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| A Berkeley Barb ad for Notes From The Underground at New Orleans House, Berkeley, on the weekend of April 21-23, 1967. |
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| 1505 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley, the site of New Orleans House, as it appeared in 2009. To my knowledge there are neither interior nor exterior photos of New Orleans House while it was open. |
The
New Orleans House, in North Berkeley at 1505 San Pablo Avenue, between
Jones and Hopkins Streets, only held about 200 patrons. But it served
beer and wine, there was a dance floor and sometimes even a light show.
So it was kind of like a miniature Avalon, if the Avalon had offered
beer and dinner. There weren't yet that many rock bands in Berkeley, but
there weren't really many places to play either. As part of my survey
of 1967 rock music in Berkeley, I am looking at every performer at
the New Orleans House during that year. The initial post reviewedNew Orleans House performers from January to March 1967, with a closer look at the surrounding Gilman Street neighborhood. This post will look at New Orleans House performers from April through June 1967. If anyone has
additional information, corrections, photos, insights or recovered memories,
please include them in the Comments. Flashbacks encouraged.
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| Berkeley Barb Scenedrome listing, March 31, 1967 |
March 31-April 1, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: New Delhi River Band (Friday-Saturday)
Shows at the New Orleans House began at 9:30pm. This seems late, but the club was also a dinner stop and hangout for the local community. "Happy Hour" was from 8:00-9:00, when beer was just 75 cents a pitcher. There was usually an opening act on weekends, but they weren't always listed in the underground Berkeley Barb or the daily papers. Per California law, since New Orleans House was a restaurant, only serving beer and wine but not hard liquour, minors were welcome. This wasn't because the club was aimed at teenagers, but rather so that a college senior could bring a sophomore date.
New Orleans House was on San Pablo Avenue, near the Berkeley border and the Alameda County line. It was North of campus--"Northside" in local parlance--which was more sedate than the more raucous Southside. Telegraph Avenue, the riots and the undergraduates were all Southside. Directly North of campus (on Hearst Street) was still a student enclave, if a quieter one.The Gilman Street neighborhood where the club was located was below campus (West of "Northside" at Hearst and Euclid), but accessible both to campus and to San Francisco via Transbay buses. It was more oriented towards assistant professors and graduate students, with no riots.
The New Delhi River Band was based in Palo Alto, and they were a very popular band on the South Bay underground psychedelic scene, such as it was. The group was more or less the house band at the Scotts Valley venue The Barn (just East of Santa Cruz), and regularly played gigs throughout Santa Clara County. They never managed to extend their fan base much beyond those counties, however. The New Delhi River Band played Chicago blues, more or less, in the style of the Butterfield Blues Band or John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. They were one of the first white blues bands in the South Bay.
The band featured two former members of the South Bay band Bethlehem Exit (singer John Tomasi and guitarist Peter Sultztbach), along with David Nelson, former bluegrass partner of Jerry Garcia, who was playing guitar in his first electric band. Nelson and NDRB bassist Dave Torbert went on to be in the New Riders of The Purple Sage, and Torbert and drummer Chris Herold were subsequently in the 70s band Kingfish.
The New Delhi River Band had a following in Santa Cruz and Santa Clara County, but they were trying to expand their footprint. In early 1967, they started playing gigs in Berkeley, playing for free in "Provo Park" (actually Constitution Park) in downtown Berkeley. They had also played a show on campus with the Loading Zone at Pauley Ballroom. Their weekend appearance at New Orleans House was in hopes that they had established enough recognition to draw fans on their own.
The New Delhi River Band usually played with their own light show, an outfit called Magic Theater. The NDRB mostly lived in one house (on Channing Avenue in Palo Alto) and the Magic Theater lived a few doors away. At New Orleans House, however, the Barb reported that lights would be done by Scum Of The The Earth, who appeared to have been a local company. |
| Pat Kilroy had released an ethereal folk music album in 1966, on Vanguard Records, Light Of Day. By 1967 he had formed The New Age, a sort of psychedelic acoustic trio |
April 7-8, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: The New Age/Drongos (Friday-Saturday)
New Orleans House was open six nights a week in this period. I have only noted shows where a performer was listed in an ad, or else mentioned in regular listings in the Berkeley Barb or the San Francisco Examiner. In some cases, it's not hard to guess who might have been playing, but I am only listing shows with some evidence. For most of April, I don't know who played Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday nights.
