Beefy Red

JasonLewis · Status: Offline

RE: Beefy Red

LH · Status: Offline

Thank you, Dewey. That's a wonderful photo of Jim at work! And I remember that guitar: a blonde, semi-hollow body, Gibson = a jazz axe. Lane

Dewey · Status: Offline

OK, finally, I got the picture of Jim Checkley down to size for uploading. Thanks for all the advice, as my web skills are poor. Look for more oldies on the San Rafael scenes ID topic.

This is a picture I took of Beefy Red lead guitarist Jim Checkley in 1970 or 1971. Jim's bandmates included Mark Isham, Barry Finnerty, John Whitelaw and other musical luminaries. Unfortunately, Jim disappeared some 30 years ago and has not been heard from since.

Rosemary · Status: Offline

RE: Beefy Red/2 am Club

Paul Penna · Status: Offline

RE: Beefy Red

JasonLewis · Status: Offline

Wow, that's a cool photo. Where does it come from?

Jason

SteveC · Status: Offline

No No No Jason, If you're busy with work, keep at it, we can help each other.

The only problem I have is reading small print.

Does this say "Til 2 Cafe" ? It can't mean H 2 Cafe.

Penna, you were around in the late 40's with a key interest in your surroundings, weren't you ? What was it ?

And since we missed the bus, let's have a drink, I'm buyin'.

JasonLewis · Status: Offline

Sorry about the photo uploading problems with the website. I'm going to try to convert that area of the website into something less problematic. I've got the solution figured out...now I just need the time to implement it. Fortunately work has been keeping me very busy. (Knock on wood!)

In the meantime, please email the photos directly to me at:

jason@marinnostalgia.org

Again, sorry for the trouble!

Jason

Paul Penna · Status: Offline

Most forums only let users upload very small images for your avatar (like that pic of me gazing out the window). This is to conserve space on their servers. To paste larger images, you need to upload the file elsewhere, such as a file hosting service like Photobucket, and then post the link to that in your message, using the button for that in the message editor (next to the underlined U).

I put my jpegs on the ftp space my ISP includes as part of my service, but that's more complicated than using a service like Photobucket. You can either Google them or something like "image hosting" to find other such outfits.

-- Edited by Paul Penna at 21:41, 2008-06-25

Dewey · Status: Offline

Thanks LH, but I did all that and it just gets stuck on the blackened-page "uploading..." forever. It's a 350kb jpg. And it's a great picture!!! Jason??

LH · Status: Offline

Not very good with attachments but, for the poster, I started by scanning a legal size copy. I just used the stock "scanning" program that came with my $100 dollar Lexmark printer. The trick here is to scan the image into a "jpg" file. Then transfer that to your computer's desktop.

From there, if you hit the "REPLY TO" box in the forum section, you'll see the "ATTACH FILE" box at the bottom of the page. If you hit that, then the boxes appear. You hit "BROWSE" and it allows you to see the material on your desktop. You hit the item you want, and then hit "UPLOAD."

That's all pretty straight-forward, so I'm wondering if you started with a "jpg" file, though. I think you have to have some sort of conversion for photos in order to send them over the e-mail. If it's something else, then I saw that you can write to Jason, the sys op for Marin Nostalgia, and he'll help. LH

Dewey · Status: Offline

I've been trying to upload a picture I took of Jim Checkley but it doesn't work. Any advice, anyone?

LH · Status: Offline

FRIENDS OF JAMES (JIM) CHECKLEY

Barry Finnerty, who was lead guitarist in Beefy Red along with
guitarist Jim Checkly, confirms that Jim disappeared in the mid-1970s.

Barry has remained in touch with Jim's sister, Susie. The details are
unknown, but the Checkley family believes that Jim is deceased.

** Jim, from those of us who remember you fondly, rest in peace. **

LH · Status: Offline

Dewey, thanks for responding. (I was hoping that whomever posted the original query would.) I was really glad to hear from another Jim Checkley/ jazz guitar fan. Jim was a very special person, incredibly talented, but actually very modest, quiet, even shy. He had a hella quirky sense of humor, though, like you said. Off the wall, out of the blue, and often very funny, maybe especially because he was so quiet and seemingly reserved.

I can't believe he might be dead. How, why? (I have a couple of people I can ask, so I'll do so and report back here if I find anything out.) Anyone out there have any information on our old friend Jim?

For all the '70s Beefy Red fans, here's one of their concert posters from my collection. I don't know who the artist is, but I have a couple that are done in this basic style.

Dewey · Status: Offline

Thanks for the memories of Checkley. I made the original post looking for Beefy Red memories last year and you came through! He played like a possessed angel. There are some rare recordings out there somewhere. He was a character. Meet up with him one day, he says: "Let's go out to San Quentin and smoke cigarettes." So we did. Standing up on his amp playing unbeleivable solos at the practice place in Terra Linda. Last I saw him he was teaching himself scat singing at his flat near Haight Ashbury, maybe 1972. He disappeared mysteriously and has long been presumed dead.

For your info, it was Kirk Willat (spelling). Someday I'll print up all the photos I have of Beefy Red.

