Ace Of Cups Performance History 1968 (Ace Of Cups II)

The Ace Of Cups opened for Quicksilver Messenger Service (with whom they shared management) at The Bank in Torrance, CA (suburban Los Angeles) on September 21, 1968

Throughout the 20th Century, Ace Of Cups were a mystery bordering on myth: an all-female "psychedelic" playing many of the legendary places with all manner of legendary headliners, but with no released recordings, no known history and hardly even a photograph. This changed in 2003 with the release of their CD on the Big Beat label, It's Bad For You But Buy It (Big Beat CDWIKD 236). Historian and producer Alec Palao curated a wonderful release of demos and live tapes from the Ace Of Cups 60s heyday, and completed the set by writing comprehensive liner notes and finding wonderful photos that gave life to what had previously only been legend. Although 36 years late, the record was no less terrific for that, and it made great listening as well. It also provided a fascinating window to a hitherto untold 60s story. As a result, I set out to make a list of Ace Of Cups performances, and the band members were nice enough to post my initial version of the list on their old website.

Thanks to the Big Beat cd and the general wonderfulness of the band's music, there has been a considerable amount of attention focused on the band. Indeed, in their most recent reunion, the Ace Of Cups embarked on a worldwide tour of Marin County, as they played two shows in Marin on May 13 and 14, 2011. The relentless frenzy of activity has continued, with the band recording a new cd scheduled to be released on November 9, 2018. Time marches on, and over the years I have considerably upgraded my information, so I am presenting here a more complete history of Ace Of Cups performances from 1967 onwards.

What follows is a list of Ace Of Cups performances known to me. This post will deal with the band's performances in 1968. The previous post dealt with the band's formation in 1966 and their first year of performing in 1967. Future years will be dealt with in the subsequent post. Anyone with additional information, insights, corrections or recovered memories (real or imagined) are encouraged to put them in the Comments or email me directly. Thanks to everyone who has helped over the years, especially Ross and all the members of the Ace Of Cups.

1967

The individual members of the future band all made their way to San Francisco as aspiring musicians and proto-hippies, working formally and informally with various musical aggregations. Bassist Mary Gannon and pianist Marla Hunt met drummer Diane Vitalich, and they started playing together in 1966. When guitarist Mary Ellen Simpson came on board, they knew they had the makings of a band, even if it was not fully formed. Denise Kaufman came along in early 1967. The lineup of Ace Of Cups was

Denise Kaufman-guitar, harmonica, vocals
Mary Ellen Simpson-lead guitar, vocals
Marla Hanson-organ, piano, vocals
Mary Gannon-bass, vocals
Diane Vitalich-drums, vocals

Initially the band was managed by one Ambrose Hollingworth, but he was not physically able to be a full-time manager, and he turned those duties over to his friend Ron Polte, the manager of Quicksilver Messenger Service. Throughout the second half of 1967, Polte booked the Aces in smaller Bay Area clubs, as well as getting them opportunities to open for larger shows, as detailed in the previous post. 

What follows is the known 1968 performances of The Ace Of Cups. Anyone with additional information, eyewitness accounts or recovered memories (real or imagined) should post them in the Comments or email me directly through the blog.

The Berkeley Barb ad for Berkeley's New Orleans House from Dec 29, 1967. The Ace Of Cups are fairly unknown, so they are relegated to Monday night (Jan 1, 1968)

January 1, 1968  New Orleans House, Berkeley Ace of Cups/Congress of Wonders

The Ace Of Cups had begun 1967 at the bottom of the rock ladder, but they were climbing up. The New Orleans House was Berkeley's leading rock club, one of the few places, along with The Matrix , where rock bands playing original material could get booked. January 1, 1968 was a Monday night, so this wasn't yet a prestige booking.

In fact, the band Phoenix probably took the place of Ace of Cups (Phoenix were part of the West-Pole stable, too). According to the members of Phoenix, apparently only three people showed up, but they played a great set anyway.

January 5-6-7, 1968 Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco Youngbloods/Ace of Cups

Thanks to the booking muscle of Ron Polte's West-Pole Agency (he booked Quicksilver as well), Ace Of Cups opened for the Youngbloods at the Avalon. The Youngbloods had formed on the East Coast, but they had heard the tradewinds blow and moved to the Bay Area in September 1967. The Youngbloods had just released their second album on RCA, Earth Music.

February 2-4, 1968 Committee Theater, San Francisco: Congress of Wonders/Ace of Cups/Dino Valenti
The Committee was a hip improvisational theater troupe. They had their own theater at 836 Montgomery, and sometimes they booked rock bands instead of themselves. Dino Valenti was a folksinger who had written "Get Together" some years earlier. He had recently gotten out of prison from a drug bust in 1965. Thanks to fellow scholar LightIntoAshes, who not only found this listing, he found a review of the concert. Folk singer Sandy Darlington (of the duo Sandy & Jeanie) reviewed the Ace of Cups performance for the Express Times of February 15, 1968

"The Congress of Wonders presented themselves, the Ace of Cups, the Charles Lloyd Quartet, and Dino Valenti at the Committee Theatre for six days, January 30 through February 4. Excellent light show by Ben Van Meter. [...]
Then the Ace of Cups! Five groovy girls playing groovy rock music. A taste treat for the eyes and ears. It was unbelievably charming. Especially when you think of all that might have been wrong with them and wasn't: bitchiness, cloying sweetness, growling butch biceps, a topless revue with clothes, clumsy music...all those things I imagine most men half expect to see, and to which they plan to react with compassion and tolerance in the interest of erotic fantasy.
It wasn't like that at all. They are enjoyable to look at, and they do dress nicely and they smile, but it doesn't seem like an "act" as much as like five friends playing music together. Good music.
All of them sing; at least four sing lead. They use all sorts of different vocal combinations to get different textures. Their harmonies range from tight five voice Hi-Lo type to open harmonies with lots of 4ths and 5ths like in Sacred Harp hymns and Gregorian chants to slightly discordant effects reminiscent of Honegger.
As the ending to their last set, they came to the front of the stage and sang an unaccompanied song asking that there be No More War.
The fact that they didn't flaunt their sex made them all the more sexy. What more could you want? It was the first time I'd ever wanted to be a groupie."
(Sandy Darlington, "Act of Congress," SFET 2/15/68 p.11) 

