Greg Rhan and Bob Gonzalez Band

12pm – 3pm: Greg Rhan – Originally from Connecticut, Greg now resides in American Canyon CA, north east of San Francisco. After hearing Dr. John play piano, Greg developed a passion for two fisted piano styles like boogie woogie and New Orleans jazz. His most recent project Rent Party Piano is inspired by the rent parties that were common in urban American cities in the 1920’s and 30s, where renters would invite guests to parties a few days before rent was due, charging 25¢ for admission and have live musicians perform, serve food and drink, and celebrate.  These compositions are dripping with honky-tonk, jazz, blues and blazing boogie-woogie influences from pianists like Fats Waller, Professor Longhair, Pete Johnson and Dr John.

4pm – 7pm: Bob Gonzalez Band – Bob Gonzalez was born on February 14, 1947, in San Jose, CA. Having studied the alto sax in school, he was asked to join his first rock band called the Pharaohs in 1961, followed by the rhythm and blues band the Nightmen in 1963. Bob’s interest then turned to bass and joined a surf band for a time until he and high school buddy Don Baskin formed another group called Syndicate of Sound in 1964. The band recorded its first single in 1965 as the result of winning the Vox Bay Area Battle of the Bands. The record, “Prepare for Love,” went largely unnoticed, but they followed up with another, which was a collaborative effort written by Gonzalez and Baskin called “Little Girl.” The song immediately caught on with the San Jose DJs and quickly spread through the airwaves around the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area. Bell Records out of New York got wind of this and purchased the record from Hush Records and offered Syndicate a recording contract. Bell got behind the band promotionally by putting them out on tour with hit acts like, the Young Rascals, the Yardbirds, Jefferson Airplane, and many other greats. “Little Girl” started climbing the charts and eventually peaked at number eight in Billboard Magazine in May of 1966.

This event includes a one hour break between 3pm and 4pm.