Avalon Ballroom, July 1-2-3, 1966: Grass Roots/Daily Flash/Sopwith Camel

This post is part of a series analyzing every show at the Avalon Ballroom

July 1-2-3, 1966 Grass Roots/Daily Flash/Sopwith Camel 
Since the 4th of July was on a Monday, the Avalon had a three day booking for the weekend instead of just the normal Friday and Saturday night shows. The Sopwith Camel were not booked for Sunday night, July 3--I do not currently know if any other band performed on that night.

The LA folk-rock bands are now playing the Fillmore and Avalon regularly.  ‘Folk-rock’, epitomized by The Byrds, was not only popular, but hip, and bands like The Turtles, The Grass Roots and The Association appeared to have more in common with Quicksilver or The Airplane than they do today.     The Grass Roots were starting to break out nationally.  Their current Dunhill single, “Where Were You When I Needed You,” peaked at  #28 nationally.

The Daily Flash, while founded in Seattle, had relocated to Los Angeles, where they shared management with the Buffalo Springfield. Nonetheless, they had been a huge hit at the Avalon, so they had a following in San Francisco. The Daily Flash’s repertoire actually included a lot of folk covers at this time, so this show really was a folk-rock bill, although the obscurity of these bands recorded releases meant that the audience would not know what they sounded like until they were actually at the show.

The Sopwith Camel were another group that had been founded out of the rooming house at 1090 Page Street, just like Big Brother. They had begun rehearsing at a place called The Firehouse (an abandoned Fire Station) where a few shows were presented as well. Their second show was at the Fillmore in February. They had improved steadily, however, and became a viable band. 

By July, The Sopwith Camel had been signed by Kama Sutra Records. In May, a friend of the band had sent an early demo tape of the song “Hello Hello” to Lovin Spoonful producer Erik Jakobsen, who immediately sought the group out.  He met them returning from a gig at a private girls school, and they were all dressed in tuxedos.  Nonetheless, Jakobsen recognized the potential and signed them immediately.Jakobsen was on the prowl because The Lovin Spoonful were getting even bigger.  “Daydream” had reached #2 in the spring, and “Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind”, their current single, would reach #2 as well.

The Spoonful’s biggest hit, “Summer In The City” would not even hit the charts for a few more weeks. However, the Lovin Spoonful would never play the Avalon or the Fillmore. Sometime in the Summer (probably after a May 21, 1966 show at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley), Spoonful guitarist Zal Yanofsky was busted for pot, and he gave up his dealer, apparently a member of The Committee improv troupe. This poisoned the band's reputation in the Underground, and the Spoonful were persona non grata at the Avalon and the Fillmore, so they were never booked there. The drug bust problems of Yanofsky would have seemed like trivial show-biz problems to the record companies.  The idea that a band’s inability to play obscure venues in San Francisco would affect their future popularity would have been incomprehensible to a New York record company.

Oddly enough, the Sopwith Camel appear on a Fillmore poster for Saturday, July 2 (supporting Great Society and The Charlatans), and that presents a conflict with the Avalon poster. By this time, Bill Graham and Chet Helms were fierce competitors and would not have allowed a band to play both venues on the same night. Given that the Camel did not play the Avalon on Sunday, July 3, perhaps the Fillmore poster was mistaken and the Camel played on July 3 at the Fillmore (which was billed as Love/Grateful Dead/Group B).

next: July 8-9-10, 1966: Sir Douglas Quintet/Everpresent Fullness

January 13-14-15, 1967 San Francisco--Rock Weekend

From this great distance, most rock historiography is siloed, as researchers delve deeper and deeper into the details of a specific rock band's history or the minutiae of a certain event. I myself am acutely guilty of profoundly detailed research of little interest even to the participants. While the best information comes from determined research, it's also important to think about the context in which events occur. The Human Be-In, a free concert and gathering in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, where 15,000 or so long-haired gathered peacefully to listen to Berkeley radicals, some Beat poets and several San Francisco rock bands, all for free, was a seminal event in rock history.

The Be-In was seminal not least because the event was picked up by national TV news, and a sunny San Francisco afternoon with "acid, incense and balloons" (in Paul Kantner's words) seemed awfully engaging to a lot of young people around the country feeling cold and alienated by parents, the threat of the Vietnam War or the snow. Publicity about the Be-In was the key event that triggered San Francisco's "Summer Of Love," and accelerated the San Francisco music scene from a happening Underground scene to a flash point for the next rock explosion after the Beatles and The "British Invasion."

All the importance and symbolism attached to the Human Be-In is worthy of interest, and that was recognized at the time. The Be-In triggered Be-Ins throughout the country, and triggered the phenomenon of the outdoor rock festival, starting several months later at Monterey Pop, and culminating at the apogee and perogee of Woodstock and Altamont in 1969. What is usually lost in discussions of the Human Be-In, however, was what a happening musical weekend it was around the Bay Area. The Human Be-In was the biggest event, but it would have been musically memorable in any case, a sign of the vitality of the San Francisco scene at the time. This post will look at the wide variety of rock events on the Human Be-In weekend, showing how the Be-In was a fair representation of what was happening in the City at the time (h/t Ross for the poster scans).

Friday, January 13, 1967

San Francisco

Fillmore: The Grateful Dead/Junior Wells/The Doors

Avalon: Moby Grape/The Sparrow/Charlatans

Basin Street West: Jefferson Airplane/Dizzy Gillespie (401 Broadway, North Beach)

The Matrix: Steve Miller Blues Band/Steve Mann (3138 Fillmore, The Marina)

The Both/And: Charles Lloyd (350 Divisadero)

Friday night in San Francisco was fraught with great events--

At the Fillmore, the Grateful Dead had to race over from Berkeley, where they had filled in for Jose Feliciano (see below). The Doors had played the previous weekend (with The Rascals and Sopwith Camel), and with their first album just released, were the hottest band to come out of Los Angeles. They apparently were a huge success the the first weekend, but for mysterious reasons of his own, Jim Morrison chose to spend the evening at a movie theater in Sacramento, watching Casablanca three times, so The Doors did not perform at the Fillmore Friday night. 

The bands at the Avalon were all without recording contracts, but all featured members who would go on to great success. Moby Grape, having just formed a few months earlier, were San Francisco's latest underground sensation; given their members' vast performing experience, its no surprise they were reputedly a terrific live band right from the start. The Charlatans, while legends, never lived up to their possibilities, but drummer Dan Hicks went on to achieve his own peculiar immortality. The Sparrow, from Toronto but based in Sausalito, would move to Los Angeles in June and reconfigure themselves as Steppenwolf.