A psychedelic nightclub on the corner of High and University seems appropriate, right? (The Poppycock, at 135 University Ave in Palo Alto, was on this intersection--photo 2018)

February 9-10, 1968 The Poppycock, Palo Alto Ace of Cups

The Poppycock, at 135 University Avenue (at High Street—could you make this up?) was a ballroom-style club in Downtown Palo Alto. Complete with a light show and all the trappings, it was next to the building that had housed The Top Of The Tangent (which was at 117 University),where Jerry Garcia and other South Bay folkies had been regulars about 6 years earlier.

March 20, 1968 Avalon All Men Joy/Blue Cheer/Ace of Cups/Black Swan/Creedence Clearwater KMPX Strike Fund Benefit

KMPX-fm was the first underground rock station, but the Tom Donahue and his staff went out on strike in protest of ownership’s refusal to share the wealth (the staff later moved en masse to KSAN).  The original handbill shows Ace of Cups billed over Creedence, at the time an obscure club band from El Cerrito.  Many other acts actually played this benefit, including the Grateful Dead and Kaleidoscope.

The known performers, from various sources, were

Grateful Dead/Blue Cheer/Kaleidoscope/Jeremy Steig and The Satyrs/Charlie Musselwhite and Southside Sound System/Santana Blues Band/Frumious Bandersnatch/Clover

I don't know if Ace Of Cups actually played.

A benefit held outside of The Ark, April 6-7, 1968

April 6 or 7, 1968  Outside The Ark, Gate 6, Sausalito Quicksilver Messenger Service/Ace of Cups/Freedom Highway/Phoenix/The Boogie/Pacific Flash/Morning Glory/The Smoke/Dino Valenti/Clover/Gail Garnett and Gentle Rain and many more A benefit (admission 1.00) 10 am -8 pm. 

The Ark was an abandoned Ferryboat, and it had been a sort of hippie nightclub/hangout. This performance was some sort of benefit, on the pier where The Ark was berthed. All of the bands had performed at The Ark, or had some connection to it. Members of Quicksilver had lived on a houseboat nearby in 1965 and '66, for example. Many of the bands were West-Pole bands, too. 
(update: Denise adds "Gale Garnett’s band was called “The Gentle Reign”. It was misspelled on the poster for that gig and other places as well. Wanted you to know. They practiced right next door to us at the [Sausalito] Heliport. ").

April 12-13-14, 1968 Avalon The Fugs/Ace of Cups/All Men Joy

By Spring 1968, although legendary, the Avalon was having trouble competing with the Fillmore and the newly-opened Carousel. The Fugs were well-known, in their way, but they didn't have a huge following. This same weekend, for example, Big Brother, Iron Butterfly and Booker T were at Winterland, and Moby Grape was at the Carousel. The Avalon show was probably not well attended.

All Men Joy was a San Francisco group (Duane and Gregg Allman’s Los Angeles based group at the time was The Hour Glass)

April 16-17-18, 1968 New Orleans House, Berkeley Congress of Wonders/Ace of Cups

Congress Of Wonders, also booked by West-Pole, were a sketch comedy trio (who can forget "Pigeon Park"?). 

April 24, 1968 Straight Theater Big Brother and The Holding Company/Sons of Champlin/Congress of Wonders/Curley Cooke’s Hurdy Gurdy Band/Indian Head Band/Ace of Cups/Phoenix “Time Again to Save The Straight Theater”

The Straight Theater was another city venue, actually in the Haight Ashbury, but it too wasn't able to compete in the booming rock market. A bunch of bands played a benefit for the Straight, but it didn't last much longer.

May 5, 1968 Provo Park, Berkeley Steve Miller Band/Ace of Cups/Indian Headband

Provo Park was the informal name of Berkeley’s large downtown park (really called Constitution Park, but no one used that name). From early 1967onwards, there had been free concerts on Sundays. Steve Miller had relocated to Berkeley in October 1966, and by Spring ’68 the Steve Miller Band were Fillmore and Avalon regulars, signed to Capitol. He hadn’t lost Berkeley cred, however, and his band (which included Boz Scaggs) still played free in the park.

By this time, managers had figured out that playing free in a park, any park, was a good way to get heard, so Ace Of Cups did it too.

May 10-11-12, 1968 Avalon Quicksilver Messenger Service/Ace of Cups/Flamin Groovies

Since Quciksilver, managed by Ron Polte, were West-Pole's main act, the Ace Of Cups opened for them regularly.

The Balconades Ballroom was at 181 W. Santa Clara St in San Jose, and was a rock venue for a few months in 1968 (h/t The Flamin Groovies site)

May 16-17, 1968 Balconades Ballroom, San Jose Flamin Groovies/Ace of Cups

The Balconades Ballroom was an old Ballroom in San Jose.  The Balconades was on an upper floor of The Lyndon Building (built 1882), at 181 W. Santa Clara St. After time as a printing press for a newspapers, it had been turned into a ballroom (probably in the 1920s). It had been part of a Country and Western circuit for performers like Hank Williams and Bob Wills, back when San Jose was an agricultural center and the biggest radio station (KEEN 1370 AM) played country music.  There were some rock shows at Balconades in 1968, featuring West-Pole bands, but the venue never caught on.

