April 3-5, 1970 Family Dog on The Great Highway, 660 Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Eric Burdon and War/Ballin' Jack/Chet Nichols [FDGH '70 XIII]

 

The Family Dog on The Great Highway, at 660 Great Highway, ca. 1969

The Family Dog on The Great Highway, 660 Great Highway, San Francisco, CA
The Family Dog was a foundation stone in the rise of San Francisco rock, and it was in operation in various forms from Fall 1965 through the Summer of 1970. For sound historical reasons, most of the focus on the Family Dog has been on the original 4-person collective who organized the first San Francisco Dance Concerts in late 1965, and on their successor Chet Helms. Helms took over the Family Dog in early 1966, and after a brief partnership with Bill Graham at the Fillmore, promoted memorable concerts at the Avalon Ballroom from Spring 1966 through December 1968. The posters, music and foggy memories of the Avalon are what made the Family Dog a legendary 60s rock icon.

In the Summer of 1969, however, with San Francisco as one of the fulcrums of the rock music explosion, Chet Helms opened another venue. The Family Dog on The Great Highway, at 660 Great Highway, on the Western edge of San Francisco, was only open for 14 months and was not a success. Yet numerous interesting bands played there, and remarkable events took place, and they are only documented in a scattered form. This series of posts will undertake a systematic review of every musical event at the Family Dog on The Great Highway. In general, each post will represent a week of musical events at the venue, although that may vary slightly depending on the bookings.

If anyone has memories, reflections, insights, corrections or flashbacks about shows at the Family Dog on the Great Highway, please post them in the Comments.

660 Great Highway in San Francisco in 1967, when it was the ModelCar Raceway, a slot car track

The Edgewater Ballroom, 660 Great Highway, San Francisco, CA
As early as 1913, there were rides and concessions at Ocean Beach in San Francisco, near the Richmond District. By 1926, they had been consolidated as Playland-At-The-Beach. The Ocean Beach area included attractions such as the Sutro Baths and the Cliff House. The San Francisco Zoo was just south of Playland, having opened in the 1930s. One of the attractions at Playland was a restaurant called Topsy's Roost. The restaurant had closed in 1930, and the room became the Edgewater Ballroom. The Ballroom eventually closed, and Playland went into decline when its owner died in 1958. By the 1960s, the former Edgewater was a slot car raceway. In early 1969, Chet Helms took over the lease of the old Edgewater.

One of the only photos of the interior of the Family Dog on The Great Highway (from a Stephen Gaskin "Monday Night Class" ca. October 1969)

The Family Dog On The Great Highway
The Great Highway was a four-lane road that ran along the Western edge of San Francisco, right next to Ocean Beach. Downtown San Francisco faced the Bay, but beyond Golden Gate Park was the Pacific Ocean. The aptly named Ocean Beach is dramatic and beautiful, but it is mostly windy and foggy. Much of the West Coast of San Francisco is not even a beach, but rocky cliffs. There are no roads in San Francisco West of the Great Highway, so "660 Great Highway" was ample for directions (for reference, it is near the intersection of Balboa Street and 48th Avenue). The tag-line "Edge Of The Western World" was not an exaggeration, at least in American terms.

The Family Dog on The Great Highway was smaller than the Bill Graham's old Fillmore Auditorium. It could hold up to 1500, but the official capacity was probably closer to 1000. Unlike the comparatively centrally located Fillmore West, the FDGH was far from downtown, far from the Peninsula suburbs, and not particularly easy to get to from the freeway. For East Bay or Marin residents, the Great Highway was a formidable trip. The little ballroom was very appealing, but if you didn't live way out in the Avenues, you had to drive. As a result, FDGH didn't get a huge number of casual drop-ins, and that didn't help its fortunes. Most of the locals referred to the venue as "Playland."

The Family Dog In 1969
Chet Helms had opened the Family Dog at 660 Great Highway to much fanfare on June 13, 1969, with a packed house seeing the Jefferson Airplane and The Charlatans. One of the goals was that the Dog would feature mostly San Francisco bands and a variety of smaller community events and groups. Since so many San Francisco bands were successful, and had record contracts, this didn't confine the venue to obscurity. A lot of great bands played the Family Dog in 1969, but the distant location and the gravitational pull of major rock events hosted elsewhere in the Bay Area kept the Family Dog isolated. We know only the most fragmentary bits about music played, events and audiences throughout the year.  Despite the half-year of struggle, Helms had kept the Family Dog on The Great Highway afloat. He had entered the new year of 1970 with a new plan.

