June 16, 1968 Bjornson Park, Crow Canyon, Castro Valley, CA: Sonny & Cher/Sly And The Family Stone/Box Tops/Loading Zone

This hitherto obscure "Picnic/Festival", advertised in the June 7, 1968 edition of The Hayward Daily Review, with accompanying commentary from the "Here 'N' There" section of the same paper, delivers some surprisingly revealing information about both the expanding rock market and attempts to capitalize in the suburbs on developments in San Francisco.

This forgotten all-day concert at Bjornson Park in Castro Valley, California on June 16, 1968, was probably poorly attended, since headliners Sonny & Cher had gone from being very popular in 1965 over to becoming decidedly uncool. On top of that, the concert was delayed (from June 9) due to the tragic shooting of Robert F Kennedy. Nonetheless, for a variety of reasons, I suspect that all of the people who did show up had a pretty good time. If any readers out there actually went, or know someone who did, please comment or email m [update: thanks to intrepid reader Lois for sending a scan of the long-lost poster!]

The long-lost poster to Castro Valley's only known rock festival, on June 16, 1968 with Sonny & Cher headlining over Sly and The Family Stone. The art is apparently by Carson-Morris Studios, probably in Oakland, per the fine print

June 1968

By June 1968 the rock concert business in San Francisco was going full blast. There were no less than four major rock venues in San Francisco: Bill Graham's Fillmore, Chet Helms's Avalon, The Carousel (run by the Grateful Dead) and The Straight Theatre on Haight Street. At the same time, major rock concerts were held at Winterland in San Francisco and at the Berkeley Community Theatre. Four venues was too much for San Francisco, as it happened, and Bill Graham was about to take over The Carousel and rename it The Fillmore West, and the Avalon and Straight were struggling. Nonetheless, the rock business was booming in The Bay Area. Highlights of other concerts on the weekend of June 14 thru 16, 1968 included

June 14, 15-Winterland: Big Brother and The Holding Company (Bill Graham)
June 16-Fillmore: Big Brother/Steve Miller/Santana Blues Band (Matrix Benefit)
June 14,15,16-Carousel: Booker T and The MGs/Its A Beautiful Day
June 14, 15,16.68-Avalon: Buddy Guy/Clear Light/Frumious Bandersnatch
June 14, 15-Straight: Charlatans

Many of these groups were just underground sensations, but suburban kids would have heard the music on KSAN-fm, the leading underground rock station. Even as-yet unrecorded bands like Santana Blues Band, Its A Beautiful Day and Frumious Bandersnatch may very well have been familiar to suburban fans because they had played local High School dances. The June 14 thru 16 weekend bills were typical of any week in San Francisco throughout the Summer--nationally famous bands,  from near and afar, as well as rising local bands, at numerous venues.

However, out in the suburbs, while many kids might be able to afford to go the Fillmore, and had access to a car, they were either not allowed to go to the big city, or not confident enough to navigate it. Besides the usual prudence that parents would have towards teenage urban adventures (getting lost, bad neighborhoods, etc), rock music was associated with a host of other dubious traits: recreational drugs, disrespect for authority, long hair, Free Love and opposition to the Vietnam War being the most prominent. Since suburban audiences couldn't come to the big city, psychedelia had to make it out to the suburbs.

Castro Valley, California

Castro Valley is an unincorporated part of Alameda County, West of San Leandro and South of Hayward. Up until the 1950s, Castro Valley was a fairly rural community, known for its chicken ranches. More recently, its proximity to numerous freeways and commerce has made it a bedroom community and vastly expanded its population (57, 262 as of the 2000 census). In 1968, however, Castro Valley would have been very accessible to suburban kids, but a relatively rural setting. More importantly, parents in suburban Hayward, San Leandro or Fremont who might be uneasy about letting their kids drive to San Francisco or Berkeley (both easily under an hour from Hayward) for a nighttime concert would most likely be quite benign about letting their kids drive off to spend an afternoon in the nearby chicken farming community.

The Venue

Bjornson Park was a privately owned park in Crow Canyon in Castro Valley. It is currently called Crow Canyon Park, located at 8000 Crow Canyon Road in Castro Valley, California. I do not know the exact history of Bjornson Park, but it is plain from the clipping that it is a commercial park, with lunch available for purchase. The park is currently a private park, apparently mainly used for commercial or corporate events. There is also a nearby Crow Canyon Country Club, so it is possible the exact scope or expanse of the park may have changed since 1968. Nonetheless it is clear that Bjornson Park was a private commercial facility in Crow Canyon.

