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| The Family Dog on The Great Highway, ca 1969, formerly Topsy's Roost and the Edgewater Ballroom, and later Friends And Relations Hall, at 660 Great Highway in San Francisco |
The Edgewater Ballroom, part of the San Francisco amusement park Playland-At-The Beach, and located at 660 Great Highway, had been open since at least 1930. In 1969, Chet Helms had relocated his Family Dog concert operation from the Avalon Ballroom to the Edgewater. Helms had renamed the venue The Family Dog on The Great Highway. The venue had opened with much fanfare on June 13, 1969, with Jefferson Airplane headlining to a packed house. Although a beautiful venue in a great location, Helms was undercapitalized and the Ballroom was too small for the era. There was some great music, but the Family Dog on The Great Highway never lived up to its promise.
The Family Dog on The Great Highway had struggled along for 14 months, but it folded on August 22, 1970, after a concert by Quicksilver Messenger Service. I wrote about the music and shows at the Family Dog on The Great Highway in great detail. If the Family Dog had established a jam band palace on San Francisco's Ocean Beach in the 21st century, financed by Cannabis merchants, it would have been a massive success. But Playland had closed on Labor Day, 1972, and the adjoining Edgewater Ballroom was razed shortly afterwards.
While the Family Dog on The Great Highway had closed in August 1970, the building itself was still in use for another two years. Esteemed scholar David Kramer-Smyth was kind enough to identify all the events at 660 Great Highway after the Family Dog closed. Given the extensive efforts I made to document the Dog's Ocean Beach adventures, it seemed appropriate to complete the loop by reviewing all the rock shows afterwards, along with at least mentioning the other theatrical events.
Playland was in San Francisco's Ocean Beach neighborhood. Ocean Beach, at the edge of the city, was essentially in an isolated suburb, with plenty of teenagers and potential rock music fans nearby, but a long way from the broader population of the Bay Area. Google maps is a little misleading if you don't know the area. The Ocean Beach neighborhood is sealed off from the rest of the Bay Area's Peninsula by some difficult hills. East Bay residents, in turn, while not a huge number of miles away, would need to cross the Bay Bridge and pass through all of San Francisco to get to Playland. The same traffic realities had boxed in the Family Dog. Thus Ocean Beach was a specialized destination, mostly just for locals.
In the two years between the closing of the Family Dog and the razing of the old Edgewater Ballroom, various rock shows and theatrical performances were put on at Playland. Some of them were probably pretty good, actually, but 660 Great Highway was always the last choice, the venue that got used when nothing else was available. The chronicle of the venue that I have constructed for this period is a bit sad, but it's still a helpful look at the outlying tendrils of the San Francisco rock music scene from 1970 through '72.
Thanks to David Kramer-Smyth for making this post possible. Anyone with additional information, corrections, insights or recovered memories, please included them in the Comments.
September 18, 1970 Playland At The Beach Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Miss American Vampire Contest (Friday)
Playland-At-The-Beach had opened in 1913, on San Francisco's Great Highway between Balboa and Fulton Streets. Playland's fortunes had declined considerably by 1970, but the amusement park was still open. The former Edgewater Ballroom was at the edge of the park, so clients did not have to enter the park to see events there.
Since most of the clients of Playland itself were teenagers or even younger, the "Family Dog" ballroom name had little meaning, so this event was advertised as being at "Playland At The Beach Ballroom." The Miss American Vampire Contest was promoting the new movie House Of Dark Shadows, based on the ABC-tv Soap Opera Dark Shadows. Dark Shadows was a popular 5-day-a-week soap opera. It aired at 3:30 p.m., late enough for kids to watch it after school. Dark Shadows surrounded the doings of one Barnabas Collins, a two-hundred year old vampire, along with assorted witches, werewolves and--I kid you not--the I Ching.
House Of Dark Shadows was a feature film made to capitalize on the TV show. The official release date of the movie (per Wikipedia) was October 28, 1970, so the opening at Loew's SF on September 23 must have been some kind of pre-release event (I have actually seen the movie, but it's too much of a rabbit hole to go into here).