At North Beach's biggest jazz club, the Jefferson Airplane, San Francisco's biggest stars, were playing a high profile engagement (January 11 through 22) with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. The formidable Charles Lloyd quartet (with Keith Jarrett, Ron McClure and Jack DeJohnette) was playing a week at the tiny Both/And, near the Haight. Over at The Matrix, newly arrived from Madison, WI, via Chicago, was the Steve Miller Blues Band, already a fine live band. Opening for Miller was Steve Mann, as good a guitar player as anyone playing this weekend.

East Bay

Berkeley Community Theater: The Mamas And The Papas/Jose Feliciano/The Hard Times

(Allston and Grove, two shows 8:00 and 10:45)

Rollarena, San Leandro: Mojo Men/Mark & Stanley & The Four Fendermen/The Opposition

Ligure Hall, Oakland: Maybe Tomorrow/Loading Zone (4799 Shattuck)

New Orleans House, Berkeley: Notes From The Underground(1505 San Pablo)

Just across the Bay Bridge--

The Mamas And The Papas were one of the most popular groups in the country, and Bill Graham presented them at Berkeley Community Theater, supported by Jose Feliciano and a local group called The Hard Times. The show almost never appears in lists of Bill Graham shows, probably because there was no poster for it. The show sold out quickly and a late show was added. According to Ralph Gleason's review in the Chronicle (on January 16), Jose Feliciano was late arriving, and the Hard Times were unavailable.

A locally based group called The Canadian Fuzz opened both shows, but to fill in for Feliciano, the Grateful Dead played a brief set for the early show, prior to returning to the Fillmore to headline. Gleason, a fan of the Dead, was dismissive of their performance at Berkeley. Interestingly, they would not have been playing through their own sound system, a rare event for the Dead even then. The Dead would have been done by 9:00 o'clock, leaving plenty of time to get to the Fillmore even with The Doors being absent.

San Leandro's Rollarena had been a happening spot for teenagers the previous year, but it was being eclipsed by the Fillmore and Avalon. The Mojo Men, with singing drummer Jan Errico and their hit "Sit Down I Think I Love You" were apparently a pretty good live band. I know nothing about the event at Ligure Hall, and I can't imagine it was well attended. The New Orleans House was just starting to present original rock in the East Bay.

North Bay

Santa Venetia Armory: Big Brother and The Holding Company/Moby Grape (155 Madison)

Even in then-sleepy Marin, something was happening. The former National Guard Armory, just North of San Rafael, had been used for many teen dances in the mid-60s and was used briefly for psychedelic bands before it too succumbed to the Fillmore. Moby Grape was playing two gigs in the same night. Of course, since Chet Helms both promoted the Avalon and managed Big Brother, he was responsible for both gigs, so it was certainly OK with him. This show probably ended early.

Saturday, January 14, 1967

San Francisco

Human Be-In, Polo Grounds, Golden Gate Park

Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service/Sir Douglas Quintet/Loading Zone/The New Age

Fillmore: The Grateful Dead/Junior Wells/The Doors

Avalon: Moby Grape/The Sparrow/Charlatans

Basin Street West: Jefferson Airplane/Dizzy Gillespie (401 Broadway, North Beach)

The Matrix: Steve Miller Blues Band/Steve Mann (3138 Fillmore, The Marina)

The Both/And: Charles Lloyd (350 Divisadero)
Goman's Gay 90s: The Sparrow (345 Broadway, North Beach 2am Breakfast Show)

The Human Be-In was attended by just about every hippie in the Bay Area, and is remembered fondly by everyone I ever talked to who attended. The musical performances were brief, as there were many speakers and poets as well as the musicians. The Grateful Dead's brief (half-hour set) included Charles Lloyd on flute for "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl." The rest of the groups were reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, so there may in fact have been other groups who played as well. The Chronicle incorrectly reported that Country Joe and The Fish played, when in fact a Berkeley band called The New Age performed, with whom Joe and some Fish joined in.

Most of the musicians playing San Francisco were probably present. Lloyd played with the Dead, and a member of The New Age described jamming offstage with Dizzy Gillespie. The Doors were certainly present, as well.

The Doors did play on Saturday night at the Fillmore, and many of the people at the Fillmore must have been at the Be-In, and seeing The Dead, The Doors and Junior Wells each play two sets after spending all day in the park must have made for some day, but you could say the same about the Avalon or Basin Street West. And if you just couldn't sleep (for one reason or another), The Sparrow were playing 2-6am "Breakfast Shows" at a North Beach Topless Club called Goman's Gay 90s, as were the Airplane and Dizzy Gillespie in North Beach.

Bay Area

Sonoma County Fairgrounds, Santa Rosa: The Mojo Men

New Orleans House, Berkeley: Notes From The Underground

Continental Ballroom, Santa Clara: The Turtles/William Penn Five/The Chosen Few (1600 Martin Ave) 

The out-of-town fare was considerably less on Saturday, fortunate for any promoters who didn't have to be competing with the Be-In.

Sunday January 15, 1967

San Francisco

Fillmore: The Grateful Dead/Junior Wells/The Doors (afternoon show)

Basin Street West: Jefferson Airplane/Dizzy Gillespie (401 Broadway, North Beach)

The Matrix: Steve Miller Blues Band/Steve Mann (3138 Fillmore, The Marina)

The Both/And: Charles Lloyd (350 Divisadero)
Goman's Gay 90s: The Sparrow (345 Broadway, North Beach 2am Breakfast Show)

The dust had settled somewhat by Sunday, but there was still music to be had. Sunday afternoon Fillmore shows often did not include the weekend's headline act. Both the previous weekend at the Fillmore (headlined by The Rascals) and the next weekend (headlined by Butterfield Blues Band), notices in the Chronicle explicitly stated that the headliner would not be performing. The Wes Wilson posters for all of the January shows (BG 44, 45, 46 and 47) include ambiguous wording that says 'Our Reg Sun Afternoon Dance Concert Kiddies Free!' The Friday Chronicle datebook (above) lists the Dead instead of "rock jam" as it had other Sundays, but I am not certain if the Dead actually played Sunday. If they didn't, it would actually be consistent with other January headliners.

East Bay
Provo Park, Berkeley Loading Zone/Ulysses S Crockett (Grove and Allston, 2-4pm, free)

New Orleans House, Berkeley: Notes From The Underground

Although the entire Bay Area longhair community had to fairly spent, there was a free concert in downtown Berkeley's main park, announced in Ralph Gleason's column, featuring The Loading Zone, an Oakland band who had gigged on all three days. Notes From Underground played Sunday evening, for anyone who was still awake.

Many of the events of the weekend of January 13-15, 1967 have gotten their due in rock chronologies. The Human Be-In had social and political consequences, symbolizing a movement from radical Berkeley politics to much larger questions, and the event all but singlehandedly guaranteed the Summer Of Love in San Francisco. At the same time, The Doors, one of the most important rock groups of the 1960s, were playing San Francisco just as their new album was released, and the Jefferson Airplane shared a two-week billing with Charlie Parker's former trumpet player. Moby Grape was just springing into the light, The Sparrow were laying the groundwork for Steppenwolf, Steve Miller had just started performing in San Francisco, and established pop stars like The Mamas And The Papas and The Turtles headlined around the Bay Area.