I know of no other rock shows before or after this date, suggesting the event was not enough of a success to be repeated.

The Pitch

The most interesting part of the ad is the line that says "Psychedelic Art, Jewelry, etc For Sale." Cities like Berkeley and San Francisco had "Head Shops," were tie-dyed trinkets could be purchased, but they would have been hard to purchase outside of those towns. The all-day event was built on the Monterey Pop Festival model--a complete day of performances, at a venue used to absorbing crowds, with a chance to make money from concessions. The unstated pitch here is that kids in towns like Hayward, San Leandro, San Ramon and Fremont can't or don't go the Fillmore or Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, so it will come to them for a day.

The Monterey Pop Festival format was widely copied for about a year, but it does not seem to have been a money maker. Promoters may not have realized that all the Monterey Pop bands played for free, in the hopes of "exposure." Operating costs were covered by ABC-TV, who planned to make a TV special. It was never made, and the footage was used for the Monterey Pop movie, released in 1969. By early 1968, the first "Woodstock" model festivals had started to happen, specifically The "Piano Drop" at a farm in Duvall, Washington (April 28, 1968), which led to the first multi-day outdoor rock festival (Sky River Rock Festival and Lighter Than Air Fair, August 31-September 2, 1968, on a Raspberry Farm in Sultan, WA). The Woodstock model replaced the Monterey model, although it too was usually unprofitable, except for the original.

The all-day outdoor concert model was finally perfected with the development of "sheds" like Shoreline Amphitheater  (in Mountain View, CA) or Alpine Valley (in East Troy, WI), which provided a festival like atmosphere while maximizing access and retailing opportunities. In 1968, though, all this lay in the future.

The Bands

Sonny & Cher

Sonny & Cher were extremely popular in 1965 and 1966, with hit songs like "I Got You Babe"(peaking at #2), and even had a hit as late as 1967 with "The Beat Goes On" (#6). By 1968, however, Sonny & Cher's catchy pop music seemed decidedly unhip, as bands like The Beatles or The Doors made them seem shallow. An attempt to make movies had flopped,  and album sales for their relatively easy listening pop had plummeted, and by 1968's end they had refocused their act towards Las Vegas. While Sonny & Cher had a reputation as effective professional performers (Mac "Dr. John" Rebennack was their band leader for some years), they would not have seemed like a cool Fillmore band.

The Box Tops

The Box Tops were probably seen as an AM-radio friendly band, also too uncool for the Fillmore and Avalon. In fact, although they had had a #1 1967 hit with "The Letter", and a #2 hit in 1968 with "Cry Like A Baby," and their songs were written by their producers they were actually a very good group. Lead singer Alex Chilton, not even yet 18, had a tremendous voice (which is why, to quote The Replacements, "children by the millions sing for Alex Chilton when he comes around"), and producer Dan Penn was a great soul songwriter. So although The Box Tops may have seemed like a confectionery concoction, they were probably surprisingly good live.

The People

"The People", as advertised, were actually a San Jose band called People!, but the exclamation point was usually left off. At this time, they had a big hit with a song called "I Love You," written by Chris White of The Zombies (it was not a hit for The Zombies). People! was successful in the South Bay, and apparently had a good live act, with two lead singers and two drummers. Once again, although the audience was probably only familiar with a hit single, they were probably pretty interesting live.

The Loading Zone

Alone among the advertised bands, The Loading Zone were Fillmore regulars, and a true "underground" band. They were probably at their performing peak, with a new album on RCA and an exciting lead singer in Linda Tillery. The album, recorded some months earlier, shortly after Tillery had joined the band, was a bit stiff, but by all accounts the Loading Zone's fusion of rock and soul music, with the dynamic Tillery fronting the group, made for a very exciting band.

Brotherly Love with Jeannie Piersoll

Jeannie Piersol was a well-regarded local singer who had been in some soulful local rock bands like Yellow Brick Road and Hair. She had recorded a few singles for Cadet Concept Records. I have to confess I have never heard her recordings (their aren't many) but she was supposedly quite good.

