Alaska's Grandpa of Rock and Roll San Francisco Concert.

Alaska's Grandpa of Rock and Roll, Ben Boyd with the Marinfidels in a 4th of July Rock Concert in San Francisco. 2015 Singing Stand by Me. Ben Boyd was 13 years old when R&R first started. He had already been playing sax for several years and automatically became a R&R Sax Man when R&R first started and played for teen dances. He continued performing through out his teens and also played Vibes for Jazz performances. He started performing in Night Clubs at age 18 and soon became a member of Bands that had Hit Recordings. When Hammond Organ started to become popular in pop music he added it to has instruments he played. He played in Black R&B Bands in St. Louis in the early 60s and Hippie Bands in LA in the late 60s. In 1975 He came to Alaska to perform in Night Clubs in Fairbanks during the Pipeline Era because the highest wages for musicians was paid there at that time. After the pipeline was over and the Night Clubs closed he went to the most remote Indian Village in the world and lived a traditional native way of life from the land. Hunting and Trapping using only a sled dog team for transportation. At the same time he trained Indian Youth to become a R&R Band and made the first all Indian R&R Band in Alaska. There was no electric in the villages at that time, so a Honda Generator had to be used to run the musical equipment. The Band soon traveled, with their Honda Generator, by airplane (no roads) to other Indian Villages and put on the first R&R dances and became well known in Alaska.
Ben Boyd has also been a professional Native Hoop Dancer since the age of 6 and now at over 70 is the oldest performing Hoop Dancer in the World. (youtube video of dance available on channel)
Ben Boyd is owner of Alaska Northern Lights Tours. http://www.alaskanorthernlights.com
http://www.benboydalaska.com