1746 US-20, West Lebanon, NY, Lebanon Valley Speedway Concert History (1973, 1977, 1980)

 

SuperModifieds racing at Lebanon Valley Raceway in West Lebanon, NY

Lebanon Valley Speedway, 1746 US-20, West Lebanon, NY: Concert History (1973, 1977, 1980)
The live rock concert business boomed from 1965 until the end of the 20th century. Venues of all sizes and configurations were added all over the country, filled by rock bands (and other genres) criss-crossing the country, playing live and selling t-shirts wherever they went. Even performers whose recording careers were clearly in decline were still often huge concert attractions. One peculiar result of this explosion, however, was that in the 1970s there were simply not enough venues for live rock concerts, particularly at scale. This was magnified in areas that were far from professional sports arenas, where a multi-use basketball arena could be transformed for a night into a concert hall.

Promoters looked for viable alternatives in order to capitalize on the potentially thriving markets. If a band had a big booking in, say, Cleveland, and one in Boston two weeks later, it made sense to play somewhere in between. FM radio had a huge reach, and while the countryside and distant suburbs may not have had the underground cool of big cities, the kids there still read Rolling Stone and wanted to see the hot bands traveling around the country. One temporary response to this economic opportunity was to make use of auto racing tracks. In the 1970s and early '80s, auto racing tracks were pressed into use as concert venues, with differing degrees of success. Ultimately, customized outdoor concert facilities, usually called "sheds," dotted the landscape, and converted race tracks were no longer needed. At the same time, auto racing tracks had great difficulty staying viable at all, so there were fewer of them to even consider converting. 

The biggest rock concerts of the 70s were held at auto racing tracks. 600,000 attended the "Summer Jam" featuring the Allman Brothers, the Grateful Dead and The Band at Watkins Glen Grand Prix Raceourse in New York (July 28, 1973). While only 150,000 of those in attendance at the Glen had paid, the biggest paid attendance was at the "California Jam" concerts at Ontario Motor Speedway, near Los Angeles, with over 168,000 paid out of at least 200,000 at each event (April 6, 1974 and March 18, 1978). Elsewhere I wrote about the history of auto racing tracks as concert facilities, although I focused on Grateful Dead concerts, in order to keep the topic manageable. 

Yet some less prominent auto racing tracks also had brief histories as concert venues in the 70s. One of the smallest was the Lebanon Valley Speedway, in tiny West Lebanon, NY, between Albany and Pittsfield, MA. There were concerts in 1973, 1977 and 1980. The concerts were financially successful, and things initially went well--until they didn't. 

This post will look at the history or rock concerts at the Lebanon Valley Raceway in the 1970s. If anyone has corrections, insights or memories, please put them in the Comments. Flashbacks are actively encouraged.

Lebanon Valley Raceway, 1746 US-20, W. Lebanon, NY in 2019

County Speedways
Due to the rise of NASCAR as a national "brand" in the 1990s, many sports fans are somewhat familiar with how County speedways in the South created a kind of NASCAR minor leagues, giving an opportunity for the likes of Dale Earnhardt to thrive and rise. In places like the Carolinas, just about every county had a speedway, often just a 1/4 or 3/8 mile track, often dirt rather than paved, that provided the weekend entertainment for all the gearheads and farmers. On either Friday or Saturday throughout the summer, all the local drivers and a few regional hotshoes raced their cars for prize money. Neighbors, co-workers and family members helped with car prep and pit crew. There wasn't much doing in many of these small towns, so going to the local Speedway on Friday or  Saturday was the most fun around until High School football season would kick off. A few "locals," like Earnhardt, in Kannapolis, NC, rose through the ranks and went on to fame at the NASCAR superspeedways. 

From an auto racing point of view, the Dale Earnhardt story was played out in rural areas throughout the United States. The social, financial and agricultural contexts varied for the Northeast, the Midwest and California's Central Valley, often quite different than the tobacco and cotton fields of the Southeast. But the story about auto racing was pretty much the same. 

After World War 2, farming had become fairly mechanized, and of course many future farmers returned from the War with a sophisticated practical understanding of internal combustion engines. Regardless of anyone's actual profession, or what crop was grown in their region, come the weekend, a lot of young men wanted to see how fast their cars would go. In the South, some of that was about running moonshine, but that was less of a factor elsewhere in the country. Yet the urge to put pedal to the metal was nationwide. Indeed, it was little different than a prior century before when their grandfathers might have wanted to see who had the fastest horse. Now, the racing was with modified Chevy, Ford and Dodge sedans, but the impulse was the same. 

The red star represents tiny West Lebanon, NY, in Columbia County.

West Lebanon, NY
West Lebanon, NY is a tiny hamlet (current population: 132) in Columbia County, about 25 miles Southeast of Albany and just 15 miles West of Pittsfield, MA and the Berkshires. The Mohicans originally lived in the area, but the Dutch started to move in to the region in the 17th century. Columbia County itself was founded in 1786. The Vermont Central Railroad was built through the area in the 1850s, linking Portland, ME and other cities in New England with Chatham, NY, thus linking to Manhattan. The nearby town of New Lebanon was the home of the Shaker religious community. 

West Lebanon was on US Route 20, the longest transcontinental road, which stretches from Boston to Newport, OR. US-20 was the main route through Columbia County prior to the introduction of Interstate 90 in 1957. Lebanon Valley Speedway commenced racing in 1953, and the track is still open (using the name Lebanon Valley Raceway). It currently features a half-mile clay oval track for dirt track racing as well as a quarter-mile dragstrip. There are SuperModified and Sportsman Dirt Track Races every Saturday night starting in May. The venue lists a capacity for racing at 7100 fans. An historic site has a good summary of the track history. I have excerpted the parts below that focus on the economic history of the track (for a full summary of the racing details and great photos, check out the site itself):

Laid out in 1953 in a cornfield and the Lebanon Valley Airport, the speedway was owned by the Spanier family and leased to  and operated by a Massachusetts group consisting of Edward Radke, Robert Scott and Harold Beitzel. The gentlemen had hopes of developing a state of the art race track drawing Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and New York State drivers and teams to this centralized location.

In 1953, the interstate systems were not yet developed and Route 20 was one of the main east west routes for getting to or from Albany and Massachusetts. Route 22 was a main road for North South traffic.  

There were three sanctioning bodies in the area. The Eastern States Racing Association, Big Car Racing Association and the AAA. These associations often used fairgrounds to organize races and it was becoming quite popular.

The Pittsfield group were focused on gaining cars from State Line Speedway in North Bennington Vermont, Route 66 Speedway in Averill Park New York, Pine Bowl Speedway north of Route 66 Speedway and Arlington Speedway in Poughkeepsie New York.

During the preparation of the half mile oval, fences were put in, grandstands were erected and the barn was lettered with 'Lebanon Valley Speedway.’ All of these preparations developed a significant debt (for 1953 standards) and they assured the banker that he would be easily repaid. The grand opening-day show was cancelled due to a Sunday rainstorm and the following week's scheduled 50-lapper was reduced to 26 circuits when competing drivers declared the track turns too dangerous. Hully Bunn from Bristol Connecticut won the inaugural 13 mile main event on June 28, 1953 in front of an estimated crowd of 2,500.

In 1954, Lou Spanier gained ownership and at the end of the 1955 season, Lebanon Valley gained its signature 'high banks'. A timely project as no record of racing in 1956 can be found. The 'high banks' have become a trademark of Lebanon Valley Speedway ever since making Lebanon Valley Speedway a track that demands power along with keen driving skills. Racing resumed in 1957 under the promotion of Spanier and the Lebanon Valley Auto Racing Association. Race day moved from Sunday afternoons to Friday evenings and midway through that same season the switch was made to Saturday nights where it has remained for more than 50 years.

A characteristic of regional tracks like Lebanon Valley Speedway was that they typically held races only one weekend night a week, on either Friday or Saturday. For one thing, rural areas couldn't really support more than one night. More importantly, some of the more serious regional racers would race at one track on Friday and another track on Saturday, ensuring that the fields were larger and more competitive at more than one track. In the case of Lebanon Valley Speedway, Saturday night has been "Race Night" since 1957, so that left Fridays open for other kinds of promotions. Thus rock concerts at Lebanon Valley Speedway would be on Friday nights.