• For a complete list of Family Dog shows (including FDGH), see here
• For the previous entry (March 27-29, 1970 Youngbloods) see here
  
• For a summary and the link to the most recent entries in this series, see here

April 3-5, 1970 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Eric Burdon and War/Ballin' Jack/Chet Nichols (Friday-Sunday)
Chet Helms had apparently recapitalized the Family Dog on The Great Highway in early 1970. A planned merger with the Grateful Dead organization had fallen apart, but popular bands were booked at the Dog throughout February and March. Just about all of the headliners were veterans from the Avalon era, but most of those groups were still big draws, at least in San Francisco. The first weekend in April had a headliner that was similar in some ways to the previous few months, and quite different in others. In any case, the headline appearance of Eric Burdon and War stood out as a unique event at the Family Dog, and would also turn out to be a kind of last hurrah. 

The back cover of Winds Of Change by Eric Burdon and The Animals (MGM '67)

Eric Burdon had been the lead singer of The Animals since 1964, and they had been part of the initial "British Invasion," touring America a number of times. The bluesy Animals and Burdon's brooding vocals made the transition to the Fillmore scene far more easily than many contemporary bands. On one of the last tours of the original-model Animals, Burdon had taken a break in August 1966 and visited San Francisco. He had gone to the Avalon and the Fillmore, hung out with some bands, and experienced that rarest of natural events, a warm San Franciscan night. The New Animals were formed in September 1966, and they rapidly evolved into a twin-guitar band, going away from the keyboard-dominated sound of the mid-60s lineup. Eric Burdon and The Animals were an excellent live band, sounding sort of like a British Quicksilver, even though only Burdon himself had actually even heard Quicksilver.

Eric Burdon and The Animals made the transition to the Fillmores very smoothly, ultimately relocating to Los Angeles. Still, after a number of hits ("Monterey", "San Franciscan Nights" and "Sky Pilot") and four albums, they disintegrated at the end of 1968. There were management issues, financial issues and the usual band disputes. Eric Burdon stuck around LA, for the most part, and played a few gigs backed by the band Blues Image.

Eric Burdon And War
Burdon was popular, but restless. At one point he apparently attended USC Film School, but he wasn't really ready to do the homework filmmaking required. In Summer '69, Burdon met a local band called War, and started sitting in with them. The first publicized performance of Eric Burdon and War was September 26, 1969 at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino. Burdon can be a bit of a histrionic character, and at times it has been easy to chuckle at some of his excesses. Nonetheless he was consistently ahead of his time, and willing to take risks with his own fame.

War was a six-piece jazz band, all African-American. They were playing some bluesy jazz, with a nice groove that you could dance to, but still interesting to hear. Today, we take the intersection of jazz and blues into funk for granted, but that wasn't the case in 1969. Now, I think a lot of musicians were doing this in nightclubs at the time, particularly late at night, but Burdon and War brought this out in the open. By some combination of events I haven't figured out, Burdon and War added harmonica player Lee Oskar (originally based in Sonoma County), and Oskar's harp increased the blues edge of the band.

As for Burdon, he was a well-known singer with many hits under his belt, and he did exactly none of them with War. In fact, he sang in a jazzy style that was different than either the John Lee Hooker inspired vocalizing of the original Animals or the more rock-oriented style of the Fillmore lineup. I have heard a live tape of Eric Burdon and War from this period, and War grooves along with Burdon inserting vocals here and there, often outside of any exact song structure. Some of his lyrics appear to just be improvised, sort of proto-raps (albeit not rhythmically). It was a daring thing to do for a star without a band.

