1,2,3Go! - San Jose Rocks

SJMN
Operator: NN / Job name: XXXX0100-0001 / Description: Zone:MO Edition:
Revised, date and time: 05/26/29, 01:37
Typeset, date and time: 08/19/03, 15:16
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CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
E
8/20/2003 MO E 1
Arts &
Entertaınment
SUE HUTCHISON
CC
WEDNESDAY
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
AUGUST 20, 2003
Returns Friday
....
www.mercurynews.com/entertainment
bradkava
pop music
Disc offers you
a shot at fame,
helps fight AIDS
Looking to get recorded on a disc
and help a charity? The Walk for
AIDS, Silicon Valley, is looking to put
out a CD of local talent with the proceeds going to AIDS relief. They will
weed through applicants to find great
local bands, pick some songs for an album collection, and then sell the albums on the October AIDS walk and
in area record stores.
You get a jump-start on your career,
and you help a worthy cause.
Mail digital, CD or tape submissions to Randy Robinson at Box 54010,
San Jose, Calif. 95154.
SOUTH BAY
DESERVES MUCH
OF THE CREDIT
ACCORDED S.F.
FOR ’60S BANDS
MORE MARKETING POWER: When
it comes to making money off fans, no
one compares to Kiss and Aerosmith.
On their current joint tour, which
comes to Shoreline Oct. 10, Kiss platinum club members can pay $1,000 for
seats in the first five rows, a meet-andgreet and backstage tour with the
members in full costume, souvenir
guitar picks and photos with the band.
Go to www.kissonline.com for details. Amazingly, these have sold out.
Their Boston counterparts offer a
similar deal for $600, called ‘‘the Velvet Rope.’’ (www.aeroforceone.
com).
I don’t know what’s more amazing:
that someone would think of marketing at these prices or that anyone
would pay them.
By Mark Purdy
Mercury News
Injustice is never pretty,
even when it’s psychedelic.
A few years ago, local attorney Kenn Ellner visited the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
Cleveland. He sat down to
view a movie tribute to San
Francisco’s ‘‘Summer of Love’’
in 1967. In the film’s opening
seconds, a distinctive fuzz guitar and harmonica riff floated
across the soundtrack.
‘‘Hey,’’
Ellner
thought.
‘‘That’s our song.’’
The tune was ‘‘Psychotic
Reaction,’’ recorded in 1966 by
the Count Five, a band Ellner
helped form — in San Jose,
not San Francisco. In fact,
none of the Count Five members ever lived in San Francisco. So how dare the Rock Hall
of Fame falsely proclaim them
to be a San Francisco band?
Surely, you know the answer. The situation was no different 35 years ago when the
Count Five rode their song —
which reached No. 5 on the
Billboard chart — to appearances around the country.
‘‘They would say we were
from San Francisco because
they didn’t know where San
Jose was,’’ remembered Roy
BENEFIT: Austin songwriter and
guitarist Alejandro Escovedo canceled his summer tour because of
complications from hepatitis C. Now
he has begun expensive treatments
and has no health insurance.
A group of musicians across the
country who love his work is staging
benefits. Escovedo, the much younger
brother of former Bay Area resident
See KAVA, Page 3E
1,2,3Go!
See ROCK CITY, Page 2E
K COUNT FIVE
Where: The Edge, 260 S. California Ave.,
Palo Alto
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Tickets: $20; (650) 321-6447
SHOTGUN PLAYERS
Trish Mulholland, left, and
John Thomas.
KEY LOCATIONS
Where it all happened.
Three reasons to see
the Shotgun Players
in Brecht’s ‘Mother Courage
and Her Children’
PAGE 2E
1. Bertolt Brecht was the father of modern political theater.
2. First produced in 1938, ‘‘Mother Courage and
Her Children’’ is an anti-war classic that speaks directly to the state of the world today.
3. This is a rare opportunity to see Brecht in the
park. And (a fourth reason!) it’s free.
4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at John Hinkel Park,
Arlington and Southampton avenues, Berkeley,
through Sept. 14. (510) 704-8210 or
www.shotgunplayers.org
— Karen D’Souza
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BRIAN GRIFFIN —
MERCURY NEWS
For more things to do, see
Inside |
PAGE 2E
Dear Abby . . . Page 4E
Comics . . . Pages 6E, 7E
Movie times . . . Page 5E Television . . . Back Page
....
