Lunch at Cliff House
Michael
So way back when in February during the Transamerica Pyramid bombing investigation, Mitch found some History B-tainted weirdness at the Pyramid, a couple of (spectral?) dogs, and a historical plaque about a pair of historical San Francisco dogs dated with the year 1992. The plaque disappeared and so did the dogs, but the memory of who supposedly erected the plaque, an organization known as E Clampus Vitus (ECV), stuck with Mitch. We put all this on the back-burner because of the, you know, terrorist threats but E Clampus Vitus was revealed to be a "secret society" based in the American West that had supposedly grown out of the Gold Rush of the 1840s to take care of widows and orphans that was revived in the 1930s as a historical society with a side of drinking (or a drinking society with a side of history, as their members might say) dedicated to commemorating the weird and the lost in Western history. They put plaques all over the West, but mostly in California, commemorating bars, brothels, jails, mining camps, and other locations that "official" "polite" historians and historical societies outright ignore.
Brant
Wait, so, the head of this secret drinking society is Mormon? I thought Mormons don't drink alcohol?
Michael
One of the ECV bylaws is "if I cannot imbibe, I will pass to my brother on the right." And in my research I found a lot of AA folks in the contemporary group … I also vaguely remember them having a proprietary punch recipe for teetotalers/events where kids would be present. But of course plenty of Mormons skirt the Word of Wisdom as well.
In our first downtime period in March, Sophie put together a quick dossier on ECV. Their No. 1 Lodge, The Yerba Buena Lodge, is based in San Francisco, and their Noble Grand Humbug, John Ritchie, is actually known to Archie through the Bay Area Mormon grapevine. He's a real estate broker, a member of the San Francisco Planning Commission and Landmarks Board, and is one of those "polite" historians as well: he's President of the California Historical Society. I know Archie isn't as active with the LDS as he used to, but I figure those social ties bind pretty tightly; Ritchie's only been a Mormon since '71, when he went to an event in Utah in '69 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Golden Spike and became interested in converting afterwards.
If Archie (or Sophie, posing as Archie's "secretary") decide to reach out to Ritchie about ECV, he'll be more than happy to meet, and will suggest lunch at the glorious oceanside restaurant the Cliff House.
Rob
Reaching out to Ritchie sounds like a good plan. And I do think it should be Archie & Mitch together. I'm not certain what our cover story if any ought to be, but if they're the kind of goofy history nerds I'm picturing, both Archie & Mitch should be able to fit in pretty easily, no SANGUSH required.
Michael
So the Musée Mécanique is in the basement of Cliff House. Not sure if it needs to make an appearance in our lunch but it's nice to note. It was only there for a few years in the '70s.
Rob
I've been there! (to wherever it was in the 1990s) I remember Laffing Sal, who had "delighted and/or terrified children for over 70 years."
Michael
Automata are basically just puppets with better agents.
Jeff
Mitch is up for whatever. He's not really clear on what they're looking for, but that's often the case.
Rob
That's when Mitch does his best work, isn't it? But yeah, I don't think we have much of an agenda other than the pixels around these guys seem like a slightly different color than the background so we're going to click on them if you know what I mean. Formally I guess we're interested in whether they're aware of any history or alternate history involving Emperor Norton, the Montgomery Block, etc. Or History B, of course. It would be a shame to have to send them all to Granite Peak.
Jeff
Fwiw Mitch will be pouring on the Aura Sight and Detect, for the trip.
Michael
All right. So I'm picturing Ritchie inviting Archie and … MJ (?) to lunch at the Cliff House on a working weekday, and he was very specific about eating there. Like I said, I can picture Archie and Ritchie having met each other in passing at some fundraiser or social event or another at some point in the past four years, so they're at least passingly familiar with each other (in fact, depending on how things go today, Rob, we could even make/retcon Ritchie your point of contact in City Hall for your Contact Advantage).
Anyway, I figure that in the setup for this meeting that some "interest" in E Clampus Vitus would be made. Sophie's research made it clear that members of ECV never apply for membership; they are always invited by an existing member. But given Archie's station, Ritchie would be happy to speak with him about the organization. They do, after all, do all kinds of charity work for "widders and orphans" throughout the year, especially the Yerba Buena #1 chapter, of which Ritchie is Noble Grand Humbug. The YB chapter is less full of backwoods eccentrics and more full of "pillar of the community" types. Anyway, before anything gets going, Mitch scans Ritchie for History B taint. I rolled your Sense check, Jeff, and he's clean of taint, as is the entire area around the Cliff House. For your Aura Reading, I'm assuming hearty handshakes all around when Ritchie greets the two of you, so Mitch's Aura Reading rolls, both initial and deeper scan, are both at a +3.
