While Grammy-nominated singer/
songwriter Bonnie Hayes didn't
technically move to Marin until the
1990's, she spent hours of time upon Marin's
various music stages during the late '70's and early
'80's.
Hayes was in a band called "Bonnie Hayes and the
Wild Combo" in the '80's. Her first big national hit,
"Shelley's Boyfriend" made the singer a favorite at
Marin's larger clubs.
"At the time, we didn’t play too much at
Sweetwater because we had too much of a draw,"
she says. "We could sell out Sweetwater, play two
sold-out shows there and still not make as much
as playing one show at Uncle Charlie’s." (Today,
Hayes says the Sweetwater is her favorite place to play
and "one of the most important clubs in Marin for both
established artists and new ones. I feel like Sweetwater
is my home.")
Hayes, who now lives in San Anselmo, says Uncle
Charlie’s was famous in Marin during the early '80's. "It
was just a little crappy club in a strip mall in Corte
Madera down by the Highway Patrol. It was kind of nice
inside. They had a good PA. Huey Lewis and all those
guys used to play there. Most clubs were having a lot
of cover bands in those days so Uncle Charlie’s was a
popular place to see original music . It was also a big
drug place – a big cocaine joint – if I remember
correctly."
Many may remember Hayes' hit “Girls Like Me” from the movie “Valley Girl”.
Her songs "Have A Heart" and "Love Letter" helped relaunch Bonnie Raitt's
career in the late-Eighties on the mega-hit album "Nick of Time". (If you turn
up your speakers, you can hear Hayes' version of "Love Letter" playing in the
background.)
When Hayes wasn’t on stage, she frequented Marin clubs such as the The
Sleeping Lady (in Fairfax) and The Lion’s Share. "I was in love with the
Sons of Champlin," she says, "I tried to see them as much as possible."
Other Bonnie Hayes Marin hangouts: "There was a giant place in San Rafael
– right near the freeway – it was a pool parlor, sort of biker bar. I used to
shoot pool there all the time. It later became New George's where we had a
lot of gigs. We also went to Bon Tempe lake a lot to goof off."
Hayes also fondly remembers Rancho Nicasio. At the time, she says, "the
Rancho was considered out in the boonies, it was a total Marin insider place.
I think I saw the Sons of Champlin there and I saw Huey really early play
there. And the Ford Brothers. A lot of blues bands played there. It was
basically a big empty room at that time."
What kind of people were there?
"Hippies!!! Hip-EEES!!!!" she says with a laugh. " When I was going there it
was the 70's and really early 80's and it was still a total Bohemian hippie
scene up in Marin. Uncle Charlie’s had the new cutting edge scene and the
punky, new wave stuff but The Rancho was more of a hippie place. And
Sleeping Lady was a hippie place too. (The Sleeping Lady) had a lot of
Jazz and acoustic music. I remember this great piano player named Dave
Alexander used to play there and I’d love going to see him whenever I
could."
"Uncle Charlie’s was 'the pick up place', a much faster crowd," Hayes
remembers.
"The Lion’s Share was gone already by that point. We were going to the
Lion's Share in the early Seventies. My brothers and I had a jazz fusion
band called Sweet Meat and we’d play there. I think we played one of our
first gigs there. (Brother Chris Hayes later became one of the founding
members of Huey Lewis and the News.)"
Hayes' memories of The LIon's Share are hazy. "It’s funny because I barely
remember it," she says. "I hadn’t played very much (at the time) and I was a
young 17 year old girl who was into jazz. So I just remember the Lion's
Share as dark and weird and there were strange people in there."
She also recalls The Sleeping Lady – "a little café style place" with lots of
"acoustic style hippie music. Now it’s The Book Beat."
"It’s really interesting how different things are today in Marin," says Hayes.
"Most people in the City were hardly aware of Marin (in the late 70's and early
'80's). It was considered far away and really little. There was hardly the
interaction between the City and Marin like we have now. Marin wasn’t that
popular. It was empty. There was no traffic. It was considered out in the
boonies. Even towns like Mill Valley. There were these little Bohemian
communities. There were a lot of drop out people, people trying to live an
alternative lifestyle. It was really sleepy. Today Marin is the center of
breeding."
To learn more about Bonnie Hayes, visit her WEBSITE.
