Sanpaku

Sanpaku was a Sacramento based band that formed from a group called The Working Class. The Working Class featured guitarist Mark Pearson, and were considered one of the best bands in the Sacramento area. In the Summer of 1968, The Working Class became the house band at a venue called Kings Beach Bowl on the North Shore of the Lake. Lake Tahoe. During the Summer the band began playing original material, changed all but two members, renamed itself Sanpaku and opened for The Grateful Dead in July of 68 with the following lineup: 
    •    Mark Pearson-guitar, vocals
    •    Gary Larkey-saxophone, flute
    •    Stan Bagdazian-saxophone
    •    Bob Powell-organ
    •    Bill “Kootch” Trochim-bass
    •    Duane “Motor” Temme-drums

They were a accomplished rock band with a R&B-type horn section that played mostly original material – a unique combination. Sanpaku finished out the Summer of 68 at Kings Beach Bowl, playing every weekend at the club, as well as occasional gigs around Northern California before moving back to Sacramento where there were more venues including almost weekly appearances at The Sound Factory. In late 1968, the group landed a Tuesday night audition show at the Fillmore West and their performance was impressive enough that Bill Graham, upon discovering that they had no manager, immediately volunteered his organization’s booking and management services. Sanpaku had gone from being a struggling Sacramento band to hooking up with the West Coast’s biggest rock promoter.
Unfortunately, success eluded the talented ensemble – they started, but didn’t finish a studio album, even the known live recordings have vanished and the group broke up at the close of 1969. A more detail history of Sanpaku can be found at the link below, where comments and memories are welcome.
http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/07/sanpaku-performance-list-1968-69.html