This tobiano mare is now up for adoption at Lake County Animal Care & Control. Courtesy photo.

LAKEPORT – Animal Care and Control reported this week that it has another horse that's come into its care that needs a good home.

Bill Davidson, Animal Care and Control's deputy director, said a 10-year-old tobiano paint mare has been surrendered to the agency.

Davidson said the mare first came to Animal Care and Control's attention after the agency received a call from the US Forest Service regarding a loose horse.

He said she was taken for vet care off of Elk Mountain Road due to a nasty leg wound.

The mare previously was owned by a woman from Oregon who came to Lake County and was new to horse ownership. Because the woman forfeited ownership, Davidson said Animal Care and Control isn't seeking legal action against her at this time.

“The vet reports have come back very positive and she will most definitely be sound and ridable,” he said.

With the mare's wound now mostly healed, Animal Care and Control wants to find her a good home, Davidson said.

Horse lovers can submit sealed bids, with the minimum bid set at $250. Davidson said bids will be accepted through July 12.

He said the horse is nice, manageable and believed to be broken, although she's best to go with someone who has knowledge of horses.

An Arab gelding Animal Care & Control previously had up for adoption had no local bids but was taken by a horse rescue group in Petaluma, Davidson said.

For more information, call Lake County Animal Care and Control, 707-263-0278.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Eric Von Reneger climbs down the hill to his pickup truck on Tuesday, May 26, 2009. Photo by John Jensen.

Shortly before 2 p.m. Eric Von Reneger parked his 1970s Dodge pickup on Logan Drive at Foothill Drive.

Von Reneger said he turned the vehicle off and got out. He said he thinks the truck popped out of first gear and then rolled across a nearby property, damaging a retaining wall and crossing a neighbor's driveway.

It then went down the adjacent hillside, rolling over onto its side and coming to a stop against another retaining wall, which prevented the pickup from hitting a nearby home.

Northshore Fire, the Lake County Sheriff's Office and the California Highway Patrol responded. No injuries were reported, and Von Reneger's pickup was pulled up the hill and towed from the scene.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

California Highway Patrol Officer Dallas Richey looks over the scene on Logan Avenue, where Eric Von Reneger's pickup went down a hill and hit a retaining wall on Tuesday, May 26, 2009. Photo by John Jensen.

The California State Honor Guard and the Travis Air Force Base Honor guard performed the flag presentation ceremony at the burials of Chris R. Erickson and Kenneth W. J. Evans on Monday, May 18, 2009. Photo courtesy of the United Veterans Council Military Funeral Honors Team.

LAKEPORT – In Lakeport's Hartley Cemetery there is a special spot reserved for local veterans.

It's known as Veterans Circle.

In 2006, the United Veterans Council Military Funeral Honors Team – a devoted band of military brothers and sisters who offer funerary honors for local veterans – created the space.

Originally, its aim was for indigent veterans. While it's since been opened up to all veterans, those without means or family still comprise most of those laid to rest there.

It's also a place of commemoration for all veterans. Flag-raising ceremonies are held there on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and memorial wreaths are laid there in December as part of the annual “Wreaths Across America” commemoration.

Just this past week, two more veterans were honored at the circle.

The Military Funeral Honors Team reported that Chris R. Erickson, a veteran of the U.S. Army, and Kenneth W. J. Evans, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, were laid to rest in Veterans Circle on May 18.

The men's family weren't present, but they did have many friends – many of whom they may never have met.

Those friends included the county's many veterans organizations, the Missing in America Program, Patriot Guard Riders, Operation Tango Mike and the Lake County Veterans Service Office who were present to pay their respects.

The Military Funeral Honors Team provided the eulogy, three volley rifle salute and the playing of “Taps.”

The California State Honor Guard and the Travis Air Force Base Honor guard were on hand to fold the veterans' US flags.

Those flags were then presented to the Avenue of Flags, and will fly over Hartley as part of the annual display on Memorial Day on Monday.

Erickson and Evans join fellow veterans including George Elder, Lawrence Quinn and Robert Kincaid.

