I really don’t want to retype the whole 1100 word article here, but I wanted to post this here in hopes of expanding the possibility I’ll find what I’m looking for.
In 1990, I got a CD from a band called Trees of Mystery. The album is called in “Mooks On Parade”, and the band was from somewhere in the SF Bay area. The record label is defunct and was presumably just for this release, but listed a San Luis Obispo, CA address.
I did a bunch of research last year and talked to a handful of journalists at altpapers and things in the bay area who remembered them vaguely, and even managed to track down the guy who used to own the studio they recorded at. But I never did find anyone from the band, or find out what happened to them.
I just finished making picvids of the whole album, and posted them all at youtube. I did this not because I think someone will stumble across them, but because I wrote an article about the band and a review of the album for my blog, in hopes that somehow more info on this great, great band will find it’s way to me.
So, Dopers, if you think you’d like some truly smooth, unique jazz combo/rock sounds, please head over to my blog and give a read and a listen. The address is down there in my signature, but I’ll put it here too:
You did notice I said I can’t find the notes I made over two years ago, right? You saw in the article where I said I was pretty much back to Square One?
I remember getting a line on one of the guitar players, but don’t recall now getting in touch with him. Can’t recall who else from the band I even had a line on. One guy I talked to was pretty sure at least one of the guys in the band was dead, but couldn’'t confirm it.
You’ll notice that most of their names leave open the possibility that they are stage names. The only 2 I feel confident being actual names are Paul Dubois and Morris Vaughn Samuel III, and I’m still trying to track them down.
But, yeah, if I could find my notes, it would be a big help.
Bo, TWDuke bolded the word “place” in the quoted text, indicating that he’s confused by it. I don’t know why – Trees of Mystery is a tourist attraction in Redwood National Park*, and the band is named after it.
*It’s not really close to SF, though – it’s 36 miles from Oregon, and over 300 miles from SF.
I thought he was wondering what was up because I had previously posted that I had gotten some of the band’s story; why was I still trying to find stuff out.
No, I was confused because in the previous thread you wrote,
"I was able to track down 2 [the band members] and finally get the story on the band"
but in your OP you wrote,
"I never did find anyone from the band, or find out what happened to them."
I thought there must be an error in there or I must have misread. I can completely understand losing your notes, but to put that much effort into tracking people down and then forget that you met and had a detailed conversation with them only two years ago seemed odd to me (actually, not just forgetting that you had found them, but actively asserting that you hadn’t) seemed a bit off.
But I’ll admit it’s not the first time I’ve been confused and it won’t be the last, and memory can be a funny thing. If nothing in the earlier thread jogged yours (memory, that is), I don’t have any other help to offer, so I’ll drop it now.
I’ll just say that I wasn’t exactly sober when I did the initial research, nor was I last night when I wrote that. I’ve had to edit the article on my blog pretty heavily this morning to even have a couple of paragraphs make any sense at all. It was a good Friday night at home chillin’ with the King.
I mean, how many Morris Vaughn Samuels can there be that aren’t related to each other?
There seem to be several musicians named Paul Dubois. Although they may not be the same guy (well, obviously most of them aren’t), maybe they could help you out. I occasionally get e-mails intended for an artist with the same name as mine, and I always forward them to him.
Yes, I have sent him a message, but I haven’t heard back from him. I believe that MVS3’s father or other relative was at one time a church official in LA because I found this web page (scroll down 1979 entry).
I found that it pays to be careful when searching for people too. Surprisingly, there are a few people named Samuel Vaughn Morris III and Vaughn Samuel Morris III. I didn’t go thru enough pages to check if there other combinations of the 3 names, but I suspect there are.
I’ve done a lot of searching for a Paul Dubois that plays clarinet; unfortunately there was a composer named Pierre Max Dubois who lived last century and he wrote chiefly for woodwinds, so that muddies things considerably.
the band played in san luis obispo alot. the singer and his wife booth worked at one of the local record stores “Boo Boo Records” in the 80’s. I worked there in the 80’s also and also with the drummers son in the 2020’s
It was a good Friday night at home chillin’ with the King.