The New Age were a unique trio that were popular at The Jabberwock, the folk club on 2901 Telegraph (at Russell). They were led by singer Pat Kilroy, who had released an album on Elektra Records in 1966. While Light Of Day had been a folk album with dreamy undertones, The New Age were different. Kilroy had written some ethereal songs, and he was accompanied by Susan Graubard on flute and koto (a Japanese stringed instrument) and Jeffrey Stewart on congas. Stewart had replaced a tabla player (Bob Amacker). While today you might think, well, "acoustic guitar/flute/congas--isn't that typical 'New Age' music?" it's important to remember that no such genre had yet existed. Pat Kilroy and The New Age more or less invented non-linear acoustic music hybrids and named them "New Age."
Warner Brothers would become very interested in The New Age, and they would record some tracks for a "psychedelic acoustic album" in Summer 1967. Unfortunately, Pat Kilroy fell ill and died of Hodgkin's Lymphoma on Christmas 1967. Ultimately, Light Of Day was re-released in 2006, and the New Age studio tracks were released in 2007.
The Drongos were an outgrowth of a Berkeley High School band called The Answer. After graduation, The Answer collapsed, but some of them continued playing, and the Drongos even released a single on White Whale Records, but the band did not survive the summer of 1967.
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| Berkeley Barb Scenedrome listing for the Berkeley Citizen Benefit at New Orleans House, Sunday April 9, 1967. No groups are listed by name. |
April 9, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: The Orkustra/The New Age/Congress of Wonders/ Annie Johnston and The Cleanliness and Godliness Skiffle Band/Malvina Reynolds/Paul Arnoldi/Larry Hanks/Notes From The Underground/Eric Vaughn (Sunday) Benefit for The Berkeley Citizen
I'm not certain what the Berkeley Citizen might have been, possibly a newspaper. The listing in the Barb's Scenedrome says "CONCERT/DANCE/BENEFIT: w/jazz, poets, lights, rock;". I believe that this was an event that began during the day at Provo Park, downtown, and continued into the evening at New Orleans House. Who exactly played where is lost to the mists of time.
The Orkustra, sometimes called The Elektrik Chamber Orkustra, played sitting down. Instruments included electric violin and oboe along with electric guitar and bass. David LaFlamme was the electric violinist, later famous for It's A Beautiful Day. Bobby Beausoleil was the guitarist, later famous for being a member of the Manson Family. Beausoleil remains incarcerated, doing a life sentence, as the death penalty was overturned in the 1970s.
Congress of Wonders were a comedy trio who had gotten their start at Berkeley’s Open Theater (see June 16, 1967 below).
Malvina Reynolds was a topical songwriter, most famous for writing “Little Boxes”, a rare pop hit for Pete Seeger in 1964 (inspired by tract homes in Daly City off Highway 101).
The Cleanliness and Godliness Skiffle Band had formed out of a loose pool of musicians that played the Berkeley folk club The Jabberwock as The Instant Action Jug Band. They played a sort of modern skiffle music, a mixture of folk music and New Orleans style jazz, but with contemporary original songs. The group was lead by singer, guitarists Phil Marsh and Annie Johnston (we have discussed their career at great length).
Paul Arnoldi was a Cambridge, MA folksinger who had moved to Berkeley in fall 1962 (to get a graduate degree in architecture), and oscillated between Cambridge and Berkeley for the next several years.
Larry Hanks was a folk singer and also a former member of The Instant Action Jug Band.
Notes From The Underground were the first rock band to play New Orleans House regularly, and had played there often the first few months of 1967 (see April 21-23 below).
Eric Vaughn is unknown to me.
April 14-16, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: The Only Alternative and His Other Possibilities (Friday-Sunday)
The intriguingly named Only Alternative And His Other Possibilities are recognized from appearing on famous posters from 1966 and '67, but nothing is really known of the band or its sound. They were sometimes joined by singer Mimi Farina (Joan Baez's sister), but she was generally named on the bill. The Only Alternative had played several dates at New Orleans House earlier in 1967.