Elder, who died May 26, 2008, was buried a month later, on June 24. He served in the US Air Force from 1957 to 1961, and his friend and neighbor, Terre Logsdon, accepted his flag.

Quinn and Kincaid, both Navy vets laid to rest in the circle on Oct. 11, 2008.

Quinn served during the Korean War and died Sept. 11, 2008. The ashes of Kincaid, who died in 2003, were unclaimed for five years before the Missing in America Project assisted with obtaining his cremains for burial, as Lake County News has reported.

Since their burials, the families of Elder and Kincaid discovered the men's whereabouts.

In the case of Kincaid, his son, Texas resident Ron Simpson, who was separated from his father in childhood, credited the Missing in America Project for its efforts on behalf of vets. An Internet search led him to the story, posted last fall, of his father's burial.

Hartley Cemetery is located at 2552 Hill Road, Lakeport.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Honor guard members fold the flags of Chris R. Erickson and Kenneth W. J. Evans on Monday, May 18, 2009. Photo courtesy of the United Veterans Council Military Funeral Honors Team.

Members of the Patriot Guard Riders on their way to the burials of Chris R. Erickson and Kenneth W. J. Evans on Monday, May 18, 2009, at Veterans Circle at Hartley Cemetery in Lakeport. Photo courtesy of the United Veterans Council Military Funeral Honors Team.

Sutter Lakeside Hospital's new chief administrative officer, Siri Nelson. Courtesy photo.

LAKEPORT – Sutter Lakeside Hospital is welcoming its new chief administrative officer, who arrived this month from Amador County.

Siri Nelson will take the helm of the hospital, which she joined on May 4. Avery Schlesenberg served as interim administrator for several months before Nelson's arrival.

In addition to welcoming Ms. Nelson to her new role with Sutter Lakeside, we want to thank Avery Schlesenberg for his outstanding leadership of our hospital as Interim Administrator over the past several months.

“I’m very happy to be a part of the Sutter Lakeside family,” said Nelson. “The community has been very welcoming to me and my family. I love being in a small town and am looking forward to getting to know all of the great things Lake County has to offer.”

Nelson comes to Sutter Lakeside Hospital from the Sacramento Sierra Region of Sutter Health where she most recently has been serving as chief financial officer for Sutter Amador Hospital.

During her time there, Nelson served in a leadership role affecting a significant financial turnaround for the hospital, helped to broaden its community benefit program, and worked collaboratively with physicians and staff to achieve even stronger employee and patient satisfaction scores.

“Sutter Lakeside is a very strong organization with a demonstrated commitment to the community, providing clinical excellence and exceptional patient service,” said Nelson. “My goal is to work with the amazing team here to take this organization to the next level. Our focus has always been, and will continue to be, on the patients we serve: Striving to provide excellent care with a small town feel.”

Prior to joining Sutter Lakeside and Sutter Amador, Nelson served as finance director for the San Joaquin County Health Care Services Agency and regional director of finance for St. Joseph’s Regional Health System in Stockton.

She began her career in health care at Sutter-affiliated Novato Community Hospital and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State University, Chico, and a master’s degree in health administration from the University of Southern California.

Nelson is married to husband Steve and has four children – all boys, ages 6, 7, 18 and 20. The family is in the midst of selling their Jackson home to relocate to Lake County.

In her spare time, Nelson enjoys boating, playing in the garden and attending her children’s go-kart and midget races. Son Bill, 20, is racing is Midget this year while 7-year-old Erik will start his second year of outlaw go-kart racing and Koby, 6, is just itching to get started. Her son, Matt, 18, will get to know the community this summer before leaving to start college at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this fall.

She said her husband is looking forward to exploring one of the best bass fishing lakes in the country, and all of her sons love the water and enjoy boating and fishing.

A staffer tries to secure the equipment at Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa's Konocti Field Amphitheater on Saturday, May 23, 2009. Photo by Dianna Brooks.

KELSEYVILLE – A weekend concert at Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa was canceled after an equipment problem caused safety concerns.

