Maya Angelou

An inspiring woman on many levels. I met her once...

It was September of 1979, and I was on my one and only East Coast Grateful Dead tour. In a week's time, I saw shows in Glens Falls, N.Y., Rochester, N.Y., Augusta, ME., and then 3 nights at Madison Square Garden. (Ah, youth!)

My friends and I had just seen the final MSG concert. We had been staying with a deadhead friend in Manhattan. He wanted to drag us California kids to Greenwich Village for our first egg cream. We happily complied, and were soon chattering excitedly at a busy joint in the village. It had been lots of fun for all in the big apple, but we were ready to go home. As we verbalized our homesick thoughts, a woman in the booth next to us turned around and with the most beautiful smile said: "Oooh, I love San Francisco!" We then all conversed about the many things we loved about that city by the bay.

There were introductions at some point... And when she said her name was Maya Angelou, I was electrified-and not just because I had just seen my favorite psychedelic band kick ass at the Garden!

Being a big reader and wannabe poet, I immediately recognized her name. Not so sure whether the deadhead dudes I was with understood my giddiness or the prowess of this woman. I most certainly did! I've never forgotten her warm smile and kindred words. Thanks for inspiring, always, Ms. Angelou.

More than a decade later, I was at home in La Selva Beach with my 7-month old daughter, watching the inauguration of William Jefferson Clinton on t.v.  It was a celebratory time. I had worked for his campaign in my precinct, and life felt pretty damned hopeful. As I sat with my nursing daughter, watching Maya Angelou read her now-famous innaugural poem, tears of joy streamed down my face and onto my brand-new child. I will never forget that memory. The poem was published in small paperback form and I promptly purchased one for myself and one for my father, who also loved words and was hopeful about our newly-elected president. I still have mine, of course. Hoping to read the poem aloud to Glen later, when he is home from work. (He was forewarned, HA!)

Maya Angelou shares this date with my father. Today marks two years since he departed, leaving an emotional crevasse I am just beginning to understand. I mourn what was... And even more so, what was not.

Here's more about her San Francisco ties: 

http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2014/05/28/maya-angelous-san-francisco-connections/

Wordless Wednesday

Halcyon Days

November of 1979... Taken at SFO on our way to see the Grateful Dead at The Golden Hall in San Diego.

As if that weren't thrilling enough to a bunch of goofy Deadheads... Several members of the band came walking on to the very same flight, including Jerry Garcia himself. I still smile, imagining what our amazed faces must have looked like to them.

We tried so hard to remain cool, but am sure we didn't look cool! When Bill Kreutzman walked by us, he held out his arms and proclaimed sarcastically: "Heeeere we are!!"

Wordless Wednesday

Lake Tahoe, 1976.

" I had the mark just as plain as day-could not be denied."

In Her Eyes I See The Sea...

Lotta Crabtree

Let's see. The dead ex-boyfriend list keeps growing. I'm not joking! That is a post-in-progress. Meanwhile, the garden here is happening. This pleases me greatly because I've done all the work. At first, I whined that we needed a rototiller to prepare the patch. One day, I looked down into the neighboring yard, and there was my ninety-something year old neighbor, prepping his garden bed entirely by hand. A shovel and a hoe and an old guy. This snapped me into action, and I went on out there and did the same thing. It felt mighty fine to just do it.

Music is also happening. Next week I cruise south to Santa Cruz to see my dear sister-friend. We are going to the Shoreline show together. Back in the so-called day, we saw lots of music. So, am revisiting another portal from my past. This is the same friend whose camp I'll be in at Burning Man. Seeing and hearing what's left of the boys will be fun at this point in time. And sad too. But really... he's been gone nearly 14 years now. I'm glad to hear anything that is related musically to that thing I loved so much. I surely did.

After playtime, I'll hurry homeward. Youngest daughter has prom to attend that weekend. School's almost done. Again. Then she's a senior. My baby. Shit! No more kids to raise-up. Then what? Burning Man-among other things. Much to be done beforehand, and 3 months (or so) will fly by.

Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles (Live Version) - Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band

Whistle Through Your Teeth And Spit

My brother and my son at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley~May 15, 1983

"Aaron's First Show"

Set List:
Touch of Grey
New Minglewood Blues
Ramble on Rose
Cassidy
Brown Eyed Women
Hell in a Bucket
Althea
Looks Like Rain
Deal

Help on the Way
Slipknot!
Franklin's Tower
Samson and Delilah
He's Gone
drums
Truckin'
Stella Blue
Throwin' Stones
Not Fade Away
Encore:
Baby Blue

Grateful Dead/Greek Theatre/Sunday,May 15th 1983

The Bus Came By

Young Jerry~Golden Gate Park 1967

Aiko brother found another great photo. I'd bet you dimes to dollars that my dad was in the crowd this day. Not that he'd readily admit to it.

Maybe he feels guilty for inadvertently introducing me to an affliction that never went away. It has ebbed and flowed at times, but remains embedded...deep-down. As if that were not glaringly obvious!

Thats It For The Other One - Grateful Dead

Thank You Uncle Bobo

Exactly twenty years ago, this was how I spent New Year's Eve. With the Tom Tom Club opening. We were on the floor at midnight, watching Bill Graham be Father Time, beneath the balloons. Massive joygasm!

P.S. Could this finally be be "The Al Franken Decade" ?? Go Al, Go!

Genius Of Love (original 12 inch mix) - Tom Tom Club

Help On The Way !!!

'Paradise waits on the crest of a wave...'

Robert Hunter

Mavericks 2008~Pacifica, California ('Mavericks' is purely coincidental.)

Where to start... my heart is full. A little over three years ago, I took up blogging. It coincided with the 'loss' of the election in 2004. My rage was real, and this was solid therapy. I love you all!
(You know who you are!)

'Without love in a dream it will never come true.'

Daybreak On The Land

More shameless promotion~a video clip from the sound check for the Change Rocks concert. Just a tease, but it did this old deadhead a world of good to see the boys together again.If only...

'Some folks look for answers, others look for fights
Some folks up in tree tops, just looking for their kites
I can tell your future, whoa just look what's in your hand
I can't stop for nothing, I'm just playing in the band'

Mountain Aire 1987

The frog's expression in this artwork has always bothered me. Can't exactly say why. The frog on the steal your face lily pad was in reference to an age-old Angel's Camp tradition, the yearly Calaveras Frog Jump.

Needless to say, we weren't there for the frog jump. The weather was blazing hot, especially coming from climate-controlled Santa Cruz county. Many fine friends were in attendance. My first husband and I took a little family road trip, with our two small kids in tow. Checked into our air-co hotel in Sonora the day before and off we all went to the show on Saturday.

We headed straight for the shady spot, where lots of families were hanging out. It was a mellow afternoon for my little family. Because the rules were always different when the kids were along. This meant shade, water, and kiddie earplugs, among other things. My boy had already been to about 5 shows, so he was easily acclimated. Baby girl needed to be held and danced-with. A lot. I happily obliged her.

The line-up was cool. The Grateful Dead did not typically have opening acts on the west coast. 'Mister Dave' Lindley and El Rayo X were a blast. Carlos tore it up(of course)-then played a few songs with The Dead. 'Midnight Hour' cooks. The Dead's setlist from that day follows this blathering, and I embedded the set below that. Chills, listening to it. Nothing new there.

So, back to 1987... We headed back to our hotel and lay low for the night. Apparently, we missed the big excitement in Angel's Camp. A lost deadhead girl climbed through someone's cabin window and went to sleep. The cabin owners came home and found her there. Like some trippin' Goldilocks. That summer was the beginning of the end of our excellent scene. The secret was out. Drunken frat dudes had arrived. I had already noticed the difference at Laguna Seca and the Greek that summer. Our little subculture was heading for extinction. It sure was good while it lasted though.

A year later, my husband and I were headed for a divorce. It too was good while it lasted. I've mentioned before that I always had a far easier time being a mother than a wife.

