By Tami Larson and Sophia Weinberg
Photos by Stefanie Atkinson Schwartz, Dore Coller, Daniel Patrick, Ken Friedman and Bruce Forrester
One fateful day in 1969, while visiting the Bay Area, Dore Coller strolled along the shores of Stinson Beach. He was struck by an indescribable feeling as the water lapped at his feet. Gazing back in the direction of the majestic Mount Tamalpais, a profound realization washed over him like a melodic wave. “This is where I want to be,” he thought.
It was a time of cultural awakening and artistic exploration. Coller recalls, “I was already aware of what was happening here in the Bay Area. I was reading all about the Kool-Aid Acid Tests, Jack Kerouac and Gary Snyder’s stuff already attending Grateful Dead concerts back east prior to moving here. I actually saw the Dead perform at the Avalon Ballroom while traveling with my cousin in 1969.”
In 1973, four years after that first trip to Marin County, Coller, our treasured community icon and July feature resident, packed up his life in the Hudson River Valley and embarked on a musical pilgrimage to the Bay Area. He eventually settled in Mill Valley with his wife Deborah and their two sons, Evan and Logan, in 1988.
As a large smile formed across his face, Coller reflected, “After a decade of living in the Bay Area, traveling, and partaking in things musicians commonly do, in 1984 I met Debbie, the love of my life, and knew it thank God! We married in 1985 and started having kids. Logan, now 37 has 3 kids of his own and Evan, now 35, has his first child on the way.”
In Mill Valley, where the mountains meet the ocean and the notes of talented musicians fill the air, Dore Coller found a way to utilize his passion for music and become an integral part of Mill Valley’s artistic legacy. His authenticity, humility, and dedication to the community have become rooted in the town’s history and its people. “When I first visited Mill Valley, it was so relaxed, so different from anywhere else. It was such a beautiful setting, everything was so easy, and there was so much more access to all the great artists. Everyone knew each other. The second time I visited here, I was hitchhiking to West Marin, “Lucky for me, I was picked up by the future multiple grammy winner and lead vocalist for the band, ‘Chicago’ from 1981-2009, Bill Champlin and his entire band at the time, ‘Sons of Champlin’. I ended up at the Lion’s Share, the infamous nightclub in San Anselmo on Red Hill Road.
I started talking to this guy at the bar who happened to be the sax player for the Rowan Brothers, the opening act that night. I asked him if he would help me get backstage. He then walked me through the swinging doors the waitresses would go through and said, ‘welcome backstage’. I ended up sitting down next to Jerry Garcia while he was warming up and just started chatting it up.”
Coller would later play with Garcia once while working at a Bluegrass Festival at the Civic Center and was fortunate to meet and play with many more of those icons he read about growing up, including Ken Kesey. He reflects, “The (arts and music) culture here is incredibly fertile. It goes all the way back to the beat generation, including Gary Snyder, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg. My son had a friend who lived in Homestead Valley; they had this tiny cabin on the top of a hill, and Gary Snyder writes about sleeping in that cabin along with Allen Ginsberg. People came here because of the inspiring beauty.”
Music has been a lifelong passion for Coller. Hailing from a musical and theatrical family with Eastern-European Jewish roots, he started playing the guitar at the age of 11 and was involved in chorus throughout his life. Coller’s father played the trumpet, and his grandfather led an orchestra in the 1920s. Michael Tilson Thomas, a conductor, pianist, and composer, is Coller’s cousin, and his sister, although not a musician herself, was involved in the music business in Los Angeles. As for Coller, he said, “I don’t remember breathing and not singing.”
He spent a large portion of his career working closely with Bill Graham and could often be found backstage or working security at one of many Bill Graham Presents venues. “I wanted to go to a Rolling Stones show, they needed extra people to work security, and that’s how I got involved.”
Mill Valley’s small, tight-knit community has always fostered an atmosphere of camaraderie and collaboration. Coller shared, “My boys were two organized sports guys, soccer in the Fall, baseball in the Spring. Logan played soccer a short while, baseball till the 8th grade, then at Tam he moved over to CTE and found drama and acting, he took that into the film program at SF State. Evan really had the knack, played soccer and baseball all the way into high school, even pitched in college and in the adult leagues after. It was through sports that we really got to meet the through sports that we really got to meet the when Tam was playing Redwood, I shared the sidelines cheering alongside Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads, while Booker T of the MG’s cheered against us on the other side. I coached rec soccer teams for a few years then managed the upper house team. My rec team was named “The Yogis” and yes, I had them doing sun salutations and sitting in the lotus position. Those were fun times.”
His own contributions to Mill Valley’s artistic legacy are numerous and diverse, establishing Coller as a key figure in keeping Mill Valley’s music scene alive. He became an integral part of the Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival, a grand celebration of fine arts that reached its 65-year mark in 2022, and has performed at almost all of the town’s local venues. He says, “I have performed a million times at the old and new Sweetwater Music Hall. With the help of my friend Lucy Mercer, we developed a songwriters’ circle at the Throckmorton Theatre which went on for a couple of years. I would bring in three songwriters every month. I also worked on the Mountain Play for about fifteen years.”
Mill Valley’s small, tight-knit community has always fostered an atmosphere of camaraderie and collaboration. Coller shared, “My boys were two organized sports guys, soccer in the Fall, baseball in the Spring. Logan played soccer a short while, baseball till the 8th grade, then at Tam he moved over to CTE and found drama and acting, he took that into the film program at SF State. Evan really had the knack, played soccer and baseball all the way into high school, even pitched in college and in the adult leagues after. It was through sports that we really got to meet the through sports that we really got to meet the when Tam was playing Redwood, I shared the sidelines cheering alongside Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads, while Booker T of the MG’s cheered against us on the other side. I coached rec soccer teams for a few years then managed the upper house team. My rec team was named “The Yogis” and yes, I had them doing sun salutations and sitting in the lotus position. Those were fun times.”
