Chester “Chet” Hogoboom
Click here for a video of pictures from my 60th Bday celebration.
Also, for additional images from all the projects below, be sure to check-out the photo gallery (link at top of page).
1960’s - My Teen Years
In 1965 I took in my first rock concert, the Rolling Stones and the Byrds at Ratcliffe Stadium in Fresno. At the end of the concert the female fans stormed the stage and the Stones were taken off in an armored truck. I ended up (long story) with the Stones snare drum. Now in possession of a professional drum, I talked my parents into letting me take lessons. This went well and I soon hooked up with other local teens, forming bands and playing sorority/ fraternity parties, school dances and grand openings in shopping centers around town. I enjoyed playing the drums but singing is what I loved to do most of all. In my junior year my friend and fellow basketball player, Harley Ogata and I performed in a harmonious Simon and Garfunkel type duo, playing hootenannies and rallies.
Upon graduating high school and heading off to college in San Luis Obispo, I sold my drum kit and eventually traded a sleeping bag for a banged up acoustic guitar and started learning to play.
Cooncreek 1974–76 - the Acoustic Years
I met up with an old friend of mine from Fresno, Jon Eben, when he moved to the Central Coast. Jon was an accomplished singer/ guitarist and already writing his own songs. We formed an acoustic group called Cooncreek, with multi instrumentalist Greg Lowry on guitar, banjo and bass. Bob Hershenow was with us for awhile on guitar as was Stephen Hall. We were soon playing the local SLO circuit for acoustic music, most notably at The Dark Room, The Network, 1865, Sebastian’s, and The Outside Inn.
Fat and Sassy
In 1976 Cooncreek played at a Mother’s for Peace Rally sharing the stage with Jane Fonda and other celebs. Here Jon and I met a group of excellent musicians from the central coast looking for singers for their band. We were soon enlisted and the Fat and Sassy Band was born. This SLO Town favorite was a 7-9-piece horn band that toured the West for 6 Years and became a cult favorite on the California Coast and the Central Valley. It featured my Fresno sports buddy/ singer/ guitarist Jon Eben, monster bass man Leo “the glove” White, Mick “the stick” Stratton on keyboards, Smokin’ Joe Juarez on guitar, Mark Nielsen and later Michael J. Cullen on drums and myself. Our mainstays on the horns were Theotis “Ted” Martin on Saxophone, Franz Blusk on trumpet; other horn players were Greg Preckle and the late John “JT” Tinsley on trumpets. This was my first experience as a front man and I did a lot of singing, along with playing some guitar, steel drums, and other percussion instruments. During the course of our travels we rocked it up all over the Pacific Northwest, Pacific Southwest and extensively throughout California. Some of our high points were recording at Wally Heider's and A&M Studios in L.A. This was a great group of young players with a lot of quality original material. Unfortunately management issues kept things from ever panning out for us.
Click for some Fat and Sassy live performance pictures.
Fat and Sassy 1977 - L-R: Franz Blusk, Theo Martin, Mick Stratton, Jon Eben, Leonard White, Chet Hogoboom, Michael J. Cullen
The Fat and Sassy Band 1979 - Front Row L-R: Joe Juarez, Michael J. Cullen, Chet Hogoboom. Top Row L-R: Mick Stratton, Jon Eben, Leonard White.
CHESTER
With the eventual demise of Fat and Sassy, I formed my own band in 1981 aptly called CHESTER. We released our first record, a 45, of original tunes Rock and Roll Heart backed with the Kiss that Kills. This was a hot live band and during the short duration we were together we played the Central Coast area as well as the San Joaquin Valley. CHESTER featured Duane “Daddy D”Ransom on bass, Alex Kizanis on keyboards, and Fat and Sassy alumni Michael J. Cullen on drums with Joe Juarez on guitar.
Click to read July 25, 1981 Chester review,
here to see past Chester promotional material,
& here for the album cover for the Chester 45's "Rock & Roll Heart."
Chester from Left to Right; Chet Hogoboom, Duane Ransom, Alex Kizanis, Michael J. Cullen, Joe Juarez. Click the above image for more Chester photos!
Fast Mickey
In the mid eighties, having started a family with my wife Linda, I wanted to stick closer to home. It was during this time that Tommy Lee Nunes and I started performing as an acoustic duo at DW Grover’s in Grover Beach and the Hungry Tiger in Morro Bay. This soon morphed into an electric band we called Fast Mickey. Fast Mickey was a hard working, talented and in demand cover band that would keep you dancing all night long. The band featured Tommy Lee Nunes and myself on guitars and vocals along with Evan Hiney on bass, John Holt on guitar and keyboards and Michael J. Cullen, Steve Hilstein and eventually Ian Green on drums.
FATZ
In the late eighties I joined an established local band called FATZ. This group had more of a soul, rock, and jazz-fusion feel. The musicians that were part of the band at one time or another were; Robert Olivera on Saxophone, Keyboards and Percussion, Guitarists Mark Mckinnon, Ray Panell and Marty Henry, Mickey Sarver on drums, Duane Ransom and Michael Lomas on bass and Richard Everett on keyboards. FATZ was a featured band at the Spirit nightclub on the hill in San Luis Obispo (KSBY Studios now) Here we headlined at times and also opened for touring bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eddie and the Tide, Junior Walker and the All Stars and The Greg Kihn Band.
Click to read Telegram Tribune article
& New Years Eve promo.
