I, Lu "Fist" Stephens was the original keyboardist and singer for Allmen Joy. (see <a href="
http://wingswest.net/allmenjoy/allmenjoy.html)" class="postLink">
http://wingswest.net/allmenjoy/allmenjoy.html)</a> I joined the band in the summer of 1966. I had just recently graduated from high school and had moved out of my parents house. I had been playing with the Just Us band and living in the Haight Ashbury. The band dissolved mostly because (I think) our manager Bernie Quintana (a triple Aries) wasn''t getting us very many gigs and we were the typical starving musicians. Needless to say the band members were dissatisfied and finally went out on their separate ways. It was just the beginning of the flowering of the Summer of Love and I was spending a lot of time in the Haight Ashbury. One day as I was strolling around the neighborhood and I heard music and I sought it out, as I came closer to it, I found that it was a band practicing. I believe they were called FAC''s (Fungus Amongus Comittee) at the time. The location was 101 Belvedere Street (corner of Waller St.) on the first floor. The band had an open rehearsal session and there were many people sitting and standing around, the marijuana was prevalent everywhere. This is when I first met Roger. Roger was the lead guitar player, singer and leader of the band, Dave Harper (deceased) Roger''s cousin, on keyboards and vocals, Larry Smith on drums and vocals, Dennis "Funky" Parker on bass and vocals, Ken Zeidel (whereabouts unknown) on rhythm guitar and vocals and Cindy (whereabouts unknown) female lead singer but her last name escapes me. After listening for some time, I asked Roger if I could sit in and maybe jam on some blues or rock songs, well....., being as open and friendly as he remained throughout his life he invited me in to play, so I jumped at the chance. We must have played a dozen songs and jammed for hours, our chemistry was evident immediately, I liked them a lot and they seemed as if they liked me. After our jam session was over we sat down and talked a while and during our conversion I brought up the subject of whether they knew of any band that might need a good keyboardist. To my surprise Roger told me that Dave Harper was leaving the band, and if the other band members agreed, they would have me join the band. It was a long week before I heard the answer I was hoping for, I sat expectantly waiting for Roger''s call, and finally it came. I was in...., all the band members agreed unanimously that I should be in the band, and after all we really "clicked" during that first jam session. Around this time the name of the band was changed to Allmen Joy, partly because of the well known candy bar that was savored by the band members and partly because the band was very promiscuous and was a hit with many of the female followers. Yes, it is a common misconception that the Allmen Joy band was (or evolved into) the Allman Brothers Band, this never happened. Allmen Joy was and has always been its own entity. From then on we practiced a lot, wrote new original songs and did our own version of popular songs. We got real good and even started getting a following. Roger at this time was doing the booking for the band, he had made many connections to other musicians and promoters and after many auditions and free guest appearances we started getting some gig''s. Many of our first gigs were unpaid free appearances only for exposure, they included outdoor venues like playing in the Panhandle in Golden Gate Park and Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park. Our following grew, we started getting requests to play in local clubs, benefits and appearing as the guest band. At this time The Avalon Ballroom (Chet Helm''s Family Dog) and Fillmore West (Bill Grahams Fillmore) had jam sessions every Tuesday night where local bands could come in and play for free to get a little exposure, needless to say Allmen Joy was a regular fixture on these nights. As our popularity grew Roger thought it was time to look into getting a manager / promoter instead of doing this himself, doing the booking distracted him from focusing on what he loved and wanted to do the most, entertain. This is where Hillel Resner and Lucy James came in.
