The San Francisco Sound !

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by speedracer, Aug 24, 2022.

  1. CliffL

    CliffL Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento CA USA
    I spent part of my weekend watching my DVD of "Dawn Of The Dead-The Grateful Dead and the Rise of the San Francisco Underground"...an awesome documentary of the early days of the San Francisco scene. It's on YouTube...here's a sample:

     
  2. jb welda

    jb welda yellow eyed dog

    Ha ha...Sacramento was 90 miles and 100 years from San Francisco. Mostly what we did was go to SF, but there were numerous head shops etc in Suck Town, I recall the original head shop on 15th and Q that later turned into the first food co-op. There was Home Front in the church at 15th and J Streets across from Pac Bell and kitty corner to Memorial Auditorium. Sound Factory that I have mentioned before. A Unitarian church out in Carmichael held little dances and there was always the Trophy Room for greaser people. Downtown was still cruise city, J and K streets being big cruise streets. Old Sacramento was yet to be, it was skid row down there. Coconut Grove Ballroom above Caballo Blanco on Franklin held shows once in a while along with the Trip Room on K street before the mall, with bouncing dance floor. Tower Records on Watt ave and the open air LSD/weed market there and across the street at the drive in (I forget the name of it).

    Mostly it was a case of hiding from Misterly's mounties as we called the Suckto Sheriff deputies. It was a time of oppression and reaction to anything new happening by the authorities, a situation that continued for decades around there. Sacramento was known mostly as a good place to get in a fight or get stabbed.

    jb
     
  3. CliffL

    CliffL Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento CA USA
    Thanks, I remember some of what you're talking about...I moved to Sacramento from Southern California in late 1972 and have been here ever since. Actually I lived in nearby Citrus Heights in 1972-1974, and got most of my education on the SF scene from radio station KZAP.
     
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  4. Sax-son

    Sax-son Forum Resident

    Location:
    Three Rivers, CA
    I only traveled up to San Francisco for a couple of shows at the Avalon Ballroom and the Fillmore. However, most of the SF bands traveled to SoCal and I watched just about all of them at the Earl Warren Showgrounds dome in Santa Barbara. That venue was centrally located between SF and LA, and we got the best of both worlds there.

    Jefferson Airplane, Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Paul Butterfield Blues band, Blue Cheer, Spirit, Iron Butterfly, Taj Mahal, Cream, Steppenwolf, Traffic, Canned Heat, Country Joe and the Fish, The Fugs, Eric Burden and the Animals, Electric Flag, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Clear Light, The Who, The Yardbirds, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Tim Buckley, Charles Lloyd, The Seeds, West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, Sweetwater, The Youngbloods, Steve Miller Band, Thee Midnighters, Vanilla Fudge, Lee Michaels, pre signed Santana, on and on!
     
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2022
  5. speedracer

    speedracer Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cascadia
    When the Great Matrix Upload comes can I rent your memories ?
     
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  6. Sax-son

    Sax-son Forum Resident

    Location:
    Three Rivers, CA
    OK! Those that I can still remember.:D
     
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  7. jb welda

    jb welda yellow eyed dog


    Thanks for the tip had no idea that fillmore show was available much less straight from the cats mouth! Used to love to see Country Joe with or without the Fish, or for that matter, the Fish with or without CJ. Great guy, one time I talked to him for an hour at this poster show in San Francisco, was so funny and friendly.

    jb
     
  8. jb welda

    jb welda yellow eyed dog


    As far as local bands went, there was The New Breed (then The Breed, then Glad, then I forget what...Timothy Schmidt (sp) who eventually joined the Eagles after a stint in Poco started in the New Breed) who were kind of the Sacto Beatles, the Golliwogs used to play a lot at teen dances around here, the bands Oxford Circle (from Davis and related to Kak) and Parish Hall Blues Band were big and often at shows opening for more national and international acts, I forget who else but there were quite a few little outfits during that time who played around at all the bars and teen dances. Not many of them really advanced past that point that I know of but I am probably forgetting a lot of them and the details. Later on there were places like Parapow Palace, Crabshaw Corners (later the Oasis Ballroom), the Town House downtown, and a couple more heavy metal places out in Carmichael. Mostly they dealt in that more easy listening type of stuff from the bay area, Maria Muldaur (Midnight at the Oasis, natch), those Beau Brummels refugees Stoneground, a lot of Lydia Pense and Cold Blood, Tower of Power, Dan Hicks and Hot Licks spring to mind, and a lot of SF and NorCal bands. Saw David Lindley once at some little space and that was great, I think he was just out of Kaleidoscope at that point and might have been backing Jackson Browne as a gig but he was just playing guitar with a bass and drummer that night. Have no idea why he was in Sacramento at the time, a long ways from LA.

    jb
     
  9. Another great but short lived venue was the Family Dog and then named Friends & Relations on the Great Highway next to Playland at the Beach and across from the Pacific Ocean . I think it only lasted from 1969-72 and was a former roller skating rink and a slot car racing track after it’s original incarnation of the Edgewater Ballroom,.

    It was torn down soon after that when the entire amusement park was leveled. I saw a bunch of shows their. The Dead (actually the solo components advertised that turned into a Dead show). It came out as a RSD vinyl release. Also the Kinks, Youngbloods, Jefferson Airplane, Sir Douglas Quintet, Big Brother and Quicksilver.
     
