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We just lost another San Francisco rocker. Tom Guido<\/strong>, who produced a lot of rock ‘n’ roll shows, passed away a few weeks ago. <\/p>\n Tom Guido was responsible for reviving the legendary Purple Onion<\/strong>, a nightclub in San Francisco that began in the 1950s, and found a new lease on life in the 1990s.<\/p>\n Tunefilter<\/a> provided a wonderful overview of this club, recycling some words originally written by Karen Eliot…<\/p>\n “The Purple Onion has been a centre of San Francisco culture since its founding by Bud Steinhoff<\/strong> in 1952. The club is a small, dark, basement on Columbus Avenue in the North Beach area. The name came from a friend of Steinhoff’s, Hungry i owner Rod Banducci<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Poet Maya Angelou <\/strong>debuted there, singing and dancing, in the early 1950s. Folkies The Kingston Trio<\/strong> got together and debuted there in 1957, as did Phyllis Diller<\/strong> and The Smothers Brothers<\/strong> (in 1959). Through the 1950s and 1960s the club was well-known for live performance, mainly folk music and comedy. It was the site of comedian Jonathan Winters<\/strong>‘ famous freak-out in which he took off his pants and was as a result hospitalised for bipolar disorder. Other famous performers included The Mamas and the Papas, Lenny Bruce<\/strong> and Barbra Streisand<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In 1989 Bud Steinhoff died and the club was taken into its second incarnation with Tom Guido at the helm. Guido continued the tradition of giving a chance to new groups, and as a result has put on some of the most enjoyable and lively shows in the city. Through the 1990s the Onion was home to multiple overlapping Bay-area subcultures, most notably mods decked-out in perfect vintage gear.<\/p>\n The club is dark and hot, with a primitive sound system and d\u00e9cor reminiscent of some cheap 1950s dance in a high-school gym, with minimal lighting and tinsel hanging behind the stage. The bar offers one, sometimes two, varying brands of beer, one cheap, one expensive, and earplugs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Tunefilter page<\/a> goes into great detail on the efforts of Tom Guido at the Purple Onion, sharing photographs, and a comprehensive list of the shows during the 1994-1999 run.<\/p>\n Beth’s Purple Onion webpage<\/a> goes into even greater detail on the club, providing even more stories, and photos.<\/p>\n I didn’t know Tom Guido very well, but I had a lot of respect for all the shows he assembled, which all celebrated the essence of the music often categorized as “garage rock.”<\/p>\n I also didn’t take a lot of photos at Tom Guido’s Purple Onion shows, but here’s one from the Sky Saxon<\/strong> Halloween show I attended..<\/p>\n The circumstances behind Tom’s death are still being investigated, and there’s not much I can add to that, other than expressing my shock and deep sadness over the circumstances.<\/p>\n Rest in peace, Tom Guido. You can read more about Tom Guido by visiting these links..<\/p>\n Tom Guidos’s Purple Onion – Beth’s amazing pages<\/a> We just lost another San Francisco rocker. Tom Guido, who produced a lot of rock ‘n’ roll shows, passed away a few weeks ago. Tom Guido was responsible for reviving the legendary…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,22,30,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-garage-rock","category-louie-universe","category-obituaries","category-san-francisco-bay-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9904"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9929,"href":"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9904\/revisions\/9929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/sky_Saxon_1998-042-025_E_Predoehl.jpg\")
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\nYou will absolutely be missed.<\/p>\n
\nTunefilter- Shrine to the Tom Guido era of The Purple Onion<\/a>
\nS.F Weekly – The Last Days of Tom Guido<\/a>
\nSF Examiner – SF homicide victim remembered as \u2018whimsical\u2019 manager of 90s North Beach rock venue<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/guido-GetOut.jpg\")
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