In A Modern World / CT and the Detroit Power
In the early nineties I turned my energies towards songwriting and recording at my home studio with multi instrumentalist Theo Martin, Michael J. Cullen on drums, Duane Ransom on bass and Marty Henry on guitar. The originals project was called In a Modern World. Our collaboration worked well creatively and we soon decided to get out and have fun playing some of our all time favorite Motown to Memphis songs with a group we assembled called CT and the Detroit Power. This high powered group included the Modern World guys along with Franz Blusk on trumpet, Vaughn Martin on keyboards and Doug Tomooka replacing Duane on bass. This soul band was a real crowd pleaser with its infectious choice of R&B. The Detroit Power got the chance to play live all around the Central California Coast capped by some epic New Years Eve parties at the Hilton in Santa Maria and at Winery Concerts in Paso Robles, most notably with Sha Na Na and the Mamas and Papas.
More In a Modern World memorabilia.
HeartThieves
When Theo Martin and Duane Ransom moved to Portland Oregon (they formed a country band called Cowboy Heroes), Doug Tomooka and I started a recording project that became the HeartThieves. The self-titled CD was released on TomoBoom Audiophiles and featured songs written and produced by Doug Tomooka and myself, with the help of an eclectic cast of local musicians. It was well accepted and received favorable press reviews. Doug and I formed the HeartThieves band to go out and promote the CD. With Doug on bass and me on guitar and vocals we rounded out the band with Michael J. Cullen on drums, John Holt on guitar, Katye Good on vocals.
The HeartThieves - Chet Hogoboom & Doug Tomooka.
CT and Tommy Lee
In 1998 Tommy Lee Nunes and I got together again and started playing acoustic guitarsand soon landed a Friday night gig at the popular San Luis Obispo Restaurant 1865. Little did we know that the gig would last for 11 years and how tight the partnership of CT and Tommy Lee would become. Over those years, we also performed up and down the California Coast from Malibu to Santa Cruz on acoustics and in the rock band Typecast. In 2002 we traveled to Arizona to watch spring training baseball and starting writing our first CD, which was released in 2005. We have had the pleasure of sharing the stage as CT and Tommy Lee with Johnny Barbata of Jefferson Starship fame, Wally Barnick of the Cache Valley Drifters, Louie Ortega, Mandolin player Steve Gillett, Multi instrumentalist Gary Etheredge, Keyboard-saxophonist Robert Olivera, and Guitarist John Holt along with many others.
Click to buy 2005 CT & Tommy Lee CD.
Recent CT & Tommy Lee Reviews.
Chet Hogoboom "CT" and Tommy Lee.
SoulSauce
Tommy and I really liked the way our first CD turned out and sales from the merch table had been good. So we embarked on our second CD entitled CT and Tommy Lee present Soul Sauce. The CD has more of an electric rock live in the studio sound and featured Bruce Sorensen on bass, Michael J. Cullen on drums. One of the guest artists on the Album is world famous saxophone player Ernie Watts who sweetened our sound on 3 tracks. We were also joined by Alex Kizanis on keyboards, Steve Tracy on guitar, and Stan Sine on harmonica Once again we were guided by Mr. Fixit, Steve Crimmel, at his Painted Sky Studios in Cambria. The enthusiasm around the recording was high and we then formed the Soul Sauce Band and began playing out in support of the CD.
Soul Sauce 6 years was ingrained in the local music scene playing music from Big Sur to Santa Ynez and in the Central Valley. It’s live electric sound with the full band is great for dancers as we are joined with Dean Giles on drums. The acoustic show really features the 3 part harmonies ofTommy, Bruce and I.
Soul Sauce disbanded in 2017 as players moved out of the area and to new projects.
Click to read this SoulSauce Review by the Traveling Blues Boy, Timothy Mattox.
Click to buy 2010 SoulSauce CD.
Click for SoulSauce video!
The SoulSauce Band 2014- L-R: Bruce Sorensen, Chet Hogoboom, Tommy Lee Nunes, & Dean Giles. Click the above image for some live SoulSauce pictures!
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My current group is Earls of Tuesday. The musicians are myself on guitar and vocals, Alex Kizanis on keyboards and vocals and Martie Echito on guitar and vocals, Kathy Hornbaker on bass and Dean Giles on drums . We released an album of original material in 2019, receiving a good reception for it. New Times selected one of our songs “The Way You Talk” as one of the “best songs “ of the year and kicked off their annual album release with that cut. We will be busy this year with live performances up and down the Central Coast and Southern California.
In 2013 I retired from my “day job” as General Manager at Sea Venture Resort in Pismo Beach. These days when I’m not gigging or recordingI’m traveling with my wife Linda and spending time with my grown sons, Cody, Sean and Brandon. I am a fortunate man to have my family and get to live on the beautiful Central Coast of California.
It’s been a long and musical road since my first music lessons and band practices as a teenager in Fresno, California.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
Earls of Tuesday
I sing and play rhythm guitar (Fender Acoustasonic, Fender Telecaster, Martin D18, Taylor CE 314). I also play an assortment of percussion instruments.
Influences:
Musical.
Beatles, Stones, Bruce Cockburn, Cat Stevens, Al Green, Motown, Little Feat, Steely Dan, Bob Dylan, Allman Brothers, Memphis, Tim Buckley, CSN&Y, Bob Marley, Taj Mahal.
Side-note: CT stands for Chester the Third