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| The front and back cover of the Arhoolie 1967 release of Notes From The Underground. It was a 45-rpm EP with 4 songs. The cover introduced a definite article into the band's name ("The" Underground) |
April 21-23, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Notes From The Underground (Friday-Sunday)
Notes From Underground were a Berkeley group whose sound fell between Country Joe & The Fish and The Loving Spoonful. They featured Southern California high school friends Fred Sokolow and Mark Mandell on guitars and vocals, as well as an electric pianist (Jim Work) and a rhythm section (Mike O’Connor-bass and Peter Ostwald-drums). Ultimately they would release an album on Vanguard in 1968. The band was named for a Dostoievski novel, a reference that all of Berkeley would have recognized. Notes had played numerous nights at New Orleans House earlier in 1967, and indeed had practically been the "house band" when the club had switched over to rock music.
On April 3, 1967 Notes From The Underground recorded a 4-song EP for Arhoolie Records. It was released later in the month, with the Changes imprint. The EP was a “non-seller” according to Arhoolie label head Chris Strachwitz, but served to give the group some notoriety. In the sixties, groups with a record, however poorly it sold, were considered a "real band," so it was no small thing. Arhoolie seems to have added the definite article ("The" Underground) to the band's name.
Arhoolie had been created by Strachwitz, then a Berkeley school teacher, to issue records by traditional folk and blues performers. Sometimes, however, Strachwitz issued more contemporary music. The original single of Country Joe & The Fish's 1965 recording of "Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag" had been recorded in Strachwitz's living room. As a gesture, and since they had no money, Joe McDonald gave Strachwitz the publishing rights to the song. Thanks to the 1967 album release and then the Woodstock movie and album, those rights funded Arhoolie Records for decades.
One unique feature of the Berkeley rock scene was the number of local bands who recorded and released independent singles, often essentially releasing the records themselves. Country Joe & The Fish had done it first, and given their success, it was no surprise that other bands followed them. Records would be released by Notes From Underground, Mad River and Frumious Bandersnatch. The very existence of these records is indispensably delicious for historians and collectors. In the 70s punk scene and the 80s indy-rock scene, self-released singles were common but it was a curiosity in the 60s.
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| Some 1967 recordings by The Orkustra were released in 2005 on the Swiss RD label. |
April 28-29-30, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: The Orkustra (Friday-Sunday)
Some 1967 Orkustra recordings were released in 2006 (on RD Records). The members of the band were Bobby Beausoleil (guitar), David LaFlamme (electric violin), Henry Rasof (oboe), Jaime Leopold (bass) and Terry Wilson (drums).
May 2, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: The Barnstormers (Tuesday)
The Barnstormers are unknown to me. They seem to have played Tuesday nights in May. On some Tuesdays they were billed as John Henry and The Barnstormers.
May 3, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Notes From The Underground/Motor (Wednesday)
Motor had played Tuesday nights at New Orleans House in February and March, and the occasional weekend as well. Guitarist Bob Zuckerman explained the story (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.
May 4, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: A Program of Dancers (Thursday)
A unique feature of Berkeley rock clubs in the 1960s was how regularly they booked theater and dance troupes. Now, it was common for rock clubs everywhere to book a little jazz, folk and blues on off nights. There weren't always enough rock bands to go around, particularly in the '60s, and rock fans usually had some residual interest in other music, so it made sense to have other genres on weeknights. But theater and dance was something different entirely. Yet New Orleans House, The Steppenwolf and later Mandrake's (both several blocks South on San Pablo Avenue) regularly booked theater and dance. These troupes were usually "progressive," and sometimes political, rather than just performing old musicals, but it wasn't rock nor even music.
In 1967, New Orleans House regularly booked a troupe called the Graham Leath dancers. The Graham Leath company was a collaboration between John Graham and A.A. Leath. I won't try and go into a dance rabbit hole (you can read about AA Leath here), but Leath was apparently a unique and independent creative force, just like the rock bands carving out their own musical futures. The evidence suggests that the Thursday nights listed as "A Program Of Dancers" were forerunners of booking the Graham Leath Dancers (see June 8, 1967 below).
May 5-6, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Anonymous Artists of America (Friday-Saturday)
The Anonymous Artists of America were a group linked to the Merry Pranksters and based in a commune in the La Honda Mountains. The AAA got together at Stanford (where most of them had been students or employees), and their name was as an expression of the belief that every person is an artist. The band debuted publicly in the early hours of July 24, 1966, at a private party at the Fillmore that was a reception for Lee Quarnstom's wedding, held after the Saturday night Quicksilver concert. The most notable member of AAA was Sara Ruppenthal Garcia, who was Jerry Garcia's wife. She had abandoned the Merry Pranksters, and Jerry, in mid-1966.
