Bob Dylan was scheduled to appear at the Memorial Auditorium in downtown Sacramento for a recent two-night stand, and, like thousands of other long-time fans who rushed out for tickets, Sacramento resident Sal Valentino couldn't wait for the legendary troubadour’s return.

In 1966, Valentino's old band, the Beau Brummels, covered Dylan’s "One Too Many Mornings," a natural choice for a folk-rock group that helped pioneer a sound later called country rock.

"That's the only time I met him," Valentino recalled. "When we played the Whiskey-A-Go-Go (in Los Angeles) he showed up there. I don't remember him saying a word. I just got a handshake out of him and that was it. Joe Smith, who was the president of Warner Brothers Records, probably brought him there."

In the intervening years, Valentino has seen Dylan periodically perform with varying results. He feels that Dylan’s rejuvenated touring of the last two years has provided some of the folk rock icon's best concert moments to date.

"The last two times we saw him, it was great." Valentino said. "The last time, it was at ARCO with Paul Simon, who played first. My wife and I were up in the rafters someplace and we said, 'How's Dylan going to follow this?' because Simon's band was just tremendous. But Dylan came out like an old time rock and roll band - just little amps, guitars, he used a keyboard sometimes, drums and bass. They played real good. and he was having a great time.

"When Paul Simon was through playing, Dylan came out and did 'Sounds of Silence.' It was kind of a funny moment," he continued. "You couldn't quite figure out what was going on, I was watching Paul and he was trying to follow along on his own song!

“But I like the way (Dylan) changes things with his old songs so nicely all the time. He's brilliant at that."

Valentino has fond memories of the Memorial Auditorium for himself as well. The local landmark arena hosted the first concert the Beau Brummels played while their first hit, "Laugh, Laugh" was blasting across the airwaves in the fall of 1964.

Taking a moment to reflect, it’s not much of a stretch for Valentino to see a common thread between Dylan and fellow Beau Brummel Ron Elliott, also a musical genius of sorts.

"Ron was the same way (as Dylan) with his songs. When we went to do the reunion album (in 1975), he didn't want to do 'Laugh, Laugh' or 'Just A Little.' Then, he says, 'OK, let's do 'Laugh, Laugh' reggae," Valentino remembered. "Everybody thought he was crazy. I apologize to him now for that because he was right. You should keep moving on. Things should keep evolving."

At a well-preserved 60, Valentino continues to pursue that precise train of thought, with only the occasional derailment. Fronting the Sal Valentino Band, his distinct voice compliments a refreshing mix of new and old material with drummer Steve Price and guitarist Rich Faber, resulting in a Beau Brummels-like combination of country, blues and progressive rock.

“It’s fun to play with them, but it’s tough getting work sometimes,” Valentino said. “I’m trying to find ways to involve some of the Brummels songs that would work now.”

On Oct. 20, Valentino will hook up with two former bandmates for a Beau Brummels reunion to kick off “The 35th Anniversary of the Summer of Love,” a free music festival which also includes Bay Area legends Big Brother and the Holding Company, Canned Heat, The Great Society, Country Joe McDonald, the cast of “Hair,” and IABD (formerly It’s A Beautiful Day).

The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco.
“They asked us to be in it because we were the first San Francisco band to really make it,” Valentino said. “But when the Summer of Love was happening, we were out of town.”

Original Brummels for the reunion will include Valentino and bassist Ron Meagher, with guitarist Don Irving, who played with the group periodically in the '60s and '70s.
Guitarist Ron Elliott and drummer John Peterson will not play for health-related reasons, and guitarist Declan Mulligan chose not to participate.

Valentino said the last Beau Brummels reunion was in November of 1999, involving, among others, himself, Meagher, and Dennis Diken and Jim Babjak from the Smithereens at the annual Cave Stomp in New York City. Three months earlier, Valentino and Meagher hooked up with Peterson and Elliott at Big Pop in San Francisco.

Mulligan, an original guitarist with the band, left shortly after the band's first two hits, "Laugh, Laugh" and "Just A Little" in 1965. He returned briefly during the group's short-lived 1975 reunion.

"The second time we tried to reunite, it was the wrong time. So that lent itself to the situation of us not staying together for very long," Valentino said. "I wouldn't say (Mulligan and myself) were unfriendly, it's just when it comes to band meetings, one of my hated endeavors, we seemed to have our problems."

As the Beau Brummels' recorded legacy gradually finds its way to compact disc, some long lost efforts are now seeing the light of day. Valentino said Ace Records in Great Britain is preparing a box set of previously unreleased songs, along with the groundbreaking Triangle and Bradley's Barn albums. Domestically, Triangle and Bradley's Barn were recently released individually by Collector's Choice.

Last year, Sacramento-based BIG Music reissued two live albums on CD from two different Valentino projects – Stoneground – The Last Dance, recorded live on Jan. 6,1973; and Beau Brummels Live!, the band’s only existing concert recording, from a 1975 gig in Fair Oaks.

Long before reunions, breakups and hit records, the Beau Brummels story actually starts in San Francisco, where Valentino and Elliott met for the first time in 1958. At the time, Valentino was a 16-year-old country music enthusiast.

" Ron was really fascinating to me when I met him. He was the only guy I knew who could even touch that music. He was literally the best guitar player I ever ran into,” Valentino said. "When the Brummels got going and Ron was writing, he was the only person I met who could really write well. I think that influence of his really captured the rest of us. It certainly did me. It was really a thrill working with him."

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