Grateful Dead~August 22, 1987

1:Touch of Gray>Little Red Rooster, Tons Of Steel, Friend of the Devil, Brother Esau, Tennessee Jed,When I Paint My Masterpiece, Bird Song, Good Morning Little Schoolgirl*, Midnight Hour* 2: Hell in a Bucket, When Push Comes To Shove,Estimated Prophet> Eyes of the World> Drumz>The Other One> GDTRFB> Throwing Stones> Lovelight Encore: U. S. Blues

*with Carlos Santana last "Schoolgirl": 09-19-70-David Lindley & El Rayo-X, then Santana opened.



Grateful Dead/Calaveras County Fairgrounds/Saturday, August 22nd, 1987

Sleepy Alligator...

My very lucky Aiko brother works at the all-new California Academy of Sciences which is set to re-open in it's fancy new digs in about a month. As a kid who adored the place, and a mom whose kids did too...I can't wait to have a look-see. He told me about the arrival of the albino alligator last night, then I saw this article on S.F. Gate this morning.

Alligators Have New Swampy Home In Park

Seashore Washed By the Suds and the Foam...

Taken on Tuesday. A glorious day to walk the beach. Everything makes perfect sense there. Sort of like a sweet version of St. Stephen. (Hollywood Palladium/8-6-71)

July 19th, 1987

Baby M and I were at this show together twenty-one summers ago. My pal Gem had passes for us, so we went in style. Comfort is good-- especially with a nine month old in tow. My buddy Aiko Tim was there as well.

Later on, we relaxed at best pal Gem's in Eugene. Miss M enjoys her sink bath, whilst our (sweet departed) Tim assists me. The goofy way he is looking at me makes me grin through tears. We were never romantically intertwined, but I loved him more dearly than I can say. Life has since pushed on, as it tends to do. As for that baby girl in the sink, she's 21.5 now, and living quite contentedly in the city of my birth.


There were days between....

Love Is Love Not Fade Away

I am a proud native San Franciscan today. (Again!!)

Phyllis and Del's Wedding

Note to haters out there: Focus your anger and activism on something that warrants it... like war. Or lying politicians. Or melting polar ice caps. Or gas costs. Like that.

R.I. P. Alton Kelley

Via SF Gate/Joel Selvin

Alton Kelley, one of the founding members of the '60s San Francisco rock scene, died Sunday at his home in Petaluma after a long illness. He was 67.

Mr. Kelley will be remembered as the creator (with his artistic partner, Stanley Mouse) of hundreds of classic psychedelic rock posters, such as the famed "skull and roses" poster for a Grateful Dead show at the Avalon Ballroom. Mr. Kelley and Mouse created 26 posters for just the first year of the Avalon's operation.

But Mr. Kelley was also one of four people who called themselves the Family Dog and decided to throw the world's first psychedelic dance-concerts at Longshoreman's Hall in September 1965, essentially starting the San Francisco scene. The quartet had just returned to the Bay Area after spending an LSD-drenched summer restoring a silver rush dancehall in Virginia City, Nev., called the Red Dog Saloon.

Mr. Kelley, a motorcycle enthusiast since his New England youth who painted pinstripes on bike gas tanks, designed the flyers advertising the original Family Dog shows, but lacked drafting ability. When he met Stanley Mouse, who had recently relocated from Detroit where he made a name for himself doing hot rod art, Mr. Kelley found the draftsman he needed. The two formed Mouse Studios and cranked out art together, Mr. Kelley's drawing skills eventually improving to the point where left-handed Mr. Kelley would be working on one side of the easel, right-handed Mouse on the other.

"He had the most impeccable taste of anybody I knew," said Mouse, "He would do the layouts, and I would do the drawing."

They worked together steadily for 15 years and on and off thereafter. Their Mouse Studios was located in a converted Lower Haight firehouse where Janis Joplin first rehearsed with Big Brother and the Holding Company. They also opened a store called Pacific Ocean Trading Company (POT Co.), one of the first head shops in Haight-Ashbury. Recently, the two collaborated on the cover to the program for this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction dinner.

Mouse said they could work for hours in silence. "We knew what to do," he said. "We didn't have to talk."

During the heyday of the Avalon Ballroom, the pair would frequent the public library looking for images they could employ in their poster-making; Edward Curtis photographs of American Indians, illustrations from 19th century novels (the skull and roses was adapted from "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam"), often laughing so loud at what they found the librarians would ask them to leave.