Summer '68 West-Pole TV Special, KQED-tv, San Francisco
Ralph J Gleason was the influential popular music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, and he was essential in getting people to notice that something interesting was happening to rock music in 60s SF.  Gleason was also a producer at KQED-tv, San Francisco's public television station (Channel 9), so he was also responsible for a lot of fine jazz and rock getting broadcast on TV throughout the entire decade.

In 1968, Gleason co-produced (with Bob Zagone) an hour-long KQED special about "Adult Rock in San Francisco." It was called "West-Pole," after Polte's booking agency, although that is never properly explained. There was footage of all the major San Francisco bands, plus live clips of two West-Pole band, the Sons of Champlin and Ace of Cups.

The three live performances of Ace of Cups, professionally shot in (what I presume to have been) KQED studios, are the best record we have of the Aces in their prime. There's no audience, of course, but as a result the cameras get an especially intimate look. It's easy to see how Ace of Cups looked like a band that couldn't miss. Most online sources will list the date of these three videos (all easily accessible on YouTube) as August 16, 1968, but that is incorrect. The "West-Pole" special was actually broadcast on August 16, so the recording had to be earlier in the Summer, probably May or June.

"West-Pole" was ultimately released on DVD, paired with another Gleason/Zagone special, 1970's "Go Ride The Music," which featured Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service.

May 31-June 1, 1968  Straight Theater Notes From The Underground/Ace of Cups/Liberty Street

The Straight Theater was just about at the end of the line.

June 21-22, 1968 New Orleans House, Berkeley Congess of Wonders/Sea Train/Ace of Cups

Sea Train was the new name for the former Blues Project. How the Greenwich Village-bred Blues Project had ended up in Marin was an interesting story, but too convoluted to tell here.

An obscure handbill for a free concert in Golden Gate Park on June 23, 1968

June 23, 1968 Speedway Meadows, Golden Gate Park Fraternity of Man/Flaming Groovies/Ace of Cups/All Men Joy

This was a free concert (Ross Hannan found the handbill). Kenneth Loh had a photo. Denise Kaufman recalls Quicksilver Messenger Service playing as well.

July 10, 1968 Avalon Quicksilver Messenger Service/Ace of Cups/American Indian Dancers            Benefit for American Indian Well-Baby Clinic

The Poster is in Paul Grushkin’s fine book The Art of Rock.

The Sound Factory, in Sacramento, was briefly a competitor to the Fillmore and Avalon

July 12-13, 1968 Sound Factory, Sacramento Steppenwolf/Ace of Cups/Initial Shock

The Sound Factory was Sacramento's entry into the growing circuit of psychedelic ballrooms. It was initially managed by a former Avalon character named Whitey Davis. Sacramento had numerous teenagers, so a ballroom of their own was inevitable. 

July 20, 1968  The Bold Knight, Sunnyvale Sons of Champlin/Ace of Cups/Weird Herald

The Bold Knight was a “teen club” (underage welcome, no alcohol served, no doubt plenty consumed) in Sunnyvale, a suburb of San Jose.  It was located on 769 North Matilda Avenue.

August 3-4, 1968 The Garage at Tamarack Lodge, Calaveras County  Ace of Cups

The handbill (reprinted on the cd) says ‘Friday August 3 and Saturday August 4’, but that fits no year the Ace of Cups performed, so the handbill must be inaccurate. I have assumed that the correct year is 1968 (when 8.3-4 would have been Saturday and Sunday) but in fact I can’t be sure, and it very may well be 1967. The handbill says “on highway four, the road to Bear Valley.”  Bear Valley is a ski area in the lower Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the venue was probably a ski lodge.

August 9-10, 1968 Sound Factory, Sacramento Quicksilver Messenger Service/Ace of Cups/Congress of Wonders

The Eureka Times-Standard of August,  16,1968, reported that the Ace Of Cups would headline the "San Francisco Rock Show" at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds on Friday night. Also, 173 animals would be for sale in the livestock pen.

August 16, 1968 Humboldt County Fairgrounds, Ferndale, CA Ace Of Cups/Old Davis/Transatlantic Railroad/All Men Joy

The Ace Of Cups headlined the Friday night show at the Humboldt County Fair. Friday night’s show was billed (correctly) as The San Francisco Rock Show. Old Davis was a Redwood City band, Transatlantic Railroad was from Marin and All Men Joy (NOT with Gregg and Duane Allman) was from San Francisco.

Wednesday night (14 August) had been highlighted by a country concert featuring Roy Clark and Dorsey Burnette.

August 23-24, 1968 New Orleans House, Berkeley Ace of Cups/Congress of Wonders

August 31, 1968 Palace of Fine Arts Festival, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco: The Lamb, A.B.Skhy, Ace Of Cups, Linn County, The Mike Bloomfield Jam Band
This was a big three-day event at the Palace of Fine Arts over Labor Day weekend, although the last day probably wasn't held. On Saturday, the first day, the Aces played the afternoon show. Mike Bloomfield and a pick-up band played (filling in for H.P. Lovecraft). 

Faren Miller, (then a Berkeley teenager, and a thorough and accurate diarist) has a detailed review in her diaries, and it contains the most detailed contemporary description of an Ace Of Cups performance.  The billing was somewhat different than what she describes, and its not clear who were no-shows and who she simply missed or didn’t comment on.  John Handy, Steve Miller, Big Mama Thornton and HP Lovecraft were billed, and Mike Bloomfield was not.  Miller specifically refers to HP Lovecraft as no-shows, but the rest aren’t referenced.

