My Rock Bands Pages

My Rock Bands Pages

Allmen Joy

I, Lu "Fist" Stephens was the original keyboardist and singer for Allmen Joy, I joined the band in the summer of 1966. I had just recently graduated from high school and had moved out of my parents house. I had been playing with the Just Us band and living in the Haight Ashbury. The band dissolved mostly because (I think) our manager Bernie Quintana (a triple Aries) wasn't getting us very many gigs and we were the typical starving musicians. Needless to say the band members were dissatisfied and finally went out on their separate ways. It was just the beginning of the flowering of the Summer of Love and I was spending a lot of time in the Haight Ashbury. One day as I was strolling around the neighborhood and I heard music and I sought it out, as I came closer to it, I found that it was a band practicing. I believe they were called FAC's (Fungus Amongus Comittee) at the time. The location was 101 Belvedere Street (corner of Waller St.) on the first floor. The band had an open rehearsal session and there were many people sitting and standing around, the marijuana was prevalent everywhere. This is when I first met Roger. Roger was the lead guitar player, singer and leader of the band, Dave Harper (deceased) Roger's cousin, on keyboards and vocals, Larry Smith on drums and vocals, Dennis "Funky" Parker on bass and vocals, Ken Zeidel (whereabouts unknown) on rhythm guitar and vocals and Cindy (whereabouts unknown) female lead singer but her last name escapes me. After listening for some time, I asked Roger if I could sit in and maybe jam on some blues or rock songs, well....., being as open and friendly as he remained throughout his life he invited me in to play, so I jumped at the chance. We must have played a dozen songs and jammed for hours, our chemistry was evident immediately, I liked them a lot and they seemed as if they liked me. After our jam session was over we sat down and talked a while and during our conversion I brought up the subject of whether they knew of any band that might need a good keyboardist. To my surprise Roger told me that Dave Harper was leaving the band, and if the other band members agreed, they would have me join the band. It was a long week before I heard the answer I was hoping for, I sat expectantly waiting for Roger's call, and finally it came. I was in...., all the band members agreed unanimously that I should be in the band, and after all we really "clicked" during that first jam session. Around this time the name of the band was changed to Allmen Joy, partly because of the well known candy bar that was savored by the band members and partly because the band was very promiscuous and was a hit with many of the female followers. Yes, it is a common misconception that the Allmen Joy band was (or evolved into) the Allman Brothers Band, this never happened. Allmen Joy was and has always been its own entity. From then on we practiced a lot, wrote new original songs and did our own version of popular songs. We got real good and even started getting a following. Roger at this time was doing the booking for the band, he had made many connections to other musicians and promoters and after many auditions and free guest appearances we started getting some gig's. Many of our first gigs were unpaid free appearances only for exposure, they included outdoor venues like playing in the Panhandle in Golden Gate Park and Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park. Our following grew, we started getting requests to play in local clubs, benefits and appearing as the guest band. At this time The Avalon Ballroom (Chet Helm's Family Dog) and Fillmore West (Bill Grahams Fillmore) had jam sessions every Tuesday night where local bands could come in and play for free to get a little exposure, needless to say Allmen Joy was a regular fixture on these nights. As our popularity grew Roger thought it was time to look into getting a manager / promoter instead of doing this himself, doing the booking distracted him from focusing on what he loved and wanted to do the most, entertain. This is where Hillel Resner and Lucy James came in.

Roger Saunders was the lead guitarist and singer, Roger passed away recently I have posted his memoriam here....>http://wingswest.net/roger/roger.htm. Roger and I stayed best friends throughout the years even until his passing. I can't even begin to express to you how much I really miss him. Roger especially loved to play the guitar, a past time that brought him immense joy and contentment. He was a professional musician for 40 years. His main instrument was the guitar, but he also sang, played the drums, bass, and keyboards. He played rock, blues, and jazz and also composed, arranged, and produced music. He was a founding member of the San Francisco bands “Allmen Joy”, “Black Magic”, and "J4" . During the past 25 years, During the time of the band in the late 1960's, Roger was likened to Jimi Hendrix (before Jimi had even gotten famous yet!). Roger and Jimi had many of the same characteristics in style of dress, vocal attributes and guitar riff's. Roger played out his adventurer and explorer fantasies mostly through his gift as a compelling storyteller and writer. Through his love of movies and filmmaking, Roger founded and was President & C.E.O. of RJC Productions. He embraced technology, loved science fiction, and humor, all being prevalent themes in most of his works. As an extremely creative screenwriter, director and producer, he wrote many screenplays and teleplays including “HellaVator”, “D. Walker”, “Killer Roaches From The Hood”, and “Lacey’s”. Roger also produced and directed NetStarMaker a site where young up-and-coming singers and musicians could show off their talents get some exposure. I originally web mastered this site and tutored Roger on the principles of web site production. Roger learned quickly and took over the reins of web master and completed the site. Listen to Roger play on my Music page, click here....>.Music

