Friday, April 19, 2024

Special Guests of The Grateful Dead at The Human Be-In: January 14, 1967 Polo Grounds, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA

 

Marvin Boxley playing harmonica behind Jerry Garcia, at the Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park's Polo Grounds, on Saturday, January 14, 1967. Boxley can be heard on "Viola Lee Blues."

At this seemingly infinite distance from the genesis of the Grateful Dead, it's startling that there are still undiscovered countries in that land. Yet there are, and even more remarkably, we can still unpack some mysteries that initially seemed impossible to resolve. The Grateful Dead played at the Human Be-In in Golden Gate Park on Saturday, January 14, 1967, as did their friends, amidst "acid, incense and balloons," to quote Paul Kantner. The Grateful Dead did a 30-minute set, playing three songs. Over time, a decent tape surfaced, and those in the know were able to confirm that the dating was accurate. On the last number, there's some flute playing and apparently an extra vocalist.  For reasons I will shortly dismiss, the flute and vocals were incorrectly attributed to the great jazzman Charles Lloyd.

In recent decades, some photographs and videos from the Human Be-In have surfaced and circulated, too. So we had a photo of an unnamed African-American blowing harmonica behind the Dead, albeit inaudibly. Was he also the guest vocalist? Furthermore, a video capture of some silent footage of the Grateful Dead shows us the flautist. Who were these guests? Given the importance of the event, this is no small quest. Scholarship is an iterative process that happens over time. In this post I will answer one question definitively, and at least reflect on the other question for further scholarship to ponder. 

The African-American blowing harp in the photo with the Dead was a pal of the band from the College Of San Mateo named Marvin Boxley. He was later in the band Petrus, with Peter Kaukonen (Jorma's brother), and he appeared on stage at other times with both the Grateful Dead and Mickey and The Hartbeats--yes, we have tapes and you can listen for yourself. 

The flautist remains unknown. I will raise and reject some obvious possibilities, but maybe someone will see a flaw in my reasoning. In any case, partial victory is still a victory. If anyone has suggestions, corrections, insights or amusing speculation, please include them in the Comments. Flashbacks welcome.

[update 20240906]: Is the internet great or what? Thanks to Commenters and fellow scholars Simon and monkboughtlunch, we can be pretty certain that the guest flautist was poster artist Don Lewis. See below for a summary of what we learned, and read the Comment thread for the full saga.


January 14, 1967 Polo Grounds, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA: Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service/Sir Douglas Quintet/The New Age/The Charlatans (Saturday) Human Be-In
In the early 60s, politically active students at campuses like UC Berkeley and the University of Michigan began protesting by holding "Sit-Ins," where students would sit down in protest and wait to be removed by the police. They were inspired by the efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, who in turn had been inspired by Mahatma Gandhi. As the Vietnam War heated up, Sit-Ins were followed by Teach-Ins and other variations. The "-In" suffix would now be recognized as a Social Media meme, but no such concept existed then.

In the Fall of '66, the San Francisco rock bands that played the Fillmore and the Avalon ballrooms began playing for free in San Francisco. Sometimes they played in Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park. At other times they played in a grassy strip in the Haight-Ashbury, on several blocks between Fell and Oak Streets, known as The Panhandle. The Panhandle abuts Golden Gate Park, but is not actually part of it. Bands like the Grateful Dead would rent a flatbed truck and some generators, play for an hour in the afternoon, and split before the cops showed up. No permits, no permission, no matter. 

Half A Million Strong by Gina Arnold (U of Iowa Press, 2018) includes a definitive look at how "free concerts in the park" evolved into rock fesivals (she's my sister but you should read the book)

The concept of the Human Be-In was to link Political Action, Higher Consciousness and Free Rock Music into one unstoppable force. Certainly, the entire hip undergrounds of Berkeley and San Francisco heard the clarion call, and were astonished to find they had 20,000 compatriots. To the dismay of political activists, however, rock music decisively won the day. The Human Be-In, with its national publicity, was one of the central inspirations for 60s rock festivals. That rapid evolution is a vast subject covered well by Gina Arnold in her 2018 book Half A Million Strong: Crowds and Power from Woodstock to Coachella (Iowa Press), so I will not discuss it here. 

As a result, however, the Human Be-In is often recalled for the famous rock bands that played. From an historical perspective, the Be-In offers an interesting historiographical problem. If you know people of the right age, who were in Berkeley or SF at the time, it's not hard to find people who went. They are proud to brag that they were there. But--eyewitness accounts? Well, no. No one remembers a thing, except that it was a nice day and everyone had a nice time. Who they saw, who they went with, how they got home--not a single clue. So we are left with more formal methods of research.


The tape box for Owsley Stanley's recording of the Grateful Dead at the Matrix on December 1, 1966. In the right hand column, four lines down, the ever-meticulous Owsley notes (MARVIN), to identify Marvin Boxley as the harmonica player. It worked, albeit 56 years later.

Harmonica and Vocals: Marvin Boxley--One Mystery Resolved
It has been good to put a name to Marvin Boxley's face after all these years. Deadheads of long standing may recall that one of the first circulating Mickey and The Hartbeats tapes, from the Matrix on October 10, 1968, had a guest come out of the audience and play some tunes. When I first heard the tape, around 1981, I was absolutely astonished to hear a Dead show so casual that a friend could be invited up on stage to jam with Jerry Garcia. It remains astonishing today. 

There are two other taped Boxley appearances, besides the Human Be-In:
December 1, 1966 The Matrix, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead (Saturday)
Marvin Boxley can also be heard with the full Grateful Dead at the Matrix, from December 1, 1966, leading the entire band through "Yonder's Wall." Owsley taped that night at the Matrix, and wrote "Marvin" on the tape box.