Sara Ruppenthal Garcia recalled, in a private email, correcting an earlier entry in our New Orleans House chronicle:
"The AAA got together at Stanford (where most of us were students or employees), as an expression of our belief that every person is an artist. The makeup of the group was basically Lars Kampmann, a drama major; Norman Linke, who was in graduate school as an economist studying Chinese; Michael Katz, a PhD candidate in Psychology; Sara Ruppenthal Garcia, (Communications/film undergrad) separated from her husband Jerry and returned from helping put on the L.A. Acid Tests with the Pranksters; Manny Meyer, Trixie Merkin, Len and Toni Frazer, Annie Balaam (an art student), and Adrienne Berkun (a chemist). Some other folks came and went, but during my two+ eventful years with the group... Alas, we did not have a Boise Thunder Machine, but an idiosyncratic early Don Buchla electronic music generator, provided by our honorary uncle Richard Alpert (later Ram Dass).
Our music and presentation were psychedelic in the extreme. We lived first at Rancho Diablo, a hideaway off Skylilne Blvd. in La Honda built by one of the railroad barons. Later we moved to Potrero Hill in SF. For a while we had a killer young drummer from Texas known as Little Richard, whose last name I cannot recall. Michael Katz and I left in 1968 and the AAA moved to Colorado, where they played for several years."
The AAA were captured on film and video, and some snippets can be seen here.
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| The single sided Dutch LP of Kusama's Self-Obliteration |
May 7, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: CIA/Second Coming (Sunday)
The Center For Interplanetary Activities seem to have been an avant-garde music group. They are mostly known from a poster for an event at California Hall on May 28, 1967, an odd "festival" for a "karmic bail fund." In fact the CIA were booked several Sunday nights at New Orleans House in May. The CIA recorded the soundtrack for a 23-minute “Art Film” called Kusama’s Self-Obliteration (which was also the name of a ‘Performance Art’ troupe). The soundtrack was released in 2001 as a Dutch single sided LP (the film can be seen here).
It appears that the Center For Interplanetary Activites was a trio, with Win Hardy (ex-Outfit) and Paul Kilb on keyboards and guitars, and Ted Berk reciting chants and lyrics of his own devising. The soundtrack sounds like a tape collage, popular at the time, so I have no idea what a club appearance would have been like.
The Second Coming had been one of the first psychedelic rock bands in Berkeley, and in fact the first rock band to play New Orleans House, back in December 1966. Second Coming returned to play a number of dates on through May and June of 1967. Vic Smith and David Lieberman were the guitarists, with Mike Friedman on keyboards. John Francis Gunning, formerly of Country Joe & The Fish, played drums and Marc Pessar played bass. Pessar had replaced original bassist Lonnie Turner, who had been recruited into the Steve Miller Blues Band.
In early May 1967, Vanguard had released Country Joe & The Fish's debut album, Electric Music For The Mind and Body. This psychedelic classic was not only validation for the Berkeley rock scene, it was a pretty successful record. The song "Not So Sweet, Martha Lorraine" actually got played on the local Top 40 stations (KYA-1260 and KFRC-610) and was a kind of local hit. KMPX-fm radio had just gone on the air in San Francisco, too, playing album cuts, the first station of its kind, and Country Joe & The Fish got regular airplay. The band immediately expanded their fan base well beyond Berkeley and San Francisco.
May 9, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: The Barnstormers (Tuesday)
May 10, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Motor/Notes From The Underground (Wednesday)
May 11, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: A Program of Dancers (Thursday)
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| Loading Zone guitarist Pete Shapiro in front of the band's house on 14th Street in West Oakland, ca 1967 (confirmed by his then-girlfriend) |
May 12-13, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: The Loading Zone (Friday-Saturday)
The Loading Zone had been Oakland's first export to the Fillmore scene. The band had formed out of the ashes of a Berkeley band called The Marbles. In 1966, The Marbles had fallen apart, and they merged with the remnants of the jazzy Tom Paul Trio. Guitarists Steve Dowler and Pete Shapiro shared the front line with organist and singer Paul Fauerso. Loading Zone was the first of the ballroom bands to merge psychedelic rock with R&B, with long feedback-drenched solos on top of a funky beat. Ballroom crowds loved it, and Loading Zone showed promoters and musicians that it would work. They kicked open the door that was walked through by Sly And The Family Stone and then Tower Of Power. Their unheralded history is complex, but we have looked at it at great length.
