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Jan
McCready Harris
After graduation in June '63 (at the tender age of 16) I spent the
summer in the Marin Shakespeare Festival as Bianca in Taming of
the Shrew. Married Bruce Chessé my older leading-man in
the show just two days before entering SF State. (Why are you all not
surprised at this?!)
Divorced in 1965, moved into SF's Haight-Ashbury and became an
instant 'flower child', frequenting the likes of the Ken Kesey Trips
Festival, Fillmore Auditorium, Avalon Ballroom, Winterland, and
various and sundry gatherings and 'Be-ins' in the park for the next
year or so. Also raced motorcycles with the AFM for a bit while
continuing my college education.
When SF State under Dr. Hayakawa (Alan's daddy) started rioting
with Third World vs. SWAT teams and subsequently all my teachers went
on strike (!), I left "The City" and returned to Mill
Valley. Got a job at Tam as Dan Caldwell's Drama Class TA, (any alums
remember Many Moons?) as well as a stint at the Mill Valley
Post Office as a letter carrier. In 1969, I had a son, Val Luergan,
(BTW: Val attended Tam in 1987-88) and lived on Mt. Tamalpais for a
number of years.
Many changes during the 70's, lots of ups and downs. The ups:
starred in College of Marin musicals, Marian in The Music Man
(co-starring with the late John McDill), Katisha in The Mikado
(also with McDill), and Mrs. Peachum in Three Penny Opera.
The downs...broke up with Val's dad and struggled being a single
mom for a time. Met my present husband Wayne at Ross Valley Players
while playing Aldonza in the musical Man of La Mancha. Wayne
played a Muleteer, the Horse and was the choreographer.
Moved to Gualala on the Mendocino coast in 1979 with Wayne, we got
married, had my second child...daughter Bryn in 1982. For our first
15 years on the north coast Wayne and I explored a number of
different occupations, Wayne as carpenter to contractor, me as an
aerobics and ballet teacher, then seven years as reservations manager
of St. Orres a Bed & Breakfast Inn and restaurant, built by three
Tam alumni Ritchie Wasserman ('60), Robert Anderson ('61) and Eric
Black ('61).
Here on the coast, I've produced/directed musicals, Of Thee I Sing
and Bye-Bye Birdie plus other theatrical/musical endeavors
including several productions of Menotti¹s Amahl and the
Night Visitors. In 1994 Wayne and I started up our business, Adventure
Rents, a now thriving canoe & kayak livery on the Gualala River.
As I write this, my son Val is a carpenter living in Marin with
wife Jennifer (Tam 1988), and my daughter Bryn (AA's in both Dance
and Theatre Arts) is a dancer in the pro SF hip hop troupe Mind
Over Matter and is currently playing Miss Hannigan in Annie
at SRJC.
I've been the President of the Redwood Coast Chamber of
Commerce going on five years now and also am a ULC minister and wedding
coordinator here on the coast. Many hats help one survive
country life.
I passed on our 30th for the wrong reasons, but will not
miss this one!
Reconnecting with the friends from one's youth is proving quite delightful.
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Jared
Dreyfus
Graduated from Sonoma State College (now University) just nine
short years after our graduation having also attended Yuba College,
COM and San Jose State, married my first wife (an English lass I met
at H. Salt_ Fish & Chips in Sausalito) and had my first two
children, Adam and Christian.. During the same time lost both my
older brothers (Dave, Tam '58 and Tim, Tam '60).
Separated from Valerie in 1972 and started law school and met my
second wife (Prudence, a Denver native) in 1973. Graduated law school
and married Prudence in 1976 and practiced law in San Francisco until
1981 when I joined a Santa Rosa firm and Prudence and I adopted an
infant girl, Katie.
A severe depression cut short my Santa Rosa job after only six
months and I spent the next year and half alternately staring at my
shoes and dreaming up ways to become famous and/or rich overnight.
Can you say manic-depressive? Somebody finally did and I have been
(more or less) under control since 1984.
After a lifetime of agnosticism bordering on atheism inherited
from my parents I finally set out to ground my opinion in fact and
read the works that put the lie to Christianity once and for all. I
was surprised to find that no such works exist and set out to examine
the evidence in favor of the preposterous story of miracles and
resurrection. The result of that was my receiving Christ and being
baptized (immersion, if you must know) in January of 1990.
In 1992, Prudence and I separated and soon divorced. I hunted down
a woman I had met years earlier, rekindled the relationship and we
married in 1994. You will meet Genie at the reunion (you may have met
her at the last one). This marriage gets steadily better and I think
I've broken my losing streak.
Adam, now 32 is a booker/producer for TechTV in San Francisco
which many of you cable or satellite customers will recognize. Best
get to date is Asia Carrera and all of you who recognize that name
should be ashamed. Christian, 30, has been in the restaurant business
for many years and is now the well-reviewed chef of the Southern
Exposure Bistro in Aptos CA. Kate is 21 and almost a junior at
University of Arizona.