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| October 25, 1970 Sunday SF Examiner |
October 31, 1970 660 Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Womb/Joe Riccio/Ice/Osceola (Friday) Transformation Witches Night
San Francisco loves Halloween. This 1970 event was more directed at young adults rather than kids, so the address was used as the name of the venue. It seems to have mainly been a dance and costume party, and none of the bands were notable. Osceola, a band of Florida transplants led by guitarist Bill Ande, had played the Family Dog on the Great Highway many times. Womb (formerly Birth, who had released a 1969 album on Dot Records), were from San Jose. Ice was a young Marin band associated with the West-Pole, the management for Quicksilver Messenger Service. Joe Riccio is unknown to me.
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November 6-7, 1970 Poor Richard's, San Francisco, CA: Naked Lunch/Scamp/Dead Run/Grim Tales (Friday-Saturday)
For unknown reasons, the new name of the venue was now Poor Richard's. Naked Lunch was a local band that featured guitarist Abel Zarate, who later ended up in the band Malo, along with keyboard player Lu Stephens, who had been in a 60s band called All Men Joy. Scamp, Dead Run and Grim Tales are unknown to me (when I haven't heard of San Francisco bands from this era, they are definitely obscure). I have to assume that this event was mainly a sort of weekend dance for Playland patrons and local teenagers, rather than an attempt to draw anyone from farther away.
December 11, 1970 Old Family Dog Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Flamin' Groovies/Loose Gravel/Cosmic Popcorn (Friday)
December 12, 1970 Old Family Dog Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Flamin' Groovies/Loose Gravel/Foxglove (Saturday)
The Flamin' Groovies had been around the San Francisco scene since 1965, but their adherence to a "British Invasion" style left them on the outs in the jam-oriented Fillmore scene. By this time, the Flamin' Groovies had released three albums. Their most recent had been Flamingo, on Kama Sutra. The Groovies regularly promoted their own events, and I assume they were self-promoting here.
Loose Gravel featured guitarist Mike Wilhem, who had been The Charlatans. Cosmic Popcorn and Foxglove are unknown to me.
December 30, 1970 Poor Richard's, San Francisco, CA: Soul Sacrifice/Intruders/others (Wednesday) Benefit For Philippine Flood
One theme of this era was that since there were few concerts booked at 660 Great Highway, it was regularly available for benefit concerts. There had been substantial floods in the Phillipines in early September. There was a huge Filipino and Filipino-American community in San Francisco, with their own popular dance circuit for young Filipino adults and older teens. I don't know anything about Soul Sacrifice or The Intruders, but they were likely part of that scene.
January 9, 1971 Poor Richard's, San Francisco, CA: Country Weather/Fellin'/Liquid Heart/Wells/Wizard (Saturday) Natural Arts Festival
On Saturday, January 9, Poor Richard's hosted the "Natural Arts Festival," whatever that was. The listing in the SF Examiner says "Yoga demonstrations and visuals," so probably the Festival focused on homeopathic remedies and various kinds of holistic approaches to health.
The headline band was Country Weather, from Contra Costa County. Country Weather featured guitarist Greg Douglass, later in the Steve Miller Band (he would co-write the hit "Jungle Love"). Country Weather had been together since 1968, and had opened at the Fillmore West many times. They were widely regarded by locals at the time as an excellent band, but never released an album in the 20th century.
Fellin', Liquid Heart, Wells and Wizard are unknown to me.
On Tuesday, January 19, a traveling Native American ensemble called the White Roots Of Peace was scheduled to appear at Poor Richard's. It's not clear if they actually performed (whoever they may have been). During the week of January 20, Poor Richard's was used as a sort of "Bird Hospital." Standard Oil had caused a giant oil spill just off of San Francisco, and numerous sea birds were covered with oil. Thanks to volunteers, the birds were rescued and cared for. Poor Richard's was the base of operations.
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| SF Examiner March 4, 1971 |
On March 4, 1971 the Examiner article headlined "New Life For The Family Dog" described the plans of the new promoters at 660 Great Highway. For one thing, they would re-name the venue Friends And Relations Hall, a name that would generally stick for the remaining 18 months of the venue.