The Memorial Day weekend “Can't Stop Rockin'” show – featuring REO Speedwagon, Styx and 38 Special – didn't really get a chance to start rocking Saturday, when overhead lighting equipment began to collapse in the resort's 5,000-seat outdoor Konocti Field Amphitheater.

Konocti Harbor President and General Manager Greg Bennett did not return calls from Lake County News seeking comment.

Eyewitnesses related to Lake County News that they saw a piece of equipment falling off of the lighting structure above the stage, and then the musicians were rushed off.

Lower Lake resident Dianna Brooks, who was at the resort with her husband for the concert, arrived after the equipment issue occurred.

She said they waited two hours – until around 8 p.m. – before the announcement was made that the concert was canceled.

Brooks said security guards had cordoned off a portion of the amphitheater so that no one could sit within about 50 to 75 feet of the stage.

Brooks said gaffers were intermittently going up and down the scaffolding with large rolls of yellow banding to secure the center lighting system so it would not fall down any further.

She said the resort told ticket holders they would receive refunds beginning Tuesday.

The Konocti Harbor Web site, www.konoctiharbor.com, lists the next concert in the outdoor amphitheater on July 4, when 3 Doors Down will give a holiday performance followed by fireworks.

Concert goers waited for about two hours at Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa's Konocti Field Amphitheater on Saturday, May 23, 2009, before the event was canceled. Photo by Dianna Brooks.

Republican Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon and North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) worked together across the aisle to introduce the Veterans Educational Equity Act, HR 2474, which has since won overwhelming support from the California delegation. The bill has a total of 36 co-sponsors.

McKeon and Thompson told reporters late last week that they're trying to get the legislation through to prevent California veterans from facing an unfair reduction in benefits under the post-9/11 GI Bill.

“I'm hoping that we don't have to go through the whole legislative fix,” said Thompson, who called the situation “no more than a bureaucratic snafu.”

The Post-9/11 GI Bill – which becomes effective this summer – requires that the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) pay each veteran's private university tuition based on the highest in-state undergraduate tuition rate at a state operated school in the state of enrollment.

Thompson, chair of the Military Veterans Caucus, said the bill was passed to provide educational opportunities for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The issue, as Thompson explained in a letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki – which McKeon co-signed – is that California is constitutionally barred from using the word “tuition” and instead uses the word “fees” to describe the cost of matriculation at public universities.

While the VA has determined the maximum tuition benefit for California veterans to be $0, the maximum fee benefit can equal up to $6,586.54, according to the congressmen.

McKeon said the president of Pepperdine University, Andrew K. Benton, brought the issue to his attention. Benton told McKeon that veterans who wanted to attend Pepperdine, a private university in Malibu, were told they wouldn't be reimbursed.

“It is reasonable to assume that these two words are interchangeable,” wrote Thompson. “Unfortunately, based on this simple semantic difference, the VA has determined that since California does not use the literal term 'tuition,' the state has a $0.00 level of reimbursement for tuition claims at private universities. As such, our veterans will be denied these critical benefits, and put at a great disadvantage in comparison to veterans in other states.”

Veterans applying for the benefits have so far been denied, while they've been granted to veterans in every other state, McKeon and Thompson explained.

It's an especially critical issue, since – as Thompson told Shinseki – “the denial of such benefits to California veterans was most certainly not the intent of Congress when passing this landmark legislation.”

As well, there are more veterans reside in California than any other state in the country – more than two million in all, said McKeon.

Last Tuesday, Pepperdine's Benton was in Washington and he worked with McKeon's staff to quickly draft the bill.

The following day, McKeon – the top Republican on the Education & Labor Committee and a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee – personally brought the issue to the attention of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who called fixing the problem a “no brainer.”

“Everybody's pulling together to try to make this happen,” said McKeon.

McKeon explained that time is of the essence – the VA needs to get checks out to student-veterans by Aug. 1; that's when the Post-9/11 GI Bill officially goes into effect. The VA has reported that it is notifying 500,000 veterans about the new GI Bill benefits.

Meanwhile, HR 2474 has been referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The California Department of Finance's report on state population numbers shows that 409,000 residents came to California in 2008, raising the state's population to 38,293,000 as of Jan. 1 of this year.