The listing in the Troy Times-Record says "8 p.m. Country and blues festival with New Riders of the Purple Sage, Star Spangled Washboard Band and special guest John Lee Hooker"

August 24, 1973 Lebanon Valley Speedway, W. Lebanon, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/John Lee Hooker/Star Spangled Washboard Band (Friday)
The live rock concert business had really started to expand by 1973. FM radio had spread rock music from college campuses and bohemian underground ballrooms. Even in a rural place like Columbia County, high school kids and young adults were hearing the same bands on FM stations that were being played in Manhattan or San Francisco. Record companies wanted to keep their bands on the road, as they saw live concerts as a way to encourage FM airplay, which in turn increased record sales. Many bands sold truckloads of records because they were willing to crisscross the country playing gig after gig. Bands like Foghat or Ten Years After didn't have a single giant hit, but they had played every Municipal Auditorium and College gym from Coast to Coast, and they had gold records to show for it.

In August 1973, the New Riders of The Purple Sage had released three albums on Columbia Records, and they would soon release their fourth. Their 1971 debut had been notable for the presence of Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar, but the demands of the Grateful Dead made it inevitable that he would depart. In late 1971, Garcia gave up the chair to the exceptional Canadian steel guitarist Buddy Cage, who had most recently played with Anne Murray and Ian & Sylvia Tyson. Powerglide had been released in April of 1972, and Gypsy Cowboy had followed in December of that year. The Riders recorded what would be their most popular album, Panama Red, in the Spring, and it would come out in October. In the meantime, the New Riders followed the Grateful Dead model, touring hard and putting on 2-hour shows that kept their fans on their feet. There weren't "Grateful Dead Cover Bands" in those days, so if you wanted a figurative dose (or even a literal one), the New Riders were the next best option to the main attraction. 

On the August leg of their 1973, tour the New Riders were booked for Saturday, August 25 in Lewiston, ME. On the next weekend, they were playing Asbury Park, NJ on Friday (August 31) and Westport, CT on Saturday (September 1). In between they had three weeknights at a club in Boston (Paul's Mall August 27-29). There was some logic to kicking off the tour with a Friday night show, but it couldn't compete directly with any of those other areas. At the same time, touring logic dictated that the extra gig would have to be in the same region.

In the 1960s, kids in Columbia County would have liked rock music, but would have had a hard time knowing about all but the most famous groups. By 1973, however, they would all have been listening to FM radio and reading Rolling Stone, just like their peers throughout the country. All the Riders needed was a venue in the right place. Someone seems to have figured out that a Friday night at the Lebanon Valley Speedway would work. It was a standing venue with power, water, bathrooms, parking and crowd control. Rock concerts can be noisy, but they aren't necessarily noisier than the Saturday night Super Modifieds. So the New Riders of The Purple Sage were booked to open their tour on Friday, August 24, supported by blues legend John Lee Hooker and a local group. The concert was supported by radio station WGFM in Albany, NY. 

John Lee Hooker had been a blues legend since the late 1940s. He had had somewhat of a revival thanks to 60s covers by the likes of The Animals (with "Boom Boom") and Canned Heat. After some fallow years recording, Hooker had been signed by ABC Records. His most recent album was 1972's Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive, recorded in late '71 in San Francisco. Guests included Elvin Bishop and Van Morrison. By this time, Hooker lived in Redwood City, a Peninsula suburb of SF. I don't know who might have been in Hooker's touring band.

.

The Troy (NY) Times-Record article from Saturday (August 25) told the tale. The event was a modest success, and a good time seemed to be had, but attendance wasn't up to expectations. 

Quiet Night At Speedway 'Blues' Concert (Bill Rice, Troy Times-Record, Saturday, August 25, 1973)
WEST LEBANON-It might be the first and last, and it might be the first of many.

Some 4,700 young people attended the first country blues concert ever held at Lebanon Valley Speedway here last night.

On the program were the New Riders of The Purple Sage, John Lee Hooker and The Star Spangled Washboard Band.

Promoters of the concert, National Student Productions and Radio station WGY-WGFM were not hoping for another Watkins Glen or Woodstock. A crowd of around 6,000 was anticipated by Bill Brina of National Student Productions.

The crowd was quiet and orderly, as The Star Spangled Washboard Band did the opening act.
Brina said there were no problems with gate crashers. A Lebanon Valley security officer said

"The kids are minding their own business and playing it cool. What they do someplace else doesn't interest us. We have had more trouble with Saturday night race crowds."

He did say about 200 youngsters tried to go over the fence, and half made it without paying the $5 admission fee

The New Riders concert at Lebanon Valley Speedway clearly wasn't a failure, but it apparently wasn't enough of a success, either. As the Times-Record reporter suggested, it seemed to be the first and last.

But--not quite.

The Monday, July 18 '77 Berkshire Eagle, from Pittsfield, MA, mentioned the 87-dgree temperature at the J Geils/Blue Oyster Cult concert at Lebanon Valley Speedway, The concert drew at least 17,000 and perhaps as many as 30K.

July 15, 1977 Lebanon Valley Speedway, West Lebanon, NY: Blue Oyster Cult/J Geils Band/Black Oak Arkansas/Dictators (Friday)
The live rock concert market had been expanding in 1973 when the New Riders had played Lebanon Valley Speedway. Four years later, the market had only gotten larger. There were major bands touring all over the country, and thanks to FM radio, there were fans everywhere. But there simply weren't enough venues. Bands could book great-paying gigs in the big markets, but once they were out on the road the economics required that they book a paying gig somewhere. In secondary markets. promoters started to look around at other sites. A band on the road didn't have to make a killing at every show, just enough to tide them over to the next profitable booking. So yet another concert was booked at Lebanon Valley Speedway, once again on a Friday night. All the bands were regular road dogs, on the way up or on the way down.

This flyer and the ticket below are from the great BOC historic site

In the Summer of '76, Long Island-based Blue Oyster Cult had released their 4th album Agents Of Fortune. It included the epic single "Don't Fear The Reaper." They toured relentlessly behind the album. Their follow-up album Specter would not be released until October 1977. BOC was never bigger than this moment, save for their amazing "More Cowbell" redux on Saturday Night Live.

The J Geils Band, out of Boston, seemed to be on a plateau, although quite the opposite turned out to be the case. The band had just released the album Monkey Island. They would spend much of the Summer opening humongous stadium shows for Peter Frampton, so gigs at places like Lebanon Valley Speedway kept the wheels turning. Of course, after J Geils treaded water into the 1980s, MTV would arise, and "Centerfold" and "Love Stinks" brought the Geils Band's bangin' stage show to huge masses of teenagers. Playing gigs like this over the years had kept the band rolling, even if playing second-up to BOC in upstate New York might have seemed like a chore at this time.

Black Oak Arkansas, a boogie band who really were from Black Oak, AK, on the other hand, were still a popular act on the road, but definitely on the downward slide. Back in late '73 Black Oak had released their fifth album on Atco, High On The Hog. The album would be the high water mark for the band, reaching #52 on Billboard. The album included the single "Jim Dandy" (with the chorus "Jim Dandy to the rescue"), which itself went to #55. Black Oak Arkansas had been among the initial wave of Southern rockers, even though they sounded quite a bit different than the somewhat jazz/R&B influenced Allman Brothers. Black Oak Arkansas' twin-guitar attack was pretty much straight boogie. It's actually harder to play high-speed shuffles than it appears, so the band may have been better than they were given credit for, but they did not have the reputation for musical virtuousity like the Allmans and their peers. 

By 1977, however, only lead singer Jim (Dandy) Mangrum remained from the original lineup. On stage, various hired guns ran through their most popular album tracks, but record sales has cratered. Their most recent album was 10-Year Overnight Success, on MCA, which had been released back in 1976. Now, of course, we know that this was the future of just about every popular 70s rock band--a few early hit albums, followed by declining record sales while fans continued to see live performances with increasingly few band members from the golden days. Some version of Black Oak Arkansas has continued to tour up until the present day, mostly (though not always) fronted by Jim Mangrum. 

The Dictators were known as a seminal New York City punk band, but in fact they had formed at SUNY New Paltz back in 1972. New Paltz was midway between New York and Albany, not too far from West Lebanon.  The Dictators had released their first album of short, hard-rocking songs back in 1975. The Dictators Go Girl Crazy! was promoted by Epic as a sort of cartoonish, fun pop band, since punk rock didn't really exist yet as a genre.