LH · Status: Offline

I was a big, big fan of Beefy Red. Being a Tam High person (1967-1970) I wasn't aware of them at all when they first started playing. Before you can drive, Drake and Redwood seemed like they were a world away.

For some reason though I knew Kurt Willet who was definitely older then me but who was also at Tam (I think). Anyway, Kurt came to a practice session up in the hills in Mill Valley for a band I had with Doug Martin and Bobby Dar. Must have been around '68. Kurt stayed for a while, checked us out, and then said, "Come see my band, Beefy Red." Seemed like a funny name, but I did and they blew my socks off!

After seeing them a number of times, I went up and asked Jim Checkley if he'd consider giving me some guitar lessons. He said sure, and it turned out to be a terrific experience.

This would be the second time around that I studied with someone. My first teacher was Bill Thorpe, a jazz guitarist in Mill Valley. I was totally inexperienced though so Bill kept it pretty basic. He taught me standards like "Careless Love" and "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out."
Even though I struggled like hell to master the chords, Bill was insistant on clean tone and proper rhythm.

Well, Jim Checkley totally upped the stakes on me. I had originally studied classicial music, could read music in terms of voice, but ditched all of that to play blues. My attitude was "f*" all that theory stuff; I wanted to cut directly to the emotional core of pop music. Jim Checkley wasn't that older than me but he had a totally professional mind set. At first I thought he was kind of obsessed, actually, but as you say, he was a very gifted musician. So I drove over to his family's place in Greenbrae for almost a year to study with him.

Right away, Jim laid down the rules. He wanted me to work on my technique, both right and left hand. Like Bill Thorpe, Jim was very strict about the relationship between good fingering and technique, and pick work = no "flams" were allowed. Every time I'd come over, I always had to start by demonstrating what he taught me the last time. This was tough because it was just like an exam--Jim was intently focused on my playing to see what advances I had logged. Jim didn't talk much, but often enough he'd listen to my chops and say, "Didn't practice much, did you?" In what became a kind of master-student ritual, I always felt compelled to make up some kind of lame excuse, and he was always gracious about it. "You've got to practice more," he'd say, shaking his head. Anyway...

From the beginning, Jim insisted that I learn to read music on the guitar. He commanded me to buy a rather large and expensive book of violin solos by Bach in order to practice. I bought the book, but it was way over my head. Jim said that one of the rules of being in Beefy Red was not only that you had to be taking music lessons on your main ax, but that you also had to be studying a second instrument. For Jim, that was the flute. One time, at the end of a lesson, he had his flute out and showed me that he was good enough to play a couple of jazz licks on that! It was impressive, to say the least.

Another part of the lesson had to do with Jim's comments on the masters of the jazz guitar. "You know Pat Martino? You've got to pick up a copy of Joe Pass's *For Django* LP. " Jim was also into Charlie Parker, so I bought a bunch of records and charts of The Bird's Be-Bop tunes.

The up-shot of all of this was, at 20, and a college sophomore, (and after about six years playing in different MV blues bands), Jim got me hip on how much work it was actually going to be to go pro. By 21, I sold my amp and Tele, and set my sights on graduate school. "What the hell," I remember thinking. "If it's going to be that much work, I might as well just go ahead and go for a doctorate in Sociology." So at 22, I went off to Cal.

After that, I lost track of Jim. It's hard to believe that he vanished, as I would have expected him to be tied to the music industry and thus visible, somehow. In retrospect what he taught me was sense of true craft-- almost a perfectionist kind of attitude. If you're going to do something, study it up, and then take the time to do it right; do it really well! Why settle for less? Thanks, Jim. You taught me a lot.

Blackie · Status: Offline

I always get Beefy Red confused with Red Mountain.
How about Cookin' Mama, an East Bay Sons-like band?
At the Lion's Share around 1970-71.

rob miller · Status: Offline

I have the same poster. I also saw them play on the lawn, in front of the student union building at COM. Must have been around '72(?)

Meadowsweet Rich · Status: Offline

I have a poster from Lions Share for Beefy Red & 22 with an alien looking being on it saying "People of Latveria your benevolent monarch decrees heavy pods forever, an Orr estate ropo benifit" I seem to remmember the Orr they were refering too being the daughter of the San Anselmo Poilce chief, and that she was busted for grass, and this was a benifit to raise money for her defense. Anybody know if that's true?

Date: Jan 1, 2007

Having commented on the Lions Share post, I wanted to ask out there for memories of Beefy Red, circa 1967-1972. You might know that John Whitelaw, a superb professional bass player who died in July, cut his teeth with the Tam/Drake/Redwood-based band. Full horn section, high chops level, jazz-blues-based and well before their time. Mark Isham went on to fame and fortune, as well as Barry Finnerty and Jim Preston (last with the Sons). But the main genius was Jim Checkley from Greenbrae, who played lead guitar like an alien angel and eventually disappeared witohout a trace. No metal rock deadheads, these; from an upper level of conciousness (oh yeah, fueled with Gold and Red etc...). They played at the Lions Share, FFX Pavilion, Claremont, parties, even at the Fillmore one time (I took pictures).