Saturday, September 17, 2016

Breakfast with Ron, rest in peace Ron Polte manager of Quicksilver, Ace of Cups, Wild West Fest - Jon Hammond

-- RIP my friend Ron Polte - manager of Quicksilver, Ace of Cups, Wild West Fest - Jon Hammond (my band opened for Copperhead on one of the very few live gigs they played in 1972 at The Longbranch Saloon) Tam Junction and Piatti Mill Valley Restaurant - Breakfast with Ron, rest in peace Ron Polte - Jon Hammond : *Note: We had a lot of fun in the old days at 759 Harrison Street San Francisco when we shared rehearsal space with The Quicksilver Messenger Service at Bruce Hatch's San Francisco Radical Laboratories aka SF Rad Lab in years 1968 / 1969 (not to be confused with radiation lab folks! I am still in touch with QSM guitarist Gary Duncan, sending my condolences Gary! - JH *Note: This was Ron's big project some years ago folks: http://jonhammondband.com/blog.html/jon_hammond_reflections_on_wild_west_festival/ JON HAMMOND REFLECTIONS ON WILD WEST FESTIVAL - LINK: http://kernelpanichammondcast.blogspot.com/2016/09/wow-folks-i-was-there-jon-hammond.html Wow folks, I was there! This was very nearly the biggest Rock Music Festival that almost happened - it was very close. I went to many meetings with Ron Polte and a lot of very heavy San Francisco Rock bands were down to play the "Wild West Festival" (1969) Posters were already made up, we had meetings in the Zoetrope building now owned by Francis Ford Coppola and The Straight Theatre on Haight Street - Ron Polte was part owner of Straight Theatre in addition to being the manager of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Ace of Cups and for a time Sons of Champlin as well. I highly recommend watching and listening to this very rare footage of the press conference with Big Daddy Tom Donahue speaking about the project - Jon Hammond Band​ photo by Jon Hammond​ - breakfast with Ron I just saw Ron's obit by Paul Liberatore​ in the Marin IJ: http://www.marinij.com/article/NO/20160916/NEWS/160919827 "Quicksilver Quicksilver Messenger Service - Band​ manager Ron Polte dies in Mill Valley at 84" " By Paul Liberatore, Marin Independent Journal Posted: 09/16/16, 5:53 PM PDT | Updated: 6 hrs ago Ron Polte, who managed the psychedelic rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service and the all-female quintet the Ace of Cups during the glory days of the San Francisco Sound, died Wednesday at his longtime home in Mill Valley. He was 84. Mr. Polte had been suffering from multiple health problems and had been under Hospice care since May, said his wife of 20 years, Sally Robert. “He was a good man,” said Quicksilver band member David Freiberg, speaking by phone from Florida while on tour with the Jefferson Starship. “I could always trust him to do what he thought was right.” Born on the south side of Chicago into a family of nine children, Mr. Polte had a tough childhood, but managed to turn his life around after being in and out of trouble with the law as a teenager, his wife said. In Chicago, he became friends with blues singer-songwriter Nick Gravenites (“Born in Chicago,” “Buried Alive in the Blues”) when they were teenagers and followed him out to San Francisco in the early 1960s. They were the first of the Chicago blues crowd, including Mike Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop and Mark Naftalin of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, to relocate in the Bay Area, most of them settling in Marin and Sonoma counties. In 1967, Mr. Polte took over management of Quicksilver and the Ace of Cups after their original manager, Ambrose Hollingworth, was seriously injured in a car crash near Muir Beach. “When we needed somebody, there he was,” Freiberg said. Quicksilver was the last of the San Francisco hippie bands to ink a major label deal when they signed with Capitol Records in late 1967. “He took it slow and steady and wouldn’t take a deal if he didn’t think it was right,” Freiberg recalled. “It took a while, but we got a really good deal with Capitol.” Mr. Polte was known as a dutiful and resourceful manager who did what he