Michika Fukumori
New In 2025
Cite new releases and re-issues on Atmos Mix, Blu-Ray Audio, CD, Cassette, Download, EP, Hi-Rez, LP, Mini-Disc, SACD and Stream formats.
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Yeah @slaw, the 5,000 numbered copies sold out in about 6 hours! Faster than any previous Rhino Hi-Fi title. Another 5,000 are available in un-numbered copies, and there will be a regular non-Hi-Fi version (mastered by Chris Bellman instead of Bernie Grundman), retailing for $25. I saw Lindsey and Stevie live in 1968, when they were in a local (South Bay area) Garage Band named The Fritz Rabyne Memorial Band (later shortened to just Fritz). They were the opening act at an outdoor concert at The Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, with The Electric Flag and The Doors closing the show. I don’t have any recollection of what they sounded like. About ten years ago on the internet I saw a pic of Stevie and Lindsey on stage at Mother Butler (in 1967 iirc), a Catholic girls school in San Jose. Mother Butler required all bands to dress in accordance with the school’s dress code, and in the pic Stevie is attired in a formal gown. San Jose was a real hotbed in the 1960’s. Rock historian Greg Shaw (founder of Bomp! Magazine and Record label) christened San Jose ground zero of American Garage Bands. The Syndicate Of Sound ("Hey Little Girl") played at my High School Graduation All Night Party in 1968, then called it quits. The next band to emerge from San Jose was The Doobie Brothers.
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@slaw: I saw just about every show The Watchband played around San Jose in 1965, ’66, and ’67, including their very first, which was held just north of Santa Cruz in the Summer of ’65. They found a spot in a lightly-wooded area not far from the beach, and brought a gasoline-powered generator to power the guitar & bass amps and PA system. They dug a hole in the sand, lowered the generator into the hole, and put a sheet of plywood over the top of the hole to reduce the sound of the generator. On the Wikipedia page for The Watchband, the band’s history is told in great detail, but contains one glaring mistake: It states Pete Curry was the band’s original drummer, soon replaced with the aforementioned (above) Gary Andrijasevich. That is not correct. Gary was there from the beginning, but just as the date of that first show approached, Gary suddenly took ill, and was unable to make the gig. The band arranged for Pete Curry (a very close friend and classmate of Chuck Kemling---brother of The Watchband’s organist Jo Kemling---and myself) to sub for Gary on that gig. It was just for that one show, after which Gary was back in action. By the way, Pete Curry has been playing bass in Los Straitjackets for a little over 20 years. In late 1978 I got a call from Pete (I was living in Portland Oregon), telling me I should move to Los Angeles. A new band had just gotten a record deal, and the labels were looking for others. That band was The Knack, and Pete was not mistaken; bands were getting signed left-and-right. Pete and a guitarist/songwriter/singer had both moved to North Hollywood from Santa Cruz, and had just started playing the clubs. Pete had been playing drums in the band, but when I got to L.A. in October of '78 he moved over to bass (the bassist just happened to be leaving the band) and I took over on drums. The guy was a great guitarist and interesting songwriter (though not at all commercial), but a real SOB. He made it only into his late-30's, dying from a worn out liver (he drank vodka for breakfast). More history: I met Chuck Kemling and Pete Curry on the first day of 7th grade (the 3 of us were in the same homeroom). Pete played drums in the school’s orchestra, Chuck tenor sax (iirc). Pete and I hit it off, and after in the Summer between 8th and 9th grades his Ma and Pa bought a house in the neighborhood my family lived in, he and I started walking home together from Cupertino High. He had a small set of drums in his bedroom, and I would watch and listen as he played along with Kinks, Yardbirds, and Who (3 of our favorite new bands) albums. I was taking guitar lessons, but asked Pete if I could have a seat behind his set and try it on for size. Pete is right handed and I’m a southpaw, so I played right footed and left handed (just like Dennis Wilson I started practicing like mad, and in March of our (Chuck, Pete, and me) Freshman year Chuck told me he and his older brother (Jo Kemling) were starting a band, and asked me if I wanted to be included in those audition for the drum position. I wasn’t sure I was yet ready, but I said okay. And much to my surprise I shortly thereafter found myself in a Rock ’n’ Roll band! It was Chuck on electric bass, his older brother Jo on Vox Continental organ, Jo’s friend Rich Young on guitar and lead vocals, and myself. After about a month of rehearsing and choosing a band name, we had a set of songs ready for the stage. But then Chuck and I were given the bad news: Jo and Rich had been offered positions in a Group that was forming at Foothill College, in the hills of Los Altos (just south of Palo Alto. Jerry Garcia was then busking on the streets of Palo Alto and the campus of Stanford University, playing mostly banjo). The Group was of course The Chocolate Watchband, a 6 piece ensemble. My first band, and it died without playing a single show. But I soon thereafter received a call from a Group named The Squyers (also comprised of students at Foothill College), who needed a new drummer. Their drummer Gary Andrijasevich had just quit to join The Chocolate Watchband! I was only 14 years old, so the bassist was given the job of picking me up for rehearsals and live shows. By the way Steve, Andrijasevich let everyone know that much of the playing done on the 3 Watchband albums was not that of the Group members, but by L.A. studio hacks. Before The Watchband did any recording, the original 6-pc. lineup split in two. That lineup included two lead guitarists, Ned Torney and Mark Loomis. Loomis stayed with The Watchband, Torney left and formed The Other Side, a band imo much better than The Watchband. My favorite of all the San Jose bands was The Electric Tingle Guild, a 4-pc. band started by Mark Loomis and Gary Andrijasevich in 1968. I saw them live only once. The two other San Jose Groups who got themselves record deals in the 60’s were The Syndicate Of Sound and Stained Glass. I also saw those two Groups many times in ’65/6/7. The SOS made only one album, Stained Glass two. When Stained Glass broke up, bassist/songwriter/singer Jim McPherson joined Quicksilver Messenger Service guitarist John Cipollina in his post-Quicksilver band Copperhead, who made only one album. McPherson died in 1985 after a long illness.
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@bdp24 "Stained Glass" sounds familiar to me. You sure have a great memory Eric. Thanks for sharing 🎶 my friend. |
@slaw: The first couple of times I saw Stained Glass, they were a quartet, and went by the name The Trolls. They shortly thereafter became a trio, with the Stained Glass name. I have their first album (Crazy Horse Roads, Capitol Records ST 154), but have yet to acquire a copy of the second. Their first release was a 45 RPM single of George Harrison’s "If I Needed Someone" (on RCA Records), which is actually pretty darn good. In 1967 the younger brother of Stained Glass drummer Dennis Carrasco joined my High School Garage Band as lead vocalist. I don’t remember why, but his tenure in the band was short lived.
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I have an 8 x 10 of myself on the Mother Butler stage, looking stiff in a short-sleeve white shirt and black tie. I was 15 years old, playing in a band of college guys (I took the place of Gary Andrijasevich, who left the Group to join The Chocolate Watchband, seen in the Roger Corman movie Riot On Sunset Strip. Gary played snare drum in the Cupertino High School orchestra and marching band. Some weeks I would see him marching at afternoon football games, and on stage at a San Jose music venue that night. He now lives in Santa Cruz, playing in Jazz bands).
). Pete eventually let me rearrange his set to left handed, and I spent the rest of Fall, Winter, and early Spring learning how to play a drumset. By Spring my Pa decided it appeared I was serious enough about drumming to warrant him getting me a set of used drums (a Ludwig Downbeat set---same size drums as Ringo’s first Ludwig kit: 20/12/14/5" snare---and A. Zildjian cymbals). The seller had been playing them on stages with the dancers at local strip clubs, but decided it was time to hang it up.