October 10, 1968 The Matrix, San Francisco, CA: Jerry Garcia and Friends (Thursday) "Mickey and The Hartbeats"
The Matrix recording with Mickey and The Hartbeats was two years later, on October 10, 1968. The Hartbeats, in that incarnation, were Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart. The goal was to provide a platform for open ended improvisation, as well as a vehicle for inviting friends to jam.

On the tape, after an initial opening jam, and then the blues "It's A Sin," sung by Garcia, the band pauses. Someone, likely Mickey Hart, says "does anyone want to get up and sing a song?" After some indecipherable chatter in the tiny club, Garcia says "oh, Marvin's here--did you bring your harmonica?" Boxley comes on stage and leads the musicians through two instrumental blues shuffles, and then sings  Elmore James' classic "Look Over Yonder's Wall." Ross Hannan, Runonguinness, Hawk Semins and I managed to solve this mystery after 40 years of wondering.


Petrus opened for the Grateful Dead at the Carousel Ballroom (and also free in the Panhandle) on the weekend of May 31-June 2, 1968. The poster has the dates wrong (May 30-June 1) and also spells the band's name as "Petris." We have to assume Marvin Boxley sat in at least once.

On The Trail Of Marvin Boxley
Marvin Boxley (1946-2003) seems to have played music most or all of his adult life, although he probably made his living in other ways. His 2003 obituary in the Marin Independent-Journal summarizes his life:

Marvin Dean Boxley
Was called home to God on September 20, 2003. He was born on May 5, 1946 in Tyler, TX, moved to Denver, CO in 1948 and in 1962 the family moved to San Mateo, CA. He was a scholar athlete and remains Class President of Poly Technical High School Graduating Class of 1964. He attended the College of San Mateo and University of California, Berkeley where he mastered the guitar, prompting a life-long career in Rock-n-Roll, Jazz and Fusion. He was also a talented harmonica player, singer and poet. 

In the course of his career he founded several bands, including J4, and played with scores of other musicians such as the Jazz great Lenny McBrowne, Carlos Santana, Jerry Garcia, Esther Phillips, Jefferson Starship, Elvin Bishop, George Duke, Pointer Sisters, Merl Saunders, Sheila Escovedo and Steve Miller, to name a few. He had a long-time love for the outdoors and nature, and spent much of his time hiking the trails of Mount Tamalpais.

In the summer of 1982 he moved his family to Tiburon, California where he continued to live until his passing. He is survived by his wife, Nancy Beaudry-Boxley, and three children, Althea Boxley, Serafina Miller and Harold Boxley. 

 

Recipients of three scholarship awards [of] the Faculty Wives Club of College of San Mateo are (left to right) Sharyn Colquhoun, Maija Gudrala and Marvin Boxley, who were honored recently at a luncheon club at the Castaways Restaurant, Coyote Point (San Mateo Times March 31, 1965)
 

My first clue about Boxley came from researching a forgotten (except by me) band called Petrus, based near tiny Half Moon Bay, CA, and led by songwriter Ruthan Friedman (famous for "Windy") and Peter Kaukonen, brother of the Airplane's Jorma, and later a long-time recording artist in his own right. Eventually I discovered the names of the rest of the band in a concert review, and that they were a quintet that included Marvin Boxley on guitar and harmonica. 

After some elaborate exchanges, Ross Hannan discovered Marvin Boxley's obituary, and connected the dots between Boxley and the "Marvin" on both the Hartbeats tape and the '66 Matrix tape. I went on to find the newspaper clipping above about the College Of San Mateo (above), and that provided a photo of Boxley. From that, I could not only identify Boxley on stage with the Dead, but have confidence that he would have been invited to play with them. 

The linchpin of Boxley's connection to the Dead has to be the College Of San Mateo. The two fulcrums of the early 60s Peninsula folk music scene were Palo Alto and Stanford at one end, and the College Of San Mateo at the other. Rodney Albin, his younger brother Peter, and Peter's best friend (David Nelson) had a folk club in San Mateo called The Boar's Head. Rodney was a student at CSM, and was the central figure on the folk scene there, hanging out and playing music on the lawn. When Marvin Boxley showed up and could play, probably in Fall 1964, no doubt he was discovered in about ten minutes. From Rodney and Peter Albin it would have been a direct line to Jerry Garcia and Pigpen. 

Unlike all the members of the Grateful Dead, Marvin Boxley seems to have successfully completed his college studies. Thus it makes sense that he doesn't appear in a full-time group until early 1968, likely about when he graduated from UC Berkeley. Petrus only lasted a few months, however. They did open for the Dead one weekend at the Carousel, however (May 31-June 2 1968), so there's good reason to assume Boxley sat in again with the Dead. 

"Hey Baby" by Percy BB, Ashbury Records 1974. Marvin Boxley guitar, vocals, songwriting.

In 1974, Marvin Boxley seems to have released a single on Ashbury Records. The record is credited to "Percy BB." He is listed as guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the tracks "Handyman" and "Hey Baby." Keyboards are credited to Nick Buck. Buck would later play for Hot Tuna and then SVT, Jack Casady's post-Tuna band.


A search through Discogs captures Marvin Boxley on  a 1978 Elektra Records album by jazz violinist Micheal White, The X-Factor. White had played with John Handy and then the band Fourth Way in the sixties, before leading his own ensembles. The X-Factor album includes a number of heavyweight players, like George Duke, Michal Babatunde and Frank Zappa's horn section. Even if Boxley was a friend of White's--he very well may have been--you don't get invited to such a session unless you can bring it. Boxley also played on a 1979 Babatunde album.

