (Friday)

August 27, 1967 Provo Park, Berkeley, CA: free concert (Sunday)
The Berkeley Barb did not list any bands, but invited readers to "come and be happy."

Purple Earthquake guitarist Robbie Dunbar at the Berkeley Teen Center, ca 1966 (photo from Cream Puff War #2)

September 1, 1967 Cafetorium, Berkeley HS, Berkeley, CA: Purple Earthquake/Colours
(Friday)
Purple Earthquake had formed in 1966 at Berkeley High School. After various evolutions, they would go on to become the group Earth Quake. As Earth Quake, the band would release two early-70s album on A&M Records, and then started their own label Beserkley Records. Earth Quake would be anchors of the East Bay club scene throughout the 1970s. Purple Earthquake and Earth Quake were inspired by hard-driving British invasion bands like the Yardbirds, rather than jamming the blues like other Bay Area bands. Guitarist Robbie Dunbar and bassist Stan Miller were in Purple Earthquake and Earth Quake for the entire life of the band.

Colours is unknown to me. 

September 3, 1967 Provo Park, Berkeley, CA: Motor/Hastings Street Opera/Crystal C (Sunday) free concert
Crystal C is unknown to me. 

September 10, 1967 Provo Park, Berkeley, CA: Mad River/Notes From Underground/Savage Resurrection/Hades Blues Works (Sunday) free concert
Savage Resurrection were mostly teenager band from Richmonc, led by then-16-year-old guitarist Randy Hammon, a cousin of Blue Cheer drummer Paul Whaley. They would release their only album on Mercury Records in 1968.

Hades Blues Works was from Berkeley. In various forms they would be part of the Berkeley club scene until 1973. There is a recording of them from 1971. 

September 17, 1967 Provo Park, Berkeley, CA: Cleanliness and Godliness Skiffle Band/New Delhi River Band/Strawberry Window (Sunday) free concert

On the weekend of September 22, yet another rock venue opened in Alameda County, this time far South of Berkeley. The Yellow Brick Road opened in Fremont, then a somewhat rural town dominated by the Ford factory (now a Tesla plant). The Yellow Brick Road was focused on teenage rock fans, and modeled on The Barn in Scotts Valley. Fremont seems like an odd place for a psychedelic outpost, but there were intrigued teenagers all over the Bay Area


A Berkeley Barb display ad for Initial Shock's performance on Sunday, September 24 in Provo Park

September 24, 1967 Provo Park, Berkeley, CA Initial Shock/others
(Sunday) free concert
Initial Shock was newly arrived from Montana. Guitarist Bill ‘Mojo’ Collins had been assigned to an Air Force base there, and had stayed there for a while to play lucrative bar gigs. The band eventually left Montana for warmer weather and a chance to make it bigger. Initial Shock arrived in the Bay Area with a pretty concrete plan for success. They immediately started to play free concerts, and had the foresight to take out an ad in the Berkeley Barb (above), to make sure they got noticed.  

September 29, 1967 Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Second Coming/Motor (Friday)

Berkeley and East Bay Rock Concerts, October-December 1967
In the beginning of 1967, it was clear that Berkeley and the East Bay were competing with San Francisco as a locus for rock concerts. Certainly Berkeley, Oakland and the East Bay suburbs were contributing a huge number of rock fans to the Fillmore, Avalon and elsewhere. Berkeley now had its first permanent rock club, New Orleans House, North of campus at 1505 San Pablo Avenue, so there was a regular place for original rock bands to play. Yet no venue really took hold, nor did any one promoter.

In mid-1967, the 3500-seat Berkeley Community Theater was too large for most rock shows, and the newly-opened Oakland Coliseum Arena was way out of scale. That would change by 1968, but in Fall '67 neither were really viable. UC Berkeley buildings, like Pauley Ballroom, had their own scheduling conflicts and other barriers, and no Fillmore-size venue found any traction in Berkeley or anywhere near it. 

There were still some rock concerts in Berkeley and the East Bay in the Fall of 1967, but for the time being the action was mainly in San Francisco.

October 1, 1967 Greek Theatre, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Charles Lloyd/Grateful Dead/Bola Sete (Sunday) ASUC Presents Potpourri 1:00pm show.
One of the biggest Berkeley rock shows in the Fall of '67 was actually disguised as a jazz show. Based on the metadata, it looks like UC Berkeley would finance a jazz show, so some clever hippies managed to get the Grateful Dead on the bill with Charles Lloyd and Bola Sete. Note that the poster does not suggest that the Dead are a rock band, and they aren't holding electric instruments. Besides being a paying gig, the Dead were probably quite pleased to be on the bill--they were friendly with Charles Lloyd, and Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh, at least, wanted to be taken seriously. The show was booked for the afternoon. Phil Elwood of the Examiner reviewed the show, and said about 5000 attended. Elwood said that the Lloyd group was great, but that the Dead weren't particularly exciting (save for Garcia), and did not inspire the crowd to dance.