His own contributions to Mill Valley’s artistic legacy are numerous and diverse, establishing Coller as a key figure in keeping Mill Valley’s music scene alive. He became an integral part of the Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival, a grand celebration of fine arts that reached its 65-year mark in 2022, and has performed at almost all of the town’s local venues. He says, “I have performed a million times at the old and new Sweetwater Music Hall. With the help of my friend Lucy Mercer, we developed a songwriters’ circle at the Throckmorton Theatre which went on for a couple of years. I would bring in three songwriters every month. I also worked on the Mountain Play for about fifteen years.”
His own contributions to Mill Valley’s artistic legacy are numerous and diverse, establishing Coller as a key figure in keeping Mill Valley’s music scene alive. He became an integral part of the Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival, a grand celebration of fine arts that reached its 65-year mark in 2022, and has performed at almost all of the town’s local venues. He says, “I have performed a million times at the old and new Sweetwater Music Hall. With the help of my friend Lucy Mercer, we developed a songwriters’ circle at the Throckmorton Theatre which went on for a couple of years. I would bring in three songwriters every month. I also worked on the Mountain Play for about fifteen years.”
Coller’s involvement in local activism has also been influenced by Mill Valley. He was asked by Yost to write a song to support the restoration efforts of the middle peak of Mount Tam, which had been taken off for an air force base in 1950. Coller composed a song called “The Way it’s Supposed to Be” and gathered local, prominent musicians to sing the chorus such as Bobby Weir, The Zucker Family Band, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Susan Zelensky, Darren Nelson, Lorin Rowan, Maria Muldaur, and Pat Campbell, the rhythm section rock of Bay Area bluegrass, and one of Coller’s closest friends who unfortunately passed away a year ago. He recalled, “We went up to the mountain on Earth Day in 2017 and got about 125 people to film some amazing footage. We filmed all around the mountain.” The film can be found on Gary Yost’s website, garyyost.com, and Mill Valley Public Library’s online archive of California.
Though there wasn’t time to mention everyone, Coller did share his adoration for other incredible residents in our community who have dedicated their time creating, capturing, and archiving the fascinating people and experiences that make our home so unique. Debra Schwartz of The Mill Valley Historical Society was mentioned several times throughout the interview as being a good friend and a major supporter of his work over the years. Check out her Oral History interview with him in the Archive Records at the Mill Valley Library. “Gary Yost,” he tells us, “is not only an award-winning Director, Cinematographer, Editor, and Colorist but also a major supporter and guide up on Mount Tam.” Lucy Mercer, his friend and collaborator who took over the Throckmorton Theatre in 1999 and founded the non-profit organization Mill Valley Live Arts, he calls out as being a “vital, creative force in our community.”
The list of notable musicians Coller has played with or opened for over the years is quite impressive, including Elvin Bishop, Los Lonely Boys, Dana Carvey, Jesse Colin Young, Foxy Callwood, R Crumb & The Cheap Suit Serenaders, High Country, Rattlebox, Mikey Dread, Dr Hook, David Nelson, Jerry Garcia, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Van Morrison and Pablo Cruise.
Coller is currently performing with several groups in several different genres, with special attention to customizing his setlists to each special event. With his two most recent CDs,
‘Life’s A Beach’ and ‘Bermudagrass,’ he brings all these influences together.
One of Coller’s own notable bands is called “The MillBillies”. They often perform and collaborate with the Mill Valley Historical Society. The band’s name was inspired by a term used by someone from Los Angeles to describe locals in Mill Valley, and Coller embraced the label. He explains, “I was down in Los Angeles, and someone there told me they went to Mill Valley on business. They said they went to this seedy bar up the street from Whole Foods, and it was filled with locals that they referred to as ‘MillBillies’. I thought to myself,
‘I’m a MillBilly,’ and that’s how I got the name.” The MillBillies often play in the Memorial Day parade and the Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival.
According to Coller, the environment and the people of Mill Valley have significantly shaped him as an artist. He expressed, “I picked this place because it feeds me musically. The environment and people have significantly affected me and my musical evolution. We have right here in our backyard national treasures like David Nelson and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.
‘David Nelson was Jerry Garcia’s best man in his first wedding and Jack, well, he’s the progenitor.’ He proclaims. ‘There is nobody that was in more places than Jack. He really does ramble. He’s the zealot of popular modern culture. This is a guy who was out hitchhiking with Cisco Houston and Woody Guthrie. That’s how far back he goes.’ Coller continues, ‘After Jack Kerouac wrote ‘On the road’ on a roll of paper, he came to Jack’s apartment and read it for the next three days and nights to him. He was also the guy that suggested to the producer for the Byrds they should do a Dylan song called ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’. And btw these stories check out.’ he said.
As the years passed, Coller witnessed the inevitable changes that come with time. The influx of wealth and trendiness has left its mark on Mill Valley, altering the fabric of the town. Yet, amidst the shifting landscape, he believes the town’s spirit has remained resilient, and that the people of Mill Valley continue to rally together, ensuring that the flame of creativity continues to burn bright.
Coller’s advice to the next generation of artists is “keep listening, keep interacting, regardless of how independent everyone can be now with all the new tools available. The real key to music is the exchange, playing with people and for people. That’s where the beauty and magic happen.”
Coller’s advice to the next generation of artists is “keep listening, keep interacting, regardless of how independent everyone can be now with all the new tools available. The real key to music is the exchange, playing with people and for people. That’s where the beauty and magic happen.”