By '77, the Dictators had broken up and reformed, yet with most of the same members. The lead singer was the muscular "Handsome Dick" Manitoba, Ross "The Boss" Friedman was on lead guitar, and the  keyboard player and main songwriter was Adny Shernoff (yes, the spelling is correct). Since The Dictators were from New York, they got a lot of press for a band that didn't sell may records nor ever get much radio play. Their second album, Manifest Destiny, had been released in 1977 on Asylum, but the band would break up in 1978 (only to reform many times).

A weekend round-up from the nearby Berkshire (MA) Daily Eagle tells us that the concert was pretty successful.

Heat, crowds, power outages mark weekend (By Robert M. McDonough (Berkshire Eagle, Monday, July 18, 1977)
Two days of record-tying temperatures and a weekend full of special attractions drew thousands of area residents out of their homes for one of the busiest Berkshire weekends yet this summer.

Meteorologist George J. Bulgarelli said that high temperatures of 87 Friday and 86 Saturday tied the records for those days...

The single largest-drawing event of the weekend was outside the county. A rock concert at Lebanon Valley Speedway in New Lebanon, N.Y. drew a crowd of music enthusiasts that was estimated anywhere between 17,000 and 30,000 people. The attractions were the groups J. Geils, Blue Oyster Cult and Black Oak Arkansas.

Police reported that the crowd was orderly during the concert, and only one arrest was reported by Columbia County Sheriff's Department deputies. Arrested was 21-year-old Leo Robillard of 1 Lowden St, Pittsfield. He was charged with driving while intoxicated, and criminal possession of a controlled substance. Police arrested him after he had backed into one of their police cruisers at the concert.

The crowd was pretty substantial. I'm not sure why the estimate was so broad (between 17,000 and 30,000), since promoters are usually eager to tout what a success they have had. Nonetheless, given that none of the bands were (at the time) major attractions, even 17,000 would have been a fine crowd. The weather cooperated, and the crowd was pretty well-behaved. Yet, once again, there was a three-year break before rock shows reappeared at Lebanon Valley Speedway.

July 18, 1980 Lebanon Valley Speedway, West Lebanon, NY: ZZ Top (Friday)
In the Summer of 1980, there were two concerts at Lebanon Valley Speedway. I couldn't find any reports about the first one, so it probably went OK. The second one, well---when a concert in Upstate New York is written about in the New York Times, it usually isn't because everyone had a wonderful time.

The July concert featured the legendary Texas trio ZZ Top, on their "Expect No Quarter" tour, behind their album Deguello. ZZ Top had been very successful in the early 70s, but they took a break from their heavy touring schedule in 1976. They reconvened in 1979 with the new album, and the hit single "Cheap Sunglasses." ZZ Top were great in concert, much beloved by their fans. I have to assume that the reason they played Lebanon Valley Speedway was that they had an open night in the Northeast, and wanted to fill it. 

I'm sure there was at least one opening act, but I don't know who it might have been. ZZ Top were in a sort of trough of popularity. They weren't as big an act as they were in the mid-70s, but they were nowhere near as big as they would become once MTV caught on to them. ZZ Top probably drew a pretty good crowd, probably 10-15,000 people, and probably it went as well as the J Geils show a few years earlier.

August 8, 1980 Lebanon Valley Speedway, West Lebanon, NY: Blue Oyster Cult/Black Sabbath (Friday)
The last concert at Lebanon Valley Speedway was on August 8, 1980. Blue Oyster Cult returned, behind their album Black And Blue. BOC was still popular, but as we have noted, they had begun their long decline.

As for Black Sabbath, they were on the second of their many lives. Since their 1970 debut, they had established themselves with endless touring and best selling albums that sold a lot, despite receiving relatively little FM (much less AM) airplay. In 1978, however, after 8 albums, lead singer Ozzy Osbourne had left the group. This was usually the beginning of a long decline for any 1970s group. Not for the Sabs, however.

Replacing the seemingly irreplaceable Ozzy was Ronnie James Dio, who had come to fame in the mid-70s as the lead singer of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. Dio, today a somewhat legendary singer himself, was actually from New York State. Dio was from Cortland, NY, just south of Syracuse and a few hours West of Albany. Dio's band Elf had opened some dates for Deep Purple around 1974, and when Blackmore left that band, he scooped up Dio. Dio had a powerful, almost operatic voice, and was one of the proto-metal performers most responsible for the fantasy element of wizards and demons in metal song lyrics. Dio had left the hugely successful Rainbow in 1978, as Blackmore wanted to veer away from fantasy-oriented lyrics. Dio was then invited to join Black Sabbath by guitarist Tony Iommi. 

Black Sabbath's 9th album for Warner Brothers, Heaven And Hell, featured Dio's vocals along with other three original Sabs (Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward). Heaven And Hell ultimately went Platinum. Black Sabbath only got bigger. Eventually, Ozzy would return in glory to the band, and Ronnie James Dio himself would go on to become a huge star (Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, in turn, remained huge throughout the 20th century as well).  The 1980 Sabbath/BOC tour was known as "The Black And Blue Tour," for obvious reasons.

In later years, as Dio became bigger and bigger, along with Sabbath, fans must have enjoyed recounting how they saw him with the Sabbath during an Ozzy hiatus. Drummer Bill Ward, beset with health problems, would play his last gig with Black Sabbath on August 18, so the show was near the end of the line for that lineup. Black Sabbath, Ozzy and Dio had a complicated subsequent history of joining, leaving and re-joining, but Black Sabbath (and Dio) remained phenomenally successful.

Over the decades, rock fans in big cities chuckle at the various rubes and preachers who declare that Black Sabbath or Ronnie Dio are "demonic" and "dangerous influences." It seems naive. When you read about the Lebanon Valley Speedway show, however, maybe the labels aren't so wrong. Based on news articles, and some comments from the great Blue Oyster Cult history site, the show at Lebanon Valley Speedway represented everything that could go wrong at an outdoor rock concert. Let's summarize:

• At least 20,000 fans showed up, packing the track, mostly young men wound up on liquor and drugs of all kinds.
• The narrow highway leading to the Speedway was backed up for at least five miles, and cars were parked along the side of the road for most of the way. Many patrons were late, which added to the chaos.
• Security used baseball bats to protect the stage, and the bands kept asking people to please step back to protect the crushed fans up front
• Besides the drugs and fighting, numerous bonfires were set, and several cars were burned, for no particular reason
• Two teenagers died in traffic accidents after the event
• Many patrons were unable to leave after the show, presumably due to traffic, and ended up spending the night in the parking lot
• The owner of the track wanted nothing to do with another rock concert, which was fine, since the town of West Lebanon banned all future concerts
• Here are some eyewitness tales from the Blue Oyster Cult history site

Mark D: I went to this concert with my brother and 3 other friends in an orange VW bus from our house in eastern Massachusetts and it was the most memorable concerts I have ever been to.

We got an early start that AM and I remember parking the van in a field with hundreds of other vehicles and thousands of people.

The concert was absolutely fantastic. I can remember trying to get to the chain link fence with my buddy and you would literally be lifted off your feet from all the people pressing against you. In the thick of it, the crowd split (somehow) and made a path for a person who was pretty badly hurt coming from the very front. His/her head was wrapped with a white t-shirt wet with blood.

We continued our fight for position and eventually made it to the fence where the roadies used bats and sticks to hit the knuckles of anyone trying to hold onto the fence. Blue Oyster Cult then played Godzilla and it was definitely the climax of the concert. I'll never forget the drum solo.

The event was "marred with violence". As I recall, three people were killed... one I know was hit by a car. I was only 17, so I was completely shocked by what some people were doing. After the show, one guy was pushing anyone that walked by him just for a fight while about a dozen others flipped a car in a pit and torched it. Everyone was whacked out on mushrooms, acid, mesk, weed... you name it.

I now live about 20 miles from Lebanon Valley Speedway and I have spoken to some that lived in the area and he said the guy that owned the speedway didn't realize the concert would be so huge and crazy and refused to attempt anything like it again.

Steve Del Signore: I made a road trip to this show, about a 2 hour drive, with a carful of crazies. AC/DC's Back In Black had just come out and we blasted it on the way out to the show.