The Grateful Dead on stage at UC Berkeley's Greek Theatre, October 1, 1967. Note that there is only one drummer, and that there are only six amps in the backline, one near Pigpen, and four as the PA, a few less than they would bring in later decades. Old Deadheads will also note folding chairs right up to the lip of the stage, instead of the general admission pit of the 1980s.

With respect to the history of the Grateful Dead, this was the first of their 29 appearances at the Greek Theatre. In general, the 8500-capacity bowl was too large for rock events at the time, and in any case as a University facility, its availability was often limited. Nonetheless, even at the time, the location, sightlines and superior acoustics of the Greek were widely recognized. We know from Elwood's review that the Dead played for an hour. Our only other evidence is a photo of the band onstage (above). 

The photo tells us a number of interesting things. First of all, it is an article of faith in Deadhead lore that Mickey Hart jammed with the Dead for the second set at the Straight Theater in San Francisco on September 30, 1967, and was immediately asked to join the band. While that is certainly true, here is a photo of the gig from the very next day and there is only one drummer. So at the very least it tells us that Hart did not actually join the band on stage immediately. It is generally thought that Hart's first on-stage performance as a regular member of the band was November 10 at the Shrine in Los Angeles. 

Second, and more telling for anyone who either saw the Grateful Dead at the Greek in the 1980s, or quite frankly has seen any rock act at the Greek since then, look at how few amplifiers there are for the Dead. I count six amps in the back-line, plus one just to Pigpen's right. Whether that amp was just for Pig or something like a monitor isn't clear. We also see two pairs of amps on either side of the stage. Presumably they sent out the vocals and drums, but did they also reinforce the sound of the guitars and organ? If they did, I don't see any cables from the backline to the side of the stage, so I don't know how they would have done it (incidentally, Owsley would not rejoin the band as soundman until August 2, 1968, so it's not his fault).

For one thing, the Dead would have been considerably quieter than they would be in later years, with their towers of speakers. More interestingly, however, most Deadheads have a distinct impression of how the 1967 Dead sounded, based mainly on a few surviving board tapes from that era. The stage configuration that we see, however, suggests a very different sound. Given the relative size of the Greek and the limited number of amps, the sound may have varied dramatically based on where you might have been sitting. Some instruments may have been barely audible in some parts of the bowl, possibly accounting for the dry reception noted by Elwood. 

Still, Elwood reported that 5000 attended the show, so it must have been a relative success, even if UC Berkeley did not have a direct economic stake in the result.

October 6-8, 13-15, 1967 Little Theater, Live Oak Park, Berkeley, CA: Light Sound Dimension (Friday-Sunday)
Live Oak Park, at 1301 Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley (roughly encompassed by Shattuck, Walnut, Rose and Eunice), had been a park since the 19th century. By the 20th century, there was a community center and public gardens. A small theater was also in the park. Bill Ham, an original Family Dog partner and a light show pioneer, had put together an ensemble that presented lights and music as a performance separate from touring rock bands. The group was called Light Sound Dimension (hey--get it?), and presented shows at different places for extended runs. In October, they had a run at the Little Theater in Live Oak Park.

The musical accompaniment for Light Sound Dimension was provided by jazz musicians with their foot in the rock world. The standard lineup was Fred Marshall on 8-string bass, Jerry Granelli on drums (ex-Vince Guaraldi) and Noel Jewkes on saxophone. Later in the year, Light Sound Dimension had an extended runs in San Francisco at The Audium (at 309 4th Avenue) and at 1572 California (near Polk), but it never really got traction. Light shows had been an essential part of the early Fillmore and Avalon scene, but even by 1967 fans were far more interested in the music rather than the stage presentation.

October 8, 1967 Provo Park, Berkeley, CA: Second Coming/Zuckerman Clavichord/Liquid Blues Band (Sunday) free 2 pm
Initially, the Provo Park free concerts had been a prime opportunity for bands looking to attract fans. That was still true, but as the record companies moved in and the San Francisco market expanded, established Berkeley bands had less incentive to play for free in the park. 

It appears Second Coming broke up after this booking. Guitarist Vic Smith would go on to form Sky Blue, and later Grootna.  I don't know anything about Zuckerman Clavichord, but I do know that guitarist Bob Zuckerman (from Motor, and later Deacon and The Suprelles) was not a member. Liquid Blues Band is unknown to me.

