QUESTING BEAST, 2504 SAN PABLO AVE, BERKELEY, CA

In the early 1960s, there was a “folk circuit” anchored by Cambridge, Massachusetts and Berkeley, California. Folksingers could play the Club 47 in Cambridge, go down to Greenwich Village, and work there way across the country, possibly hitchhiking, and sleeping on the couches and floors of other folkniks. The history of this circuit is best covered in the book Baby Let Me Follow You Down (Eric von Schmidt and Jim Rooney, UMass Press 1979).  The Cabale Creamery (2504 San Pablo at Dwight in Berkeley), founded by Rolf Cahn, Debbie Green, Howard Ziehm and Chandler A. Laughlin III, was a crucial stop on this circuit. By August 1964, the club was owned and run by Carroll Peery, manager of the Chambers Brothers who subsequently moved to Cambridge themselves, and Howard Ziehm. Bay Area bluegrass musician Sandy Rothman has written a brief but excellent memoir of the Cabale as part of a project on the great Clarence White and Jorma Kaukonen recorded his album "Cabale Creamery" here in 1964.

When the Cabale finally folded, probably sometime in the summer of 1965, the 2504 San Pablo premises briefly became The Good Buddy then Caverns West before being taken over, by Terry Sullivan and Tony Sage, and re-opened as the Questing Beast on November 19.

Unfortunately, by May 1966 The Beast had been slain with its downfall well documented in the May 6 (Vol 2, Number 18) and May 13 (Vol 2, Number 19) issues of the Barb.

The Questing Beast was primarily a folk coffeehouse and hosted similar acts to the Jabberwock on Telegraph Avenue with a fair amount of flamenco, bluegrass and classical guitar playing thrown in. By all accounts it never managed to turn a profit.

The end was bought about following problems with the local police department and Board of Health who had visited in mid April 1966 and demanded a number of costly improvements to be made. It also transpires that the joint managers of The Questing Beast, Terry Sullivan and Tony Sage, borrowed a patron’s car on Saturday April 30 in order to go for cider and donuts and were pulled over by Patrolman George Williamson, allegedly because of a defective rear light.

A subsequent routine ID check was conducted and the vehicle searched. A small amount of marijuana was found and the two arrested. Friends struggled to find the bail money and their fiancées apparently considered “turning tricks” to raise the funds. By May 2, the day of the arraignment, Sullivan’s bail was in place. However, immediately before the court session, Inspector Darrell Hickman of the Detective Division told Sullivan “I’m revoking your entertainment license” – despite that neither Sullivan nor Sage had been tried or convicted. Sage was taken after arraignment to the maximum security Greystone facility at Santa Rita. Sage recounted to the Barb stories of the scant conditions and food at Graystone in an article published on May 13.

A hastily arranged three day benefit was arranged with Solomon (Feldthouse – later of eclectic LA band Kaleidoscope) with the Holiday Dancers, Country Joe and The Fish, John Paul, Dave Cohen, Dan Paik and The Gospel Tonics (who had originally been scheduled) appearing.

By the time the Berkeley Barb was published on May 6, it was clear that without their cabaret license it would be impossible for The Questing Beast to have any paid performers, scheduled performances, admission or cover charge, and no advertising of live entertainment could be placed. Notwithstanding this, Country Joe and the Fish went on to perform as scheduled that evening. Although the staff at the Beast had told the Barb that emphatically and unanimously that “The Questing Beast will not close”, the Country Joe and the Fish show that Friday proved to be the last music performed there.

Sunday and Monday saw The Questing Beast host Jerry Abrams’ Berkeley Cinematheque (something they had done each Sunday since March 20) and the doors closed for the final time on May 9, 1966.

2504 San Pablo later became home to Tito’s, Babylon and then the Longbranch Saloon. Today the building houses a business called “Good Vibrations” (more Duracell than the Beach Boys).

This has been researched and prepared by Ross Hannan and Corry Arnold. Thanks are due to the late Cactus Pete Anderson who contributed significantly to the research.

Performance History

19 November 1965   Alice Stuart    Opening of The Questing Beast.  Alice Stuart was, and still is, a folk singer.  At the time she was riding high on the back of her Arhoolie debut album "All The Good Times".

20 November 1965   Alice Stuart   

21 November 1965   Hoot   

22 November 1965   Closed

23 November 1965            

24 November 1965            

25 November 1965   Clarence Van Hook    The ad says “Open Tuesday thru Sunday, 9-1”.  This suggests that the venue was open regularly but only had “name” acts on the weekend.  The same ad promotes a Sunday night  “Hoot.”

26 November 1965   Clarence Van Hook, KC Douglas      KC Douglas was born in Sharon, MS in 1913, and played with blues legend Tommy Johnson.  He relocated to Vallejo, CA in 1945 to work in the Navy shipyards.  By 1947 he had relocated to Oakland and was working regularly as a blues performer.   He had a hit in 1949 with "Mercury Boogie," better known as "Mercury Blues" and recorded by Steve Miller (1967), David Lindley (1981) and Alan Jackson (1992), and later used by the Ford Motor Company.   From 1963 to 1970, Douglas was an employee of the Berkeley Public Works Department.   After a performance at the Berkeley Blues Festival in 1970, Douglas had a boost in popularity, and he performed successfully until his death in 1975.  Clarence van Hook, a guitar player, generally accompanied Douglas and continued to perform well into the 1990s.

27 November 1965   Clarence Van Hook, KC Douglas     

28 November 1965   Hoot   

29 November 1965   Closed

30 November 1965   Jim Lynch      Ad states "rambler tunes and flat picking".

01 December 1965    Bob Cooper   

02 December 1965            

03 December 1965    Jean Redpath and Karen Williams    Jean Redpath was a singer of Scottish ballads.

04 December 1965    Jean Redpath and Karen Williams   

05 December 1965    Hoot   

06 December 1965    Closed

07 December 1965    Jim Lynch     

08 December 1965    David and Tina Meltzer        Ad says "electric bass, bluegrass and ballads".  Both would go on to be members of Serpent Power.

