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Description
In this oral history, musician and songwriter Dore Coller recounts a life that brought him from the Hudson River Valley, where he grew up, to Mill Valley, where he found his home. Hailing from a musical and theatrical family with Eastern European-Jewish roots, Dore describes the centrality of music in his life as he was growing up. As a teenager in 1969, he came out to California for the first time on a spring break trip with his cousin's family and stayed in San Francisco where, among many other adventures, he saw The Grateful Dead perform at the Avalon Ballroom. Dore recalls driving over to Marin one day on that trip, and how he waded in the surf at Stinson Beach, looked up at Mt. Tam, and knew that he felt a strong sense of wellbeing and connection to this place. Four years later, in 1973, he made the permanent move out West. Dore recounts the many musicians he has known and played with over the course of his career, his extensive community involvement, including 15 years working with the Mountain Play, and his collaborations with Gary Yost and others to raise awareness about conservation and restoration projects on Mt. Tam. Dore concludes this oral history with a performance of "The Old Railroad Grade" and "The Way It's Supposed to Be," two songs he composed as a way of giving back to the community and paying homage to Mt. Tam.
Identifier
B942534E-9187-4D33-8D27-864684887504 2017.131.001
Subject
Old Railroad Grade" (song) Silent Spring" (song) The Way It's Supposed to Be" (song) 1970s Ancestors Avalon Ballroom Bluegrass music Champlin, Bill Coller, Deborah Counterculture Environmentalism Grateful Dead Guitars Gupta, Herby Hippies Hitchhiking Hudson River Valley Marin County Mountain Play Mt. Tamalpais Music Nature conservation Pace of life - Mill Valley San Francisco Seeger, Pete Singing Thomashefsky family Throckmorton Theatre Yost, Gary
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