The obituary alludes to the group J4, which seems to have been mostly a studio project. Boxley's partner in J4 was Roger Saunders (1948-2006), who played guitar and other instruments. Saunders' best known outfit was the 60s Avalon band All Men Joy, perpetually confused historically with the Allman Brothers (Duane and Gregg Allman were in Los Angeles during the 60s, leading a band called The Hour Glass). So Boxley had a lengthy musical career, even if he did not fly as high as some other San Mateo compadres like Garcia or the Albins. It's nice to finally be able to connect some of these dots after all these years, and give him his due. I'm glad the Hartbeats found a harmonica for him that night at the Matrix.


update 20240709: Another photo of Marvin Boxley with the Grateful Dead at the Human Be-In has surfaced. San Francisco scholar and historian David Gallagher (@DavidGallagher) posted this photo on Twitter. It was taken by his cousin. Photo: Russell Rosewood, courtesy SFMemory.org. [is the internet awesome or what?]

A video capture of the guest flautist with the Grateful Dead on January 14, 1967

Open Mystery: Who Played Flute With The Grateful Dead at The Human Be-In On January 14, 1967?
We have long had the tape of the Grateful Dead's performance at The Human Be-In, so we have known for decades that a flute player sat in with the Grateful Dead and played on "Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl." As has been traditional in Grateful Dead scholarship, the guest flute was always assigned to Charles Lloyd. This is incorrect, as the video capture above makes clear, but I want to make the point that every single attribution on a Grateful Dead tape to Charles Lloyd--yes, that's correct, every single one--is incorrect. Lloyd had apparently jammed with the Dead, but it was never captured on tape, not once (see below for some rabbit holes in that area). In this case, we have a fairly clear photo capture of the flautist, But I don't recognize him. I will run through some other possibilities, mainly to eliminate them, but the question remains open. 

Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson remains perhaps rock's most iconic flute player (shown here in 1969)

A Note About Flutes In 1960s Rock
Scholarly Deadheads will note a number of guests sitting in on flute with the Grateful Dead throughout the 60s, and various rock ensembles were surprisingly heavy on flutes. The most obvious example would be Jethro Tull, but Andy Kulberg was featured on his famous instrumental "Flute Thing" for the Blues Project (and later Seatrain). Chris Wood of Traffic was another performer who took his share of flute solos. It's worth reflecting briefly on why the Grateful Dead had more guests on flute in the 1960s than on saxophone.

Loud, high-quality sound amplification was in its infancy in the 60s. Bands like the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd and a few others were just figuring out how to properly amplify and reinforce basic rock instrumentation--electric guitars, electric basses, drums, electric organ and vocals. Integrating the amplification of acoustic instruments into a full electric setting was challenging. When you hear 60s bands that had grand pianos and acoustic guitars combined with electric instruments, actual audience tapes suggest pretty suspect results. In the case of pianos and acoustic guitars, at least a lot of rock bands wanted to include those instruments. Saxophones and wind instruments were a different matter. 

There were electric pickups for saxophones in the 60s, but I don't think they worked that well. More importantly, bands like Blood, Sweat & Tears or Chicago Transit Authority, whose horn sections were integrated into the band's soundscape at every show, had to figure out the pitfalls. But for a band like the Grateful Dead, including a saxophone wasn't like including another guitar--the Dead's system wasn't designed for wind instruments. 

Another factor was that most saxophonists focus on tenor and alto sax, and roughly speaking the range of those instruments was about the same as a guitar. A tenor sax with a loud rock band, less than perfectly amplified, just sort of blares, as the sax and the guitar kind of merge. Soul music has a more rhythmic, distinct role for the electric guitar, leaving room for the sax, but most rock bands weren't designed that way. Flutes and soprano saxophone, however, find their own register above the electric guitar. So both instruments fit much better with an electric band with prominent guitars. Note that Branford Marsalis typically played soprano sax when he sat in with the Dead. The flute, too, carefully floats high above the guitars, and assuming good live sound--a fair assumption with the Dead--that flute will be fairly audible. 

Finally, a simple note: flutes are played at the same elevation as a singer. So a flute player stepping up to jam can simply blow into a vocal mic, not having to unscrew and lower the stand, perhaps messing with a carefully constructed configuration. In 60s rock, a reed player with a lot of instruments would find it easiest to play flute casually with a rock band, for both audio and practical reasons. 

Who Didn't Play Flute With The Grateful Dead at the Human Be-In?
I don't know who played flute with the Grateful Dead at the Human Be-In on January 14, 1967. But let's run through some possibilities. Some of them can be actively eliminated, and some others can be shown as unlikely. 

The Daily Cal from September 29, 1967 ran a promotional photo of Charles Lloyd. Lloyd's quartet opened for the Grateful Dead at the Greek Theatre on October 1. 1967, and he didn't sit in.

Charles Lloyd
We can see that the guest flute player was a white guy, so it's simple to outright reject Charles Lloyd as the guest. Given the persistence of assuming Lloyd's presence, however, it's worth making a few key points. Lloyd was a prominent West Coast tenor saxophonist who was also proficient on flute. He replaced Eric Dolphy in the Chico Hamilton Quintet in 1960, which in itself was a huge mountain to climb. He went to New York in 1964, where he played with Cannonball Adderley for two years, and also released his first albums as a leader. By 1966, Lloyd was leading his own quartet, with Keith Jarrett on piano, Jack DeJohnette on drums and Ron McClure on bass. The Charles Lloyd Quartet was among the first jazz groups to regularly play the Fillmore and The Avalon.

Love-In, by the Charles Lloyd Quartet, released by Atlantic Records in July 1967. The album was recorded at the Fillmore on January 27, 1967. The Jim Marshall cover photo gives a rare color impression of what the Fillmore stage really looked like back then.