09 December 1965    John Shine     Blues

10 December 1965    Lee Underwood        Blues and kazoo

11 December 1965            

12 December 1965    Hoot   

13 December 1965    Closed

14 December 1965            

15 December 1965            

16 December 1965            

17 December 1965    Huck Rorick and His Rock & Roll Friends     By all accounts, a rock & roll band.

18 December 1965    Huck Rorick and His Rock & Roll Friends    

19 December 1965    Hoot   

20 December 1965    Closed

21 December 1965    Ken Spiker     Flamenco and classical guitar

22 December 1965    Bob Cooper    Bob Cooper plays Carter Family Bluegrass this evening at the Questing Beast.

23 December 1965    Golden Key Gospel Singers, Jay Vernon and His Group    

24 December 1965    Golden Key Gospel Singers, Jay Vernon and His Group    

25 December 1965    Golden Key Gospel Singers, Jay Vernon and His Group    

26 December 1965    Hoot   

27 December 1965    Closed

28 December 1965            

29 December 1965            

30 December 1965            

31 December 1965            

01 January 1966               

02 January 1966       Square Dancing with Reed Cooper calling [1:00 pm], Hoot         

03 January 1966       Closed

04 January 1966               

05 January 1966               

06 January 1966       John Paul      

07 January 1966       New Brothers

08 January 1966       New Brothers

09 January 1966       Square Dancing with Reed Cooper calling [1:00 pm], Hoot         

10 January 1966       Closed

11 January 1966       Jason Weininger - Classical guitar   

12 January 1966       Clarence Van Hook   

13 January 1966       Jim Lynch     

14 January 1966       The Friendly Strangers, Sandy Rothman, Lloyd Williams, Butch Waller, Ray Scott [Bluegrass Special]   Bluegrass Special

15 January 1966       The Friendly Strangers, Sandy Rothman, Lloyd Williams, Butch Waller, Ray Scott       

16 January 1966       Square Dancing with Reed Cooper calling [1:00 pm], Hoot         

17 January 1966       Closed

18 January 1966       Jason Weininger - Classical guitar   

19 January 1966       Clarence Van Hook   

20 January 1966       Joe McDonald "Although advertised as a Joe McDonald show, evidence points to this being the first true Country Joe and The Fish show as a band.  Country Joe McDonald, Barry Melton and Bruce Barthol played ""Bass Strings"" and other songs.  

In Joel Selvin's book San Francisco: The Musical History Tour, Selvin discusses an Instant Action Jug Band show in late 1965 that took place at the Cabale Creamery. By his account McDonald, Melton and Barthol played ""Bass Strings"".  If this were correct then it would date it to well before late 1965 as the Cabale had been closed since the Spring.  After November 19, 1965 the 2504 San Pablo location was home to the Questing Beast - the venue having also been called The Good Buddy and Caverns West since it was the Cabale Creamery.  Therefore either the date is wildly incorrect, or (much more probably in my view) the location correct (2504 San Pablo) but the venue name and date incorrect.  Furthermore, in an interview with Mojo Navigator (Issue 10), John Francis Gunning states that the first Country Joe and The Fish show was at the Questing Beast.  The implication is that earlier shows had either been Instant Action Jug Band shows or Country Joe and The Fish as the McDonald/Melton duo - with augmentation by others – typically the Jabberwock irregulars.

The first steady line-up of Country Joe and The Fish featured Joe McDonald and Barry Melton (The Fish – or Blind Ebbets Field), Bruce Barthol, David Cohen, John Francis Gunning and Paul Armstrong. Armstrong would stay until the July of 1966 when he would be unable to sustain his commitment to the band.

21 January 1966       Malachi          "Psychedelic Music".  Malachi, an eastern influenced ex jazz musician, was a self-styled "Existential Guitarist" who had appeared regularly at the Studio C Gallery at 1625 San Pablo during the summer and autumn of 1965.  He was often accompained on rattle by his wife.

22 January 1966       Malachi         

23 January 1966       Square Dancing with Reed Cooper calling [1:00 pm], Hoot         

24 January 1966       Spontaneous Hoot with Chess, Darts and Bridge   

25 January 1966       Ken Spiker    

26 January 1966       John Shine    

27 January 1966       Don Garrett  

28 January 1966       Vern and Ray with Herb Pederson  

29 January 1966       Vern and Ray with Herb Pederson  

30 January 1966       Square Dancing with Reed Cooper calling [1:00 pm]; Hoot  See Page 2 of January 28 Barb - multimedia projection show called the "Questing Beast" presented.  Composed as it is watched.

31 January 1966       Spontaneous Hoot with Chess, Darts and Bridge   

01 February 1966              

02 February 1966              

03 February 1966     New Brothers

04 February 1966     New Brothers

05 February 1966     New Brothers

06 February 1966     Square Dancing with Reed Cooper calling [1:00 pm]; Hip Culture Enterprises - Local Filmmakers; Hoot; The High Cinema of Berkeley presents "Green Desire".      

07 February 1966     Closed

08 February 1966     Ken Spiker, Clarence Van Hook      

09 February 1966     Jim Lynch, Paul Malecot      

10 February 1966     Saint James Five     

11 February 1966     Disassociates, Saint James Five      The ad says “Jazz, Rhythm and Blues Jam Session with The Disassociates.”  Films are advertised for Sunday night (February 13).  Supposedly, the Grateful Dead were using The Questing Beast as a rehearsal hall at this time.  This ended when the Dead abruptly decamped to Los Angeles with their patron, LSD king Augustus Owsley Stanley III.  The Bear was an old Berkeley hand, and there is a whiff that the Questing Beast arrangement was Owsley’s doing.  There may have been a Grateful Dead show scheduled at the Questing  Beast for Friday (February 11) which was canceled as well.  A Grateful Dead tape circulates as “Questing Beast Rehearsal February 11, 1966,” but both the date and venue are spurious.

12 February 1966     Disassociates           Advertised as a "folk rock" group but possibly incorrectly billed in the Berkelely Barb and should be "The Disaffiliates".

13 February 1966     Square Dancing with Reed Cooper calling [2:00 pm] WC Fields and Charlie Chaplin shorts with Bernie Burns at the Piano [8:00 pm and 10:30 pm]

14 February 1966     Closed

15 February 1966              

16 February 1966              

17 February 1966     Jesse Fuller    Advertised as "The Lone Cat, Jesse Fuller, playing his fodella, kazoo singing blues, Jazz and folk".

18 February 1966     Jesse Fuller   

19 February 1966     Jesse Fuller   

20 February 1966     Hoot with Allan Kaplan        

21 February 1966     Closed

22 February 1966     Ken Spiker, Clarence Van Hook      

23 February 1966     Paul Malecot, Jim Lynch      

24 February 1966     John Shine    

25 February 1966     Jesse Fuller   

26 February 1966     Wizards and Witches Guild Party    

27 February 1966     Hoot with Allan Kaplan        

28 February 1966     Closed

01 March 1966         Paul Malecot  

02 March 1966         William Spires with Kathy Goldman, Paul Malecot   William Spires with Kathy Goldman sang and played traditional English and American ballads

03 March 1966         William Spires with Kathy Goldman, Charles Perry

04 March 1966         William Spires with Kathy Goldman, Lee Underwood        The Berkeley Barb ad says “Funky Blues and Ballads”.  Lee Underwood was a singer of "urban and delta blues".

