The Ashbury District
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Al
Kriby
Jim
Paul Clark: Bass, guitar, vocals
Kirby Hamman: Organ, vocals
Al Harris: Guitar, bass, vocals
Jim Havens: Drums
Date formed: early Spring 1967
Date disbanded: Summer 1968
The Ashbury District was formed by Al, Paul and Jim after the Tel-stars fell apart. Al and Jim had played in a band between that band and a band called the Patriots which was very short-lived. They remained 3 piece for a while before they asked Kirby to join to play keyboards for the group.
   The name for the band was taken from the area in San Francisco that lay along and around Ashbury Street. This was the epicenter it seemed of the hippie phenomenon that was happening at the time.
   Gear info is rather sparse with this band. Al had a Fender Stratocaster along with a Fender Pro Reverb amp. Jim's kit consisted of kick, snare, rack tom and cymbal, floor tom and hi hat. Kirby had a Farfisa Mini Compact and a Vox Berkeley II for an amp. Paul had a Gibson EB-O solid body bass. He ran the bass through a Gibson Titan amp. (The Titan was the biggest amp Gibson made at the time.) For PA they had an old Bogen or Crown amp and some homemade speaker cabinets along with Electro-Voice mics. These were the silver mics that attached to the stand mount along with an on/off switch built into the mount–similar to the Shure 550S, 578S or 545S. The one Al used was an Electro-Voice 664 and it is thought the rest of the band had similar mics.
   Most of the time they practiced at Paul’s house in Boone. By this time they weren't practicing as often as they had in prior bands. They were playing quite often though. They played Fun Days in Ogden the summer of '67, Teen Town at the Iowa State Fair and a lot of prom gigs in the spring.
The Ashbury District did many of the popular tunes of the day. "I Fought the Law"/Bobby Fuller Four, "96 Tears"/? and the Mysterians, "Walkin' Proud"/Pete Klint Quintet along with songs by the Beatles, Hollies, Lovin' Spoonful amongst others. The band also did a couple of original tunes that Al had written. This was unique as it was not done much by other bands at this time.
   The bands dissolution was due to a couple of things. Al got married which lead to his leaving the group. Kirby left out of having had enough with playing in general. There was a tension between some of the members on a personal level also.
   Paul continued on in music. He played in John Davidson’s backing band, went on tour with Bob Hope and did a stint with Bobby Rydell. Paul was the music instructor at Center Point High School in Center Point, IA. and is now retired from teaching. There is more info here.
   Kirby retired from music after this band. He currently lives in California with his wife and works in real estate.
   Al went on to play in some other bands, but mainly turned his attention to songwriting. He did a duo act with Tom Richards for quite a while. He composed the tune that is used to advertise the Boone & Scenic Valley RR. He currently does interior painting and wallpapering with his wife.
   Jim went on in music a ways farther, but his exact involvement is not known. He passed away due to illness sometime in the early 80s at age 41.
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