"Close, but no Cigar"

The Cookin' Mama Story

By Tommy Thompson

(click to view)

SHOWTIME & OVERTURE
1st MOVEMENT Tommy & Vince
2nd MOVEMENT Tommy, Vince & Larry
3rd MOVEMENT Tommy, Vince & Lou
4th MOVEMENT Glenda
1st Interlude "Chronology"
4th MOVEMENT "From the Halls of Montezuma"
2nd Interlude "Glenda Finale"
5th MOVEMENT Tommy, Vince & Lou - "Round 2"
5th MOVEMENT ""Louie the Lip"
3rd Interlude "Tommy & Religion"
5th MOVEMENT "The Anniversary Game"
4th Interlude Pat: "In His Own Words""
6th MOVEMENT Pat, Tommy, Vince & Lou
6th MOVEMENT "Rockwell"
5th Interlude "St. Mary's"
6th MOVEMENT "Kathy"
6th MOVEMENT "The Sons of Champlin"
6th Interlude Paul: "In His Own Words"
7th Interlude "Tommy meets Paul"
7th MOVEMENT Pat, Tommy, Paul, Vince, Lou, & Steve
7th MOVEMENT "Keystone Korner"
7th MOVEMENT "Groovin' on da Jazz"
7th MOVEMENT "The Shark, "J-Doop" & Mrs. Fowler
7th MOVEMENT "Musicians Union & Wally Heider's"
7th MOVEMENT "Alcatraz"
8th Interlude "Farewell Lou" (Coming Soon)
9th Interlude "Hello John" (9th Interlude - ENCORE...Still to Come)
8th MOVEMENT Pat, Tommy, Paul, Vince, John & Steve
8th MOVEMENT "The Fillmore"
8th MOVEMENT "The James Gang"
8th MOVEMENT "Clint Wilson & Columbia Records"
8th MOVEMENT "Mills College" & "Fillmore Twice More"
9th MOVEMENT "Ohio" Pat, Tommy, Paul, John & Steve
10th MOVEMENT "Bowel Movement" Pat, Tommy, Paul & Vince
11th MOVEMENT "Close, but no Cigar" The Cookin' Mama album: "New Day"
12th MOVEMENT "The Diaspora"
13th MOVEMENT "The Phoenix" & "Three Frogs Productions"
PAT: "Final Thoughts"
PAUL: "Final Thoughts"
"Backstage" "Twick's Final Thoughts
ENCORE "The Never Ending Moveable Feast"

Tommy Thompson

Jul 18, 2020
2 min

SHOWTIME AND OVERTURE

In the Beginning...it all started on a wee, speck-island town across the bay from San Francisco, called Alameda...'twas 1968 and...

134 views

Tommy Thompson

Jul 11, 2020
3 min

1st Movement: Tommy & Vince

Like all high school kids, at least of that time period, I had to have some kind of day job in order to earn spendin’ cash….

68 views

Tommy Thompson

Jul 4, 2020
3 min

2nd Movement: Tommy, Vince & Larry

"You can learn a lot by just watching.” -- Yogi Berra

50 views

Tommy Thompson

Jun 27, 2020
9 min

3rd Movement: Tommy, Vince & Lou

It was now sometime near the beginning of 1969 when ol’ Vince n’ I decided it was time to put out the feelers to Lou.

51 views

Tommy Thompson

Jun 20, 2020
19 min

4th Movement: Glenda

Glenda Plant was in my high school graduating class of ’69, and she was tall, gorgeous, sexy, intelligent, kind, voluptuous, loving...

38 views

Tommy Thompson

Jun 13, 2020
1 min

1st Interlude "Chronology"

Lest y’all think that these 3 episodes with Glenda have been constructed by your humble narrator in a manner in which...

29 views

Tommy Thompson

Jun 6, 2020
5 min

4th Movement: "Deck the Halls"

After the previously a’feared fireworks in Connor’s office had fizzled out, and we were released back into the general population...

42 views

Tommy Thompson

May 30, 2020
3 min

2nd Interlude: "Glenda Finale"

“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged...

41 views

Tommy Thompson

May 23, 2020
2 min

5th Movement: Tommy, Vince, & Lou

We were back to Square Three: Tommy, Vince, and Lou…though, truth be told, I went by “Tom” back then…Geez, what was I thinking?

48 views

Tommy Thompson

May 15, 2020
8 min

5th Movement: "Louie the Lip"

“Welcome to St. Elizabeth’s High School, the happenin’ place to be on a Friday night."

43 views

Tommy Thompson

May 13, 2020
7 min

3rd Interlude: "Tommy & Religion"

"Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God” -- Lenny Bruce

32 views

Tommy Thompson

May 8, 2020
4 min

5th Movement: "The Anniversary Game"

So, by far, up to this point at least, the biggest professional “feather in our cap,” came in September of ’69, about 3 weeks into the...

33 views

Tommy Thompson

May 2, 2020
8 min

4th Interlude "Pat: In His Own Words"

I was born in Alameda, California - it was my first home - and lived there until I was about 14, then moved to Oakland in the Rockridge...

66 views

Tommy Thompson

Apr 24, 2020
13 min

6th Movement: Pat, Tommy, Vince, Lou

I first met Pat Thrall one late-afternoon in the summer of '69 right after Cookin’ Mama had just finished an early-afternoon gig at the...

61 views

Tommy Thompson

Apr 18, 2020
8 min

6th Movement: "Rockwell"

Pat and his younger brother Preston (to whom I have already briefly alluded earlier in this tawdry tale, and about whom y’all will hear more

33 views

Tommy Thompson

Apr 11, 2020
5 min

5th Interlude: "St. Mary's"

Also, by this point in time (very late-1969), I had begun my freshman year at St. Mary’s College in Moraga. Got in there, believe it or not

28 views

Tommy Thompson

Apr 3, 2020
5 min

6th Movement: "Kathy"

As I just wrote, our time period is still near the end of 1969….and we 4 Mamas just kept pluggin’ away at Casa Thrall.

45 views

Tommy Thompson

Mar 27, 2020
3 min

6th Movement:"Sons of Champlin"

Pat called me the next day and told me about this band that he'd heard the night before at Winterland called: "The Sons of Champlin."

24 views

6th Interlude: "Paul - In His Own Words"

Tommy Thompson

Mar 20, 2020
5 min

6th Interlude: "Paul - In His Own Words"

Life is strange sometimes. Especially when you are young and adrift in your own confusion.I had been told what I could do, what I should do

47 views

Tommy Thompson

Mar 14, 2020
10 min

7th Interlude: "Tommy Meets Paul"

Paul Hahn was one year ahead of me at Alameda High. He graduated in ’68. Me in ’69. And although I didn’t know him personally until his...

17 views

COOKIN' MAMA

"Close, but no Cigar"

The Cookin' Mama Story

By Tommy Thompson

TABLE OF CONTENTS

(click to view)