County Assessor Larry Stone may be getting bored with waiting for the baseball commissioner to approve an A’s move, so he’s thinking up new ideas. One popped out of his lips at the mayor’s annual breakfast at the San Jose Jazz Festival, of which Stone is honorary chair. Let’s build a statue to commemorate the Doobie Brothers in San Jose, their hometown, Stone proposed. Certainly other cities have celebrated their popular musicians. Austin has a Stevie Ray Vaughn statue and Seattle honored Jimi Hendrix with the Experience Music Project.
Bronzing the Doobies would pose some logistical problems. For one thing, there’s been more than a dozen members over the years. If the four or five original Doobies (depending on whether ousted bass player Dave Shogren is included) are commemorated, that leaves out Michael McDonald.
The question of who’s in or out could be avoided by using a symbol, such as the winged logo (somewhat commercial), a Harley (biker magnet) or a large doobie (Mayor Chuck Reed probably won’t go for it). We have a feeling that this one’s going to take some work.
Whew, slow news day. Larry Stone’s thoughts – that’s right up there with watching paint dry!
I listen to these guys more than Thomas Fallon or Queztacoatl, so go for it.
The heading should have read;
LARRY STONED ON DOOBIES!
That photo of “San Jose’s own” looks like it was taken in Golden Gate Park.
The Count Five may have been a one hit wonder group, but at least they did their promo shots at the Winchester Mystery House.
The Doobies who have sold over 30 million records and remain one the popular live acts around have roots all over the valley and still have strong ties to the area.
Cofounders Tom Johnston (san jose state) and Pat Simmons (leigh high school) formed the Doobies out of their 12th street house downtown. Not only did Johnston pen such classics as China Grove and Listen To The Music in the basement but came up with their name “Doobie Brothers” at the kitchen table (while sprinkling (and smoking) doobies on their cereal. It became a central jam site for local musicians (including Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham from Fleetwood Mac when both were SJS students). The bands early local gigs at the Gaslighter Theater and Bodega (in Campbell), Ricardos Pizza, and the Hells Angel hang-out the Chatue Liberte in the Santa Cruz mountains.
Many of the members, past and present, are from here and the band performs several local concerts locally every year. They have donated an entire wing for all their charity work at Stanford’s children’s hospital. And anyone who grew up here in the 70s has their own personal story about the “down to earth” musicians. They have always been the fastest selling act at the Mountain Winery. The band even wrote songs about the area like South City Midnight Lady and Neal’s Fandango (with the chorus “from the hills above santa cruz, loma pierta my mountain home”).
The San Jose rock and roll museum is working with the band to make their long overdue induction a big event. KFOX DJ Greg Kihn insists changed the name of Norm Mineta Airport to Doobie Brothers International. San Jose should be proud of the greatest retro icon from what is considered the most creative period of music ever.