I’m thinking of all the friends that we have met along the way, some will go, some will stay.

2000-2001                Lisa Mills.   You think she looks good,  you should hear her sing.

El Ciego is Blindman and No Te Gusto is Down On Me, but that seems like not such a good translation. No Te Gusto means ‘you don’t like me,’ and the song means much more than that. Well, No Te Gusto means I Don’t Please You, if you please, but “looks like everybody in the whole round world…  DOWN on me” is a whole different kettle of fish. More, kozmic, cosmic, universal… beyond YOU don’t like ME.  More like the whole damn world don’t like me. And stronger than that, is DOWN on me.

There IS another meaning to Down On Me, as I was to learn from Marilyn Chambers.

We were going to go on the road together and she asked me to play Down On Me and she was going to sing it. She took the song literally and began acting out the down on me part. That was interesting.

The tour never happened for some reason, but we had a lot of fun rehearsing for it.

22 January 2000  Six Rivers Brewing Company    McKinleyville     California

26 January 2000          Paradise Lounge              San Francisco

10 February 2000         Halley DeVestern

Simone Mo took this photograph of my tuner at the Koko Live Club in Biella Castelletto, Italia.

Doing Love, Janis at The Bay Street Theatre     Sag Harbor     New York

Catherine Curtin, who is married to Randal Myler, is now in Orange Is The New Black. She plays a prison guard.

.

Funny writer. I wish I could remember his son and the circumstances.

With Elise at the Village Theatre, Manhattan, for Love Janis.  The Village Theatre is where I saw The National Lampoon Show in the 1970s, that featured all the people who were to become the core of Saturday Night Live a little later: Dan Ackroyd, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Lorraine Newman, Gilda Radner.

Andra Mitrovich, Catherine Curtin and Cathy Richardson

Rob Clores, keyboards, and there is Joe Stefko in the back.

James Gurley

I spent February-March of 2000 in Paris writing songs and recording with Janice de Rosa and Marten Ingle.

During this time, I met Alan Merrill. We had a lot of late night Parisian jams at Janice de Rosa’s apartment in the Marais.

Alan has a natural songwritng talent, is a gifted singer and instrumentalist and a lot of fun to be with.

Alan Merril was the first westerner to achieve pop star status in Japan. He wrote I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll and was the first person to record it with Arrows in 1975. Then Joan Jett recorded it. Then Brittany Spears recorded it, so Alan is doing all right.

Elise Piliwale

2 April 2000               Record Convention             Pittsburgh

My brother Dan Andrew.

I played Beethoven 7 with this man and a hundred other musicians. He taught music at Redwood High School in Corte Madera, California.

Elise at the Acropolis.

In Austria, I sometimes stay in a town called Klagenfurt where Gustav Mahler had a Komponierhäuschen, a little composing house, on Lake Wörther.

Don Aters took this photograph.

26 May 2000    The Valley Grill     Great Valley   New York

27 May 2000   AM JAM Biker Festival  Cobleskill Fairgrounds   Cobleskill  New York

28 May 2000     Joyous Lake   Woodstock   New York   I’ll never forget the set that Charles Mingus did here one night. Incandescent, beautiful, swinging.

17 June 2000      Medicine Park Music Hall       Medicine Park      Oklahoma

With Lance Dresser on drums and Bill Ganaye (above, right, on bass) playing guitar. Bill was such a great guitarist.

Lisa Mills sang with us.

24 June 2000   Cuesta College     San Luis Obispo   California       Lots of students, great bookstores, beautiful weather.

15 July 2000           Burg Herzberg Open Air Festival          Hof Hühnstadt            Germany   with Lisa Mills

31 July 2000           Writing for Relix Magazne.

19 August 2000          Westover Winery        Castro Valley        California   Elise played harp, I played guitar.  We performed at several wineries during this time.

With Elise Piliwale               Summer  2000

25 August 2000     Kelsey’s      New Albany     Indiana

26 August 2000        Motown Harley Davidson            Taylor        Michigan

With Peter Albin

29 August 2000            The Combat Zone        Toronto        Ontario

30 August 2000       The Ottawa Bar           Windsor        Ontario

31 August 2000         The Village Inn        Leamington         Ontario

1 September 2000       Classic Fest 2000      Windsor   Ontario

2 September 2000       Rockin’ Rhythm & Blues     Fort Erie Racetrack       Ontario

3 September 2000       Roach Roast Festival      Rainbow Farm      Vandalia      Michigan

8 September 2000      State Capital Steps          Sacramento

22-23 September 2000      Alturas Night Club             Reno

4 October 2000         The Landmark Hotel,  hallway to room 105            Los Angeles             Photo:    Howard Sounes

7 October 2000          Schnepf Farms Festival Site        Queen Creek         Arizona

Tim Robbins            Joel Hoekstra

Joel has a large “extra” part in Rock of Ages. He holds his own with Russell Brand in the Strip being destroyed scene, and that is saying something because Russell is very talented and he has the divine spark of energy in him… something that cannot be taught or learned, but is innate. And Joel holds his own. He commands as much attention in that scene as Russell does.

Another Englishman who could be destined for greatness. I hope so anyway. He deserves it.

Joel Hoekstra is probably the best guitarist I have ever known.  Not the retiring type either.  He did it the easy way. He practiced eight hours a day for twenty years.  Anybody can do that, right ?

13 October 2000        Mississippi Coast Harley Davidson  Anyway, Joel was on this gig with us in, Biloxi, Mississippi.

People from the Northeast say “OreGON” and “BiLOXee,” probably thinking that here on the Gulf Coast there are lox to be found. Lachs is the German word for “salmon” and that’s where lox came from. BUT, in the West they say ORegon and in the South they say BiLucksee.

With Lisa Mills

Wendy Causey                     Elise Piliwale          Elise went to high school in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

25 November 2000     Paper Song           Oakland

25 November 2000      Swan Marketplace             Oakland

Victoria Rayles and Chet Helms      2001

3 February 2001   Paradise Beach Inn    Grover’s Beach   California           Clams from Pismo Beach.

23 February 2001            Bio tuner ?     I love that.     It’s so Variety.     Slang from the 1940s.

25 February 2001           We put a lot of work into this one.

24 March 2001         Schnepf Family Farm          Queen Creek       Arizona

26 March 2001

Musicians in the New York version of Love, Janis.

6 April 2001                    New York Daily News

23 April 2001

Larry Etkin              Joel Hoekstra         Dan Cipriano          23 April 2001

26 April 2001  The after party for the New York Love, Janis.

27 May 2001            Ashkenaz           Berkeley

1 June 2001     Sedgwick County Zoo          Wichita     Kansas

2 June 2001   Medicine Park Music Hall   Medicine Park   Oklahoma

Bill Ganaye played with us on this gig. Excellent musician.

4 June 2001      Heathrow, what a great name.

16 June 2001      Starlight Amphitheatre     San Diego       This is in Balboa Park, a lovely place.

17 June 2001    Pine Knob    Auburn Hills         Michigan

Elise Piliwale

20 June 2001       Experimental Music Project      Sky Church      Seattle

22 June 2001         Keswick Theatre          Philadelphia

23 June 2001       B.B. King’s Blues Club       New York City

1 July 2001   Battlefield Harley Davidson Festival     Gettysburg        Pennsylvania

13 July 2001         Riverside Ballroom       Green Bay        Wisconsin

14 July 2001        Angel’s Saloon     Hamler      Ohio

15 July 2001     Motown Harley Davidson   Taylor    Michigan

18 July 2001  The Borderline         London

With Peter Albin  Chad Quist  Lisa Mills and  Todd Vinciguerra

19 July 2001        The Masque    Liverpool

20 July 2001         The Brook    Southampton

21 July 2001     Open Air Festival      Burg Herzberg         Germany

Lisa Mills.