The Loading Zone played numerous free concerts in Provo Park and Sproul Plaza, and then capitalized on it by playing gigs at Pauley Ballroom, New Orleans House and elsewhere. They were an excellent live band, and their psychedelic R&B was ahead of its time, so the strategy worked well. In any case, there wasn't really another method in Berkeley to build an audience, as they didn't have a record.
May 14, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: CIA/Second Coming (Sunday)
May 16, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: John Henry and The Barnstormers (Tuesday)
May 17, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Motor/Notes From The Underground (Wednesday)
May 19-20, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Motor (Friday-Saturday)
May 21-22, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Second Coming (Sunday-Monday)
The Barb ad says “Second Coming on Sundays,” and the group played Sunday for some time. They also started playing Monday night as well. It looks like New Orleans House was now closed on Tuesdays, so they were still open six days a week.
May 24, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Motor/Notes From The Underground (Wednesday)
May 28-29, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Second Coming (Sunday-Monday)
At the end of May, The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In places like Berkeley, this was widely interpreted as proof that psychedelic music was taking over the world. This was a fairly rational analysis, by the way.
The Steve Miller Blues Band had played a few weekends at New Orleans House earlier in the year. Miller was from Madison, WI, via Chicago and Texas, but at this time he lived off College Avenue in Berkeley. The Steve Miller Band were transplants from Wisconsin, except for bassist Lonnie Turner, who had been in The Second Coming. Curley Cooke was on guitar and Tim Davis on drums and vocals. Miller was the lead singer, lead guitarist and played pretty good harmonica. They played the blues, very well, but in a free-flowing, jazzy way.
June 2-3, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: The Orkustra (Friday-Saturday)
June 4-5, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Second Coming (Sunday-Monday)
June 5, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Notes From The Underground (Monday) afternoon
The special Monday afternoon show with Notes From The Underground was a graduation party for the Jefferson School for Retarded Children. Each graduating student received a signed copy of the Notes Arhoolie record. The nearby Jefferson School was part of the Berkeley School District (now the Ruth Acty School, at 1400 Ada St). During the weekdays, New Orleans House owner Kitty Griffin taught retarded children--yes, that's what they were called in 1967--in Contra Costa County, not far away. She surely would have known her teaching counterparts in Berkeley.
Second Coming played their regularly booked Monday night gig.
June 6-7, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: The Wildflower (Tuesday-Wednesday)
The Wildflower had gotten together at the California College Of Arts and Crafts in late 1965. CCAC had been founded in 1907, and was located in North Oakland, at the intersection of College Avenue and Broadway, near the landmark Mountain View cemetery. Guitarist and songwriter Stephen Ehret had been part of the South Bay folkie crowd with Jerry Garcia and the Albin Brothers, and had "gone electric" himself. By early 1967, the Wildflower was fronted by Ehret and Michael Brown on guitars, and were regulars at the Avalon and Fillmore.
Wildflower were signed to Mainstream Records, although they broke up before any album was released. While the band undertook a brief Eastern tour in the Summer of '67, Wildflower would break up in early 1968. They did reform in 2008.
June 8, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Graham Leath Dancers (Thursday)
A.A. Leath had been part of Anna Halprin's dance school, who had her own deep ties to the Haight Ashbury arts community. His dance company partnership with John Graham seems to have been formally presented here as the Graham Leath Dancers. New Orleans House booked the dance company regularly.
June 9, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Mad River (Friday)
Mad River was one of the most unique bands on the Berkeley scene. They had formed in Yellow Springs Ohio, in the general milieu of the very progressive Antioch College. Unlike almost every other 60s band, with their penchant for rambling jams, Mad River had carefully orchestrated parts, even though their feedback-driven sound suggested no preparation at all. The group arrived in Berkeley in April 1967, and began gigging in Berkeley and San Francisco almost immediately. Due to an early meeting with popular writer Richard Brautigan, Mad River had an early affiliation with San Francisco’s radical Diggers group. At this time, the band lived together in an apartment on Blake Street near the Berkeley campus.
Mad River did not "jam the blues" the way other local bands did, nor was their music based on folk songs. Their music sounded closer to what would later be called progressive rock, but in a Berkeley psychedelic way. They were definitely an acquired taste, and they weren't fully appreciated until record collectors discovered their 1968 debut album on Capitol Records many years after they broke up. Mad River was yet another band who initially released a privately produced single as their first record.
