Arden-Carmichael News 3-10-2023

1. Name the group that released “Sugar Baby Love.”

2. What is the song “Abraham, Martin and John” about?

3. Which singer-songwriter released “If You Could Read My Mind”?

4. Which Simon & Garfunkel song figured heavily in the film “The Graduate”?

5. Name the song that contains these lyrics: “Totally unprepared are you to face a world of men, Timid and shy and scared are you of things beyond your ken.”

Answers

1. The Rubettes, in 1974. Over the years, the members have been involved in various legal disputes over the ownership of the group’s name. It wasn’t resolved until 2022.

2. The song, recorded by Dion in 1968, is about the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy.

3. Gordon Lightfoot, in 1970. Lightfoot sued the songwriter of “The Greatest Love of All” for lifting 24 bars of the melody. He canceled the suit (because he’s a nice guy), but ended up with a public apology.

4. “Mrs. Robinson,” in 1967. It was originally titled “Mrs. Roosevelt.”

5. “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” from “The Sound of Music.” The musical (1959) and film (1965) of the same name tell the story of the von Trapp family fleeing the Nazis in Austria.

© 2023 King Features Syndicate

In a fitting tribute to its late founder, Skip’s Music will fulfill his dream when it opens its new

location in a 31,000-square-foot former Office Depot building at 4614 Madison Ave.

Skip’s Music was founded in

1973 in a shopping center on Florin Road by Skip Maggiora, who lost his long battle with kidney disease on Feb. 23. That store

closed in 1980 and the business has operated its main store at 2740 Auburn Blvd. since 1979.

With plans to relocate all of the business’s operations under one roof, Skip’s Music, this week, began closing its Elk Grove store, which opened in 2005.

The founder’s son, Creed Maggiora, told this paper that while the soft opening for the new store is planned for sometime in May, it has not been determined what month its grand opening will be held.

“We’re going to have a separate party there (later), a grand opening,” he said. “We’re not sure (when). It’s not mapped out yet, so stay tuned.”

The new, Madison Avenue store will include retail sales, private lesson rooms, repair services, equipment rental and a muchanticipated museum of Skip’s extensive, private collection of rare and notable instruments.

Those instruments include the first manufactured electric guitar, from the 1930s, a guitar played by B.B. King from 1961 to 1967,

courtesy of Melanie Reibin

Skip Maggiora made indelible impact on local music world

By Lance Armstrong vcneditor@gmail.com

Arthur “Skip” Maggiora, founder of Skip’s Music, died at the age of 75 on Feb. 23, and in his passing he left an immeasurable legacy as a legend of the local music world.

Skip, who was born and raised in the Arden area, dedicated his life to his greatest passion: music.

While his diversified involvement in music included performing in rock bands, teaching guitar lessons and promoting live music concerts, he is most known as the man who founded Skip’s Music, which has been providing new and used musical equipment, rentals, lessons and repairs in Sacramento since June 16, 1973.

Skip’s son, Creed, told this paper that his father’s early involvement in music led to his

job at Southgate Music Center at 4516 Florin Road in the Southgate Shopping Center.

“He worked at Southgate Music (Center) out there, too, as a guitar teacher and sales-

man,” said Creed, who has been on the payroll of Skip’s Music since 1984. “The gentleman that owned that store, John

Collette, didn’t make a lot of business savvy deals. He wasn’t Angela

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Photos courtesy of Skip’s Music

Arden area native Arthur ‘Skip’ Maggiora founded Skip’s Music in 1973.

Skip Maggiora raises a glass during a celebratory moment.

Skip’s Music

too business smart, and Skip realized that he didn’t really know how to run a business. And Skip thought he could do a better job, so he went down the street and opened up his own store.”

It was with that decision that Skip’s Music debuted at its original location at 2324 Florin Road, next to the old Alpine

Alley bowling alley, in south Sacramento.

Mick Martin, a well-known local musician and radio show host, told this paper that he became familiar with that store prior to its opening, noting that he helped Skip move into that 900-square-foot business space.

“I just got a call from a (band mate) named Robbie Smith,” he said. “He told me that Skip

was setting up a music store on Florin Road. And so, I drove out there and I brought in boxes. I think I was there about three, four hours. We were putting the stuff that he had ordered in the store.

“Musicians are family, and its best people in the music (scene) locally in Sacramento, maybe more than other people, maybe less (in) other cities, we get together and we help each other.

And that certainly was the way it was back in 1973. So, I got the call and I went down there and helped. Didn’t think anything more of it, and Robbie and I went out to practice our band.”

Nearly a half-century later, Martin finds it interesting that he played a role in the beginning of Skip’s Music.

“It was ironic that I was there at the birth of the music store,” he said.

In pondering the first location of Skip’s Music, Martin believes that Skip made a wise decision to open that shop within the Florin Square Shopping Center.

“The teen centers were all in the south area, so there was a concentration of music activity in the south area,” he said. “So, it only made sense to me that Skip opened up there the first time.”

As a sign of his determination to succeed, Skip began operating his music store as a seven-daysper-week operation, and he did so as a solo venture for the business’s initial six months.

During that time, Skip served as owner, salesman, guitar instructor, bookkeeper, repairman, purchaser and janitor.

Skip’s Music was serving as a site for people to purchase tickets to local concerts as early as 1975. Other ticket vending sites in Sacramento at that time included Southgate Music Center and multiple Tower Records locations.

By September 1975, the store was experiencing insufficient space issues, and subsequently began running advertisements with the words, “Running out of room. All used amps must go.”

See SKIP’S MUSIC on page 5

Skip’s Music

Continued from page 4

Further evidence of the increased inventory at Skip’s Music is a November 1975 advertisement that notes that the store then had the largest selection of Fender guitars in Sacramento.

