Boogie (54)

Originally from Marin County, California (San Francisco area) Boogie emerged from a short-lived five-piece outfit called California Memorial Band. Being possibly one of the first hard-blues / proto-metal group that emerged from the San Francisco scene, this power-trio was formed by Barry “The Bee” Bastian (Canned Heat, Lee Michaels...) on guitar/vocals; John Barrett (The Rhythm Dukes) on bass and Fuzzy John Oxendine (Roky Erickson & The Aliens, Jerry Miller Band...) on drums. Comrades of Moby Grape (who even let Boogie use their rehearsal space) and the Sons Of Champlin, they played at all the legendary venues (The Ark, Avalon, Fillmore…) sharing stage with bands like Buffalo Springfield, Quicksilver, Ace Of Cups, Flamin’ Groovies or Country Joe & The Fish. Their explosive show at the Sky River Rock Festival (August, 1968, the first outdoor multi-band Rock Festival held in the United States) to an audience of 150,000 people, is still remembered today. Sadly, their convulsed story, which includes undercover narks and marijuana busts, left them with no record deal. But a studio demo - recorded in 1968 at Pacific High Recorders - including three tracks, “In Freak Town”, “To Me” and a terrific, fuzzed out 7-minute long cover of “Wade In The Water”, plus some live recordings from 1969, survived.