Grateful Dead, 1967, clockwise
from left: Jerry Garcia, Bill
Kreutzmann, Ron ‘‘Pigpen’’
McKernan, Bob Weir, Mickey
Hart; Phil Lesh in the center.
Jefferson Airplane, 1960s,
from left: Jack Casady, Jorma
Kaukonen, Grace Slick, Marty
Balin, Spencer Dryden, Paul
Kantner.
Smash Mouth, 2001, from left:
Greg Camp, Steve Harwell, Paul
De Lisle, Michael Urbano.
Syndicate of Sound, 1965,
from left: Larry Ray, John
Duckworth, John Sharkey, Don
Baskin, Bob Gonzalez.
Doobie Brothers, 1971, from
left: John Hartman, Tom
Johnston, Dave Shogren, Pat
Simmons.
SJMN
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Revised, date and time: 02/02/25, 21:35
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082003MOAE0E002 / Typesetter: IIIOUT / TCP: #1 / Queue entry: #0075
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
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8/20/2003 MO E 2
WWW.MERCURYNEWS.COM
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2003
San Jose’s rock ’n’ roll history
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MERCURY NEWS
inviting concertgoers to the first public
‘‘acid test‘‘ organized by his Day-Glo
henchmen, the Merry Pranksters. The
wild affair was held at a large home
near SJSU, and it was on this occasion
that a band from Palo Alto formerly
known as the Warlocks played its first
gig as the Grateful Dead. The episode
is related in Tom Wolfe’s book, ‘‘The
Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.’’ But
frustratingly, no address is mentioned.
Surviving Pranksters Ken Babbs and
Lee Quarnstrom can’t remember where
the house was, and Dead spokesman
Dennis McNally doesn’t know either.
McNally even contacted Carolyn
“Mountain Girl” Garcia, who was at the
party, but she had no memory of the
specific location.
8 2780 EL CAMINO REAL,
SANTA CLARA
Moonlite Lanes, a bowling alley that
stayed open late, was a perfect spot
for a teen idol to escape the mad
masses. Micky Dolenz, the Monkees’
found their steel guitar player, Bobby
Black. He was working in the Cowtown
house band circa 1971. The Lost Planet
Airmen, then living in Berkeley, also
worked a fine scam at the Cowtown.
Every Wednesday was talent night, and
so each band member took turns
trekking to San Jose to win the $100
prize. ‘‘By the fifth week, they’d figured
us out,’’ writes Commander Cody (a.k.a.
George Frayne) on his Web site. An
apartment complex occupies the site
today.
12 840 GUADALUPE PARKWAY,
SAN JOSE
Juvenile Hall. For a while in 1982, it
became the unwanted temporary
residence of an 11-year-old Lars
Frederiksen, a Campbell native who
grew up to become a guitarist in the
punk rock band, Rancid. Here’s
Frederiksen telling the story to Rolling
Stone magazine: ‘‘I had a friend who
was 16. One day we went to his
girlfriend’s house in South San Jose
while she was in summer school. We
raided the liquor cabinet, started
smoking some stuff, put chewing gum
on the girl’s dog, and started gettin’ all
messed up. I went home and passed
out on the floor. The police called and
told my mom to bring me back to the
girl’s house. My friend was tearing up
the place and he ratted me out. I ended
up in ‘juvy’ for two weeks.’’
13 147 S. MORRISON ST., SAN JOSE
This modest and tidy home in the St.
Leo’s neighborhood is where Greg
Camp, the songwriter and guitarist of
Smash Mouth, lived with his wife
before the band became big stars. Camp
even wrote a song about an annoying
former neighbor on Morrison (‘‘HeaveHo”), which appears on the first Smash
Mouth album. As of last week, the house
was for rent again.
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5 12TH STREET NEAR SAN JOSE
STATE CAMPUS
Today, this is a row of well-groomed
houses in the trendy Naglee Park
neighborhood. But back in the late ’60s
and early ’70s, things were more
shaggy. Tom Johnston of the Doobie
Brothers rented a place on 12th Street
while he attended San Jose State, held
jam sessions and wrote ‘‘Listen to the
Music‘‘ in the home’s living room.
680
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st
Fir
4 SAN JOSE STATE
UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
Stu Cook and Doug Clifford of
Creedence Clearwater Revival used to
jam here at frat parties, as did early
versions of the Doobie Brothers and
Pablo Cruise founder Cory Lerios. And
Stevie Nicks was an SJSU student.
