Sam Andrew of Big Brother and the Holding Company

Sam Andrew is a musician, playwright, and painter from west Marin and knew the Trident (Horizons today) well. He was Janis Joplin’s guitar player in Big Brother and the Holding Company and her Full Tilt Boogie Band.  The Trident was one of their favorite hangouts.

Notes by Sam Andrew about the Trident restaurant when writing a play about the “Counter Culture” movement:

 ” A guy came into the Trident with a roll of Necco Wafers.  You remember the candy?  And, each wafer had a drop of Blue Acid on it. He went around the Trident one morning giving one to each person, waitresses, busboys, the manager, who was then Skip Cutty, and all the kitchen staff.  The place was dosed big time and as the lunch hour peaked so did the staff!  One waitress was pouring coffee until the customer started shouting at her as the coffee was overflowing from the cup to the saucer and on to the table as the waitress stared at the wonder of it all!

Also at the Trident, “windowpane” was being passed around the kitchen.  The two cold side cooks, the guys that made the salad and sandwiches as opposed to the guys on the hot side that made steaks and hot dishes, decided to share a hit.  So they put it on the cutting board in front of the refrigerated containers that held ample portions of ambrosia, green and mixed salads, to cut it in half.  As the chef’s knife cut through the gelatin of window pane the two halves popped out of sight.   They froze looking at each other for a second and then started laughing.   Later that afternoon, a woman customer was so enthusiastic about the deliciousness of her salad that the maitre d’ thought maybe she was a bit tipsy.”