By Summer 1967, most of these bands (in some form) were starting to tour the country, and they wouldn't be in the same place at the same time except at a Festival, but for one weekend, San Francisco and the Bay Area was its own rock festival.

Avalon Ballroom June 24-25, 1966: Big Brother and The Holding Company/Quicksilver Messenger Service

This post is part of a series analyzing every show at the Avalon Ballroom. Above is the Kelly/Mouse poster, FD-014 (h/t Ross for the scan)

June 24-25 Big Brother and The Holding Company/Quickilver Messenger Service

Big Brother and Quicksilver were both popular local bands, but they were still essentially underground bands. On June 24, this changed. This weekend was Janis Joplin's debut as a member of Big Brother and The Holding Company. While Janis's mark was instantaneous, it still took some time for the group to reach beyond underground San Francisco. Still, the magical combination of Janis's emotionally charged vocals and Big Brother's feedback driven madness was one of San Francisco's principal musical exports, and it began this weekend.

Over the years, there has been some confusion over which night Janis debuted with Big Brother. For many years it was assumed to be on June 10, but that date makes little sense. Not only was Big Brother not even on the bill--although they very well could have just dropped in, since their manager ran the venue--but Janis had only arrived in San Francisco on June 4. Chet Helms had sent a lieutenant, Travis Rivers, to Austin and they had hitchhiked back. Its extremely unlikely that she would have met the band, rehearsed and performed in less than a week. In any case, since the group was on the bill June 24-25, it makes perfect sense that this would be her debut.

Janis had moved to San Francisco in the early 1960s, hoping to make it as a folksinger, and hung out with Chet Helms at the time. Although she was locally known, acoustic folk music and Janis weren't quite ready for each other, and Janis ended up getting too involved with speed, and she returned to Austin. While she laid low, Big Brother seemed to have hit a plateau in San Francisco. They were a creative live band, but no one was a really good singer, and there was no visual focus to the group. The Jefferson Airplane and Great Society both had "chick singers", and that seemed to be the way to go. Various names were tossed about, and its not clear if any of those singers actually rehearsed with Big Brother. In any case, Helms sent Rivers to Austin to retrieve Janis, and introduced her to the band.

It was not even certain that the ambitious Joplin would even join Big Brother.  Ritchie Unterburger wrote that Paul Holzmann of Elektra tried to form a group around Janis Joplin at this time, immediately after she moved to San Francisco.  Supposedly, Janis, Taj Mahal and guitarists Stefan Grossman and Steve Mann actually rehearsed at least once.  Grossman said that Holzmann said some months later that “the contracts made it impossible.” Regardless of the reality quotient of any of this story, it is a clear sign that record companies are hovering around San Francisco ready to jump on the next big thing.

In any case, Janis's appearance at the Avalon was a suprise to many or most of the people at the show. I know someone who attended the show, and she said that Janis's voice "sounded like tape being rewound." Since Janis and the members of Big Brother's had all been folk musicians, they knew a similar set of songs, like "I Know You Rider" and "The Cuckoo," so they had a base of material to put their stamp on immediately. The earliest Big Brother tape is from just a month later (July 28 at The Fillmore) and the band's sound is fully formed, so its clear that Janis and the band knew it was a perfect match.

Although to most of the crowd at the Avalon this must have seemed like another fun summer night at the Avalon with some hot local bands, in fact San Francisco rock was taking a huge step towards going National. Appropriately, the Kelly/Mouse "Zig Zag Man" poster for the show became an iconic poster as well. Now, of course, we see the poster and think about people rolling joints, but at the time pot was still underground enough that this reference would have been lost on all but the few longhairs who would have wanted to attend the show.

Next: July 1-2-3, 1966 Grass Roots/Daily Flash/Sopwith Camel

Avalon Ballroom June 17-18, 1966: Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band/Oxford Circle

This post is part of a series analyzing every performance at the Avalon Ballroom

June 17-18, 1966 Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band/Oxford Circle

Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band had supported Love at the Avalon the month before, but they returned in June as headliners. Beefheart was seen as a blues musician with a big voice, rather than the avant-garde experimentalist he would become. The Magic Band at this time would have been Doug Mono and Alex St. Clair on guitars, Jerry Handley on bass and Paul Blakely on drums.

Oxford Circle were making what appears to be their San Francisco debut. The group were from Davis, CA, near Sacramento, just 75 miles Northeast of The Avalon. Davis had a newly-opened (1959) branch of the University of California, and between the college town and Sacramento proper there were a lot of gigs and a lively music scene. The Oxford Circle had originally been a surf band called The Hideaways, but as their music moved towards a British Invasion style, they changed their name to The Oxford Circle, because it sounded more English, and was the name of a woman's dorm at UC Davis. They were one of the most popular bands in the Davis/Sacramento area.

However, unlike other groups popular on the teen dance circuit, the Oxford Circle was starting to do their own thing, so they fit in very well at the Avalon. Their music was modeled more on the harder rocking bands like The Yardbirds and Them, and more and more time was being allotted to lead guitarist Dehner Patten. Lead singer Gary Yoder was starting to write his own songs, and along with the solid foundation of bassist Jim Keylor and drummer Paul Whaley, the experienced Oxford Circle were a powerful live band. Many underground San Francisco groups were made up of folkies still struggling to figure out electric instruments;  the Oxford Circle was already made up of rock and roll veterans ripe for something wilder. The band were instant crowd favorites in San Francisco.

San Francisco and the Bay Area has a great sense of self-importance (to be kind about it), and an innate tendency to look down its nose at the surrounding areas. Oxford Circle had been trying to break into Bill Graham's Fillmore for some time, but Graham wanted no part of them. Abruptly, after getting booked by the Avalon, and particularly after rocking the house, Graham invited Oxford Circle to audition for him, so they opened a show for Them at the Fillmore on June 23, and two weeks later were booked with The Turtles (July 5-6). Many San Francisco bands noticed that Bill Graham waited for the hipper Chet Helms to figure out who was right for San Francisco, and then used his financial leverage to get them into the Fillmore. 

In the liner notes for their Big Beat cd (see below), Yoder recalls auditioning for Chet Helms and playing on the bill the same night, and being booked for two weeks later. This suggests that Oxford Circle had played a previous show at the Avalon, probably on June 3 or 4 (opening for Grass Roots and Big Brother). It also suggests that many more bands played the Avalon than appeared on the poster, an idea borne out by the number of groups who recall playing at the Avalon and yet don't appear on the poster.

