“Everything’s forty years old this year!” exclaimed my former office mate and chief Chronicle film critic Marjorie Baumgarten at lunch on Sunday. Maybe she is right. This feels like the year of more 40-years-since anniversaries than even I want to remember, including Woodstock, the moon landing, the Manson murders, and Altamont. It was a grand summer, though, maybe the last gasp of Top Forty radio before the FM culture took over.
One of the songs of the summer was the Sir Douglas Quintet’s “Mendocino,” Doug Sahm’s second ride up the charts, since his Beatles-inspired “She’s About a Mover” in 1966. This time, Sahm and the Quintet weren’t the mod mop-tops of the “Mover” era; they’d foregone the Dutchboy bangs and Beatle boots for a decidedly Texas look, as seen on the cover of Rolling Stone in December 1968.
Harvey Kagan played bass in that version of the Quintet. He was already a veteran of Doug’s bands, a San Antonio kid who also did studio work with Gene Vincent and Dewey Martin as well as being one of San Antonio’s first-call bassists. Although Harvey did not play on “Mendocino” (Jimmy Stallings did), he laid down the soulful bottom of “At the Crossroads.” He currently does studio work and plays with Dubb Hankins & the Oh So Good Band.
Harvey underwent a series of emergency medical treatments recently that included treatment for bleeding on the brain and blood clots. You know what that means in musician-speak, so let’s cut to the good stuff, because it’s a short jaunt down the interstate to San Antonio.
The benefit is at Sam’s Burger Joint on Sunday, July 26, 2-6pm, and features a fine cross-section of S.A. stalwarts, including Claude Morgan & the Hix; Loftin Kline; George Chambers; Patsy Coleman & Bubba Brown; Dubb Hankins & the Oh So Good Band; Billy Mata; Auction; and Jody Jenkins, Bobby Jenkins, and Rick Cavender. Kagan’s daughter’s delightful band the Petals and longtime bandmate Augie Meyer also play the show. $10 donation; all others gratefully accepted.
And happy 40th, all you guys who made “Mendocino,” wherever you may be.
This article appears in July 17 • 2009.