October 9, 1967 Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Lightnin' Hopkins/Cleanliness & Godliness Skiffle Band/Clifton Chenier and His Louisiana Zydeco Band (Monday) Pretentious Folk Front Presents
In general, my Berkeley rock concert history has avoided noting folk, jazz and blues bookings, since otherwise the narrative would come unglued. Oddly, however, this blues booking at Pauley Ballroom has a peculiar Berkeley rock history angle, and that's my beat. UC Berkeley had (and probably still has) a provision that approved student organizations can use University facilities for a nominal fee. Thus, for example, the newly-formed Rhetoric Students Association could use a Department Lounge to show a movie (to pick an example purely at random, of course, and even received funds to pay for the rental (the movie was the 1968 documentary Revolution). Back on November 5, 1965 Country Joe McDonald and Barry Melton had played their first indoor show on the UC Berkeley Campus, in the main lecture hall of the Life Sciences Building (known as "2000 LSB" to generations of Berkeley undergraduates). Headlining the event were poet Allen Ginsberg and New York folk activists The Fugs.

The Pretentious Folk Front presented The Fugs and Country Joe and The Fish at 2000 LSB on November 5, 1965. Joe and Barry had not yet "gone electric."

In order to use 2000 LSB, a student group had to ask for it. Bass player Richard Saunders, then a UC undergraduate, formed a group called The Pretentious Folk Front. Saunders joined Joe and Barry too, making them an acoustic trio. On April 29, 1967, the Pretentious Folk Front reappeared to sponsor a show at Hearst Gym, the women's facility, with Country Joe & The Fish and the Cleanliness and Godliness Skiffle Band. Saunders, still an undergraduate, was by this time a member of the CGSB. Here in Fall '67, the Pretentious Folk Front made a final appearance, with the CGSB supporting the blues of Lightnin' Hopkins and Zydeco with Clifton Chenier. Saunders graduated in 1968 and became an engineer for BART.

October 13, 1967 Lower Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Mad River (Friday) Send-off for Caravan for Washington, sponsored by Campus Mobilization Committee
In UC-Berkeley speak, what is properly named Sproul Plaza is often called "Upper Sproul." Down a staircase to the West is a paved area known as "Lower Sproul," currently bracketed by the Student Union building, Eshleman Hall, a cafe and the Zellerbach Auditorium. Lower Sproul had been constructed in the early 1960s, and by '67 was complete save for Zellerbach. The space that would hold Zellerbach (on the Western edge) was still a grassy softball field. UC liked to use Lower Sproul for public events, often including rock bands. I myself saw many rock bands for free at lunchtime shows at Lower Sproul in the late 70s.

Of course, the reason the University liked rock shows in Lower Sproul was that it drowned out any protests being held in the more public Upper Sproul. A loud rock band drew a bigger crowd of casual undergraduates than any protest. In this case, there was a formal anti-war event, with the concert approved by the University. The Administration saw this as a lesser evil than an unsponsored, and thus uncontrollable, demonstration in Upper Sproul. While Mad River's members were surely opposed to the Vietnam War, and played many activist events, they were certainly aware that playing a protest event helped build their audience, too.

October 15, 1967 Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley, CA: The Doors/Notes From The Underground/The Generation (Sunday) 3:00 pm and 7:30 pm Del-Bar Productions with MC-Tom Donahue
The Doors, meanwhile, were bigger than ever. "Light My Fire" had been huge, and in September 1967 the band released their second album, Strange Days." The single "People Are Strange" would reach #3 on the Billboard charts. By late '67, The Doors had broken out of the underground, as the handsome Morrison had been picked up by the likes of 16 Magazine. This popularity affected the Doors credibility somewhat in the late 60s, but over time this sort of imaginary dispute has been forgotten. At this time, Tom Donahue was the prime-time dj at KMPX-fm, the very first underground "free-form" rock radio station.

With two shows, that meant The Doors were selling 7000 tickets, including a Sunday night show. Opening the show were Notes From The Underground, who counted as a hip local band.  The Generation were from Redwood City (on the Peninsula), featuring singer Lydia Pense. Pense and others in The Generation would go on to form Cold Blood. According to no less an authority than Bill Champlin, The Generation were the first Bay Area band to play rock with a horn section, and they set the table for many bands to follow, including The Sons of Champlin, Tower of Power and The Loading Zone themselves (who had a horn section by late 1967).


October 21, 1967 Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland, CA: Righteous Brothers (Saturday)
The Righteous Brothers were a "blue-eyed soul" duo, white men singing Rhythm & Blues. Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield had joined forces in 1963. They had scored big hits with "Little Latin Lupe Lu" in 1963, and their classic "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" in 1964. Their show was only the third rock concert at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, which had only opened in Fall of 1966. Paul Revere and The Raiders had played there on February 18, and Eric Burdon and The Animals had headlined an absolute debacle of a concert on March 25. Per the review, only 4000 of the 15,000+ seats were filled. The Coliseum Arena was really too large for rock music at the time.