We actually left our city with plenty of time to spare, planning to get there an hour before showtime. Well, the speedway is out in the cornfields and had a single lane road going to it. This caused a huge bumper to bumper traffic slowdown and we crawled along for miles and miles.

As we neared the site, we were still about an hour earlier than the advertised start time. I could hear music coming from inside and I remember panicing because it was Sabbath already playing.

So by the time we got inside and parked, walked to the grounds and got our beers it seemed to take forever before we could watch the band. So missed a good half of them. Beers were selling by the thousands as it was a hot, humid evening and the place was full of yahoos wanting to go off.

I do remember at least 2 deaths, possibly 3 after the concert. We nearly made it 6 or 7 when our car approached a Y, 2 roads turning into 1 and came upon another car speeding along on the left to merge onto this sudden one lane road. Neither driver thought to ease up and let the other pass and we came within a hair of a major accident, two cars barrelling along side by side for a couple hundred feet until one pulled ahead. Like I said, they sold a lot of beer that day.

This racetrack is actually named Lebanon Valley SPEEDWAY and not Raceway, as can be seen on the ticket scans. It is called the Albany stop on the tour but is located about an hour southeast of Albany, NY in West Lebanon, New York.

Richard Morsa: i went to this show with a few friends of mine from Williamstown Mass. i was 14, we ate lots of acid, we wound up in the back bleachers, it was crazy...

there was a fire in the bleachers, and i remember there were about 5 or 6 bonfires in the center of the speedway, people had poles with flags with the boc symbol and someone brought in a cross about 30 ft tall painted black,

during sabbath i saw the cross lowered into one of the bonfires and brought back up... then it fell over into the crowd...
I saw countless people being dragged out by us as we were close to the exits, i remember the guy "mark d" mentioned with the bloody shirt wrapped around him being carried out, they stopped the show a few times and the bands kept saying to step back from the stage or they would leave.

as we left to go to our car there were a bunch of people standing on a ridge throwing rocks into a ditch, me and my friends got closer and they were yelling" fuck iran" as they were throing the rocks, we went to the edge of the ditch and there was a cadillac down there, someone went down and lit a rag in the gas tank, and i remember the car exploding and people still throwing rocks at it,

remember this was the time of the iran hostage crisis, and in willimastown where i lived the shah's son went to school there, so it might have been one of his guards or something, people said he hit some girl with his car, thats why they flipped it in the ditch, i remember a few cop cars coming in the lot and people threw rocks and bottles at them and they just left.

as we left we saw the accident where the guardrail was bent, and the emt's were pulling up a gurney and i remember it was soaked with blood, i thought it was a red sheet, but i saw a few spots of white and realized it was soaked in blood. we got home and it was all over the news, they cancelled all shows at the speedway after that show.

quite the experience!

For the record, one Bolle Gregmar had a Blue Oyster Cult Setlist

80-08-08: Lebanon Valley Speedway, Lebanon, New York Setlist:

    Dr.Music
    ETI
    Lips In The Hills
    Unknown Tongue
    Cities On Flame
    The Marshall Plan
    Divine Wind
    ME262
    Hot Rails To Hell
    Black Blade
    Godzilla
    Bass Solo
    5 Gtrs - Mark III - Golden Age
    Born To Be Wild
    (Don't Fear) The Reaper

An AP Wire story published in the New York Times on August 13, 1980

September 1, 1980 Lebanon Valley Speedway, West Lebanon, NY: J Geils Band/Fools (Monday) canceled
One more concert was booked at Lebanon Valley Speedway, for J. Geils Band to return on Labor Day. 250 people turned up at a town meeting--10% of the town's population. They got the town to ban the forthcoming concert and there was never another one at Lebanon Valley Speedway. The reason, ironically, was that the rock concert market had expanded too quickly for the tiny speedway. 5000 for the New Riders was great. 10,000-plus for J Geils was still manageable. 20,000 for the Cult and the Sabs--very much not OK.

The track remains open, and has generally thrived (given the financial uncertainty of auto racing venues). Over the next decade, new rock venues opened in Albany and Western Massachussets, so rock fans in Columbia County still saw bands, but not at home. Lebanon Valley Raceway still drops the green flag every Saturday night, starting in May, but Friday nights are quiet.

2504 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley, CA: The Long Branch Saloon, January-June 1972 Performers List (Long Branch II)

The former site of The Long Branch Saloon in Berkeley, as it appeared in 2009

2504 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley, CA: The Long Branch Saloon, January-June 1972 Performers List
By 1971, the live rock music market was evolving, and lots of entrepreneurs were noticing. Rock music had always been the province of teenagers, of course. But 60s rock music, with the likes of the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Cream, had raised the ante. Rock music fans didn't just "move on" when they turned 18. Those kids who were 15 when the Beatles had played Ed Sullivan in 1964 were past drinking age by 1971. They were still listening to rock music, and they took it seriously. And while every rock fan wanted to see the most popular bands when they came to town, their options were expanding.

Rock fans in their 20s probably had a job, and a few more dollars than when they were teenagers. They also didn't have parents constraining them, and they could drink. They weren't going to go to the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, but going on a date to a club where you could drink beer and dance was starting to seem like a viable idea.

In 1971, the University of California at Berkeley was expanding. It had never been a small school, but in the early 70s they added more and more students. California parents realized their kids could get a prestigious Ivy League-quality degree for the bargain price of around $212.50 a quarter. When those students graduated, many of them stuck around Berkeley. Rock music in the 60s had been oriented towards the Fillmore West and other big dance halls, but by the early 70s nightclubs were starting to book original bands, too. The city of Berkeley had lots of young people, a town that didn't object to long-haired hippies, and a generally central location. 

There had been music clubs in Berkeley since World War 2, of course. But as the 70s dawned, the various music clubs in Berkeley started to evolve. The New Monk, near campus at University and Shattuck, shifted from being a fraternity hangout to a rock nightclub, and by the next year it would become the Keystone Berkeley. 2 miles South and West of the New Monk, Malcolm Williams ran Babylon, but he had big plans, too. In May, 1971, Williams doubled the size of Babylon, and re-opened it as The Long Branch.

The Long Branch had a capacity of about 350. Ironically, the biggest club in the Bay Area would be the Keystone Berkeley, just 2 miles from the Long Branch. The New Monk, at 2119 University, mainly a frat beer joint, would be taken over in 1972 by Freddie Herrera and become the Keystone Berkeley. The Keystone Berkeley officially held 476, but it was widely felt that more people were regularly crammed in. Thanks to regular performances throughout the 70s by Jerry Garcia, Tower Of Power, Elvin Bishop and others, the Keystone Berkeley became the premier nightclub gig in the Bay Area until about 1977. 

The back of a Long Branch flyer, October '73 (thanks to Lydia Frazier Bosley), encouraging patrons to hang out at the club

Bands would build a following at the Long Branch, and the bands that headlined weekends at the Branch would play weeknights at the Keystone Berkeley, with a built-in audience. Although it's hard to be sure, I think the Long Branch crowd lived relatively near the club, and was in the just-over-21 bracket. The Long Branch was definitely a hard-rocking club, with loud bands and patrons who liked to dance, with less of the University overlay that was included in the Keystone Berkeley audience. The Keystone was right near campus, so it's audience was broader but to some extent more snobby. The Long Branch was in West Berkeley, and less pretentious.

As a result, the Long Branch ended up being a sort of farm team for the Keystone Berkeley. That wasn't a bad thing, necessarily, for the bands themselves. Keystone Berkeley and Long Branch didn't have identical crowds. The Keystone was nearer to campus, and at least on weekends drew people from Alameda, Contra Costa and Marin counties. The Long Branch had a little bit younger crowd who just liked to go out, and probably mostly lived around Berkeley. 

At the Long Branch, mostly the same bands played the club over and over. If a band could build an audience at Long Branch, the expectation was that their own regulars would see the band over and over. Earth Quake, for example, the archetype for a Long Branch band, could play a wide variety of exotic British Invasion cover songs, so that their regular fans didn't hear the exact same set every time.

In a previous post, I looked at all the known bookings for the Long Branch in it's opening year of 1971. This post will look at bookings at the Long Branch for the first half of 1972. If anyone has any updates, corrections, insights or interesting speculation, please included them in the Comments.

