By Bruce B. Brugmann
Presenting: the Any Old Time String Band, playing Friday and Saturday nights at the Freight & Salvage Coffee House in Berkeley
Through our 40 years at the Guardian, we have had a virtually endless sea of bands in one way or another connected to the Guardian and our staff, from cartoonist Dan O’Neill at the old Red Garter band in North Beach in the l960s to the Any Old Time String band in the l970s to the Artichokes in the l980s to the Pink Mountain band of today.
The band folks liked the Guardian because they could work during the day in a friendly environment, often on special shifts, and then play late into the night in the clubs. No questions asked if they came in late or dozed on the job.
My favorite was the Any Old Time String band, a delightful blues group led by two talented ladies who worked in bookkeeping and then for me as my associate, Kate Brislin and Valerie Mindel. Kate stayed in town and developed her singing and playing talent while Valerie, who married our managing editor Mike Miller, took her bass along with Mike, who took a a peripatetic executive position with Reuters. They have toured the world from Kansas City, to Chicago, to Hong Kong twice, to Toronto, New York, and currently in Tokyo. Valerie, always the organizer, either put together a group wherever she landed or joined up with a local or did both. She was and is indefatigable.