Transatlantic Railroad

Transatlantic Railroad was a Marin band, featuring Kent Housman. What little recorded evidence (one 45) of them isn't bad, but it was typical Bay Area rock of the time.

Sly And The Family Stone

Way down in the advertisement in Sly And Family Stone. Sylvester Stewart and his family were from the nearby East Bay port city of Vallejo, but the group had formed in San Francisco. After debuting in Redwood City in December 1966, the group had played throughout the East Bay in 1967. The band had released its first album, A Whole New Thing (on Epic) in October 1967. The band's first and biggest single, "Dance To The Music," had been released in December 1967, but did not peak until March of 1968 (it peaked at #8).

Listeners would probably have been familiar with Sly's hit single, as he was always popular on AM radio. Yet in person, suburban East Bay teenagers, like everyone else in America, could hardly have expected the potent synthesis of funk, rock, psychedelia and social conscience that was Sly And Family Stone. As Joel Selvin aptly puts it, in black music there is "Before Sly" and "After Sly." Of course, by the end of the 1960s, the whole country was hip to Sly And The Family Stone, and their star only rose afterward. For most of those in attendance at this event--however many or few--seeing Sly must have been like an electric jolt, and they are still telling their friends to this day that they saw Sly when.

Conclusions

My only evidence for this concert is the advertisement and note in the graphics at the top of this post (ads in The Hayward Daily Review the week before and after have no additional information). I have tried to speculate on what this concert represented, and might have been like, based on what I knew about the time.  With that in mind, here are my assessments:

• With the rock market booming in San Francisco, this was an effort to present a hip "Monterey Pop" type event in the suburbs, with "psychedelic jewelry" for sale as a mark of hipness
  

• The projected audience was teenagers who listened to the radio, mainly AM radio, who would have not only lived in the suburbs but may not have been able to or allowed to go to venues like The Fillmore
  

• The concert was rescheduled from June 9, and the biggest "name" act (Sonny & Cher) was well past its prime, so the event was probably not well attended nor much of a success
  

• Although most of the bands are forgotten by all but rock historians, there were actually some bands that were probably pretty good live
  

• Sly And The Family Stone, one of the great bands in San Francisco music history, would have been memorable enough to make the show unforgettable for anyone who went
  

Anyone with additional information, or even amusing speculation, is encouraged to comment or email me.

Frenchy's, Hayward, CA January-June 1966 Show List

In the first half of 1966, Frenchy's, at 29097 Mission Boulevard in Hayward, was the only rock club between Berkeley and San Jose, and the rock club that was farthest East of San Francisco. Plenty of rock was played at High School dances and "Teen" events, but there were still very few adult rock clubs where drinks were served. Frenchy's was considerably less cool than The Matrix in San Francisco or The Whiskey A-Go-Go in Hollywood, but it was one of the few gigs available for aspiring rock bands. As a result, a review of the shows from Frenchy's in the first half of 1966 reveals an interesting cross-section of rock music.

Hayward, California, while a prosperous suburb, was still a distant enclave in 1966. Neither the freeway network nor public transportation (such as BART) was anywhere near what it was today, so there was considerably less contact with San Francisco, Berkeley or San Jose. Hayward wasn't far from its agricultural roots, and the biggest industry around was the auto plant in nearby Fremont.

Frenchy's dated back to at least 1962 (The Warlocks had played a gig there on June 18, 1965). It seemed to be run on the Whisky A-Go-Go model, with pretty girls dancing on elevated stages to lather everyone up, and bands playing dance music throughout the night. While the drinking age was 21 in California, insuring no teenagers, because food was served 18-year olds could attend in some circumstances (allowing young men to bring even younger dates). Rock music was popular with people in their twenties, but not with older people. Some of the bands who played were clearly cover bands who probably also played Las Vegas type lounges, and some were more original groups, but even the bands playing original material must have played a lot of covers to fill out the evening.

I have compiled the list for the most part from ads in the Hayward Daily Review. The ad and photo above are from the March 18, 1966 edition.

Frenchy's 1966 Show List

January 7-18, 1966 The Leaves
The Leaves were a popular band on Hollywood's Sunset Strip. The January 7, 1966 edition of the Daily Review said they were proteges of Pat Boone. Did he know their logo was a marijuana leaf? The Leaves were a pretty good band, with two albums and a hit single ("Hey Joe" which they got from The Byrds). Bassist Jim Pons was later in The Turtles and The Mothers of Invention.