11 August 2001       Trump Taj Mahal             Atlantic City         New Jersey

12 August 2001     Gathering On The Mountain          Blakeslee         Pennsylvania

17 August 2001   The Thirsty Ear Tavern   Columbus Ohio

18 August 2001  Lapeer Days Festival   Lapeer      Michigan

Jan Sullivan                Elise Piliwale

19 August 2001    Emerald Queen Casino    Tacoma  Washington

24 August 2001   The Orbit Club    Boynton Beach  Florida

26 August 2001            Rockstock          Toole       Utah

14 September 2001    Elks Lodge     Chico            California

16 September 2001        Westover Winery         Castro Valley       California

20 September 2001    Beth Hart, Jon Nichols standing behind her, Todd Vinciguerra on drums.  I never had Beth sing in Big Brother. She’s the only one I missed from the Love, Janis crew. I’d like to rectify that someday.

28 September 2001    San Diego opening of Love, Janis.

Dana Anderson and Jon Nichols

Kacee Clanton

Randal Myler wrote Love, Janis based on Janis’ letters home to her family.

29 September 2001    Redwood Empire Fairgrounds         Ukiah         California

2 October 2001       Elise and I are married in Las Vegas.     Smartest thing I ever did.

4 October 2001             The Landmark Hotel, room 105    Table by the window          Los Angeles             Photo:   Howard Sounes

17 November 2001         Fox Theatre            Redwood City         California

21 November 2001     Cyndee-Sue’s Saloon     East Bethel     Minnesota

23 November 2001   On Broadway    Springfield     Illinois

See you next week?

Sam Andrew

____________________________________________________________

1999

Ma… chi è quest’angelo?      But… who is this angel?

Andra Mitrovich did these dates with us. I met her in Cleveland while we were doing Love, Janis.

A Corpus Christi cotton gin

12 January 1999     Executive Club     Corpus Christi   Texas

12 January 1999  Top of the Mark  Austin   My mother and sisters came to this gig. Andra and I sang Since I Met You, Baby.

14 January     Blue Cat Blues Club               Dallas

Photo:  Polly Belinda Rendall

15 January 1999  Billy Blues  Houston

I played at Billy Blues with The Sam Andrew Band and now returned with Big Brother.

16 January 1999    Janis Joplin Birthday Bash   Port Arthur

Andra Mitrovich

Museum of the Gulf Coast

A letter from Sam Monroe who knew Janis in high school.

Sam became the president of Lamar State College where Janis went to school.

Elise in a work by Robert Rauschenberg at the Museum of the Gulf Coast.

Robert Rauschenberg

17 January 1999   Whisky a Go Go   West Hollywood

Elise campaigning.

Andra Mitrovich sang with Big Brother at the Whisky.

I sang with Big Brother and Moby Grape. We had a ball.

David LaFlamme playing on Do What You love.

30 January 1999     Six Rivers Brewing Company    McKinleyville    California

20 February 1999              Markham Vineyards                 Napa

There were a couple of earthquakes recently near Napa, one in August and one on 24 September 2014. I had just played in Berkeley with Freddie Krc at the Art House on Shattuck. I came home, went to bed and was awakened by the quake at about three in the morning.

2 March 1999                My first  Love, Janis production.                  Cleveland

Catherine Curtin and Beth Hart

When I arrived in Cleveland to do Love, Janis,  I was given a car and a parking permit.

7 March 1999     The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame      Someday they’ll let us in.

With  Jane Scott   Jimmy Khoury    Beth Hart

Jane Scott wrote the first Cleveland review of Big Brother and the Holding Company in the 1960s (Cleveland Plain Dealer).

22 April 1999     Small Planet    East Lansing     Michigan

23 April 1999    Club Soda       Kalamazoo

Yes, I went and looked at the Gibson factory, all gone now, gone to Nashville.

24 April 1999    Cavern Club    Ann Arbor

25 April 1999     Main Event   Toledo

 

An encouraging note from the manager of the theatre company at The Cleveland Play house.

28 April 1999    The Barrel House    Cincinnati

29 April 1999   Graffiti    Pittsburgh

30 April 1999   Thunderdome    Akron      Maria Stanford sang with us at this time.

1 May 1999   The Lafayette Tap Room    Buffalo

Valerie Johnson

3 June 1999             The Great American Music Hall            San Francisco

10 June 1999           Clos du Bois Winery     Sonoma    California

26 June 1999   Freedom Fest   Canton   Ohio

Francine Sama sang this one with us and Nina McCollum sat in on some tunes.

27 June 1999             Adams County Fairgrounds             Brighton         Colorado

21 July 1999 Starwood Festival    Sherman  New York

5 August 1999   Television  interviews to promote Love, janis.

7 August 1999     Rockin’ The Rockies  La Hood Park   Cardwell        Montana

8 August 1999            Pennington Music Festival            Pennington  Minnesota

Maria Stanford

Minnesota, where the state bird is the mosquito. They were flying into my mouth while I was singing. I didn’t dare inhale.

10 August 1999           Opening night in Cleveland

10-12 August 1999   Broken Spoke Saloon  Sturgis  South Dakota

14-15 August 1999

7 September 1999      Janis Joplin:   An absolute demand for non conformity.

13 August 1999       Yesterday’s Heroes      Cape May             New Jersey

14 August 1999     Big Boulder Ski Area    Poconos    Pennsylvania

20 August 1999      private wedding       Philo         California

28 August 1999    Barnes Park Memorial Bowl    Monterey Park    California

23 September 1999    Lisa Mills     I met Lisa because my wife’s best friend knew her hairdresser. What a treasure she has proved to be.

24 September 1999           Royal Bear          Algona             Washington

25 September 1999     Kyoto Benefit          Portland         Oregon

3 October 1999      The Palace   Louisville    Kentucky

4 October 1999        Room 105       The Landmark Hotel      Los Angeles

7 October 1999   19 Broadway             Fairfax               California         Tom Finch

Peter Albin       Karen Lyberger

9 October 1999   Greater Pensacola Motorcycle Rally   Pensacola    Florida

14 October 1999    The Orbit     Fort Meyers Florida

16 October 1999  Magnolia Festival   Live Oak    Florida

San Geronimo Valley Drive about 1900    Marin County   California

This looks like where Creamery Road is now. A ranch in San Geronimo.

Julia Ward Howe, Annie Mailliard’s sister. In 1895 Annie Mailliard died of breast cancer in the home she loved so dearly. Her husband died a year later. Their home became the clubhouse of the Woodacre Improvement Club in 1924.

The building burned in 1958 and was replaced, where it continues to serve the Club’s members and the Valley community.

29 October 1999    Woodacre Improvement Club             Woodacre  (also known as Weird Acre)    California

Tom Finch and Rahman are true Renaissance men.

The train station in San Geronimo.  It’s still there, but you would have to be from here to see that it is the same building. Everything has changed so much.