Eric Burdon Declares War, released on MGM in April 1970

Eric Burdon Declares War
Producer Jerry Goldstein took Eric Burdon and War into Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco in January 1970. Burdon and War had played around live a little bit, and I think Lee Oskar got into the band around this point. Eric Burdon Declares War was released on MGM in April 1970. Thanks to Burdon's vocals, the album hasn't aged well, but in fact it was way ahead of its time. It has a nice groove, and you can dance to it, but you can listen to it, too. It wasn't exactly jazz, but it was way above pop music and more complex than the blues. The fact that it was a popular album opened the ears of the music industry to much more diverse and talented artists doing interesting things in soul, jazz and rock. Burdon, whatever you think now, helped kick that door open. 

Of course, all anyone remembers now about Eric Burdon Declares War was the unlikely hit single "Spill The Wine." The song highlighted one of Burdon's rambling grooves, and devoid of context it seems like a parody. Heard in the context of an hour-long set, it made sense, but as a stand alone song it was dopey. War, fortunately for them, went on to have many popular hits afterwards, and everyone just blames "Spill The Wine" on Burdon. Hindsight is easy, but Eric Burdon and War were an interesting band that were ahead of their time.

Eric Burdon And War were about to do some serious touring behind their new album, and they kicked it off with a weekend at the Family Dog. This is how things used to have been at the Avalon, where the cool bands would play there, only getting booked at the Fillmore after they had proven themselves at the Avalon. We don't know anything about these performances, of course, and "Spill The Wine" was not yet a hit, but anyone who heard them live would have found Eric Burdon and War to be an on-ramp to the music of the future. The lineup would have been

Eric Burdon-vocals
Howard Scott-guitar, vocals
Charles Miller-tenor sax, flute
Lee Oskar-harmonica
Lonnie Jordan-organ, piano
B.B. Dickerson-bass
Harold Brown-drums
Dee Allen-congas

The Family Dog on The Great Highway would have been a great place for musicians to try out new things and still get heard. Burdon and War went on to big success, certainly. But the Family Dog would soon fade away, so the cache of the old Avalon had no place to sell itself. 

Ballin' Jack were from Seattle. They had an odd lineup, a trio with a horn section. Bassist (and singer) Luther Rabb and drummer Ronnie Hammon were childhood friends with Jimi Hendrix. Glenn Thomas was on guitar, and there was a two-piece horn section, yet with no keyboards. They had released their debut album on Columbia in 1970. This weekend's booking was rare for the Family Dog in that the two top acts were not San Francisco bands.

Chet Nichols was a singer/songwriter who would release an album on Kama Sutra Records in 1972. Nichols was from Chicago, but he had gone to college at Kansas University. He made friends with the local all-night DJ, one Stephen Barncard, who became an engineer and producer in San Francisco. Nichols ended up getting signed in '71 and recorded a little with Barncard in San Francisco. Later, some tracks were recorded with Nick Gravenites and various local heavies, like Pete Sears, Dave Garibaldi (Tower Of Power drummer) and Nicky Hopkins. The collected tracks were released by Kama Sutra as the Time Loop album. 

April 10-12, 1970 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Albert Collins/Rhythm Dukes/AB Skhy (Friday-Sunday)
The weekend after Eric Burdon, the Family Dog on The Great Highway had another out-of-town headliner, but he did not have the high profile of Burdon. Albert "The Iceman" Collins had been recording since the 1950s, even if white rock fans were only just beginning to discover him. In 1964, he had a hit with the song "Frosty," and he became somewhat well-known. In 1968, the band Canned Heat was playing in Houston and attended one of his shows. The Heat offered to get Collins a record deal and live work, and he accepted. Collins signed with Imperial Records and moved to California in November '68. Collins' first Imperial album was  Love Can Be Found Anywhere. By 1969, Collins was a regular at rock venues throughout the West Coast. 

Albert Collins was an excellent guitarist, and I am told (I am not a musician) that other guitarists were particularly impressed with Collins' technique. Peer approval wasn't ticket sales, however. Blue Thumb Records had re-released Collins debut album from 1965, The Cool Sound of Albert Collins (on TCF Records). Blue Thumb gave it the name Truckin' With Albert Collins when they put it out in December 1969. So Collins was probably getting a little airplay on KSAN, and his name was sort of known, but blues music had already peaked for rock fans. There's no doubt that Collins in his prime would have sounded great, but I don't think he sold enough tickets to be a weekend headliner.

