Everytime I pass the Leonard and David McKay Gallery at the History Park, or drive by the former Smith & McKay Printing Co building at 96 North Almaden on the other side of Highway 87 from Little Italy, I think about Dave. He was the best printer in San Jose and printed Metro’s business cards—with two layers of varnish, matte and glossy, and a double pass through the press on the red plate, to make it extra red.
That’s of course a level of craftsmanship you won’t find today. His father, Leonard, archived troves of the city's historical materials, in a city that too often bulldozes and discards its heritage.
So it’s a fine tribute that the gallery named in the McKays’ memory is hosting what Metro columnist Gary Singh says “just might be the best exhibit ever at History San Jose.”
Called “South Bay Flashback: Riffs, Rhythms, and Revolution,” it displays a collection of San Jose rock posters from the ’60s and documents the city’s underacknowledged role in birthing the American counterculture. From Jimi Hendrix to the Doors, the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane, transformative events unfolded here—while Haight-Ashbury got the Life magazine cover and Monterey, the movie, Monterey Pop.
Anyone who has studied the Beat movement that preceded the psychedelic ’60s knows that the presence in the valley of Neal Cassady, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Ken Kesey laid the foundation for much of what followed, including the personal computer revolution and the Internet.
So, it’s about time we started cherishing and promoting our rich musical legacy. San Jose Rocks is about to do that on Dec. 4 with the unveiling of the Grateful Dead plaque at City Hall.
And this week in Metro, writer Melisa Yuriar surveys the independent live music scene, which has soldiered on despite a chaotic period of disruption that shut many of the venues that anchored the local scene.
At nontraditional venues like AJ’s Bikini Bar and Jade Cathay Cantonese restaurant, San Jose’s local live music culture lives on. “Venues come and go, but the energy always finds somewhere new to live,” Melisa writes. “The regeneration is proof of life, proof that culture doesn’t die here—it just moves down the block and starts again.”
Let’s keep it going.