One unique aspect of the June 17-18 weekend of shows is that we have a pretty good idea of how the bands sounded. Recordings from the Avalon in 1966 are few and far between, but there are extant tapes of both Captain Beefheart and Oxford Circle from this period, and they very well have been from one of these nights. Avalon soundman and partner Bob Cohen did tape many Avalon shows, and kept the best of them. In 1997, Big Beat Records released a tremendous cd from Cohen's tapes, The Oxford Circle Live At The Avalon 1966. The exact date of the show is uncertain, as Oxford Circle played the Avalon many times, but at the very least we have a complete and lively document of how the Circle really sounded live. Alec Palao's liner notes give the complete story of The Oxford Circle, along with some great photos as well. The cd is a must-have for any fans of San Francisco bands and good music in general.

A Captain Beefheart tape from the Avalon in 1966 also circulates. It is only about 4 songs long, and hardly of the quality of Bob Cohen's perfectly preserved recording, but it gives a picture of the Captain's 1966 sound. As with many old tapes, there is no way to be certain which night at the Avalon it represents, but this is a rare bill where tapes allow us to know what it must have sounded like in general if not precisely.

Next: June 24-25 Big Brother and The Holding Company/Quicksilver Messenger Service

Avalon Ballroom June 10-11, 1966: Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service/New Tweedy Brothers

This post is part of a series analyzing every performance at the Avalon Ballroom. Above is the Wes Wilson poster (FD12-thanks to Ross for the scan)

The Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service had just played the Fillmore together, (June 3-4), and so they played consecutive weekends for Bill Graham and then Chet Helms.  The bands generally preferred playing the Avalon , but made more money at the Fillmore.  Quicksilver and The Dead were ‘summering’ at neighboring ranches in Marin County, across the bay.  The Dead dressed as Indians, and Quicksilver as Cowboys, and the bands and their crews and friends chased each other through the woods until the peace pipe was smoked. Many hippies identified with Native Americans, seeing them as peaceful, resilient people who lived off the land (not all of them did--by late 1966, the manager of Country Joe and The Fish [Ed Denson] would lament  “All this Indian crap.  There are so many fake Indians in Berkeley you wouldn’t believe it”)

In the audience on the previous weekend at The Fillmore was a friend of John Cipollina, a local radio engineer named Dan Healy.  When the Dead’s equipment broke, Cipollina recommended Healy, who promptly fixed the problem.  Healy criticizes the Dead’s vocal sound, and Garcia challenged him to do better.  Healy ended up becoming the Dead’s sound man until the early 1990s and did indeed do better. While he may not have yet been a member of the crew, he was almost certainly present and starting to get involved at this weekend's show.

At the Dead's first appearance at a Family Dog show two weeks earlier (May 28), the band's Owsley Stanley constructed sound system was so large, it blocked Bill Ham's light show. By this show, the band had painted the sound system white, so it became the screen for the light show.

The New Tweedy Brothers were a band from Oregon that had moved to San Francisco in 1966. They had an an obscure single on Dot, and recorded an album. However, their only album, released in 1968 ) on Ridon Records showed definite folk roots, with strummed guitars and nice harmonies, somewhat like The Byrds. In concert, they apparently also did a rock version of “Cold Rain and Snow,” no doubt being familiar with the same obscure Obray Ramsey record that Garcia had heard.

Their album, however, was pressed in a unique, oversize hexagonal sleeve too large to fit in record store racks, thus insuring that the poorly distributed album would sell as few copies as possible. The band returned to Oregon around 1967. Shadoks re-released the album on CD around 2001, retaining a tiny version of the oddly-shaped sleeve.

Next: June 17-18, 1966: Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band/The Oxford Circle

Avalon Ballroom June 3-4, 1966: The Grass Roots/Big Brother and The Holding Company/The Buddha

This post is part of a series analyzing every concert at the Avalon Ballroom. Above is the Victor Moscoso poster (FD-11-thanks to Ross for the scan)

By mid-1966, the Avalon had rapidly become an established venue. Chet Helms usually determined a theme for each weekend, and the poster artists created something that fit in with the theme. This week's theme was "Stone Facade," and Helms probably decorated the stage appropriately, and the light show probably worked within the theme as well. Lacking photos, however, we can only guess exactly what it looked like.

The Grass Roots were back for the second weekend in a row. This was only the 7th weekend that the Avalon had been open, and Big Brother and The Holding Company had played four of those. While it was a distinct advantage to be managed by the promoter of one of the town's exciting venues, and Big Brother's wild, ragged music was getting an enthusiastic response, the band had no good singers. Since the popular groups in town were the Jefferson Airplane and The Great Society (not to mention the We Five), Big Brother decided they needed a "chick singer" to complete their band. This very weekend, Helms sent his friend Travis Rivers to recruit his old friend Janis Joplin, and the two of them would hitchhike back to San Francisco.

The Buddha, billed as The Buddha From Muir Beach, was a local DJ and promoter. I don't know his real name. The Buddha put on a series of parties at Muir Beach Tavern in remote Western Marin, so he was known around the underground as well as a radio personality. However, I think he would have been some sort of emcee, not a performer.

There is some suggestion that the Oxford Circle may have auditioned for Chet Helms on one of these nights, and played so well that he added them to the bill the same night.  Certainly they opened a show after an audition somewhere around this time.

Next: June 10-11, 1966: The Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service/New Tweedy Brothers

Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco May 27-28, 1966: The Leaves/The Grass Roots/Grateful Dead (28th)

(This post is part of a series analyzing every show at the Avalon Ballroom)

Friday May 27, 1966 The Leaves/The Grass Roots
Saturday May 28, 1966 The Grateful Dead/The Leaves/The Grass Roots

The Leaves were part of the Los Angeles/Sunset Strip scene.  They had started out as The Rockwells in 1964 playing fraternity parties at San Fernando State College.They kept evolving, however, and when they replaced The Byrds at Ciro's in 1965, they had changed their name to The Leaves. Their ‘emblem’ was a marijuana leaf, the kind of in joke that could be pulled off at the time. Bassist Jim Pons, one of the founders, was later in The Turtles and The Mothers of Invention (around 1971), and guitarist Bill Rinehart would end up in a variety of bands as well. 

The Leaves played LA clubs like Ciro’s and The Whiskey after The Byrds had graduated to larger places.  The Leaves had a hit with “Hey Joe”, which entered the Billboard charts in June 1966, so it would have been getting heavy local radio airplay at the time of this show.  Love, The Byrds, and The Leaves were all performing and recording “Hey Joe” at the same time, but the Leaves had the hit. The Leaves' first album, also entitled Hey Joe (on Surrey) was released in 1966 as well, although I don't know exactly when. The Leaves professional experience apparently made them quite a good live band, and in any case a group whose emblem was a marijuana leaf was definitely welcome at the Avalon.