June 10, 1967 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Orkustra (Saturday)
This is the last performance date of The Orkustra that I know of. Guitarist Bobby Beausoleil went on to work with filmmaker Kenneth Anger. Beasusoleil’s group Magick Powerhouse of Oz performed only one tumultuous show at the Straight Theatre (September 21, 1967), and then disintegrated. Beausoleil ended up in Southern California and began his unfortunate association with the Manson Family. Violinist David LaFlamme went on to form It’s A Beautiful Day, while bassist Jaime Leopold ended up with Dan Hicks (with whom LaFlamme worked intermittently) and drummer Terry Wilson joined the revamped Charlatans.
June 11, 1967: New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Second Coming (Sunday)
June 13-14, 1967: New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Mad River (Tuesday-Wednesday)
June 15, 1967: New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Graham Leath Dancers (Thursday)
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| Revolting, the 1970 debut album on Fantasy from Congress Of Wonders |
June 16-17, 1967: New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Notes From The Underground/Congress of Wonders (Friday-Saturday)
Congress of Wonders were a comedy trio from Berkeley, initially from the UC Berkeley drama department and later part of Berkeley’s Open Theater on College Avenue, a prime spot for what were called “Happenings” (now called ‘Performance Art’). The group performed at the Avalon and other rock venues.
Ultimately a duo, Karl Truckload (Howard Kerr) and Winslow Thrill (Richard Rollins) created two Congress of Wonders albums on Fantasy, Revolting (1970) and Sophomoric ('72). Their pieces “Pigeon Park” and “Star Trip”, although charmingly dated now, were staples of San Francisco underground radio at the time. Earl Pillow (actually Wesley Hind) was the original third member.
June 18-19, 1967: New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Second Coming (Sunday-Monday)
June 20-21, 1967: New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA Steve Miller Blues Band (Tuesday-Wednesday)
The Steve Miller Band played New Orleans House again, this time as a quintet. Jim Peterman was on organ, newly arrived from Madison, WI.
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| Chuck Berry with The Miller Band, Live At Fillmore Auditorium (Mercury Records 1967) |
The Steve Miller Blues Band had just returned from performing at The Monterey Pop Festival the previous weekend (June 16-18). At the end of the month, the group opened at the Fillmore for Eric Burdon and Chuck Berry, and the Miller Band backed Berry (who always used local bands). One of the performances was recorded and released by Mercury as Chuck Berry with The Miller Band Live At Fillmore (released October 67). The Berry recording was the Steve Miller Band’s first appearance on an album.
June 23-24, 1967: New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA Motor/Frumious Bandersnatch (Friday-Saturday)
Frumious Bandersnatch had been formed in suburban Lafayette, CA, but by mid-1967 the group was based in Oakland. The group would become somewhat well-known locally in 1968-69, but at this time they had a female singer (since Jefferson Airplane-style “chick singers” were all the rage) and featured guitarist George Tickner and bassist Ross Valory, who would help found Journey eight years later. The group's warehouse rehearsal space burned down in late 1967, and the group returned to Lafayette. Frumious Bandersnatch reappeared the next year with a different lineup, including neither Tickner nor a female singer.
June 30-July 1, 1967: New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA The Loading Zone (Friday-Saturday)
New Orleans House Status Report: July 1967
The New Orleans House was still Berkeley's only rock club booking original music. There was a folk club, The Jabberwock, soon to close, which booked the occasional rock band. Tito's, the new joint at the former Questing Beast at 2504 San Pablo (itself the former Cabale) now booked rock bands on weekends, but it was mainly for dancing. New Orleans House was making a go of it, however. Country Joe & The Fish were big time now, and the Steve Miller Band was about to be, but bands like Mad River were coming along. The rock market was still growing, and New Orleans House seemed to be in the right place at the right time.
For the next post in the '67 Berkeley series (May 23, 1967 Lower Sproul Plaza, Country Joe & The Fish), see here [forthcoming]
For the Berkeley, Oakland and East Bay Rock History Navigation Tracker, see here
To be precise, it's between Jones and Cedar Streets. Hopkins goes into Cedar just above San Pablo, and that street continues across San Pablo.
ReplyDeleteFurthurmore, Daly City is off I-280, not US 101, which passes through Brisbane and South San Francisco.
ReplyDelete