The 2005 cd Flash Back by the Rhythm Dukes was recorded in Marin on April 16, 1970

The Rhythm Dukes had formed in the Santa Cruz mountains in 1969, and had played the Family Dog on The Great Highway on December 12-14, 1969. Originally the band had featured two former members of Moby Grape, lead guitarist Jerry Miller and ex-drummer Don Stevenson (who switched to guitar). They were supported by bassist John Barrett and drummer Fuzzy Oxendine, formerly of the 60s group Boogie. The band was often billed as Moby Grape, and Stevenson had left by the end of Summer '69. The Rhythm Dukes carried on as a trio, finally adding two more members by December (saxophonist Rick Garcia and keyboardist Ned Torney), when they had played the Dog.

By January, however, the two extra members had left, to be replaced by Bill Champlin from the Sons. By early 1970, despite a loyal Bay Area following and two excellent Capitol albums, the Sons of Champlin were frustrated and broke and they decided to go "on hiatus." Effectively that meant they were breaking up, although they continued to finish an album they owed Capitol (released in 1971 as Follow Your Heart). The Sons had concert obligations through February of 1970, so while Bill Champlin played a few gigs with the Rhythm Dukes, he was also finishing up with the Sons. By March, the Sons had stopped performing--that "breakup" didn't last long, but it's another story--and Bill was full time with the Rhythm Dukes and Jerry Miller. The Rhythm Dukes had opened for Lee Michaels at the Family Dog in March. A month later, they were returning, so it must have gone alright.

The Rhythm Dukes at the Family Dog on The Great Highway, sometime in 1970. (l-r) Bill Champlin, Fuzzy Oxendine, Jerry Miller.

We have some photos of Bill Champlin with the Rhythm Dukes from the Family Dog, although the exact date is unknown. Champlin played organ and rhythm guitar with the Dukes, and was the principal lead singer, although Jerry Miller was also a fine vocalist. Our only tape of this era of the Rhythm Dukes was a privately released 2005 cd of some demo tapes, recorded in a Marin studio on April 16, 1970 (appropriately entitled Flash Back) but they were plainly an excellent live band. 

AB Skhy had formed out of a transplanted Wisconsin trio called The New Blues. The New Blues had moved to San Francisco in late 1968, and hooked up with organist Howard Wales (from Cincinnati via Seattle). The quartet had changed their name to AB Skhy Blues Band, and their debut album had been released by MGM in 1969. By 1970, AB Skhy had evolved somewhat. Howard Wales had left, and I'm pretty sure guitarist Dennis Geyer had left the band as well. The new lineup had Curley Cooke on guitar and vocals (ex-Steve Miller Band) and Rick Jaeger on drums, both Wisconsin transplants themselves. Russel Dashiel may have been on guitar, and Jim Marcotte was still on bass. This was the lineup for AB Skhy's second album Ramblin' On, released sometime in 1970.

[update 20231222]
April 16, 1970 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: OM Orgy with Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Philip LaMantia, Floating Lotus Magic Opera, Malachi (Thursday)
The April 10 Berkeley Barb had a display ad for an "OM Orgy," on Thursday, April 16, 1970 with beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Michael McClure. Also on board was the guitarist Malachi (today we would call his music "New Age") and the indescribable Floating Lotus Magic Opera. Floating Lotus was a theater company that mostly performed in Berkeley. 

If I learn more about this event, I will post it here.

April 29, 1970 Berkeley Barb

[update 20231223]
thanks to Ginsberg scholar Steve Silberman, we do know something. The event not only happened, it sold out the Family Dog. The back-story is that Timothy Leary had been convicted of drug offenses in January, 1970, and sent to prison. The benefit was for legal expenses. According to the Barb article (thanks Steve), there were poetry readings, chanting and a performance by the Floating Lotus troupe. 

Of course, Leary being Leary, when he had gotten sent to the California Penal System, he was given psychological tests to determine the appropriate assignment. It was easy for Leary to give answers that would send him to minimum security prison, since he had created the tests himself as an Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley in the 1950s. He escaped from a minimum security prison in September 1970.

For the next post in the series (April 17-19, 1970-NRPS/Hartbeats/Bobby Ace), see here