The Scenedrome listing in each week's Berkeley Barb was my main source for Long Branch bookings

January 1, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Linx/Frank Biner Band (Saturday)
The Long Branch was generally open from Wednesday through Sunday, with bands every night. Wednesday was usually "audition night," with local bands that were hoping to build a following. The Long Branch did not advertise in the local papers. There may have been some flyers around town (common in Berkeley at the time), but none from this period have surfaced. The entertainment listings for the Berkeley Barb or the San Francisco papers would usually include the weekend bookings for the Long  Branch.

I have only noted dates where I could find a listing. Bands played the Long Branch over and over, so while some dates are missing, I have likely captured the weekend bands. The weeknights would have just featured local bands, for the most part, although a few of them would go on to success.

Linx played the Long Branch regularly, as well as other Berkeley clubs. They featured the teenage saxophonist Lenny Pickett, later to become well-known in Tower Of Power and then leading the Saturday Night Live band. Also in the group was Jonathan Waxman, who became a well-known chef in Manhattan.

Frank Biner was a popular local soul singer. Over the course of the 70s, Tower Of Power recorded a few of his songs, and he put out a few albums as a bandleader, but back in '71 Biner was just another guy working the clubs. Biner was originally from Chicago, where he had recorded a few singles, but he had moved to the East Bay in the late 60s.

January 7-8, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Yogi Phlegm/Frank Biner (Friday-Saturday)
Yogi Phlegm was the new name for the Sons Of Champlin. At the time, the Sons were not sure they had the rights to their name, and they also wanted to distinguish their newer music from their past sounds. Yogi Phlegm emphasized jamming, sometimes in pretty far-out formulations. Now, they were still funky, and you could still dance to them, but there was more jazz and less R&B than the 60s lineup of the Sons.

The name "Yogi Phlegm" was a joke about Indian gurus. No one got it. Everyone hated it, particularly Bill Graham. Most club owners would advertise "Yogi Phlegm--formerly The Sons" anyway. The band reverted to being the Sons Of Champlin by the next year. 

The Yogi Phlegm lineup had the old front line of Bill Champlin on vocals, organ and guitar, Geoff Palmer on keyboards and vibes and Terry Haggerty on lead guitar. The bassist was old Marin pal Dave Schallock, and the drummer was Bill Vitt. The band had dispensed with any horn players, leaving them more freedom to jam.

January 9, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Dennis Geyer Band/Hunun Dean (Sunday)
Dennis Geyer had been the guitarist and singer in a Wisconsin band called The New Blues. In 1968, they had relocated to San Francisco and added organ player Howard Wales. They changed their name to AB Skhy Blues Band, and had released an album on MGM. Wales and then Geyer had left AB Skhy, to be replaced by other players. Geyer continued to play around the Bay Area. 

Hunun Dean is unknown to me.

January 13-14, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Wayne The Harp (Thursday-Friday)
Wayne The Harp was guitarist Wayne Ceballos. Ceballos had led the Bay Area trio AUM (pronounced "Ohm") in the sixties. AUM had released two albums, and opened at both Fillmores as well. Ceballos still played the same kind of hard-driving blues guitar in his new group. 

January 15, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Stoneground (Saturday)
Stoneground had been put together by KSAN impresario Tom Donahue in 1970 for an intended movie about a "traveling Woodstock" called Medicine Ball Caravan. The Grateful Dead were booked for the  movie, but backed out at the last minute. Stoneground had released their self-titled debut album on Warner Brothers in 1971, and then its followup, Family Album, later in that year.  Among the key members of Stoneground were singers Sal Valentino, Lynne Hughes, Annie Sampson and Deirdre LaPorte. Guitarist Tim Barnes also sang. Pete Sears had been the pianist for the album, although he had  been replaced by Cory Lerios by this time.

January 21-22, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Grootna/Knee Deep (Friday-Saturday)
Grootna was a Berkeley band that had arisen out of a 60s Berkeley band called Sky Blue. Guitarist Vic Smith and singer (and sometime drummer) Anna Rizzo had teamed up with guitarist/writer Allan "Slim Chance" Silverman. Drummer Greg Dewey (from Mad River) was also in the band, along with a few others. The band played a batch of songs written by Silverman and his songwriting partner Austin DeLone. DeLone, however, was playing pubs in London with the band Eggs Over Easy. Everybody in Grootna had many links to numerous Berkeley ensembles.

Grootna's album had been released by Columbia in December 1971. Now, it's probably true that not that many people had heard it, but in those days that had an album was a "real" band, implicitly above other groups playing the clubs. Many of the songs on the album were written by the team of Alan Silverman (Slim Chance) and Audie DeLong (Austin DeLone). However, since Silverman was only listed as "Slim Chance" with no reference to his real name, and DeLong wasn't in the band, the "Siverman/DeLone" credits were confusing at the time.

Knee Deep is largely unknown to me. In 1973, they would change their name to The Titans.

Eddie Money, former lead singer of The Rockets, released his debut solo album on Columbia in 1977

January 23, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Asleep At The Wheel/Rockets (Sunday)
Asleep At The Wheel were from Paw-Paw, WV, and played Western Swing music with a rock beat. They generally gigged around the greater Washington, DC area. In 1971, they had opened for Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, and the Cody crew encouraged them to move to the East Bay. Asleep At The Wheel relocated to Oakland, and started playing regularly at local nightclubs. In October of 1971, Asleep At The Wheel had opened a weekend at the Long Branch for the Airmen. Within six weeks, The Wheel were headlining the Long Branch themselves. 

This booking appears to be the first time The Rockets were booked on a weekend at the Long Branch, although that implicitly suggests they had played a weeknight earlier. Probably the Rockets had played a Wednesday audition, had sounded good, and had played some other weeknights, and done well enough to be second-billed on a Sunday night. That was the usual pattern for local bands playing the Long Branch, without a record company or agency support. With respect to the history of the Long Branch, however, the Rockets weren't just another band.

The lead singer of the Rockets was a transplanted New Yorker, a former NYPD trainee cop named Eddie Mahoney. Also in the band was guitarist Dan Alexander, bassist Chris Sohlberg and drummer John Cuniberti. The Rockets would rise to be regular weekend headliners at the Long Branch, along with Grayson Street, Earth Quake and others. In mid-1974, Mahoney would change his stage name to Eddie Money, and the band evolved into Eddie Money and The Rockets, and later just the Eddie Money Band. In 1975, the Bill Graham organization started managing Money, and by 1977 he had released his debut album on Columbia. "Two Tickets To Paradise" and "Baby Hold On To Me" were huge hits. Mahoney (1949-2019) suffered a variety of health issues and has passed on, but thanks to television commercials and oldies, Eddie Money is far and away the biggest act ever to come out of the Long Branch.

January 25, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Hades (Tuesday)
Hades, sometimes billed as the Hades Blues Band, or Hades Blues Works, was a local band. They had played the club back when it was called Babylon.

In the late 60s, guitarist Jimmy Thorsen, bassist Steve Wright and drummer John Cuniberti had been in a band called Traumatic Experience. With the addition of guitarist Craig Ferreira, they became Hades. Steve Wright would go on to play in the Greg Kihn Band, and John Cuniberti became an important engineer and producer, particularly for Bay Area punk rock acts. At some point, Cuniberti joined The Rockets (see above), so I think Hades was near the end of the line here.

 I think the Long Branch wasn't regularly open on Tuesdays, but without listings it's hard to be sure.

January 27, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Copperhead/Jesse, Wolff and Whings (Thursday)
Copperhead was the relatively new band formed by former Quicksilver Messenger Service lead guitarist John Cippolina. Membership was always somewhat fluid. At this time, the band probably had Cippolina and Jimmy Murray (himself ex-QMS ca. 1967) on guitars, Jim McPherson on bass, Pete Sears on keyboards and probably David Weber on drums. Copperhead would go on to release a 1973 album on Columbia. They were promising, but never seemed organized.

Jesse, Wolff and Whings released one album on Leon Russell's Shelter label, distributed by Capitol. The group featured lead singer Jesse Barish, lead guitarist Bill Wolff, bassist Kevin Kaufmann and drummer Kevin Kelley, among other members. The group was supposed to be called Wings, but Capitol had Paul McCartney's Wings, so they had to change the spelling.