05 March 1966         William Spires with Kathy Goldman, Lee Underwood       

06 March 1966         Disaffiliates   

07 March 1966         Hoot with Allen Kaplan MC   

08 March 1966         Disaffiliates   

09 March 1966         Bill Spires, John Paul 

10 March 1966         Disaffiliates   

11 March 1966         Lee Underwood, Juan Molina

12 March 1966                  

13 March 1966         Disaffiliates   

14 March 1966         Hoot with Allen Kaplan MC   

15 March 1966         Disaffiliates   

16 March 1966         Disaffiliates   

17 March 1966         New Brothers, Rick Sinclaire The Barb ad says Rick Sinclaire “Contemporary Guitar.”

18 March 1966         New Brothers, Rick Sinclaire

19 March 1966         New Brothers, Rick Sinclaire

20 March 1966         Berkeley Cinematheque: The Green Archer, The Flower Thief     A series of films are presented on Sunday nights at the Questing Beast (for the complete set of Barb ads for the films, see the Chicken site).  In the 60s, few films were shown on TV, and all those were bland Warner Brothers fare or contemporary “family” type movies.  Opportunities to see Classic, Foreign or Underground films were rare, and film events like this were a significant part of the counterculture at the time.

21 March 1966         Hoot with Allen Kaplan MC   

22 March 1966         Breadbasket - Chanties      

23 March 1966         Breadbasket - Chanties      

24 March 1966         Breadbasket - Chanties      

25 March 1966         Dan Paik, Ken Spiker, Paul Malecot  The Barb ad says Dan Paik-“folk-blues,” Ken Spicer-“flamenco” and Paul Malecot-“folk guitarist.”

26 March 1966         Dan Paik, Ken Spiker, Paul Malecot 

27 March 1966         Barn Dance Music (afternoon), Berkeley Cinematheque: George, The Inviolate House (evening)      

28 March 1966         Hoot   

29 March 1966         Breadbasket Jazz     

30 March 1966         Breadbasket  

31 March 1966         Juan Molina - Flamenco      

01 April 1966  Jesse Fuller, John Paul, Dan Paik, Raleigh Morris, Clarence Van Hook, KC Douglas, Dave Van Campen, Ken Spiker, Rachel and Joyce Halmen, plus 20-30 others [Folk Fest Marathon and Rent Benefit for the Questing Beast]        The Barb ad says “Scores of Performers and more.”  Certainly Jesse Fuller played this date.

02 April 1966  John Paul, Dan Paik, Raleigh Morris, Clarence Van Hook, KC Douglas, Dave Van Campen, Ken Spiker, Rachel and Joyce Halmen, plus 20-30 others [Folk Fest Marathon and Rent Benefit for the Questing Beast]

03 April 1966  Berkeley Cinematheque: Confessions of a Black Mother Succuba, Schmeerquntz, The Green Archer; Folf Festival: John Paul, Dan Paik, Raleigh Morris, Clarence Van Hook, KC Douglas, Dave Van Campen, Ken Spiker, Rachel and Joyce Halmen, plus 20-30 others 

04 April 1966  Hoot with Allen Kaplan MC   

05 April 1966  Breadbasket  

06 April 1966  Breadbasket  

07 April 1966  Breadbasket  

08 April 1966  Clarence Van Hook, KC Douglas     

09 April 1966  Clarence Van Hook, KC Douglas     

10 April 1966  Berkeley Cinematheque: High Noon, The Cat People, The Green Archer 

11 April 1966  "Play or Listen" for free      

12 April 1966  Robbie Basho, Jan Ward     

13 April 1966  Jim Lynch, Jim Brown         

14 April 1966  Party: Witches and Wizards 

15 April 1966  Solomon (Feldthouse), Nino and Catana [Psychedelic Music, Malachi, Flamenco Guitar and dancing, Cante Jondo]         Solomon Feldhouse would later go on to play with Kaleidoscope

16 April 1966          

17 April 1966  Berkeley Cinematheque: Oh Dem Watermelons, Thick Pucker, St Chicago, Poon Tang Trilogy, Some Don't Olds Mo-bile, The Green Archer; Health People        The Board of Health scheduled a visit to inspect the Beast.

18 April 1966  Health People The Board of Health took the opportunity to conduct an inspection of The Questing Beast.

19 April 1966  Health People Mance Lipscomb show cancelled whilst the Board of Health inspected the Beast.

20 April 1966  Health People Mance Lipscomb show cancelled whilst the Board of Health concluded the inspection of the Beast.  It transpires they were less than pleased and, like the Jabberwock a year later, demanded a series of costly improvements to be made.  Although attempts were made to keep the Beast afloat with the "folk festival" and benefit at the end of April, by the second week of May the Beast was slain.

21 April 1966  Mance Lipscomb, Dan Paik  

22 April 1966  Mance Lipscomb, Dan Paik  

23 April 1966  Mance Lipscomb, Dan Paik  

24 April 1966  Mance Lipscomb, Dan Paik  

25 April 1966  Berkeley Cinematheque: "Twicew A Man", "Everybody Hit Their Brother Once", "Faces of Mexico", "The Green Archer"         

26 April 1966  Jesse Fuller, Lynne Hughes   Jesse Fuller, a "folk blues" multi-instrumentalist and singer who invented the Fodella known as ‘The Lone Cat,” was based in San Francisco.  Lynne Hughes (her name misspelled on the poster), was a fellow traveler and part-time member of The Charlatans from the Red Dog Saloon of the previous year.

27 April 1966  Jesse Fuller, Lynne Hughes   Lynne Hughes was the singer, barmaid and book keeper for the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City, NV during the summer of 1965 when the Charlatans played their legendary six week stint.  Lynne was later involved with both Stoneground and Tongue and Groove, as well as appearing at live shows with The Charalatans.

28 April 1966  Jesse Fuller, Lynne Hughes, Country Joe and The Fish, Dan Paic, Blind Ebbets Field, Dave Cohen, KC Douglas, Clarence Van Hook, Solomon, Nino, Catana, Flamenco and others [Folk Festival] The Barb ad says "psychedelic music" and "other nights, other guests".  Solomon was Solomon Feldthouse, a major figure on the West Coast folk scene, and later a mainstay of the eclectic LA group Kaleidoscope.  He often appeared with flamenco or gypsy dancers. K.C. Douglas was an Oakland bluesman.  Blind Ebbetts Field, is a  Nom Du Folk of Barry Melton.

29 April 1966  Jesse Fuller, Lynne Hughes, Country Joe and The Fish, Dan Paic, Blind Ebbets Field, Dave Cohen, KC Douglas, Clarence Van Hook, Solomon Nino, Catana, Flamenco and others [Folk Festival]  The configuration of Country Joe and The Fish at this time would have been Joe, Barry, David Bennett Cohen (guitar, organ), Bruce Barthol (guitar), Paul Armstrong (bass), John Francis Gunning (drums).  Interestingly, the Dave Cohen listed on the poster is likely to be the Fish organist rather than the Los Angeles session musician with the same name.  That Dave Cohen was Country Joe’s guitar teacher in about 1963 in Los Angeles. 

