My first “real” band was an all-girl quintet called “The Anti…” We fashioned ourselves after the “Them” with a touch of the “Who” and, of course, the Stones. We did a version of “Gloria” only we sang it as “G_E_O_R_G_E”.
In 1966 H. Liebes, a department store in downtown SF put on a battle of the bands. We made it through the initial auditions. The San Francisco Chronicle called and asked if we’d come by the newspaper for a shoot. This is the photo they chose to plug the “dress rehearsal”at Lincoln High School for the 30 bands selected .
Yep, that’s me with the Sears Silvertone hollow body electric — yet another one of those valuable collectibles that I did not hold onto.
The H. Liebes “Band- Bash ‘66” happened a week or so later on April 4th and 5th at the Cow Palace. Admission was $1. The Cow Palace (I just had to repeat that name) is a cavernous structure built in 1941 that to this day hosts the national rodeo.
Each group that played was hustled on stage, had time to play a very short set and then was hustled off again. Though “The Anti…” didn’t make it to the finals the experience was exhilarating. I was utterly stage frightened but I got the chance to play music for lots of people in a very, very large venue.
Here’s the band photo from the Band Bash program.
top left: Yours Madly. top rIght: our drummer whose name I cannot remember. left: Janet -organ, right: Michelle – bass, center front: Simona -singer
Amazing stuff. It was incredible to see the musical beginnings of our beloved maestro. How can the rest of us top that? The stakes are high, lads.