could to meet the needs of the young musicians in his bands. Freiberg remembered that when he and his Quicksilver bandmates were living together in a house in Mill Valley, they informed him of their desire to move onto a farm in the country with a barn where they could rehearse. Mr. Polte wasted no time making that wish come true. “Within a week and a half, we were living on an old dairy farm in Olema,” Freiberg recalled, chuckling. “He really cared about making sure everybody was taken care of.” Diane Vitalich of Novato, drummer for the Ace of Cups, recalled that when she and her bandmates needed transportation, Mr. Polte went to an auction of state vehicles at San Quentin and bought cars for all of them. “He bought us five 1963 Dodge Darts,” she said. “They were all blue and all looked the same.” During this time, Mr. Polte started Westpole, a booking agency that handled Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin, the Sons of Champlin and other seminal Bay Area rock groups. He’s also credited with inspiring the name of the band Electric Flag, a short-lived supergroup formed by Bloomfield, Gravenites, keyboardist Barry Goldberg, bassist Harvey Brooks and drummer Buddy Miles. According to Gravenites, Quicksilver had somehow come into possession of a light-up electric flag after a gig at a veterans hall. “He brought it over to where we were all living and rehearsing in Tam Valley,” he recalled. “We plugged it in and it lit up and started waving. We said, ‘Hey, look at that. Let’s call ourselves the Electric Flag.’” Eventually, Mr. Polte escaped from the hard living and tumult of the music business, spending time on a remote lodge in the New Mexico wilderness owned by Frank Werber, the charismatic manager of the Kingston Trio and owner of the Trident, a legendary Sausalito restaurant. Through it all, he never lost the values that defined the ‘60s generation in San Francisco. “All the altruistic thinking that came out of that era he agreed with a thousand percent,” Gravenites said. “He remained a firm defender of all the idealism from those years.” In addition to his wife, Mr. Polte is survived by two daughters, Pamela Polte of Sutter Creek, Amador County, and Patti Ann Lindecker of Chicago; two sons, Thomas Polte of Chicago and Jeremy Polte of Dunsmuir, Siskiyou County, and two sisters, Marilyn McMinn and Nancy Brunanchon of Pine Grove, Amador County. A private memorial service is being planned. " JON HAMMOND REFLECTIONS ON WILD WEST FESTIVAL - LINK: http://kernelpanichammondcast.blogspot.com/2016/09/wow-folks-i-was-there-jon-hammond.html Wow folks, I was there! This was very nearly the biggest Rock Music Festival that almost happened - it was very close. I went to many meetings with Ron Polte and a lot of very heavy San Francisco Rock bands were down to play the "Wild West Festival" (1969) Posters were already made up, we had meetings in the Zoetrope building now owned by Francis Ford Coppola and The Straight Theatre on Haight Street - Ron Polte was part owner of Straight Theatre in addition to being the manager of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Ace of Cups and for a time Sons of Champlin as well. I highly recommend watching and listening to this very rare footage of the press conference with Big Daddy Tom Donahue speaking about the project - Jon Hammond *long-time member Local 6 Musicians Union (but not then!) *LINK: https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/201631 **From KQED piece: " KQED News report from 1969 featuring a press conference by Tom Donahue (1928-75), who discusses the Wild West Rock Festival that was to have taken place in Golden Gate Park but was cancelled due to protests by locals. Donahue believes that even though the concert never happened, this was a positive experience for the San Francisco community. He states that: "We also felt that a great deal of the good things that have come out of the artistic community in this country have originated in San Francisco. That it's a starting point. Thay may sound chauvanistic but I also think it's the truth." Ends with brief comments from another