Dennis "Funky" Parker was our bass player and singer. Dennis has had many musical accomplishments throughout his career. Dennis now resides about an hours drive from Mexico City, Mexico. He is playing with a popular band called Haragan y Compania. He has been in the band since 1994. Dennis has always worked in the music industry, first as a working musician in the studios in LA (70's), then as a recording engineer, also in LA (80's). Dennis left LA for Mexico City in November of 1990, planning on staying a few months. Well, he's still in Mexico . . . he moved out to the country (about an hour south of Mexico City) about 8 or 9 years ago to build a recording studio for a rich guy who wanted it as a sort of "hobby". A few years later he sold it to the present owner (who was the best client of the studio), Joan Sebastian. Dennis has recorded his last 8 CD's (winning 3 Grammy's and 5 Latin Grammy's in the process). His first Grammy nomination was in 1970, as a musician playing with the Don Ellis Orchestra (CD "Live at the Fillmore"). There were many more nominations over the years, both as a musician and as a recording engineer. A CD that Dennis recorded was nominated this year, too. Vicente Fernandez "Para Siempre", which is Mariachi music. Dennis is now known as "Deaf Pea", the old nick name "Funky" didn't stick. I have just recently re-connected with Dennis after an extensive internet search, but fortunately I found him and he has contributed much of the information about Allmen Joy. My memory just isn't as good as it was 40 years ago and Dennis helped me recall many details about the band.

Rod Harper was our drummer. Rod had formally been the drummer for Santana, late 1966 May thru 1967 Carlos Santana (guitar, percussion and vocals), Michael Carabello (percussion), Tom Frazier (guitar), Rod Harper (drums), Gus Rodriguez (bass), Gregg Rolie (keyboards and vocals) and June 1967 Carlos Santana (guitar, percussion and vocals), Michael Carabello (percussion), Steve De La Rosa (bass), Rod Harper (drums), Gregg Rolie (keyboards and vocals) before joining Allmen Joy. I think Rod regretted leaving Santana, his old band was popular with Bill Graham because of the new Latin rock sound and I'm sure he knew that Santana would be on the rise. The last time I heard from Rod, he was stilling living with Roger on Mullins St. in San Francisco. Rod was a biker at heart and loved Harley Davidson's Later when the band broke up I was told that Rod had joined up with a bunch of biker's and I never heard from him since. Rod was an excellent drummer. He was rock steady and kept the rest of us in check when we got excited and started rushing the tunes we were playing.

Ken Zeidel played rhythm guitar and vocals. Ken was an accomplished song writer and had contributed many new tunes for the band to play. Ken original composition of "Peace Brother" was a popular favorite amongst the audience. I lost track of Ken sometime in the late 1970's. I had heard the he and his wife Jan had moved to Seattle Washington but this has never been confirmed.

These were the final musicians in Allmen Joy.

Hillel Resner and Lucy James were the managers Allmen joy. They were also (including Hillel's brother Bill) the founders and CEO's of the "Straight Theatre". Hillel Resner started Tulip Records going on to publish MIX Magazine. Hillel Resner started Tulip Records going on to publish MIX Magazine
Hillel Resner is the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Mix magazine, and the President of the Mix Foundation for Excellence in Audio, which presents the Technical Excellence and Creativity (TEC) Awards. http://www.mixfoundation.org/about.html Mix is the leading trade publication for the professional recording and sound production industries, with 40,000 subscribers in more than 80 countries. The TEC Awards, were held on October 6 in New York City, recognizes outstanding achievement by individuals and companies in the pro audio industry. They also honor lifetime achievement through the TEC Hall of Fame, which this year will honor Phil Spector, and the Les Paul Award, which will be presented to engineer Alan Parsons.
Hillel Resner has been active in the Bay Area music and recording community for more than 25 years, beginning as a co-owner of the legendary Straight Theater in Haight-Ashbury, where he presented some of the earliest performances of the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother, Santana, and many others. In 1972, Hillel founded his own label, Tulip Records which released numerous albums of classic jazz and blues. He also operated music publishing company, Perennial Music, and a recording studio of the same name, where he recorded numerous Bay Area artists. In addition to his publishing activities, Hillel is Governor and past President of the San Francisco Chapter of NARAS (the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences). He currently serves as a National Trustee.
Hillel is a leading advocate for hearing education in the music industry. Each year funds from the TEC Awards go to support the House Ear Institute's HIP program and H.E.A.R. in their efforts to educate the public to the dangers of noise-induced hearing loss, as well as sponsoring other music education programs. http://www.hearnet.com/features/vip/9610_resner.shtml Hillel is also an Advisory Board Member of H.E.A.R. and HIP. He lives in Lafayette with his wife, Vici, and their 5-year-old son, Sam. Because of his tireless work in the music community and commitment to hearing health we're delighted to honor Hillel as our H.E.A.R. VIP of the Month!
The Mix Foundation for Excellence in Audio was established in 1990 by the publishers of Mix, the leading trade magazine for professionals in recording and sound. The Foundation is a 501(c) (3) public benefit corporation, dedicated to promoting excellence in audio, video, music and other communications media arts. Through the Technical Excellence & Creativity (TEC) Awards and other programs, the Foundation supports organizations that work to educate professionals and the public about the prevention of noise-induced hearing loss, and endows numerous scholarship programs for students of the communications media arts. The Mix Foundation has contributed more than half a million dollars to these causes.