30 April 1966  Jesse Fuller, Lynne Hughes, Country Joe and The Fish, Dan Paic, Blind Ebbets Field, Dave Cohen, KC Douglas, Clarence Van Hook, Solomon, Nino, Catana, Flamenco and others [Folk Festival]

01 May 1966  Berkeley Cinematheque: Senseless, Quixote, Eric and the Monsters, Sandusk, The Green Archer; Jesse Fuller, Lynne Hughes, Country Joe and The Fish, Dan Paic, Blind Ebbets Field, Dave Cohen, KC Douglas, Clarence Van Hook, Solomon, Nino, Catana, Flamenco and others [Folk Festival]       

02 May 1966  Solomon with the Holiday Dancers/Country Joe and The Fish/John Paul/Dave Cohen/The Gospel Tonic/Dan Paic         [Benefit Help] There are a few surviving posters from this week (4.26-5.5.66) at The Questing Beast.  They list numerous acts over several days.  Logic and David Bennett Cohen’s comments suggest that the listed acts played one or two nights at the club each, rather than all appearing every night.  However, we have been unable to determine the exact breakdown of acts aach night.  Solomon was Solomon Feldthouse, a major figure on the West Coast folk scene, and later a mainstay of the eclectic LA group Kaleidoscope.  He often appeared with flamenco or gypsy dancers.  John Paul was a local Berkeley musician, very influential in the intellectual appreciation of musical developments at the time (e.g. the Beatles).  David Cohen recalls that he was probably booked to play separately from Country Joe and The Fish, although could well have just played a set with the band.

03 May 1966  Solomon with the Holiday Dancers/Country Joe and The Fish/John Paul/Dave Cohen/The Gospel Tonic/Dan Paic [Benefit Help]         One of the posters says “Help” and lists a Berkeley Public Health and Safety Ordinance by number.  We must presume that the venue was in violation of some requirement, but what exactly is unknown.  The last Berkeley Cinematique ad  for the film series in the Barb is for Sunday May 8. Whatever violations may have been subject to statute, it appears the venue closed, later to become Tito’s and then the Longbranch.

04 May 1966  Solomon with the Holiday Dancers/Country Joe and The Fish/John Paul/Dave Cohen/The Gospel Tonic/Dan Paic [Benefit Help]        

05 May 1966  Solomon with the Holiday Dancers/Country Joe and The Fish/John Paul/Dave Cohen/The Gospel Tonic/Dan Paik [Benefit Help]        

06 May 1966  Country Joe and the Fish    

07 May 1966  Country Joe and the Fish    

08 May 1966  Berkeley Cinematheque: Uptight, LA is Burning - Shit, Acid Camp, Colorfilm, White Trash, The Green Archer

09 May 1966  Berkeley Cinematheque: Uptight, LA is Burning - Shit, Acid Camp, Colorfilm, White Trash, The Green Archer The Questing Beast closes.

10 May 1966  Jan Ward       Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

11 May 1966  Dave Cohen   Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

12 May 1966  Dave Cohen   Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

13 May 1966  Robbie Basho Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

14 May 1966  Robbie Basho Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

15 May 1966  Films   Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

16 May 1966  Folk Festival   Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

17 May 1966  Dan Paik, Solomon    Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

18 May 1966  Dan Paik, Solomon    Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

19 May 1966  PH Phactor Jug Band, Lynne Hughes          Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

20 May 1966  PH Phactor Jug Band, Lynne Hughes          Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

21 May 1966  PH Phactor Jug Band, Lynne Hughes          Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

22 May 1966  Films   Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

23 May 1966  Folk Festival   Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

24 May 1966  Solomon        Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

25 May 1966  Ken Spiker, Jon Paul  Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

26 May 1966  Ken Spiker, Jon Paul  Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

27 May 1966  W&W Party    Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

28 May 1966  "Special"        Show cancelled following the closure of the Questing Beast

 

February 7, 1969, Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley: Judy Collins

An excerpt from Ralph Gleason's Chronicle column on February 10, 1969

Judy Collins was a popular folk act in the mid-60s, and she was so talented that she easily made the transition to the folk-rock era that followed. She has remained a stellar attraction ever since, and rightly so. I recently came across a review of a long ago sell-out concert in Berkeley, on February 7, 1969. At the time, this must have seemed like just another fine show by a popular artist, and surely it was. Nonetheless a careful reading of Ralph Gleason's San Francisco Chronicle review the next Monday (February 10) reveals a few significant details that make this a more memorable event in retrospect than it may have appeared at the time.

Judy Collins
Judy Collins (b. 1939) had been trained as a classical pianist as a teenager, but she threw it all over for folk music in the early 1960s, much to the dismay of her piano teacher. However, her eminent musicality served her in good stead in the mid-60s, when folk music expanded its palate to include a wider variety of sounds. In late 1967, Collins had had a huge hit with the Joni Mitchell song "Both Sides Now," which had been found for her by former Blues Project member Al Kooper. The newly-divroced Kooper was staying in Collins apartment while she toured, and met Joni Mitchell (also newly divorced) and called Collins in Denver at about 4am to tell her "I've got your next single!"

"Both Sides Now, " released in conjunction with Collins's October 1967 Elektra album Wildflowers, peaked at #8 on the Billboard charts. Collins's November 1968 album Who Knows Where The Time Goes was an even bigger hit, peaking at #29 on the Billboard album charts. Although Collins beautiful voice was still the center of the record, tasteful backing from various Los Angeles musicians put the album into the folk rock vein. Among the musicians on the album were James Burton (ex Ricky Nelson, future Elvis), Jim Gordon (future Domino, and co-author of "Layla") and her then-boyfriend, Stephen Stills.

Saturday, February 7, 1969: Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley, CA
Gleason was not himself too thrilled with Collins's performance in Berkeley, although he cheerfully acknowledges her talent. He concedes that her audience received her rapturously, so they were all happy, even if he was an outlier. The interesting thing about the review was his description of the band. Collins seems to have had a regular trio of Gene Taylor on bass (ex-Horace Silver), drummer Susan Evans (whom Gleason calls a "girl drummer") and 'hippie' pianist Michael Sahl, who had played on the album. This appears to have been Collins's regular performing trio at the time (they can be seen on YouTube, appearing on the Smothers Brothers show from 1969). Also along for the ride on this Friday night in Berkeley was Stephen Stills, who Gleason describes as a "Canadian guitarist."

According to Gleason, Stills

got to play very little but it sounded exquisite. He was along only for the one night. Saturday he began recording for Atlantic with David Crosby and Graham Nash. Rolling Stone reports that Atlantic swapped Richie Furay of Buffalo Springfield to Columbia for Nash (who was under contract to them). I assume it was a straight player deal,  no cash involved.

Gleason's description of the dealings between Atlantic and Columbia are correct, although somewhat simplified. The aforementioned Al Kooper had used Stephen Stills on his Super Session album for Columbia, and Atlantic had assented in return for allowing Nash to come to Atlantic. Columbia had insisted that Richie Furay be allowed to record with Columbia in his new group Poco, and the deal was done.

On the night of the sold-out show, Collin's fans were probably mostly aware that Stephen Stills was a former member of Buffalo Springfield, who had broken up in mid-1968. Although celebrity gossip was not what it was today, a few of them may have discerned that there relationship was not exclusively professional. When they look backwards, however, they probably don't think of that at all. Judy Collins is Sweet Judy Blue Eyes now, forever and a day. By the time the Crosby, Stills And Nash album was released, I think Stills and Collins had moved on, but when the record came out later in 1969, it must have been striking for those that were there to think that Stills was humming "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" to himself while performing on stage with his girlfriend.

