Larry "Mr. Jug" VanOver - 1941-2015
Larry became a member of Okie Doke, joining what had been our trio in 1978. He stayed with us through 1979 and we played lots of gigs together as a quartet including the Big Hat Ball, Hillbilly Heaven, the Chesaw Roundup, a 4-night-a-week months-long residency at The Wind Blew Inn, and many others. He sang lead and backup, played guitar, mandolin and jug, and contributed much artistically.
I first met him in 1970 having been introduced to him by fate in the guise of Milo Johnstone. We bonded immediately over music. Larry was a force, a presence, an influence.
Larry needed a caretaker for his unique three-acre rural property while he was in the city at his day job with Chicken Graphics. He offered me the opportunity that summer and I accepted immediately. This was up Cherry Valley Road in the hills above Duvall, WA. So in the late summer of '70 I moved into what had been a shed next door to his barn-house. Dirt floor, no door, no windows, no electricity. Perfect! I renovated it somewhat and spent the fall and winter there. This had been the site - ground zero in fact - of the infamous "Piano Drop" in 1968.
I bought a couple of acres just up the road on Cherry Creek in 1971 and built my own little cabin there where I lived until about 1980 or so.
But I digress. If you don't know about Larry and the Piano Drop, you should. It's Pacific Northwest history.
- DK
I first met him in 1970 having been introduced to him by fate in the guise of Milo Johnstone. We bonded immediately over music. Larry was a force, a presence, an influence.
Larry needed a caretaker for his unique three-acre rural property while he was in the city at his day job with Chicken Graphics. He offered me the opportunity that summer and I accepted immediately. This was up Cherry Valley Road in the hills above Duvall, WA. So in the late summer of '70 I moved into what had been a shed next door to his barn-house. Dirt floor, no door, no windows, no electricity. Perfect! I renovated it somewhat and spent the fall and winter there. This had been the site - ground zero in fact - of the infamous "Piano Drop" in 1968.
I bought a couple of acres just up the road on Cherry Creek in 1971 and built my own little cabin there where I lived until about 1980 or so.
But I digress. If you don't know about Larry and the Piano Drop, you should. It's Pacific Northwest history.
- DK
"On April 28, 1968, Larry "Mr. Jug" Van Over flew over Cherry Valley Road in a rented helicopter, watching as cars drove toward his property. Local radio station KRAB FM had announced that they would be partnering with the Helix newspaper to drop an upright piano from a helicopter at musician Van Over’s farm, and that rock band Country Joe and the Fish would perform. The Great Piano Drop of 1968 was born. An estimated 3,000 people attended the event—the population of Duvall at that time was 400."
From "The Wagon Wheel", newsletter of the Duvall Historical Society
Chicken Graphics Reunion 2011 - Gary Eagle, Denny Redman, Larry VanOver
