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Memories of Robbie
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Robbie's first wife Louise has recently been in touch and has kindly written the following reminiscence on their times together and what became of Robbie after his time in Clear Light.
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I came to San Diego State from the San Fernando Valley, at the ripe age of 18, in fall 1961, and met Robbie in the apartments which were over the Circe's Cup coffee house. He was a social guy, and a thumb picking, dynamic stage presence with his original parodies, funny songs and "I want to drink your blood" themes. His closest friends would come and visit (he knew them from living in Mission Beach and San Bernardino). "Teak," was a big teddy bear of a guy, a real sweetheart who liked to carry his tiny girlfriend around on his shoulder..and who later worked in the kitchen (I too,got a job as a waitress in the Cup and liked to sing) . Robbie was the "main-attraction" for about 6 months. He printed up a booklet of his songs and sold them at the Cup. Unfortunately I have lost my copy and the promotional picture I used to have of him holding his "Satanic" head by its hair. There was a guy named "Kahuna" who he was close with--he was a good artist, as was Robbie. Robbie was proficient at portraits, he drew up a detailed sketch of a coffee house restaurant with a cave theme and stalactites, and drew beach scenes on the walls of our first "cottage" where we lived in Ocean Beach after our marriage in Las Vegas in January, 1962. The one bedroom cottage quickly filled up with visiting friends, folk singers, two dogs and a Siamese cat. I got pregnant in late April, and we moved to El Cajon to a 5 bedroom house owned by the Circe's Cup management and where there was plenty of room for friends but no electricity and soon even water had to be hauled in. The Circe's Cup gig ran out, Robbie tried to learn the banjo to improved his musical range, drugs came into the picture. We separated, Robbie took off for San Bernardino, hoping to find work, and I ended up with a temporary hairdressing job in Burbank which I was able to keep thru the Christmas holidays until my belly got too big...
After Marty was born 2/28/1963, in San Diego (one month after Robbie's birthday) we gave him up for adoption (Robbie was also adopted...his original name was Clyde Edgar Robison) and I went to Mission Beach where he lived upstairs over "The Cave Bar" to get the adoption papers signed. I moved in down the hall with a gal who was a mutual friend. Robbie soon took off, made it up to the LA area, met Barbara, remarried, became part of the Peanut Butter Conspiracy, Clear Light...the time in his life you are most familiar with, and he eventually ended up in Sasaulito.
When I found my son, Marty, in 1989, my adoption search group was able to locate Robbie, who was living in Oregon. I had the pleasure of calling him on his birthday and introducing him to Marty. Marty now found 4 more brothers and sisters (beside my younger son, Thor).
Marty went up to visit him, met the rest of his family, and found out that Robbie had been picked to be part of the Sheriff's dept in Sasaulito, and so the werewolf became a gendarme...and met his final wife. In Oregon, he drove a school bus and sold photography. Before I met Robbie (at age 24 ) he had been in a motorcycle accident while in the Air Force and was discharged with a small disability pension. He would sometimes limp when I knew him...the bone in his leg had an incurable infection, which never stopped his high energy or enthusiasm for life.
The night after I introduced myself to Marty and told him about Robbie, he told the story to the parents of the girl, Nellie, he had just become engaged with. They said, we know Robbie and Louise! They had lived down the hall over Circe's Cup during the 3 months Robbie and I hung out there. Small world! After I met Marty, he got his MBA, and has now started teaching science with 7th graders so he can be on the same school schedule as his two kids; his wife, Nellie is a principal of a highschool, and I am blessed to be able to be part of their lives. No one seems to have Robbie's musical talent.
Robbie hooked the artistic side of my nature, which I had been ignorant about, and I ended up going back to college in my late 20's to get a degree in Visual Arts at UCSD...and master's work in Art Therapy after that. We both were also interested in psychic phenomena, and these days I make my living using my doctorate in holistic health and spiritual healing to work with clients. My creativity is used for extensive hands-on home remodeling, as I look out over the San Fernando Valley in Topanga Canyon.
Louise Camille August 2004
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The following is reprinted with kind permission of Laurabell Hawbacker from the R I P page of the Waldo Point web site and is a wonderful portrait of the many different aspects of Robbie.
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Robbie Robison
The Robbie we knew was a very dramatic person, what ever he was doing he took on the role completely.............After his biker days Bob and I first met him as a rock star from Hollywood. Blond curls half way to his waist, a fringed vest, beads, and Hollywood shades. His skinny bones showed through his tight leather pants and of course there was always a dubie............He was beautiful and we would of been satisfied with him and his music this way forever.............But he had too many other talents to play out...........He morphed into a self appointed Waldo Point security guard then was employed by Don Arques complete with a badge, khakies and short hair. He solved a lot of problems before they reached the point of police being called in. Once to straighten out a delequent Robbie placed him under an old abandoned lifeboat that someone had turned upside down to repair. He handed the poor unfortunate offender a dubie and waited for him to cool out. He worked very hard and sincere to keep the peace. .......... After his mediator days he transformed into a family man and never a more complete head of the household could be found. He anchored out with a wife and 2 dogs and a full size piano and fathered two girls and a boy. He was suburbia at anchor barbecuing every Sunday afternoon for fortunate friends........... He next moved the family to Oregon, slicked his hair and thin mustache back and became a taxi driver in complete character. Tight slim leathers and a small hat brimming his sunglasses. When you visited him you visited a New York taxi driver with a loaded cigarette hanging on in the corner of his mouth. We didn't see Robbie for 2 years in which he'd turned into a well paid Santa Claus entertaining at the tourist town of Jacksonville Oregon. People came from all arround to see the real Santa. The rest of the year Santa was at home with his long white beard, baggy pants and big round belly that shook with laughter or not...........Our next visit to Robbie, we found a country gentleman running a dog ranch. The ranch was his house with 9 full grown dogs that seldom went outside except to pee than back inside to the master. The house was full of much dog love and Robbie was busy keeping them happy, the extra doggie bone was right on time every day. Dressed in his country gentlemen's clothing and a full mustache, Robbie helped the dogs guard the house although he and the dogs would eat out of your hand if you spoke a kind word...........Robbie's last change we were fortunate enough to experience was after he lost a leg to a bone infection. That he'd suffered with since his service duty before his biker days. So Robbie became what else but a one legged pirate. In town people marveled how he skipped along keeping up with everybody. With a black patch over one of his good eyes, spinning tales and story telling long into the night with the flicker of a candle reflected in his uncovered eye..........We missed his final curtain call but always a chameleon, always a great artist, that's the Robbie we knew. We were privileged to of followed his life for his life was his art........... Robbie died of complications from several illnesses arround the year of 2000
Laurabell Hawbecker
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