For a season, we were the two Daves or the Dave twins. Whenever you saw one of us, the other was nearby. We were like two brothers, close as twins, and consumed by the same passion, it seemed like we shared the same mind with a love for music, guitar, and pretty much everything. I went to many of Dave’s gigs with both the band before and with Yesterday and Today…and sat there watching his hands after helping set up the drums. Whether he was driving the parents car, or later when he bought his dark green ‘52 Chevy Panel truck.
I don’t even remember how the Panel Truck came into the picture, but it was a cool ride. There were issues with the motor and it needed to be worked on. We had some interesting friends back then and when it came to cars, two of them especially came to mind.
One was John Davis. He worked at a gas station doing mechanical work there. At one time, when we went to the second concert Dave and I had ever gone to, he let Dave borrow his baby. John had a ‘66 Chevy Malibu with a blueprinted and balanced 396. With a ¾ cam, that car rumbled with authority. We went to one of the best concert halls at the time, Berkeley Community Theater. The acoustics were great. The opening act was Edgar Winter’s White Trash with Ronnie Montrose on guitar, the Roadwork Tour. The headliner was Yes supporting the Fragile album, near the end of 1971.
The other friend was Duane Parker, who unfortunately later died, I believe of a heart attack. Duane was a tall, skinny, and I mean skinny guy. He was 6’6’’ and I think at 170, I weighed more than he did. He had this long, straight, black hair. He had these fingers that were almost twice as long as mine. But this guy was a brain. He could do anything, fix anything. Not only was he a brain, he was driven. He was our guru on a lot of things, but working on vehicles was where he helped us on the panel truck.
The vehicle had a straight six, 235, with a single barrel carburetor. I remember unbolting the last motor mount bolt as hail was coming through the hood and hitting me in the face. We got the engine in the garage, and with the help of our friends, Duane and John’s answers to our questions, we got the engine back together. We found out the hard way, that the rear main oil seal is not something you want to forget. I don’t remember if we took the engine out and rebuilt the lower half again, or that was when we took off the oil pan and tapped the seal in. When it was done, we took a maiden voyage in that panel.
We pooled our resources together and took off. There were three of us, our friend, Myron, joined the two Daves. We headed out and went up the coast, a scenic, beautiful drive. At one point, on a remote two lane part of the highway, we started clowning around. Myron had climbed out on the hood while we were driving down the road. Myron had that long, Mark Farner kind of, straight hair. Dave and I were standing on the runners, driving on down the road. A car with a family came up behind us, so Dave and I jumped back in the panel truck. Myron scooted back up against the windshield and we continued on. The family passed us and the father almost missed a turn as all eyes and heads were turned back in our direction….crazy.
We traveled on up the coast into Oregon. We slept in the back of the truck that night. We awoke early the following morning and work hungry for food and adventure. So we ate and continued on a small highway, 46, up into the mountains. We ended up at the Oregon Caves…so we took the tour through the caves. They were great and we enjoyed them. There were a number of rooms and caverns to take your breath away…even three long hairs living in a straight, short haired world. I remember they also had a small pond with some of the biggest rainbow trout I had ever seen. I remember thinking what a great meal they would make, especially with this being near winter and there was snow on the ground.
On the way back down, we were on Highway 1 a small, two-lane highway. There was a mountain to our left and a long drop into the ocean on our right. We took a turn, and at a blind spot on the road, there was a small, Ford Courier type truck upside-down in the center of the highway. With no power brakes, it was a miracle Dave stopped in time. We are sitting there counting our blessings, when a big, silver streak passed us by on the left. It was a big rig with a trailer, that was passing us on the left, rather than hit us, because like I said we were stopped on the blind part of a turn. The big rig passed us by in slow motion, climbed over the top of the truck, pushing it toward the people in front of us, before crashing into the side of the mountain. As the upside-down truck slid toward the people around it, a woman screamed with such horror, we thought there was someone still inside. It turned out the vehicle had slid into the woman’s father, who had helped the driver our of the truck. There was a lot of blood, but we were assured the wounds were superficial. He seemed to be okay, bloody but okay.
This got us into motion, out of our daze. Dave and I went for flashlights, while Myron got out because of the approaching car. He got in front of them waving his hands, and jumps out of the way, just in time. The car manages to stop, but later on the driver showed what kind of a person he was…he put the “j” in erk. When the CHP arrived, because they weren’t moving on getting the accident cleared, he drove through the glass between the big rig and the upside-down truck, forcing everyone out of his way. I am surprised the CHP didn’t do anything about it….must have been one of their relatives. We cursed him though, saying we hope he woke up to four flats in the morning.
We were able to stop a number of cars in time and talked with the people, sort of like a happening on the highway. We spent most of our time and concern on people traveling southbound, because that’s were the road was dark and the blind spot was. The north bound lane had a clear view for about 1 mile with a light over the accident. Once everything was cleared and we were on our way home, we were just thankful that big rig didn’t hit us and knock us down that mountain into the ocean…that was a long drop.
We rebuilt cars together, hung out together, listened to music together, and there were times we just drove around together. Many times Dave would drive over to my house, pick me up, and we’d go out, sometimes just with nowhere in mind to Berkeley or San Francisco. That old panel truck got 41 miles to the gallon on our Oregon trip, so it was really good on gas…not to mention gas cost somewhere between 25 and 35 cents a gallon. We did many things together back then. It was sort of like two very close brothers from different mothers.
After a while we ended up doing different things. I got into a band and it started to demand my time, just as Yesterday and Today became Y & T. I remember Dave and band were recording at Freeway Studios across from the huge Montgomery Wards, that is no longer there in Oakland, CA. They did a song I would love to see released: Mars Venus.
The engineer was Reid Ashby, another tall genius. Reid would later record the demo for my first band, Euphoria. Reid also ran sound for a number of clubs in the Bay Area. Unfortunately he was shot in the head later and all that talent can’t be expressed let alone done anymore. An example of his brain power, I went to Reid’s house once and he was building from scratch a 200’ snake for his PA.
At one point I wanted to be the other guitarist in Y & T., but they chose Joey Alves from the band Crutch. Joey played a Melody Maker / Double Cut-Away Les Paul Jr. guitar. My guitar is a left handed full size version of Joey’s guitar, a TV Special. As a matter of fact, the first time my wife saw Y & T, Dave was playing my Les Paul because it has a great neck, and yes I still have it. I played with the strings upside-down at the time, so a right hander could play it. While Joey played the junior of my guitar, that wasn’t the really weird fact…the scary thing was that Joey and I have the exact same birthday, day-03, month-08, and year-53. Too eerie.
On a side note, Dave and I have seen each other through the recent years, I got a chance to meet his wife at a few gigs. From what I see, Dave’s wife, is a lot like his mom, a classy lady, and you can see how much she supports Dave, she gets up there and shares the stage with him. My wife does the same with me. We will be doing music ministry, once my hand heals and we find the right players to minister with. Amen!!!!