Rob
"Noble Grand Humbug," bless his heart. OK, so people don't apply for membership, but is it a secret society? Like, can we ask about ECV directly, or would that be gauche?
Michael
Oh yeah, I mean, it's a joke, ultimately, a parody of the Masons and Oddfellows and what have you, and they are out in public with their plaques and fundraisers and whatnot, so I think he'd be excited to chat about it with another "pillar of the community" type.
Rob
OK, that's what I thought. Well, I'll wait until Jeff's around to proceed too much, but this shouldn't require too much skullduggery: Archie will (sincerely) enthuse about the restaurant, and the Musée Mécanique (as you say, automata are just puppets), and segue from there into local history, how he's gotten really interested in it since moving up from L.A., mention the gold rush days, eccentric local characters, all that. The only thing I'm not sure of is the explanation of how Archie is connected to M.J. Maybe we just say we work together? Livermore is/was connected to UC-Berkeley, right? And Mitch could pass for a Berkeley academic. That can be Jeff's call.
Or we play up the puppet angle (because Mitch could also pass for a puppeteer).
Michael
Yeah, about all I really needed to know is what's the sort of "cover story" here but that suits me fine. Actually, better than suits me, that's fucking GREAT. And yeah, Jeff, whenever you're around do those Aura Reading rolls and then let us know what you think of that cover.
Jeff
Aura reading.
>>>> ACTIVATE … SUCCESS
>>>> DETECT … SUCCESS
>>>> ANALYZE … SUCCESS
Mitch is fine with adopting the persona of a laconic bohemian academic who teaches a graduate-level course in puppetry, sure.
He doesn't have Archie's insane Gladhanding-30 so will mostly sit quietly, listen, nod, order a double scotch at lunch, and scan more or less continuously with Detect, as best he can.
Rob
(Depending on how lunch goes, it might be worth it for Mitch to wander around the Cliff House and Musée Mécanique all serendipitous-like.)
Jeff
If that seems like an option, sure. I/Mitch wasn't sure what we'd be walking into here, so I doubt that Mitch and Archie coordinated a plan of Archie distracting/questioning while Mitch sneaks away and serendipities.
Michael
Ah but it's a gorgeous April day by the bay and if a bit of flânerie around the grounds after lunch and a few Scotches should happen, who's to mind? Anyway, back in an hour or so.
"Archie, good to see you again, what was the last time, the LDS Children's Appeal dinner a year ago?" He pumps Archie's hand with a firm handshake. "And Professor … Hearst was it? Hah, any relation?" Ritchie says with a chuckle as Mitch's mind is suffused in Ritchie's aura. It's a healthy one; he obviously takes pretty good care of himself for a man pushing fifty. Racquetball at the Yale Club, maybe even that new-fangled "jogging." Diagnosis-by-aura-wise, his health is pretty spectacular. His emotional aura on the surface is one of unbridled enthusiasm, a contagious joy that seems pretty recent and paper-thin. Underneath it? He seems to have neuroses, worries, anxieties that seem to fade away when he is doing something he cares about. Obviously, that includes his lunch today. "Maître d' says the table will be ready in a few minutes. Before that, though, why don't you come take a peek at the Clampers' handiwork?" Ritchie ushers Archie and Mitch out to the patio, where a gorgeous crystalline spring Bay Area afternoon lays before them; the far hills of the Marin headlands and the Golden Gate stretch out under a thin haze of fog. And on the entry patio is this slightly-verdigris'd plaque, which triggers an intense sense of déjà vu in Mitch.
(Mitch detects no taint on this.)
"Back in the '30s, the Clampers lobbied to have this placed on the new Bay Bridge; the city wanted nothing to do with it, said they'd never heard of the Emperor. Such a pity. After the war the Cliff House was happy to have it here on the grounds, even though it's pointed at the wrong darn bridge," Ritchie says, wincing slightly.