            Faren Miller:

            “Then we went to the middle stage, where we stayed for the rest of the afternoon. All of a sudden, Quicksilver/West Pole people showed up, because the Ace of Cups were coming on. Ron and Frank Polte, and the “Ace of Cups man” [roadie] arrived along with the girls. Ron looks almost like a cartoon character with his pointy nose, his lank thatch of hair, and his inevitable black leather jacket. The Ace of Cups looked pretty good: Mary Simpson’s hair is longer, and she less resembles Jimmy Murray now; Mary Gannon was demure in a white-collared purple smock dress and black tights; Marla wore dark pants and shirt and she was barefoot; Diane wore the flowered bell bottoms her mother had made her and a black velvet blouse; Denise looked incredible in a white East Indian pajama outfit,and her hair was tied back from her ears with a long blue scarf. All of them sang beautifully, their voices enhanced by the place’s echo-chamber effect.

            One number was actually a trio of gentle songs sung by both Marys and Denise. They “cranked it up” with Denise doing “Gypsy Boy”, jumping all over and madly playing harmonica. Every song was a delight, as [San Francisco Chronicle music columnist] Ralph Gleason would say (he was there), and I couldn’t quibble with the girls’ musicianship at all. They write their own material, and they put most groups to shame in that area. Marla sang “Lord, Lord, Lord, Won’t You Listen to Your Children”. They did a tribute to life in the country (“sitting on the back porch, smoking a peace pipe”); another song, “Circles”, put down city life -- obviously, the Cups live in the country. They closed with the acapella “No More War”, an appropriate song in these days after the Chicago Democratic Convention.”

Later in the show, Miller describes the Cups coming back on stage to sing with Mike Bloomfield’s group

            “But both eyes turned to the stage when Bloomfield suddenly called up all the Ace of Cups to join him. Giggling, they formed a semicircle around a microphone and practiced a few “Baby!”s, under Mike’s direction. “We’re the Bloomettes!” Denise laughed. (She was now wearing the gold-rimmed spectacles she’d donned offstage.) The Cups provided soulful background while Mike sang a blues. He’s a good singer as well as guitarist, and he also plays organ. Everyone loved the Cups”

A flyer for a benefit at the Berkeley Community Theater on September 20, 1968, with the Grateful Dead and The Ace Of Cups

September 20, 1968 Community Theatre, Berkeley Grateful Dead/Steve Miller Band/Ace of Cups

The Ali Akbar College of Music was moving from a house in Ascot Drive in the Oakland hills to Berkeley. Owsley's girlfriend, Rhoney Gissen, arranged for Owsley to move into the Ascot Drive house in return for helping the school move. Denise Kaufman had taken sitar lessons at the school during the Summer of 1967.

A unique feature of this night's Grateful Dead performance was an extended drum performance with two Indian musicians (I believe Shankar Ghosh and Vince Delgado). 

September 21, 1968  The Bank, Torrance, CA Quicksilver Messenger Service/Sons of Champlin/Love Exchange/Ace of Cups

The Bank, at 18940 South Hamilton Avenue in Torrance, was a short-lived psychedelic ballroom in suburban Los Angeles. The bookings were dominated by San Francisco bands.

September 22, 1968  Del Mar Fairgrounds, Del Mar, CA Grateful Dead/Buddy Miles Express/Taj Mahal/Quicksilver Messenger Service/Sons of Champlin/Mother Earth/Curly Cooke’s Hurdy-Gurdy Band/Youngbloods/Ace of Cups/Phoenix

West-Pole, the booking agent for Quicksilver, Ace Of Cups and many other bands, seems to have put together a "Monterey Pop" type event in San Diego. The venue, according to members of the band Phoenix, was a former ostrich racing track. In fact, the fairgounds were built in 1937 by Bing Crosby, and originally featured a horse track, but there is reason to think there was ostrich racing. 

The bands were mostly West-Pole, except for some headliners who were closely linked to West-Pole (the Grateful Dead, Youngbloods and Buddy Miles). The weather was good--it was in San Diego, after all--and it seemed like fun, but it wasn't a money maker and there were not other rock shows at Del Mar (the fairgounds later became an auto racing track. I assume it's housing now).  Buddy Miles Express was billed as “Formerly: The Electric Flag.” An eyewitness reported that Steve Miller Band performed as well, with Boz Scaggs still in the band.  

September 28, 1968 Straight Theater, San Francisco Movies/Congress of Wonders/Ace of Cups
LightIntoAshes found this listing in the SF Examiner. It appears the theater showed movies, with Congress of Wonders playing inbetween and Ace of Cups after (probably). The listing was

"Revolution 7, 11
What's New Pussycat? 8:45
Congress of Wonders 6:30-10:40
plus Ace of Cups" 

September 29, 1968 El Camino Park, Palo Alto Free You Be In
Quicksilver Messenger Service/Youngbloods/Ace Of Cups/Freedom Highway/Cold Blood/Flaming Groovies/Frumious Bandersnatch (Ace Of Cups canceled)
The Mid Peninsula Free University was known as “Free You,” and they regularly organized free concerts in Palo Alto’s El Camino Park. However, in the end QMS canceled (they were listed as "tentative" on the flyer), to be replaced by Steve Miller Band, and Ace of Cups didn't play either. The actual lineup was Steve Miller Band (with a guest appearance by Carlos Santana), Frumious Bandersnatch, Phoenix and Freedom Highway.

The Ace Of Cups opened for Quicksilver Messenger Service at the Avalon in October, 1968

October 4-5-6, 1968 Avalon Quicksilver Messenger Service/Black Pearl/Ace of Cups

The Avalon was really struggling at this time, up against Bill Graham's Fillmore West. Still, the West-Pole bands played there. Faren Miller has more comments from the Saturday night (Oct 5 68) show (she was a college freshman at the time)

            “It really wasn’t fair to make the Ace of Cups come on after that. They’re charming girls, but they have none of the Quick’s [relative]professionalism. Luckily, they made a good impression by virtue of their charm and their fine songs. After a good ovation for one number, Mary Gannon (the brunette) smiled, “Thanks, men.”