The Grass Roots were returning to the Avalon, having played there a month earlier.

The Grateful Dead had played the Avalon just nine days earlier, but this was their first time playing for Chet Helms and The Family Dog. I do not know why the Dead did not play the Friday night show at the Avalon (May 27), but I have to assume they had a gig elsewhere. I am certain that they did not play there, too, since I have a friend who chose not to go the Avalon that night because the Grateful Dead weren't playing, and chose to see some unknown bands at the Fillmore instead (and as a result my friend's first San Francisco rock concert was Mothers/Velvet Underground).

At this time, Grateful Dead soundman and patron Owsley Stanley had been purchasing more and more equipment in an attempt to invent modern sound systems. According to Dennis McNally's book What A Long Strange Trip (p.149), by the time of this show Owsley's PA was so large it blocked Bill Ham's light show.

Next: June 3-4, 1966 Grass Roots/Big Brother and The Holding Company

Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco May 20-21, 1966: Love/Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band/Big Brother and The Holding Company (21st)

This post is part of a series analyzing every show at the Avalon Ballroom

Friday May 20, 1966: Love/Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band
Saturda May 21, 1966: Love/Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band/Big Brother and The Holding Company

These shows were the first time Love played the Avalon, but they had already played for The Family Dog at their last show at The Fillmore on April 8, 1966.   At the time, Los Angeles had a burgeoning and complex underground scene as well.  Love, featuring Arthur Lee, were the first and best of the LA underground bands.  Lee’s ‘black hippie’ clothes and spacey soul sound was acknowledged by Jimi Hendrix as a big influence, and Love’s hard driving version of “Hey Joe” was appropriated by everyone:  Hendrix, The Byrds and The Leaves (who had the hit).  In 1965, Jim Morrison had hoped the Doors would someday be as big as Love. Also in Love was ex-Byrds roadie Bryan MacLean (whose much younger sister was singer Maria McKee).

All eyewitnesses report that Love was a tremendous live band in the 65-67 eras, although I am not aware of a surviving live recording. Already legendary in the LA underground, Love’s first album has just been released on Elektra.  Their single “My Little Red Book,” a driving cover of a Burt Bachrach song (Bachrach reputedly hated it), was getting AM airplay throughout California.

Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band were from the High Desert area of California (Lancaster, etc) now a suburb but then quite remote.  They had cut their teeth in 1965 playing blues and R&B for hot-rod shows and the like, but now they were revered as the toughest blues band in LA.  In 1966 Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) was known as a great blues singer, rather than the avant-garde sonic poet he was known as a few years later.  Beefheart’s amazing voice allowed him to mimic the styles of great blues singers like Howlin Wolf and Muddy Waters, unheard of for a white singer.

At this time Captain Beefheart had released one single on A&M Records, a remake of Bo Diddley’s “Diddy Wah Diddy.” Amazingly, it had become a turntable hit (airplay with little sales) on Los Angeles stations, and was getting airplay in other cities.  The single was released in April of 1966, so it was probably getting at least occasional airplay on local AM stations.

The ‘Captain Beefheart’ name was made up by Van Vliet’s best friend in high school, one Frank Zappa.  The Magic Band at the time was Doug Moon and Alex St. Clair on guitars, Paul Blakely on drums and Jerry Handley on bass.  Rising Son bassist Gary Marker says that he played bass on May 21 and May 22, as Handley had to return to LA to deal with his draft board, and Marker was the regular ‘stand-in.’ The May 22 Sunday show, while advertised, was canceled and the Magic Band played in the South Bay instead.

All the evidence suggests that Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band played The Barn in Scotts Valley on May 22. Since this was Gary Marker's wife's birthday, it is unlikely he is mistaking this date for another one.

Big Brother and The Holding Company also played The Avalon on Saturday May 21. I have to assume this was due to poor ticket sales, as the Sunday show was canceled.

Next: May 27-28, 1966 Leaves/The Grass Roots/The Grateful Dead

Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco May 19, 1966: Grateful Dead/Wildflower/The Outfit Straight Theater Benefit

This post is part of a series analyzing every show at The Avalon Ballroom. Above is the poster for the event (h/t Ross Hannan for the scan).

Although Chet Helms controlled the lease on the Avalon (apparently $1500 a month, which was ultimately controlled by the Masons, through a sub-lessor), he sometimes let like minded folks use the venue. The Straight Theater, an old movie theater on 1702 Haight, used at the time as a rehearsal hall by The Grateful Dead and others, was trying to get a dance hall permit from the City of San Francisco. An old depression era law controlled the issuance of permits, which had devolved into a way for various downtown interests to control competition. The Matrix, for example, was not allowed to let patrons dance, and sometimes people were even arrested for it.

Bill Graham had initially used his predecessor's (Charles Sullivan) permit, but had been under tremendous pressure from the City until Chronicle columnist Ralph Gleason publically embarrassed the city into issuing the permit. Helms had managed to get his permit due to the fact that one of his roommates (Terence Hallinan) was well-connected to politics through his father, a legendary labor attorney. It is an interesting comment on the San Francisco scene that Chet Helms allowed the Avalon to be used on an off-night (May 19 was a Wednesday) to host a benefit for a Permit for a potential competitor.

This show wass the first time the Grateful Dead played the Avalon, altough  since it was not a Family Dog production, it was not the first time the Dead played for The Family Dog (this would occur 9 days later).  A pristine board tape of both Grateful Dead sets survives.  The Dead had evolved from just covering blues numbers to playing elaborately arranged songs.  Much of their material was obscure folk and jug band music that would remain in their repertoire off and on into the 1990s, like “Cold Rain and Snow” and “Beat It On Down The Line.”  At the same time, they had started writing their own songs, most of which will not even survive through the end of 1966.  They still do covers, however, including blues (“It’s A Sin”), R&B (“Good Loving”) and even country (“Silver Threads and Golden Needles”). Every number except two “Viola Lee Blues” (7:24) and “Early In The Morning” (6:15) clocks in under 4 minutes, and many are under 3 minutes. The two sets together feature 17 songs and about 70 minutes of music.

The Wildflower had formed at Oakland's California College of Arts and Crafts, but the key members were former South Bay folkies, so they were well-connected to the San Francisco underground scene from the beginning. Although their recorded output is relatively slim, all that survives is excellent, and the band were key members of the scene. Their story is fascinating and complex, and deserves to be considered in its entirety. 