"Come on. Let's go get some vittles," Ritchie says, back-slapping Mitch as he stares at the plaque.
Jeff
Is there a newspaper clipping under glass, as described?
Michael
Yes there is!
It dates from the original controversy in the 1930s about the plaque and explains the original proclamation from the 1869 paper. The dates of both the newspapers are there and easily memorizable for future research.
Jeff
“Said they’d never heard of the Emperor?” Mitch repeats.
Michael
The 1930s paper article is … dubious about the existence of our Emperor.
Ritchie gets serious for a moment and says, "Nobody believes in him. Everybody just thinks he was someone the papers back in the 19th century invented to increase circulation."
Jeff
“Huh.” Mitch shrugs. “And the ‘59 date for the dedication is part of the joke? Sorry if I seem slow on the uptake, I’m not used to seeing complex history jokes in the form of semi-fake plaques.” He gives another diffident shrug, confident Archie can smooth over any awkwardness. Still Detecting nothing tainted, right?
Michael
(That's a '39 on the plaque. ECV needs to choose a different font for their numerals! And still detecting nothing tainted, that's correct.)
Jeff
The text description of the plaque says 1859 but yeah that does seem to be in error upon closer examination of the image. Anyway, Mitch assumes the affect of one whose minor interest in a triviality has been sated.
Michael
(lol, that text is from ECV's own catalog of SF-area plaques, too much drinkin' not enough historyin')
(or copy editin')
Rob
Yeah, so Archie is friendly, jovial, as Jeff says Gladhandling-20 , doing his best to put Ritchie at ease. (now, I just want to be clear on Emperor Norton's ontological status in our game world before proceeding: IIRC, in our game in 1973, there is no historical record of Norton (at least none we could find, and if Sophie can't find something that's pretty telling), and (most?) people haven't heard of him as either a historical figure or a myth, is that right? because if I'm right about the above, Archie will feign ignorance and read off the plaque, chuckling:) "Emperor of the United States, Protector of Mexico … Who is this character, exactly? I don't think he came up in any of my history classes!" (BUT if Norton is more like a semi-known figure whose existence is disputable, like Paul Bunyan or John Henry, then Archie says something like:) "So, there really was an Emperor Norton?" (like genuinely curious, ready to be convinced).
Michael
Definitely the former. The fact that there's a newspaper article behind glass from 1939 here on the grounds of the Cliff House that Sophie couldn't find is pretty shocking honestly, given, as you say, Sophie's skills. Not Fright Check level shocking but a little unnerving.
(But Mitch and Ritchie just sort of chatted about him casually, and Ritchie seemed … well, okay, pleased that Mitch had heard of him but wasn't like, "Oh, you know him too? That's amazing!")
So now with that invitation from Archie, as the three men sit down to lunch, Ritchie will begin his spiel.
"It's a tale from the frontier days of this gorgeous city, Archie." Ritchie orders a tomato juice, celery and olive, from the waiter. "A man who emigrated from South Africa named Joshua Norton commits the greatest sin an American can commit: he goes bankrupt. Loses a fortune by betting on the rice trade, gets absolutely hammered by fate. So what does he do? Well, he goes mad, a little bit. He comes out of his tenement apartment, goes to the newspaper, and declares himself Emperor of the United States and Mexico, a year or so before the Civil War breaks out. And San Francisco clasps this 'madman' to its bosom. Pretty soon he's a local celebrity, greeting tourists, being given honors by the police and fire brigades, bridges cultural gaps between San Francisco's white and Chinese communities … dies penniless, of course, but most of all embraced by a city who loves its eccentrics and crackpots." This jibes 100% with Mitch's own personal memories of the general contours of the Norton story.
"Not hard to see why ECV see him as a sort of patron saint, eh?"
Rob
More avuncular chuckling. "What a character! It sounds like something Mark Twain dreamed up. Who was that fellow in Huck Finn? The Royal Nonesuch! But like I told you, I've been getting interested in local history since we moved to San Francisco, and I swear I'd never heard of him before today. You Clampers must really know your stuff."