The inventory also included Gibson and Yamaha guitars, Ludwig, Pearl and Slingerland drum sets, Fender, Marshall, Sunn, Peavey, Roland, Kus -

tom and Ampeg amplifiers, Hammond organs, Moog, Korg and ARP synthesizers, Peavey public-address systems, and Reynold’s trumpets.

Skip’s decision to offer trumpets for sale in his store was quite fitting, considering that he traded in his elementary school trumpet for a guitar.

Skip, who graduated from Encina High School in 1965 and later majored in engineering at Sacramento State College – today’s California State University, Sacramento – would experience early success as a musician and concert promoter.

As a promoter, he brought both The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Big Brother and the Holding Company, featuring Janis Joplin, to Sacramento.

Among his Sacramento bands was The Creators, who opened for Hendrix and his band at a concert held in the men’s gymnasium at Sacramento State College on Feb. 8, 1968.

Melanie Reibin, who was Skip’s significant partner for the past seven years, told this paper that Skip’s band, Charlotte the Harlot, was discovered by the road manager of guitarist Johnny Winter in 1969, and made their way to New York, where they stayed at Winter’s estate.

“Skip has been gloating about this forever; they were the first theatrical band, way before KISS,” she said. “They were go-

ing to come out and they were going to have a bed and there was going to be theatrics and makeup and the whole bit,” she said.

Although the band was never signed, its members had several memorable adventures during their time in New York.

Those adventures included working as stage crew members for Winter’s band at the historic Woodstock Music & Art Fair.

Because the band, Led Zeppelin, was also staying at Winter’s estate, Skip was in the position to be asked to listen to a demo recording of the upcoming album, “Led Zeppelin II,” to see

what he thought about it.

Reibin noted that Skip was very impressed with the album.

“He put a blanket over his head with the headphones on, lit up the doobie, joint, smoking it and listening to (the album), and he came out and he goes, ‘Oh my God, this is fat, this is awesome.’”

The album was released in the United States on Oct. 22, 1969.

Back in California, Skip promoted concerts at Kings Beach Bowl on Lake Tahoe’s north shore for bands such as The Doors, the Grateful Dead, Buffalo Springfield, Canned Heat,

and Country Joe and the Fish.

After establishing Skip’s Music, Skip presented at least one free, live music show at his store’s original location: an April 30, 1977 performance by jazz musician Emmett Chapman (19362021), inventor of the Chapman Stick musical instrument, and percussionist Stan Lunetta (1937-2016).

Skip opened his “north area” Skip’s Music store in a two-story, 14,000-square-foot building at 2740 Auburn Blvd. on Dec. 15, 1979, and promised the “most

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Serving

communities since 1958

Skip Maggiora’s band, The Creators, are featured on this vintage advertisement for a concert at Kings Beach Bowl on Lake Tahoe’s north shore.

Creed mentioned that the museum portion of the building will likely not be completed by the time

Skip’s Music

Continued from page 5

fantastic musical instrument values ever seen in Sacramento.” The “south area” store remained in business until about August 1980..

Martin praised Skip’s Auburn Boulevard store as the largest music store he had ever seen in Sacramento, and a “one-stop dream shop” for musicians.

“Skip’s Music was about state of the art during the time,” he said. “I mean, everything was going on in that building all the time, everywhere all the time. And he actually acquired the buildings next door for the Weekend Warriors (performance program). To me, Skip’s Music was what Tower Records was to the mall record store that only had the hits of the day.

“When I needed an F-sharp harmonica, I could go to Skip’s Music, and if they didn’t have it, they would get it for me. And that wasn’t always true of retail stores when it came to that kind of specialty thing.

I’ve never heard anybody complain that they couldn’t get what they needed at Skip’s Music.”

The history of Skip’s Music also includes its Modesto store, which operated from 1985 to 2015 (with the exception of 1996 to 1997 due to a fire that destroyed the original building), and the Elk Grove store, which opened in 2005 and will close March 31.

president of operations, spoke about Skip’s approach to running his business.

the new store opens.

“His museum is going to probably be delayed a little while longer until we can really put some finish polish on it and build all these displays,” he said. “There’s a bunch of local musicians he wanted to build tributes to in that museum besides showing his collection. So, (there is) a lot to do in there.”

Also significant in the business’s history are the Stairway to Stardom summer music program for kids, Skip’s Music’s own newspaper, Valley Music News, and Skip’s Music & Sound Expo, which became recognized as the nation’s largest consumer music show.

Additionally noteworthy is that Skip was a founding member of The Alliance of Independent Music Merchants.

Mike Snyder, Skip’s vice

“As a business person, (he) carefully cared for all of the relationships that he had inside of business,” he said. “He had a very old-school approach to business; you know, living up to his end of deals and things of that nature. At the same time, he was a very shrewd businessman, but (he) did it in a way that was classy.”

Snyder added that Skip’s business approach extended well beyond making sales.

“That’s always been his vision, and I’m sure that’s the legacy he would like to see carried on,” he said.

And it is no secret that Skip was appreciated by a countless number of musicians throughout the years, Martin noted.

“You can talk to whoever you want, even talk to Roger Smith of (the band) Tower of Power, or Frank Hannon of (the band) Tesla,” he said. “He touched all of our lives. If you played music, inevitably you ended up at Skip’s Music.”

A celebration of Skip’s life will be scheduled in the coming weeks. His loved ones ask that, in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation.

a prototype of guitarist Eddie Van Halen’s Kramer guitar, and a collection of guitars of the west-

ern swing musician Billie “Tiny” Moore.

Skip Maggiora, bottom center, is pictured with some of his 1960s bandmates.

Skip Maggiora grew up in the Arden area and ultimately built his legacy as the owner of Skip’s Music.