The latter day Family Dog headquarters and ballroom at 660 Great Highway will reopen on March 12 with a new paint job, new owners and a new name.
"Friends and Relations Hall" is the new name for the big oceanfront building that was once the "Edgewater" featuring big dance bands, and in recent months has tried to operate as "Poor Richard's."The new proprietors, who have a year's lease, include Jim Gravanes, Vince Nunno, Steve Bowen and attorney-musician Jerry Weiner.
"We have cleaned up the place a good deal" commented Gravanes yesterday, "and we have already let out various concessions, some of which will operate during the weekdays as well as in our weekend evening musical events."First show for Friends And Relations Hall will feature Big Brother and The Holding Company, Clover and Foxglove. One of the Bay Area's veteran light show artists, Bob Holt, will be in charge of visuals.
Plans for F&R Hall include a greatly expanded restaurant facility, a new bandstand and dressing room arrangement, giant cushions for more comfortable floor seating, and a number of special activities which will run during the week.
Headlining the second weekend, March 19-20, will be Berkeley's Joy Of Cooking group.
All weekend shows will begin at 9 o'clock on Friday and Saturday nights, with a $2.50 door charge.
The team's plan seems to have been pretty sensible. The ongoing restaurant could provide daily revenue, and the low ticket price meant that the venue was not competing directly with high profile shows at Winterland or elsewhere, but trying to be a sort of neighborhood rock venue. This wasn't a bad idea, actually, but the problem was that the 1971 Ocean Beach rock audience wasn't even of drinking age yet, and without a bar, the venue wouldn't get enough traction. In March, however, that was still yet to come.
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| March 7, 1971 SF Examiner |
March 12-13, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: Big Brother and The Holding/Clover/Foxglove (Friday-Saturday)
Big Brother and The Holding Company was a legendary San Francisco rock band, of course, but without Janis Joplin they were kind of just another band. After breaking up at the end of 1968, Big Brother had reformed in late 1969. The original quartet (Peter Albin, James Gurley, Sam Andrews and David Getz) were joined by guitarist David Schallock. Also onboard, at least in the Bay Area, was producer Nick Gravenites, who sang some songs with them. Gravenites had produced their 1970 album Be A Brother, a highly underrated record that had hardly been noticed. With Big Brother and a light show, Friends And Relations Hall was definitely marking itself as a hippie joint in the tradition of the Fillmore.
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| Clover's Forty-Niner album, their second album on Fantasy, released in 1970 |
Clover was a Marin band. The quartet had released two albums on Fantasy. They were led by guitarist John McFee and singer Alex Call. Shortly afterwards, Clover would be joined by singer Hugh Cregg and keyboard player Sean Hopper. Clover made it to about 1977, when they finally broke up. McFee went to the Doobie Brothers, Call wrote some hits and Cregg and Hopper founded Huey Lewis and The News.
Although the Examiner article mentioned a planned booking for Berkeley's Joy Of Cooking on March 19 and 20, there was no listing for such a concert, and I don't think it happened.
Big Brother returned to Friends And Relations Hall a month later. Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen had relocated to Berkeley from Ann Arbor, MI in the Summer of 1969. In the mean time, they had become a popular local band, as their swinging hippie honky tonk was right on time for the upcoming rise of country rock. Cody and his Airmen were still several months away from their epic debut album Lost In The Ozone on ABC-Paramount Records.
Mike Finnegan was an organist from Topeka, KS, and a great singer. He had moved to Marin to join the the Jerry Hahn Brotherhood. Guitarist Hahn (also from Kansas) had played jazz with John Handy and Gary Burton in the 60s, but the Brotherhood was a jazz-rock outfit. After an interesting 1970 album on Columbia that didn't go anywhere, they had broken up. At this time, Finnegan led a Sunday night jam session at the Lion's Share in San Anselmo, and played around local clubs. At times, he also played with Big Brother, and he likely sat in with them this weekend.
April 11, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: "Turn On With Tullah" (Sunday)
Tullah Hanley was a 48-year old former belly dancer. Now a widow, she had married rich and had apparently given a $3 million gift of art to San Francisco's De Young Museum. This Sunday night event appears to have been some sort of celebration organized by Tullah herself. Your guess is as good as mine.