"They thought it was the funniest stuff in town," said Paul Grushkin, author of "The Art Of Rock.

"The twinkle in Kelley's eye - he knew it was all a giggle."

"Stanley and I had no idea what we were doing," Mr. Kelley told The Chronicle last year. "But we went ahead and looked at American Indian stuff, Chinese stuff, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Modern, Bauhaus, whatever. We were stunned by what we found and what we were able to do. We had free rein to just go graphically crazy. Where before that, all advertising was pretty much just typeset with a photograph of something."

The work of Mr. Kelley and Mouse has come to be recognized as a 20th century American counterpart to the French poster art of Henri de Toulouse Lautrec during the Belle Epoque, although the two psychedelic artists never imagined at the time they were creating anything of enduring value, anything more than another crazy poster for this week's Avalon show.

"We were just having fun making posters," said Mouse. "There was no time to think about what we were doing. It was a furious time, but I think most great art is created in a furious moment."

Mr. Kelley continued to make posters all his life, although his artwork in the recent past concentrated on his air-brushed paintings of hot rods and custom cars that was both sold as fine art and reproduced on T-shirts.

He is survived by his wife, Marguerite Trousdale Kelley, and their children: Patty of San Diego, Yosarian of Seattle and China of Sacramento; two grandchildren; and his mother and sister.

Memorial plans are pending.

Contributions can be made to the Washington Mutual Western Street branch in Petaluma for a memorial bench in Sonoma County Park.

Take Me To The River

Trestle across the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin.

I refer to my birthplace/hometown often here. And why shouldn't I? I am proud of my San Francisco/NorCal roots. In the previous post, Mrs. G. inquired about my "Wisconsin grandma" because she apparently has one as well. It's true that some of my lineage is undeniably Midwestern, and I did spend about five years in Appleton as a young one. My grandmother was born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, and she worked and raised my mom and her siblings in Appleton. Her husband, my grandfather was born in Norway, Michigan. He met and married my grandmother in Wisconsin. Much of my mother's family still lives there.

I haven't been in Appleton since 1979, when a friend and I passed through
and visited my family. We were making our way back home to California, after seeing six Dead shows back east. I still think about the place though. We lived above the Fox River, and that train trestle is the very same one we once walked along. Forty years back.

Apropos

(04-23) 14:36 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- The archives of the Bay Area rock band the Grateful Dead - a treasure trove of more than 30 years of memorabilia that includes the band's first recording contract, life-size skeletons of band members and artwork hand-made by its fans - are headed to UC Santa Cruz, where they will be displayed at McHenry Library.

Few bands are more associated with San Francisco, and the images connected with many of the archive items are instantly recognizable to millions of fans around the world. The archive, which occupies 2,000 square feet of a Marin warehouse, contains thousands of pieces.

Margaret Barrette, director for entertainment memorabilia sales at Bonhams & Butterfields auction house in Los Angeles, estimated the value of such a collection "in the millions." She said Bonhams' auction of Grateful Dead crew member Lawrence "Ramrod" Shurtliff's collection last year netted $1 million, "and that was only 100 pieces."

Guitarist and singer Bob Weir, drummer Mickey Hart and UC Santa Cruz Chancellor George Blumenthal will announce the donation at 11 a.m. today on the Dead's Web site ( www.dead.net) live from San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium, the historic venue where the band emerged as part of the psychedelic ballroom scene in the 1960s.

The archive has been tended all these years by Eileen Law, who was hired in 1972 to take care of the Deadheads, the casually formed fan club born after the band invited fans to write to a San Rafael post office box on its 1971 eponymous album, popularly known as "Skull & Roses." That opened the floodgates for a fan base whose devotion was unprecedented and remains unmatched in the history of rock 'n' roll.

Law worked for the band for 34 years. She saved everything: press clippings, photographs, tickets, backstage passes, promotional materials, business records, posters, T-shirts and other Dead merchandise, issues of the band's '70s newsletter, all the band's posters, vinyl albums, CDs, videos, cassette tapes of hot line messages announcing tour dates, thousands of decorated envelopes mailed to the band's ticket office, even all the show guest lists.