Most engagements at Frenchy's were from Friday to Thursday, but The Leaves ended on a Tuesday.

January 19-27, 1966 The Liverpool Five
I don't know anything about this group, but I'll bet they weren't from England. I don't know exactly when their engagement ended, or if another group played at the beginning of February.

January 28-February 6, 1966 The Mojo Men
The Mojo Men were on Autumn Records, the label of KYA-AM dj Tom Donahue (who later founded KSAN-fm). Rather confusingly, another group on Autumn was The Vejtables, featuring the singing girl drummer Jan Errico. When Autumn fell apart in April of 1966, Errico left The Vejtables and joined The Mojo Men, and they had a hit with a Buffalo Springfield song "Sit Down I Think I Love You." At this time, however, The Mojo Men still featured bassist/singer Jim Alaimo.

February 7-17: The Vejtables
The Vejtables, with Jan Errico (Gregg Errico's cousin) on drums and vocals, had played Frenchy's often in the second half of 1965, as had their label mates The Mojo Men.

February 18-March 3, 1966 The Gauchos
The Gauchos were led by one Jim Doval. Based on the advertising, they seem to be a typical Nevada lounge act, probably quite talented in a rock/r&b style but strictly a cover band.

March 4-March 17, 1966 The Wild Ones
The Wild Ones were (according to the ad) fresh from a gig at Arthur's, a New York disco.

March 18-31, 1966 The American Beetles
How would you like to be in this band? Notice that the drum kit has "Beetles" but the club advertised "American Beatles."

April 1-14, 1966 The Mojo Men
The Mojo Men return.

April 15-21, 1966 Peter Lewis with Peter and The Wolves/Linda Carr
Peter Lewis was later in Moby Grape. I have written about this elsewhere.

April 22-28, 1966 The Sons Of Adam/Linda Clark and Randy Meek
In complete contrast to The American Beetles, The Sons Of Adam were the coolest band on the Sunset Strip. Guitarist Randy Holden was a titan, as would soon be proven in The Other Half and Blue Cheer.

April 29-May 5, 1966 The Ashes
The Ashes were a Los Angeles band who played in a folk-rock style. Drummer Spencer Dryden would shortly join the Jefferson Airplane, so there were probably some Airplane people checking him out.

May 6-May 26, 1966 The Mothers
Frank Zappa's band was known as The Mothers. His anxious record company (MGM) added "Of Invention." At this time, they would have mostly recorded Freak Out, but it would not have been released. The ad for May 6 still features The Ashes, but esteemed Zappa gigolist Charles Ulrich is confident that the Mothers gig started on Friday May 6. Ulrich has been in correspondence with Ashes guitarist Alan Brackett, who recalls hanging out with The Mothers as they came into town, so I am inclined to agree with his analysis.

At this time the Mothers lineup would have been

Frank Zappa-guitar, vocals
Ray Collins-vocals
Elliot Ingbar-guitar
Roy Estrada-bass, vocals
Jimmy Carl Black-drums

When the Mothers finished their engagement they played The Fillmore on the weekend of May 27-29.

May 21, 1966 Neil Diamond/The Mothers
I have ruminated elsewhere about the cosmic convergence of The Mothers backing Neil Diamond on a Saturday night in Hayward. Charles Ulrich has sound reason to believe that Diamond was backed by just Roy Estrada and Jimmy Carl Black (Diamond was an adequate guitarist), rather than the full band. Diamond, riding high on "Solitary Man", had flown into town to play a gig in San Leandro as well as at Frenchy's.

May 27-June 9, 1966 The Ashes
The ad for June 3 says "The Ashes-still!."

June 10-23, 1966 WC Fields Electric String Memorial Band
I know nothing about this group, but I note that they have a more whimsical psychedelic name, a sign of changing times regardless of what they played.

June 24-July 6, 1966 The Vejtables
To add to the confusion, when Jan Errico left The Vejtables to join The Mojo Men, The Vejtables continued on. This would have been the post-Errico lineup. They may have featured future Moby Grape bassist Bob Mosley at this time, but I am not certain of his chronology.

This is as much of the Frenchy's gig list as I have been able to determine. Anyone with additional information is encouraged to send it to me or include it in the comments.