Lagunitas, California, where Big Brother and the Holding Company lived 1966-1967. That building on the right with the white roof is standing where the Lagunitas general store is now.

30 October 1999    The Brookdale Lodge   Brookdale  California  With Kathi McDonald and Bob Mosely.

18 December 1999     We took Margaret and Michael Joplin to see Beach Blanket Babylon.

Diana Andrew calls me Uncle Sam.

Sam Andrew and Sam Andrew

__________________________________________________________

Lynn Asher

1998

Big Brother has been blessed with great singers:  Janis Joplin, Kate Russo, Lynn Asher, Sophia Ramos, Kacee Clanton, Andra Mitrovich, Cathy Richardson, Lisa Mills, Lisa Battle, Kathi McDonald, Jeri Verdi, Jane Myrenget, Halley DeVestern, Darby Gould, Arianna Antinori, Stacy Bauer, Jennifer Espinosa, Melissa Etheridge, Eileen Humphreys, Valerie Johnson, Mari Mack, Kristina Kopriva Rehling, Francine Sama, Mary Bridget Davies, Wendy Rich, Jody Joseph, Desirée Le Mieux, Diane Lotny, Chloe Lowery, Magdi Ruzsa, Boudicca, Michel Bastian, Shiho Superfly, Trish Burke and Maria Stanford.

Now, before the History Police come and break down my door to inform me that, for example, Melissa Etheridge was never in the band and she sang only a couple of tunes, I hasten to add that several of these singers were only with us briefly.

Each of these people sang very well when they were with us, and I love them all.

I am very fortunate to have performed with people of this caliber.     Photo:  Robert Altman

23 January 1998   Six Rivers Brewing Company    McKinleyville   California

6  February 1998    Bay Brewing Company     Milwaukee   Wisconsin

7 February 1998   Marquette University  Milwaukee   Wisconsin

Margaret Nelson Gurley.

10 February 1998   Tuxedo Junction  Danbury  Conneticut     “See ya, James.”   “Not if I see you first.”       Typical Gurley exchange.

20 February 1998    The Emelin Theatre   Mamaroneck     New York

21 February 1998    The Call   Providence    Rhode Island

22 February 1998  Bodles Opera House  Chester   New York

“James, you’re a great guitar player.”   “Takes one to know one.”

26 February 1998  Manny’s Car Wash  New York City    Oh, man, I love being in New York and meeting people like Kate Russo.

27 February 1998  Mexicali Blues  Teaneck  New Jersey    Catherine Cavalieri and Carl Peachman took LSD that night. That was interesting. We all drove home together. To show you how stoned they were, I was doing the driving. There was a still, meditative feeling in the car. Rather different from Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer On The Wall.

Having passed her acid test, Catherine begins booking the band.   Typical sweet, helpful note from her.

28 February 1998   Van Dyck    Schenectady   New York             Don Wilcock was a jazz writer attuned to the passing scene.

With  Lisa Battle

1 March 1998   Khyber   Philadelphia

2 March 1998   Letter from Jack Ortman.

Jeannie Anderson    James Anderson   Elise Piliwale   Margaret Joplin

Dusty Street                Gilbert Klein

7 March 1998                    Bammies

Koko Dree.

14 March 1998  Cocodrie   San Francisco

22 April 1998   Dave’s CC Club   Tallahassee   Florida   This was a real juke joint out in the woods. The owner Dave is a good man.

24 April 1998     Ray’s Downtown Club     West Palm Beach

25 April 1998       Cheers       Fort Lauderdale

26 April 1998     Mr. Pub     Ocala    Florida

1 May 1998   Trader’s  Lakeland  Florida   May Day ! May Day !  This pilot’s distress call from World War Two was originally M’aidez !  Help Me !

2 May 1998   Sebastian Beach Inn    Sebastian Beach   Florida

12 May 1998

15 May 1998   President Casino   Biloxi    Mississippi

16 May 1998  Tipitina’s      New Orleans

12 June 1998     Mount Tabor     Portland      Oregon     The Mt. Tabor Theater was named after an extinct volcano located within the city boundaries of Portland, Oregon. The theatre was operating prior to 1941 and was still open in 1950. Although it closed and fell on hard times, it still displayed the name on the marquee and some unique neon tubing. It is situated across and down S.E. Hawthorne Street from the Bagdad, which has fared much better.

The colorful gentlemen who used to build, finance and own these places in the 1950s called them “carpet joints.”

13 June 1998   Reno Hilton      Reno

19 June 1998   Six Rivers   McKinleyville     California

With Peter Walsh and George Michalski

20 June 1998  Altamont  Speedway  Livermore  Caliifornia

25 June 1998     Manny’s Car Wash   New York City

Look at the people who played here in one month’s time: Kerry Kearney, Susan Tedeschi, Jimmy Vivino.

Talking to Daniel Aloi.

26 June 1998   West Strand Grill   Kingston   New York

Kingston is on highway 87 almost due north of Manhattan.  Woodstock is a little to the northeast of Kingston.

Buffalo is in the western part of New York state between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, where the Falls are.

27 June 1998    Mohawk Place   Buffalo  New York   Someone made such a great recording of us here, including a fugue that Tom Finch and I played.

Elise Wainani Piliwale

28 June 1998    Stanhope Blues Fest     Stanhope    New Jersey

1 July 1998   Kingsbury’s   Elmira   New York        Mark Twain’s wife Olivia Langdon grew up in Elmira.

The Clemens family lived in Hartford, Connecticut, but they summered at Quarry Farm, Elmira, New York.

Livy’s sister Susan Crane lived here. She built a study in the form of a pilot house for the author. This is where he wrote his best known books. Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and The Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. He would breakfast in the main house and then walk down to the study to write all day.

…since we have perched away up here on top of the hill near heaven I have the feeling of being a sort of scrub angel & am more moved to help shove the clouds around, & get the stars on deck promptly, & keep all things trim & ship-shape in the firmament than to bother myself with the humble insect-interests & occupations of the distant earth.

Twain’s study in the form of a pilot house out in back of the main house where Susan Crane, Livy’s sister, lived.

3 July 1998   Godfrey Daniel’s      Bethlehem       Pennsylvania

4 July 1998       Burke Estate     Hastings-On-Hudson  New York

Catherine Cavalieri, who had begun to book us, decided to have us perform near her home in Hastings-on-Hudson. We performed on the grounds of the Burke Estate which has quite a history.

The place had belonged to Billie Burke, perhaps best known as Glinda, the good witch, in The Wizard of Oz.

Billie Burke was married to Florenz Ziegfeld, the preeminent showman of his time.

Flo Ziegfeld hired all of the famous actors of the day for his regular theatre times, but at midnight he had a special set of shows which featured performers like Will Rogers who was a kind of latter day Mark Twain, wise, funny and talented. Billie, herself quite gifted, helped her husband keep track of all these luminaries.

So, Catherine Cavalieri brought us to play on the grounds of Billie Burke’s estate. It was a beautiful sunny day and there were a lot of children with their families.

19 July 1998   Uncle Henry’s 90th Birthday Celebration   Guerneville   California       Peter played stand up bass, and I sang How Long Has This Been Going On at this event.

24 July 1998     Atom Club     Tokyo

26 July 1998   Shizuoka Royal Hotel    Shizuoka    Japan    Our hotel is at the ‘H.’

28 July 1998             Rag Club               Kyoto

31 July 1998     Casanova   Makawao     Maui    Hawaii

1 August 1998      Hapa’s        Kihei                Hawaii

2 August 1998     Anna Banana’s       Honolulu     This is Fort Street, about 1930.

Anna Banana’s.