Charles Lloyd was billed at the Fillmore with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in January, 1967. The album Love-In was released in July, recorded on January 1967. It was notable that an established player like Lloyd was playing uncompromising jazz at the Fillmore. In late March 1967, Lloyd's quartet would open for the Grateful Dead at the Rock Garden. Sometime after that, Ralph Gleason alluded to Lloyd jamming with the Dead there. It's important to note, however, that this was after the Be-In, and after Lloyd had been booked at the Fillmore. While Lloyd was likely at the Human Be-In, as he was booked in town, he didn't know any of the hippie rockers. He probably hung out with Dizzy Gillespie, who was definitely there. Yet Lloyd is perpetually mentioned as a likely guest flute player with the Dead, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Susan Graubard
As a footnote, although I can flatly reject Susan Graubard as the flautist, I should point out that she was there, and had already known Jerry Garcia for years. Graubard played flute and koto with the Berkeley band The New Age, who performed at the Be-In. A few years earlier, Graubard's older sister Phoebe had dated Jerry, and Jer took a liking to Susan. When he found out that Susan wanted a koto--a Japanese stringed instrument--he bought her one. Susan Graubard emailed me her story of standing in a circle behind the stage at the Be-In, playing flute for Dizzy Gillespie, so she would have recalled if she had sat in with the Dead. 

Andy Kulberg on stage playing flute with the Blues Project, somewhere in 1966 or '67

Andy Kulberg
One of the critical points to consider about our mysterious guest flautist is that he had long hair. That may seem counter-intuitive, since we are used to photos of the Grateful Dead and their friends in 1967, and plenty of the men had long hair. But the fact is that long hair on men was not common in early 1967. Now sure, by '67 young men had Beatle haircuts, or so-called "Prince Valiant" haircuts, but long, flowing hair just wasn't that common. That means the Dead's guest was already a serious hippie by then. OK--if you were at the Human Be-In, likely tripping hard and invited on stage with the Dead, you probably already were a serious hippie. I am just making the point that trying to find a professional musician with "straight gigs" who may have sat in isn't likely a fruitful path, since long hair would have been a professional barrier. Just to eliminate a few other considerations, it's not Jeremy Steig, nor Herbie Mann, nor some other even less obvious choices.

Plain Dealer Jan 6

One very likely candidate for me was Andy Kulberg. Kulberg was the bassist for the Blues Project, who had already played the Bay Area many times and likely knew the Dead. Kulberg played flute as well as bass, and (as noted) the song "Flute Thing" was the big rave-up for Blues Project in concert. For that song, Kulberg played flute and guitarist Steve Katz would switch to bass. It's a great theory, but it turns out that Blues Project was playing Cleveland all weekend (h/t Bruno). I mean, I guess they could have canceled, but what would Kulberg then have been doing in San Francisco?


Steven Schuster on stage with the Keith & Donna band at Winterland, October 4, 1975. I don't think he was the Dead's guest at the Human Be-In, but I'm open to suggestion.

Steven Schuster
Another very likely candidate would have been Steven Schuster. I'm no good at faces, and I don't have a photo of Schuster prior to 1975, but it just doesn't look like the same guy to me. Now--Steven Schuster: he came to California from NYC in '62, played tenor and flute. Ended up as roommates with Paul Kantner, David Freiberg and David Crosby in Venice Beach in '63. By 1965 he was hanging out in Palo Alto, trading quips with Ken Kesey when they saw Mother McRee's Uptown Jug Band Champions at the Tangent. He was Quicksilver Messenger Service's equipment manager ("Qwippie"), so he was involved in every QMS/Dead adventure between 1966 and '68. It's almost an afterthought that he ended up recording with Jefferson Starship, the Grateful Dead ("Sage and Spirit") and Jerry Garcia (Cats Under The Stars), and touring with the Keith and Donna band in 1975. But I don't think it's him.

Incidentally, when David Gans (at my behest) asked Schuster about another possible sit-in with the Dead (August 3, 1969 at the Family Dog) he replied "it was the 60s, so of course I don't remember."

San Francisco Examiner, Saturday, May 7, 1966
Noel Jewkes
Another likely candidate would have been veteran San Franciscan jazz musician Noel Jewkes. Jewkes is a fine tenor saxophonist, and he plays excellent flute as well. In 1966, Jewkes was a regular in San Francisco jazz clubs, though he hadn't yet expanded beyond the local scene. In the above ad, Jewkes' quartet plays the off nights at the popular Both/And club on 350 Divisadero in the Haight-Ashbury (Andrew Hill and Sam Rivers, woo-ee, I would like that tape).

The 1998 Arhoolie reissue of the 1967 album Ara-Be-In. (L-R), Michael White (violin), Noel Jewkes (ts, fl), Hahn (gtr), Jack DeJohnette (dr), Ron McClure (bs)

In the next few years, Jewkes would go on to play in the Jerry Hahn Quintet, who released an album in 1967 (Ara Be-In, on Berkeley's Arhoolie Records). Hahn was a Kansas guitarist who had played with saxophonist John Handy. The players in his quintet were veterans of the Handy group, save for Jewkes. In 1967, Jewkes would also play in an ensemble called Light Sound Dimension, which attempted to merge light shows with a jazz group. Psychedelic legend Bill Ham presented the light show, and the music was provided by Jewkes, drummer Jerry Granelli and bass guitarist Fred Marshall. They had their own venue, eventually (at 1572 California, at Polk). Light shows had lost their cachet, however, and it never caught on.

By 1969, Jewkes had married Denise Kaufman, the guitarist and singer in the all-woman rock band Ace Of Cups. The Aces, as the only all-female band on the Fillmore scene, had a fascinating if frustrating career in the 60s, which I have discussed at great length. Ace Of Cups were tied to the management of Quicksilver Messenger Service, and so Denise wrote a song that was used on Quicksilver's Shady Grove album in late 1969. The song? "Flute Song." The un-credited flute is pretty likely Noel Jewkes. So there's no doubt that Noel Jewkes was super-wired to the Fillmore scene and the Grateful Dead. 