  10. jb welda

    jb welda yellow eyed dog

    Playland at the Beach was a great amusement park and I used to go photograph the ruins before it was torn down. Statues and stuff from there are even now scattered around the city. The Dog down there was a really special place, I only went there a couple times, it was a really nice scene except I got the impression the attendance wasn't so hot. Place was kinda empty the times I was there, I think for Youngbloods and a show with a lot of semi-groups, by that I mean solo or conglomerations and I think thats ultimately why it went out of business. Didn't catch that legendary GD show there, I was out of touch for a little more than a year around then. Chet Helms was the polar opposite of Bill Graham, he was a nice hippie guy and friendly with everyone.

    jb
     
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  11. CliffL

    CliffL Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento CA USA
    That's a great list of musical names...I remember I bought my first Timothy Schmitt record in 1973 when I was in high school, it was Poco's "Here We Go Again" (which Tim wrote). Also bought the Cold Blood single "Down To The Bone" in 1973. I used to hear Stoneground all the time on KZAP, also Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks (great band). Another Sac band I learned about later is Public Nuisance and their earlier incarnation Moss and the Rocks. The all female band She was from Sacramento.

    All this reminds me of this great CD about the Sacramento music scene, "The Sound Of Young Sacramento":

    [​IMG]
     
  12. jb welda

    jb welda yellow eyed dog

    Coachmen and Fugitives were another couple I remember, the Fugitives being regulars at teen dances around 65, 66, and doing surf music not exclusively but quite a bit. Going to look into that cd so thanks for the tip.

    jb
     
  13. Oscillation

    Oscillation Maybe it was the doses?

    An SF band with a Texas twist.
     
  14. Gray Beard

    Gray Beard Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southern NJ
    Gave Country Joe’s Electric Music for Mind and Body a nice, long listen last week thanks to this thread. Had heard this countless times over the years, but damn if it doesn’t define the SF sound I don’t know what does. The vibrato, echoey guitar tones, the lyrics, the song titles, the weird yet perfect flow, even the album cover all come together for one fine 60s San Francisco experience.
     
  15. Oscillation

    Oscillation Maybe it was the doses?

    Well jeez, now I guess I have to give it a listen too!
     
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  16. raveoned

    raveoned Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ambler, PA
    I have to get back on the hunt for the book/CD Love is the Song we Sing box set from Rhino. My library has it, and I always borrow it. But I need to find that at a reasonable price somewhere.
     
  17. CliffL

    CliffL Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sacramento CA USA
    "Section 43" by Country Joe and the Fish-Monterey version-this song is one that epitomizes the San Francisco sound to me. Barry Melton the guitarist became a lawyer, I used to see his name in the local paper sometimes.

     
  18. jb welda

    jb welda yellow eyed dog

    Not just a lawyer, the chief public defender for Yolo County.

    jb
     
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  19. Gray Beard

    Gray Beard Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southern NJ
    Perfect timing too as we head into fall. Not sure when this was recorded or released exactly, but to me it’s a very fall album. Part of that is because I first heard it in autumn 1997, and the other is that this album just has a little bit of spook to it.
     
  20. jamesmaya

    jamesmaya Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    CJF’s Electric Music was recorded in Feb. ‘67, actually (in Berkeley), but yeah, it does have sort of an autumnal feel to it.
     
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  21. Ray Hicks

    Ray Hicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Zealand
    I always loved this clip! CJF really nail it & for me, it's one of THE greatest examples of psychedelic music bar none. I love the final shot of a blissed out young lady: She's definitely in the stratosphere...
    Earlier in the thread somebody asked for book recommendations concerning the San Francisco scene: Although not about the scene per se, Monterey Pop (1992-93?) with text by Joel Selvin and photos by Jim Marshall offers plenty of coverage of the San Francisco bands that performed.
    Selvin places these bands at the centre of the book, explaining their attitudes towards LA, wariness towards entertainment industry "professionalism" etc. He lauds the performances of JA & Big Brother alongside the usual suspects (The Who, Hendrix & Otis Redding), whilst also analyzing the impact of Moby Grape, QSM, Country Joe, Steve Miller & The Dead.
    He also manages to aim a few barbs at several performers diametrically opposite to the San Francisco bands/ethos (Johnny Rivers, Lou Rawls, The Association & members of The Monkees).
    Although quite slight at 106 pages, it has loads of great Jim Marshall photos, many in colour and the book is well worth seeking out...
     
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2022
  22. speedracer

    speedracer Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cascadia
  23. zephyr25

    zephyr25 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver
    Awesome footage, thanks for posting. Noticed the Orkustra playing an outdoor gig in Berkeley; I wonder if Bobby Beausoleil of the Manson family was with them then.
     
  24. speedracer

    speedracer Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cascadia
    http://archive.org/details/rh1985-06-13.sbd.flac16

    Don't mind me, just figured out how to get my browser to
    copy links to Internet Archive, the one website that wouldn't link

    Here is the Nazgûl and Armageddon Rag ft. Robert Hunter, John Cipollina, Merl Saunders

    backtrack to post 351 for details
     
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2022
  25. speedracer

    speedracer Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Cascadia
    ARK, zphage and fairies like this.

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