The Odyssey, 1606 S. El Camino Real, San Mateo, CA: Performance List June-August 1970 (Lost Horizons V)

 

 

Recently I have been focusing my research on rock shows in the Bay Area in the early 1970s, focusing particularly on the lower tiers. With patience, I have done good research on the Matrix, the Keystone Berkeley, the Long Branch and a few other clubs. Yet I consistently come across tantalizing details of other venues, different untold stories and an insight into the unexplained. Without further information, I am often stuck with just the hint, not anything like the actual story.

My research method focuses on finding dates and venues where bands have performed, and constructing a narrative based on available sources. It sounds simple, but it reaps many benefits. Rather than assume what the motives and goals of different bands or promoters might be, I can let the evidence of actual performances tell me what is desired and what has resulted. The limits of this method, ultimately, are constrained by the limits of my available sources. From the 1960s and '70s, we don't always have that much evidence, so it can be hard to figure out the story. Not all old sources have been digitized, and in many cases a lot of shows were not advertised in any paper. If no local flyers were preserved, or there aren't other sources we can be left with very little. 

Lost Horizons, 1970
The Lost Horizons posts are a series of posts that I can't complete. In some cases I wish someone else would write the post, in other cases I'm hoping someone else has already written it, and in some others I am hoping for more information so I can try and take them on. There's no real connection between any of these topics, save for the device that there was a live performance in 1970 that intrigued my interest. My blogs have an explicitly rock and roll orientation, but my methodological approach veers off in different directions. Fernand Braudel, Reynar Banham, Marcy (emptywheel) Wheeler--it's still rock and roll to me. I'm hoping that the magic of the Internet and eternal Comment Threads will yield up information hitherto unknown to me. If you have any insights, corrections or entertaining speculation, please Comment.

The Berkeley Barb
The Berkeley Barb had been founded by Max Scherr in 1965. The weekly paper made a point of documenting the local counterculture. The readership was distinct from anyone subscribing to the local daily papers (the San Fransisco Chronicle or Examiner, the Oakland Tribune or the Berkeley Gazette). The Barb reported on protests, pot busts, sexual freedom and local rock shows. The ads were for organic foods, head shops or local crafts. The Barb was an alternative paper for an alternative audience. It was sold by hippies to other hippies for a dime or a quarter.  I don't know if the Berkeley Barb was the first such "underground" paper, but it was one of them, and it was a model for such papers all over the country.

By 1970, the Barb was being read all over the Bay Area. I don't know the exact details, but I believe that even outside of Berkeley the paper was available in Head Shops, espresso joints and other hip places throughout the Bay Area. At the back of every issue of the Barb was "Scenedrome," a summary of upcoming and ongoing events in the next week that might be of interest to its readers. While that would always include shows at Fillmore West, for example, it also included performers at Telegraph Avenue coffee shops, foreign movies, political meetings, self-help groups and all sorts of other gatherings. Getting listed in Scenedrome any week was free--someone just had to call the Barb by Tuesday at noon. So for hippie events that were on a shoestring, or just free, calling the Scenedrome was the cheapest way to get publicity. 

While Berkeley events had always been posted in Scenedrome every week since 1965, by 1970 it was plain that the rest of the Bay Area was paying attention as well. The Friday and Saturday listings in Scenedrome went well beyond Berkeley, a clear indicator that the Barb had a broader readership beyond central Berkeley. So we get tantalizing hints of what was going on around the Bay Area, without really knowing exactly what it was. Most of my notices below come from little more than the barest of listings in the appropriate issue of the Berkeley Barb, with occasional supplements from other sources.

The first listing in the Berkeley Barb for the Odyssey Club in San Mateo, at 1606 El Camino, presenting the Joy Of Cooking on Friday, July 17, 1970

Berkeley Barb Scenedrome Listings for The Odyssey, San Mateo, CA, July-August 1970

July 17-18, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Joy Of Cooking (Friday-Saturday)
July 19, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA:  Chris Williamson (Sunday) 3-8 pm
July 20, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: open mike (Monday)
July 21, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Devil's Slide (Tuesday)
July 22, 1970 The Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: South Bay Experimental Flash (Wednesday)
July 23, 1970 The Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Thompson Brothers (Thursday)
July 24-25, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA:  Cleveland Wrecking Co (Friday-Saturday)
July 26, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA:  Chris Williamson (Sunday) 3-8 pm
July 28, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Devil's Slide (bluegrass) (Tuesday)
July 29, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA:  Shubb, Wilson and Shubb (Wednesday)
July 30, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Mountain Current (Thursday)
July 31-August 1, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA:  Cook (Friday-Saturday)
August 7, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA:  Loading Zone (Friday)