For all the fanfare of the new owners, I don't know why the only events were not on weekends. If there had been notable bands playing on the weekends, they would most likely have been listed in the local papers. Of the several bands playing, most had already played 660 Great Highway. In the case of Malo, they were a new group, but they were formed from a group called the Malibus with the addition of guitarists Abel Zarate (who had been in Naked Lunch) and Jorge Santana (Carlos' younger brother, who had been in the Sounds Unlimited Blues Band).
Fox (not Foxglove), Jim Eave's Acoustic Quintet and the Pennsylvania Pokers are unknown to me.
Big Brother returned yet again, this time at a Benefit for the Reality House West drug rehab program (Reality House West had been open since 1968, and was located at 1360 Fillmore Street).
Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, who played their unique style of acoustic, snarky swing, had deep roots in the San Francisco scene. Hicks had been the drummer in The Charlatans. Back in 1965, the Charlatans were San Francisco's first psychedelic rock band. Their new Blue Thumb Records album Where's The Money would be released later in 1971.
Gold was a Berkeley group associated with Country Joe McDonald, since manager Ron Cabral was an old Navy pal of Joe's.
April 24, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: Barry Melton And the Fish/Shades of Joy/Cat Mother And The All Night Newsboys (Saturday) Celebration of the People’s Peace Treaty
I do not know if this "celebration" was a Benefit, or just an occasion.
Country Joe and The Fish had disintegrated in mid-1970. When Barry Melton was billed as "Barry Melton and The Fish" it was an indication that he would be playing with an electric band. His current album was Bright Sun Is Shining, a mostly bluesy album that had been released in 1970 on Vanguard.
Shades Of Joy had been around since 1969. Today they would be called a "Jam Band," but no such term existed for bands that improvised a lot without playing straight jazz. The key members were guitarist Jackie King, saxophonist Martin Fierro and organist Jymm Young. They had released an album on Fontana Records in 1969.
Cat Mother and The All-Night Newsboys had formed in 1967. By 1969, they had been signed by Michael Jeffery, the manager of Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix had even produced the band's debut album on Polydor, The Street Giveth and The Street Taketh Away. Thanks to the Jeffery connection, Cat Mother got to open for Hendrix and a number of other high profile events. Cat Mother even had a minor hit in late '69, with medley of oldies called "Old Time Rock And Roll." In fact, the band's sound was more country-folk oriented, but they were versatile musicians. By 1970, however, Cat Mother was anxious to separate themselves from Jeffery's questionable management practices. Their second album, Albion Doo-Wah, would be recorded at Pacific High Recorders in San Francisco.
May 1, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: Foxglove/Fox/Railway (Saturday)
Railway is unknown to me. Whatever the plans of the new proprietors of Friends And Relations Hall, whether these bands were good or not, they weren't going to draw crowds.
May 4, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: Cat Mother And The All Night Newsboys/Cookin' Mama/Fox/Elixir (Tuesday)
Cat Mother returned to headline, but on a Tuesday night. Elixir is unknown to me.
Cookin' Mama was a high powered Marin band featuring guitarist Pat Thrall and singer Sherry Fox. Thrall would later become better known in groups like Automatic Man and the Pat Travers Band. Fox, oddly, is best known for earlier vocal harmony group RJ Fox. Cookin' Mama's 1972 album was recorded in Marin (at The Church in San Anselmo) and more-or-less self-released on Rock Bottom Records.
May 17, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: Flamin' Groovies/Sopwith Camel/Foxglove (Monday)
It's not clear to me why there was a Monday night show, and yet no weekend events. Maybe the Groovies had a better gig on the weekend.
May 22, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: Flamin' Groovies/Sopwith Camel/Flying Circus (Saturday)
For a Saturday night show, Mill Valley's Flying Circus joined the Flamin' Groovies and Sopwith Camel. Flying Circus was led by guitarist Bob McFee, brother of Clover's John McFee. Clover and Flying Circus shared a rehearsal hall.