Nobody reviewed the likes of Paul Revere or The Righteous Brothers, as the concerts were considered personal appearances rather than artistic presentations. We have no idea how it sold, how the sound was, or who the opening acts here. The one revealing detail here is that whoever the promoters were, they put an ad in the hip Berkeley Barb, with the semiotics of a psychedelic concert at the Fillmore. Hippies liked soul music, too, and an ad in the Barb was the best way to reach them.

October 27, 1967 [Gym], Cal State Hayward, Hayward, CA: Big Brother and The Holding Company/Good Nabors (Friday)
In California, the psychedelic rock scene grew out of folk music scenes at places like San Francisco State, San Jose State, Stanford and UC Berkeley. The local folkies turned on, plugged in and found a drummer, and psychedelic blues bands were born. Big Brother And The Holding Company had Peninsula folk roots, for example, and Janis Joplin and bassist Peter Albin had played folk clubs in the Peninsula, South Bay and San Francisco. By 1967, Mainstream Records had released the band's debut album, recorded the previous year and already outdated. Still, songs like "Down On Me" and "Combination Of The Two" gave an audio clue of how powerful Janis and Big Brother could be. I assume the show was in the Gym, which likely could absorb about 2000. During this period, Big Brother played a lot of shows at junior colleges and similar schools in California. Within two years, Janis Joplin would be far too big for such gigs.

Hayward was 20 miles South of Berkeley, roughly between Oakland and San Jose. The population had grown steadily as the Bay Area expanded. In 1960, Hayward had 72,000 people, and by 1970 it would have 93,000 (in 2020 it had 162,000). Cal State Hayward had opened in 1959 as Alameda County State College. The new campus in the Hayward foothills, at 25800 Carlos Bee Boulevard, had opened in 1961. By 1963 the school had been re-named Cal State Hayward and had started to expand (today California State University, East Bay has 13,000 students). There's no doubt that Cal State Hayward students in 1967 had long hair and liked rock music, but the recent vintage of the school meant there wasn't a bohemian core of dropout folk musicians to go psychedelic, like at other schools. So there was the occasional rock show at Cal State Hayward, but the school wasn't a regular venue. UC Berkeley students and hippies would never venture down to Hayward, anyway, so presumably Hayward students got their rock and roll doses in San Francisco, like everyone else. 

Opening act Good Nabors was presumably a local band, but they are unknown to me.   

November 4, 1967 Walden Center, Berkeley, CA: Loading Zone/The Generation (Saturday) 1:00-4:00 pm.
The Walden Center was (and is) a private school in Berkeley, at 2446 McKinley (between Dwight and Channing). The school had been founded in 1958 by Conscientious Objectors. I presume this was a fundraiser or benefit of some type. 

Status Report: Berkeley At The End of 1967
By November, 1967, the city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley and Oakland are no longer hosts to significant rock concerts, the kind that feature bands with records. There are folk and blues shows at the Berkeley Community Theater, and there are rock shows most nights at New Orleans House, Berkeley's only rock club. But there are no viable venues for rock promoters in Berkeley and Oakland. Berkeley Community Theater and Oakland Coliseum Arena are too large for the rock market, and the Fillmore and Avalon are more popular venues for East Bay hippies and college students anyway. Some of the major bands start recording or going on national tours, and are no longer available to play smaller weekend gigs at places like Pauley Ballroom.

By late 1968, the Berkeley rock concert scene will change dramatically. Bill Graham will move from the Fillmore to the much larger Fillmore West, to accommodate the growing rock market. Berkeley Community Theater will no longer seem unreasonably large. As rock explodes, enormously popular bands like Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience and Blind Faith will be able to pack the Coliseum. By the end of 1969, the Rolling Stones will sell out two shows at the Coliseum. But for 1967, the rock concert had retreated in the Berkeley, Oakland and Alameda County.