The Outfit were an obscure Mill Valley group.  The band members were all more interested in being on the scene than actually gigging, or even rehearsing.  Like all such bands throughout time, they made a point of playing obscure and undanceable songs. They had a backer, a wannabe hippie heir to the Zellerbach fortune, who paid their bills.  The cousin of one of the guitarists (Robert Resner) was the brother of the manager of the Straight Theatre, so they had a built-in rehearsal hall and knew everyone. Their ‘manager’ was Bard Dupont, the original bassist of the Great Society.  The Outfit did not play very many gigs, but they were always ‘on the scene‘.  The Outfit bassist, John Ciambotti, would end up in Marin band Clover with Huey Lewis. More notoriously, lead guitarist Bobby Beausoleil, after a stint in a group called Orkustra, ended up with Charles Manson and has been in prison since his murder conviction in 1970.

Next: May 20-21, 1966 Love/Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band/Big Brother and The Holding Company

Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco May 13-14, 1966: Blues Project/Sons Of Adam/Quicksilver Messenger Service

This post is part of a series analyzing every show at The Avalon Ballroom.

Friday-Saturday May 13-14, 1966 Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, CA 
Blues Project/Sons Of Adam/Quicksilver Messenger Service

Just five weeks into its existence, the Avalon Ballroom was already repeating bookings. Blues Project had played the opening of the Avalon, less than a month earlier (April 22-23). Although the release date of their first album (Live At Cafe Au Go Go) is somewhat foggy, it had definitely been released by now. Blues Project were ending a stay of several weeks in California, and their live shows had been enormously successful. The band members were much more experienced musicians than most of the musicians in the San Francisco bands, and even more so on electric instruments. The Blues Project would return East with a legion of hip fans on the West Coast.

Sons of Adam had played the second weekend of the Avalon (April 29-30). The Los Angeles band had a sterling reputation as a live band, although no recording has been released. Supposedly (per Ugly Things magazine #26) there is a good live tape of Sons Of Adam that may eventually see the light of day, where guitarist Randy Holden shines. One may hope its so.

Quicksilver Messenger Service had played for the Family Dog before, but when Chet Helms was alternating bookings with Bill Graham at The Fillmore Auditorium on February 26, 1966. Quicksilver had been formed when guitarists John Cipollina and Jim Murray met guitarist Gary Duncan and drummer Greg Elmore at the initial Family Dog event at Longshoreman's Hall (on October 16, 1965). Cipollina and Murray had been rehearsing a band at the Matrix, but the band never performed. One member, guitarist Skip Spence, was poached by the Jefferson Airplane (to be their drummer, oddly), and another, bassist David Freiberg, got busted and had to spend 60 days in jail. Supposedly there were plans to align this rehearsal group with singer/songwriter Dino Valenti, also then in jail on a drug bust, but with Spence and Freiberg gone the group disintegrated (drummer Casey Sonoban was the final member).

Duncan (nee Gary Grubb) and Elmore were from a little town in Central California called Ceres, near Merced. They had played in a variety of successful "teen" bands, most notably The Brogues, who released some fine, punky 45s. The Brogues were popular from about San Jose to Stockton, but the band broke up when some key members were drafted. Duncan and Elmore came to San Francisco to look for band members, and found Cipollina and Elmore. When Freiberg ended his 60-day sentence in late January, the band was complete. They lived on an old houseboat in Sausalito, a lodging obtained via the offices of John Cipollina's father. Initially the group had no name, and played that way at The Matrix and parties at Muir Beach Lodge in Western Marin.

Initially, Quicksilver had very little money or equipment. Their first gig was at a Christmas Party for an improvisational comedy troupe called The Committee, probably on December 24, 1965. With only two guitars, Gary Duncan mostly sang and played tambourine. At a party at Muir Beach Lodge in Western Marin, probably on January 15, 1966, they met their patron Ambrose Hollingsworth, a wealthy heir who provided some financial support for the band. The group considered their converging astrological signs and settled on a name as well.

Quicksilver Messenger Service rapidly became regulars at The Fillmore Auditorium. Initially, various promoters rented the hall from leaseholder Charles Sullivan, and shows were presented by Bill Graham, Chet Helms and various other entities, including Quicksilver themselves. By the time of their first Avalon show in May, Quicksilver had played the Fillmore 18 times from February to April.

By this time, the band had three guitars, and Duncan's driving rhythm guitar centered the band. Here and there they would switch instruments as well, as Duncan was a good bass player and he could free up Freiberg for some singing. Cipollina was working on his unique, shivering guitar style, and Duncan, Freiberg and Murray shared lead vocals. There are no tapes of Quicksilver from this early, but apparently thanks to Duncan and Elmore's live experience the band had a much more professional sound much more quickly than some of their San Francisco contemporaries.

Next: May 20-21, 1966 Love/Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band/Big Brother And The Holding Company

Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco May 6-7, 1966: Daily Flash/Rising Sons/Big Brother and The Holding Company/The Charlatans

This post is part of a series analyzing every concert at the Avalon Ballroom. Above is the Wes Wilson poster for the event (FD07--thanks to Ross for the scan)

Friday, May 6, 1966 Daily Flash/Rising Sons/Big Brother and The Holding Company

Saturday, May 7, 1966 Daily Flash/Rising Sons/The Charlatans

For the headliners at the Avalon's third event, Chet Helms turned to happening underground bands from elsewhere on the West Coast.  Every city was starting to have its own hippie ballroom scene, but California was the promised land.  Daily Flash were the coolest band in the embryonic Seattle psychedelic scene.  The Daily Flash, seeing no financial future in Seattle, were moving to Los Angeles, but on their way they stopped off to play a few gigs at the Avalon. Guitarist Steve Lalor had lived and played (as a folkie) in San Francisco in 1963-64, so he was connected enough the small scene to get his band a gig without having a record. Connections and underground cool were enough to get a band a gig, and the Daily Flash became Avalon favorites from their very first set.

The group was led by bassist and vocalist Don MacAllister. Doug Hastings played lead guitar, Lalor played rhythm, and drummer Jon Keliehor completed the group. Ultimately, the Daily Flash released a few singles and made some demos, but they never released a full album while they were still together.  However, the Flash had been together since 1965, and had played many gigs in the Seattle area, so they were much more experienced performers than the San Francisco bands. Typical Flash sets included Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom” and jazz instrumentals like Herbie Hancock’s “Canteloupe Island.”  A 1985 retrospective album I Flash Daily (Psycho Records, later a cd on Sundazed) gives a hint of Daily Flash's live sound, although the excellent live tracks on it are actually a different 1967 lineup with Craig Tarwater on lead guitar in place of Hastings.  

Rising Sons were a popular Los Angeles band. They had signed to Columbia and recorded, but CBS couldn’t figure out what to do with them.  Taj Mahal was the lead vocalist, Ry Cooder was the lead guitarist, and other members were Jesse Lee Kincaid (guitar, vocals), Gary Marker (bass) and Kevin Kelley (drums).  Taj and Ry were into the blues, Kincaid wrote Beatles-type songs, and Marker was a Berklee School of Music-trained bassist.  Kelley was Chris Hillman’s cousin, and ended up in The Byrds (in 68).  Rising Sons were hugely popular on the LA ‘teen’ circuit, and way ahead of their time, doing great versions of "Statesboro Blues" and the like, but they couldn’t figure out what direction to go in.  Their performances were apparently well received by locals on the scene,  but this was probably one of Rising Sons last gigs.