            The Cups were loveably disorganized, haphazardly picking each song before they played it and tuning as much as the Quicksilver. (John attributed the Quick’s problems to the full moon.) Mary Simpson called to the equipment man for help. She had no makeup but was dressed well in a dark minidress, dark tights and black boots. She’s getting less and less tomboyish. Mary G. wore a green and buff Indian tunic over brown velour trousers. Diane, who’s always darling, wore a patterned blouse and a fringed miniskirt over bare legs. Good old Denise had white trousers and a dark top, and she was wearing her spectacles. Her masses of frizzy hair waved about, though part of it was tied back. It must grow _very_ quickly. Marla was plainly dressed in dark slacks and shirt. She looked like a serious little girl most of the time, except during some vocal solos (and also when she was talking with the equipment man, and with David Freiberg -- who got her beaming in short order). The Cups only had one set, so it was longer than the other groups’. They sounded a bit shrill on most of the up-tempo numbers, while instrumentally they’re adequate -- but after the Quick.... Still, there were some lovely moments in their set, and they made a lot of friends tonight (especially with the men, as Mary G. noted).”

October 11, 1968  Silver Dollar Fairgrounds, Chico, CA Quicksilver Messenger Service/Ace of Cups/Cranberry Frost

October 12, 1968  Shasta Community College, Redding, CA Quicksilver Messenger Service/Ace of  Cups

West-Pole's strategy at time was to book their less well-known bands with their headliners. Teenagers throughout California wanted to see the bands whose names they had seen on Fillmore posters, so Quicksilver had a lot of standing in places like Chico or Redding. Had Ace Of Cups actually made an album, the time they put in touring throughout California might have paid off for them, as it did for bands like Cold Blood or It's A Beautiful Day.

November 15-16, 1968 New Orleans House, Berkeley, Ace of Cups/Freedom Highway

At the beginning of 1968, Ace Of Cups had been paired on the bill at Berkeley's New Orleans House on weeknights, and by the end of the year they were headliners for the weekend. This was a clear sign they were developing a following. 

November 22, 1968 Gym, Campolindo High School, Moraga  Santana Blues Band/Country Weather/Ace of Cups/Velvet Hammer

Another long-forgotten historical detail was that the Fillmore bands played many High School dances. Campolindo, in Moraga (in Contra Costa County), had both Santana and the Grateful Dead in the same school year. There is a whiff that Ace Of Cups may have played (or also played) a separate, smaller show at Campolindo in Spring ’69, possibly in the daytime, alluded to by someone who attended the school.

November 27, 1968 St. Elizabeth’s High School, Oakland, CA Quicksilver Messenger Service/Ace Of Cups

St. Elizabeth's, a private high school in Oakland (at 1530 34th Avenue), had a string of hip Fillmore bands play there. Musicians liked High School gigs, because they were nearby and a quick payday. The high school girls attending the dance must have found it a unique experience to have a band of women on the bill.

December 6, 1968 Merced County Fairgrounds, Merced, CA Quicksilver Messenger Service/Ace of Cups/Crystal Syphon

The poster for this show was done by local teenage guitarist Jim Parber, who--unknown to him at the time--was Bob Weir's half-brother (Weir had been adopted at birth). 

The Berkeley Barb ad for Berkeley's New Orleans House, Dec 27 1968

December 31, 1968 New Orleans House, Berkeley Congress of Wonders/Ace of Cups

The Ace Of Cups began 1968 playing New Orleans House on the Monday after New Year's, and ended it co-headlining the entire week there, including New Year's Eve. They had played a series of high profile gigs throughout California, and were starting to build a following. The next post will cover the Ace of Cups performance history from 1969 through 1972.

Ace Of Cups (High Moon Records 2018)
It is appropriate then, that Ace of Cups finally get to release the album they might have released some decades ago. Few bands from that era can even muster a quorum, much less all original members. Another World Tour, at least the world of Southern Marin County, will surely follow.

Ace Of Cups Performance History 1967 (Ace Of Cups I)

Festival Of Growing Things, July 1-2, 1967, an outdoor festival in Marin County. Ace of Cups played both days.

Throughout the 20th Century, the Ace of Cups band was a mystery bordering on myth: an all-female "psychedelic" band playing many of the legendary places with all manner of legendary headliners, but with no released recordings, no known history and hardly even a photograph. This changed in 2003 with the release of their CD on the Big Beat label, It's Bad For You But Buy It (Big Beat CDWIKD 236). Historian and producer Alec Palao curated a wonderful release of demos and live tapes from the Ace Of Cups 60s heyday, and completed the set by writing comprehensive liner notes and finding wonderful photos that gave life to what had previously only been legend. Although 36 years late, that record was no less terrific for that, and it made great listening as well. It provided a fascinating window to a hitherto untold 60s story. As a result of It's Bad For You But Buy It, I set out to make a list of Ace Of Cups performances, and the band members were nice enough to post my initial version of the list on their website.

Thanks to the Big Beat cd and the general wonderfulness of the band's music, there has been a considerable amount of attention focused on the band. Indeed, in their most recent reunion, the Ace Of Cups embarked on a worldwide tour of Marin County, as they played two shows in Marin on May 13 and 14, 2011. The relentless frenzy of activity has continued, with the band recording a new cd scheduled to be released on November 9, 2018. Time marches on, however, and over the years I have considerably upgraded my information, so I am presenting here a more complete history of Ace Of Cups performances from 1967 onwards.

What follows is a list of Ace Of Cups performances known to me. This post will deal with the band's pre-history and shows from 1967, with subsequent years addressed in the next two posts (one for 1968, and another for 1969 through 1972). Anyone with additional information, insights, corrections or recovered memories (real or imagined) are encouraged to put them in the Comments or email me directly. Thanks to everyone who has helped over the years, especially Ross and all the members of the Ace Of Cups.