15 August 1998    St. Paul’s River Feast    St. Paul    Minnesota

16 August 1998   The Twisters    Kenosha    Wisconsin

19 August 1998     Mad Frog      Cincinnati

20 August 1998  Wilbert’s  Cleveland    I liked this place. Friendly people.

22 August 1998   B.B. King’s    Los Angeles

23 August 1998            House of Blues              West Hollywood

11 September 1998   Teatro Metopolitan   México, D.F.    One of the best gigs ever. Kate Russo came along and sang and played so beautifully.

I did several interviews in Spanish and they seemed to understand me, which is good, because they often don’t understand me in English.

Danny Uzilevsky came along and played some great guitar.

Sound check:    We were here with Fito de la Parra and his merry men, and that is always fun.

Elise was with me, so this trip was extra special.

Playing a couple of tunes at El Tianguís del Chopo, signing autographs and selling CDs.

¡ Saludos a México !

Kate Russo.

9 October 1998   The Call  Providence     Geri Verdi sang these gigs with us.

10 October 1998              Harpers Ferry Boston      Halley DeVestern sang with us.

11 October 1998  Consolati Performing Arts Center    Sheffield    Massachusetts

14 October 1998    Ram’s Head   Annapolis    Maryland

15 October 1998      Friar Tuck’s      Norfolk     Virginia

16 October 1998      Jaxx    Springfield    Virginia

17 October 1998      Stanhope House     Stanhope     New Jersey

18 October 1998      The Schoolhouse   Croton Falls  New York

22 October 1998       Milestones      Rochester    New York

23 October 1998    The Van Dyck     Schenectady   New York

24 October 1998      Sandy’s    Glen Falls      New York

25 October 1998                Riverstreet Jazz Café              Wilkes-Barre              Pennsylvania

27 October 1998      Hard Rock Café    Atlantic City   New Jersey

This is when the Carol guitar entered the Hard Rock system. She now travels all over the world visiting all the Hard Rocks.

28 October 1998      Khyber                      Philadelphia

30 October 1998    Mexicali Blues Teaneck New Jersey      Kate Russo

A major marketing mistake?  Or did it not matter much that Columbia Records released five singles at once? One thing is for sure. They are all great songs.

Peter Lewis. Great voice. Really very good guitar player.  Hard worker.

Look at the guy on the right.  Same guitar that he plays today.

We did these tunes and many others as well.

With Jerry Miller and Bob Mosly at Wetlands, New York City.

27 November 1998  19 Broadway  Fairfax   California      I love the Russell brothers.

These guys can burn the house down in fifteen minutes.

5 December 1998   Boulder Theatre   Boulder  California

See you next week?

Tom Finch, Bernard Purdie, Sam Andrew, Halley DeVestern

_____________________________________________________________

1995-1997    

Photo:   Polly Belinda Rendall

Double Happiness

6 January 1995        My first date with Elise Piliwale.    Sarasota  Florida.

Six January is the Feast of the Epiphany, and was it ever.

7 January 1995   Playing at my old friend Virgil Wilhite’s bookstore in Clearwater.

When Big Brother and the Holding Company couldn’t play, I would tour as The Sam Andrew Band. Trying to make a living.

13 January 1995          Sarasota

19 January 1995     Same photo, but as far as you can get from Sarasota, Florida, and still be in the USA.

27 January 1995   Casanova    A beautiful club in Makawao, Maui.

They used to film westerns in this town and it still has a paniolo (cowboy) feel.

28 January 1995   Pahoa  Hawaii             Pahoa is the Bolinas of Hawaii.

31 January 1995                    Trying to arrange a trip to Japan.

10 February 1995                  Dizzy’s in Houston.              A good band and a good club.

18 February 1995   Big Brother and the Holding Company    Smiley’s  Bolinas  California    Bolinas is like the Pahoa of California.

Expressing our sympathy for Kobe earthquake victims.

Photo:   Polly Belinda Rendall

     

Early attempt at writing a history of the band.

3 March 1995   Johnny Otis Club     Sebastopol    California

30 March 1995    Paradise Lounge  San Francisco

Jan Kerouac.

Nihon       Nippon      Japan

This character means “sun.”

This character means root or base or origin or bottom.

Together they mean “sun origin,” Japan.   Land of the rising sun.

JAPAN !

Notice that the shape of Japan is that of a dragon.

Another interesting aspect is that the south to north latitudes almost exactly parallel those of the USA East Coast so that Okinawa is about the same latitude as Florida, and Hokkaido is up where Maine is.

2 April 1995   Café Kenya                   Hikone               Japan

So close yet so far from my beloved Okinawa.

2 April 1995      Bill Hamm and Mike Wilhelm were with us on this tour.

Ongaku.      Music.

4 April 1995   Rag Club       Kyoto           Japan

7 April 1995

Photo:   Polly Belinda Rendall

8 April 1995   Taku Taku  Kyoto        This is the way they write Kyoto in Kyoto.

9 April 1996      Happy Birthday, Elise !

We traveled in Japan by train and subway, much the best way to go.

12 April 1995                       On Air           Shibuya          Tokyo

Shibuya.

Tokyo to Nagoya.

13 April 1995      Bottom Line            Nagoya            Japan

_______________________NA     GO     YA

16 April 1995                 Earthquake Benefit              We played on a dried river bed (Kawaramachi) in Kyoto.

17 April 1995   Quattro     Osaka        ”Osaka” means “big hill,” but the O has to last longer and to be stressed more.  Ooo saka.

19 April 1995   Taku Taku    Kyoto      ”Taku Taku” is not a “normal” Japanese word

I’m looking up “Taku Taku” trying to understand what it could mean. Sometimes you just have to be a native speaker, and even then some things are a puzzle. We have many similar instances in our language.

For example, what if you saw a club called Bowbard, how would you translate that for a Japanese person ?  You’d probably say, “Eh, it’s just a name.”  And, yes, it IS just a name. Or, you could look the word up in an archaic dictionary where you would find: Bowbard:   A dastard; a person destitute of spirit. Considered akin to “boobie” and “buffoon.” Perhaps derived from German “Bub,” which first signified a boy, then a servant, and finally a worthless fellow.

In Yiddish English (Yinglish?),  you can hear this sentence. Bubby made a kischke.  Here,  Bubby means grandmother.

Anyway, I spent a lot of time trying to get to the meaning of “Taku Taku,” and, you know what? It was time well spent.

Michel Bastian.

21 April 1995                  Taku Taku             Kyoto

23 April 1995  Bar Isn’t It ?  Kyoto      This is the name of the bar in English.   It’s just a name, OK?

Noriko-san is here. James Gurley is here. Michel Bastian is here. Massan, our name for Masuda-san, he is here. I am there somewhere.

Living out my life in stages.    These Eastern perceptions of the ups and downs in our lives remind me of a passage in Shakespeare.

His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

25 April 1995      We fly home.

9 May 1995   Hyatt Regency      San Francisco        High Anxiety.

11 May 1995    Good Times    Eugene   Oregon

12 May 1995     Bojangles     Portland

13 May 1995  Ashland  Oregon      I love to hear Paul DeLay play.

14 May 1995                 University of California             Davis

James and Auy Sanchez

20 May 1995                   Mr. Q’s              Tiburon           California

Snooky Flowers and Cash Farrar.