I'm now living in Sebastopol with Genie, her Mom (91) two cats, a
dog and several chickens. Genie and I both work out of the house, she
assisting Julia Ross in writing her books and me helping run a
statewide network of notaries doing loan closings for title companies.
Enough. See you at the reunion.
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Charles
Kelly
Those of you who knew me as a National Merit Scholar might be
surprised to learn that after I flunked out of College of Marin in
record time, my formal education was over. I was drafted in February
1966 and assigned to the medical outfit that was used as the model
for the movie "M*A*S*H." I spent most of my military
service in Arizona, and left the state before the sheriff in Sierra
Vista, Arizona could locate me to serve the warrant.
Meanwhile, back in Marin, my good friend Mark Hazell ('Tam 62) was
rooming at Bill Champlin's house and giving me updates on the Sons of
Champlin and the San Francisco music scene.
When I left the army in 1968, I was a rare commodity, a healthy
male without a "draft problem" of the sort my friends who
had gone to college were now facing. After a suitable courtship, I
joined up with the Sons as the roadie in 1968, and I have held that
position ever since. Other Tam grads who are now or have been in the
band include Bill Champlin, of course, Bill Bowen ('65), Rob Moitoza
('63), Dave Schallock ('65) and roadie Steve Tobin ("64).
For nine years I waited for the Sons to make me rich and they
didn't, but I got to tour with groups like Three Dog Night, Average
White Band and Leon Russell, as well as working shows with every
legend from that era. Plus, I got to see Janis Joplin naked.
When the Sons dissolved in 1977 I purchased the equipment truck
and got into the moving game, while my hobby gradually took over my
life. During the '70s I had taken up cycling for the simple reason
that I seemed to have an aptitude for it. In the 1979 my roommate
Gary Fisher and I entered into a partnership with a frame builder
named Tom Ritchey, and we started marketing a new type of bicycle,
which we called a "mountain bike." For a year or two people
told us we were crazy, and it would never take off. They were wrong
about that.
In 1980 a club newsletter I had agreed to produce escaped from the
club and became the first magazine for mountain bikers, the "Fat
Tire Flyer." I got out of the manufacturing end of bicycles in
1983, and concentrated on publishing the magazine until I ran out of
other people's money in 1987. Although a dismal financial failure, it
was by far the most creative and fun thing I ever got to do. I was
inducted into the Mountain
Bike Hall of Fame as soon as it was founded, in 1986.
For a while I wrote for bicycle magazines, and I had a very bad
book published, but that is not a steady way to make a living, so I
went back to moving, concentrating on piano moving. In 1986 I married
Mary Moffat, and in 1990 my daughter Dana was born. We bought a house
in San Anselmo with a white picket fence and a dog in the back yard.
Actually, the dog didn't come with the house. We brought it with us.
In 1997 the Sons of Champlin
decided to play some shows, so I took up as the roadie again, and had
the supreme honor of introducing them on the stage of the Fillmore
Auditorium. When they aren't playing, which is most of the time, I
run my piano moving company, Kelly Moving in San Anselmo. I also play
in my own band, the Aphids, along with Mark Symmes (Tam '66) and Mike
Fay (Tam '71).
My life has had more adventures to it than I deserve, and I
have chronicled some of them in my personal
website for those who are truly desperate for something to read.
Every day is a gift, and I try to enjoy every minute because one of
them will eventually be the last.
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Ibriham
and Jaleela
Bilal (Art Foster and Margaret Conger)
After Tam, I went to Ft. Lewis for one year, then transferred to
the University of Santa Clara, where I graduated in 1969, B.A. in
Psch. Jaleela had gone to College of Marin, then to Mexico for a year
, and finally to Sonoma State before we got married in 1967.
We stayed in Santa Clara Co. where I worked first as a counselor
at a youth house for three years. I then worked as a salesman for
Xerox for a couple of years before we traveled to North Africa in
1972. Jaleela and I along with our three children trekked around for
the better part of a year then returned to the States as Muslims.
Upon returning to the States I worked and started Law School.
Jaleela worked for a bit and also participated in the local Islamic
schools. I finished Law School in 1977, but I had a plan to study in
an Islamic country to learn Arabic and then Islamic law. This took
some time before we had the resources to make this trip, but in May
1982 we left the States for the Sudan. By this time we had 7 children.
In the Sudan, my reasons for leaving the States had to take a back
seat to the reality of our situation there. I soon started working as
an English teacher (I'm presently an English Instructor for Saudia Airlines).
Jaleela started up an Arabic/English community school for
pre-schoolers up to 2nd grade, in a house donated for that purpose in
our neighborhood. She also worked on a neighborhood program to
educate illiterate women.
In 1990 we moved to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and we are still here.