Noel Jewkes in the 21st Century

But here's the thing--I don't think the flute player is Noel Jewkes. Now, I don't have an early 1967 photo--all I've got is the Jerry Hahn album and a 21st century photo. He just doesn't look like the guy in the Be-In photo. If you think he does, we're onto something. Put it in the Comments.


Who Was It?
The guy playing flute with the Grateful Dead at the Be-In. Who was he? Long-haired white dude--rare for January '67--good enough to jam with the Dead, enough of a head to deal with all the circulating Owsley product, and friends enough with the band to get invited on stage. He didn't come from nowhere. We figured out Marvin Boxley, after just 40-some years after I first heard the Hartbeats in my Berkeley apartment on Haste and Telegraph. So let's get to solving this one. 

[Update 20240906] Solved!
We complain about the Internet, and often for good reason, but it's a remarkable tool. With the collective input of the Deadhead diaspora, there's a pretty definitive opinion that the flute-playing guest was one Don Lewis. Lewis was a hippie in Big Sur at the time, a place where men had long hair and spirits were free. He was politically and socially connected to the whole underground, so it makes perfect sense that he was hanging out on and around the stage at the Human Be-In.

Don Lewis is known as an artist rather than a musician. Later in 1967 he would help found the Chicago Seed underground paper. He subsequently moved to New York, became Art Director of the East Village Other and was involved with Jerry Rubin and the Yippies. I'm not sure what became of him.

Lots of Commenters made the effort to think through possible candidates, and some went as far as to contact possible participants, even though they turned out to be dry holes. Commenter Simon was the most heroic, however, digging deeper and deeper, and even bringing the post to bear over in the Steve Hoffman Music Forums. An equally dense thread over there was finally cracked by commenter monkboughtlunch, who figured out it was Don Lewis. 

You have to read both my Comment Thread below and Simon's Hoffman thread to get the full flavor, but here are the basic conclusions. The key to the highway is this comment from monkboughtlunch

Forum member monkboughtlunch here from the Steve Hoffman Music Forums. Is the flautist's name Don Lewis?

I found a couple of photos of what appears to be the mystery flautist taken by Lisa Law with this caption:

“Human Be-In, San Francisco January 14, 1967
At the Polo Grounds in Golden Gate Park
Shunryu Suzuki at the Human Be-in with Don Lewis and his girlfriend Anita from Big Sur and child - thanks Rene Pettit for that info Thanks to Dennis McNally for sending these and for getting permission from Lisa Law to post them. – dc”. Source:
https://www.cuke.com/photos/sr-be-in-lisa-law.html

A Chicago Seed history link is here

Also there's another photo of Don Lewis posted by Rolling Stone here

Thanks to everyone who pursued this, but particularly Simon and monkboughtlunch.

January 14, 1967 Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead

01. Dancing in The Streets
02. Viola Lee Blues ; w/Marvin Boxley-harmonica, vocals
03. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl* w/?-flute, ? (Boxley?)-vocals




77 comments:

  1. Re: The flute player

    Well, the most obvious answer was my friend Jesse Barish because, to my knowledge, he was the only white, long hair, flute player in San Francisco at that time (he played with The Orkustra in Oct.-Nov. 1966 for example)

    BUT, it's not him of course and when I tell him about this other guy who was around at the same time and more or less look like him, Jesse became very curious because he was also not aware of any other, at least white, flute player in town or in the Bay Area at all by then.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great stuff on Mysterious Marvin! That Babatunde Levels Of Consciousness album he plays on gives him two composer credits plus Fierro also plays on it.

    As for the white flute guy the short clip only shows him with no surrounding musicians. Unless there are shots of him with band members around him we don't know who, if anyone, he is playing with. As the stage shots seem to be in sequential order I suspect he is playing with Quicksilver not the Dead, or maybe a set between QMS and GD. His clip is followed by Leary, Kandel and Rubin on stage with the Dead setting up behind them. Maybe he played with both or maybe it was another flutist with the Dead. The folkies following the Dead (The New Age?) have two flute players, a white girl and a black guy, so there were several flutists around that day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Runon, thanks for the kind words.

      Interesting details about the flute player. The most likely candidate with QMS would be Steven Schuster (part of their crew) who jammed with them many times. He is also the most likely to jam with the Dead. Unfortunately he simply doesn't recall.

      The New Age flautist was Susan Graubard--very interesting to hear about the black guy, he would not have been a member of The New Age (there were only three).

      Delete
  3. Great to find Marvin Boxley, nice to fill in an extra piece!
    However, I find it hard to hear any harmonica during Viola Lee, or actually any vocals at all until the end, since the Dead's mics are turned off in the mix until the last line!
    I find it more likely Marvin was playing harmonica during Schoolgirl.

    I would also caution that the flute player briefly seen in the film clip isn't actually shown playing with the Dead, and could be with one of the other groups.
    However, in the shots of the Dead, he might be one of the guys standing on the side of the stage with the dancers (white vest over green shirt).
    Just our luck that apparently nobody pointed their cameras at the stage during Schoolgirl!
    It's also worth noting that the flute player was also a pretty wild scat-singer, which would further narrow down the possibilities (though it also narrows the listenability of this Schoolgirl). Hard to tell what people in the crowd actually heard, since Pigpen's mic seems to be turned off in Schoolgirl as well.

    By chance, there was another flute & horn player on the Dead's stage in the July 4, 1967 Central Park show - seen at the end here:
    http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2018/06/1967-mystery-show-photos.html
    San Francisco, it seems, was crawling with flutists.

    Oh, and a setlist correction - the Dead actually played:
    Dancing in the Streets
    Viola Lee Blues
    Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
    (The Morning Dew comes from a 1968 show and was erroneously added to the tape of 1/14/67.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your great comments. I updated the setlist.

      The flute player mystery gets larger rather than smaller.

