GRADUATION

GRADUATION

Anyway, after about 3 years I finally graduated and I had no job in mind. And I knew I should be working on a job, but I had nothing.

I met some guys. I met some of them at Berkeley. I was musical, not political. So some of my friends, if you want to call ‘em friends—did you ever hear of Stokeley Carmichael? They were socialists then. So these guys were part of Stokeley Carmichael’s party and they had been trying to recruit me. But it wasn’t me, I was musical, not political. But we were still friendly. So I said, “Well, I’ll just ask one of these guys cuz they’d already graduated.”

I was talking to one of them, I can’t remember his name. and he said I could be a substitute teacher in Oakland. They said go down to Oakland School System, they’ll hire you with a 4-year degree.

I ended up calling them and going down there and getting hired to be a substitute. You could teach with a degree and you had to be working on a credential, so I did that for almost 4 years up there.

I had to substitute teach because I had a family to support and bills to pay. I was determined to keep my kids out of the ghetto. That’s what my schooling was all about. I wanted to make enough money to live in a good neighborhood so they would not be exposed to the ghetto life that I grew up in.

I substitute taught for 4 years. Substitute teaching was miserable and I found out it was better to have a steady job, not substitute. Then I started coming to LA cuz I got frustrated being up there. That place was driving me crazy. I was sick of Oakland.

When I was in LA earlier, I taught for 2 years there and taught a second grade class, but then I decided to go back to Oakland. I knew the best way I could go back to Oakland was to enter a teaching credential program. So I went to get a teaching credential at Berkeley.

So when I went into the credential program, I had to go up a month before school actually started. Then they took you up in the mountains, we lived in these cabins. And you know, I don’t know if there were girls in that cabin but when you showered, you might be in this stall and there’d be a girl in the next stall. I was like “Oh my God”. I remember, this one girl — I was in the stall-she came in there, it was like “Oh my God!” In a way you like it, but it’s ewww. It’s embarrassing, I’m from the ghetto.

I was playing the whole time I was teaching, I had a fairly regular stream of gigs. The whole time I was still playing with Johnny Talbert. I played with him for 12 years. By now I had Carla (my wife), my sons Bob and Gus, and Carla was pregnant with our third child.

Jimmy McCracklin rented us a little house and I went with substitute teaching and playing music whenever I could. Jimmy was a very talented blues player. All the people I played with were international. They were on the level, they were hired to draw people. I worked at Eli’s Mile High Club.