Community Guide 2017
San Geronimo Valley Music History: 1966–Present by Laurence Brauer
The San Geronimo Valley’s musical fame (or notoriety) began in 1966 when many of the musicians who created “the San Francisco sound” actually lived in the Valley. The Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service arrived first. The Dead moved from Olampoli to the old scout camp on Arroyo Road in 1966. The Dead and Quicksilver lived near each other and engaged in acid-assisted “Indian and Cowboy” battles; the Dead were the Indians, Quicksil- ver the cowboys. (Sadly, in Grateful Dead history, the Val- ley is more known as where Jerry Garcia died in 1995 from heart failure at Serenity Knolls.) Other bands soon followed Quicksilver and the Dead. Big Brother and the Holding Company moved down the road from the Dead in July 1966. Guitarist Sam Andrew remembers, “It was getting kind of scary in the City and the Haight. The ‘Summer of Love’ was over before it began. People were coming to San Francisco from all over the nation after the Chronicle and Time magazine starting writing all this stuff about it.... We just wanted to go some- place where it was nice and calm so we decided on Marin.” “One day we all piled
Sons of Champlin Capitol Records promo shot 1969
time, although we had no idea what we were until we got tagged. We thought we were just a bunch of nature-loving music enthusiasts living as close to the land as we could, hanging out in peace with our women, our friends, and our beautiful San Geronimo Valley. During that time there were many people, young and old, coming to San Francis- co (and consequently Marin) to see what was the big deal with the Hippie Revolution, whatever that was. We didn’t know a revolution was going on!” The Monterey Pop Festival and commercial success of the Jefferson Airplane caused the major record labels to come calling. The Bay Area bands’ lifestyles and idealistic approach clashed with the more traditional aspirations of the labels’ corporate culture. Everything from song lyrics to cover art sparked intense disagreements. The Sons’ first album, Loosen Up Naturally , gained rave reviews and their live shows were even better, but they failed to gain a wider audience. The music business never knew how to deal with their eclectic sound and unconventional perspective, though the band continued in various forms until 1977. Some members of the Sons reunited in 1997, recorded a live album in 1998, and, with Bill Champlin’s return to the Bay Area, have been occasionally performing ever since. In 2005, they released their first studio album in 28 years, Hip Li’l Dreams, and Tim Cain rejoined the band in 2010. The Joy of Cooking were another groundbreaking band. The Chronicle’s Jon Carroll described them as “a remark- able rock and roll band, half ballads and half boogie, with a driving rhythm section fronted by two swell women, Toni Brown (a smart, crafty songwriter who could evoke senti- ment without sentimentality) and Terry Garthwaite, who sings like an angel with dirty wings.” At the time, women’s musical roles were limited; women were not supposed to lead rock bands. Garthwaite and Brown wanted to create good music, not fulfill stereotypes. Terry Garthwaite moved to the Valley in 1972. “Toni lived in Fairfax. I almost bought a house in San Anselmo,
into a car, drove over to Marin, picked up a newspaper and looked up ‘Houses for Rent,’” recalls drummer David Getz. “That same day we found a big house in the little town of Lagunitas. Every- thing seemed to work out right. Nothing could go wrong; God had taken care of us perfectly. On a big butane tank coming up the driveway, some- one had scrawled ‘God is Alive and Well.’ Later
Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Bob Weir, Jerry Garcia, Lagunitas, 1966
another had added ‘in Argentina.’ Eventually our house became known as ‘Argentina.’” Singer Janis Joplin and the Dead’s Ron “Pigpen” McKernan became drinking buddies and frequented the Papermill and Speck McCauliffe’s until the Dead moved out later in the year due to the septic sys- tem backing up and the Big Brother musicians finding sep- arate residences outside the Valley. “Argentina” house was briefly taken over by members of the Sons of Champlin. In 1967, the Sons began living at Ron and Marsha Thelin’s Red House on Resaca (see story on page 108) in Lagunitas. Sons’ cofounder Tim Cain, recalls, “Our group of crazies were what people had labeled Hippies by that
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