Michael
"The Yerba Buena chapter tries to keep solid records; I mean, yes, Archie, the whole ECV thing is a bit of fun for us stuffed shirts but ultimately, I think it's important! In a city that's changing so quickly, so rapidly sometimes you can't tell who's going to be your neighbor next month or even next week, someone needs to keep a testament to what made this city... special, unusual, during its first 50 years or so. The taverns, the bordellos, the prospectors' joints, the Bohemians' haunts, the jails, even! The polite folks at the California Historical Society barely care about any of it." Ritchie takes a sip of his tall tomato juice, dabs at his lips. "Anyway, we find it … more effective to sprinkle fairy dust here and there throughout the city. Little treasures that natives and tourists alike can discover while they're wandering around. We don't make too big a deal out of unveilings, we raise the money for the plaques ourselves, we have a friendly artist on call to design them — William Huff, he's done sculptures for the natural history museum, CHS, all over the place, he donates his time as he's a Clamper as well — and if people discover them and they brighten their day and get them thinking about the San Francisco they never see, so much the better."
(not sure if this scattershot approach to raising public awareness offends Archie like the Carson comment at Granite Peak would have )
Rob
(I don't think it offends Archie, but he might be about to say, "that's no way to build brand awareness: if you really want to get the word out, here's what you do" ... but first he has to reassure himself that "Emperor Norton" isn't somehow a pragmaclast or avatar of History B.)
Archie does wonder aloud if the San Francisco Office of Tourism (or whatever San Francisco has along those lines) would be interested in the project. Even if the blue-hairs at the historical society aren't interested, it does seem like something fun for the tourists. (Mitch is the real weirdness detector, but is any of this pinging Hidden Lore (History B)?)
(I'm also noticing Archie's double standard here and wondering if Mitch is going to call him on it: when Zeb shuffles up to Mitch in Oakland talking alternate history, he's a dangerous agent of History B, but when it's a nice white Mormon sipping tomato juice at the Cliff House, that's something else entirely.)
Michael
Actually, I think Archie can give us an Expert Skill (Memetics) roll here.
At a +1 to your skill with Sensitive!
Jeff
Ehh, Mitch sees a big difference between a plaque that doesn’t ping his History-B sense and “Billie Jean.”
Rob
>>>> SUCCESS
Michael
So Archie's mind is afire theorizing here. Ever since the awkward moment at the URIEL offices where Mitch was sure he remembered Emperor Norton but nobody else did, not even our weirdo Bay Area natives (Jo and Marshall), Archie has had two theories about this whole Emperor Norton thing:
He's a meme. He never existed, but the narrative is just so juicy and perfect on some basic level that it fills the requirements of a tenacious, tough-to-dislodge-but-equally-tough-to-transmit meme. Whether it's boosted by the Anunnaki source code or not, it would make sense. The narrative's just too perfect: it calls upon human cultural ideas about the outcast, the insane, the dreamer, and about what America is and means; it'd make a great movie (or an issue of a gloomy British comic book, exaggerated wink to the audience). It would also explain why it appears in modified form in places like Huck Finn! So then the question becomes, to what end does this meme exist. Is it meant to get people thinking about an America ruled over by a beneficent but insane monarch? Why, that goes against every precept of American democracy and history, and smacks dangerously of Anunnaki narrative! But there it is. A meme, of unknown origin and to unknown purpose, that pops up here and there like anthrax or bubonic plague or something: tough to eradicate but also tough for humans to contract and transmit (after all, none of URIEL have become proselytizers for Emperor Norton since Mitch first mentioned him). This would explain why he bubbles up every now and again and the vast majority of San Franciscans don't know about him in our 1973... but it would not explain the discrepancies we're now seeing in the legit physical historical record.
He's a remnant of a reality temblor. According to this second theory, Joshua Norton existed in History A. But something happened, obviously having to do with History B-related reality shifts, that ushered him out of existence. Much like the Bucket of Blood bar in Oakland, much of reality reverted to a prior form but some stuff inexplicably remained (i.e., Zeb, and, yes, URIEL's memories of said bar!). The evidence in favor of this second theory is Mitch's weird encounter at the Transamerica Pyramid. His weird senses detected both a future ECV plaque and maybe even avatars of Norton's existence in two dogs that could have been Bummer and Lazarus. Oddly, the existence of some small paucity of physical evidence works as evidence both in favor and against this theory. In favor? Weird stuff gets flung up into reality in the aftershocks of a temblor: the vast majority of time these take the form of what SANDMAN calls reality shards and they exhibit weird powers and a definite History B taint. But that 1939 article about dedicating the Bay Bridge that ECV put behind glass doesn't exhibit any of that! But given Sophie couldn't find any documentary evidence of Emperor Norton in her research (and she did hit the newspapers) gets Archie wondering... maybe that clipping is unique? A single remnant of a former iteration of history that's now been wiped from existence. Which means … we need to know where it came from.
