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Banana (Lowell Levinger) is a talented musician and all-around good guy who parlayed his little piece of the brass ring into a satisfying, low-maintenance lifestyle in one of the most beautiful places on earth. As a founding member of the Youngbloods, he played on ”Get Together,” the anthem of the ”hippie” generation. When it hit the charts in 1967, the band seized the opportunity to escape New York City for Pt. Reyes, California, a stunning vista of ocean, mountains, forests, and seashore located an hour or so north of San Francisco.
By the time the Youngbloods broke up in 1972, after several moderately successful albums, he owned a house on a ridge with one of the first home studios in the San Francisco Bay Area. Over the last three decades he’s been a producer, a recording engineer, a hang gliding instructor, a music software designer, a vintage instrument dealer, and god knows what else.
Mostly, though, he’s been a musician. Known primarily for his pioneering Wurlitzer electric piano with the Youngbloods and his multi-keyboard work with Zero, he’s more than simply adept on guitar, banjo, and mandolin. He did all the guitar and keyboard parts on The Youngbloods’ one certified classic LP, Elephant Mountain, and he’s played guitar, banjo, mandolin, and dobro at varying times with Mimi Fariña and others for many years.
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| Banana livened the party with his versatile musicianship and great stash of instruments from his collection. Here, he’s playing a Gibson L-12, likely the first, and one of a kind. It is distinguished by its 1929 serial number, plain hardware and inlay, small f-holes, cremona-style sunburst, and flamed woods used on the Lloyd Loar and later Master Model L-5s. |
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