880
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What’s up today
3 70 W. HEDDING ST., SAN JOSE
This is the county Hall of Records, where
you will not find Chuck Berry’s birth
certificate. In an early biography, Berry
said he was born in San Jose, but it
turns out to be a big fib. ‘‘He felt being
born in San Jose made him sound more
unusual and exotic,’’ reports Bruce Pegg,
who keeps Berry’s Web page. ‘‘He was
actually born in St. Louis in 1926.’’
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Chaney, the band’s bassist.
Makes you want to smash
some guitars, doesn’t it? Everyone knows that San Jose’s
inferiority streak can run
deeper than Keith Richards’
wrinkles. In this case, there
is a legitimate beef.
Say it loud: We’re Area
Code 408 And We’re Proud.
San Jose’s rock ’n’ roll history is as thick and as significant as any city in America.
But few people realize this,
because nobody makes movies or television specials
about it — or writes newspaper stories about it.
Time to correct the error.
Friday night, the Count Five
will play its first show in 16
years, a reunion gig at The
Edge nightclub in Palo Alto.
What better occasion to step
up and scream about San Jose — and the South Bay’s —
neglected rock ’n’ roll reputation?
There is a ridiculous
amount of screaming to do.
Two of the alleged ‘‘San
Francisco’’ bands — the
Grateful Dead and Jefferson
Airplane — were populated
mostly by South Bay musicians. In fact, the Grateful
Dead’s first appearance under that name happened in
1965 in downtown San Jose.
Bob Dylan played a show in
San Jose before he ever sang
in San Francisco. Half of
Creedence Clearwater Revival attended San Jose
State and honed some chops
there. Influential groups
such as the Syndicate of
Sound, People, Chocolate
Watchband and Harpers Bizarre had South Bay roots.
And that only covers the
1960s. During the 1970s, the
Doobie Brothers smoked
themselves out of a house on
12th Street to sell millions of
records. Stevie Nicks, another former SJSU student,
gave Fleetwood Mac the
witchy pathos to sell millions
of records. More recently,
Smash Mouth broke out of
the South First Street bars
to gain international fame.
So which city is it, again,
that deserves to be called the
Bay Area’s capital of rock ’n’
roll procreation? Tourists in
San Francisco routinely visit
Haight-Ashbury to gaze at
the Grateful Dead’s ‘‘birthplace.’’ Maybe they would be
interested to know that Jerry
Garcia and Bob Weir first began plucking guitars at Palo
Alto music stores and coffeehouses.
Granted, today’s live music
scene in San Jose is struggling. But cycles repeat
themselves, and the young
local musicians could do
worse than study their ancestors. The reconstituted
Count Five at Friday’s show
will feature three members
of the original band — Ellner,
Chaney and guitarist John
‘‘Mouse’’ Michalski — along
with guitarist Phil Indovina
and drummer Rocco Astrello. Original drummer Butch
Atkinson has died, and original guitarist John Byrne decided to decline a full-fledged
reunion but has been invited
to sing a few songs with the
band Friday. Don Baskin, the
Syndicate of Sound’s lead
singer, may also show up for
some guest vocals.
And don’t worry. The
Count Five’s trademark Dracula-style capes, worn by the
band for a famous jacketsleeve photo in front of the
Winchester Mystery House,
will also be on the bill. Michalski kept the original
capes in a closet at his house,
ready for use when Chaney
sparked the idea for a reunion before they get too old.
‘‘I just called up the guys
and told them, ‘If we’re ever
going to do it, now’s the
time,’ ’’ said Chaney.
The idea, he said was
goosed by a British company
that has just released a CD
featuring the remastered
original master tapes of
Count Five recording sessions. They’ll also be on sale
at the show. In the comprehensive CD liner notes,
Byrne properly disses the
San Francisco bands by saying: ‘‘Those groups from the
city always looked down at
the South Bay and treated us
with disdain.’’
Not after today, they won’t.
NEAR SAN JOSE STATE CAMPUS
Talk about your classic ’60s mind fog.
On Dec. 4, 1965, after a Rolling Stones
show at San Jose Civic, author and LSD
explorer Ken Kesey handed out fliers
S
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Continued from Page 1E
2 970 S. FIRST ST., SAN JOSE
In 1965, this now-vacant storefront
housed Off Stage, a coffeehouse that
was the epicenter of South Bay hipness.
