Dave
Acker ~ Guitar, Vocals
David
Booth ~ Guitar
Keith
Duncan ~ Bass
Ed
Epstein ~ Saxophone
Wayne Koberstein ~ Drums
John
Laws ~ Drums, Vocals
Rob
Moore ~ Bass
Wil
Radding ~ Baritone and Soprano Saxophone, Flute
Jim
Richmond ~ Vocals, Songwriter
Keith
Doug Skelton ~ Bass
Frank
Spiecker ~ Lead Guitar
David
Young ~ Keyboards
Mike
Vanisse ~ Tenor Saxophone
The Palace Meat Market was together in about 1968 and 1969 and was from Eugene, Oregon. They opened for three Grateful Dead shows and twice for the (New) Tweedy Brothers. They were a major part of the early Eugene music scene, many anti-war benefits. The Palace Meat Market worked with Phantasmagoria (Light show) and Ocular Mirage (Light show). They were a jamming band with much original material. Personnel included: David Young--Founder/Keyboards, John Laws - Drums/Vocals, David Booth - Guitar, Rob ?--bass guitar, Jim Richmond--Singer/Songwriter, and two wind and horn players I wish I could remember.Jim Richmond (later songwriter for Shirley Lorene and Rush Hour), October 2003
I played bass the same year (1969) that Frank Spiecker played lead guitar with the band. There was a sax player also. Once, right before a gig in Portland, Frank Spiecker slammed his left hand finger in the car door (bad). He drank some of the cough syrup the sax man had and things were fine after that!
Keith Doug Skelton, April 2004
Though I only met Keith once (he was before my time with the band), Frank had just left when I was asked to become the lead singer. My first gig with the Palace Meat Market was opening for the Grateful Dead..........in fact, it was my first non-coffeehouse performance ever. Wonderful terrifying stuff!
Jim Richmond, April 2004
I was in the very beginning of the Palace Meat Market. My memory says that our first gig was in Coos Bay at the junior college there. We were rounded up by a red-haired guy who played bass. The lead guitar was Dave Acker. John Laws was the drummer. I played baritone and soprano saxophones and (maybe) flute. We had a better sax player who played tenor. There was a blond girl with a light but really pleasant voice sang many of the vocals. Acker and the bass player shared the other vocals.
In Coos Bay we connected in the way bands could in those days. There really was almost no set list. We just started some tune that one of the band members liked and the kids just shook in front of us. Gigs were thin on the ground at first. We did record one commercial written by Dave Acker and Dave Young, I think. I have no idea if it aired. I went to Israel for work purposes. My memory still has Acker playing with them when I returned; I think they had a regular gig at a tavern in the strip between Eugene and Springfield. They played before the Grateful Dead in the basketball arena of the University of Oregon one evening after I returned. It was a memorable night.
Later I think the band morphed into a group called Sweet Release, and they were booked to Alaska.
Much later I ran into Acker in New York. He had attended Berkeley School of Music studying classical guitar. I don't know anything about the rest of the folks.
Wil Radding, January 2009
The saxophone players were Ed Epstein and Mike Vanisse who later played with Robert Cray. The other incantations of the band were "Permanent Brain Damage" and "Fourplay".David M Booth, August 2013
I was the original drummer with Palace Meat Market, which was then called The New Palace Meat Market. A personal crisis caused me to leave the band after a few months, but I helped set the tone. We were LOUD. We had no decent PA at first. The singer had the only mic. All Guitars were unmic'd so they were turned all the way up. Me, the drummer, in the middle with the guitar amps pointed my way. After every rehersal or gig, I was deaf for at least two days.
Wayne Koberstein, July 2019
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