9 June 1995   The Sam Andrew Band in Texas.  Dan Electro’s is a great place.

10 June 1995    Big Brother     Seaside             California

Darby and The Slick.

Linda McCartney took this one.

11 June 1995                 Santa Rosa            California

16 June 1995                       Maritime Hall retrospective.

18 June 1995                 Fresno                 California

Rehearsing for Manny’s on the upper West Side of The Rotten Apple, as Tommy Doyle used to call it.

28 June 1995    I loved playing at Manny’s Car Wash. The stage was tiny, the backstage green room almost nonexistent, but the owners were great and the ambiënce fabulous.

My good looking New York band. Talented too.  This is about as many people as could fit backstage at Manny’s.

Jynx Lynx and Kerry Kearney.

Rita Wiegand took these photographs.

4 July 1995  Aquatic Park  San Francisco  This place reminds me of my “beatnik” days. We used to buy a gallon of Gallo Red Mountain Burgundy for $ 2.89, some avocados and French bread, and then go play guitars and congos, bongos and whatever else we could find.

15 July 1995 with Elise.

29 July 1995    Marin Civic Auditorium    San Rafael      California

6 August 1995    I loved The Ace of Cups.   Diane Vitalich played with me in the Sam Andrew Band a few times. Good drummer. Plus, when Diane was there we got to do Heat Wave and she sang it. Lots of fun.

6-7 August 1995    Moby Grape !

With Jerry Miller, Peter Lewis and Bob Mosley.

I sang the Skip Spence parts.

18 August 1995   State Fair              Santa Rosa          California

19 August 1995     Forestville             California

24 August 1995    House of Blues   Hollywood

31 August 1995   Rock & Roll Hall of Fame   Cleveland   Ohio

31 August 1995  Peabody’s Down Under   Cleveland

2 September 1995     Nevada City         California

Tony Seldin had a special voice, tremulous and emotional.  Good for his poetry.

9 September 1995    Glendale State Fair     Glendale   California

23 September 1995    Big Brother and the Holding Company at the Fairfax Pavilion   Fairfax   California

9 October 1995                 Golden Gate Park Bandshell                San Francisco

22 October 1995              Mountain Home Garcia Tribute           Livermore          California

Luther Tucker    Rich Kirch    Bill Ganaye

6 November 1995        Freddie Krc, who played drums with Jerry Jeff Walker, will be mayor of Austin one of these days.

6 November 1995         Sam Andrew Band    Last Concert Café      Houston

10 November 1995                   Hank’s               Austin

12 November 1995       The Love Ride    Castaic   California          Jay Leno was the MC at this one.

6 December 1995              DNA Lounge            375  Eleventh Street               San Francisco

15 December 1995          Sam Andrew Band       Peri’s          Fairfax          California

18 December 1995

28 December 1995     Sam Andrew Band    Seattle

31 December 1995            Sausalito Yacht Club            Sausalito         California

20 January 1996     Palookaville          Santa Cruz

In January 1996, Elise and I went to London where I played a few dates. This was the coldest month we have ever spent there. We were stuffing towels under the doors to keep out the cold.

22 March 1996            Keeping it going in the Pacific Northwest.

9 April 1996         Happy Birthday, Elise.

23 April 1996    Narada !    He played Piece of My Heart with Lydia Pense and me.      This is his birthday.

2 June 1996     Maritime Hall    San Francisco       Hey, kids !  Let’s make a film.

Plotting, plodding and plotzing in the green room.

3 June 1996              Domaine Chandon           Napa

22 June 1996    Nudestock    Turtle Lake    Michigan       One of the most incredible gigs ever.   First of all, the entire audience was naked.

Then, we were on the bill with Paul Revere and the Raiders, who antedate even us. Paul had an “act,” a vaudeville act. He fired a pistol to punctuate his jokes which were polished and funny.

This was one of Lisa Battle’s first gigs with us, and she is a suburban girl. We drove across the field to the stage and hundreds of naked people came running toward us. I am sure that it was Lisa’s worst nightmare about being in a rock band.

25 June 1996     Manny’s Car Wash     New York City

27 June 1996    Sam Andrew Band opens for the truly incredible and gorgeous Bud E. Luv at the Paradise Lounge, San Francisco.

30 June 1996    Maestro’s      San Ramon   California

4 July 1996  Fairstock     Del Mar  California

10 July 1996      Trying to get something going, making proposals, waiting for answers.

25 July 1996   Evergreen Ballroom   Olympia  Washington         Duffy Bishop and Chris Carlson.

The Evergreen Ballroom was such a great place to play, and especially fun with Duffy and Chris.

26 July 1996         Detour Tavern     Washington

27 July 1996    Sonoma County Fair   Santa Rosa

31 July 1996

3 August 1996  Concord Elks’ Club     Concord      California

7 August 1996      Moto Rally      Sturges     South Dakota

10 August 1996       Gathering On The Mountain      Poconos        Pennsylvania

12 August 1996   Iron Horse     Northampton     Massachusetts

13 August 1996   Turning Point   Piermont  New York

14 August 1996       Old Vienna Kafeehaus   Westborough    Massachusetts

16 August 1996     Harpers Ferry     Boston

I have a friend Rob Morse who used to write a column for the San Francisco Chronicle. When I am in Boston, I talk with his brother Steve Morse who writes for The Boston Globe.

18 August 1996    Magic Bag Theatre    Ferndale     Michigan

20 August 1996      Wilbert’s    Cleveland   This was a hot gig.    I still have recordings that we did at Wilbert’s and they are superb.

23 August 1996                House of Blues             West Hollywood

Songlist from 1996.

31 August 1996       Rockford              Illinois

7 September 1996  Seafood Fest  Pittsburgh California   This was the first gig where I used my PRS that Paul Reed Smith gave me. She’s a beauty.

What’s the name of that song that goes aaaa a a aaaa aaaaaaa?

7 September 1996     Lost and Found Saloon  1353 Grant Avenue      San Francisco

Elise and I were performing these tunes at this time.

5 October 1996      Field of Screams     Manteca     California

20 October 1996        Peter Lewis and I did a series of gigs together at this time. To me, Peter was the real driving, creative force behind Moby Grape. I mean, I’m in a band. I know that everyone contributes and makes it what it is, but Peter was/is the the Moby mainspring.

26 October 1996    Andrews Hall  Sonoma  California      I sent Peter Albin directions to this place, but he lost them and was very upset when he got there late.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco…

7 November 1996    Roxie Theatre    San Francisco      We showed a couple of our videos here.

Then we talked a bit about our shady past and took questions from the audience.

With James Gurley.

The Roxie is such a great place. Elise and I have seen the Academy Awards presentation here a couple of times which is a lot of fun South of Market, I’ll tell you.

7 December 1996    Transmission Theatre   San Francisco   I was yelling in James’ ear at this gig. The opening band was loud. All of sudden, wouldn’t you know, and hasn’t this happened to you?, they stopped right on a dime, while I screeched, “She’s a dyke !”  into total silence.  We laughed so hard. The best moment of that night, definitely.  I don’t remember who was a dyke. Maybe me.