The Youngbloods were the most prominent band to ever play Friends And Relations Hall. The Youngbloods had unexpectedly hit it big in 1969 with re-release of their 1967 version of "Get Together." The Youngbloods shrewdly parlayed the hit into a new contract that included their own Imprint (custom label) on Warners. Raccoon Records not only released Youngbloods albums, but solo albums and records by their musical friends. The Youngbloods current album was probably Good And Dusty (I'm not certain when in 1971 it was released). The band was now a quartet, with Jesse Colin Young on guitar and vocals, Joe Bauer on drums, Michael Kane on bass and Lowell "Banana" Levenger on piano, steel guitar and various other instruments.
Jeffrey Cain was a solo artist on Raccoon. Grootna was a Berkeley band with an album on Columbia, fronted by guitarist Vic Smith and singer Anna Rizzo, both previously in the band Sky Blue. The Columbia album was produced by Airplane singer Marty Balin, who would later team with Smith to form Bodacious.
The Sufi Choir was a dance and music troupe inspired by Islamic mysticism, and based in Marin.
June 3, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: Country Joe McDonald/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Grootna/Stoneground (Thursday) Benefit for The Bear Tribe Commune
It was not a good sign that most of the bookings at Friends And Relations Hall were billed as "Benefit" concerts, and held on weeknights. Now, from the Hall's point of view, they were likely paid the same amount for hall rental for a benefit than for a regular show, but benefits weren't premier events.
Country Joe McDonald had split with Barry Melton in Summer 1970, and had since toured as a solo act. He was still a fairly big name in the Bay Area, however. His most recent album was Hold On, It's Coming, released by Vanguard in April, 1971.
The New Riders Of The Purple Sage had played the Family Dog on The Great Highway, as had the Grateful Dead, so Jerry Garcia surely liked the room. At this time, the Riders were producing their Columbia debut (NRPS), with Garcia still a member of the band on pedal steel guitar. The New Riders, of course, had to fit their touring schedule around the Grateful Dead, and plans were afoot to replace Garcia with Buddy Cage (which had been Jerry's recommendation).
Stoneground had been put together by KSAN impresario Tom Donahue for a movie called Medicine Ball Caravan. The band had been signed to Warners and had released their debut earlier in 1971. The group had five lead singers, including Sal Valentino (ex-Beau Brummels) and guitarist Tim Barnes.
June 5, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: Victoria/Chris Williamson/Kendall Kardt/Roland Brothers (Saturday)
Popular rock music was changing, and the new breed of singer-songwriters, often just accompanying themselves on a guitar or piano, did not benefit from being third on the bill to some noisy rock band at a giant arena. The newly opened Boarding House focused on these kinds of performers, and some astute managers organized bookings that featured a number of these artists playing together.
Victoria (Victoria Domagalski) was a singer-songwriter, part of Bill Graham's managment stable. Her debut album, Secret Of The Bloom, had been released on Graham's San Francisco Records label (distributed by Atlantic) in late 1970
Chris Williamson (b. 1947, today known as Cris Williamson) was from Deadwood, SD, of all
places. She had released three obscure solo albums on Avanti Records in
1964-65. By 1971, she had resurfaced in the Bay Area. Williamson had released an album on Ampex in 1971.
It had been recorded in New York (with Eddie Kramer, at Electric Lady
Studios) and in San Francisco (at Wally Heider's, with Jim Gaines). An
army of session men, some well-known, were on the record. It went
nowhere. Still, Williamson had just headlined a week of shows (in May) at San Francisco's Boarding House, a newly-opened "acoustic music salon," so it seems she was starting to develop a following.
Kendall Kardt (b. 1943) was an example of a different type of arc, an electric performer gone solo. Kardt had been in the group Rig, who had been booked by the Bill Graham
organization. Rig had played the Fillmore East, and opened for a variety of
National acts. Rig released an album on Capitol in 1970.
The band broke up, however, and Kardt moved to the Bay Area to be
nearer to the Graham team. Kardt recorded a solo album for Capitol, with
help from the likes of Jerry Garcia, Ronnie Montrose, Pamela Polland
and Spencer Dryden, but the album was shelved. He would record an album
for Columbia in 1972, but it too was shelved. Kardt, too, had headlined a week in May at the Boarding House.
