Pink Floyd and the Trident

A Pink Floyd documentary in quadraphonic sound was playing at a movie theatre on or just off  Geary Boulevard in San Francisco. My girlfriend and I checked it out and loved it. Absolutely incredible with all kinds of insights into the band and the making of their Dark Side of the Moon album.

     A week later I showed up for work at the Trident on a cold foggy April morning.  When I walked in a little before 10 am Richard, the Manager,  said there were guests out on the deck underneath the heaters and go take care of “just them”. Just them? The weather was horrific and Richard didn’t think it would get that busy. I looked out at the deck and saw a group of men with long hair and heavy ski sweaters on and even though I had a ponytail halfway down my back at the time I thought to myself, “great, a bunch of deadbeat hippies…”

     I headed out to the deck and grabbed a tray to clear their table and by the time I had filled the tray it dawned on me who our “guests” were. All of a sudden I hear this loud clinking sound and I realize I’m shaking so hard that all the glasses on the tray were banging against each other and making this loud sound.  I quickly dropped off the tray at the waitress station and as I head back to their table I asked them if they’d seen Ralph Gleason’s review of their show the night before in the San Francisco Chronicle. That got their attention. They knew who Ralph Gleason was. At that point someone at the table says, “Hey mate, why don’t you pull up a chair and join us…” Not having a clue what the proper Trident protocol for something like this was I thought, “It’s only a job, and joined them.” During “brunch” I shared what I remembered from the review in the Chronicle and that they could grab a copy across the street from Venice, a deli right across the street from the Trident. If I hadn’t seen the movie the week before I might not have known for sure who they were.

     While sitting with them I noticed they had a carafe of white and red wine on the table. To calm my nerves I may have drank too much wine and after they departed I realized it was almost noon and I was shitfaced and had another five hours on the clock. Pretty sure I’d fcked up and might get into trouble but nothing happened.

     In retrospect, they were incredibly nice.  Occasionally one of them would drop in from time to time but in such a way no one had any idea who they were.  In the eighties, when the Trident went by the name Horizons, they hired a gorgeous black woman named Cassandra who had lived on a houseboat back in the seventies and was one of the members of the group’s girlfriend.  

     Five years ago Richard Lipfield, Jerry Pompili from Bill Graham presents, Bobby Lozoff, and I participated in a Cuervo Tequila ad/video that you can find elsewhere on this site regarding the Rolling Stones and the invention of the Tequila Sunrise that they promoted on their 1972 tour. I mentioned to Richard my Pink Floyd encounter and thanked him for not firing me. He laughed and said he was glad I had a good time. Not just another day at the Trident.

The photos below are of Pink Floyd in Sausalito by Baron Wolman. Featured here are  Pink Floyd at the Casa Madrona, the Sausalito Inn, and the Village Fair. Prints can be obtained from the Morrison Hotel Gallery.

Pink Floyd at the Casa Madrona in Sausalito, California