Jaleela studied in a 4 year Quran program and is presently an
instructor in the same program.
Our family has grown to include ten children and twelve grandchildren.
I hope this fills in some of the blanks.
Ibrahim
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Rob
Moitoza
Once again, I could probably win the award for "most
predictable" in the class of '63. I am still playing music,
after all these years, and enjoying it more than ever. I am currently
playing in five bands in the Seattle area, and I have just completed
a new CD, "Speak Out!", which addresses the current
political climate in the country. As we come closer to war with Iraq
and our entire news media is owned by about five giant corporations,
mostly now collaborating with the Republican right, I feel it is
important for us all to start speaking out before we lose our
democracy altogether. So, I am putting a lot of energy into that
cause right now.
I have had a great life. If it all ended tomorrow I would have few regrets.
I have had great friends, great family and a life full with music
and art. I would only hope the young people of the world get to live
out their lives with even a fraction of the joy I have had. This
doesn't mean I have had a life free of problems... far from it. If I
had it to do over again I would stay away from alcohol, and I would
get into some kind of therapy early on so I wouldn't have to waste so
many years with problems that could be easily solved. Aside from
that, it's been glorious. Here are a few highlights.
In the sixties I worked with Lydia Pense and "Cold
Blood". I remember the first big gig at the Fillmore West. We
opened for "Quicksilver Messenger Service". While I was
playing, my old friend John Cipollina walked right up past the front
of the stage and waved hello. We had played together several years
earlier as the "Deacons" at the Mill Valley Art and Garden
Center, Brown's Hall, and the American Legion Hall. So, it was like
old home week and quite heart-warming. John passed away in 1989.
In the seventies I worked with Holly Near and recorded three
albums with her. This led me into work with feminist groups and
causes which eventually led me into "men's work" and a lot
of personal self exploration and therapy work. In 1982 I was able to
finally get the alcohol monkey off my back, and that was a huge
turning point for me. Several years later I got married.
Even though we finally divorced seven years later, I have no
regrets, and still have much love for my ex.
In the 70's I toured with my old friends "The Sons of
Champlin" and recorded the album "Loving is Why".
Toward the end of the decade I toured with Kiki Dee where I got to
work with Elton John guitarist, Davey Johnstone.
In the early 80's I moved to Seattle. I fell in love with the area
and the music scene here. I miss Marin, but, frankly, it has become a
rich man's paradise. I don't know how any of you can afford to live
there anymore. (How do you do that anyway? Not on a musicians
salary!) By the way if you haven't checked out "Marin City"
on George Duke's CD, "Cool", do so. It is indeed cool and
reminiscent of the work of the late great Curtis Mayfield. In fact,
check out all Duke's stuff... including his great production work for
Jeffrey Osborne and Philip Bailey.) Up here I was able to buy a small
house and finally assemble a modest home studio. That gave me the
ability to record my own music
after all these years.
In 2002 I won the "Northwest Blues Society" award for
"Best Bass", and got to travel to Memphis with Nick
Vigarino's Meantown Blues. We may be coming through the bay area in
late January. Any booking ideas, anyone?
I have three CDs currently completed. "Quiet Might",
which is a collection of love songs that I recorded with my wife,
Kaaren; "Rob Moitoza's Cavalcade of Stars", a satirical
look at the world through the eyes of various zany fictitious bands;
and "Speak Out!", a pop, R&B, political statement. (The
CD will be available in January 2003) I am working on several
projects, including a "men's album", an album of "kids
songs" for the "adult child", and a "Rob
Moitoza" retrospective.
I love you all and I thank you for the contribution each one of
you has made to my life. Best wishes, and I look forward to seeing
you all at the reunion.
P.S. By the way, my two sisters, Fran and Sue are alive and well
and living in the east bay. My mom and dad are both gone now, but
they live on in our hearts. Aloha!
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Rob then (1977) |
Rob now |
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Shirley
Mackin Burgett Svanevik
I'm a freelance research historian doing local history (1986 to
present) of San Francisco and the San Francisco Peninsula. With my
husband, Michael Svanevik, we write a weekly history column,
Mileposts, for the San Francisco Examiner and a weekly history
column, Time & Again, for the Peninsula Independent. We used to
write for the old San Mateo Times when it was a family owned
newspaper. We have also written numerous coffee table history books
for various communities on the San Francisco/San Mateo Peninsula.
Sometimes we are controversial
but usually we try to be just plain entertaining. Sometimes we do
real estate ads on old mansions. Michael is also a full-time
professor at the College of San Mateo.
I love history, gardening, old stuff and sci-fi. I have a BA in
American History and an MA in Museum Studies with a background in law
and some sciences.
Am I ready for a 40th reunion, well, I guess, maybe. Until Pete
put it in words, I never gave it a thought. Are you sure it's the
40th? Couldn't we do a time warp? Bye the bye, how many of us are
there -last count?
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