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Robert
Warren Banks 56, a longtime resident of San Francisco, died
18 January 2006 in Prague, where he has lived since 1993. In
the 1970s, Banks, a native of Blacksburg, VA, was the singer
and vocalist in LaRue,
a rock band he founded with guitarist Danny Sego and
keyboardist Robert Moselle [all
heard on From Shadow to
Shadow]
The
band was a punk pioneer and performed frequently at Mabuhay
Gardens in North Beach, recording a live album there. It
headlined the first San Francisco Arts Festival and also
played the Whiskey-a-Go-Go and the Roxy in Los Angeles.
LaRue
started its own record label, and Banks worked with Music By
The Bay, an organization dedicated to increasing the
exposure of Bay Area bands by getting their music on shelves
in local record stores and on radio stations' playlists.
"He
was one of the most influential people in terms of creating
the San Francisco rock scene of the 1970s, easily," said
Moselle, now a Monterey-based attorney. "If you ask
musicians, they'll all acknowledge that."
In
the 1980s, Banks formed the Banks Project, with Randy Hansen
on guitar, Bill Church (Montrose/Hagar) on bass and Chuck
Ruff (Edgar Winter/Hagar). He managed the band Verbal
Abuse, and later worked as road manager for Tony MacAlpine,
which is where he met Keith Reid, lyricist for Procol
Harum..
He is
survived by Hana Banksova, his loving wife of almost ten
years. The Funeral is in Prague at Pavel Benes Funeral Home
on Friday, Jan. 27 at 11 a.m. local time.
Zbraslavske namesti 460, Praha 5. +420-2-257-921-349.
For more information, contact: roburban1@gmail.com.
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