It’s where a local folk singer named
Paul Kantner (then working in a local
cannery) first met a young acoustic
guitar player named Jerry Kaukonen
(then attending Santa Clara University).
That night, Kaukonen was playing
behind an unknown Texas singer named
Janis Joplin. Soon after, Kantner and
Kaukonen (who changed his first name
to Jorma) helped create Jefferson
Airplane, as related in author Joel
Selvin’s history of Bay Area music in
the ’60s, ‘‘Summer Of Love.’’ The Off
Stage was shut down after a pot bust
in 1966. The building was last occupied
by a Vietnamese bakery.
9 3369 UNION AVE., SAN JOSE
Site of the former Camden High School,
breeding ground of the Syndicate of
Sound. In the summer of ’66, while
San Francisco was going all groovy, San
Jose went spectacularly hormonal.
Within three months, the city produced
two Top 10 hits dripping with
testosterone lust. ‘‘Psychotic Reaction”
by Count Five was one. The other was
‘‘Hey Little Girl” by the Syndicate of
Sound. Typically, while San Francisco
7 UNKNOWN HOUSE
San
Tomas Expwy.
ROCK CITY l S.J., not
S.F., was true locus
of many ’60s bands
drummer, would often visit his sister
in Los Gatos at the height of the group’s
fame. He would slip away for some
recreation here, according to Count
Five guitarist ‘‘Mouse” Michalski, who
often accompanied him. ‘‘We’d go at
midnight so he could have some peace,’’
he said. The bowling facility still exists.
Meridian Ave.
COURTESY THE COUNT FIVE
In front of the Winchester Mystery House in 1966 were Count
Five’s Roy Chaney, left, John Byrne, Craig ‘‘Butch’’ Atkinson,
Kenn Ellner, John ‘‘Mouse’’ Michalski.
1 47 NOTRE DAME AVE.,
SAN JOSE
It all began here. On July 7, 1956, the
first rock ‘n’ roll riot in America
happened here at the Palomar Ballroom.
The facts were later documented in a
treatise by San Jose State history Prof.
Larry Engelmann. Fats Domino and his
band showed up two hours late for a
show, and a tanked-up crowd of 3,500
began throwing beer bottles. Fights
broke out. Firecrackers were set off.
Chaos reigned. Eleven were arrested.
Hundreds of other brawlers fled when
police reinforcements arrived. The next
day, accounts of the “riot” appeared
from coast to coast, sparking a debate
on whether rock music was evil and
provoked violence. In many respects,
that argument continues today. The
ballroom, which hosted many other
1950s shows with rock’s pioneers, still
stands and is now the Tropicana
Nightclub.
6 145 W. SAN CARLOS ST.,
SAN JOSE
San Jose Civic Auditorium. The
documented site of Bob Dylan’s first
Bay Area show. He played here in
November 1964, two nights before his
initial San Francisco concert. Many
other classic artists, including Van
Morrison and the Faces (with Rod
Stewart and Ron Wood) subsequently
played the Civic, while U2 singer Bono
fondly acknowledged the band’s show
there during a 2000 concert at HP
Pavilion.
Winchester Blvd.
Get a load of this nifty map to
San Jose’s legendary rock ’n’ roll
sites. The list is incomplete, but
as an introductory primer, it is a
good start:
was navel-gazing, San Jose’s hardperspiring teen punks were luring girls
to the drive-in with lyrics such as, ‘‘Hey
little girl, you don’t have to hide nothing
no more. You didn’t do nothing that
hasn’t been done before.’’
10 545 RACE ST., SAN JOSE
It’s now a parking lot adjoining a former
cannery. But this corner was once the
very happening Kerosene Club, where
San Jose State students Tom and Dick
Smothers created their nightclub act.
(All right, so they were folk comedy,
not rock, but Tom did play with John
Lennon on ‘‘Give Peace A Chance.’’)
Trivia note: Mercury News columnist
Leigh Weimers, as an SJSU student,
once played the banjo at the Kerosene
Club on a hootenanny night.
11 1584 ALMADEN, SAN JOSE
The immortal Cowtown bar, since
demolished, was once located here. It’s
where rockabilly group Commander
Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen
14 400 E. CAMPBELL AVE.,
CAMPBELL
The Gaslighter Theatre has been a rock
venue off and on during its long life,
and in 1970, future Doobie Brothers
Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons
met there for the first time. Playing in
separate groups, a week later they
decided to combine forces and form a
new band at the suggestion of drummer
John Hartman, another friend. The
Doobies woodshedded at a number of
nearby Campbell bars.