It's Bad For You But Buy It, released by Big Beat in 2003, was a cd compilation of demos and live performances by San Francisco's legendary Ace Of Cups. Great liner notes by Alec Palao told the band member's backstory

Ace Of Cups Pre-history
The pre-history of The Ace Of Cups is dealt with extensively in Alec Palao's liner notes, as well as on their own website, so I will not recap it all here. Suffice to say, the individual members of the future band all made their way to San Francisco as aspiring musicians and proto-hippies, working formally and informally with various musical aggregations. Bassist Mary Gannon and pianist Marla Hunt met drummer Diane Vitalich, and they started playing together in 1966. When guitarist Mary Ellen Simpson came on board, they knew they had the makings of a band, even if it was not fully formed.

Late 1966: Haight A Espresso, San Francisco, CA unnamed band
According to Palao, the four women played a little show at a coffee shop on Haight near Fillmore. I assume this was Haight Espresso at 776 Haight Street. There was an amp at the cafe, allowing the guitar and bass to be plugged in. The "gig" was almost certainly unbilled. The band had no name, even if the band members had plans. The missing piece of the puzzle arrived in the form of Denise Kaufman, who met the band members at a party.

Denise can outsurf all of you, too, but this blog doesn't have room to discuss it

Denise Kaufman
Some people have a natural instinct for what is coming next, and they find it before everyone else. Even by 60s standards, Denise Kaufman caught the big waves while everyone else was still paddling out to sea. As a teenager, she was a folk musician in San Francisco and Palo Alto in the early 60s and learned to surf in Hawaii. After High School she "got on the bus" with Ken Kesey and The Merry Pranksters (she is in Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test as "Mary Microgram"), went to UC Berkeley and made an early "garage rock" single, went out with the future publisher of Rolling Stone, and then dropped out to join a band in the San Bruno Mountains who later became Moby Grape, a subject covered in amazing detail by Patrick Lundborg in Shindig magazine. When Denise met the other members of the future Ace Of Cups, she was not yet 21 (I'm leaving out the part about where she became Madonna's yoga instructor, as it is outside the scope of this blog).

Denise was a terrific singer and songwriter, a bluesy harmonica player and a solid guitarist. She was the perfect front person for the band. The five members began to rehearse together in early 1967. For a variety of family reasons detailed by Palao, Kaufman was able to rehearse with the band during the day but not able to perform at night, so the group had some time to "get it together," to use the 60s cliche. By chance Denise met a man named Ambrose Hollingsworth, who had become disabled after a car accident. Hollingsworth had been the manager of the group Quicksilver Messenger Service, but had had to withdraw after his accident. However, he still wanted to be involved in the arts, so he became the patron of The Ace Of Cups. He staked the band to some equipment and a house in the then rural town of Tam Valley where they could rehearse. The lineup of the Ace Of Cups was

Denise Kaufman-guitar, harmonica, vocals
Mary Ellen Simpson-lead guitar, vocals
Marla Hanson-organ, piano, vocals
Mary Gannon-bass, vocals
Diane Vitalich-drums, vocals

The Ace Of Cups initial business card from 1967, with the phone number of manager Ambrose Hollingsworth

Spring, 1967:  forgotten venue, Etna, CA: Ace Of Cups
At manager Amborose Hollingsworth’s insistence, the band debuted in a sleepy town somewhat near Arcata, far north of San Francisco.  This gig, as described in the liner notes to Its Bad For You But Buy It, was apparently a shambolic mess, perhaps proving Hollingsworth dictum that it was best to open far from the center of the action.

Palao describes a few smaller early shows in the Bay Area, including the Tamarack Lodge near Bear Valley (see below), a gig near Mt. Shasta, and a fund-raiser on Mt. Tamalpais. The band's history prior to June 1967 remains murky even to me.

Ralph Gleason's Chronicle column,  June 2, 1967

June 3, 1967: The Matrix, San Francisco, CA: Notes From The Underground/Ace Of Cups
The first certain date where I have found the Ace Of Cups booked was at The Matrix on Saturday, June 3, 1967, as mentioned in Ralph Gleason's San Francisco Chronicle the day before (above). The Matrix was in the Marina District, and was San Francisco's first  (and principal) hippie nightclub. Notes From The Underground were a Berkeley "folk-rock" band who ultimately released an album on Vanguard. They had a bit of a following, so they headlined the Matrix on Friday and Saturday night, and The Ace Of Cups joined the bill for Saturday.

June 25, 1967: The Panhandle, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA:  Jimi Hendrix Experience/Ace Of Cups
The week after the Monterey Pop Festival (which was the weekend of June 16-18), there were numerous free concerts in Golden Gate Park and around the Bay Area. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was playing the Fillmore the entire week, opening for the Jefferson Airplane and Gabor Szabo. The Electric Flag, who had been rehearsing at The Ace Of Cups Tam Valley house prior to their Monterey debut, recommended Ace Of Cups to open Hendrix's free show on Sunday afternoon in the Panhandle.

David Biasotti, the future guitarist of the semi-legendary band Maxfield Parrish, was fortunate enough to attend the show. As a guitarist himself, he noticed that Hendrix used Mary Ellen Simpson's amp for his performance. Hendrix was impressed with the Ace Of Cups, and mentioned them later that year in an interview with the English music paper Melody Maker.

Festival Of Growing Things ad, July 1-2, 1967

July 1-2, 1967: Mt. Tamalpais Outdoor Amphitheatre, Mill Valley, CA
Thunderheaven Presents The Festival of Growing Things
Ace Of Cups patron Ambrose Hollingsworth presented his "Festival Of Growing Things" at the Mt. Tam outdoor amphitheater on the weekend of July 1 and 2 ("Thunderheaven" was his production company).  According to Charles Perry, everyone who attended received a packet of flower seeds. Apocryphally the June 10-11 festival on Mt. Tam was the last rock concert at the venue, but in fact this event was the final "official" rock concert at Mt. Tam, since it had already been scheduled (at least until the 21st century, when producer Michael Nash brought them back). The Ace Of Cups played both afternoons. The United Artists potboiler documentary Revolution, filmed in the summer of 1967, includes a brief clip of The Ace of Cups performing at the festival, although whether it is Saturday (July 1) or Sunday (2) is unknown.