spokesman, who refers to the "unecessary and ... unwarranted paranoia" that the Wild West project had to deal with. It is worth noting that Donahue was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as a non-peformer, one of only three disc jockeys to receive that honor to date (2011). Tags: golden gate park, kqn 486, news cameras, rock concerts, ron polte, tom donahue, wild west festival Added to San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive on November 18, 2011. " Tom Donahue on the Wild West Festival (1969) (Updated over a year ago) #HammondCast #GoldenGatePark #HammondOrgan, Big Daddy, Jon Hammond, Local 6, Musicians Union, Ron Polte, San Francisco, Tom Donahue, Wild West Festival #WATCHMOVIE HERE: Revisiting The Notorious Party Barge! Jon Hammond plus 2 Sons of Champlin Jon's archive https://archive.org/details/JonHammondPartyBarge_2SONSofCHAMPLIN_JONHAMMOND Views 542 #542 Youtube https://youtu.be/inzkjTzdecs 7,373 views #7373 Usage Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Topics Sons of Champlin, Terry Haggerty, James Preston, Jon Hammond, XB-2 Organ, Party, Barge, Lake, Fun in the sun, Funky, Blues, Jam, HammondCast, KYOU KYCY Radio 512KB MPEG4 download download 1 file MPEG4 download download 1 file OGG VIDEO download download 1 file TORRENT download download 20 Files download 5 Original SHOW ALL comments -- kynyrdskynyrd6 years ago The Hag rules Michael Quinn Michael Quinn8 years ago 2 Favorite guitar solos: Terry Haggerty on "Gold Mine" and cover of "Slippery When It's Wet" from Sons of Champlin. Steve Tannehill Steve Tannehill8 years ago What a gem! Great organ sound from that little keyboard. Terry Haggerty is unbelievable. I've listened to him for years but never had such a great close up of his fingering on one of his blistering solos. Phenomenal! gsman5828 gsman58289 years ago Nice sound! Great guitar solo! lowbassfan lowbassfan9 years ago That is the GREAT TERRY HAGGERTY on guitar.He is a living legend. Super Cool! Party Barge has left - James Preston R.I.P. drums with Jon Hammond + Terry Haggerty: Fun in the Sun and Water on the Lake with Jon Hammond at the XB-2 organ, James Preston drums and Terry Haggerty guitar of band SONS of CHAMPLIN (Marin County CA) playing Jon's tune "Turkey Dog Saute" powered by a generator cruising on a nice day, enjoy! *spcl. thanks: Al & Leslie (Cam) Catch Jon's radio show HammondCast every day 4AM PST on KYOU & KYCY 1550 AM ©JON HAMMOND International '07 http://www.HammondCast.com Jon's archive https://archive.org/details/PocketFunkJonHammondInShorelineAmphitheatreNewOrleansByTheBay Jon Hammond and The Late Rent Session Men laying down some serious Pocket Funk at the 12th annual New Orleans by The Bay Food and Music Festival for Bill Graham Presents. Original Jon Hammond composition from Jon's album "Late Rent" with James Preston drums from Sons of Champlin band, Larry Schneider tenor saxophone, Barry Finnerty guitar and Jon Hammond at his 1965 Hammond B3 organ Special thanks Mick Brigden and the BGP Team http://www.jonhammondband.com I like how Jimmy wore his Tie-dye Peace Symbol shirt in to AFN Radio when we did the live broadcast on the powerful military station world-wide in March of 1994 - you will be / are greatly missed James Preston! Funky drummer, the hits are still going on - still reeling from the sad news he has passed a couple of days ago folks - Jon Hammond *Actual Broadcast on AFN from Frankfurt Headquarters: LINK: http://youtu.be/S1DXhw1z_rc "This remarkable film documents 3/17 1994 AFN POWERLITE Show live broadcast of JON HAMMOND Band playing and talking on-air with host MARGIE GLAD "The Voice of AFN Europe" 871AM MW at that time. First-ever public performance of original composition "Nu Funk" ("Hip Hop Chitlins"). The broadcast was heard world-wide and recorded and later released on Jon Hammond's album "Late Rent". James Preston of band Sons of Champlin drums, Barry Finnerty gtr., Jon Hammond XB-2 organ/bass Joe Berger audio."