      Delete
    2. LIA can you please clarify which other show from the 1967 mystery show photos post has a flautist? You said "Central Park", I think you mean GGP?

      Delete
  4. I reckon that photo of Marvin playing was taken during Dancing In The Street. The crowd at the front are looking right, away from Marvin, Jerry and Pigpen and towards Bobby hence Dancing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Branford played probably as much tenor as soprano with the GD. Ornette Coleman played alto and David Murray played tenor. As did Clarence Clemons. It all seemed to fit in and sound good enough, some better musically than others.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Another theory about the flute player...

    Jerre Peterson, rhythm guitarist of Blue Cheer, started playing flute as a kid so maybe he played that instrument just for fun at the Human Be-In?

    We know Blue Cheer showed up that day ready to play but eventually they did not because well there were too many bands willing to play for free and just not enough time for all

    I compared the photos to see if Jerre's face from March 1967 look like the unidentified flute player's face from January 1967, and I don't know, both had long hair, both had a thin face, so could be him, but maybe not, I don't know, I think not but...

    ReplyDelete
  7. How about Peter Kraemer, the excellent flute player from Sopwith Camel. Could he have been the mystery flautist? He was around the scene at the same time and they shared the stage with the Dead. Fazon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is an intriguing suggestion. I'm not good at faces, but it's not impossible that it's Peter Kraemer. In late '66 he had a mustache, but he could have shaved it off. Sopwith Camel had played the Fillmore the previous week (Jan 6-8), so they were likely around town.

      Delete
    2. Does anyone ever just ask Bobby when faced with these sorts of questions or is that dirty pool?

      Delete
    3. Generally speaking, members of the Grateful Dead do not recall these details. There has been a lot of water under the bridge, so it's not surprising. If anyone asked Bob, Phil or Bill about the flute player, that would be great, but I wouldn't expect much.

      Delete
    4. Not Peter Kraemer of course, but I ask him anyway, and he says "not me"

      Delete
  8. I will ask a friend to ask him, just for giggles.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Maybe the key to this riddle is that it's not a flute player, but a musician who just happens to be playing a flute. He looks a lot like Peter Albin.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'll throw out another maybe. Richard Olsen from The Charlatans. He was their bass player, but also played flute. They weren't playing, but most likely would have been at the Be-In since they were a SF band, and close to the Dead at that time. Also photos I've seen from around then, it could be him...but maybe not. Just another name to add to the mix.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you're onto something, look at Richard Olsen's picture here, his face looks a lot like the person in the Human Be-In photo:

      https://i.discogs.com/YQgo8w_qJUkl3u-iFquc1IFGZNTy8pvlWFRXmWjT07U/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:283/w:283/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9BLTQ4MzEy/NC0xNTQ5NTkwMjMw/LTIyOTMuanBlZw.jpeg

      Delete
    2. It is not Richie Olsen.

      Delete
    3. > It is not Richie Olsen.

      You are stating this so definitively yet you give no proof. Why should I believe you just because you are saying it's not. Give some proof if you are going to dismiss it so quickly.

      Delete
    4. Ok, my bad, Richard Olsen confirmed it wasn't him playing flute that day.

      Delete
  11. My Ex boyfriend who left me came back______________________

    (He is now madly in love with me),

    (He vowed never to breakup with me again)..

    You can Make your Ex love you again..

    Thank you! Dr_mack(@ yahoo. com)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Another photo of Marvin Boxley with the Grateful Dead at the Human Be-In has surfaced. I included it above. It was posted by SF historian David Gallagher on Twitter (@DavidGallagher)

    https://x.com/DavidGallagher/status/1810719896709517823

    ReplyDelete
  13. Richard Olsen of the Charlatans has a Linkedin page below, someone could try contacting him and ask about it:

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-olsen-26831429

    ReplyDelete
  14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lvH6gZH3j8

    In this clip on YouTube, at exactly 7:06, the flute player can be seen between Bobby and the girl dancer, holding his flute, talking to the guy who is shown regularly throughout the clip (I can't place who he is - anyone know?). This shows he was onstage with his flute while the Dead were actually playing so it is highly likely that he played with them not with another band. Although brief, it's a quick glimpse of him without the flute covering part of his face.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for this great bit of detective work. We know he was on stage with the Dead, which all but guarantees that he was the flute player.

      Delete
    2. To be honest, I don't think he looks like Richard Olsen (based on the photo a few posts up). If we know who the guy is that he's talking to on stage (he's clearly visible throughout that clip), even holding one of the mikes early on (so maybe he was an announcer?), and just say he's still around and contactable.....? Just sayin' :-)

      Delete
    3. you mean Jerry Rubin for the guy with the big 'tache and Rosie McGee the dancer

      Delete
    4. I knew I knew him, just couldn't place him. Ah well.

      Delete
  15. I think the flautist is also captured a second time in this film.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqxlO4IMxos

    You have to play it at slow speed or it's blink and you miss it. At 20 seconds in, he appears playing the flute as per the photo in the article above. Stop the film at this point and study him. Hair parted quite high up at the side of his forehead. What looks like a very dark green top with a sleeveless white jacket over it. His left shoulder (in dark green) is in the foreground (bottom right). Now let the film run on. In the very next scene with Timothy Leary, isn't that the flautist starting to sit down next to him? If it is him, does the fact that he's on stage with Leary give us another clue?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And if that IS him, he's also on stage at 1:35

      Delete
    2. And there's that same sleeveless jacket on stage with Ginsberg at 3:58 in this film.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ_OXD07Em0&t=126s

      If these are all the same person then he's not just some guy out of the audience. He's up on stage with the big names.

      Delete
    3. I'm really sorry about bombarding this post but, if this is the flautist (which I think it is), we're getting clear shots of his face. Here he is again, onstage with the Dead and Ginsberg, at 16:51 in this film.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTGyFgyB5Q8&t=10s

      Delete
    4. And 1.55 in this film with Leary and the Dead. I'm pretty sure that's his flute that he's holding. He's also dancing with Ginsberg at 3:35 onwards. He was on stage a LOT of the time!