285 UCB Campus Drive, Boulder, CO: Macky Auditorium November 23, 1975: Jerry Garcia Band with Nicky Hopkins

(an April 2011 photo of Macky Auditorium on the campus of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Construction on the 2000 seat venue was begun in 1910, although it was not completed until 1923)

Boulder, Colorado is the best American city without an ocean, and is in the top rank in any case. With perfect air that other parts of the country have to pay to simulate with air conditioning, the Rocky Mountains looming in the background and a perfect mountain stream running through downtown, it's not surprising that Boulder has been a preferred destination for emigrants and tourists for some decades now. For 100 years or so, the principal "industry" of Boulder was the University of Colorado at Boulder, the flagship of the CU system, founded in 1877.

Why, then, does Boulder have almost no meaningful 60s rock history? One 60s band came out of Boulder, the excellent Zephyr, featuring Tommy Bolin and Candy Givens, but even they say that they were the only band in Boulder. Denver has a very interesting rock history rock history in the 60s, if not a satisfactory one. Chet Helms opened a branch of the Family Dog in Denver, in an effort to compete effectively with Bill Graham. It was a very clever idea, providing touring bands with a paying show partway to San Francisco. However, the Denver Sheriff, with the support of the political establishment, harassed the Family Dog into closing, and Denver's role in the 60s rock scene was to some extent superseded by Salt Lake City, of all places.

Why, then, was there no rock scene in Boulder in the 60s? If the heat was on in Denver, why didn't bands play Boulder? While Boulder was not a big town--it still isn't--why wasn't it an incubator for bands to get it together, in preparation for heading to Denver and then the rest of the country? The Macky Auditorium, completed in 1923, was a 2000 seat venue that could have accommodated the touring bands of the day, and yet there seem to have been no meaningful rock concerts there until the Jerry Garcia Band (with Nicky Hopkins) on November 23, 1975. While there seem to have been regular concerts after 1975, I can find no record of anything remotely hip before that.

While only a few "college towns" like Berkeley and Cambridge were substantial enough cities to sustain a music scene on their own, college towns generally played an important role in music from the 60s onward. A modest town with a big University generally couldn't have its own Fillmore, but there was usually a folk club and a popular dive bar for the local talent. As the 60s wore on, bands like The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane or The Doors might come through and play the gym or the main auditorium, with the local heroes as the opening act. The students became fans for life, even more so if a band played for free one afternoon, and especially so if the College Dean banned all rock concerts after some legendary blow out. This narrative was particularly true of college towns in striking range of California, so there are lots of fond, if fuzzy, 60s memories in places like Palo Alto, CA or Eugene, OR.

The Grateful Dead, always the pioneers, did play the University of Colorado Student Union on Sunday, April 13, 1969. However, this unique event seems to have been a "throw-in," after the Dead had played shows at the University of Arizona (Friday April 11) and University of Utah (Saturday, April 12). The band was on their way to Omaha (Tuesday April 15) and then Purdue University (Friday April 18), so playing the no-doubt tiny Student Union was probably just gigging for gas money. When the Dead put out a few successful albums in the early 70s, why didn't the band play the Macky at CU? The Dead were playing theaters and gyms up and down the East Coast, so why weren't they headlining at the Macky?

Other than far too limited Grateful Dead activity (limited by the standards of the Dead's relentless touring, anyway), all my research into Boulder bands, venues or concerts in the late 60s and early 70s turned up a dry hole. While its true there have been demographic changes since the 60s, in that undergraduate enrollment at CU-Boulder has nearly doubled (15,000>29,000), and the population of the town has increased by 1/3 since 1970 (66,000>100,000), that has largely been true of many towns with flagship state Universities, and that didn't stop those towns from having it going on in the 60s.Why not Boulder?

Why Not Boulder?
It turns out that "Dry Hole" was the correct metaphor. While Colorado lifted prohibition in 1933, along with the rest of the country, the town of Boulder did not. The city of Boulder did not allow the purchase of alcohol until 1967, and the first bar in the city did not open until the Boulderado Hotel obtained a liquor license in 1969. As a result, 1960s Boulder was a very different town economically than most other major college towns.

Sophisticated archival research is my preferred mode of inquiry, but it's very difficult to uncover something that is not present--you can't read a review of a show that did not take place. Conveniently, however, one night in The Boulderado, Boulder's first luxury hotel (built 1909), I had a very informative conversation with a worldly Boulder resident named Phil, who was born and raised in Boulder, lived and worked many places, and had returned to Boulder in semi-retirement (if I were a country songwriter, his story might make a good song, but I'm not).

In 1960s Boulder, there were no bars, only places that sold 3.2% beer. A post-prohibition Colorado law defined anything with less than 3.2% alcohol as "non-alcoholic," and brewers rapidly figured out they could brew weak beer and skirt the law. This eventually became codified into practice, and watery beer was available for adults, but stronger beer, wine or mixed drinks fell under a different set of laws. While the rest of Colorado came out of Prohibition in a somewhat typical fashion (although the 3.2% beer thing turns out to a surprisingly critical to the rise of Colorado microbrews, but that is too tangential even for this blog), the city of Boulder limited its residents to the purchase of 3.2% beer. It wasn't illegal for adults to drink or possess alcohol, but they couldn't buy it in Boulder.

As a result, the city of Boulder was quite a sleepy place. All the good restaurants were outside of town, since otherwise they couldn't have served wine with dinner. There was no night life, because there were no bars. The adult men all belonged to private clubs--Phil's father often went to the Elks Club, across the street from the Boulderado, because he could get a drink there. Private clubs, however, cannot get a license for live music that allows outsiders, so none of those clubs could serve as a venue.

It may seem that hippie pyschedelic rock bands would not have needed bars, but in fact the opposite is the case. However much 60s bands liked playing free concerts and all night rave ups, the ecosystem of music requires paying gigs. If there aren't a few bars to provide steady work, you don't have working musicians, certainly not any drummers, and as a result you have no bands. It may also seem that coffee shops and folk music would be immune to an absence of bars, but the reality is that the opposite was the case. While it's true that the 60s Folk Scare started in coffee shops, so that high schoolers could get involved, coffee shops thrive in districts where there are bars. After all, what would be the point of meeting a pretty girl and bonding over Pete Seeger songs if you couldn't invite her across the street for a beer? Even Berkeley's Freight and Salvage (opened 1968), the first venue not to allow smoking, was across the street from the Albatross Pub.

The seemingly obvious parallel to 60s Boulder would seem to be Palo Alto, a town that Boulder generally aspires to be. Palo Alto had strange liquor laws, stemming from it's founding as the college town for Stanford University in 1875. In the 1960s, despite a profusion of Acid Tests and the like, there were still no bars in downtown Palo Alto, because of an old law (supported by most downtown area residents) that no liquor could be sold within 1 1/2 miles of the Stanford Campus. Yet Downtown Palo Alto was a bohemian enclave of folk clubs in the early 1960s, and Jerry Garcia was only the most famous of the early folkies hanging around Downtown looking to make music.  Why did sleepy Palo Alto--and trust me, it was sleepy--have a nascent little folk and rock scene, and Boulder seemingly have none?

