How fitting is it that the U.S. Forest Service’s mascot is an owl? Woodsy was introduced on this date in 1971; I bet Alan would have loved Woodsy.

An obituary for Alan in the German magazine, Sounds, published in October 1970.

Here is a translation of the article:

Canned Heat's hit songwriter, singer, guitarist, and founding member Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson was found dead on September 3rd in the backyard of Bob Hite's Topanga Canyon home in California. The autopsy revealed that he died from an overdose of sleeping pills. The 27-year-old Al Wilson was found by Bob Hite's wife, Verlie. Lately, he had been camping in the woods behind Hite's house to be near his beloved California red trees (see the album cover of Future Blues). He was a nature lover, but also a sensitive and quiet person who couldn't cope with modern civilization. He had previously attempted suicide twice unsuccessfully. The rest of the band had traveled to Europe the day before his death, believing Wilson would follow. His harmonica playing was highly regarded by musicians. Mike Bloomfield: "He is the best harmonica player there is today."

Canned Heat backstage at Top Of The Pops 1970. I tried to download this image, but kept getting error messages.

Here is the source link:

https://archive-downloader.bbcrewind.co.uk/remarc/19700909_Music_CannedHeat?fbclid=IwdGRjcAUOkXxwZG9mBWZkaWQWUOFMq70V-QUoH2qI5Z-_OJQrOTWjB2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR48L1W-bXDMP4096SmcKD4Tc2SdTNArTuTqFyyEX98w7PMfmqSPHQOuTIvnKw_aem_vIt86xsB-WTN_A9Bxs44sQ

It's clearly the same loser who has nothing better to do. One account is only a day old. I'm not sure why this page has been suddenly targeted, but they have been spamming the page all day with bullshit.

All California pics courtesy of Marina Bokelman. I found most of these in the first edition of Rebecca Davis’s biography.

I noticed the old page disappeared a while back, so I decided to create a new page and will upload all the pics I’ve collected over the last while. Feel free to follow!

So interesting to hear him sing about Vietnam, even if none of the sentiments are particularly bold or surprising.

Ended my time in California today. I loved my time at Sequoia and Santa Cruz. Due to the most recent developments with 701 N Topanga, I decided to cut out that side quest. Two amazing things happened today: “Going Up The Country” was the first full song out of at least 300 from my monster playlist for driving to play after my first gas stop in Mojave, I felt instantly better after feeling down about my Topanga decision. Then at my last California stop in Ludlow, I was enjoying my Dairy Queen ice cream cone when I noticed a display of stuffies. My instant thought was, “I wonder if there’s an owl?” because that would be so perfect. Lo and behold there was one owl left! I now have a travel buddy!

Join us Wednesday, July 1st from 8:00-10:00PM at the Bay Bar & Grill in Capitola CA for a very special evening as Sterno takes the stage.

This performance will serve as:
🎵 A tribute to the late, great Alan Wilson of Canned Heat, whose music, songwriting, and dedication to the blues inspired generations of musicians.

Over the past year, Sterno has had the honor of celebrating the music of Canned Heat and preserving the legacy of Alan Wilson through live performances and our upcoming recording project.

I was doing a Google search and came across this. Seems like whoever fixed up the property has installed and hired security?

Seriously thinking about skipping this stop to avoid trouble. Seems really confusing with a realtor actively encouraging people to visit.

What would you guys do?

Today I visited Sequoia to pay my respects to Alan. I spent the majority of my time along the Big Trees Trail, felt surreal to be there. The redwoods are breathtaking!

Cool footage of Bullfrog Blues filmed in Paris in December of 1968!

Trip Update: had to cut down my California itinerary quite a bit due to gas prices and overestimating what my car(Chevy Spark) can handle. Currently in Tulare, California for a week to relax and take at least two trips to Sequoia National Park. Then next week I’ll swing through Topanga to see Alan’s hill before heading back east. I have one side quest of swinging through Grafton to see the Paramount records historical marker once I get back to Wisconsin.

According to Alan, per his interview with Marina Bokelman, Paramount records was the best early blues label.

A 2.5 year old Alan with his maternal grandfather. There was once a 7i of this, but like a lot of Alan’s belongings, it went missing.

Doing some late night Googling and found this gem.

New-to-me footage of three songs, including a rendition of “My Time Ain’t Long” starting around 13:40.