After June, Frenchy's mostly featured a group called The Tijauna Rejects, and by late 1966 had gone "topless," heading away from a focus on the music. This had changed by mid-1967 (the ad says 'Topless was a big bust'), but by then Frenchy's was just another rock club in the East Bay.

April 15-21, 1966, Frenchy's, Hayward, CA: Peter Lewis with Peter and The Wolves

Frenchy's, at 29097 Mission Boulevard in Hayward, was a relatively hip club in a comparatively unhip area. In eary 1966, the rock underground was booming in San Francisco, Hollywood, Greenwich Village and Berkeley, and showing signs of life on college campuses, too. A town like Hayward, however, prosperous but hardly wealthy, not too far from San Francisco or San Jose, was not immune to the changes happening in the culture, but it was still a few steps removed. The only rock club in Hayward, or all of Southern Alameda County for that matter, was Frenchy's. While it featured dancing go-go girls and lounge acts, it also featured some bands that hinted at something else.

This ad and photo from the April 15, 1966 Hayward Daily Review is the only ad I have seen for the group Peter And The Wolves, starring Peter Lewis, some months shy of founding Moby Grape. The photo identifying him as Loretta Young's son guarantees that this is the same Peter Lewis. The band was based in Southern California, and I did not even realize that they had played any Northern California shows.

At this time, all the other members of Moby Grape were in the Bay Area as well, except possibly for Bob Mosley. Jerry Miller and Don Stevenson were in The Frantics, living in the hills of San Bruno and playing South Bay bars, but they would shortly change the name of the band to Luminous Marsh Gas and add a female singer, Denise Kaufman (subsequently of Ace Of Cups). Skip Spence was still drumming in the Jefferson Airplane, although he would leave the band the next month.

Bob Mosley was probably in the Bay Area, working with either the Joel Scott Hill Trio (with Lee Michaels and John Barbata) or The Frantics, but I am not certain of his exact timeline.

I don't know anything about Peter and The Wolves material, or whether or not they played any proto-Moby Grape material, but his photo is still a fascinating snapshot of a changing moment in time.

May 21, 1966, Frenchy’s, Hayward, CA: Neil Diamond/The Mothers

The fact that Frank Zappa and The Mothers played Frenchy’s in Hayward has been alluded to on various chronologies. The new, rather startling piece of information from the ad and listing from the “Here ‘n’ There” entertainment column in the May 20, 1966 edition of The Hayward Daily Review (above) is that The Mothers backed Neil Diamond for a night.

Frenchy’s, at 29097 Mission Boulevard in Hayward, was a popular bar and hangout, attracting people from all over Southern Alameda County (and probably San Jose as well). Most acts played week long engagements—sometimes extended several times—and The Mothers may have played from as early as May 6 (Friday) through Sunday May 23. It was also common for the main band at Frenchy’s to back various singers, a typical arrangement at nightclubs like Frenchy’s at the time. Shortly after this, the Mothers played there infamous weekend at the Fillmore with the Velvet Underground (May 27-28).

Neil Diamond had just hit the charts with “Solitary Man,” and he had been flown out by promoter Bill Quarry to headline a show on Friday night (May 20) at The Rollarena in San Leandro, also backed by a local band (The Spyders). It is not surprising to find out that Diamond also had a Saturday night gig. Since The Rollarena dance appealed to teenagers, and Frenchy’s was a bar, the two gigs did not really compete with each other.

At this time, The Mothers would have recorded their legendary Freak Out album, but it would not be released until about August. The band was known as “The Mothers,” and had already played the Bay Area, most famously at the Family Dog dance at Longshoreman’s Hall on November 6, 1965. A band called “The Mothers,” alluding to a 12-letter swear word, made MGM Records very anxious, and they changed the band’s name to The Mothers Of Invention, but up to this time the group was known as The Mothers., except internally at MGM.

The lineup of The Mothers in May 1966 was probably

Ray Collins-vocals
Frank Zappa-guitar, vocals
Elliott Ingbar-guitar
Roy Estrada-bass
Jimmy Carl Black-drums

possibly Denny Bruce was still the second drummer, along with Black. Zappa did not always appear with the band (this is alluded to on the cover of Freak Out). Since Zappa was not famous, crowds were not necessarily disappointed. Since Freak Out was in the process of being recorded, it seems probable that Zappa may have had to return to Los Angeles for production duties while the Mothers continued their lengthy engagement in Hayward, skipping a few gigs here and there.