In the July 17th, 1970 Scenedrome, the Barb listed the Berkeley band Joy Of Cooking headlining Friday and Saturday nights at a club called Odyssey, in San Mateo. The Odyssey was at 1606 S. El Camino Real, at 16th Avenue, near Highway 92. It was on the way to the San Mateo Bridge, so the club would have been very near two major commuter roads. There was clearly an element of some fledgling hippie club making sure they were seen in the Barb. Yet the bookings listed over the next few weeks indicate a substantial effort to establish an original rock club on the Peninsula, far more organized than a pizza parlor bringing in a popular band on a Friday night. 

At this time, there was not a club booking original rock bands on the Peninsula or in the South Bay, from Daly City down to San Jose. The Poppycock in Palo Alto had been the original rock club for the area since 1967, but by mid-1970 it had either closed or was about to do so. Palo Alto, progressive as it was, didn't mind long hair, weed or rock music, but was very much Not OK with noise and trouble downtown. Bikers and speed freaks congregating to hang out just wasn't going to fly on University Avenue, so the kind of bands playing Mandrake's, the New Orleans House or Keystone Korner had nowhere to play south of San Francisco.

Hillsdale Blvd and El Camino Real (running l. to r.), San Mateo, CA about 1963

El Camino Real was a divided, six-lane road running from South San San Francisco all the way to the edge of San Jose. Its route paralleled the Bayshore Freeway (CA-101), and El Camino was the major commercial area for every Peninsula town. By day, El Camino and its nearest side streets was a destination for washing machines, car dealerships or insurance agencies, and office workers could find lunch there. At night, all the commercial parking could be used for the movie theaters, restaurants and bars. There had been nightclubs on El Camino Real, in every town, since at least the 1950s. Only now, however, was the rock audience old enough to drink. San Mateo wasn't a college town like Palo Alto, but there were young people everywhere. I have to assume that the Odyssey was a typical restaurant/beer joint, since the zoning for those was easy to come by. The rock audience at the time did not have the money nor taste for hard liquor, but cracking open a cold one while listening to music wasn't foreign.

For about three weeks after July 17, the Odyssey made sure that their bookings were listed in the Barb for each night, even "open mike night." This indicates a concerted effort. There were also a few notices in the San Francisco Examiner, starting as early as June 19 (for a complete list of what I found, see the Appendix below). It was harder to get into the Examiner, so the presence of any listings implies a certain amount of effort. Now, the earliest reference I found to the Odyssey was back in January, in the San Mateo Times. It mentioned a sort of "Hoot Night" called The Folk And Blues Workshop that had moved from The Poppycock. So we know the Odyssey was open back in January, and presenting folk music at least. My guess is that in the Summer the club decided to try and fill a hole left by the demise of the Poppycock.

The Berkeley band Joy Of Cooking would release their debut album on Capitol in 1971

Joy Of Cooking were booked for the Friday and Saturday night when the Odyssey first listed themselves in the Barb. The Joy Of Cooking was a Berkeley band, founded in 1969. The leaders were guitarist Terry Garthwaite and pianist Toni Brown, both of whom sang and wrote, with roots in the 60s Berkeley music scene. What distinguished Joy Of Cooking was that while Garthwaite and Brown were fine singers and songwriters, they rocked pretty hard as well. Joy Of Cooking had long improvised sections between verses, just like bands with boys in them.  Joy Of Cooking had established themselves at Mandrake's, playing weeknights. By 1970 they were playing other clubs, and the record companies were coming around (their debut album would be released on Capitol in 1971).

Cris Williamson, originally from Deadwood, SD, but by now living in the Bay Area, would release an album on Ampex Records in 1971, recorded in New York and San Francisco

The Sunday afternoon slot was covered by singer/songwriter "Chris" Williamson. Williamson would become better known in the mid-70s, using the name Cris Williamson, and for founding Olivia Records. Olivia was a label for women, run by women--a novel concept. Williamson (b. 1947) was from Deadwood, SD, of all places.  She had released three obscure solo albums on Avanti Records in 1964-65. By 1970, she had resurfaced in the Bay Area. In 1971, she would release a fairly typical singer/songwriter album on Ampex Records, recorded with session pros in San Francisco and New York.