One simple difference between Boulder and downtown Palo Alto's liquor laws was that Palo Alto allowed beer and wine to be sold at restaurants. Thus nightclubs (like St. Michael's Alley, The Top Of The Tangent or The Poppycock) could set themselves up as restaurants and at least sell beer. Furthermore, there could at least be restaurants downtown, which while they did not cater to young hippie musicians, at least created a downtown that provided some potential employment for their girlfriends. Boulder's restrictions had neither of these ameliorating factors.

The most important difference, however, was that despite downtown Palo Alto's restrictive liquor laws, it was a relatively tiny blip on a very busy suburban Peninsular strip from San Francisco to San Jose. Even within the city limits of Palo Alto, much less all the neighboring towns, there were bars, nightlife and music gigs. While the bands that formed in Palo Alto couldn't find a paying booking in downtown Palo Alto, there was no lack of employment in the bars, coffee shops and pizza parlors on the El Camino Real strip. El Camino (an extension of Mission Blvd in San Francisco) ran from The City all the way to San Jose, and parts of it were within walking distance of downtown Palo Alto. Thus downtown Palo Alto's isolation affected the town itself, but did not have much impact on the area just around it.

Boulder's metropolitan circumstances were very different. A Boulder County resident explained to me that in the late 1960s, the city of Boulder started buying up all the land around the city. Effectively, the city created a 7-mile wide Greenbelt around itself, but at 1960s prices. In this way, Boulder was far ahead of Palo Alto (oh, if Palo Alto had only bought up Menlo Park and Mountain View in 1966...). What this meant, however, was that while downtown Boulder was sleepy, there were no nearby towns to pick up the overflow. You could walk from downtown Palo Alto to downtown Menlo Park, which helps explain while the Palo Alto-born Grateful Dead actually got their professional start in Menlo Park. The nearest towns to Boulder were 10 or more miles away, as they are today, so Boulder was isolated by choice and not just geography.

Certainly the University of Colorado was full of students, probably about 15,000 undergraduates or so. However, CU is up on a hill above the town (mind you, a "hill" in the Rockies would be called a "mountain" in some parts of the country). While presumably the students enjoyed 3.2 beer in great quantities, any serious socializing or interesting dates probably required a car anyway, and if you had a car, why go to sleepy, dry Boulder when you could go to a bar in another town? You're in the car anyway--why not drive to where it's more fun?

Boulder Now
Now, of course, Boulder is Mile High Palo Alto. There are nice restuarants, lots of bars, some converted movie theaters that make great rock venues, and bands play the Macky Auditorium, the CU Events Center (gym) and even Folsom Field, if the bands are big enough to fill up a football stadium. Boulder's population has stabilized, since the city owns all the pristine land around it (Palo Alto's population has been the same since the 1970s), and as a result of the natural advantages of Colorado and the boom in Denver, Boulder is a desirable happening place to live, musically or otherwise, if you can afford it. The University of Colorado has joined the Pac-10, so Boulder is now rightly on a par with Berkeley, Palo Alto, Eugene or Westwood, and it certainly belongs there. Yet a look into Boulder's vacant rock history from the 1960s shows that Boulder has transformed itself into something very different than it was in the past.

I could be wrong about this. Maybe Zephyr was just the only Boulder band that made it out. None of the economic pointers suggest that, however, and I think that Boulder did not have an interesting 60s music history because the economic conditions did not support it. However much the creativity and desire of individual musicians is essential to making music, if the material conditions for a successful music scene are not in place, it will be no accident when there are no memorable bands or concerts to recall. Of course, as always, I will be delighted if if any long time or long ago Boulderites can prove me wrong, and tell me about a secret history of Boulder venues and musicians, but I think that Boulder's very virtues were foundational in insuring that its 60s music history was largely silent.

412 Broadway, San Francisco, CA, Mr. D's, November 7-8, 1969: Three Dog Night/Hoyt Axton

(a San Francisco Chronicle ad from November 2, 1969, advertising Three Dog Night at Mr. D's, located at 412 Broadway)

When Historians look backwards, it is easy to make the path of history seem simple and inevitable, with a series of discrete events leading to a self-evident conclusion. This effect remains in force whether you look at Medieval Europe, 19th Century Railroads or 60s Rock. However, a closer look at the facts on the ground as they really happened always shows an uneven trail of dead ends and roads not taken. At the same time, the seeds of future result can be seen long before any fruit has ripened.

By November,  1969, Three Dog Night was a hugely successful band by any standard. They had just released a live album, following up on their two successful studio albums. They also had tremendously successful hit singles climbing the charts. What were they doing playing a supper club on Broadway in San Francisco, just down the street from Carol Doda at the Condor, and all the other topless clubs? Why weren't they headlining the Fillmore West, like every other hot band, or else the Berkeley Community Theater or some other venue? The weekend at Mr. D's was Three Dog Night's first headlining performance in the Bay Area, and it seemed to fly in the fact of rock orthodoxy.

Since the band's engagement at Mr. D's has seemingly been lost to rock history up until now, and I can find no other information about it besides promotion for the event, I will consider what facts I do know about the band, the venue and the rock market at the time in the hopes of finding a convincing hypothesis. Hopefully some long dormant memories of the Three Dog Night engagement at Mr. D's will be resurrected. Anyone with information, informed speculation or just a clever idea is encouraged to share them in the Comments.

Three Dog Night
Three Dog Night had initially formed in Hollywood in 1967, under the name Redwood, but became a real going concern in 1968. Although the band had a contemporary rock sound, they had a number of features that made them different than their peers. First of all, the group had three excellent lead vocalists, rather than one, and had sophisticated vocal arrangements in the style of Motown or Stax, albeit in a rock rather than a soul context. Secondly, the majority of Three Dog Night's albums featured newly arranged cover versions of contemporary rock songs, few or none of which were commissioned by the group. Three Dog Night keyboardist Jimmy Greenspoon (in his fascinating autobiography One Is The Loneliest Number) cites Vanilla Fudge's dramatic re-arrangement of The Supremes "You Keep Me Hangin' On" as an inspiration.

Three Dog Night's musical discipline and cover material was in distinct contrast to the self-contained self expression of 60s rock, particularly the kind coming out of San Francisco. This did not make Three Dog Night popular with Rolling Stone magazine and its readers. Nonetheless, the band had a fantastic ear for hearing good songs and giving them a "heavy" rock treatment that worked well both on the radio and the home stereo. The majority of Three Dog Night's fans had not heard the originals anyway, as they were plucked off very obscure records, so it all sounded new to them. Time has been fairly kind to Three Dog Night--songs like "Eli's Coming" and "Liar" hold up fairly well when compared to a lot of psychedelic odes to self expression recorded in the late 60s and early 70s, and the band's contributions to their hits makes it clear that songwriting is only one piece of a hit record.