[Hoist a pint--at the Rifle Volunteer pub, if you can--for friend, co-conspirator and inspiration Ross Hannan. As the fate of this blog and Chicken On A Unicycle are now beyond my powers, future posts in this series will be on my Rock Archaeology blog]

Other Posts in the East Bay Concert Series

 Berkeley and East Bay Concerts, September-December 1965 (Berkeley I)

 Berkeley and East Bay Concerts, January-March 1966 (Berkeley II)

 Berkeley and East Bay Concerts, April-June 1966 (Berkeley III)

Berkeley and East Bay Concerts, July-September 1966 (Berkeley IV)

Berkeley and East Bay Concerts, October-December 1966 (Berkeley V) 

Berkeley and East Bay Concerts, January-March 1967 ('67 Berkeley III)

Berkeley and East Bay Concerts, April-June 1967 ('67 Berkeley VI)

Provo Park, Berkeley Concerts, 1967-69

For the previous post in the '67 Berkeley series (July 12, 1967 Oakland Auditorium Arena), see here

For the Berkeley, Oakland and East Bay Rock History Navigation Tracker, see here

Chicken On A Unicycle

 

 

 

 

Friday, 4 October 2024

July 12, 1967 Oakland Auditorium, 10 10th Street, Oakland, CA: Grass Roots/Moby Grape "Crepuscular Happening" ('67 Berkeley VIII)


An ad for two promotional concerts booked at the Oakland Coliseum Arena for July 12 and 13, 1967, featuring the Grass Roots and The Doors. Both shows were moved to the smaller Oakland Auditorium.

1967 was the Summer Of Love in San Francisco. Whether you approved or disapproved, then or now, it was a central event in the ontogeny of rock music. The Fillmore and The Avalon stamped out the blueprint for live rock concerts in 1966, and it went worldwide in '67. Bands played for free in the park, bands proposed revolution and advocated mind expansion. And it wasn't just Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead or Country Joe & The Fish--Paul McCartney and George Harrison both visited San Francisco, the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's, the Stones released Their Satanic Majesties Request and Eric Burdon even recalled a warm San Francisco night. The Summer of '67 in San Francisco can rightly be called a golden time.

Yet the world did not change overnight in 1967. There were still teenagers in the suburbs, even in the Bay Area, and the powerful forces of commerce and entertainment that had been ascendant in popular music for at least a decade remained dominant. The Fillmore and the Avalon were still just an underground scene, even if one that was expanding. Meanwhile, above ground, the powers-that-be thought everything was business as usual.

Two rock concerts were booked for the new Oakland Coliseum Arena on July 12 and 13, 1967 at the height of the Summer Of Love. The first night featured the Grassroots, initially supported by super-cool Moby Grape. The second night was headlined by The Doors, riding high on their debut album and their epic #1 single "Light My Fire." These concerts were big deals, the kind of shows that should have been fondly recalled by everyone who attended as the coming of age of hot rock bands in their prime, at a time when legends walked among us all.

The concerts seemed to have bombed. There is almost no trace of the event, save some notices that the concerts were moved at the last minute to the much smaller Oakland Auditorium. This post will look at these two concerts, and determine why two shows that would have killed it at the Fillmore were still such  massive stiffs.

RCA Records released Surrealistic Pillow by Jefferson Airplane in February 1967

State Of Play, Summer of '67
According to everyone who was there, 1966 was the real Summer Of Love. Cool bands playing at the Fillmore or Avalon, or free in the park, people hanging out,  all while straight people didn't even know what LSD was. The Haight-Ashbury was the most famous, but there were cool underground scenes on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, in Greenwich Village, in Cambridge, MA, in Vancouver and some other places. The record companies caught on, and the scenes started to merge in 1967. Sunset Strip and Greenwich Village bands played San Francisco, and vice versa. Record companies were everywhere, signing up every handsome hippie with a guitar and a band. Some good records were made, too, in between some forgettable ones.

High school kids out in the suburbs were catching on to the fact that something was happening out there. In the Bay Area, a lot of parents who would let their teenagers borrow the family station wagon still didn't want them to go to big, bad San Francisco at night. But kids were starting to hear some stuff, even on Top 40 radio; what pill was the one that makes you larger, and what was the one that makes you small? When you looked at albums, even in the Rexall Drug Store, some of those covers had bands that didn't at all look like "entertainers," but like colorful free spirits, or maybe just weirdos. 

The Doors had hit it big with "Break On Through" and then "Light My Fire." Jefferson Airplane, with their mysteriously titled album, had scored with "Somebody To Love" and "White Rabbit." Something was happening, even if they didn't know what it was. Madison Avenue smelled it, too, and figured out that whatever the hippies were up to, maybe it was a good way to sell stuff to teenagers and young adults. Rock concerts were popular, so why not use popular rock bands to sell stuff to teenagers? Makes sense. Sure. Let's do it.

 

Berkeley Gazette Article, July 7 '67, clearly sourced from a press release

Tuna Canner Promotes Program (Berkeley Gazette July 7 '67)
A "Crepuscular Happening" is scheduled July 12 and 13 at the Oakland Coliseum headlining "The doors" and "The Grass Roots" in a promotion that is unique in two respects: price and sponsor.