Ultimately, Kardt would move to Chicago. He continued his career as a songwriter, and his songs were recorded by Montrose, Jim Post and others.
June 25-26, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen/Charlie Musselwhite/Sonoma Mountain Band (Friday-Saturday)Cody and the Airmen returned to Friends And Relations as headliners.
Charlie Musselwhite was a blues harmonica player from Memphis, by way of Chicago. He had moved out to the Bay Area in 1967 and had been a regular performer at nightclubs and ballrooms since then. Musselwhite had recorded a number of albums, but blues wasn't as appealing to record companies as it had been in the 60s. Locally based Arhoolie Records would release Takin' My Time some time in 1971, and Musselwhite's band featured the young Ukiah guitarist Robben Ford. Ford was the anchor of Musselwhite's band for some time, and may have still been in the group at this point.
The Sonoma Mountain Band is unknown to me.
June 27, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: "Yogi For Joy" Sufi Bajwan/Allen Ginsberg/Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (Sunday)
Allen Ginsberg was the legendary beat poet, and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach was a folk-singing rabbi. In general, this would have been seen as a sort of "personal enlightenment" evening.
June 28, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: Hot Tuna/Stoneground/Ace Of Cups (Monday) Benefit For Native American Church
Once again, popular local acts were using Friends And Relations Hall for a weeknight benefit. This was a sign that musicians liked the room, but it wasn't attractive for a weekend headline gig. I have no idea who or what the Native American Church might have been.
Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady had been playing separately from Jefferson Airplane since 1968, but had only started using the name "Hot Tuna" in early 1970. Their second RCA album, First Pull Up Then Pull Down, had just been released in June '71. Tuna had their first East Coast tour coming up--the first of many--and playing this benefit was probably a good tune-up. In their electric configuration, Jack and Jorma were joined by Papa John Creach on electric violin and Sammy Piazza on drums. At a Bay Area show, they might have been joined by a guest or two as well [note: some Hot Tuna lists show a May 1 '71 Friends And Relations date, but I think it is spurious].
Ace Of Cups were already somewhat notable, if not exactly infamous, for being the only "all-girl" band on the Fillmore scene. They wrote their own material, and there was some record company interest. They were managed by Quicksilver manager Ron Polte, but he was never able to find a deal that worked (ultimately, an album of live material and demos was released in 2003). By 1971, Ace Of Cups was only performing intermittently, and they sometimes even had men in the band, usually a husband.
Whatever the grand plans of the quartet who took over the Friends And Relations lease in March of 1971, the venue hadn't really worked out as a concert venue. Most of the shows in the preceding months had been on off-nights, or featured bands that were third-on-the-bill at Fillmore West. I do not know if the same investors continued to support Friends And Relations, but from this point onward the venue mostly put on theatrical productions, with the occasional concert. I don't actually think Friends And Relations was any more successful as a Theater. The distant location of Playland wasn't solved by putting on musicals.
July 7-25, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: "Emergence" (Tuesday-Sundays)
"The Emergence" was a "psychedelic tapestry" performed by the Los Angeles Repertory Troupe Company Theatre, presented by Mel Goldblatt. I am refraining from doing any research on the musicals, as it is outside of the scope of even my rather sprawling blogs.
There does seem to have been a poster, I don't know how widely it circulated.
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| SF Examiner August 3, 1971 |
August 1-September 1, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: "Tommy" The Musical (Tuesdays-Saturdays)
After "Emergence," Friends And Relations booked a version of The Who's "Tommy" rock opera. I believe this had been San Francisco college production (at Lone Mountain College), that was successful enough to move.
The Youngbloods returned to headline a weekend at Friends And Relations. The "Tommy" production seems to have been on hiatus. It's worth noting that Fillmore West was closed by this time, so there wasn't a mid-size venue for bands like The Youngbloods. Label mate Jeffrey Cain was listed in the Examiner as having a "new three-man group," so he would have had more of a rock sound.