The Cleveland Wrecking Company, a seven piece band with a horn section, nightclub regulars in the Bay Area, were booked for the following weekend (July 24-25), with Williamson returning on Sunday night. Midweek seemed to feature folk or bluegrass acts, a good compromise when there isn't yet an audience for weeknight rock gigs. The actual Devil's Slide was a dangerous section of Highway 1, on the San Mateo County coastline, so a band of that name was almost certainly local. Devil's Slide seemed to be holding down a regular Tuesday slot. On Wednesday, July 28, the Odyssey featured Freight And Salvage regulars Rick Shubb (banjo), Bob Wilson (guitar) and Markie Shubb (bass). The trio played acoustic swing music, sort of.

Thursday night featured a Santa Cruz Mountains band called Mountain Current. Mountain Current was a predecessor of what would now be called a "Jam Band," playing long-but-danceable numbers, often improvised. Since the membership was kind of fluid, it helped that improvising was part of their sound. The leader of Mountain Current was harmonica player Matthew Kelly, later well-known as one of the founders of the band Kingfish. From the mid-70s onwards, Kelly would play with Bob Weir (in Kingfish and other bands) for some decades. Kelly and Weir had actually gone to junior high school together in nearby Atherton, but would not meet again until late 1972. 

Mountain Current mostly played in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and mostly at an infamous biker hangout called The Chateau Liberte. The Chateau was on the Old Santa Cruz Highway, far off the road, where anything went. Membership varied, but it often included singer John Tomasi and drummer Chris Herold, both formerly of the New Delhi River Band. The lead guitarist was sometimes the Los Altos teenage sensation Robbie Hoddinott (Los Altos High class of '70), who was Kingfish's first lead guitarist. Sometimes, instead of Hoddinott, Kelly used one of the best lead guitarists in the South Bay, Billy Dean Andrus. Andrus, an old pal of Jorma Kaukonen's, had led a San Jose band called Weird Herald. He was a difficult character, however, and Weird Herald pushed him out right before they broke up, so he played with Mountain Current. When Andrus was with the Mountain Current at the Chateau Liberte, he would often jam with other bands that played there, including Hot Tuna.

The last weekend in July featured Cook, who appeared to be a folk band. On the next Friday (August 7), Oakland veterans Loading Zone were the headliners. The Odyssey then abruptly disappeared from the Barb listings. I found one more listing in the Examiner (Wednesday, August 12), and then the Odyssey in San Mateo seemed to vanish for good.

Or did it? Around 1974 or so, there was a club at 799 East El Camino Real in Sunnyvale (near S Wolfe Rd), about 25 miles South of San Mateo, called The Odyssey. Similar to The Bodega in nearby Campbell, it was a Silicon Valley beer joint on weekends, but it had original bands during the week, mostly on Monday nights. The only constraint was that they had to play music that was good to dance to, but for bands like the Sons Of Champlin or Stoneground that was never a problem. Was there a connection between the short-lived San Mateo Odyssey and the more durable club in Sunnyvale, which lasted throughout the 70s? Here's to hoping the internet finds an answer for me.

Appendix: Odyssey Summary Listings
The Odyssey, 1606 S El Camino Real (at 16th Avenue), San Mateo, CA. All listings from the Berkeley Barb Scenedrome except as noted.

June 19-20, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA; Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks (Friday-Saturday) (SF Examiner)
June 23, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Brown Rice (Tuesday) "Country Rock" (SF Examiner)
July 3-4, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Frontier Constabulary (Friday) (SF Examiner)
Frontier Constabulary was a Berkeley band that played Western music (as distinct from Country and Western), featuring Mitch Greenhill and Mayne Smith.
July 17-18, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Joy Of Cooking (Friday)
July 19, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Chris Williamson (Sunday) 3-8 pm
July 20, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: open mike
July 21, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Devil's Slide (bluegrass) (Tuesday)
July 22, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: South Bay Experimental Flash (Wednesday)
The South Bay Experimental Flash were a jazz-rock band featuring saxophonist David Ladd. They had been based in San Jose, but paradoxically lived in Richmond (in the East Bay) by this time.
July 23, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Thompson Brothers (Thursday)
July 24-25, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Cleveland Wrecking Company (Friday)
July 26, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Chris Williamson (Sunday) 3-8 pm
July 28, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Devil's Slide (bluegrass) (Tuesday)
July 29, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Shubb, Wilson and Shubb (Wednesday)
July 30, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Mountain Current (Thursday)
July 31-August 1, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Cook (Friday)
August 7, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Loading Zone (Friday)
August 12, 1970 Odyssey, San Mateo, CA: Cook (Wed) "Folk" (SF Examiner)