Very Grateful
Though the “San Francisco Sound,” became the marketing hallmark of the 60’s music revolution, it was Marin county, 11 miles to the North across the Golden Gate bridge and through the ‘rainbow tunnel,’ where many musicians and a major portion of the ‘vibe’ soon found a home.
As is well known, Janis Joplin, The Sons of Champlain, The Grateful Dead (with charter member and our friend, the late Phil Lesh), Carlos Santana, and Marty Balin, vocalist Jefferson Airplane were all there. Later came Iowa-born Blues legend Elvin Bishop. Full disclosure: I did some computer consultation for Tony Williams the jazz drummer who was blazing new sonic trails after his legendary work with Miles Davis.
The period saw visionary techies like Ted Nelson (see him below), Howard Rheingold and Ned Lagin all settle in Marin Co. It was not unusual to see Jerry G. late night on 4th street San Rafael with an ice cream cone from the shop next to the Rafael Theater.
What follows is a brief retelling of how Iowans were pivotal to my time in California that eventually led me to meeting Lesh and playing at Terrapin Station.
Thanks to a recommendation from former Des Moines resident and SF Bay area Jazz Vocal legend Deborah Winters, I was invited to take the position of Director of Technology at The Branson School (1996-2002).
Lightning struck again when 1972 West Des Moines Valley High graduate Robert “Bob” Schleeter, who’d recently moved to San Rafael from Iowa, invited me to join the arts and music faculty of Marin Academy (2003-2013).
Personally, the most striking thing about the Marin county music, education and technology scene was how well our Iowa foundations prepared us to meld the 90’s tech tools with traditional curriculum and arts theory into a coherent, highly adaptive medium for learning practically any subject.
It was in this atmosphere that I encountered many friends including Phil Lesh, the recently departed bassist and charter member of the Grateful Dead, .
In those days, the student body of both schools, Branson and Marin Academy, included the children of folks whose names you’d recognize across the disciplines of music, arts, literature, and the emerging reality of the Internet
(Dad may have had a hippie reputation but that didn’t mean the kids weren’t going to get a great education, in a well-appointed school with a world-aware curriculum including subjects that might be described in Iowa as……(sigh)…divisive concepts.)
Upon my arrival in Marin (thanks to an invitation from extraordinary Iowan Teja Bell) I discovered how well equipped I was to work/create/teach there. From 1987 to 2013 I found opportunities to write, to teach, and even work with Apple’s Partners-In-Education Program reimagining tried-and-true educational paradigms being transformed by new technology.
While my musical tastes were more attuned to Jazz, Rhythm and Blues and Rock I came to appreciate the Dead’s style which, in truth, created a loopy new fusion of all those forms. It was more than music though, it was a cultural touchstone for fans around the world. Living in San Rafael you knew you were in “Dead country” and nowhere was this more apparent then when you played gigs at Terrapin Station Phil’s performance venue, restaurant and community gathering space.
There was a sign by the stage at Terrapin that said: “Keep it Weird” and in the spirit of countless Dead jams over the years that phrase was an article of faith—especially for the musicians who took the stage at Phil’s place.
Many of you also know about the various Dead spin-offs and side-project bands spawned by Lesh, Hart, Garcia and Weir.
Phil Lesh and Friends was a long-standing moveable feast of musicians that toured when the main band was idle. My friend Ezra Lipp was the drummer and a long-standing member of that community.
As I remember, drummer Ezra Lipp and I met through Bob Weir (whose daughter went to Marin Academy) and we played at Terrapin Crossroads on several occasions. It deserves more than a casual mention that I arrived at Marin Academy, thanks to another extraordinary Iowan and longtime Des Moines friend Bob Schleeter who invited me to join the arts and music faculty there in 2003.
Thanks to Wayback Machine at The Internet Archive, I present to you a set I played with Ezra, Micheal and Dan
1. Please click the link.»» Terrapin Crossroads.
2. Scroll down until you see this menu on the right side of the page:
Selecting VBR MP3, brings up a setlist to play. (Listening only)
…and you’re in….Enjoy
July 26, 2015 Live from Phil Lesh’s Terrapin Station featuring:
Ezra Lipp - Drums, Vocals
Michael Lamacchia - Guitar
Dartanyan Brown - Bass, scat vocals
Danny Eisenberg - Keys
Blessings to all of you who read/listen/and watch what goes on here at My Integrated Life.
My son Jaimeo is now the Director of Music at The Branson School and daughter Marisha is Asst. Director of Admissions (after being Valedictorian for the Branson class of 1999.)
It’s now much simpler Phil, Just click the song list which will link you to the show. Once there, you should choose the mp3 option.
Must be doing something wrong, can’t get them to play.