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG-TD09MxRE&t=8s

      Delete
    5. This is great stuff. Thank you!

      Delete
    6. I second that emotion, great stuff indeed. The virtue of the blog format is that we can collectively go as far down the rabbit hole as we need.

      Delete
    7. Thanks. I thought I'd post some stills on the Steve Hoffman Forum - see if anyone recognises him. I've searched photos of Ginsberg, Leary and Rubin from back in 1966-67 but can't see him in any of them

      Delete
    8. https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/grateful-dead-human-be-in-january-1967-mystery-flautist.1207436/

      Delete
  16. With so many musicians having been eliminated, I thought about who would have been there but not thought of as a musician but maybe could play and would have been allowed on stage. The obvious crowd was the SF Mime Troupe/Diggers and the thin faced flute guy does look quite like Peter Coyote. Dunno what his hair style was in Jan 67 or if he could play flute or had that gap in his teeth but it keeps the speculation speculating.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I still think it could be Noel Jewkes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry but I’m not seeing that. His bio on his website only mentions clarinet and sax and he makes no mention of being part of the early SF scene and hanging out with the Dead, Leary and Ginsberg. There’s a photo of him younger and I don’t see a resemblance. Sorry but thanks for the suggestion. Simon

      Delete
  18. Not Steven Schuster then (see here https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/grateful-dead-human-be-in-january-1967-mystery-flautist.1207436)

    Anyone?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Simon, amazing detective work. So Schuster is off the table.

      I had not considered Jack Bonus, about whom we know basically nothing.

      And we have "Mr Slick" as a possible flautist.

      Things are looking up! The solution could be right around the corner.

      Thanks for going down the rabbit holes.

      Delete
  19. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  20. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Does anyone know anything about Peter van Gelder of The Great Society. I thought we'd already considered (and discounted) him but I can't find it. See my update on the Steve Hoffman thread. I think we're getting close.

    https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/grateful-dead-human-be-in-january-1967-mystery-flautist.1207436/#post-35101821

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bugger! Not Peter van Gelder either. The search goes on.

      Delete
    2. I think Filmmaker Wendy was indeed married to Jerry Slick, but it would have been much later (and I can't confirm it yet). I think her name would more likely have been Wendy Blair before, and her mysterious flute-playing husband seems our best bet so far.

      Delete
    3. From what I can find, Jerry met and married Wendy around 1979. She was 10 years younger than him so born around 1949. As you say, she was Wendy Blair when they met. I can't help but think that Jeff Tamarkin is the man to help us here. I used to trade Dead tapes with Jeff in the 1970s. I say 'trade' - being in the UK, I didn't have much to offer him but he sent me so much stuff. He was EXTREMELY generous. I got my first copies of the Fillmore East run in February 1970 and again in April 1971 from him. He'd send me pages and pages of handwritten lists of his tapes. Anyway, he's the expert on all things Jefferson Airplane so if anyone knows how to contact him, he may just know the name of Wendy Blair's previous husband.

      Delete
    4. I made contact with Jeff via his brother, Dave. Unfortunately, Jeff doesn't know but has always assumed it was Charles Lloyd.

      Delete
  22. I think we've run out of road on the Mystery Flute-player so I'm going to stop actively looking. I thought I'd summarise where we are now. More information and photos on the Steve Hoffman thread here.....

    https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/grateful-dead-human-be-in-january-1967-mystery-flautist.1207436/

    Steven Schuster confirmed that it's NOT him but thinks it might be the husband (at the time) of Wendy Slick, wife of Jerry Slick. Wendy is/was 10 years younger than Jerry so was born around 1949 making her 75 at the time of writing. Her previous name was Wendy Blair. Was 'Blair' her married name in 1967? I don't know. I've searched for flautists called Blair from that period but drawn a blank. Wendy Slick has a website with a contact email address. I emailed her but it came straight back as 'undelivered'.

    Obviously husband Jerry was in The Great Society. I hadn't realised that they had a flautist, Peter van Gelder. The photos certainly looked a bit like Peter (see SHF) but, when I contacted him, he said it's definitely NOT him because, in January 1967, he was living in India studying the sitar. He suggested that I contact Darby Slick who he said is active on Facebook. I messaged Darby but, so far, haven't had a reply.

    I've tried David & Jeff Tamarkin and David Gans, all of whom are 'experts' on the Dead, the Airplane and that period, but none of them knows who he is.

    I've messaged Phil Lesh but, again, no response to date.

    I think the only lead we have left is Wendy Slick's husband at the time of the event. To the best of my knowledge, she is still alive but I have no idea how to contact her and there's precious little information on the web (other than the films she made). Maybe someone with access to Californian newspaper archives might find some mention of her? So, unless and until she passes and possibly an obituary is published, I think that's about it. I'll update this thread if anything else comes to light but I'll stop actively searching.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Appreciate the summary! Can you summarize all of the others who have been considered and ruled out? TIA!

      Delete
    2. I think they're all in the article and comments above but here goes.......

      Charles Lloyd - our flautist was white
      Susan Graubard - not male
      Andy Kulberg - reasons above plus different face
      Noel Jewkes - reasons above plus early photo nothing like
      Jerre Peterson - dismissed above
      Peter Kraemer - he said not
      Peter Albin - just no
      Richard Olsen - dismissed above
      Peter Coyote - dismissed above and at SHF
      Jack Bonus - see SHF (no resemblance)
      Jeremy Steig - see SHF (different eyes)

      I forgot to mention, I know a guy in the UK who was plugged into the SF scene and has, more recently, set up UK tours for Joe McDonald, Barry Melton, Bruce Barthol (RIP) and others. He's put this out to them to see if they know who the flautist might be.