White Star Tuna is behind the promotion in an attempt to acquaint the teen-age set with their label and house, the price, $1.50 and three White Star Tuna labels.
A spokesman for the Van Camp Sea Food company pointed that the only thing they were really interested in was giving the teen-agers an exciting evening--one that would be remembered later when , as young marrieds, they'd buy tuna at the grocers.

Other groups joining the "Crepuscular Happening" include "E Types" "Harbinger Complex" and "Strawberry Window" on the July 12 program and "Chocolate Watchband," "Peter Wheat" and "Mark and Stanley and The Fendermen" on July 13.

Tickets for the top entertainment bargain of the summer on sale at Bay Tickets, Kaiser Center Mall; Downtown Center Boxoffice, San Francisco.
The Oakland Coliseum Complex had been completed in 1966. The stadium had been planned as the home for the AFL Oakland Raiders, who had debuted there in September 1966. The Oakland Athletics, relocated from Kansas City, would debut on April 17, 1968. Across the parking lot, the glassy cage of the Oakland Coliseum Arena, seating 15,000 or more, had opened in December 1966 with the traveling Ice Follies show. Initially it had mostly featured sporting events--ice hockey (the Oakland Seals), boxing, track and so on--and a few musical events. Henry Mancini had conducted the Oakland Symphony (January 4, 1967), then trumpeter Al Hirt played (February 11), and then the first rock concert with Paul Revere and The Raiders (February 18, 1967). East Bay promoter Bill Quarry had produced a multi-act show headlined by Eric Burdon And The Animals on March 25, but it had been a complete debacle. Per the Examiner review, only 4000 had showed up. The sound was terrible and the crowd was bored

By 1967, Madison Avenue had caught on to the fact that teenagers liked the hip new rock groups. The Doors had migrated from being an underground Sunset Strip band to popular teen idols, with Jim Morrison's photo prominent in 16 Magazine. From an advertising point of view, it made sense to try and link popular rock groups with products for sale. What today we would call "Performance Art" was then called "A Happening." A "Crepuscalar" creature is one that prefers twilight to the night (Nocturnal) or day (Diurnal). A Crepuscular Happening sounds cool, if you're a middle-aged ad man who doesn't understand his own kids. 

I don't think that many teenagers read the Berkeley Gazette, so it wasn't that they would have been directly affected by the language of the sponsors. Nonetheless it is still surprising to read out loud. They want teenagers to have to get White Star Tuna labels so that they will remember the brand when they are young and married. Now, sure, maybe some young Doors fan was hoping to get lucky after the show, and would impregnate his girlfriend, get married, get a job at the Ford plant and then--after baby made three--recall White Star Tuna when they went to Safeway. But that's not what either boys or girls were dreaming of when they thought about rock and roll.

Sixties rock music was the beginning of popular music as a form of identity and self-expression. Prior to Bob Dylan and the Beatles, rock music was for dancing and driving. By 1967, it was about who you were and how you felt. Even if you thought, or think, that the self-expression was just another Madison Avenue illusion, having your identity as a marker for Tuna brands at the grocery store doesn't have that rock and roll feel to it. No one puts a White Star Tuna sticker on their bedroom wall. When you promoted underground rock and roll bands, even "underground" ones on huge corporate labels with massive national distribution, the link to the marketplace had to be offstage. Oakland wasn't San Francisco, but it wasn't that far off. 

Let's Live For Today by The Grassroots. The album was released in 1967 on Dunhill Records.

July 12, 1967 Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland, CA: Grass Roots/Moby Grape/E-Types/Harbinger Complex/Strawberry Window (Wednesday)
July 13, 1967 Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland, CA: The Doors/Chocolate Watch Band/Peter Wheat & The Breadmen/Mark and Stanley and The Fendermen
(Thursday)
While the headline acts at the two "White Star" concerts had some Fillmore credibility, the supporting acts were all part of the East Bay teen circuit. The fact that there were four or more acts for each show was a mark of a teenage show, rather than a Fillmore one. At the Fillmore or Avalon, there were typically three bands, each playing two sets. The headliner would play the third and sixth (final) set of the night. The entire show ran for several hours, with suburban teenagers often arriving and leaving early, and late night trippers arriving late and staying late. Teen shows were more like High School dances, with shorter sets.

The structure of the White Star shows mimics shows produced by Bill Quarry's TNT Productions. He had regularly produced shows on Friday nights at the 2000-capacity Rollarena in San Leandro, a roller skating rink. By mid-67, the Rollarena had been shoved aside as suburban teenagers preferred to see the cool bands at the Fillmore. The supporting acts at these two concerts regularly played TNT events, and often played a lot of covers of Rolling Stones' songs and the likes, popular tunes that were easy to dance to. 