Of California's 480 cities, 453 showed populations gains, five experienced no change and 20 lost population, according to the report.

In Lake County, the county as a whole posted a modest population gain in 2008 of 0.3 percent, with population rising from 63,805 to 64,025.

Outside of the incorporated areas of Lakeport and Clearlake, population actually declined by 0.2, dropping from 44,592 to 44,489, according to the report.

Lakeport posted the largest growth numbers in the county, with the number of residents rising from 5,024 to 5,146, for a 2.4 percent increase.

In Clearlake, the percentage population growth was smaller, at 1.4 percent. In 2008 the city's number of residents grew from 14,189 to 14,390.

Other California population facts from the report:

• The city of Los Angeles, California's largest city, has reached a population of 4,065,585. Los Angeles grew by over 43,000 persons during the year.

• San Diego, the state's second-largest city, has a population of 1,353,993 and added over 20,000 persons in 2008.

• The city of San Jose exceeded 1 million in population in 2008, adding 21,585 new residents during the year to reach 1,006,892, making it the 10th city in the United States to exceed 1 million persons.

• The city of Riverside became the 12^th California city to exceed 300,000 (it's current population is 300,430).

• Fresno has replaced Long Beach as the state's fifth largest city. Fresno was estimated to have 495,913 residents, while Long Beach came in with a population of 492,682.

• There are now 69 cities in California with a population exceeding 100,000.

• Sand City in Monterey County (population 312) was the state's fastest growing city on a percentage basis, increasing by 4.7 percent. The next four fastest growing cities were Albany in Alameda County (4.5 percent), Calipatria in Imperial County (4.5 percent), Tehachapi in Kern County (4.4 percent), and Woodlake in Tulare County (4.1 percent).

• The biggest numeric increases typically occurred in some of the state's largest cities – Los Angeles (43,135), San Jose (21,585), San Diego (20,376), Fresno (10,578) and San Francisco (10,195).

• Since the April 1, 2000 census, the top four fastest growing California cities all have more than doubled in size, including Lincoln in Placer County (258 percent), Beaumont and Murrieta in Riverside County (185 percent and 127 percent respectively), and Brentwood in Contra Costa County (123 percent).

• Two new incorporations occurred in Riverside County in 2008: Wildomar and Menifee.

• California's housing growth continued a recent trend by declining once again from the previous year. Since peaking in 2005, when the state was estimated to have added 197,707 new housing units, there has been a steady reduction in residential construction. In 2006, the state added 172,604 units; in 2007, there were 131,912 units built, then last year only 86,745 were constructed – the smallest change since 1998.

• The 2008 relocation of California's prison population among various facilities within California, and to other states, resulted in the overall number of incarcerated persons declining for the second year in a row, down by 5,081 to 185,153 inmates statewide. The largest prison declines occurred in Vacaville (-1,033) in Solano County, Avenal (-807) in Kings County, Chino (-571) in San Bernardino County and Blythe (-495) in Riverside County. Tehachapi (+273) in Kern County, Ione (+259) in Amador County, and Victorville (+187) in San Bernardino County gained prison population.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

I don’t like sports, never have. When other kids were watching the football game or playing catch, I was reading nature books or planting roses. When most guys are watching “The big game” I have no idea who’s playing. I couldn’t tell you what a linebacker does or how many points a basketball makes when it drops through the hoop. Sports are just not my thing.

Now I’m guessing that more than one woman reading this will share the sentiment that my wife has about this: “He cooks AND doesn’t like sports! What a catch!” Swoon away at the idea ladies, but I’m not a handsome man so there’s a give and take here.

The one exception to my sports aversion is Sumo wrestling. I could watch Sumo basho (tournaments) all day long, not that they are readily available here. It’s got pageantry, mythology and superstitions, and the lifetime of training to be the best. Maybe since I’m a large, round guy myself, Sumo gives me the enjoyable knowledge that I’m petite when compared to most of these wrestlers.