... San Francisco California -- Jon Hammond Band Lunchtime Gig in front of San Francisco City Hall - shown James Preston drums Jon Hammond at 1965 B3 Hammond organ Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V98fwDJSHWw 2,062 Jon's archive https://archive.org/details/HeadPhoneOZZtoshStandSummerNAMM OZZtosh Guitars Stand at Summer NAMM Nashville Tennessee - Jon Hammond and Joe Berger jamming for friends on the tune "Head Phone" from Jon Hammond Band Repertoire through 2 classic amps, Jon's organ through an Ampeg B-15 bass amp and Joe is playing the OZZtosh through a classic Fender - fine people making fine instruments with space age aluminum construction! http://www.ozztosh.com/ - thanks very much Barbara & Brian Ostosh & Nickolas Butterfield - The NAMM Show — at Nashville Music City Center STOLEN: #REPOST #SHARE #HELPFIND 07.20.2014 in the early hours between 12am-8am. 2 ALUMINUM BASS Guitars stolen from a car in the parking-lot at the Club Hotel Inn & Suites 2435 Atrium Way Nashville, TN 37214 at the end of the NAMM Convention. ALERT as many people with the use of SOCIAL MEDIA. KINDLY HELP US RECOVER our hard work! #SHARE #REPOST Sincerely, Brian Ostosh & Barbara Rospond #sharethis #summernamm #2014namm #stolengear #stolenbass #helpfind #crime Party Barge has left - James Preston R.I.P. drums with Jon Hammond and Terry Haggerty LINK: http://youtu.be/inzkjTzdecs Thanks for all the great hits JP!! - "Nobody could do the tighten up like James Preston": Jon Hammond Remembering James Preston here: Fun in the Sun and Water on the Lake with Jon Hammond at the XB-2 organ, James Preston drums and Terry Haggerty original guitarist of Sons of Champlin band (Marin County CA) playing Jon's tune "Turkey Dog Saute" powered by a generator cruising on a nice day, enjoy! — with Jon Hammond, James Preston and Terry Haggerty at Lake Berryessa Jon's archive https://archive.org/details/LateRentThemeSongAcousticNationStage Jon Hammond Organ Group performs original theme song "Late Rent" at Summer NAMM Show Nashville Tennessee on the Acoustic Nation Stage. Musicians: Roland Barber - trombone, Evan Cobb - tenor sax, Joe Berger - guitar, Louis Flip Winfield - drums, Jon Hammond - organ http://www.jonhammondband.com/ special thanks to Nickolas Butterfield camera, JC Clifford & Michael Turner Mothertone crew for Louis and the fine Sleishman Drum Co drums you hear here - JH Youtube http://youtu.be/4jTXzicbPiY CNN iReport http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1155766 Dailymotion http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2259tv_late-rent-theme-song-acoustic-nation-stage_music Vimeo http://vimeo.com/101913407 Jon's archive https://archive.org/details/JonHammondPhotosAndOrganGroupAtSummerNAMMNashville Jon Hammond's Summer NAMM Nashville Photos and Jon Hammond Organ Group kicking it off on the NAMM Acoustic Nation Stage - Roland Barber trombone, Evan Cobb tenor, Joe Berger guitar, Louis Flip Winfield drums, Jon Hammond organ/bass - The NAMM Show — at Nashville Music City Center - *Special thanks JC Clifford & Sleishman Drum Co. / Mothertone Camera Credit: Nickolas Butterfield http://www.HammondCast.com/ NAMM Acoustic Nation Stage Jon Hammond Organ Group Youtube http://youtu.be/CZMB2uTYyaM CNN iReport http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1154470 Views 689 #689 Jon's archive https://archive.org/details/JonHammondCakeFlowersandLateRent25YearsMusikmesseWarmUpPartyinJazzkeller Youtube https://youtu.be/hozrJpHvV-4 388 views #388 Chocolate on Chocolate Cake at 2011 Musikmesse Warm Up Party in Jazzkeller Frankfurt with Jon Hammond Band and special guests for this special occasion celebrating 25 years in Musikmesse. Special acknowledgement of Wilhelm P. "Charly" Hosenseidl R.I.P. who was the Director of Musikmesse years 1989-2008 now Directed by Wolfgang Luecke, special thanks to Messe Frankfurt Projekt and Presse Team! Jon Hammond Band: Joe Berger guitar Tony Lakatos tenor saxophone Giovanni Gulino drums Jon Hammond - XB-2 Hammond Organ - special thanks Hiromitsu Ohno Chief Engineer Suzuki Musical Instruments designed my instrument which took me all around the world many times "Late Rent" Jon Hammond theme song for Jon Hammond Show MNNTV and HammondCast Show KYOU Radio San Francisco CBS Radio Network Thanks Joe Lamond President CEO NAMM, TecAmp Jürgen Kunze and Thomas Eich - Puma Combo bass amp powering Jon Hammond's organ Dankeschoen to Yücel Atiker, Tino Pavlis, Poehl, Bernie Capicchiano, Michael Falkenstein Hammond Suzuki Deutschland, Peggy Behling, Christine Kern Messe Frankfurt, Saray Pastanesi Baeckerei & Konditorei for Chocolate on Chocolate 25 Years Musikmesse Celebration Cake - Mainzer Landstrasse 131, 60327 Frankfurt am Main, Eugen Hahn Jazzkeller Frankfurt Team Kleine Bockenheimerstr. 