I woke up this morning to an e-mail from Greg Keranen - bassist, Rubinoos co-founder and former member of Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers.
Greg offered some corrections to my interview with Tommy and the history of the Rubinoos.
Hi,
I'm Greg Keranen, original Rubinoos co-founder, bassist.
I enjoyed your interview with Tommy - stumbled upon it in the course of doing some research into my own personal history.
It is really hard remembering details, but here are a few things to add to and/or correct what Tommy said.
(my date convention is year.month.day - sorts alphabetically that way)
---
1968.12 (ca.)
Brother Buzz Memorial Blues Band formed - Greg Keranen (g, vo) Tommy Dunbar (g) Ralph Granich (d)
1970.04.10
Ralph Granich gets sick with regional enteritis and is in hospital, then bedridden for months; can't go to school High school journal
Tommy and I decide to try and find a new drummer but continue to jam in the garage during lunch time, but get tired having to always ask for the key to the garage from Ralph's father
I make a surreptitious copy of the garage door key; it gets stuck in the lock the first time I try to use it; I get caught by Ralph's Dad and am big trouble
1970.10 (approx)
Formed The Rubinoos, v.1 as an OLDIES band - Greg Keranen (b, vo) Tommy Dunbar (g, vo) Jon Rubin (vo, g) Alex Carlin (kbd, vo) Ralph Granich (d)
- my Jr. High school journal - First mention of Rubinoos occurs 1970.11.19
The origin of the name "The Rubinoos" - I remember the day we decided on the name, lying around at Tommy's house.
Our favorite bands were the Ronettes, Shangri-Las, Shirelles, etc. - almost all girl groups.
We couldn't be called the Rubinettes, since we were a bunch of guys.
As it happens, we had developed a private language of substituting the long-o syllable 'oo' for 'y' ... it's kind of a convoluted story that goes back to when I was 3 years old or so and my Mom says I insisted in saying 'dog-oo' instead of 'doggy', when seeing a dog.
This linguistic tradition came into play when Tommy, Jon and I were in Jr. High together in Berkeley - we were making fun of other kids, in particular, retarded kids. There was one kid named 'Bobby' who was sort of the model of being a 'retard' so we took off on that and created my personal character as 'Bobb-oo'; etc.
When the time came to name the band, we needed a suffix, so we chose 'Rubin-oos' in place of 'Rubin-ettes'
I don't recall that the 'Buckaroos' ever played a role in that decision, but it probably must have been an added reason, since Jon recalls that part.
1974.07 (?)
Inaugural 'Sounds of the City' weekly Winterland concert series by Rubinoos, with guest appearance of Jonathan Richman, dancing to 'Sugar, Sugar', San Francisco, CA
Bananas were thrown by many members of the audience during 'Sugar, Sugar' and Bill Graham was disgusted with our performance.
The lineup was: Rubinoos; Earthquake; Link Wray; Jefferson Starship (mystery guest - not billed, officially)
Regards,
Greg
I'm Greg Keranen, original Rubinoos co-founder, bassist.
I enjoyed your interview with Tommy - stumbled upon it in the course of doing some research into my own personal history.
It is really hard remembering details, but here are a few things to add to and/or correct what Tommy said.
(my date convention is year.month.day - sorts alphabetically that way)
---
1968.12 (ca.)
Brother Buzz Memorial Blues Band formed - Greg Keranen (g, vo) Tommy Dunbar (g) Ralph Granich (d)
1970.04.10
Ralph Granich gets sick with regional enteritis and is in hospital, then bedridden for months; can't go to school High school journal
Tommy and I decide to try and find a new drummer but continue to jam in the garage during lunch time, but get tired having to always ask for the key to the garage from Ralph's father
I make a surreptitious copy of the garage door key; it gets stuck in the lock the first time I try to use it; I get caught by Ralph's Dad and am big trouble
1970.10 (approx)
Formed The Rubinoos, v.1 as an OLDIES band - Greg Keranen (b, vo) Tommy Dunbar (g, vo) Jon Rubin (vo, g) Alex Carlin (kbd, vo) Ralph Granich (d)
- my Jr. High school journal - First mention of Rubinoos occurs 1970.11.19
The origin of the name "The Rubinoos" - I remember the day we decided on the name, lying around at Tommy's house.
Our favorite bands were the Ronettes, Shangri-Las, Shirelles, etc. - almost all girl groups.
We couldn't be called the Rubinettes, since we were a bunch of guys.
As it happens, we had developed a private language of substituting the long-o syllable 'oo' for 'y' ... it's kind of a convoluted story that goes back to when I was 3 years old or so and my Mom says I insisted in saying 'dog-oo' instead of 'doggy', when seeing a dog.
This linguistic tradition came into play when Tommy, Jon and I were in Jr. High together in Berkeley - we were making fun of other kids, in particular, retarded kids. There was one kid named 'Bobby' who was sort of the model of being a 'retard' so we took off on that and created my personal character as 'Bobb-oo'; etc.
When the time came to name the band, we needed a suffix, so we chose 'Rubin-oos' in place of 'Rubin-ettes'
I don't recall that the 'Buckaroos' ever played a role in that decision, but it probably must have been an added reason, since Jon recalls that part.
1974.07 (?)
Inaugural 'Sounds of the City' weekly Winterland concert series by Rubinoos, with guest appearance of Jonathan Richman, dancing to 'Sugar, Sugar', San Francisco, CA
Bananas were thrown by many members of the audience during 'Sugar, Sugar' and Bill Graham was disgusted with our performance.
The lineup was: Rubinoos; Earthquake; Link Wray; Jefferson Starship (mystery guest - not billed, officially)
Regards,
Greg
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