Why would I be talking about Sumo wrestlers in a food column? Sometimes I can get sidetracked while trying to make my point. My daughter was recently very ill and after several of weeks of not being able to hold any food down she lost 6 pounds of body weight and her blood iron level was very low. I decided the best way to get her back into shape is to feed her Sumo food, food that really satisfies these big guys. When she could finally eat I made her a big bowl of chankonabe.

Chakonabe is a traditional Sumo wrestler’s stew. The really fun thing about chankonabe is that there isn’t actually a single traditional recipe for it, so it can be pretty much whatever you want it to be. You take a broth and then just chuck a bunch of stuff in it.

The point of the soup is that it be heavy in proteins so the wrestlers could bulk up. The thing that westerners can really love about it is that it’s not like most Japanese soups that are so light and ethereal that they have the flavor of angels’ tears with a hint of eel. Chankonabe is hearty and full of flavor.

Chicken is the favorite meat for chankonabe because chickens stand on two legs, and a Sumo wrestler strives to stay standing on two legs during a match. Cows and pigs stand on four legs and if that happens to a wrestler he has lost the match. So just out of the superstition, chicken is the most common meat although fish, pork, beef and horse are still popular.

Now I can hear you wondering, how can chankonabe be good for you? Have you seen how fat those Sumo wrestlers are? Actually chankonabe is high in protein but low in fat, so it is a good, wholesome food. What helps the wrestlers bulk up is that they don’t eat breakfast at all. They get up and start their work out then they eat several bowls full of chankonabe for lunch and take a nap.

I’ve included the “recipe” of the chankonabe that I made for my daughter most recently, and while it has Asian influences it’s a pretty western tasting stew. This could easily be a vegetarian dish and still just as filling.

In the version I made I used equal parts bonito stock for authenticity and chicken stock for familiarity. You can use any stock or combination that you would like; for instance, vegetable stock and mushroom stock, and then you could add sliced portabellas to the pot.

I occasionally make a vegetarian chankonabe with lentil stock, squash, mushrooms, udon noodles, broccoli, etc. Miso paste is also a common addition to chankonabe and would be a great addition to a vegetarian mushroom chankonabe. I also used bison meat since it is very high in protein and iron and those are what my daughter needed at the time. That’s the great thing about chankonabe, it is what ever you want it to be.

Bok choy (there are different spellings) is an Asian cabbage that has become hugely popular in recent years. You can translate the name loosely being “bok” white, and “choy” meaning vegetable. Bok choy is a very popular vegetable throughout the world since it is low in calories, has no fat or cholesterol but is high in calcium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and Vitamins A and C.

Bok choy is also very mild flavored and doesn’t overwhelm anything that it is cooked with. It gives nutrition, color and texture to most dishes. The greens shrink when heated like spinach does, so add more than you think you will need to a dish. I actually sneak bok choy into many foods like tuna salad just to make them more nutritious.

Most local grocery stores not only carry fully grown bok choy but also baby bok choy. This makes me laugh because baby bok choy is more expensive than the fully grown bok choy ... how does that work?

Bok choy is a lot like leeks in that it should be washed well before eating. The leaves hang on to dirt pretty well and the bases of the stalks also hang on to a good amount of grit.

I like to cut of the base of the bok choy and toss it in the compost pile and then chop the entire head. Then throw all of it into a large bowl or sink filled with water and mix well so the sand can fall away. Throw into the salad spinner and you’re done.

If you don’t have a salad spinner you can put all of the greens into a large cotton kitchen towel or pillow case, pick it up by the corners then go out side and swing it around for a minute and let centrifugal force dry the greens off.

If you don’t care for bok choy you can use many other greens like spinach or napa cabbage, and even broccoli would work well.

By the way, my daughter is much better now.

Chankonabe

1 pound bison, cubed (optional)

1 pound chicken, cubed

4 cups bok choy stalks and leaves, finely sliced

2 cups bonito stock

2 cups chicken stock

1 block firm tofu, cubed

1 package udon noodles

1 onion, julienned

one-quarter cup sake

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Drops of sesame oil

Vegetable oil or butter

In a two-quart stock pot brown the chicken and bison in oil or butter in small batches and set aside while browning another batch.