The Grassroots had an only-in-the-60s saga. Two LA producers, PF Sloan and Steve Barri ("Eve Of Destruction," "Secret Agent Man"), had recorded a single with some promise. "Where Were You When I Needed You" had been credited to the Grass Roots, but no such band existed. When the single hit in late 1965, Sloan and Barri recruited a San Mateo band called The Bedouins, winners of the 1965 San Mateo County Teenage Fair Battle Of The Bands, to become The Grass Roots. The Bedouins then toured around as The Grass Roots. They split with Sloan & Barri, however, when the producers refused to let the band record any new tracks for their first album on Dunhill Records, preferring to record them in LA without them. The band members had quit by Fall '66.

Sloan & Barri recruited a new band from Los Angeles, called the 13th Floor (not the Texan 13th Floor Elevators, to be clear), and made them the "new" Grass Roots. Guitarist Creed Bratton (later well-known as an actor) and bassist Rob Grill fronted the new lineup. By Summer 1967, their hit "Let's Live For Today" was climbing the charts. The Grass Roots weren't at all underground, but they had a slim patina of Fillmore cred associated with them, since they had played there various times. 

Moby Grape's debut album on Columbia was released in May 1967

Moby Grape
had been formed more or less out of thin air by ex-Jefferson Airplane manager Matthew Katz. They were five experienced rock and rollers who could all sing, play and write songs, and were good looking to boot. They had debuted at the Fillmore and Avalon in early '67, and they were the hot band in town. Columbia snapped them up, and staff producer David Rubinson recorded a killer debut album. Moby Grape seemed to be on the heels of Jefferson Airplane and others, a great, hip happening band coming out of San Francisco. 

Moby Grape could have been special, but Columbia got everything wrong. They released every track on the album on five simultaneous singles, and had huge, cheesy promotions. Columbia rented out the Avalon for a promotional party, with several hundred bottles of specially labeled "Moby Grape Wine." No one remembered to bring any corkscrews, however, which pretty much sums up the Moby Grape story. The next morning, three members of Moby Grape were arrested in the Marin headlands, accused of contributing to the delinquency of a 17-year old girl (to be fair, the members have never denied attempting to contribute to her delinquency).

Hip San Francisco didn't trust Columbia's hype. Moby Grape was great, actually, but fans were suspicious. In an underground scene, credibility comes from authenticity. Appearing at a concert sponsored by White Star Tuna was the kind of underground thing that the Grateful Dead or Quicksilver wouldn't have done. Country Joe & The Fish would have protested White Star Tuna. Moby Grape couldn't get anything right, for all their fine music and good intentions. 

The E-Types were from Salinas, and sounded like the Beatles. They were popular in San Jose and the South Bay. Harbinger Complex were from Fremont, and sounded like the Rolling Stones. They were managed by Bill Quarry, one of the markers of his handprints on the bill. Strawberry Window were from Oakland. They would change their name to Dandelion Wine in 1968, because it sounded more psychedelic.

The Doors headlined Thursday night. They had been the coolest band on West Hollywood's Sunset Strip in Summer '66, and had recorded their debut for Elektra in the Fall. When the album was released in January 1967, the Doors were already an established underground live attraction in Southern and Northern California. "Break On Through" was an AM hit, and in June "Light My Fire" was an even bigger hit. The Doors came to the attention of 16 Magazine, one of the few ways to expand beyond the West Coast underground. The Doors grappled with whether they were going to be cool or just popular, but at least they had been cool to start with. 

San Jose was full of teenagers, and had a thriving rock scene of its own. Chocolate Watch Band were one of the anchors of that scene, with some local hits and albums on the Tower label. They were a great live band, too. Due to some rivalries between the Watch Band's manager (Ron Roupe) and Bill Graham, they never got the opportunities they deserved at the Fillmore. Appearing at a White Star concert didn't actually help them on this front, although they were reputedly great live. 

Peter Wheat and The Breadmen were another popular teen band, performing Stones-style music dressed as bread delivery men. Mark and Stanley and The Fendermen were another East Bay cover band, popular in the Alameda County suburbs.

A poster for a James Brown concert at the "New Oakland Coliseum" on July 9, 1967. Due to falling ceiling tiles, the concert was moved outdoors to the ballpark.

Over the weekend of July 8-9, some notes appeared in the Chronicle and Tribune about how ceiling tiles had fallen into the Coliseum Arena. A weekend James Brown show booked for the indoor Coliseum (on Sunday July 9) was moved next door to the stadium. For the record, that means James Brown played the first Oakland Coliseum "Day On The Green."

