7.13.2009

Blast from the '60s and '70s

Prelude to a Blast

Photo was taken '69 or so, by Larry (Lars) Davis, hiking Topanga Canyon Highway to or from The Corral, the Post Office, or Decker Canyon. Lars, me and John Martin, Spinner Martin to some.

Or maybe a bridge...

By '70, John, Lars, and Green had moved back to Dallas. I stayed behind with Pammie and Diane until Will was born, then they moved back. Rann was my roomie for a while, then I had the idyllic place to myself. Some of the most peaceful and entertaining years of my life. Bucolic Topanga and the Sylmar earthquake--shaken out of bed at 6:01 a.m. Hanging with jazz and rock musicians at rehearsals, recording sessions, gigs--hearing all kinds of phenomenal music. Working with Diane Hilderbrand at Colgems, ScreenGems/Columbia with Michael Murphy and Boomer Castleman doing demo tapes. In and out of the Integral Yoga Institute, blissful and creative times.

We're getting closer, I promise

At some point, I moved back to Dallas. The reason why has it's own story. Lived with my old friends from NTSU, Kathy (Kelsey Kelly) and Jay Pruitt, and Karyn, my goddaughter. Got a job right away--muse-0 friends suggested a rock and roll sound/light company called Showco. I was the shop secretary for a year or two and met the Bad Ex there.

Years pass...College Station, Dallas, Northern California, New Mexico, Greenville, Commerce, Austin. On my 40th birthday, we invited the whole world to a huge gathering at a friend's hilltop house. Of course we invited old friends from Showco. Chari and Bob drove down from Dallas, and in an early "six degrees" enactment, revealed that Bob had taught the son of the friend in whose house we were, indeed, partying.

Decades pass...Princeton, Sydney, Austin.

The Blast!
(finally)

I was surfin' tha 'net and had what is now an only "two degrees" epiphany. Tripped over the word Showco and clicked through to the listserv. Of course I had to sign up. Lo and behold, Chari sent me a warm welcome and a date for an upcoming get together, plus the fabbo news that she and Bob, after how many decades? got married--good on ya, mates!

Stories and photos are flying to hundreds, maybe thousands of monitors around the world. Camilla related attending a rock ('n roll) thingie and seeing Showco t-shirts, some of which are bringing money--limited editions, even fewer exist. I wore out all mine, but had my denim jacket for years--I think I know who appropriated it.

Surely someone somewhere sometime will collect the history and put it on the site. In the meantime, this particular Blast from the Past is a Gas.

2 comments:

Rhea said...

Just wanted to drop in and say hi. I have a friend who lives in/near Topanga. Never been there myself.

kokopelliwoman said...

Jeeze, sorry to be so late getting back to you. An old friend dropped by last week for a short visit. She's back in Topanga, and I'm thinking about going out for a visit. It's an interesting place, I've got a lot of history there ;)