Has Maria Muldaur Found Her Oasis?
MARIA MULDAUR PULLED HER NEW GREEN SAAB into Sebastopol’s Chevron station, cranked down the window, and asked the attendant, “Where’s the show tonight?”
He didn’t recognize her, which is not surprising, since she has more or less dropped out of sight the past couple of years and has put on a pound or two since her “Midnight at the Oasis” days. “It’s on High Street,” he said. ” Ya want any gas?”
High Street! How perfect for Maria to warm up her vocal chops on High Street with the Jerry Garcia Band before reemerging on the national scene with a tour and an album. In a metaphysical sense, she’s been on High Street the past two years since moving from Los Angeles to Marin County, becoming part of the Grateful Dead family, performing in local clubs with Maryann Price and Ellen Kearney as the “Bezbo Sisters,” and settling down with her kids and her “old man,” bassist John Kahn of the Garcia Band.
She wheeled out of the Chevron station in search of High Street. “Listen, Maria,” said her manager Garry George, “are we gonna eat at that French restaurant here or what? I’m hungry.”
“No,” she said. “I wanta eat at the gig, not at Le Chateau of Your Smile. The family is fixing food, real home cooking.”
Family? Gig? What kind of time warp is Sebastopol caught in here?
“Uh, Maria,” I finally piped up from the back seat. “Just what is this gig tonight?”
“We’re gonna save some underground paper; it’s a benefit.”
“What? What underground paper?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “The paper for Sonoma County, for the area.”
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