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Mason Williams brings his 'Classical Gas' to the Rrazz Room as part of a 40th anniversary tour
By Bruce Bellingham

If you are of a certain age, you are bound to recall that catchy guitar and orchestra tune from 1968, “Classical Gas”. It made Mason Williams a household name. But aside from being a composer and musician, he was already the head writer of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS, and working on a few art projects, including the world’s largest sunflower, and a life-size poster of a Greyhound bus, which remains in the permanent collection at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. The world-famous artist Ed Ruscha is still one of his closest friends. Mason Williams’s extraordinary creative juices have never stopped flowing.

For two nights, Sunday, Aug. 3 and Monday, Aug. 4, he brings his show to the Rrazz Room at the Hotel Nikko.

In a phone interview with Northside San Francisco, Williams said he’s particularly excited about touring with some terrific musicians. There’s John Doan on harp/guitar, and keyboardist Art Maddox, who’s collaborated with the likes of composers Lou Harrison and John Cage. Bassist Mark Schneider says, “I never get tired of playing abstract music like ‘Classical Gas’.”

Abstract, perhaps, but remarkably successful. The record won three Grammys. It shot to No. 1 on the charts, and logged over three million broadcast performances to become the No. 1 all-time instrumental composition for air play in Broadcast Music Inc.’s repertoire, replacing the previous No. 1 tune, “The Theme From Moulin Rouge”, by Michel Legrand, released in 1953.

“Composing is a little bit like abstract painting,” says Williams. “I’m really an outsider in the music business. Most of my friends are artists. One of them says that we are outside looking out.”

Williams certainly keeps closer to nature than the Hollywood Hills might offer. He lives in Eugene, Ore. He befriended Ken Kesey in the Pacific Northwest, and Kesey gave Williams his first 12-string guitar and Epiphone. A native Oklahoman, Williams grew up in the woods.
“I stay close to nature,” he says. Maybe that’s why my creative forces are intact. Kesey used to say we have to take care of the rivers, take care of the environment, and that was years ago. He warned against taking drugs. He said we should be like astronauts.
Williams said he had the best possible musical education: He worked in a record store in Oklahoma City as a kid. 

“A music teacher once told me that you should listen to music that you don’t like. That way, you develop a respect for all of it. This is one of my pet peeves about American audiences. They define themselves only by the music they like. I ran into this when I wrote for the Smothers Brothers. A CBS exec said to me, ‘The audience will change channels when they don’t identify.’ That’s foolish. Music is the best bond between all cultures.”
In the ’60s, Tommy Smothers’s sister was a waitress at the Troubadour in L.A. Tommy told her to look out for new talent. She saw Mason Williams doing stand-up, and reported back to her brother. Tommy said, “Let’s hire him.”

Meanwhile, Warner Brothers Records told Tommy that they wanted to add 10 new artists to their label. Says Williams, “Since my music and ideas had been an integral part of the Comedy Hour’s success, Tom suggested, ‘Why not give Mason a shot?’ Warner Brothers agreed, so I became one of the 10, along with Jimi Hendrix, Randy Newman, Van Dyke Parks, and others.”

In turn, Williams hired Steve Martin as a comedy writer for the show.
“I thought to myself,” recalls Williams, “not only is this guy funny, but he works on a philosophical level. He’ll be great writer one day.” Williams also hired Rob Reiner and Carl Gottlieb. When he brought in The Committee, the San Francisco-based political satire troupe, then CBS began to get nervous.

It was the height of the Vietnam War and the Smotherses were slamming Nixon every week on their show. It was Williams’s idea to invite Pete Seeger to sing the anthem of military ineptness, Waist Deep in the Big Muddy. All hell broke loose at the corporate level. CBS cancelled The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour just as discussions were underway to move the show to the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco – friendlier territory.

Throughout the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, Mason created and performed concerts for band and orchestra; Symphonic Bluegrass was performed with over 40 major symphonies. Of Time and Rivers Flowing, a chronological river of music, encompassed the realms of classical, folk, minstrel, gospel, jazz, country, pop, and contemporary rock. His A Gift of Song Holiday Pops concerts featured music from his Christmas album and various community artists and choirs.

Recent honors include an honorary doctorate of music from his alma mater, Oklahoma City University, and in 2000, Mason was officially designated the musician laureate for the state of Oregon.

Mason Williams: The Rrazz Room, 222 Mason St. (at O’Farrell) at the Hotel Nikko; Sunday, Aug. 3, 7 p.m. & Monday, Aug. 4, 8 p.m.; tickets $40 at www.ticketweb.com or 866-468-3399



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