July 1: Eric Burdon and The Animals/Quicksilver Messenger Service/Blue Cheer/Sandy Bull/Congress of Wonders/Charlatans/Wildflower/Freedom Highway/Melvin Q Watchpocket/Ace of Cups/Lamp of Childhood
Eric Burdon and The Animals were headlining the Fillmore all week, and made a guest appearance. [Early posters included Miller Blues Band/Hugh Masakela/Mt. Rushmore, none of whom likely played]

July 2:  Big Brother and The Holding Company/Country Joe and The Fish/Miller Blues Band/Sandy Bull/Congress of Wonders/Charlatans/Wildflowers/Freedom Highway/Melvin Q Watchpocket/Ace of Cups/Lamp of Childhood [early posters had Mt. Rushmore/Phoenix]
Mary Gannon has said she does not recall Big Brother  playing, and that Quicksilver played both days instead. She recalled the Eric Burdon appearance as well, and Animals guitarist Vic Briggs confirmed it.

San Francisco Chronicle Datebook, August 4, 1967

August 4, 1967: Haight A Espresso, San Francisco, CA Ace Of Cups/Black Swan/Jim Trumbleaux Quartet (noon and following)
The venue was at 776 Haight Street, near Scott. Because the band played this show, I have assumed it was the location of the debut of the proto-band in 1966 (above), but I don't know that for a fact. This seems to have been an all-day event, and I have to assume that the Ace Of Cups played early, as they had a show in Santa Clara that night.

776 Haight Street is currently the location of the Eden Sauna And Tea Garden.

Continental Ballroom, Santa Clara, CA August 4-5, 1967

August 4-5, 1967: Continental Ballroom, Santa Clara, CA: Quicksilver Messenger Service/James Cotton Blues Band/Congress of Wonders/Ace of Cups.
Although Ace Of Cups had attracted some attention around the Bay Area, Ambrose Hollingsworth was not in a position to be an effective manager. When he had been the manager of Quicksilver in 1966 and had suffered terrible injuries in an automobile accident, he had handed off their management to his friend Ron Polte, a former Chicago labor organizer. By Summer 1967, Polte had helped make Quicksilver one of the top Fillmore bands. Polte also ran a talent agency, West-Pole, who played an important role in booking bands.

In the Summer of 1967, the entrepreneurial Polte booked a series of 8 weekend concerts at Santa Clara's Continental Ballroom, bringing the top psychedelic bands to the South Bay. The Continental Ballroom was a converted roller skating rink, and it was a top venue for the thriving San Jose rock 60s rock scene, which had developed in parallel with the more legendary San Francisco venues. The Ballroom was located at 1600 Martin Avenue in Santa Clara, not far from San Jose.

Polte first heard Ace Of Cups at the Continental Ballroom and was duly impressed. Once again, he took over management of the group from Hollingworth, and again with Hollingsworth's blessing. Polte's connections and savvy accounted for the Ace Of Cups presence at many excellent concerts. However, Polte overplayed his hand with record companies. He had a sound strategy of playing companies off against each other to get a higher bid for his bands, but he turned down so many offers for the Ace Of Cups that they never ended up recording. Nonetheless, without Polte The Ace Of Cups would not have been known at all, and band members still recall him fondly.

In the Fall of 1967, Polte started booking Ace Of Cups around the Bay Area. I have not yet had much success at identifying many dates for the second half of 1967. They may have played some smaller places that I have not been able to pin down, but they also may not have played that many shows in late 1967. The Ace Of Cups were booked at the all-day event at Muir Beach Lodge on September 24, 1967, but they did not perform.

Ace of Cups opened for one of the first San Jose area rock festivals, on October 8, 1967 at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. Big Brother and Quicksilver were the headliners.

October 8, 1967: Family Park, Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, San Jose, CA
Big Brother and The Holding Company/Quicksilver Messenger Service/Mother Earth/Mad River/Freedom Highway/Ace of Cups/Dr. West’s Medicine Show 
Haight Ashbury Medical Clinical Benefit
This relatively high profile event was an outdoor concert benefiting the Haight Ashbury Medical Clinic. While most Santa Clara County Fairgrounds events were held in the regular Pavilions or Arenas, this was an all-day affair outdoors in the park, an event not to be repeated. About 7500 people attended, nuns took tickets while Hells Angels watched over them. There was no trouble, and everyone had a great time. It never happened that way again.

The bill was heavily weighted towards bands booked by West-Pole, or affiliated with West-Pole in various ways, so Ace Of Cups found themselves on the bill. Remarkably, an audience recording of every single band on the bill has survived, a very rare occurrence for a 1967 concert.

The Scenedrome page of the Berkeley Barb listed every show in Berkeley, and often other shows around the Bay Area. The listings are much beloved by rock prosopographers. This clip is from the Oct 20 '67 Barb, noting the band's performance at New Orleans House on the forthcoming Thursday (Oct 26)

October 26-28, 1967: New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Ace of Cups/Congress of Wonders
By the end of 1967, some other clubs around the Bay Area had started to join The Matrix in presenting original rock music. The New Orleans House in Berkeley, at 1505 San Pablo, had opened in 1966 as a traditional jazz venue, but it had shifted over to younger music by the end of the year. Although the New Orleans House featured a variety of folk and blues performers (particularly after The Jabberwock closed), by the end of 1967 it was primarily a venue for rock bands playing original music.