Three Dog Night's self-titled debut album on ABC-Dunhill was released in October 1968. The single "One" (a Harry Nillson song) did not hit until mid-1969. "One" peaked at #5 on the Billboard magazine charts, while the album peaked at #11. Three Dog Night's follow up album Suitable For Framing was released in June 1969 (ultimately reaching #16). By November, it had spawned two giant hits, "Easy To Be Hard"(peaking at #4) and "Eli's Coming" (#10) A third hit, "Celebrate" (#15), would climb the charts in early 1970. For some reason, ABC-Dunhill also released a live album, Captured Live At The Forum. Recorded on July 14, 1969, when Three Dog Night opened for Steppenwolf, the album recapped the most popular songs of the first two albums. It too was a huge hit, reaching #6.

Three Dog Night Live In The Bay Area 1968
San Francisco and London in the 1960s were the twin Capitals of rock music. While rock music in America was financed and produced primarily in New York and Los Angeles, the San Francisco model of rock concerts and FM radio transformed the music industry. As a result, American record companies often looked to San Francisco for credibility and innovation. This wasn't just habit: for some years after the first wave of bands came out of the Fillmore and the Avalon, a slew of innovative and popular bands came out of the Bay Area, like Sly and The Family Stone, Santana, Tower of Power, The Doobie Brothers and The Tubes, to name a few. For a new band, establishing itself in the Bay Area was one sure way to attract attention and confer credibility.

August 10, 1968: Continental Ballroom, Santa Clara, CA: Country Joe And The Fish/Eternity's Children/Three Dog Night/Weird Herald
Three Dog Night made their Bay Area debut at the Continental Ballroom just outside of San Jose. The Continental was the San Jose area's main psychedelic venue (it was located at 1600 Martin Avenue in nearby Santa Clara), but it was never associated with one promoter. As a result, it has less of an historic profile than the Fillmore or the Avalon, but all the heavy San Francisco bands played there. I do not know anything about this show other than the fact that it happened. All the members of Three Dog Night were very experienced performers by this time, but since it was still two months prior to their debut album, the crowd would have had no predisposition towards them one way or the other.

It would be very interesting to find out how Three Dog Night went over at this show (or anything else about it). Weird Herald had a tremendous reputation as a live band, but they were in the hard rocking psychedelic San Jose school of music (in which The Chocolate Watch Band ruled supreme). Country Joe and The Fish were a way more disciplined band than people realized at the time, but they were a prototype Fillmore band themselves. I know nothing about Eternity's Chidren. There's no telling how long or short Three Dog Night's set was, or what the sound was like, much less how they went over to a crowd of San Jose hippies.

San Mateo Times, Dec 20, 1968 ad

December 26,1968: Cow Palace, Daly City, CA: “Holiday Rock Festival”
Steppenwolf/Canned Heat/Santana/New Buffalo Springfield/Three Dog Night/Spencer Davis Group/Blue Cheer/The Electric Prunes/Flaming Groovies/Tender Loving Care
This KYA (1260am) sponsored event seems to have been an attempt to cash in on the model of the Monterey Pop Festival. I'm not sure if all the acts even played, and in any case they must have played short sets. Three Dog Night shared management with Steppenwolf, so that accounts for the booking. It's worth noting, however, that Three Dog Night's management has booked them at a Top 40 radio event rather than third on the bill at Fillmore West. Since the band shared management with Steppenwolf, they would not have lacked access to Fillmore West if they had desired it.

History has made the December 1968 "Holiday Rock Festival" look different than it really was. Steppenwolf and Canned Heat were the big headliners, as Three Dog Night had not had a hit yet. Santana was a popular live attraction at the Fillmore West and elsewhere, but they were some time away from recording their debut album (it was released in August 1969). The Spencer Davis Group, featuring Eddie Hardin, was a pretty good live band, but Stevie Winwood had left for Traffic two years earlier. The crowd was apparently fairly unhappy to find out that the New Buffalo Springfield only had drummer Dewey Martin from the old group, and that Steve Stills, Neil Young and Richie Furay were not part of the band. Richie Furay was playing with Poco at Fillmore West that weekend, and when he heard about the band, lawyers forced Martin to change the band's name to New Buffalo.

Blue Cheer were a true Fillmore psychedelic band, but if they in fact played, I can't imagine how the suburban crowd would have reacted to guitarist Randy Holden's sonic attack. This would have been near the end of Holden's brief tenure with Blue Cheer.

(a San Francisco Chronicle ad for Martha and The Vandella's at Mr. D's, from January 5, 1969)

Mr. D's, 412 Broadway, San Francisco, CA
Broadway in San Francisco was the City's entertainment district. It abutted bohemian North Beach, which provided the City's culture--Italian food, espresso and Beat Poetry, while Broadway provided bright lights, booze and jazz. The San Francisco jazz scene in the 1950s wasn't really lucrative, but its proximity to Los Angeles made it a great incubator for talent, and the same was true of folk music at the time. Success in San Francisco at the hungry i or other clubs was often a ticket to much larger success in the 50s and early 60s. Broadway in San Francisco, along with Jack London Square in Oakland and the El Camino Real in the South Bay, was part of the circuit of entertainment that played the lounges of Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe.

Broadway changed in the early 60s when topless dancing became the principal form of entertainment. This is worthy of a blog in itself (not written by me), but it had a profound effect on San Francisco music. For one thing, topless clubs were not perceived like strip clubs are today, and indeed shared almost nothing in common with them (save the obvious). Topless clubs were racy, but sort of respectable, like seeing an R-rated movie today. While they featured women without tops (duh), they also usually had music, comedy, dancing and other kinds of performances.

The big change for San Francisco musicians was that Broadway club owners abruptly lost interest in paying for quality music. The clubs needed bands, but mainly just to keep the beat. While rock groups that were new in town found a nightly gig at a topless club a convenient way to pay the bills, no agent was going to discover them there. The rise of the topless phenomenon in the mid-60s forced all the rock musicians to play the Fillmore and the Avalon, since there were no other well paying bookings on Broadway anymore.

While Broadway's time as San Francisco's first stop in entertainment was passing, that wasn't so obvious at that moment. I'm not sure who "Mr D" was, but the club opened around late 1968, replacing a topless club called The Moulin Rouge. Mr. D's was a supper club, offering dinner, drinks and two shows a night. They shared headliners with Reno and Tahoe. Motown acts were booked regularly, like Marvin Gaye, The Temptations or Martha And The Vandellas (above), and they typically played a week long engagement. Because it was a restaurant, minors were welcome, but that was aimed more at groups of people (who might include the occasional minor) rather than teenagers per se, since it was too expensive for kids.