Big Brother, who were managed by Chet Helms, had played the weekend before, but returned to fill out the bill on Friday, May 6. Local legends The Charlatans played on Saturday May 7. While its reasonably likely that all three bands on the bill each night played two sets, its not certain which bands played first or last, and in any case the Avalon was more like a party or "happening" at this stage, and the last act of the night would not have been seen as the "headliner." As near as I can tell, the Avalon followed the Fillmore pattern of going around the bill twice, so one band would perform first and fourth, another band second and fifth and the third would play third and sixth.

The Charlatans, whose presence has faded today, loomed large in psychedelic San Francisco.    The Charlatans were a bunch of arty pot-smokers from San Francisco State who decided to form a rock group. With little musical experience, they played rambling, folky blues with slide guitar and feedback.  The Charlatans, particularly guitarist George Hunter, establish the hippie look of thrift-store bought Neo-Victorian clothes and cowboy boots.  Through a chance meeting, they got a “residency” at a renovated hotel/bar called The Red Dog Saloon in a sleepy old mining town on the California border in the Summer of 1965.  Virginia City, almost a ghost town, was a Nevada version of arty desert communities like Taos, New Mexico, but with more guns.

The Charlatans (Mike Wilhelm-lead guitar, George Hunter-guitar/autoharp, Mike Ferguson-piano, Richie Olsen-bass, Dan Hicks-drums) spent the summer of 1965 dropping acid, shooting off guns and refining their loose folk blues while Bill Ham’s light show plays behind them.  Ham had perfected his light shows in the basement of the apartment house he managed at 1839 Pine.The first psychedelic poster (drawn by Charlatans Hunter and Ferguson) dates from these shows as well. Word got around San Francisco and the Red Dog received their share of visitors, including Chet Helms and John Cipollina.  The Charlatans had returned to the SF scene as local if unheard legends.

The Charlatans had played the Matrix, and then headlined the first Family Dog dance at Longshoreman's Hall on October 16, 1965. The Charlatans had been present at the founding of all the important events, but just one year later they were being superseded by brighter lights on the psychedelic scene.

Next: May 13-14, 1966 Blues Project/Sons Of Adam/Quicksilver Messenger Service

Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco April 29-30, 1966: Grass Roots/Sons Of Adam/Big Brother and The Holding Company

This post is part of a series analyzing every concert at the Avalon Ballroom. Above is the Wes Wilson poster for the event (FD6--thanks to Ross for the scan).

For the Avalon's second event, Chet Helms turned to a mixture of San Francisco and Hollywood groups. Given the lengthy pop history of The Grass Roots, with huge AM radio hits like "Midnight Confessions," it seems strange at this remove to see them as regulars of the early days at the Fillmore and The Avalon. In fact, however, the original Grass Roots were a strange hybrid of Bay Area and Southern California, and the little told story of the original band is a protoypical "only in the 60s" tale.

Two LA songwriters, P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri, produced and wrote for numerous acts (for example, they wrote Barry McGuire’s hit “Eve Of Destruction”).  Often, when they had a good song, they simply recorded it themselves and simply made up an appropriate sounding group name. They had written and sang on some records as the Grass Roots on Dunhill Records.  When they found some radio success on California AM stations with a song called “Where Were You When I Needed You” in late 1965 , a band had to be created to support the records.  “Where Were You When I Needed You,”  with a lead vocal by P.F. Sloan, strangely, was a radio-station only single and was not for sale.

Sloan and Barri found a San Francisco band called the Bedouins, and sent them out as The Grass Roots. The Bedouins were apparently a pretty good local band, and are known to have won a 1965 Battle of The Bands at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds. In about October 1965, Bill Fulton, the new lead singer of The Grass Roots (nee Bedouins) sang lead on the next Grass Roots single, a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Ballad Of A Thin Man.” The band was offended that their lead singer merely sang over pre-recorded tracks performed by session musicians, rather than getting to record as a band. 

In late 1965 and early 1966, The Grass Roots (nee Bedouins) played numerous gigs in Southern California, particularly at The Trip in West Hollywood. At The Trip, where they played every night for almost a month, they played their own sets and backed Barry McGuire for his set. McGuire was another Sloan/Barri act, riding high with his folk-rock hit "Eve Of Destruction." The Grass Roots also played numerous TV gigs, often backing other acts like Barry McGuire or The Mamas and Papas. At the same time, the band played County Fairs and other teenage gigs, where besides the Grass Roots two singles, they mostly played the same blues and R&B tunes that they had played as The Bedouins.

By April of 1966, The Grass Roots were actually relatively popular, as “Where Were You When I Needed You” has been re-released by Dunhill Records and was now getting national airplay.  Producers Sloan and Barri had replaced Sloan’s lead vocal with a new take by lead singer Bill Fulton, so there were now two versions of their best known song.  However, while the Grass Roots still only had two singles, The Sons of Adam only had one, which wasn't a hit, and Big Brother hadn't recorded at all. It was a tribute to the thriving underground scene that the Avalon Ballroom could do well for two nights on groups with such a skinny track record.

Sons Of Adam, whose roots lay in Baltimore, MD, were a Yardbirds-style band from Southern California. The Sons Of Adam were extremely popular in Hollywood clubs, and they had a sensational guitarist in Randy Holden, a sonic legend who blew away everyone who heard him. The Sons Of Adam had only released one single in December 1965 (on Decca), but by all accounts they were a smoking hot live band. The band that played The Avalon was the original and by all accounts the best lineup of The Sons Of Adam. Besides lead guitarist Randy Holden (later in The Other Half and Blue Cheer), guitarist Joe Kooken (aka Jac Ttanna, later Lee Michaels road manager), bassist Mike Port and drummer Michael Stuart (later in Love). Supposedly there is an extant live recording of this lineup (albeit not of this show) that will be released someday, at least according to Ugly Things Magazine (Greg Provost's Sons Of Adam article in Issue 26 tells the whole story).

For purely homegrown undergound talent, Chet Helms booked Big Brother and The Holding Company. Chet Helms was the manager of Big Brother, as well as being the proprietor of The Avalon. Big Brother, in various configurations, had began by playing in the basement of 1090 Page Street, where some of them lived, and had performed at what were essentially ‘Rent Parties.’  Peter Albin’s parents owned the rooming house at 1090 Page, and his older brother Rodney managed the building.  Chet Helms had been putting on the Wednesday night events in the basement, so the band of residents played in the basement. Chet Helms subsequently invited neighbor Bill Ham (from 1839 Pine and the Red Dog ) to put on light shows. By early 1966, band had chosen their name and the group's personnel had stabilized: James Gurley and Sam Andrews on guitars, Peter Albin on bass and Dave Getz on drums. The band's public debut under the Big Brother name was at Berkeley's Open Theater on January 15, 1966.
 
