I did go to Tam, but I met your dad a few years ago around the time Billy Budd was soliciting for funds to repave Monte Vista so he could sell his houses. I finally gave Billy a $100.00 to leave me alone, I guess your dad gave Billy a lot more.' Sir William Issac Budd ' made out like a bandit here in M.V.,now he lives in back east , where he came from.
I always wondered what Mitch Howie was up to, and where he'd gone. As for Mark, yeah, I was talking about MV-based harp player "Memphis" Mark Adams. The "Bay Area Bands" web site claims that Mark joined up with Clover for a second, but quit (too country) and then recommended Huey Lewis. So there's actually a tie-in there.
Mark then hooked up as a harp player with Michael Bloomfield and, after that, played for many years with Nick "The Greek" Gravenitis [sp?] in a band I think they called "Blue Gravy."
I haven't seen Mark since '72 or so. He was very good, and kind of a blues scholar to boot, who had a lot of obscure records. He introduced me to Jr. Wells, James Cotton, and many of the classic South-side-of-Chicago players. So I know what you mean: he was someone who you'd expect would make it. But that was the deal, right? A lot of talented musicians, and only a few actually made it...
Funny you mention Mitch Howie, I saw him in traffic this morning in Corte Madera, he still lives in southern Marin, had a quick conversation until the light turned green.
I wasn't much of a student at Tam High, but I really remember and appreciate the music scene during the late 1960s. While I was a freshman, I took some guitar lessons from Bill Thorpe, a jazz player who lived over by Park School. Then when I saw the Round The Bend Blues Band with friends Doug Martin and the Malpas brothers, John and Bill, I was hooked. This was probably in 67 or so. Around that same time I'm pretty sure I saw the Tiny Hearing Aid Company play in Ruby Scott auditorium. That's when I first met Chad Harding who was in The Ugly Harpies, a Tam High band that opened that same show. I was an immediate fan, and started hanging out with Chad and his friend Rick Saylor. A major past time was listening to records. I also started a six year stint of jamming with anyone and everyone who was into blues, R&B, rock-n-roll, and country/western swing = the unique mix of styles that made up 60s-era Marin country pop music.
To me, Tam High was fairly segregated by age. Alan Shearer, who was probably all of three or four years older than me, seemed like he was from a different planet. So I remember Tam folks like Alan (violin), Mitch Howie (drums), Geoff Mayer (keyboards), Dennis Hogan (guitar) being around, but I never got to jam with them.
The list of people two years or a year older, and a couple of years younger who I did play some music with seems endless. Stanley Jackson fronted a trio with his jazzy piano style. Barry Lowenthal, on drums, had multiple bands such as the Barry Lowenthal Trio, with different friends of mine like John Malpas and David McKay. I remember going to see The Old Grey Zipper (over at Larry's old house on Throckmorton Ave?). Duane was on bass and, at that point, they had a terrific singer (much older then we were) who's signature song was "Summertime." Classmates Kevin Mayer, guitar, and Sarah Oppenheim, vocals, had a band or two along with Greg Gavin. Their first group was Quo Vadis, I believe. Dan Schallock started a band, Wide Hole (later Soundhole). Dan was good to begin with, but once he started studying with Terry Haggerty, his chops were terrific. And then there were the Hereford Heartstringers, made up of a bunch of guys interested in bluegrass: Terry, Dan, Phil, and Sean. For a while they even sported Roger Griffith on banjo, whose "Sculpture" class I stumbled through in '68 or so.
My pals, Doug Martin, Mark Adams, and I had bands with a host of different drummers who attended Tam, and all of whom were great personalities: Larry Jordan, Hammy Everts, Larry Holman, and the wonder kid-on-sticks-and-skins, Jeff Craig. We also worked with Tam High horn players like Brian Hogan and Mike Ekhart, both of whom played sax.
So, yeah, I remember seeing Quicksliver, Shades, Joy of Cooking, Bloomfield, Clover, Circus, Dan Hicks, the Rowan Bros, Sandy Bull, Sea Train, the Dick Fregulia Trio, and others, at Tam, Browns Hall, Old Mill Park, the MV Tennis Club... But, as icing on the cake, I remember how many of my Tam classmates picked up one instrument or the other, and how much fun we had, kicking out the jams.