"I was just the person that never shredded," Law said from her home in San Anselmo. "It started off in my little closet" at the Dead's headquarters in San Rafael, "and it kept growing and growing, and now it fills up a warehouse."

After the band broke up following Jerry Garcia's death in 1995, the surviving members kept the office open, finally closing operations in 2006.

In August of that year, they moved the extensive vault of the band's musical recordings in four refrigerated 18-wheelers to Los Angeles, where it is maintained by Rhino Records, which is authorized to release the band's music. The question remained of what to do with the archive.

Both UC Berkeley, where bassist Phil Lesh was once a student, and Stanford, which his son now attends, made a pitch for the archive. But the Dead members ultimately chose UC Santa Cruz. McHenry Library will have a dedicated, interactive reading room tentatively named Dead Central with music playing and rotating exhibitions. The library is being renovated and expanded and is set to open in fall 2009, and the archive will be available to fans and researchers alike.

"I think it's a perfect fit for Santa Cruz - the ethos of the band, the whole idea of community sharing, is really well matched with our campus," said Christine Bunting, head of special collections for the library. "Our campus has a great music program, and we're really interested in the study of American vernacular music and popular culture.

"We also have this whole side that's concerned with social justice and tolerance and community spirit. And I think that fits so perfectly with what the band has done and what the Deadheads have sustained over the years."

The connections between the band and the university are long and deep. They both came into existence in the mid-'60s. Law's son-in-law, Cameron Sears, former manager of the Grateful Dead and now of Weir's band RatDog - is a Santa Cruz alumnus, as is the daughter of Alan Trist, head of the Grateful Dead's publishing company, Ice Nine. Santa Cruz music Professor Fred Lieberman has taught a class in the music of the Grateful Dead for years and has collaborated with Hart on two books. The campus radio station has a weekly show featuring the band's music called "Dead Serious."

The library already has the archives of science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein and Beat poet, painter and novelist Kenneth Patchen and the only intact collection of photographer Edward Weston's project prints in the world. But the Dead archive will be the university's biggest.

The archive contains many historical documents, such as notes from the band's weekly meetings. "That's the kind of primary material that shows what their decisions were at the time they were making them," Bunting said.

But the most interesting aspect of the archive, she said, is "the whole Deadhead side to it. The band's following is a phenomenon in itself."

How does Law feel about letting go of the archive she tended all those years?

"It's like sending your kids off to college: 'Oh, they're leaving home!' That's what it feels like, even though now I know it will be preserved and well taken care of. It's another stage of development."

Shadoobie

Better days~ Aiko Timmy schmoozing with Mickey Hart
Greek Theatre~ Berkeley, California

He was our personal Neal Cassady. Born and bred behind the redwood curtain, he came of age at Winterland. He was hooked on life, music, and drugs . When everyone else decided to try and grow up, he scoffed. And stayed a boy, forever.

It's now twelve years to the day. The day my ex met me at the door with those two words. Tim died. Like being hit in the face with a baseball bat. A year after the funeral, we had his name engraved in the Circle of Friends in Golden Gate Park.I miss him still. His life counted, even if it only lasted thirty-nine years.

A Tim memory: In 1980 I lived in the heart of San Rafael, above the mission. Tim planned a visit to trade music and get out of Humboldt for a few days. I had met him about a year before, through mutual G.D. friends.I was at home after work on the day he was due to show up, waiting. The waiting went on and on. I was thinking that I might give up and make other plans when the phone rang. It was Tim, telling me that he hadn't left Eureka yet!(Five hours away)I lit into him about his inconsiderate ways, and hung up the phone. About five minutes later, someone rang the bell. It was smiling Tim. He decided he'd stop at a phone booth near my place,(before the cellphone age) and call-just to get a reaction. Which he did, of course. I opened that door and we laughed a long time.

Daybreak On The Land

Here's a link to the Deadheads For Obama show on Monday. On Internet Archive, by way of Irenie.

Phil and Friends/February 4th, 2008/Warfield Theater