The first two

shows of the summer concert series at the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater

featured artists from the West Coast, specifically the Bay Area,: Eddie

Money and The Pointer Sisters. The next concert featured the Village People,

which formed in the Greenwich Village section of New York. This weekend,

May 30 and 31, another Bay Area band, The Doobie Brothers, comes to "The

Fred" bringing their mix of rock, rhythm and blues, country and jazz.

The band formed

in 1970 when Tom Johnson met Patrick Simmons. The two found that their

musical styles were complimentary with each other but both men were in

existing bands and went their separate ways. A week after their encounter,

Simmons asked Johnson to join his band. Johnson agreed and The Doobie

Brothers were born. After releasing their debut album, the band struck

it big with their follow-up, 1972's "Toulouse Street," which

featured the hits "Listen to the Music" and "Jesus is Just

Alright." It was around this time that drummer Mike Hossack joined

the band and the signature double drummer sound debuted.

The band followed

"Toulouse Street" with the albums "The Captain and Me,"

which featured "China Grove," "South City Midnight Lady,"

and "Long Train Running," which is their highest charting hit,

and "What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits," which boasted the

tracks "Black Water" and "You Just Can't Stop It."

In 1975, the band released the album "Stampede" which had the

hits "Music Man" and "Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me)."

Michael McDonald joined the band in the following year when they released

"Takin' It To The Streets." The album produced four hit singles

- "Takin' It To The Streets" which reached number one and "It

Keeps You Running."

The Doobie

Brothers went on their final tour in 1982 before going their separate

ways. They reunited once a year though to play a benefit concert for The

Children's Hospital at Stanford University. The group reunited in 1987

for an 11 city tour that raised over $1 million which went to a number

of different charities. On July 4 of that year, The Doobie Brothers performed

in Moscow. There was a renewed interest and excitement in the band and

The Doobie Brothers capitalized on this by releasing the album "Cycles."

Since then they have released a few more albums and toured consistently

around the world.

No one can

deny that The Doobie Brothers have enjoyed a tremendous amount of success

throughout a career that has spanned four decades. They have sold over

50 million records, won two Grammy Awards and had 16 top 40 hits, including

two number one hits. They have 11 multi-platinum albums, 13 Gold Albums

and a Diamond Award, which is awarded for the sale of 10 million units

of a single title. The Doobie brothers earned their Diamond Award for

their compilation album "Best of the Doobies."

The current

touring band is Johnson and Simmons on guitar and vocals, Michael Hossack

on drums, Keith Knudson on drums and vocals, John McFee on guitar, strings

and vocals, Marc Russo on saxophone and percussionist M.B. Gordy. After

their shows this weekend, The Doobie Brothers head to Pensacola, Fla.

for Florida Springfest.

The Doobie

Brothers will perform Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. A few tickets still

remain for Friday night's show and standing room only tickets are available

for both nights. They are $45 each and will go on sale at 6 p.m. each

night. The opening act will be Justus.

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