The Coffeehouse

Dale was spending most of his time at the Coffeehouse on the West Bank of the campus, where he was meeting other musicians and making friends with people who would come to listen. I didn't know anything about the West Bank. I was a northsider and this was definitely southside atmosphere here.
I'm talking close proximity to gorgeous city lakes and summertime beaches with bikini clad urchins. This was totally foreign to my awareness and the neighborhoods that I had grown up in. Free love was everywhere. Freedom took the visible expression of long hair cascading below the shoulders. It was a freaky time in the affairs of man from a short hair's view. Values changed overnight almost.
Dale was sort of political and liked to talk about anti-war issues and other things that made me slightly uncomfortable to join in. I'd usually just listen in, and try to remain as neutral as was possible. Dale wanted me to check out the music at the Coffeehouse where he was learning and giving lessons to others on the guitar. Here's what was going on. A grloup named Archangel, patterned after Black Sabbath, heavy metal to the max. Another group called Nasty Habits, a Cream copy cat, with endless riffing the most complex leads on guitar, ala Eric Clapton, and bluesy vocals, ala Jack Bruce. A solo player was a guy named Roy Alsted. He sounded like Hendrix and it literally shook the walls as he played. Later he started a blues band that was not bad called the Mill City Blues Band. But my favorite group was called Gold Rush or something close to that name. One of their songs was titled Blue Sky Day. The harmonies were great and I remember the keyboard player saying that playing was so much fun, not like a job is what he meant. I think this was before synths and sampling. Must have been an electric piano or some kind of organ he was playing. Anyways, they were good, but I've never heard that song played except once. But it haunts me to this day as sort of an anthem of the city. That's the spirit of Minneapolis nice, a blue sky day!