Jesse Barish, per his bio, apparently played a little bit with the all-instrumental Orkustra (I think he played flute), back in the 60s. Bill Wolff was in a later version of the Peanut Butter Conspiracy. Kevin Kelly had been in The Rising Sons and The Byrds, among other bands, and both Kelly and Kevin Kaufmann had backed Phil Ochs.

When Jesse, Wolff and Whings fell apart, Jesse Barish went on to work with Marty Balin and Grunt Records. Barish ended up co-writing many songs with Balin, and as a result he has many songwriting credits on Jefferson Starship albums, such as "Count On Me."

As a point of comparison, Copperhead had headlined the Keystone Berkeley on Friday, January 7, and  Whings had opened the following weekend (January 14-15, for the HooDoo Rhythm Devils).

(note: I am missing any listings for the weekend of January 28-29)

February 1-2, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Joe Crane and The HooDoo Rhythm Devils (Tuesday-Wednesday)
The HooDoo Rhythm Devils, led by singer Joe Crane, had arisen out of a local blues-rock band called P, G &E. The HooDoos had released an album on Capitol in 1971, Rack Jobbers Rule. By 1972, they would switch to Blue Thumb, where their next album Barbeque of Deville, came out later in the year.

February 3-4, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Flamin Groovies/Hades (Thursday-Friday)
The Flamin' Groovies were an original San Francisco band, having formed as The Chosen Few in 1965. The Groovies, however, stuck to the Rolling Stones' sound when the rest of the city's bands went psychedelic, and they did not particularly thrive during the Fillmore era. Along with their manager, the Flamin' Groovies had rented the old Fillmore and put on shows with various bands in 1969 and '70. Thus they stayed in the public eye, even if not many fans had heard them yet.

Still, by 1969 the Flamin Groovies had released their debut album on Epic, Supersnazz. Subsequently they released Flamingo (1970) and Teenage Head (1971) on Kama Sutra. Neither record sold well, and the band had were dropped by Kama Sutra. Lead singer Roy Loney left the band, leaving singer/guitarist Cyril Jordan as the principal driving force. Later in 1972, the Groovies would move to England, where their "Power Pop" sound would be less of an anomaly. At this time, however, the Groovies were without a label, and without much of a following in their home territory.

Earth Quake's 1971 debut album on A&M Records

February 5, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Earth Quake/Fluid Drive (Saturday)
Earth Quake, from Berkeley, were the ultimate Long Branch band, and it's fitting that they played opening night. Originally, they had been a Berkeley High band called Purple Earthquake. By early 1972, they were a quintet, with Robbie Dunbar on lead guitar, Gary Phillips on rhythm guitar, lead vocalist John Doukas, bassist Stan Miller and drummer Steve Nelson. Earth Quake had released their debut album on A&M Records sometime in 1971

Earth Quake would play the Long Branch at least every month for five years, and in many months every Friday night. Earth Quake, with their vast trove of cover versions, always had a loyal audience at the club

Fluid Drive is unknown to me. 


February 6, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Jabo Stokes (Sunday)
Jabo Stokes is unknown to me.

February 9, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Bittersweet (Wednesday)
Bittersweet was a rock band from Chico, CA, who moved to the East Bay. Rock historian Bruno Cerriotti has a detailed history of their adventures.  

February 10, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Bittersweet/Full Moon (Thursday)
Full Moon is unknown to me, although it's possible they were formerly known as Womb.

February 11 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Stoneground/Country Weather (Friday)
Country Weather were a Walnut Creek (Contra Costa County) group, from just over the Berkeley Hills. They had originally been called The Virtues, but soon after lead guitarist Greg Douglass joined, they changed their name to Country Weather. Country Weather never released a record when they were together from 1967-73.  Since the group was familiar from many posters from 1968 onward, Country Weather became one of the great lost San Francisco groups of the 1960s.  Ultimately, the group reformed in the 21st century and still performs occasionally. RD Records released some of their 60s demos and live performances, alonmg with some 21st century recordings.

Greg Douglass became a successful guitarist in the Bay Area, best known for co-writing “Jungle Love” for Steve Miller, with whom he played for many years. Douglass was also a member of Hot Tuna for one brief, sensational tour in Spring 1975.

The Doobie Brothers, ca 1971

February 12, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Doobie Brothers/Nipple (Saturday)
In early 1972, the Doobie Brothers were another unknown band climbing the ladder. The Doobies were from the San Jose area, and they had built a following in the South Bay. They were largely unknown in the East Bay, however. Throughout January, they had played every Thursday night at The New Monk, just 2 miles up the road at University and Shattuck (and later the Keystone Berkeley).

The Doobie Brothers had released their first, self-titled album on Warner Brothers, back in April, 1971. It hadn't done well. Although the Doobies had gone on a National tour (with Mother Earth), they were mostly just slugging it out in the local clubs. Still, Warner Brothers was behind them. In January, the Doobie Brothers had played live on KSAN-fm (at Pacific High Recorders on January 16), which meant that Warners had coughed up the ad dollars to subsidize the broadcast. At this time, the Doobies had just replaced original bassist Dave Shogren with Tiran Porter, and they had added Michael Hossack as a second drummer (along with John Hartmann). Guitarists Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons were the lead singers. 

Nipple is unknown to me.

February 13, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Country Weather (Sunday)

February 16-17, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Dr Hook And The Medicine Show (Wednesday-Thursday)
Dr Hook and The Medicine Show were a somewhat comic country-rock act, produced by Shel Silverstein. Their debut album would have just been released on Columbia. They would soon hit it big with "Silvia's Mother" and "Cover Of The Rolling Stone."

February 18, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Linx/Frank Biner Band (Friday)

February 19, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Linx/Runnin Easy (Saturday)
Runnin' Easy is unknown to me, although I recognize their name from various bookings.

February 20, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Dennis Geyer Band (Sunday)

I am missing any listings for the weekend of February 25-28. 

February 29, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Asleep At The Wheel (Tuesday)

March 1, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Orisha/Free And Easy (Tuesday)
Both Orisha and Free And Easy are unknown to me. The New Monk opened as the Keystone Berkeley this night.

March 3-4, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Wayne The Harp (Friday-Saturday)

March 5, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Loading Zone/Dennis Geyer Band (Sunday)
The Loading Zone, from Oakland, had played the original Trips Festival back in 1966. By 1972, they had been through many different iterations. By this time, although they still broadly featured the mix of rock and soul as when they had started, they had no original members. They were good, though: Linda Tillery and Wendy Haas on vocals, Tom Coster on organ, Doug Rauch on bass, Tony Smith on drums and Bruce Conte on guitar. 

March 10, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Cold Blood/Linx (Friday)
Cold Blood are generally associated with the East Bay funk sound of bands like Tower Of Power. The East Bay association was appropriate musically, but in fact Cold Blood had its roots in the South Bay. Lead singer Lydia Pense, from San Mateo, and bassist Rod Ellicott had been in a Peninsula Band in 1966 called the New Invaders, who had evolved into The Generation. The Generation were known as the first Bay Area band to merge a horn section with a rock band. The Generation evolved into Cold Blood, and they were signed  to Bill Graham's San Francisco label (distributed by Atlantic).  

Cold Blood  released two albums on San Francisco, their self-titled debut (1969) and Sisyphus (1970), which spawned a modest local hit with a remake of "You Got Me Hummin'."After Graham's labels folded, Cold Blood ended up on Reprise. In 1972, they would release First Taste Of Sin. Lydia Pense was a powerful singer, and Cold Blood was a tight band, so the group was very popular in night clubs and at local dances. In retrospect, however, they sound as if they were trying a bit too hard, instead of just playing the music they liked. 

March 11, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Stoneground/Linx (Saturday)

March 15, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Cesar's Combo (Wednesday)
The Examiner lists this as "Latin Jazz." I assume Cesar's Combo was a version of the house band at Cesar Ascarrunuz's 830 Club, led by Luis Gasca. To my knowledge, they played in a Latin jazz-rock vein, sort of like Malo.

March 18, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Copperhead/The Ducks (Saturday)
I believe The Ducks were a Marin band featuring guitarist and songwriter Kent Housman.