15 1465 REVERE AVE. AND
1470 REVERE AVE., SAN JOSE
Count Five’s musical crossroads, in
Baja Willow Glen. Kenn Ellner’s house
was at 1465 Revere, and Byrne, who
had moved to San Jose from Ireland,
lived across the street. The lyrics to
‘‘Psychotic Reaction” were composed
during a rehearsal in Ellner’s living room.
All five band members attended nearby
Pioneer High School, and their hit song
was released the week of their
graduation in 1966. After their 1969
breakup, they didn’t play together again
until their 20th high school reunion in
the school gym, surprising the crowd
with a brief reunion set — while
wearing those famous capes.
— Mark Purdy
Trade your Mercury News bill
for 2 free tickets to
Spyro Gyra
Lee Ritenour
and
7:30 pm Wednesday, Sept. 10 • Garden Theatre, Villa Montalvo
Things to do in the Bay Area
THEATER
ATTRACTIONS
Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story. By
Alan Janes, Laurie Mansfield, Rob
Bettison and Buddy Holly. Life story of
the rock ’n roll legend who died in a
plane crash with Richie Valens and the
Big Bopper in 1959. 8 p.m. Open-ended.
San Jose Stage Company. The Stage,
490 S. First St., San Jose. $28-$38.
(408) 283-7142.
Computer History Museum.
Thousands of artifacts from the early
days of computing presented in a visible
storage exhibit area. 1401 N Shoreline
Blvd., Mountain View. Free tour at 1 p.m.
Free. (650) 810 1010,
www.computerhistory.org.
Love & Taxes. By Josh Kornbluth. A
man tries to get himself out of debt after
venturing into the Hollywood studio
system. Opens 8 p.m. Runs through Sept.
14. Thrust Stage, Berkeley Repertory
Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley.
$25-$40. (510) 647-2949.
POP
Cupertino Historical Museum.
Displaying items relating to the history
of Cupertino. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Quinlan
Community Center, 10185 N. Stelling
Road. Free. (408) 973-1495.
FARMERS MARKETS
Milpitas Farmers Market. 10 a.m.-2
p.m. Town Center Drive and Calaveras.
(800) 949-3276.
Joe Cocker. 8:15 p.m. Wente Vineyards,
5050 Arroyo Road, Livermore.
$79-$229. (408) 998-8497, (415)
421-8497.
Santana Row Farmers Market. 4-8
p.m. Winchester and Stevens Creek, San
Jose. (800) 949-3276.
The Eagles. 8 p.m. Chronicle Pavilion at
Concord. $63.50-$158. (408)
998-8497, (415) 421-8497.
CIRCUS
Earth, Wind and Fire. 7:30 p.m. Garden
Theater, Villa Montalvo, 15400
Montalvo Road, Saratoga. $70-$105.
(408) 961-5858, (408) 998-8497,
(415) 421-8497.
Ringling Brothers and Barnum &
Bailey Circus in Oakland. Clowns,
stunts, juggling and animal tricks. 7:30
p.m. Oakland Arena, Interstate 880 at
Hegenberger Road. $11, $16, $21 and
$50. (408) 998-8497, (415) 421-8497,
www.ringling.com
The first 50 people to convert their Mercury News subscription to Easy
Pay will each receive two tickets to hear Spyro Gyra perform in
Montalvo’s Garden Theatre.
Spyro Gyra has created its own instrumental sound, blending elements
of jazz, R & B, Latin and Brazilian music. The popular group has
remained atop the contemporary music scene for over 25 years. And
opening the evening will be jazz guitar favorite Lee Ritenour.
With Easy Pay, your subscription is automatically charged to the credit
or debit card of your choice each month. No checks to write, no
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Act now! If you're a current Mercury News subscriber receiving a bill in
the mail, just call us before 10 am Saturday, August 23, and convert
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Call 1-800-870-NEWS
today to convert to Easy Pay.
Be sure to mention this special
Spyro Gyra code: EP305
Premiums are limited to the first 50 conversions, and are presented on a first-come basis based on the time you call in and convert to Easy Pay. Customer Service personnel cannot guarantee or confirm at the time of your
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To purchase tickets: Montalvo Box Office • 408.961.5858 • www.villamontalvo.org
or Ticketmaster • (408) 998-TIXS or (415) 421-TIXS • www.ticketmaster.com