After a year of booking Vegas-style acts like Tony Bennett and Motown, I have to assume that Mr. D's started to see the writing on the wall. Up until the Three Dog Night show on November 7, 1969, I know of no rock act booked at Mr. D's. However, Mr. D's was booking headliners like Marvin Gaye, so their financial terms must have been reasonable. Three Dog Night was riding its third straight hit single of the year, and the band knew its way around the stage. Thus it's plain that Mr. D's was trying to hook a new audience with a popular band, and that Three Dog Night must have had various options for performing in San Francisco, and their booking agent must have consciously chosen Mr. D's. A few years later, intimate clubs for rising rock bands were par for the course, exemplified by The Bottom Line in Manhattan or The Roxy in Los Angeles, but no one was ready for it in 1969.

Three Dog Night at Mr. D's, Friday November 7 and Saturday November 8, 1969
At this point I am left with only speculation. Anyone with real insight or knowledge is urged to chime in via the Comments. Nonetheless, the evidence points to certain facts.

• Three Dog Night had not played San Francisco since the end of 1968
• Three Dog Night's music style and willingness to cover contemporary rock songs was different than other bands
• Three Dog Night never played The Fillmore West

Three Dog Night had become very successful in 1969 by following a path that no other band was taking. It did not make them popular with Rolling Stone magazine, but the market was now big enough that there was room for other ways to make it as a rock band. Three Dog Night's management must have wanted the band to headline an engagement in San Francisco, rather than share billing at the Fillmore West. I think Mr. D's was pretty desperate to get in on the rock market, and made a pretty good offer for Three Dog Night. Since Three Dog Night had defied sixties rock protocol so far, skipping Fillmore West to headline a Broadway club would have been par for the course.

However, I think the show was a financial disaster. The show was mentioned in Ralph Gleason's Chronicle column on Friday night (above), but it was never reviewed to my knowledge. Mr. D's booked a few lesser rock acts for the balance of the year, and then closed. Broadway had gone from an entertainment district to a (sort of) red-light district, and there was no place for supper clubs. I think the teenagers who wanted to see Three Dog Night would not have been allowed to go to Broadway by their parents, and the adults who wanted to see them would have found it difficult to park.

I have never found any reference to Mr D's other than ads in the Chronicle, much less Three Dog Night's performance there, and thus it remains a mystery. One enduring curiosity, however, is the fact that Hoyt Axton seems to have opened for them. I don't know if this is where he met the band--probably not--but hanging around together during a disastrous weekend engagement is one way that musicians become friends, so I can't help but think the band gave a good listen Hoyt's songs, even if they didn't strike gold with them until later (as they would with "Joy To The World" and "Never Been To Spain").

Aftermath
Three Dog Night had numerous successful singles and albums up through the mid-1970s. Relative to their massive success, however, they were never big in San Francisco. Perhaps they were so successful elsewhere that they never needed to try, but given the few, odd performances that Three Dog Night had in the Bay Area in the 1960s, it probably wasn't a complete coincidence. After many ups and downs, the band broke up and reformed various times, but as of today Three Dog Night are still going strong.

412 Broadway mostly remained a nightclub, as it does today, even though it changed names and formats. Briefly, its history seems to be

• 1965-67: The Moulin Rouge (some Broadway background here)
• 1968-69: Mr. D's
• early 70s: The Seven Divinities
• Aug-Dec '73: The Matrix (sometimes known as The New Matrix)
• 1974>: Don Cornelius's Soul Train (yes, the very same)
• late 70s': The Hippodrome
• 1980-90: The Stone (Keystone overview is here)
• 1990s: mostly empty
• Today: Broadway Showgirls Cabaret (don't google it at work)

3138 Fillmore Steet, San Francisco, CA, January 6, 1969: Open Jam with Peter Albin and Dave Getz

(San Francisco Chronicle Datebook listings from Monday, January 6, 1969)

The San Francisco Chronicle Datebook section was full of interesting listings in the 1960s, even if they often only provide tantalizing clues to events that would otherwise have disappeared. San Francisco's Matrix club was one of the few hippie hangouts, and all sorts of surprising events took place there. Ironically, as a hangout rather than a major venue--The Matrix was too small to be "major"--many of the most interesting events seems to have taken place on weeknights. On January 6, 1969, the first Monday of the year, the listings of openings (above) are topped by this one:

ROCK CLUB--Peter Albin and David Getz in an open jam session at The Matrix, 3138 Fillmore.

Peter Albin and Dave Getz were the bassist and drummer, respectively, of Big Brother and The Holding Company. Big Brother had just broken up in late 1968, when Janis Joplin had left the group. Janis had not been an original member, but she rapidly eclipsed the group itself, and when their 1968 album Cheap Thrills became a mega-hit, Janis ended up leaving the band behind. The rocket ride from underground hipsters to National rock stars had been very hard on some of the band members, and Big Brother did not survive her departure. Janis Joplin and Big Brother played their last show at the Avalon Ballroom on December 1, 1968. Afterward, guitarist Sam Andrew continued on with Janis's new band, while fellow guitarist James Gurley took some time out from making music. Albin and Getz were left adrift.

I had known from various Family Trees and the like that Albin and Getz started jamming together in early 1969. David Nelson, an old South Bay friend of Albin, was known to be one of the participants. Nelson's group The New Delhi River Band had ground to a halt in early 1968, so he too was at loose ends. A few other musicians are vaguely alleged to have jammed with Albin and Getz, but it was difficult to ascertain. However, until I found this listing, I had no idea that Albin and Getz had led any kind of public performance. Who played with them? What did they play?

From 1968 onwards, at least, Monday night was usually "jam night" at the Matrix. A local band or musician would host a jam session. Usually someone was the host for many Monday nights in a row, but sometimes individual musicians or bands would host a single Monday night session. Monday night was a very thin night for performances, so in many ways it was like "musicians night out." When you read about various rumors about famous San Francisco players sitting in at the Matrix, often as not it turns out to have been on a Monday night. Also, to some extent the term "jam" implied as much that the show wouldn't be "regular" rather than specifically that there was a jam. Thus if a group of players wanted to work on something different in public, billing it as a "jam" implied that you wouldn't be seeing a regular set.

In any case, you know what I know. Albin and Getz, who had probably been jamming with their friends somewhere, led a jam session at The Matrix. I would suspect David Nelson was there, since he has acknowledged hanging out with them at the time, but even that is just a guess. Albin and Getz knew everybody and were well liked, and on a Monday night in January almost no musican in San Francisco was working, so absolutely anyone could have played with them.

Tantalizing as this event was, it doesn't seem to have been repeated. The next weekend, January 13, the bill wasn't Albin and Getz--it was "Carlos Santana And Friends," if anything even more fascinating. The next two Mondays (Jan 20 and Jan 27) were not listed in the Chronicle, so while there may have been even better shows, we don't know anything about them. Needless to say, anyone with insights, recovered memories (real or imagined) or amusing speculation is encouraged to chime in.

Postscript: I am no expert on this, but it is plausible that "The Commodores" who are playing at Nero's Nook in Palo Alto, were in fact the Lionel Richie-led band from Tuskegee, AL, who hit it very big in the 1970s. They did sign to Atlantic in 1968, and Nero's Nook, at the swanky Cabana Hyatt House, would be the sort of supper club engagement Atlantic might have tried to find for them.