Board of Directors
Hillel Resner
Chairman

Karen Dunn
Secretary Treasurer

Directors:
Ed Cherney
Erika Lopez
David M. Schwartz

Straight Theatre

The "Straight on the Haight" http://www.thestraight.com by Reg E. Williams is the true story of the people who renovated a vaudeville movie theater in the middle of the Haight Ashbury during the Psychedelic 60's. This multimedia environmental theater of light became known as the Straight Theater. Here at the crossroads of Haight and Cole the Grateful Dead, Janis, Big Brother, Country Joe, Santana Allmen Joy and many other famous and infamous characters made history looking for the Aquarian Age.

The "Celebration of the Psychedelic 60's " is a continuing series of multimedia shows inaugurated recently in San Francisco where it Featured: Big Brother and the Holding Company with Melissa Etheridge as Janis, Neil Cassidy at the Straight. A Live Tribute by Reg E, Ram Das spoke about Dick Alpert, Nicky Scully & Tribal Alchemy, It's a Beautiful Day Originals , Gene Anthony's Summer of Love, The Farm's Steve Gaskin recalling The Monday Night Class, films and audio of Neil Cassidy, Ken Kesey and the Pranksters, Lisa Laws "Flashing on the 60's", Snooky Flower's Kosmic Flashback Band, the Vagabond poet Tony Selden and a Moby Grape Reunion all with giant light shows. Reg E Williams Director of All Media Service, providing production management and promotion to the entertainment trade has worked on stage, screen and television for over 25 years. He obtained his Degree in US History from San Francisco State University. Besides the unpublished manuscript, "The Straight on the Haight", his writings include a comprehensive technical manual for stage hands, the script for "Dance Probe", a seven part series shown on PBS, a magazine article on the art of the Straight Theater for "OFFtheWALLTM", and "Rock and Roll Hotel", Motley Crue backstage for Performance Magazine and several screenplays. He has an enormous collection of memorabilia from his Haight Ashbury days, which he used to reconstruct a computer-based calendar to provide a historical portrait of the times. Reg knows more people than anyone else I know" says Hillel Resner of Mix Magazine.

Under the leadership of Hillel Resner, the main thrust of Straight Graphics was to advertise presentations of major and minor performing and musical artists in the theater. The Dead, Janis and Big Brother, Country Joe and the Fish, Quicksilver, Charlatans, Mother Earth, Santana, & It’s a Beautiful Day, Steve Miller, Allmen Joy, Blue Cheer were just a few of the names featured on our posters and handbills. The Dead, the Quick, Janis and Big Bro were all close friends who rehearsed in the closed theater and hung out, creating a strong bond to the neighborhood and what it stood for.

1968
12 January Allmen Joy, The Womb
13 January Allmen Joy, The Womb
16 February Sons of Champlin, Salvation, Allmen Joy, The Circus
17 February Sons of Champlin, Salvation, Allmen Joy, The Circus
27 February McDuck, Allmen Joy
28 February McDuck, Allmen Joy
29 February McDuck, Allmen Joy
15 March Allmen Joy, Phoenix, Flamin Groovies, Initial Shock
16 March Allmen Joy, Phoenix, Flamin Groovies, Initial Shock
18 May Allmen Joy, Curley Cooke's Hurdy Gurdy Band, Petrus
28 May Allmen Joy, Indian Headband, Cleveland Wrecking Co
29 May Allmen Joy, Indian Headband, Cleveland Wrecking Co
30 May Allmen Joy, Indian Headband, Cleveland Wrecking Co
03 July Initial Shock, Allmen Joy, Indian Head Band, Phoenix
02 August Congress of Wonders, Allmen Joy, Phoenix
03 August Congress of Wonders, Allmen Joy, Phoenix
04 August Congress of Wonders, Allmen Joy, Phoenix
20-22 December Allmen Joy, Indian Pudden and Pipe
31 December Indian Pudden and Pipe, Allmen Joy, Freedom Highway, Congress of Wonders, Clover