Roger Saunders was the lead guitarist and singer, Roger passed away recently I have posted his memoriam here....>
http://wingswest.net/roger/roger.htm. Roger and I stayed best friends throughout the years even until his passing. I can''t even begin to express to you how much I really miss him. Roger especially loved to play the guitar, a past time that brought him immense joy and contentment. He was a professional musician for 40 years. His main instrument was the guitar, but he also sang, played the drums, bass, and keyboards. He played rock, blues, and jazz and also composed, arranged, and produced music. He was a founding member of the San Francisco bands “Allmen Joy”, “Black Magic”, and "J4" . During the past 25 years, During the time of the band in the late 1960''s, Roger was likened to Jimi Hendrix (before Jimi had even gotten famous yet!). Roger and Jimi had many of the same characteristics in style of dress, vocal attributes and guitar riff''s. Roger played out his adventurer and explorer fantasies mostly through his gift as a compelling storyteller and writer. Through his love of movies and filmmaking, Roger founded and was President & C.E.O. of RJC Productions. He embraced technology, loved science fiction, and humor, all being prevalent themes in most of his works. As an extremely creative screenwriter, director and producer, he wrote many screenplays and teleplays including “HellaVator”, “D. Walker”, “Killer Roaches From The Hood”, and “Lacey’s”. Roger also produced and directed NetStarMaker a site where young up-and-coming singers and musicians could show off their talents get some exposure. I originally web mastered this site and tutored Roger on the principles of web site production. Roger learned quickly and took over the reins of web master and completed the site.
Dennis "Funky" Parker was our bass player and singer. Dennis has had many musical accomplishments throughout his career. Dennis now resides about an hours drive from Mexico City, Mexico. He is playing with a popular band called Haragan y Compania. He has been in the band since 1994. Dennis has always worked in the music industry, first as a working musician in the studios in LA (70''s), then as a recording engineer, also in LA (80''s). Dennis left LA for Mexico City in November of 1990, planning on staying a few months. Well, he''s still in Mexico . . . he moved out to the country (about an hour south of Mexico City) about 8 or 9 years ago to build a recording studio for a rich guy who wanted it as a sort of "hobby". A few years later he sold it to the present owner (who was the best client of the studio), Joan Sebastian. Dennis has recorded his last 8 CD''s (winning 3 Grammy''s and 5 Latin Grammy''s in the process). His first Grammy nomination was in 1970, as a musician playing with the Don Ellis Orchestra (CD "Live at the Fillmore"). There were many more nominations over the years, both as a musician and as a recording engineer. A CD that Dennis recorded was nominated this year, too. Vicente Fernandez "Para Siempre", which is Mariachi music. Dennis is now known as "Deaf Pea", the old nick name "Funky" didn''t stick. I have just recently re-connected with Dennis after an extensive internet search, but fortunately I found him and he has contributed much of the information about Allmen Joy. My memory just isn''t as good as it was 40 years ago and Dennis helped me recall many details about the band.
Rod Harper was our drummer. Rod had formally been the drummer for Santana, late 1966 May thru 1967 Carlos Santana (guitar, percussion and vocals), Michael Carabello (percussion), Tom Frazier (guitar), Rod Harper (drums), Gus Rodriguez (bass), Gregg Rolie (keyboards and vocals) and June 1967 Carlos Santana (guitar, percussion and vocals), Michael Carabello (percussion), Steve De La Rosa (bass), Rod Harper (drums), Gregg Rolie (keyboards and vocals) before joining Allmen Joy. I think Rod regretted leaving Santana, his old band was popular with Bill Graham because of the new Latin rock sound and I''m sure he knew that Santana would be on the rise. The last time I heard from Rod, he was stilling living with Roger on Mullins St. in San Francisco. Rod was a biker at heart and loved Harley Davidson''s Later when the band broke up I was told that Rod had joined up with a bunch of biker''s and I never heard from him since. Rod was an excellent drummer. He was rock steady and kept the rest of us in check when we got excited and started rushing the tunes we were playing.
Ken Zeidel played rhythm guitar and vocals. Ken was an accomplished song writer and had contributed many new tunes for the band to play. Ken original composition of "Peace Brother" was a popular favorite amongst the audience. I lost track of Ken sometime in the late 1970''s. I had heard the he and his wife Jan had moved to Seattle Washington but this has never been confirmed.
These were the final musicians in Allmen Joy.
