I had the cool opportunity to catch the legendary master of the Hammond B-3, Booker T. Jones, [yes, that’s Booker T. from the MG’s] Friday night at one of my favorite watering holes, the Rancho Nicasio roadhouse in Marin, County. Turns out that BT lives in Tiburon. Although not backed by Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn [from the MG’s], the vital Mr. Jones threw down a rousing set on his B-3 portable. It was chilling to hear those deep earth, throaty organ rumblings live and close up [he couldn’t have been closer in my living room]. Those chords have permeated the rock’n’roll firmament since 1962 when Green Onions was released. The MG’s were the Stax records house band and backed almost every great southern fried soul song in the great American songbook [Dock of the Bay, Soul Man, Knock on Wood, Midnight Hour, etc.]. They were the tightest, badest mother fucking rhythm section ever in the history of the world!
I first heard of Rancho Nicasiowhen Van Morrison open his US tour here a few years ago [I missed it] for an audience of 200 [I think that he lives in nearby Fairfax]. It turns out that for the past 10 years, the rancho has been owned and run by veteran Texas blues stalwart, and “the Queen of Texas blues”, Ms. Angela Strehli [Lubbock] and her husband [I don’t know his name but he was in the band Pablo Cruise and managed Huey Lewis and the News].
Not much has changed since this classic bar and restaurant opened in the 1940s. Nestled in the beautiful, rolling hills in the heart of Marin County, Rancho Nicasio boasts a saloon, dining room, showroom and outdoor barbecue pit. The place is as big as all Texas and furnished with a fireplace, stuffed deer heads, wagon wheels and cowboy memorabilia. The large bandstand and dance floor are the heart and soul of this unique place. Live blues, rockabilly, country and swing music are served by local and national acts. Dinner-and-a-show packages are available in the main showroom. A huge outdoor patio, complete with picnic tables, open barbecue pit and beer stand is the place to be on hot, sunny afternoons. The gold and silver record studded bar has a tradition where regulars buy drinks for each other, even when they aren't there. Folks are pleasantly surprised to see their name with a drink next to it on the white board behind the bar. You really have to see the Nicasio Valley in daylight to appreciate it’s awesome beauty. It looks just like the set of an old western with rolling pastoral hills, cattle grazing, a ball field and a white church steeple.
The funniest parts of the story are that one, rock writer, cultural documentarian, Greil Marcus was at a front table, and two, I was grousing [as usual] about how old the audience was [ the guy on the left knew BT from a Heart Attack Class they both did together and the woman on the right did “Engery Work” including non-surgical face lifts]! The dance floor looked like a geriatric hospital social! I hate getting old. Man, 40 was great, but...BT can really kick some ass! The closer was Time Tight. Killer!
Angela ripping it up this past Fall at a lawn barbeque.
