Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian and mandolin wizard
David Grisman join forces for a soiree at the Jewish Community Center
By Bruce Bellingham

They’ve been kicking the idea around for a long time, and it finally grew into a national tour. John Sebastian, former leader of The Lovin’ Spoonful of the 1960s and composer of such solo hits as “She’s a Lady” and “Welcome Back,” is teaming with the Bay Area’s
David Grisman for a show of acoustic tunes on Nov. 15 at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco.

It’s a reunion of sorts. They both go back to their early days in Greenwich Village when they were in the Even Dozen Jug Band.

“We were thinking of doing an hour of my songs, and an hour of David’s songs,” Sebastian told the Northside. “Then we thought, no, let’s do two hours together – and make a CD.”
So they did.

“I was intimidated by the process,” Sebastian says. “I come from pop music. If you don’t get it right, you do it again, our lay another track until it sounds right. But with David, it’s all in one take – no going back.”

For that reason, John learned that this will make for a better live performance where there are no second takes.

“It really is a lot of fun.”

Don’t think there won’t be songs you’ll not recognize.

Sebastian adds: “We’re not

going to avoid the John Sebastian songbook. But David’s amazing versatility makes everything sound fresh and fluffy.”

The Lovin’ Spoonful used to be described as producing “good time music.” The good times are not all gone.

These days John lives in Woodstock, New York, the scene of an earlier triumph of his. Grisman lives in Petaluma.

Check out the good times:
John Sebastian and David Grisman: Kanbar Hall, Jewish Community Center, 3200 California Street (at Presidio), Saturday, Nov. 15, 8 p.m., tickets $45–$48 415-292-1233 or
www.jccsf.org/arts