The United Institute of Music
We were at home in Parkside, San Mateo. It was the mid 1970's. The doorbell rang and it was a gentleman door to door salesman, selling guitar lessons. We signed on and with my red guitar, I started taking the bus there, my first solo bus destination. I think i was eleven.
His business was set up on Baldwin St. in Downtown San Mateo and was called "The United Institute of Music". I had my first guitar lessons there from a kind young lady called "Liz". She wore bell bottom jeans and had feathered hair. She attached an embroidered Harley-Davidson Eagle patch on the back of her jeans, or was it on the back of her denim vest? She was a biker chick with a boyfriend on a motorcycle to prove it. She was very encouraging and wrote out all the lyrics and chords spontaneously from memory. I liked her very much.
I remember her asking me from time to time, "Are you parents going to see this?", while writing lyrics about "candles to the spoon" and other 70's drug references. I remember saying to her once, "Don't worry about it. They wouldn't get it anyways", referring to my parents.
The building where the Institute resided is gone now, replaced by ugly boring new nothingness. It looks like a combination of Taco Bell and an office building now.
The room where we sat had a ceiling covered with violins - rows and rows of them. There were Violas, Cellos, brass and everything else instrumental that you could imagine. The stairs creaked and the floor creaked and there wasn't much empty space.
I hope I can find a picture of the storefront. My next step will be with San Mateo Historical stuff maybe at main library on 4th Avenue.
It's Liz's handwritten sheet music that is the reason for this blog. It's too precious to just let go...
His business was set up on Baldwin St. in Downtown San Mateo and was called "The United Institute of Music". I had my first guitar lessons there from a kind young lady called "Liz". She wore bell bottom jeans and had feathered hair. She attached an embroidered Harley-Davidson Eagle patch on the back of her jeans, or was it on the back of her denim vest? She was a biker chick with a boyfriend on a motorcycle to prove it. She was very encouraging and wrote out all the lyrics and chords spontaneously from memory. I liked her very much.
I remember her asking me from time to time, "Are you parents going to see this?", while writing lyrics about "candles to the spoon" and other 70's drug references. I remember saying to her once, "Don't worry about it. They wouldn't get it anyways", referring to my parents.
The building where the Institute resided is gone now, replaced by ugly boring new nothingness. It looks like a combination of Taco Bell and an office building now.
The room where we sat had a ceiling covered with violins - rows and rows of them. There were Violas, Cellos, brass and everything else instrumental that you could imagine. The stairs creaked and the floor creaked and there wasn't much empty space.
I hope I can find a picture of the storefront. My next step will be with San Mateo Historical stuff maybe at main library on 4th Avenue.
It's Liz's handwritten sheet music that is the reason for this blog. It's too precious to just let go...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
