Gary Lee Yoder (January 25, 1946 – August 7, 2021) was an American musician who was part of several 1960s

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

bands, including

the Oxford Circle The Oxford Circle was an American garage rock and psychedelic rock band from Davis, California, near Sacramento, who were active from 1964 to 1967. They became a popular garage rock act with a proto-punk sound influenced by Them and other blues ...

Kak Kak or KAK may refer to: People *Ram Chandra Kak (1893–1983), Indian politician, chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir *Amar Nath Kak (1889–1963), Indian writer, brother of Ram *Siddharth Kak, Indian film and television director *Subhash Kak, I ...

, and

Blue Cheer Blue Cheer was an American rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009. Based in San Francisco, Blue Cheer played in a psychedelic blues rock or acid rock style. The ...

. Yoder was born in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

, California. Oxford Circle (formed in 1966) and Kak (formed in 1968) were both formed in Yoder's hometown of

Davis, California Davis is the most populous city in Yolo County, California, United States. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 66,850 in 2020, not including the on-campus population of the University of ...

, and featured the same nucleus of members. While Oxford Circle frequently shared the stage with greats such as the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American Rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the San Francisco Bay Area, ...

, and

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and songwriter. One of the most iconic and successful Rock music, rock performers of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and her "electric" ...

, they did not achieve the same level of fame and never got a record deal. In 1997, a live album, ''Live at the Avalon 1966'' was released. It made #6 on ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine focussing on rare and collectable records, and the bands who recorded them. It was founded in September 1979 and distributes worldwide. It is promoted as "the world’s leading authority o ...

s list of Top 50 reissues of 1997, ahead of reissues of

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

, and

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer * Sailboat designs by W. D. Schock Corp ** Santana 20 ** Santan ...

, and also received a favorable review in ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi * '' ...

''. Kak would release only one record in 1969, the eponymous ''Kak'', which has become a collector's item. It was reissued by Big Beat Records in 1999 as ''Kak-ola''. This recording additionally contained unreleased solo work by Yoder. Yoder performed occasionally prior to his death, aged 75 on August 7, 2021. Bill Buchanan, "Davis musician Gary Lee Yoder, RIP", ''KDRT.org'', August 9, 2021
Retrieved August 28, 2021

References

External links

Kak biography
by

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily P ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoder, Gary Lee 1946 births 2021 deaths Musicians from California People from Davis, California Blue Cheer members