Sadly, much as I wish their was a version of “Sweet Caroline” done to the tune of “Who Are The Brain Police,” I am inclined to presume Zappa was not present for the Neil Diamond performance. I can’t imagine Zappa not mining the comedy value for future liner notes or interview fodder. On the other hand, the Mothers were excellent professional musicians (as was Neil Diamond), so however much we imagine a cultural clash the reality is Neil Diamond’s songs were easier to play than Zappa’s, and Neil probably appreciated a professional band. Still, its a remarkable intersection before both Frank Zappa and Neil Diamond's successful careers diverged in different directions.

September 30-October 1, 1967: Frenchy's, Hayward, CA: Sly and The Family Stone plus T-Bone Walker

This advertisement from the September 29, 1967 Oakland Tribune (left) features two acts that between them encompass a huge swath of American and African-American music history.

T-Bone Walker (1910-1975) was the founding father of modern electric blues guitar, and by extension rock guitar as well--you can take B.B. King's word for it if you don't believe me. Already a popular singer and guitarist in Los Angeles prior to World War 2, Walker recorded "Mean Old World" in 1942, and after the WW2 recording ban was lifted, "Stormy Monday" in 1947. Although the recordings are primitive by modern standards, the style of singing and playing still sounds contemporary. BB King, J0hnny Guitar Watson and Clarence Gatemouth Brown were among the most prominent successors to Walker, but Jeff Beck and Steve Miller owe plenty to him as well. Walker also recorded in a grittier Chicago blues style for Atlantic in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Walker was not only a huge recording star, but reputedly a fantastic performer as well, capitalizing on the electric guitar's qualities by playing the guitar behind his back, or walking out into the crowd. Chuck Berry--whose style owes plenty to Walker, particularly in his blues playing--also seems to have built on Walker's showmanship.

Unfortunately, by the time of the "Blues Revival" in the mid-1960s, Walker was not in great health and only performed and recorded sporadically. More's the pity, since a healthy and hungry T-Bone would have woken up the Fillmore in a big hurry. Great players like BB, Albert and Freddie King reinvented their careers for white rock audiences, and its unfortunate that T-Bone never really got that opportunity.

Vallejo, California's Sly and The Family Stone are one of the most important groups in American popular music. As Joel Selvin says, "there is 'before Sly', and 'after Sly'." The group's potent mix of original songs, danceable hits, meaningful lyrics and exciting stage presence made them a huge force in American music when they set out to conquer the world in 1968

In 1967, however, Sly and The Family Stone were just a popular attraction in Bay Area and Nevada clubs, often playing week long engagements at dance-oriented clubs. Among the venues I have seen them listed playing at are Winchester Cathedral and The Fireside Room (2322 El Camino Real) in San Mateo, The Lighthouse in San Pablo (San Pablo Ave at San Pablo Dam Road) and Frenchy's. Frenchy's, in Hayward (at 29097 Mission Boulevard), was one such club. It had been open for some years, trying various formats, including topless shows, floor shows, rock music and other combinations. During 1967 Frenchy's seemed to focus on popular, danceable music.

Note that the advertised show is a "breakfast show" from 2am to 6am. Bars closed at 2am in California, but some places were allowed to remain open afterwards (if they served food) and continue the entertainment. No liquor was served, but I can't imagine that none was consumed. Groups would play these gigs after they finished their regular gig for the night. Sly and The Family Stone probably had another gig on Friday night (Sep 29) and came to Frenchy's to kick off the all-nighter at 2 am Saturday morning.

I wonder if T-Bone Walker even had a regular band? If he didn't--a likely possibility--a local band would have to support him, which is not as difficult as it sounds, since every decent blues player would have known his hits. If a band had to be hired, I have to hope that Sly and The Family Stone got a few extra bucks to be his backing group. The idea that T-Bone Walker led Freddy, Sly, Larry Graham, Gregg Errico and the horns (Jerry Martini and Cynthia Robinson) through "Stormy Monday" and "Let's Have A Natural Ball" represents a true cosmic convergence.

Cosmic convergences can happen anywhere, even in a bar in Mission Boulevard in Hayward at 3 am. T-Bone was not reputedly in great shape in the mid-60s, but I hope he had a good enough night that Sly's rhythm machine could turn up the heat and the lucky, tired patrons got to see the future and the past of American music at the same time.