American Garage host Jim Cassero grew up in the San Francisco bay area in the 60's. His parents attended the College of San Mateo--as did members of the Merry Pranksters, The Grateful Dead, and other counter culture luminaries. Hence Jim and his young brothers were treated to early Dylan, The Grateful Dead, The Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe and The Fish, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jimi Hendrix, and other psychedelic music, blasting over his father's stereo!
With his family, Jim attended the Human Be-In held (a gathering of tribes) at the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco in 1967, where Timothy Leary uttered the immortal words "Turn on, tune in, drop out".
He also saw the Grateful Dead play live in the bandshell in Golden Gate Park in 1966.
His parents let Jim tag along when they visited the San Francisco FM radio station KMPX, where they met the legendary Tom Donahue!
All of which left an indelible imprint in his taste of music and outlook on life in general.
Jim's family moved up to Occidental in 1969.
He attended both Analy and El Molino High schools and Santa Rosa JC. He witnessed the transformation of Sonoma County from apples to grapes and saw the Sonoma County Stump morph into The Independent, then into The Bohemian.
In 1999 Jim moved to Green Bay,WI and operated a vinyl record store downtown for 10 years. He just moved back to Sonoma County in August and has opened the new Amazing Records store in Cotati next to Zone Music and Recording.
Jim has been involved in music ( he picked up the guitar like countless other young lads after witnessing the Beatles play on The Ed Sullivan Show), and has played, and continues to play shows all over the bay area.
The driving force of this show is Jim's love of the sixties psychedelic and garage music--his Bay Area connection---and his awareness of the unique connection between ground zero (San Francisco) and the explosion of psychedelic and garage music across the the US and outward to the rest of the world.
Krush Music