March 19, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Grootna/Jabo Stokes (Sunday) 

March 24, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen/Asleep At The Wheel (Friday)
The headliners were Berkeley's very own Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. Cody and the Airmen had moved out to California in Summer '69, setting up shop in a rambling house in nearby Emeryville. The band played "hippie honky-tonk," a strange brew of Western Swing, traditional country, old-time rock and roll and Berkeley sensibilities. Their November 1971 debut album, Lost In The Ozone, had spawned the local hit single "Hot Rod Lincoln."

The Airmen had been regular headliners at the Long Branch since it had opened in May, 1971. One or two tracks on the debut album had even been recorded live at the Long Branch back in July. The Airmen were regionally popular now, thanks to "Hot Rod Lincoln," and touring around. But I'm sure they could still pack a Friday night house on San Pablo Avenue.

March 25-26, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Earth Quake/The Rockets (Saturday-Sunday)

April 4, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Asleep At The Wheel/Alice Stuart (Tuesday)
Alice Stuart was a fine blues guitarist and singer. Although she was from Seattle, she had been playing in the Bay Area since about 1964. Stuart had performed and recorded in a variety of settings. At one point in late 1969, she had even been the temporary bass player for the Lost Planet Airmen. In 1972 she led a trio named Snake, and they recorded for Fantasy Records.

April 5, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Cesar's Combo (Wednesday)

April 7, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Copperhead/Big Brother and The Holding Company (Friday)
Big Brother and The Holding Company had reformed in late 1969, although of course without Janis Joplin. They had put out two fairly good but poorly-received albums on Columbia (1970's Be A Brother and '71's How Hard It Is). Initially, all the original members had been part of the reformation, but by 1972 the band was being held together by guitarist Sam Andrews. Kathi McDonald, a veteran singer from Seattle (and a former Ikette, despite being blonde), had the somewhat thankless task of being the lead singer. McDonald was an excellent singer, in fact, but Janis was an icon, not just a singer.

Five years earlier, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Big Brother had been in two of the Fillmore's biggest, most exciting bands. Now Cippolina and Andrews were sharing a bill at a 350-capacity club on San Pablo Avenue. Phil Elwood reviewed the show and had high praise for Copperhead. He identified Gary Phillipet (guitar) and Jim McPherson (bass) as the singers, and mentioned Pete Sears' fine piano, along with Cippolina. Elwood also said that Big Brother sounded good, but he added no details.

April 8, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Linx/Little John (Saturday)
Little John was a local blues band, but I don't know anything else about them.

April 9, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Rockets/Jack Frost (Sunday)
Jack Frost is unknown to me. 

April 12, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Clover (Wednesday) 

April 13, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Saving Grace/Ducks (Thursday)
Saving Grace and Ducks are unknown to me.

April 15, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Mike Finnegan and Jerry Wood/Clover (Friday)
Organist and singer Mike Finnegan was from Wichita, KS. Unlike typical musicians, the 6'6" Finnegan had gotten a basketball scholarship to the University of Kansas. He had moved to the Bay Area around 1969, and he had been a member of The Jerry Hahn Brotherhood, who had put out a highly regarded 1970 album on Columbia. Unfortunately, the album went nowhere, and Finnegan had left the band. At this time, Finnegan had another band with guitarist Jerry Wood, and he worked with the re-activated Big Brother and The Holding Company as well. Finnegan and Wood released the album Crazed Hipsters on Blue Thumb in 1972.

April 21, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Earth Quake/Modern Lovers (Friday)
It's easy to make fun of Berkeley--I for one never tire of it--but you have to give the town its due. Yes, Berkeley is pretentious and sniffs at the provinciality of every other town, ever. But it also means that Berkeley is often ahead of other places, often way ahead. Johnathan Richman and the Modern Lovers were an underground cult sensation in Berkeley around 1975, long before anywhere else had heard of him. And yet, three years earlier--three years!--The Modern Lovers had played at the Long Branch. At the time, the Modern Lovers were fairly self-consciously modeled on the Velvet Underground. At the time, the VU were all but forgotten, and frontman Lou Reed was just an obscure solo artist in New York. Nobody cared about Reed or the Velvets, much less an unrecorded Boston band carrying on their obscure tradition. Warner Brothers had signed the Modern Lovers, and flown them out to Los Angeles to record demos with John Cale. The band also played a few live gigs, including this booking at the Long Branch.

When Beserkeley Records released Richman's sunny takes in 1975, "Road Runner" and "New Teller" were a ray of sunshine on FM radio, when they got played. Yet shortly after, the earlier, darker demos recorded back in '72 with John Cale behind the board revealed a much grimmer version of the Modern Lovers. In 1976, Beserkeley released the demos (the release was known as "The Black Album"). It featured a darker, organ-driven version of "Roadrunner," and the bleak, hilarious "Pablo Picasso" ("Some people walk down the street/Get called an asshole/That never happened to/Pablo Picasso"). The dark, '72 Modern Lovers had opened at the Long Branch for their future label-mates Earth Quake, and someone had the foresight to record it. You have to love Berkeley for that.

The Modern Lovers probably did not go over that well. Besides Richman on electric guitar and vocals, the band had future Talking Head Jerry Harrison on organ and future Car drummer David Robinson, plus bassist Ernie Brooks. In 1998, the Long Branch show was released as part of a vinyl double-LP, Modern Lovers Live At The Longbranch And More.

April 22, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Grootna/Fletcher Brothers (Saturday)
Note that bands like Grootna or Copperhead, with recordings to their name (in Copperhead's case, via Cippolina) were playing the Long Branch about once a month.

The Fletcher Brothers played local Bay Area clubs during this period, but I don't know anything else about them.

April 23, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Bobby Hutcherson (Sunday)
Bobby Hutcherson was an exceptional vibes player from Los Angeles. He had moved to New York, and had recorded for Blue Note as early as 1963. Hutcherson returned to California in 1967, and mostly played on the West Coast thereafter. While Hutcherson was a forward-thinking music, his music was quieter and more acoustic than some of his peers at the time. Since there were no jazz clubs in the East Bay, Hutcherson often played rock clubs on weeknights. Although jazz was a rarity at the Long Branch, Berkeley has always been amenable to eclectic bookings. 

April 25, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Boogie Brothers/Sober and Sorry (Tuesday)
Boogie Brothers and Sober and Sorry are both unknown to me.

April 27, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Linx/The Rockets (Thursday)

April 28, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Linx/Bitterweet (Friday)

April 29, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Earth Quake/Knee Deep (Saturday)

April 30, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Osceola (Sunday)
Osceola was a band from Florida that had relocated to San Francisco around 1969, and played around the Bay Area for a few years.

May 5, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Linx/Knee Deep (Friday)

May 6, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Dennis Geyer Band/Bittersweet (Saturday)

May 10, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Street Band (Tuesday)
The Street Band is unknown to me.

I am missing listings for the weekend of May 12-14.

May 16, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Mike Finnegan and Jerry Wood (Tuesday)

May 19, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Grootna/Rockets (Friday)

May 20, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Linx/Frank Biner (Saturday)

May 21, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Fluid Drive/Jango (Sunday)
Jango is unknown to me.

May 23, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Asleep At The Wheel/High Country (Tuesday)
Asleep At The Wheel tried to work as many nights as possible. From this point on, it appears they played most Tuesday nights at the Long Branch. 

High Country were a Berkeley bluegrass band led by mandolinist Butch Waller. High Country were regulars at Berkeley's already-legendary folk club, the Freight And Salvage (a half-mile North, at 1827 San Pablo). Waller had been pals with Garcia and David Nelson, both former bluegrassers, since 1963. Waller and David Nelson had been in a bluegrass band together in 1964 (the Pine Valley Boys), and in '69, Nelson had even played a little with High Country. One time, High Country's banjo player wasn't available, and Jerry Garcia filled in (June 19, 1969--of course, there's a tape). High Country had released an album on Raccoon, the Youngbloods' label.

May 24, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Is/The Street Band (Wednesday)
Is is unknown to me. 

 May 25, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Loading Zone/Linx (Thursday)
The Loading Zone were still grinding it out. One of their vocalists, Wendy Haas, had left to join Azteca, but they still had Linda Tillery. 

May 26 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Earth Quake (Friday)

May 27, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Loading Zone/Linx (Saturday)

Sophomoric, the second album by the Congress Of Wonders comedy duo, was released on Fantasy Records in 1972

May 28, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Congress Of Wonders/Blue Mountain/Fluid Drive Benefit for George McGovern (Sunday)
George McGovern was the Anti-War candidate for the Democratic Party Presidential nomination, so there were many benefits for him in college towns like Berkeley.