Once all of the meat is browned deglaze the pan with the sake (vodka or wine would also work) and when the bottom of the pan is clean add the bok choy and stir it a few times. It will reduce by two thirds quite quickly, much like spinach.

Add all of the other ingredients and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer until everything is cooked through. Serve.

Ross A. Christensen is an award-winning gardener and gourmet cook. He is the author of "Sushi A to Z, The Ultimate Guide" and is currently working on a new book. He has been a public speaker for many years and enjoys being involved in the community.

Malcolm Safa Brown was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Tuesday, May 26, 2009. Lake County Jail photo.

LAKE COUNTY – A Graton man has been sentenced to state prison for his part in a home invasion last fall.

On Tuesday, Malcolm Safa Brown, 41, was sentenced to 16 years in prison by Judge Arthur Mann, according to the Lake County District Attorney's Office.

On April 20 Brown had pleaded guilty to charges of first degree burglary, assault with a firearm as an aider and abettor, and also admitted to enhancements for suffering a prior “strike” conviction and a prior prison term, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff, who prosecuted the case. The prior “strike” conviction was for a first degree burglary conviction in 1998.

Last Nov. 13, Brown and transient Charles William Burk, 31, were alleged to have broken into a home on Noble Ranch Road in Hidden Valley Lake before leading local authorities on a day-long search in the gated community, as Lake County News has reported.

Brown and Burk – who were using methamphetamine at the time – went to the home of Burk's aunt, uncle and cousin, allegedly to commit a home invasion theft, according to investigative reports.

The men entered the house while the family was sleeping, the reports noted. Brown is alleged to have begun hitting a 22-year-old Donald Merrill Jr. in the head with a wooden stool while Burk grabbed a .22-caliber rifle and tried to shoot his 52-year-old uncle, Donald Merrill Sr.

After they were overpowered by the victims, Brown and Burk fled the scene in a white pickup truck. Burk, who was driving, is alleged to have intentionally rammed a sheriff’s patrol vehicle being driven by Deputy Brian Smith as they attempted to make their getaway, Hinchcliff said.

The men then drove through a private gate, crashed into a tree, and split up in an effort to evade officers. Burk is believed to have attempted to break into a nearby home after the crash, but the homeowner was able to prevent him from getting in the door.

The ensuing 11-hour search – which included several agencies – involved authorities using ground patrol and a Sonoma County Sheriff's Office helicopter to look for the men in the Hidden Valley Lake subdivision.

Burk was later found hiding under the exterior deck of a Stonegate Road home. Before his capture he had broken into a home on Raven Hill Road, stole clothes and shaved his head in an effort to change his appearance.

Brown was arrested a short time later in a field near Highway 29 and Arabian Lane, according to the original sheriff's report.

Mann ordered Brown, who was represented by defense attorney William Conwell, to pay a $3,200 restitution fine. Because of the “strike,” Hinchcliff said Brown will have to serve at least 80 percent of the 16-year sentence, rather than the usual 50 percent.

Hinchcliff said Brown will be transported to San Quentin Prison for processing to determine where he will serve out the remainder of his prison sentence.

Charges are still pending against Burk in the case, Hinchcliff said.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

In the 1920s “The Plaza” was a gathering place for all with outdoor dances, music and other events. In the 1990s “The Plaza” fell into disrepair and a large part of history for Clearlake Oaks was covered with pavement and used as a parking lot.

On Friday, the County of Lake and the Lake County Redevelopment Agency will celebrate the grand opening of the newly resurrected Clearlake Oaks Plaza.

The grand opening event will begin at 1 p.m. with an acoustical guitar performance by Dave Hendrick, special guest speakers including Assemblyman Wes Chesbro, District 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing, Pastor Ken Young, Margaret Medeiros of the Clearlake Oaks-Glenhaven Business Association, other dignitaries and a vocal performance by the United Methodist Community Church Choir.

Join the county of Lake and the Lake County Redevelopment Agency on Friday to celebrate The Plaza's grand opening and be a part of the new history of Clearlake Oaks.