      All for now.




      Delete
    3. Sorry, one final comment. I spent hours searching Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary and Jerry Rubin, and looking at photos of their friends and followers, just in case our man was there or mentioned in articles. Nada

      Delete
    4. Just had an email reply from Richard Olsen.

      "Hi Simon, You’re the second person who’s contacted me and I’m sorry to disappoint you but it was’nt me playing flute with the Dead at the Human Be In. in Golden Gate Park in ‘67. I don’t know who that could have been.
      Cheers
      Richard ( not the Mystery Flautist)"

      Maybe the first person to contact him was Yellow Shark who said it wasn't him (comment in August above)?

      Delete
    5. I'd emailed him a few weeks ago, when someone first suggested him, but never heard back.

      Delete
  23. It was me who was the other person to contact him, I was sure it was him from those pictures lol. He was very nice about responding and confirming it wasn't him. My bad, so the mystery remains unsolved.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I've just found an active email address for Wendy Slick so have sent her an email with Steven Schuster's recollection that it may have been her husband. Let's see......

    ReplyDelete
  25. Forum member monkboughtlunch here from the Steve Hoffman Music Forums. Is the flautist's name Don Lewis?

    I found a couple of photos of what appears to be the mystery flautist taken by Lisa Law with this caption:

    “Human Be-In, San Francisco January 14, 1967
    At the Polo Grounds in Golden Gate Park
    Shunryu Suzuki at the Human Be-in with Don Lewis and his girlfriend Anita from Big Sur and child - thanks Rene Pettit for that info Thanks to Dennis McNally for sending these and for getting permission from Lisa Law to post them. – dc”. Source: https://www.cuke.com/photos/sr-be-in-lisa-law.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's pretty cool. Maybe you have solved this floutist conundrum. I just saw Lisa Law last month at John Morris memorial in Santa Fe. Wonder if she remembers these folks?

      Delete
    2. monk, "Don Lewis" really, really looks like the guy. The Big Sur crowd back then were real proto-hippies. They would have been at the Be-In, and the men all had long hair, so it checks all the boxes.

      The Big Sur hippie crowd was in the 1965 Elizabeth Taylor movie The Sandpiper, but I didn't see him listed in IMDB.

      You may really be on to something. Too bad "Don Lewis" is so hard to Google. Great work!

      Delete
    3. There is a Don Lewis who was a psychedelic poster artist and co-founder of underground magazine Chicago Seed (1967-1974). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Seed_%28newspaper%29

      Delete
    4. Hi Monk, I think you've nailed it. All the evidence pointed to this being the guy who played with the Dead (he was onstage with a flute while they were playing and obviously knew all the big names). You've now put a name to him. Other than first-hand confirmation from someone who knew him or attended the event, I think we can call it job done - the mystery flautist was Don Lewis (who was probably a better poster artist than musician).

      Delete
    5. There is also a Don Lewis (1933-2010) who painted watercolors for Playboy Magazine in the mid to late 1960s. Source: https://www.askart.com/artist/Don_Lewis/128773/Don_Lewis.aspx

      Delete
    6. Rolling Stone magazine has a circa 1970 photo that includes a Don Lewis in New York. The Lewis that co-founded Seed Magazine later apparently moved to New York for a period to serve as art director for The East Village Other. Here's the link to the Rolling Stone photo: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/tom-forcade-high-times-magazine-1234810373/

      Delete
    7. Don Lewis contributed two illustrations to Jerry Rubin's 1970 book: Do It! Scenarios of the Revolution. Source: https://sabrinasoyer.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/jerry-rubin-do-it-scenarios-of-revolution.pdf

      Delete
    8. "An underground Chicago newspaper founded in 1967 by Don Lewis, an artist, and Earl Segal, a store owner, Seed combined hippie cultural views with leftist politics and mixed colorful psychedelics with community news. In doing so, it emulated the San Francisco Oracle, perhaps the nation's premier hippie publication. In fact, like the California hippies, Lewis and Segal organized a Be-In and called it a "unity of love." From the book: The ABC-CLIO Companion to The 1960s Counterculture in America by Neil A. Hamilton

      Delete
  26. I updated the post. Simon, thank you for pursuing this, and monkboughtlunch, thanks for figuring it out. Fantastic work.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Here are Bobby and Mickey doing an MTV interview about performing at this festival, which Bill Graham "cajoled" them into doing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYrSygbYBns

    ReplyDelete
  28. One faint possibility:
    Lewis may have been playing flute, but what if Marvin Boxley was the guy scatting in Schoolgirl?
    The voice isn't dissimilar from the guy singing "Yonder Wall" in those Matrix shows.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it is Boxley singing, most likely. We know he was a blues singer already, and he has a microphone.

      I didn't raise the subject earlier, because I wanted to keep the question clear between the flute player and the harmonica player. But I think Boxley was far more likely to sing.

      Delete
  29. Update: Was able to rule out the Don Lewis who contributed watercolor paintings to Playboy magazine in the 1960s. The other Don Lewis who was an art director for underground magazines in Chicago and New York is still a possible candidate. Another potential candidate is a Don Lewis who lived in Big Sur. Hoffman forum member iwasinthehouse pointed out that David Crosby's 1988 bio makes reference to a friend named Don Lewis and Anita Treash from Big Sur.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Hey Corry a dorm friend from yr UCBerk days: watch this on YT for a clue then google me if you want to chat...
    Michael Moorcock is Back: NEW WORLDS 60th Anniversary ISSUE Global Exclusive Video

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Much water under the bridge. As I recall, we saw Hawkwind back in the day

      https://www.thoughtsonthedead.com/the-greatest-crossover-event-in-the-history-of-the-innertubes/

      corrarnold at gmail.com

      Delete