Thankful n' thoughtful

Last year, Luv n' Haight put out a reissue of music by Bay Area legend Eugene Blacknell. Blacknell was an Oakland/Richmond-based guitarist who led one of the most prominent soul and funk bands in the Bay throughout the 1960s and '70s. Although his recorded output was pretty limited-- less than a dozen singles, no LPs-- just about everything he released was great.

Luv n' Haight did a fantastic job with the reissue. I'd been wishing out loud for a Blacknell compilation for years (no lie-- back in 1996, I did so in a review I wrote about this comp for Vinyl Exchange (what up, Stef!)) and probably would've been happy with any set collecting his singles, but they went all-out, delivering quality unreleased material, great liner notes, photos, etc.

My favorite part of the compilation was the inclusion of a couple of radio spots for live appearances by Blacknell's band, this one in particular:


Eugene Blacknell: "I'm So Thankful Lucky 13 Radio Spot" (Luv n' Haight, 2007)

Dope, home-made production values aside, it's the local history angle that kills me. The Lucky 13 was located in Albany at the intersection of Solano and San Pablo, where this club is currently. The spot is also kitty-corner from the Ivy Room, which my friend Bill owned for many years, and across the street from where my favorite-ever record store, Bay Town Records, was. Growing up in the 1980s, Albany always struck me as a very square town, so it's hard for me to picture a club there circa 1974 playing host to Oakland's most popular funk band.

Even harder to imagine is any local club hosting live music from 2 to 6 a.m. Not only are police and the ABC super-hard on clubs, the Bay these days is a very much an early-to-bed place-- it's difficult enough to find anything decent to eat after 10 p.m., but finding anything to do after 2 a.m. is just about impossible. Maybe things were different back then.