Close your eyes. Lie back on the big, cushie quilt that you have spread out over the soft, cool green grass covering the hill that gently slopes down from the Audelia Branch Library to Northlake Elementary School (wait – what’s that smell? well, move the quilt over a few feet and keep that side down for the duration of this column). Let the warm April sunshine envelop your pasty-white, winter skin. Feel the (relatively) gentle spring breeze caress your hair – or where hair once was. Imagine the sweet strains of home-grown Lake Highlands music floating rhythmically with the breeze, reminding you of your first date, your first kiss, your first mortgage payment.
Impossible, you say? A Walter Mitty daydream, you yawn? A good place for an allergy attack, you sniff?
Perhaps you don’t recall that, not too many years ago, Lake Highlands was commonly referred to as the “Third Coast,” the “Music Mecca,” the “Shangri-La-Ti-Do,” the “White Rock & Roll Over, Beethoven” capital of outdoor concerts.
Remember “Starfest” on the grounds of EDS? Before Starfest, there was the Lake Highlands “Larchfest,” named for Lake Highlands civic giant Elmer Durwood “Snoogie” Larch (for whom many Lake Highlands streets are also named). “Larchfest” was an annual event that actually occurred over several weeks during the Spring. There were outdoor concerts every night and every weekend. The performances were given by local Lake Highlands talent only. Some of those early artists who went on to gain commercial success and national acclaim include: the Buxhill Blondes, the Tory Sound Machine, Fern and Dale, Alexander’s Ragtime Village, Moss and the Rolling Stones (fun fact: Mick Jagger saw them perform at the 1963 Larchfest, and see what happened?).
Believe it or not, the wheel of history has turned again, and there is a revival of raw, unfettered rock and roll spreading through our neighborhoods, reaching a crescendo the likes of which have not been seen since those idyllic days of Larchfest. There are no fewer than five, and quite possibly as many as 97, Lake Highlands-based rock and roll bands, composed of middle-aged dads whose mid-life crises consist of belting out the music of their youth.
Whether it is the “Merriman Park Pops Band,” the “Catdaddies,” the “Pit Pop Band,” the “Juke Box Giants” (f/k/a the “Heywoods”), or the “MalfunKtions,” Lake Highlands has more native talent than PT’s on amateur night.
And these band members have been places. For instance, the fabulous MalfunKtions are made up of some read Woodstock/Monterey All-Stars: drummer “Chick” Chuckray toured with Hendrix; lead singer “Corn Dog” Fletcher played the Cotton Bowl in 1967 with the “Zombies”; lead singer “Def” Keffer was almost a member of the “Cowsills”; keyboard guru “King” Cotten was Liberace’s back-up; and, although they are carpetbaggers from the “Bubble,” lead guitarist “Awesome” Pedigo and base guitarist “Chonga” Haggard were half of the classic rock band “Ruptured Spleen.”
The spirit of Larchfest beckons us to bring back those memories. In the still of the night, step outside and listen for the strains of the music of your youth.
And if the music happens to be coming from the MalfunKtions, be sure to tell “Def” he should have been a Cowsill.