Ingrid Maasen

29 January 1997     Playing in London with Bob Strano and Billy Ficca from Television.  The Twelve Bar Club is a cool spot and I love Denmark Street, which is a London version of 48th Street in Manhattan.

20 February 1997  Turning Point   Piermont    New York

21 February 1997     Red Creek Inn  Rochester   New York

22 February 1997      Harpers Ferry    Boston   Susan Tedeschi opened for us here and she loaned us her equipment which was very generous.

23 February 1997                 Manny’s Car Wash               New York City              Nice, soulful review from Lenny Kaye.

25 February 1997                 Hard Rock Café                 Atlantic City       New Jersey

7 March 1997  The Ballard Firehouse   Seattle

8 March 1997      Fourth Avenue Tavern   Olympia   Washington

15 March 1997

19 April 1997      Eureka             California

20 April 1997     Concord Pavilion                Concord           California

28 April 1997   Fillmore   San Francisco          This was a fun gig. Michael Carabello sat in with us and we had a loose, happy set.

Sam  Andrew                      Lisa Battle

8 May 1997                    The Cabooze           Minneapolis

10 May 1997                Rock and Roll Hall of Fame             Cleveland

Donovan was there too, and it was interesting to talk with him.  I don’t know if you have seen the film Don’t Look Back, the story of Bob Dylan’s first trip to England. Dylan may have seen Donovan as a competitor because he, Bob, savages Donovan and sings It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue at him in a mocking way.  I asked Donovan what he thought about the film. “It was difficult,” he replied, “there were fifteen New Yorkers on speed in that hotel and they were on a rampage, and everything was being filmed by D.A. Pennebaker.”

15 May 1997                St. Petersburg            Florida

16 May 1997              Hilton Hotel           Jacksonville        Florida

17 May 1997            Sebastian Beach Inn           Melbourne Beach          Florida

18 May 1997            Musician’s Exchange Café         Delray Beach        Florida

24 May 1997             Larkspur Books             Larkspur         California          Jack Ortman throws a party.

Rich Kirch     Natalie Martel     Dickie Peterson

25 May 1997   The Crossroads    Yucaipa    California

9 June 1997            Berkeley Community Theatre          Berkeley        California

20 June 1997   Catherine Cavalieri and Carl Peachman began writing to me shortly before this time asking if we could work together booking the band, which I had been doing by myself for a long time. They were good people and I liked getting to know them. This probably isn’t their laminate or slogan, but it certainly could be. Unlimited Devotion.

Tom Finch, Carl Peachman, Catherine Cavalieri, Lisa Battle, Peter Albin.

Catherine Cavalieri

Carl Peachman and George Coleman

I liked all these people from the Blues Review, all of the Colemans, and especially Catherine and Carl, and I owe them a huge debt.

I booked most/all of these shows with Catherine.

5 July 1997           Godfrey Daniels              Bethlehem          Pennsylvania

One of the odder Big Brother images. Lisa Battle and Les Dudek.

6 July 1997            Tinker Street Café            Woodstock            New York

7 July 1997           Stephen Talkhouse           Amagansett           New York

10 July 1997     Manny’s Car Wash    New York City      Vince Martel    Lisa Battle    Mark the Harp

12 July 1997    Stanhope House    Stanhope        New Jersey

13 July 1997   Hungry Tiger             Manchester        Connecticut

18 July 1997            Lark Theatre            Larkspur        California

NAMM Show

Elise Piliwale            Karen Lyberger.

19 July 1997    Forester’s Hall   Redwood City    California               This was a mellow evening.

Elise Piliwale

Best thing that ever happened to me.

25 July 1997

7 August 1997             Wetlands            New York City      With Moby Grape       This was a good gig.

We did all of these songs and many more.

9 August 1997   Poconos   Pennsylvania

14 August 1997    Swiss Auditorium    Tacoma     Washington

15 August 1997           Crystal Ballroom            Portland          Oregon

16 August 1997     Back Alley  Port Townsend    Washington

17 August 1997           La Conner Blues Fest             La Conner       Washington

20 August 1997    The Yale Hotel          Vancouver         British Columbia

21 August 1997      Evergreen Ballroom            Olympia       Washington

22 August 1997      Cosmos  Bellingham  Washington   Bellingham is a lovely town.

23 August 1997   Doc Maynard’s  Seattle       I have played many times in this historic spot, including one time when That’s Entertainment came and filmed us.

31 August 1997             Milwaukee

7 September 1997  Seafood Festival  Pittsburgh   California

26 September 1997  Woodacre Improvement Club  Woodacre  California   This nondescript modern structure sits on a lot of history.

Mari Mack sang with us here.

And then there is Adolph Maillard who was the son of Louis Maillard and the grandson of Louis’ “natural” father, Joseph Bonaparte, king of Spain and Naples.

Adolph Maillard brought his bride Annie to Woodacre and they built a home with eighteen rooms and eleven fireplaces on the site of the Woodacre Improvement Club near Castle Rock.

Castle Rock, Woodacre.   Annie’s sister Julia Ward Howe (who wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic) often visited Annie at her Woodacre home.

Charlotte Maillard, seen here with Cyril Magnin, was San Francisco’s Chief of Protocol and she inhabited Herb Caen’s columns quite comfortably for years.

Adolph Maillard sold much of his land to the Dicksons who are still here. Their ranch is dated 1870, but they bought the land around 1850.  I know a couple of Dicksons. One of them, Dan, is a great stride piano player and his brother Walt is also a fine musician.

The original Maillard home became the Woodacre Improvement Club in 1924. This is the train station in Woodacre.

27 September 1997   Brookdale Lodge  Brookdale  California     There is a Brookdale ghost. I should know. I’ve seen it on television several times.

4 October 1997     The Landmark Hotel   Los Angeles      Table by the window.            Photo:  Howard Sounes.

Polk Street north of Bay 1914

9 October 1997  Great American Music Hall  San Francisco

Shana Morrison.

Bob Mosley     Peter Lewis   Sam Andrew   Jerry Miller   And, Randy Guzman, do you remember that cab ride in Manhattan ?  Unbelievable, right.   I mean literally.   How did we live ?

12 October 1997     Pozo Saloon   Moby Grape

22 October 1997  Club Metronome   Burlington Vermont

24 October 1997   Dibden Center for the Arts  Johnson Vermont

25 October 1997                   Austin

26 October 1997     Dinosaur Bar-B-Q    Syracuse    New York

2 November 1997    A rather pink letter to Japan.

6 November 1997    Always booking.

So, it finally happens. We go to Japan with Duffy Bishop and Tom Finch.

19 November 1997     Caravanserai Sarai     Kochi    Japan

21 November 1997     Parker House Roll     Kyoto   This was like playing in someone’s living room, very small.

23 November 1997   Jyules  Pimper’s Paradise  Shizuoka  Japan

25 November 1997      Taku Taku     Kyoto         Michel Bastian

27 November 1997 Doshisa University  Kyoto      This is how Big Brother and the Holding Company is written in Japanese katakana. It sounds something like “Bigu Burazaa & za Horudingu Kanpanee.”

28 November 1997   Viva Hall    Hikone   Japan

Street art.

With Peter Lewis and Jerry Miller.

Peter Albin    and  Ginger Baker

Jerry Miller.

31 December 1997     Brookdale Lodge    Brookdale    California

Back with the Brookdale spirit and happy new year to you.