 

Oakland Tribune July 12 '67


The papers also said that the "Band Battles" for Wednesday and Thursday were canceled. It turned out, however, that they were moved to the Oakland Auditorium Arena, about six miles Northwest, fairly near downtown Oakland.  There was a cursory note in the Oakland Tribune on the day of the first concert. It said

The location for the "Crepuscular Happening" concerts tonight and tomorrow night has been changed from the Oakland Coliseum to the Oakland Auditorium. 

The "Grass Roots and "Moby Grape" headline tonight's show. "The Doors" and "Mark and Stanley and The Fendermen" will be featured tomorrow night. 

Oakland Coliseum Arena had between 15,000-18,000 seats, depending on configuration. Oakland Auditorium Arena had only 5,400. The Oakland Auditorium Arena had been built in 1913, and was hardly the gleaming new attraction that was the Coliseum. True, Buffalo Bill's Wild West show had played there (in 1915), and Elvis Presley twice (in '56 and '57), but that just made it seem old. Also, the Auditorium (at 10 10th Street, near Lake Merritt) wasn't nearly as centrally located as the Coliseum. While the problem with the ceiling tiles would have required a move, the shows would only have been moved if ticket sales were small enough to fit in the Auditorium. It would have been embarrassing to have a tiny crowd in the cavernous Coliseum, but of course the events passed without notice in the newspapers.

We are accustomed today to consider rock concerts, even bad or unprofitable ones, as cultural artifacts worthy of review and comment. But that really only started at the Fillmore, elevating the rock shows to the status of jazz or symphony concerts, worthy of consideration on their own terms. Out in the 1967 suburbs, rock concerts were still just public appearances by performers popular with teenagers, no different than the host of a game show appearing at a shopping mall. 

We have no eyewitnesses for either show, no recollections from any band member, no clue of how few people were really there. The crowd was probably slim and bored, the sound was probably sub-par, and such organization as there might have been probably wasn't that good, given the sudden venue change. White Star Tuna didn't promote another rock show in the Bay Area, to my knowledge. We have no idea how many high school sweethearts got married after seeing The Doors, so we can't judge the market effectiveness of the event. So it goes.

Aftermath
July 14, 1967 State Fair Grandstand, California State Fairgrounds, Sacramento, CA: The Doors/Parrish Hall Blues Band/Working Class/Public Nuisance (Friday) Crepuscular Happening
White Star Tuna did present another show headlined by The Doors, outdoors at the California State Fair in Sacramento. Some local Sacramento bands opened the show. The Working Class would evolve into the band Sanpaku, but not until 1968. Apparently it was a swelteringly hot day.

Oakland Tribune "Teen Age" section, November 8, 1967

Much as you might think that bands and corporations would have learned to keep to their separate corners, there seems to have been one more major effort to have a free concert sponsored by a big company. White Front department stores, a major chain, promoted huge shows at the 17,000 seat Hollywood Bowl and the 11,000+ seat Cow Palace in Daly City, with stellar lineups.  It was pitched as a "Festival Of Music."

November 18, 1967 Cow Palace, Daly City, CA (Saturday)
November 19, 1967 Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA
(Sunday)
The Association/The Animals/Everly Brothers/Sopwith Camel/The Who/Sunshine Company

I wrote about what I could uncover about these concerts in a blog post some time ago. An article in the November 8, 1967 Oakland "Teen Age" section explained:

Tickets to the musical extravaganza are free with the purchase of any one M-G-M or Warner Brothers stereo album at any Bay Area White Front store, sponsor of the event.
White Front was a large department store, like Sears or Macy's, and there were quite a few around the Bay Area. Thus you could have gone into the store and purchased, say, Freak Out by The Mothers of Invention (on MGM), or the first Grateful Dead album (on Warners), and gotten a free ticket. Of course, in those days, the record sections of stores had considerably fewer albums, and you might find yourself having to buy a considerably less attractive album.

The shows were produced by Sam Riddle, a dj on the LA Top 40 station KHJ (Boss Radio 930). Riddle also produced numerous teenage-oriented TV shows in Southern California, such as Hollywood A Go Go on Channel 9 (KHJ-tv)in 1965. 

The internet being what is, the Comment Thread over the years, spread out over a decade, includes detailed memory from both the Hollywood Bowl and Cow Palace shows. Bands played short sets, the Who and The Animals were cool, and groups like The Association already hardly counted as rock music. The descriptions are probably as close as we will get to finding out what the White Star concerts in Oakland might have been like--pleasant, mechanical and antiseptic, in opposition to what all the young people liked about rock and roll when it was just getting started.


For the next post in the '67 Berkeley series (Berkeley and East Bay Concerts, July-December 1967), see here

For the prior post in the '67 Berkeley series (New Orleans House Performers List, July-September 1967), see here

For the Berkeley, Oakland and East Bay Rock History Navigation Tracker, see here

Chicken On A Unicycle