Spinners members, from left, Jessie Peck, Charleton Washington, Bobbie Smith and Henry Fambrough. Photo by David Stearn.

Immediately after the Spinners exemplary show last Saturday May 16, photographer David Stearn and I sought out Spinners Road Manager Tunis Wilson and he led us back to the dressing room where the group held forth.

Original Spinners Bobbie Smith and Henry Fambaugh did most of the talking while the newer members just kinda sat around and soaked it up. Though they, too (Charleton Washington, Spike Delong and Jessie Peck), were very knowledgeable about the group’s history.

The late great Phillipe Soul Wynne, one of the most popular singers that ever sang with the Spinners, was the first subject of discussion. Wynne died in July of 1984 just a couple of months after another great balladeer, Mr. Marvin Gaye. I asked about Jonathan Edwards, who replaced Wynne, and was told that he has retired from performing due to health reasons.

The group formed in 1955 while attending Ferndale High near Detroit, Mich. They were originally called the Domingoes, but because of the similarity and confusion with two other vocal groups of the day, the Flamingos and the Dominos, they elected early on to become the Spinners, more specifically the Detroit Spinners, so as not to be confused with a folk group out of UK with the same name.

Around 1960, the group signed with Harvey Fuqua of Harvey & The Moonglows. Fuqua had a record label called Tri-Phi Records upon whose imprint their first hit, “That’s What Girls Are Made For,” was recorded in 1961.

Your CyberSoulMan had to make an honest confession to the group as I had always, in my mind, attributed that song to another Doo-Wop group, Shep & The Limelights. Bobbie Smith and Henry Fambaugh got a kick out of my faux pas.

Though “That’s What Girls Are Made For” was a big hit for Tri-Phi the label couldn’t keep afloat. Fuqua was married to Gwen Gordy, Berry Gordy’s sister, and Tri-Phi was subsequently swallowed by Motown in 1964.

Smith and Fambaugh both stated that while at Motown they recorded a fair amount of music, it was frequently shelved by Berry Gordy.

Gordy’s power extended to the radio stations the two original Spinners stated. When they asked the DJs why their records weren’t being played, they were told that Gordy told them to play Marvin Gaye.

The Spinners went more than five years without a significant hit. In 1970 Gordy finally released a Spinners cut entitled “It’s A Shame,” which was co-written by Stevie Wonder and Syreeta Wright. Smith and Fambaugh assert that even with Wonder’s awesome talent the song sat on the shelf for over a year before Gordy deemed it marketable.

In1972 after touring with Lady Soul Aretha Franklin and becoming increasing frustrated with Motown’s tactics, the Spinners jumped to Atlantic Records at Franklin’s prompting. When the Spinners signed with Atlantic, they lost one of their members, G. C. Cameron, who decided to remain with Motown as a solo artist. He was replaced by Phillipe Wynne.

From left, Charleton Washington, Bobbie Smith, Henry Fambrough and Spike Deleon. Photo by David Stearn.

Under the production helm of the renowned Thom Bell, the Spinners started to chart regularly and became one of the most successful Soul groups of the 70s.

The group is still immensely popular in Europe, particularly in England, where the audiophiles have discovered even unreleased material from the Tri-Phi years. Their whole recorded output is highly valued in England. Smith said that a UK-based writer told him that Berry Gordy was crazy for not releasing the bulk of Spinners material that he had control over.

The Spinners 2003 career retrospective release, “The Chrome Collection,” continues to sell and garner airplay both at home and abroad. In turn they continue to work all over the world as well, taking the Spinners Stimulus package to venues all over the globe.

Keep prayin’, keep thinkin’ those kind thoughts.

*****

Upcoming cool events:

Kool & The Gang perform at Cache Creek Casino on Sunday, May 24, at 8 p.m. Cache Creek is located at 14455 Highway 16 in Brooks, telephone 888-77-CACHE.

The Manhattan Transfer is appearing at Cache Creek on Saturday, May 30, at 8 p.m.

T. Watts is a writer, radio host and music critic. Visit his Web site at www.teewatts.biz.