18a Frankfurt http://www.HammondCast.com Run time 13:54 Producer Jon Hammond Production Company Jon Hammond Intl. Audio/Visual sound, color Usage Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Topics Musikmesse, Hammond Organ, Jazz, Jazzkeller, 25 Years, Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Cake, Flowers, Jazz, Messe, Frankfurt, Jazzkeller, Hammond Organ, Late Rent 512KB MPEG4 download download 1 file MPEG4 download download 1 file OGG VIDEO download download 1 file TORRENT Jon's archive https://archive.org/details/HammondPartyNightPocketFunkShakingOutTheNewXK5OrganInNashville Vimeo https://vimeo.com/hammondcast Jon Hammond Band at the Hammond Party for the new XK-5 Hammond organ, playing Jon's tune Pocket Funk in Full HighDef on the new prototype organ with Kayleigh Moyer on the Sleishman Drum Co Mothertone drums, Chuggy Carter congas GON BOPS, Joe Berger guitar, Jon Hammond at the XK5 (plays just like a B3 with Multi Contact keys!) first night of Summer NAMM Show Nashville, Tennessee at the famous studios of SoundCheck Nashville- Pocket Funk as seen on Jon's TV show Jon Hammond Show 34 years on Manhattan Neighborhood Network channel 1 - special thanks to Hammond Organ USA Gregory Gronowski & Scott May, Ray Gerlich long-time Hammond Technical Supervisor since 1976! also Mark Prentice M.D. for the evening, known as "Sound Soul Summit V" fine players all night long on the new org - Thanks to my friend Chuck Rainey the great studio bassist for coming and hanging with us all night long! And the Suzuki Musical Instruments Team makers of Hammond Organs and Leslie Speakers *from Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka, Japan http://www.HammondCast.com ‪#‎XK5‬ ‪#‎NAMMShow‬ ‪#‎Nashville‬ ‪#‎SummerNAMM‬ ‪#‎HammondOrgan‬ Producer Jon Hammond Language English Jon's archive https://archive.org/details/TheNAMMShowWhiteOnionsJonHammondFunkUnitNAMMShowcase Views 517 #517 Youtube https://youtu.be/EKavYAXYYw4 1,075 views #1075 #‎TheNAMMShow‬ “White Onions” Jon Hammond Funk Unit NAMM Showcase lunch set https://www.namm.org/thenammshow/2015/events/jon-hammond-funk-unit 23rd January reprising 1989 Late Rent Sessions recording ©JON HAMMOND International ASCAP Jon Hammond Funk Unit Photo Credit: Lawrence Gay co-producer of West Coast Live Radio Program with special guest Bernard Purdie drums, Leslie J. Carter percussion Jon Hammond organ (original members on record) featuring Koei Tanaka chromatic harmonica from Tokyo Japan Suzuki world star, Joe Berger guitar JJ guitars, Alex Budman tenor saxophone Dom Famularo returning to the NAMM Stage – special thanks NAMM President CEO Joe Lamond, KHS Hercules folding stands Usage Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Topics NAMM Show, Lunch set, Bernard Purdie, Jon Hammond, Onions, Funky Jazz, Hercules folding stands, KHS America, Hammond Organ Producer Jon Hammond Audio/Visual sound, color Language English Jon's archive https://archive.org/details/HammondPartyNightPocketFunkShakingOutTheNewXK5OrganInNashville Vimeo https://vimeo.com/hammondcast #XK5 Jon Hammond Band at the Hammond Party for the new XK-5 Hammond organ, playing Jon's tune Pocket Funk in Full HighDef on the new prototype organ with Kayleigh Moyer on the Sleishman Drum Co Mothertone drums, Chuggy Carter congas GON BOPS, Joe Berger guitar, Jon Hammond at the XK5 Big Daddy, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jon Hammond, Local 6, Musicians Union, Ron Polte, San Francisco, Tom Donahue, Wild West Festival, #HammondCast #GoldenGatePark #HammondOrgan #TomDonahue #RonPolte #Quicksilver