High Country, who also had an album on Raccoon, were led by Berkeley mandolinist Butch Waller. Waller went way back to the early 60s in the Berkeley bluegrass scene, and was old pals with the likes of David Nelson and Jerry Garcia.
September 17-18, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco CA: Stoneground/New Riders of The Purple Sage (Friday-Saturday)
The New Riders of The Purple Sage and Stoneground co-hosted on this weekend. It would be interesting to know who financed this concert, and who came on last. The New Riders debut album (NRPS) would have just been released on Columbia. Pianist Cory Lerios had probably just joined Stoneground, replacing Englishman Pete Sears.
There is a poster for this show, albeit not a particularly exceptional one, perhaps the only stand-alone poster for a Friends And Relations concert. Events involving the Grateful Dead often had their own posters, even though Jerry Garcia's name appears nowhere on it (no doubt at Jerry's insistence). The poster has no information about who is promoting the concert, which itself is peculiar.
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| The cover of Jefferson Airplane's 1971 lp Bark, on their own Grunt Record label (the imprint was distributed by RCA) |
September 25, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: Jefferson Airplane/Black Kangaroo/One/Ace Of Cups/Jack Bonus/Grootna (Saturday) Grunt Records Party
Jefferson Airplane had been the first really big rock band to come out of the San Francisco scene. Since their initial breakout, other local bands like Sly And The Family Stone, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Santana had come along, selling more records and having a wider cultural reach. Nonetheless, the Airplane had special status by virtue of being first. In 1971, RCA Records had renewed the Airplane's record deal by giving the band its own label. In record company lingo, Grunt Records was an "Imprint," financed, manufactured and distributed by RCA, but with creative decisions made by the Airplane members. Of course, the band immediately signed all their friends, some of who were talented and some not so much.
On September 7, 1971, Grunt Records had its first release. Bark was the new Jefferson Airplane album. It wasn't that good an album, in fact, but the Airplane were local heroes. A few weeks later, the Airplane decided to have a party to celebrate, and invited 1000 friends or so to Friends And Relations Hall. The Examiner's Phil Elwood reported on the huge party that the Airplane had to celebrate their new album and their new label. Jefferson Airplane headlined the show, but came on very late and were not in terrific performing shape (ahem).
Opening the show were a few bands who
would release albums on Grunt. Black Kangaroo featured guitarist Peter
Kaukonen, Jorma's brother. Grootna was associated with Marty Balin, who
had left the band but was still part of the record company. Ace
Of Cups were a long-standing San Francisco band, friends with the
Airplane, who unfortunately never got to record anything for Grunt.
"One" featured a Bolinas neighbor of Paul Kantner's, who used the stage
name of Reality D. Blipcrotch. I have no reports on his (or their)
performance. "One" did release an album on Grunt.
"Tommy" returned, suggesting that it was the only theatrical production that succeeded at Friends And Relations.
November 26, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: Country Joe McDonald/Gold/Ice/Homespun (Friday)
This stray concert was probably produced by Country Joe's management. Joe was still a solo act, so this was probably a low-risk proposition. Gold was associated with Joe McDonald, too. Homespun is unknown to me.
Some bands may have played at this daytime fair. Clearly Friends And Relations was just a hall for rent at this point.
December 31, 1971 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: Quicksilver Messenger Service/Big Brother and The Holding Company/Stoneground/Sopwith Camel (Friday) Quicksilver Presents
Quicksilver Messenger Service, legendary though they were, were no longer at the pinnacle of the San Francisco rock scene. Their second album, Happy Trails, released in March 1969 had received huge FM airplay when the band barely existed and wasn't performing. Quicksilver had returned in 1970, with the classic quartet augmented by Rolling Stones' pianist Nicky Hopkins and singer Dino Valenti. In August '70, they had released Just For Love, which included the popular track "Fresh Air." While Quicksilver could soar live, Valenti's vocals were an acquired taste, and many Quick fans never acquired it.
By the end of 1970, Hopkins and lead guitarist John Cipollina had left the band, leaving it in the hands of Valenti and guitarist Gary Duncan. Quicksilver had a new album in December 1970, What About Me, and the title track got some good FM airplay. But fans saw the band as a Valenti vehicle, and that didn't inspire confidence. Quicksilver began a long, slow decline, even though they would not give up touring until 1977. In November 1971, Quicksilver had released a pretty weak (self-titled) album, and were just a shadow of their former power.