Congress Of Wonders was a hip comedy duo. Congress of Wonders were a comedy duo 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 ‘Performance Art’).  The group performed at the Avalon and other rock venues.

Karl Truckload (Howard Kerr) and Winslow Thrill (Richard Rollins) created two Congress of Wonders albums on Fantasy Records (Revolting and Sophomoric). Their pieces “Pigeon Park” and “Star Trip”, although charmingly dated now, were staples of San Francisco underground radio at the time. 

 

Blue Mountain was a band from Palo Alto.

May 30, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Asleep At The Wheel/Knee Deep (Tuesday)

May 31, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: The Street Band (Wednesday)

June 2, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Tower Of Power (Friday)
Tower Of Power, though originally from Fremont, were the pride of Oakland. They had been discovered by Bill Graham at the Tuesday night Fillmore West auditions, and their first album East Bay Grease had been released on Graham's San Francisco label (distributed by Atlantic). By 1972, the label was gone, but Atlantic's sister label Warner Brothers had picked up Tower. Tower's immortal second album, Bump City, had been released in the Spring, just as the Oakland A's, Raiders and Golden State Warriors were making all things Oakland ascendant.

Tower Of Power had graduated beyond the Long Branch by this time, but they were the sort of band who preferred to fill up the gig sheet on any empty night.

June 3, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Frank Biner/Full Moon (Saturday)

June 4, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Fluid Drive/The Tubes (Sunday) McGovern Benefit
The Tubes had only formed around March, 1972. Most of the band members were from Phoenix, AZ. Initially, guitarist Bill Spooner, keyboard player Vince Welnick and bassist Rick Andersen had been in a popular Phoenix band called The Beans. The Beans had moved to San Francisco in Fall 1970. They had played numerous local gigs, but hadn't really made much headway. After some band members left the Beans, it had turned out that another popular Phoenix band had lost some members, so guitarist Roger Steen and drummer Prairie Prince had relocated to San Francisco to join The Beans. Their roadie John "Fiji" Waldo was added as lead singer, and The Tubes were born.

The Tubes played a sort of progressive rock rather than modified blues. They also had a fairly elaborate stage show, which was pretty much unheard of at the time. Initially, of course, their props were just cardboard and confetti, but they were a performing band from the beginning.

June 6, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Asleep At The Wheel/Boogie Brothers (Tuesday)

Juice Newton's 1981 debut lp, several years after she was in the folk-rock band Dixie Peach

June 7, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Linx/Dixie Peach (Wednesday)
Dixie Peach was a folk rock band that featured singer Judy Newton and guitarist and songwriter Robert Otha Young. The two had started performing together when Newton was a student at Foothill College in Los Altos. Bassist Cecil Bollinger, formerly of the great South Bay group Weird Herald, was also a member.

Although Dixie Peach was just another local band on the Bay Area scene, Judy Newton would go on to become far better known in the 80s as country singer Juice Newton. Otha Young (1943- 2009) was her principal songwriter as well, so the two had a fruitful musical partnership well into the 21st century. 

June 8, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Linx/Loading Zone (Thursday)

June 9, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Elvin Bishop Group/Django (Friday)
June 10, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Elvin Bishop Group/Fluid Drive (Saturday)
Elvin Bishop had been a regular performer in Bay Area rock nightclubs since he had arrived in San Francisco in 1968, having just left the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. From 1969 onwards, his main gig had been at Freddie Herrera's Keystone Korner in San Francisco, but he played all over. The Elvin Bishop Group had been signed to Bill Graham's Fillmore Records (distributed by Columbia), and had released two albums (the 1969 debut and 1970's Feel It!). By 1972, Fillmore Records had folded, but Bishop had been picked up by Epic, a Columbia subsidiary (he would release Rock My Soul later in '72).

The Elvin Bishop Group had played regularly at the Long Branch in 1971.  In March of '72, however, Freddie Herrera had taken over the New Monk and changed it to the Keystone Berkeley, so Bishop's principal allegiance was just up the road. Still, while Keystone Berkeley and Long Branch were competitors, they weren't enemies, so here was the Elvin Bishop headlining a weekend. At this time, the Elvin Bishop Group featured Stephen Miller on organ (ex-Linn County), and vocals by Miller, Bishop and singer Jo Baker.

June 14, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Tower Of Power (Wednesday)

June 16, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Fluid Drive/Osceola (Friday)

June 17, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Blue Mountain/Linx (Saturday)

June 20, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Asleep At The Wheel/Clover (Tuesday)

June 21, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  The Street Band/Blue Moon (Wednesday)

June 24, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Earth Quake/Grayson Street (Saturday)

June 27, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Asleep At The Wheel/El Rancho Cowboys (Tuesday)
The El Rancho Cowboys were a country band from the San Jose suburb of Cupertino, CA. Guitarist Cornell Hurd would end up leading the Texas "Dance Hall" band--albeit from Cupertino--known as Cornell Hurd and His Mondo Hot Pants Orchestra. Hurd had met Asleep At The Wheel (whether at this show or before isn't clear) and they were hugely influential in his future musical career.

June 28, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA: Street Band (Wednesday)

June 29, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Loading Zone/Frank Biner (Thursday)
By this time, Loading Zone organist Tom Coster and bassist Doug Rauch had been recording with Santana, for the album that would become Caravanserai. By September, Coster and Rauch would go out on tour with Santana, and Loading Zone finally broke up. Drummer Tony Smith had gone on to play for Malo, and guitarist Bruce Conte would join Tower Of Power (Tower and the Zone shared a manager and a rehearsal space). Linda Tillery would go on to a substantial career as a solo artist.  This booking likely featured the final lineup of Loading Zone, with Tillery (vocals) and Conte (guitar) supported by Steve Funk (keyboards), Paul Jackson (bass), Mike Clark (drums) and Pat O'Hara (trombone).

June 30-July 1, 1972 Long Branch, Berkeley, CA:  Blue Mountain/Rockets (Friday-Saturday)
The Rockets, slowly climbing the ladder, were now co-headlining on the weekend.

The Long Branch, 2504 San Pablo, Berkeley, some time in the 1970s

The Long Branch Saloon: May 1971-November 1976
The Long Branch lasted a little over five years, and closed around November 1976. It was mostly a thriving club during that period. Berkeley's population grew enormously, and the students lived farther and farther from campus, driving up rents all over Berkeley, Albany and North Oakland. The Keystone Berkeley opened in March, 1972, and the much larger club got the premier bookings. In particular, acts like Jerry Garcia, Elvin Bishop, Tower Of Power and Commander Cody found time to regularly play the Keystone, and rarely if ever played the Long Branch. So Keystone periodically got big draws, even on weeknights, while Long Branch had to depend on its regulars. Earth Quake and Grayson Street were regular performers at the Long Branch throughout most of the 5-year period it was open. Earth Quake in particular held down almost every Friday night for long periods.

The Long Branch didn't look like this in 1971.

Afterwards
The Long Branch briefly re-opened as a music venue around November 1978. The club was run by the former proprietor of the Berkeley club Jerry's Stop Sign (yet another story) and used the name The Branch. It wasn't open for long.

For many years, 2504 San Pablo Avenue was a store called Good Vibrations. It wasn't a music store, but it was scandalous enough to live up to the Cabale history (don't google it at work). Eventually, as Berkeley got more and more wealthy, gentrification finally got all the way down to Dwight Way and San Pablo Avenue. The building was completely remodeled, and re-opened as a restaurant. The new address is 2512 San Pablo Avenue, but it's the same location. The first restaurant I am aware of was called Sea Salt, which opened about 2009 or so. Sea Salt closed, though, and a new restaurant opened on November 11, 2014.

The Long Branch Saloon, at 2512 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley, ca. 2019

The name of the new restaurant? The Long Branch Saloon. It says "Upscale comfort food is served in a stylish setting with open rafters & butcher-block tables." Given the turnover in Berkeley's population, it's likely that the locals think the Long Branch is just a reference to Dodge City--which it is--and don't see the nod to a hard-rockin' past.

For the previous post in the Long Branch series (May-December 1971), see here 

For the next post in the Long Branch series (October-December 1973), see here