Right, we're at the Geary Theatre on Geary St. in San Francisco. Four of us on the Right Hand Side of the stage as viewed by the audience, but hidden by the main curtain. Me first; drums next; the Hammond organ third, then Jethro in front of me, facing us and conducting. Our schedule is for three weeks at the Geary. After the second night, I showed up with a cheap styrofoam ice chest full of Budweiser and ice available to the actors and stage personnel at 25 cents a can. I extended credit, but the price was then 30 cents a can. On our last night before heading to LA, I'd secure the lid and send the ice chest on the furniture truck.
Shumlins had fouled up the LA booking and put us in the Greek Theatre in Griffith Park, a venue made famous by rock bands like the Rolling Stones etc. First night I'm preparing the ice chest that always sat next to the Peavey amp (a piece of junk) behind me, when two females wandered over to the band stand asking about the beer. After they'd informed me that they were volunteers, I gave them two cans of beer as a gesture of goodwill. One of the women said that her mother had an English boyfriend who played the saxophone, so I sounded her out about a jazz club in the San Fernando Valley called Donates. She said she knew it, so I asked her if she could take Jethro and me to the jazz club; and she agreed. As it happens, Dontes (now shuttered) was in Van Nuys on Laurel Canyon. We made it there after the show and found a famous band called Supersax plaything a bebop repertoire led by Med Floory on Alto. There were about nine personnel in the band including the rhythm section. Jethro had heard these guys on the radio in London. After a "dry hole" in San Francisco, this was great stuff. Carol took us back to the Roosevelt Hotel across the street from Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Blvd.
This lady was to become wife #1. She flew out to about three or four of the next venues.