Quicksilver manager Ron Polte was always very entrepreneurial, however, so it's no surprise that Quicksilver put on its own event. Old pals Big Brother were on the bill, but they too were no longer at their apex, with only Sam Andrews carrying the flag.
January 22, 1972 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: Doc Watson (Saturday) Presented by Mel Goldblatt
Guitarist Doc Watson's prominence dated back to the "Folk Revival" days of the early 60s, so his audience was a little older than that of most rock bands. Of course, that basically meant his fans were in their late 20s, rather than a decade younger. Producer Mel Goldblatt--who had used Friends And Relations for the Emergence show (see July 7-25 above)--promoted Doc in San Francisco and Palo Alto. Doc probably drew pretty good crowds at both places.
The February 6, 1972 Sunday column by the Chronicle's John L Wasserman revealed that the Friends And Relation Hall was now "defunct." It would be replaced by The Friends And Relation Theater. The significant detail he revealed was that the "venue" was a 900-seat theater. This was implicitly different from the open floor dance hall that it had been.
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| SF Examiner March 28, 1972 |
March 22-June 30, 1972 Friends And Relations Theater, San Francisco, CA: "Robin" A Musical (Wednesdays, Fridays-Sundays)
Robin was a "Pop Opera," and a "Multi-Media Musical," produced by one Bob Walter. It had run at Stanford for five weeks the previous year, and had originated as a student production. Per the Examiner, they had plans to take it to New York.
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| Via JerryGarciasBrokendownPalaces, a 1972 Tom Gray photo of Friends And Relations Theater from March 1972 |
From this point on, 660 Great Highway was usually referred to as Friends And Relations Theater.
May 27, 1972 Friends And Relations Theater, San Francisco, CA: Alan Watts/Malachi (Saturday)
Given that there was a Saturday event at Friends And Relations, I have to assume "Robin" wasn't a big hit.
Malachi (born John Morgan Newbern, in Baltimore), was a Buddhist guitarist. He had put out the album Holy Music on Verve in 1966. Malachi (1944-2020) lived in Santa Rosa, and had a full life as a musician and luthier.
English-born Alan Watts (1915-73) was a well-known popularizer of Zen teachings, and was well-known from KPFA radio in Berkeley and numerous books. Watts and Malachi had also appeared together at the Family Dog on The Great Highway, on October 18, 1969.July 14-August 5, 1972 Friends And Relations Theater, San Francisco, CA: "Even Adam" (Tuesday-Sunday)
"Even Adam" was a new play by Roger Swearingen, based on the Garden Of Eden myth.
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| SF Examiner Aug 28 1972 |
September 1-2, 1972 Friends And Relations Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Stoneground/Sylvester and His Hot Band/Cat Mother (Friday-Saturday) "Farewell To Friends And Relations"
Playland-At-The-Beach closed on Monday, September 4, 1972. It was mourned by some generations of San Franciscans, but everyone admitted that it's time was long past. As part of the farewell, there was some final concerts at Friends And Relations, called a "Ballroom" at the very end.
Sylvester was a rising soul singer, singular because he wore women's clothing on stage. He mostly played gay bars, but he was an excellent mainstream soul singer. He would later go on to some success in the later 70s.
September 9-10, 1972 Friends And Relations Hall, San Francisco, CA: Blue Bear School Of Music Orchestra and Chorus (Saturday-Sunday)
Although Playland had closed after Labor Day, there was one final event at Friends And Relations (this was possible since the entrance was different). The Blue Bear School Of Music would become famous in later years for teaching people to play rock music, long before "School Of Rock" became commonplace. One of the principal instructors in Blue Bears later rock classes was singer Bonnie Hayes. Her younger brother Chris was also a guitar instructor in the later 70s. Chris Hayes would go on to become a genuine rock star himself, as a founding and permanent member of Huey Lewis And The News.
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| SF Examiner September 10, 1972 |
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