Janis Joplin                      Sam Andrew

___________________________________________________________

 1993-1994       

With Jynx Lynx and Kerry Kearney at Manny’s Car Wash.

12 January 1993     Sam Andrew Band Boulder Creek Brewery  Boulder Creek  California     This was one of the great gigs.

James Gurley

Cinnamon Morgan        Cash Farrar

Anthea Sidiropoulos            Bill Laymon.

Bill Ganaye, good friend, a real brother to me.

Joey Edelman, gifted player, fun to be with. When I go see a film I think of Joey because someone in his family is usually writing or performing the soundtrack.

22 January 1993        Phoenix Theatre      Petaluma     California

Greg Anton was on drums.

And then Steve Kimock played guitar. He always surprises me, always has a fresh idea.

Glenn Walters was with us.  He was the principal singer with The Hoodoo Rhythm Devils and The Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra.

28 January 1993     Pahoa       Pahoa is a special place, even for Hawaii.

This is a large egg near Neuss, Germany.

10 March 1993    Stadthalle   Neuss   (rhymes with voice)

Neuss is across the Rhein (Rhine) from Düsseldorf.

Ach, du lieber Augustin, Bonnie Tyler is here in Neuss !   That is so neuss, I mean, nice.   I wonder if I will see her in Moscow when our bus arrives ?

It was great to play in the same band with James Gurley. He was funny, energetic and sharp.

There was only one James.

17 April 1993   Big Brother and the Holding Company    JJ’s     San José

23 April 1993    Big Brother and the Holding Company   Boulder Creek Brewery     Boulder Creek  California

Peter Albin

24 April 1993     Sam Andrew Band   Caspar Inn

Caspar, California, is between Fort Bragg and Mendocino.

30 April-1 May 1993   Sam Andrew Band  Winthrop Washington

When we play here, we look out from the stage at a scene like this.

15 May 1993   Last Day Saloon  San Francisco     That’s John Wedemeyer on guitar, one of the best. John has a little trick of playing an arpeggio one half tone sharper than the target chord and then resolving it, which makes for a lot of tension and interest.

Canned Heat, now we’re talking.

James Gurley singing All Is Loneliness.

19 May 1993   Sam Andrew Band    Horizons   Sausalito

This used to be The Trident, scene of some rather lubricious activities in the late 60s, early 70s.

Gorgeous place.

David Crosby used to sail his yacht right up to the back, tie it up and come on in.

Janis used to hold court at The Trident and drink everyone under the table.

No, I mean literally. Under the table. You’d see people down there talking and carrying on, looking up at the ceiling.

Horizons is the new name for the Trident. I had a great band in there:  Gary Albright, Diane Dutra, Cash Farrar, Snooky Flowers, Bill Ganaye, Dave Getz, Bill Laymon, Cheryl Little Deer, Natalie Martel (above), Cinnamon Morgan, Kim Nomad

Kim Nomad   Anthea Sidiropoulos

My big star from Tokyo Shiho-san, Superfly, at the Trident (Horizons).

28 May 1993     Magnolia’s  Santa Rosa   California         I call it a laminate. My wife Elise calls it a lanyard. We’re both right, but she is more right.

The laminate is the laminated ticket or poster that identifies the particular event (here it is white), and the lanyard is string around your neck that holds the laminate.  On the East Coast, they call the whole thing a lanyard, and on the West Coast, they call the whole thing a laminate.

Above is a laminate, so called because it has a plastic covering on both sides. It’s laminated.

The  laminate is held by this lanyard. The word comes from 15th century French “lanière,” a thong strap apparatus that held any valuable object, such as a sword, close to the body.

In English, probably the closest equivalent is a “tether,” a way of attaching a valuable object so that it not be lost.  Lanière  became lanyard when it crossed the Channel.

In Germany, they call this die Pfeiffenschnur, the whistle cord. It’s a way of keeping a valuable and much used object close to hand. It’s a lanyard.

The poet Sydney Lanier’s name may have come from lanière.

This is my friend Joanne Lasnier (pronounced lanyé).  She may have a lanière or a lanyard hanging somewhere in the branches of her family tree.

29 May 1993    Caspar Inn   Caspar     California     You don’t see “Caspar” spelled with an ‘a’ everyday, or maybe ever.

James Gurley

4 June 1993   Cedar Inn Tavern   Washington      Mark Riley (right) played guitar on this gig. He was so good.  Crosscut Saw.

Lips was the bass player in the Sam Andrew Band, Texas Division.  Gary played guitar with us. We had fun. Can you tell ?

One of those hot nights in Houston.

17 June 1993    The Sam Andrew Band   Houston

This wouldn’t be where we were watching the television during sound check and saw OJ driving in his White Bronco, would it ?

J’Net Ward, one of the owners of Liberty Lunch in Austin when I played there.

Liberty Lunch seemed like a huge tent to me. It was like playing in the circus.

Cowboy jitterbug at Liberty Lunch.

24 June 1993  Liberty Lunch   Austin

Roky Erickson came down and walked around the place during sound check, and I was hoping he w0uld sit in, but he wandered off into the sunset.

Aging hippies?  We were young then.

That was over twenty years ago.  You should see us now.

25 June 1993  Sam Andrew Band  Marble Falls  Texas    It’s true, I’m not big on nostalgia. To be nostalgic, you actually have to remember something.

One of the reasons I started writing this history, in fact, was so that I could actually begin to remember what has happened to us in the last half a century.

James Gurley’s guitar… one of them anyway

I’ve always liked the word serendipity.

Serendip was the old name for Ceylon, which was the old name for Sri Lanka.

Horace Walpole had the happy idea of coining the word serendipity for unexpected wondrous things that could happen.

The Sam Andrew Band does television:    Bill Ganaye, Dave Getz, Ed Earley, Bill Laymon, Kim Nomad.

14 August 1994   Caspar Inn   Caspar  California

6 September 1993   Sam Andrew Band opens for Big Brother and the Holding Company.   Hog Farm  Laytonville    California

Snooky Flowers   Sam Andrew   Kim Nomad   Peter Tork   Bill Laymon

Do you remember the band Spinal Tap? Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean playing Derek Smalls, Nigel Tufnel and David St. Hubbins ? Well, Spinal Tap still tours and they play all those great songs like Sex Farm, Jazz Odyssey, Big Bottom, Hell Hole and let’s not forget Lick My Love Pump.

Spinal Tap’s support band when they tour is the Folksmen, played by Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean.

Often, when the Folksmen are performing, the audience is yelling at them to get off so that Spinal Tap, the same guys, can come on.

I thought maybe this would happen to The Sam Andrew Band while we were opening for Big Brother, but our audiences were more polite or perhaps more stoned, or perhaps more enlightened ? Anyway, we had a couple of encores.

They liked us.

19 September 1993   Greenpeace

1 and 2 October 1993   Smiley’s  Bolinas

Anthea Sidiropoulos at 19 Broadway Fairfax.

We played all of these tunes.

With  Anthea Sidiropoulos and Snooky Flowers.

2 October  1993      Sam Andrew Band    19 Broadway   Fairfax     California

Anthea sings her song.

4 October 1993      The bedroom at the Landmark Hotel, room 105, Los Angeles  California.           Photo:  Howard Sounes.

8 October 1993  Once again the Sam Andrew Band opens for Big Brother and the Holding Company.      Grant’s Pass    Oregon

Michel Bastian

On this tour we stopped in at a radio station with one or two old friends to do some interviews.  Brian Auger, Peter Albin, Rich Kirch.

