Exorsaurus Duck's Blog

In doing some research for Boomer to help him with the trivia quiz, I ran across something that really triggered the old memory cells… or what’s left of them…

Remember a Texas band called Fever Tree in the later 1960s?  They were one hit wonders with a song called San Francisco Girls by Scott and Vivian Holzman and Michael Knust.  Scott and Vivian produced the band, and Michael was the guitarist.  It was the first time I’d ever heard killer sustain coming from a guitar.

I was the vocalist for a Boulder based band called Mary Jane Bann’d in 1968, when Fever Tree passed through town.  They did a couple of shows at Tulagi on the hill and an afternoon show at the Boulder band shell at Canyon and Broadway.  Mary Jane had the opportunity to play that show with Fever Tree.

Before the show got started, after the gear was set up and the sound checks were done, I took a walk with Michael through downtown and we visited a few of the shops.  In one, can’t remember the name but it carried vintage clothing, I saw an incredible pair of size 12B saddle shoes for a buck!  Only thing was, I didn’t have a buck…  times were lean and we were living on brown rice and day-old Rogers’ donuts.

So Michael Knust, whose song had just broken the Billboard top 100, said “I’ve got a buck!” and bought me the shoes.  I’ve gotta say those shoes stayed with me for at least 30 years.  I haven’t had time to look, but there is a chance that they are still in my crawl space after 38 years.

Sadly, the item I came across in my research was that Michael had passed away in 2003.  If guitar notes sustain anyplace, it’s gotta be in Heaven…  seeya Michael…. and thanks again for the shoes.

Quack