That clipping is the first piece of physical evidence, outside of ECV-made plaques, that people know about Emperor Norton. So if Archie was a betting man, he'd go with Theory 2 but we need further, less-ambiguous confirmation.
Jeff
You did say the clipping had some specific dates of publication on it, both in '39 and back during Norton's ostensible lifetime.
(Also neither of these ideas perfectly mesh with Mitch's half-memory of seeing a roadshow musical starring Rex Harrison sometime in the early to mid 60s, which, oh hey, isn't that the exact point where Mitch's personal recollections collapse into haze and false screen memories?)
Rob
I suppose both theories could be sort of true simultaneously, if Norton's former reality fuels the meme. Archie asks, "So the organization, E Clampus Vitus, it goes right back to the 1930s?"
Michael
Jeff: that's right. I was looking for the '39 article online but not having much luck yet. The August 1869 proclamation was in the Oakland Daily News. I would imagine the 1939 article was either in the Chronicle or Examiner and hey, we have connections there.
Rob: Ritchie says, "Well, the most recent iteration of ECV does. It had been defunct since its original incarnation in the gold fields of the Rush, died out during the 1870s or thereabouts, right when things in Northern California started getting "civilized," you might say. It was resurrected by a fellow named Carl Wheat back in 1930. He died a few years back, but he was another armchair historian who wanted to give back to his home city. The original Clampers were, you know, roughnecks, maybe with a sly anti-Masonic bent, who decided to have a little bit of fun poking holes in the fraternal organizations from back East. But they really did take care of miners' widows and orphans, which became a routine occurrence as more prospectors came out West and brought or made families out here."
Jeff
“Laudable.”
Michael
"And of course, that's still part of our mission, one that carried over from the Forty-Niners, along with the getting together at our 'doin's' and causing a ruckus," Ritchie says, chuckling. "So I've given you the dime tour of ECV, I should let you know of course that no man can ask to join; he must be invited. Fair warning." He turns to Mitch. "Professor Hearst, what's your particular interest in the Emperor and the Clampers, anyway?"
Jeff
“Oh, you know.” Mitch glances Archie’s way. He’s not comfortable being addressed as ‘Professor Hearst’ but doesn’t want to draw attention to that by correcting Ritchie. “I don’t even remember where I heard about Norton, it was just one of those stories, right? Archie here hadn’t heard about it. Must be a Bay Area thing... anyway, I tagged along hoping something would, uh, catch my eye. The museum’s here, right? The automata?”
Michael
"Oh yes, just moved in downstairs last year when Playland closed. Another landmark gone, alas."
Rob
"Oh, I'd like to see the museum too. We tried to take our kids once when they were smaller but my youngest took one look at the big laughing clown and just started shrieking … we never got past the door." on how Mitch had heard of Norton (not that it really needs explaining, I think): "I thought you ran across one of the Clampers' plaques downtown somewhere, didn't you, M.J.?"
Jeff
"Did I?" Mitch shrugs because he suddenly fears that if he says anything more it's going to be a precise description of the location and appearance of the Norton's dogs plaque.
Michael
(If you two want to say you'd had plans before the lunch to mention certain elements of the plaque Mitch saw, feel free. I'm almost always fine with retconning or stepping out of narrative to say we prepped something.)
Rob
(I wasn't looking to trip Mitch up — I think it would be easy enough to describe the plaque vaguely, and if Ritchie says he never heard of it, shrug and say you must be remembering it wrong.)
(But it's not crucial. I also think it's fine for Mitch to say weird stuff, or to come across as weird, and just see how it lands. These guys are eccentrics, after all.)
Jeff
(Well, like I said, I don't think Mitch and Archie particularly coordinated anything in advance.)
"I guess I didn't realize he was so obscure until I started talking about them. Did he have dogs? I remember that he had dogs, a little one and a big one, with dog names. But maybe I made that part up, as a kid."
Michael
"Oh of course, Bummer and Lazarus, they're on the plaque in the patio, guarding his image and the text, like a couple of foo dogs or sphinxes. I thought that was a nice touch by William." Ritchie smiles.