The New Orleans House had become the primary gig in Berkeley for music of all types, primarily rock, but also folk, blues and “other.” The club was run by Kitty Griffin, and Denise Kaufman had been friends with Kitty’s son for since high school. The New Orleans House served beer and food, and weekend events usually featured a light show as well.

West-Pole had booked the entire week at the New Orleans House. The mighty Quicksilver Messenger Service played Tuesday and Wednesday (Oct 24-25), supported by Congress of Wonders, and Ace of Cups had the weekend. At this point, almost no one would have heard of Ace of Cups in Berkeley, but Denise herself was probably well-known(thanks to fellow scholar LIA for tracking this date down).

Berkeley Barb ad for The New Orleans House, Berkeley, December 1, 1967

December 1, 1967: New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Ace of Cups/”Xmas Carol” by Congress of Wonders
Congress of Wonders were part of the West-Pole stable. They were a hip comedy trio, later a duo, who actually ended up releasing some albums on Fantasy in 1970 and '72. The comedy routines were staples of FM radio in the Bay Area for many years, particularly "Pigeon Park." The comedy trio played almost all of their gigs with rock bands, since there wasn't a comedy club circuit, and the group's humor didn't fit the kind of "Las Vegas Lounge" venues available to comedians at the time.


December 2, 1967: New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Ace of Cups/Savage Resurrection
The Savage Resurrection were a "garage band" from nearby Richmond, CA. Although the Aces had been opening at the Matrix in June, by the end of the year they were weekend headliners at a comparable club in Berkeley. This was a definite if modest step forward, and the band's future seemed bright.

Ace of Cups likely played many more shows in 1967 than I have been able to identify here. Anyone with additional information, insights, corrections or recovered memories (real or imagined) is encouraged to put them in the Comments or email me.

The next post will address The Ace Of Cups 1968 Performance History.

Appendix: Female "Psychedelic" Bands in 1967
After the 1960s, only the lucky fans who had gotten to see Ace of Cups in concert knew what they had sounded like. As a result, much of the band's mythological status stemmed from the fact that they were an all female band.  While the Aces gender makes them stand out, it's important to note that there were many all female rock bands before them--not incidentally usually called "All-Girl" bands. Beyond San Francisco, there were a few: Goldie And The Gingerbreads (who recorded on Decca in 1963), and The Pleasure Seekers, from Detroit (featuring the hard-rockin', troublemakin' Quattro sisters).

What made the Ace of Cups stand out was not that they were all women, but they were all adult women writing and performing their own music. In that respect, they were asking to be taken just as seriously as the Grateful Dead or the Jefferson Airplane, and in that respect they were women far ahead of their time, thus rightly accounting for their legendary status. A brief look at some of their local contemporaries will be instructive.

The Freudian Slips
The Freudian Slips were a band of high school girls from the affluent Peninsula suburb of Atherton, CA. In a  1966 Life magazine article on garage bands, the Freudian Slips had their picture published. The four members were Woodside High School students, and some of the band members went on to professional entertainment careers. Nonetheless, even the band members suggest that they weren't that tight and were treated more or less as a novelty act. They did play various hip gigs at places like The Ark in Sausalito, through the Summer of 1967. The Slips probably played all covers, and while I'll bet it was fun to see some High School girls rocking out to British Invasion songs (and any band with Wendy Haas couldn't have been all bad), the fact that the Slips broke up when some or all members graduated from High School seems to have been taken as "proof" that they were a novelty.

The Svelts
The Svelts were from Sacramento, but they played some shows on the outer reaches of the Bay Area, and by 1968 they had evolved into Wild Honey. I'm not certain whether the Svelts or Wild Honey were mostly or entirely female, but in any case they were another cover band. The Svelts featured the Millington sisters (June and Jean), who could both really play, but The Svelts were still "entertainers." June and Jean Millington ended up leading the group Fanny, an all-women band that recorded a number of albums in the 1970s. However, while Fanny played original music, and the Millingtons were contemporaries of Ace of Cups, the Aces were playing original music while the Millingtons were still stuck on the dance circuit.

Tipsy's All-Girl Topless Band
In 1966 and 67, although rock music dominated record sales, it was still a very small part of the live music entertainment dollar, even in San Francisco. A look around at the women performers on Broadway, San Francisco's North Beach entertainment district, shows how far ahead of their time the Ace Of Cups really were. It's no surprise to find that most women performers on Broadway and North Beach were singers or dancers (many of them topless). Nonetheless, it's still surprising to see the patronizing San Francisco Chronicle ad that says "The World's First And Only (All-Girl) Topless Band." I didn't find this in some weird rag--it was in the San Francisco Chronicle entertainment ads, right next to an ad for a French Restaurant and just above an ad for a jazz club.

In another blog post I found a contemporary, if mysterious listing, for a Las Vegas style group of women called The Socialites, playing a lounge in suburban Walnut Creek in 1969. Amidst the usual chatter about how attractive the band members were, the Oakland Tribune columnist could only compare The Socialites to the 'All Girl Topless Band' at Tipsy's. Ace of Cups were not the first all female rock band, and someone may even be able to find a group of women playing and writing their own rock music in 1967. However, whether compared to the Freudian Slips or the Tipsy's band, Ace of Cups were a serious female rock band in San Francisco, where rock bands first started to be taken seriously, and for that the Aces stand tall indeed.

The cover of the Ace Of Cups debut studio album, released on High Moon Records in November 2018

Ace Of Cups (High Moon Records 2018)
It is appropriate then, that Ace of Cups finally get to release the album they might have released some decades ago. Few bands from that era can even muster a quorum, much less all original members. Another World Tour, at least the world of Southern Marin County, will surely follow.

The next two posts will address Ace of Cups performance history for 1968, and then for 1969 through 1972.