RIP Nick Gravenites

[bebopblues]

"Nick Gravenites, Mainstay of the San Francisco Rock Scene, Dies at 85


"A blues devotee from Chicago, he tasted fame in the late 1960s with the Electric Flag, a band that made its debut at Monterey but proved short-lived."
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As reported in a detailed obit in today's NYT, an influential bluesman and song writer. I never saw him in performance in his heyday of the sixties, but in more recent years I did see him bend some strings at The Saloon in San Francisco's North Beach and at the old Sweetwater in Mill Valley. He was sporting a Grosh Strat, as I recall. Good and gritty, the blues with feeling. He will be missed.

[Mick-7]

In the 90's, he used to play with a bassist and drummer once a week at a little bar in Occidental, CA (Sonoma County), I saw and spoke to him there a few times. What a career! He played with and composed songs for Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield, John Cipollina, Big Brother and the Holding Company (after Janis died), et. al.