(I figure a white San Franciscan dude would be exposed to enough Chinese culture to know what a foo dog is.)
Jeff
Mitch does a double take. "Hey, yeah! Bummer and Lazarus!" He points at the plaque and slaps Archie on the back, inordinately excited. "Look, man! Bummer and Lazarus!"
Rob
Archie laughs, shrugs an "I don't know who Bummer and Lazarus are supposed to be" shrug. "Clearly we came to the right place! Have you got any other secret history we ought to know about? Any more characters or stories erased from our history books?" in a ha ha we're all joshing around here i'm not planning to ikoter you way
Michael
"Well, it's funny you mention it, because we've had to relocate one of our plaques because of, yes, you guessed it, 'progress.' Back in '59 when they knocked down the Montgomery Block to 'put up a parking lot,' as the kids might have it, we had to rescue one of our very first plaques commemorating the invention of Pisco Punch."
"Of course this was a favorite of all the Clampers, because of the subject matter. But it seemed undignified to re-attach the plaque to a hunk of concrete on a street corner with a parking lot. Ah, but then of course that godawful eyesore Pyramid went up a few years back. And we've been waiting ages to have an opportunity to put it back up, letters to the Transamerica people, etc. I think they don't like people to be reminded that they took over the spot that the beloved Montgomery Block once stood upon. But I think we're making progress and they might allow us to have a re-dedication soon. You don't happen to know any of the Transamerica people, do you, Archie? Ever done any work for them?"
(It's clear that when Archie said "erased from history," Ritchie took that as a comment along the lines of "hey, what kind of things have happened to get rid of ECV's hard work in commemorating forgotten history." Also, Mitch's Serendipity is … tingling slightly at the mention of the Pyramid.)
Jeff
Mitch leans forward, as he has nothing to contribute at this moment but wants to convey he's paying attention.
Rob
(It's clear that when Archie said "erased from history," Ritchie took that as a comment along the lines of "hey, what kind of things have happened to get rid of ECV's hard work in commemorating forgotten history."
(yeah, that's the right response; quietly puts ikoter away)
"You don't happen to know any of the Transamerica people, do you, Archie? Ever done any work for them?"
Do I? Have I? If by "the Transamerica people" he means "the people who arranged for the pyramid to be built in order to cement the Masonic power structure of History A in reality … I'm thinking Archie probably does know a few folks or at least would know who to talk to. But what does his gut or his Memetics skill tell him about the memetic/ontological danger of putting up a plaque about Pisco Punch? (This feels like a low-stakes version of, say, Roger's ambivalence about Mansa and Moore: Archie's inclined to like these guys, I could see him even becoming a Clamper if the not-drinking wouldn't be a problem, but does uncovering lost or hidden histories inevitably make them tools of the Red Kings?)
Michael
Yeah, Archie would know who to talk to on both levels: the level of a big giant Western insurance company AND on the level of the Secret Masters who put down the Pyramid to block the old Montgomery Block's bohemian energy. And I think ultimately placing the Pisco Punch plaque seems fairly harmless, but the fact that THIS plaque seeks to be in the same block that the FUTURE 1992 plaque about Bummer and Lazarus... that leaves Archie a little uncertain.
Rob
"I don't have a direct line to the executive suite, but I might know some folks I can talk to. Why don't you let me make a few calls? It's all about presenting it in a way that doesn't make the corporation nervous, doesn't make them look like the bad guys for planting their pyramid there." (this gives Archie time and wiggle room to suss out if there's any memetic reason not to put up a plaque, or if the history of Norton / Bohemian San Francisco etc can be memetically "sanitized" so they're just safe, harmless, non-political, non-History B fun)
Michael
I like it. Perfect way to wrap it up. Honestly I love the idea of returning to the Musée Mécanique at some point too.
I also feel like more research on the Montgomery Block wouldn't go amiss. We know the basics thanks to Sophie but we didn't go real deep other than to discover, hmm, a lot of artists who hung out there committed suicide, hmm.
Jeff
(That makes three discrete research projects for Sophie we’ve got piled up, btw. Montgomery Block, the dates of the Norton newspaper articles, and the question of whether Zeb influenced any other musicians coming out of Oakland 1926-1972.)