With Brian Auger and Rich Kirch

20 October 1993   Sam Andrew Band   Last Day Saloon  San Francisco

I played Munchies in Houston with Detroit Dave, Lips and Gloria Meehan.

2 November 1993  Munchies    Houston

There he is again, playing my guitar, always with the pompadour. Richie Kirch, one of the great raconteurs of rock, played with John Lee Hooker for years. Rich has a swinging, relaxed blues style.

18 November 1993

8 December 1994   The Bruce Latimer Show   Pacifica   California    Bruce is a master of graveyard humor.

He has a droll, deadpan delivery that is sepulchral and silly.

Cash Farrar   Kim Nomad   Sam Andrew   Diane Dutra   Debi Romek

10 December 1993    Peri’s Silver Dollar    Fairfax     California

The Sam Andrew Band  December 1993   Snooky Flowers, Aviva, Peter Tork, Sam Andrew, Dave Getz, Kristina Kopriva, Ingo York, Joey Edelman.

11 December 1993   Sacramento    Aviva plays with soul and expertise.

Sacramento, are you ready, ’cause we’re going to tear this building down.

Thank you, Will Gunter. You did a lot of good for a lot of people.

16 December 1993  Munchies  Houston  Hey! Beethoven’s birthday.  If you’re going to be born, don’t do it in December. Do it in May.

Clayton Dyess, real musician, he played guitar with Dizzy Gillespie.

Fraternizing, or is that sororizing?, with Lips who is a wonderful person and a sensational bass player.

17 December 1993      Hoi Polloi     Houston       Hoi Polloi is Greek for the many, the masses.  James Gurley used to use this phrase as a synonym for “the elite.”   He never really believed me when I pointed out that that polloi is like “poly” and means many, as in polygamous or polymorphously perverse.

Both of us were too lazy actually to walk across the room and look the phrase up in the dictionary (but I was right).

19 December 1993    The Boatyard  Houston       Nuri Nuri, DJ in Houston.  Nuri Nuri sat in with us on bass now and again and he did a good job.

23  December 1993  The Continental Club  Austin

Marcia Ball came to see me at this one. I was too shy to ask her to sit in. Dammit.

This didn’t happen, but it was fun talking about it.

5 January 1994     19 Broadway    Fairfax   California

11 January 1994     Jazzed    San Rafael    California

9 February 1994   Last Day Saloon.

2 May 1994   Chet Helms Tribute

        

15 May 1994      Kristina Kopriva and George Michalski were the soundtrack for this Roast.

12 May to 11 June 1994      George Michalski, the Elton John of San Francisco, came with me on this crazy tour.

George Michalski                       Barbara Liu

Photo:   Polly Belinda Rendall

5 June 1994                       Vancouver                  British Columbia

10 June 1994    Redwood Run    Willits    California

4 July 1994                    House of Blues

9 July 1994   Big Brother and the Holding Company     Pozo Saloon   Paso Robles   California

July 1994   Mercury Lounge        New York City      I liked this place. They were generous and smart here.

15 July 1994     Fez was downstairs from Time, a cool place. Charles Mingus played at Fez.

Lenny Kaye played with Patti Smith, Eric Ambel played with Joan Jett, and I played with Janis Joplin, so I wanted to call this concert The Submissive Dudes.

3 August 1994  Groove Fest Pinellas Parkway   Clearwater   Florida  Where I met the love of my life, Elise Wainani Piliwale.

At this event, Elise was playing violoncello and harp, but at home she played the piano. She is studying some arie antiche now and is trying to find a singer to perform them with.

20 August 1994      Forestville        California

27  August 1994     University of California at Davis  California

15 September 1994      Sam Andrew Band   Manny’s Car Wash   New York City      I played here once a year for five years. Loved the place.

With Jynx Lynx, and I see Jym Fahey back there too.

20 September 1994        Visa for Russia.     They let a guy who looks like this in, so you know things had loosened up a bit.

Believe it or not, this is the way to handwrite Sam Andrew in the Cyrillic alphabet. The printed alphabet is quite close to Greek, but handwriting is something else. St. Cyril was Greek and when he wanted to translate the Bible into Russian he needed an alphabet so he created one from his native language with a few additions for the nonce. This is similar to how Modern German was principally the work of Martin Luther when he translated the Bible into German, and to how Modern English takes its departure from the King James version of the Bible.

3-10 October 1994   Steps To Parnassus   Moscow

Aeroflot… lots of Russian men standing around on the plane chain smoking and drinking glasses of vodka straight down.

Moscow !   We met many musicians from all over Europe, great performers.  This was something like Russian Idol, only not as cheesy, because Rupert Murdoch didn’t have anything to do with it.

Russians are highly intelligent and they know how to party.

See those great looking guys in the back ? They are Bulgarians, Communists. This is what Communists looked like in 1994. They were Communists about as much as we were Capitalists.

We made some good friends in Moscow.

Margarita Perova.

There’s Bonnie Tyler.    I thought she might show up here.

Thank you for the post card. I never dreamed about receiving it. It makes me feel glad. I hope that when you come to Russia you will be in Moscow and it will be possible to see you on the concerts. But if you are going to visit Russia in winter you must take cold weather into consideration. Much snow, ice, so take many warm clothes.

Pravda… Truth.              (All those letters are Greek as well as Russian.  The forms are slightly different.)

Friends and lovers.     Thank you, Russia.

My name C3M in Russian sounds like Sem or even Syem. They palatalize everything. “Not” is “nyet.”

The name of this event, Steps To Parnassus, gave me quite a start when I first heard it. It’s a very meaningful phrase to me.

I talked about this before in part seven of this history. Steps To Parnassus. Gradus ad Parnassum.

This is the title page to my first counterpoint book, a classic. Gradus ad Parnassum means Steps to Parnassus, the name of our event in Moscow.

Palestrina was the master of counterpoint in the sixteenth century, and we have been following him ever since.

Beethoven made many notes in his copy of Gradus ad Parnassum, notes that are still lucid and useful.

Everyone who plays or writes music uses counterpoint whether consciously or not. It’s rather like the man in Molière who was astonished to find out he had been speaking prose all of his life.

The formal study of counterpoint, like that of perspective, is endlessly fascinating.

Haydn, Beethoven and Mozart used the same counterpoint textbook that I did, Gradus ad Parnassum.

So, we are in Moscow at an event that honors Johann Joseph Fux by using the title of his book.

I brought my Gradus ad Parnassum with me to Russia.

When we drove in from the airport to downtown Moscow, James, who was from Detroit, said, “Hey, they have cars here !”

Maybe he was expecting troikas ?

20 November 1994              The Fillmore

Everything but the kitchen sink… oh, wait, no, that’s there too.

16 December 1994      The first of many beautiful letters from Alan Wilson, genius polymath residing in Kyoto.

18 December 1994              Veterans Memorial            Santa Rosa

25 December 1994      Love letters and advice from Russia.

Croton on Hudson   Tom Finch, Bernard Purdy, Halley de Vestern.

Bernard Purdy, master drummer on so many 60′s, 70s sessions, came to see us in Croton, but we were too intimidated to ask him to sit in.

31 December 1994       Eastlake Zoo     Seattle         Happy New Year !

Sam Andrew                  Photo:   Joanne Lasnier

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