Albin, Andrews and Gurley had all been folkies, and did many of the typical bluesy songs that other bands did (like “I Know You Rider”), but Big Brother’s music featured loud and jagged improvisations.  Lead guitarist James Gurley had been a fine fingerpicking folk guitarist, but the addition of an amplifier and LSD made Gurley into one of the first ‘psychedelic’ guitar players.  Sam Andrew and Peter Albin sang some songs, but many Big Brother numbers were instrumentals with Getz’s jazzy drumming anchoring the self-procalimed Big Brother ‘freak rock’ sound. In this early period, Big Brother’s show-stopping set closer was an instrumental version of Grieg’s  “Hall Of The Mountain King.”

Next: May 6-7, 1966: Daily Flash/Rising Sons/Charlatans/Big Brother and The Holding Company

Avalon Ballroom April 22-23, 1966: The Blues Project/Great Society

This post initiates a series analyzing every rock concert at the Avalon Ballroom. Above is the Wes Wilson poster for the event (FD5--thanks to Ross for the scan).

April 22-23, 1966 The Blues Project/Great Society

Transplanted Texan Chet Helms had started informally promoting shows in the basement of an old Victorian (by then a boarding house) on 1090 Page Street. He had taken over The Family Dog name from Luria Castell and others in early 1966, and initially he went into a partnership with Bill Graham. From February through early April of 1966, Graham and Helms alternated promotions each weekend at the Fillmore. Disputes rapidly arose between the two entrepreneurs, and Helms, realizing he would never co-exist with Bill Graham, found his own venue.

Helms took over the lease on The Avalon Ballroom, opened in 1911 as The Puckett School of Dance, for 800 dollars a month.  It was on 1268 Sutter (at Van Ness), 8 blocks nearer to downtown than the Fillmore, but just as far away from North Beach or the Haight Ashbury. The Avalon was somewhat smaller than the Fillmore, and was always a looser, wilder scene, remembered fondly by everyone who went.  As the evening wore on, the Avalon staff typically joined in the dancing and carrying on, and no one took tickets.  Over time, the hippie style of management meant that bands sometimes didn’t get paid (or on occasion were just given a kilo of weed).

The Avalon and The Fillmore summed up the dichotomy of the ballroom scene.  Bands and fans preferred the Avalon, but it was ultimately too disorganized to survive.  The implicit commercialism of the Fillmore guaranteed a level of professionalism that allowed bands to persist.  Most big cities and college towns soon developed a psychedelic ballroom scene, based on what little information could be gleaned from rumors and Life Magazine. Most of these scenes were like the Avalon:  fun, economically unsound, and unable to survive.  The Fillmore took the parts of the ballroom scene that were good for the music and injected enough commercial sense to insure survival.

For its opening weekend, the Avalon booked The Blues Project, the hippest band in New York.  Blues Project played extended blues like every band in this era, but they came at it from a more musical, up tempo New York style, doing relatively jazzy versions of blues songs, or bluesy versions of folk songs. Danny Kalb, though unknown beyond Greenwich Village, was one of the best electric blues guitarists outside of Chicago, and Al Kooper’s organ was well-known for his seminal playing on Bob Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone.”  Unlike any of the San Francisco bands, guitarist Steve Katz, bassist Andy Kulberg and drummer Roy Blumenfield could play a fast blues shuffle and still swing.  Although vocalist Tommy Flanders, who appeared on their soon-to-be released album Live At The Café Au-Go-Go (Verve May 66), had already left, Kooper, Katz and Kalb were adequate vocalists.

The Blues Project, already popular in Greenwich Village and the East Coast College circuit, were making their first trip West. The Avalon wasn't their Bay Area debut--they probably played The Matrix the week of April 12-17, and definitely played the San Francisco State Folk Festival (the weekend of April 15-17)--but the Friday and Saturday night shows were the highest profile gigs for the band in the area. Chet Helms was well known in the underground, and the opening of the Avalon was a big deal, and the Blues Project's hot swinging blues put the San Francisco bands on notice about how good a band could be. After this weekend, The Blues Project were extremely popular in San Francisco for the life of the band, and the Avalon was off to a roaring start.

The Great Society came out of the Film and Art world, and had never been folkies.  They were interested in improvised music and (for lack of a better term) Performance Art.  Grace Slick and her husband Jerry had seen the Airplane perform in August 1965, and felt inspired to form a rock band. Grace played keyboards and sang, Jerry played drums, Jerry's brother Darby played lead guitar, and David Miner played guitar and sang. Their inability to find a bass player in 1965 had led them to hire one Bard Dupont, after a chance meeting in the post office, because he had long hair and hip clothes.  The Great Society's public debut was at the first Family Dog event on October 16, 1965 at Longshoreman's Hall, although they did a brief unpublicized performance at a coffee shop the night before.

Great Society’s record company, Autumn, supposedly released a single of “Someone To Love” in March, written by Darby Slick, and later to become the legendary “Somebody To Love” when performed by The Jefferson Airplane.  The 45, while actually pressed, was never apparently distributed, as a result of Autumn Records’ financial difficulties.  Also, despite Dupont’s desire to be in a band, he didn’t play an instrument and his inability to play bass was holding up the band. By the time of the Avalon debut in April, Dupont had been summarily fired (he made the band promise to tell everyone he had quit) and replaced by Peter Vandergelder, a saxophonist who--while not a bassist either--was at least an actual musician.

The Great Society, who styled themselves jazzy improvisers, were humiliated by the musical sophistication of the Blues Project.  The Society decided to rent a house in Mill Valley, live communally and rehearse twice a day.  At this time, the Great Society were David Miner (guitar, vocals), Grace Slick (vocals, guitar, sometimes doubling on bass), Darby Slick (lead guitar), Peter Vander Gelder (bass, saxophone) and Jerry Slick (drums). While unsophisticated, The Great Society were neither blues nor folk, and didn't sound like anyone else playing live or on the radio, and Grace Slick was always a major presence, so while The Blues Project were the musical highlight, the Great Society were also memorable performers for the lucky attendees of the Avalon's first nights.

UPDATE: A knowledgeable Italian pointed out that in Spring 1966, the lead singer for The Blues Project was Emmaratta Marx, who was in the band for about two months. Although she only performed with the band for a few months, her presence with the Blues Project's stunning debut must have helped confirm the notion to the San Francisco underground that successful bands had female lead vocalists (or "chick singers" as they were called then).

Next: April 29-30, 1966 Big Brother and The Holding Company/Grass Roots