Jefferson Airplane

[jaco]

Met Grace Slick last week at an art showing here in (of all places) Orlando. She had a gallery showing of mostly rock stars (Hendrix, Morrison, a room devoted to Jerry etc. some white rabbit themes etc. I thought she looked good, spoke well, and I liked several pieces but a bit out of my range. I asked her which Airplane album she was most proud of and she replied Surealistic Pillow. What a great album for it's time with some amazing musicians who continue to amaze today.

[MikeB]

I always thought Ms Slick (could that be her REAL name? Did you know she named her daughter--or son--GOD?!? God Slick. Yikes!) was a pretty cool lady. I heard her on an interview once and she is very well spoken. She said she could not sing to save her life, but she could 'yell' with the best of them. If you think of her songs, not much range, but what power!

Um, did I miss the mando content here? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Keith Erickson]

Grace Slick???

Wow!!! I haven't heard much of her these days. Since retiring, she's been painting up in Malibu (I believe).

I can't remember exactly but I saw her on an interview about 6 or 7 years ago. She was asked why she didn't perform anymore and she responded bluntly that she didn't think that people want to see aging rock stars up on stage anymore. I guess The Who and The Rolling Stones didn't see that interview http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

I'm surprised that there has not been much discussion of Airplane on the cafe. If I'm not mistaken, didn't Airplane do some stuff with the mando in the early days?

I can't really remember.... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

[250sc]

She should have named her son Earl.

[SternART]

The god thing was a joke, they never really considered that.....they were just messin' with folks. I read Grace's bio awhile back.....
the daughter is named China Slick Kantner, she was a VJ on MTV for awhile, did a bit of acting & now is married & living in LA.

The JA were a cool live band on a good night......Jarma Kaukonen & Jack Cassidy still are active, playing as Hot Tuna & they now tour with
Barry Mitterhoff on mandolin, which is a nice addition. I could see why Grace likes Surrealistic Pillow best, her debut album with the
Airplane she brought a few of her tunes she had been doing with The Great Society and the Airplane became a big hit, first of the SF Bands
to make it big, and have major airplay & #1 hits. I don't recall any mandolin on their recordings though.

[jim simpson]

Grace was in the band "Great Society" with her husband Jerry. She joined the Jefferson Airplane for their 2nd album replacing Signe Anderson. I can see why her first album with them would be her favorite.

I remember seeing JA at Kent State the year following the Kent State Massacre. Those were heady times.


Bio excerpt:

On August 26, 1961, she married Gerald "Jerry" Slick, a film student and later a successful cinematographer. She later described the marriage as passionless and the result of "cultural imposition."

[jim simpson]

Here's a pic of Grace w/Great Society:

[AlanN]

Man,memory lane.

Never did catch JA or Starship in the day, but maybe in 1992, go to Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ and who is there but SS. No Grace, but everybody else, including Papa John. The crowd was so thin, I could walk right down to the stage with my 2 yr. old in my arms.

[fishdawg40]

I love JA. However, because of my age I never saw them. Well, in Vegas once, in 1999, I saw Airplane/Starship (I don't know what they were calling themselves) performing with a 22 year old Grace Slick and she still had the voice. I don't know how she did that...

Of course I really dig the Hot Tuna thing. With good ol' Mitterhoff on mandolin.

[Santiago]

Mickey Thomas has a great voice, but when he joined the band it was all over. Airplane was better than the Starship, and I think it was classy to include Papa John Creech in later Airplane works. My favorite album was still Volunteers, though all that revolutionary content didn't age well.

[fishdawg40]

My favorite album was still Volunteers, though all that revolutionary content didn't age well.
What's even funnier is that tune is used in an investment broker commercial. Go figure.

[SternART]

After Bathing at Baxters had some cool jams.....and Bless Its Pointed Little Head really rocked & captured their live show.....
but I consider Crown of Creation to be one of the great rock albums of the era, and their best recording. They were a special band
with several great singers, as well as instrumentalists, I was lucky enough to see them numerous times, sometimes in lineups with
the Dead & Quicksilver. It was a special time for SF Bay Area rock. Ahhh the good ol' days......definitely pre-mandolin for me.

[mandocrucian]

I saw them a couple times. #West Palm Beach, FL Rock fest in Oct 69. (King Crimson and Grand Funk were there too putting on good sets all three days - this was before their first albums came out.) #Also saw them (JA) at the Orlando Sports Stadium and they were really on that night - comparable to Bless It's Pointed Little Head, which, from the performance aspect, may be their best. The SF bands didn't get down to FL that often.

But of the SF bands, I think my favorite was the Cipollina era Quicksilver Messenger Service. I still listen to that stuff, more than the Airplance, or the Dead. #Copperhead, JC's first post QMS band had one excellent album and some of Chips' best playing. (There was in fact, a second album which had been recorded, but when Clive Davis got fired as president of the label, all his personal acts/projects got the shaft. 2nd album never saw the light of day.)

Can't say that Cipollina was the "best" SF guitarist, but he a great sound which I think of as the quintessential Frisco guitar. I've been able to achieve some of his sound on (acoustic) mandolin, and it isn't easy to do! (especially without a Bigsby tailpiece!!!)

Anyone heard the SongStories with Graham Nash radio shows? (It's on XM) Nash interviews various songwriters and does an excellent job - because of who the interviewer is, the guests give much more candid answers than you'd get from some non-player interviewer. #Plus, Nash asks good questions. I've been taping these for the archives.

First show was Steve Cropper talking about "Dock Of The Bay" and Grace Slick talking about "White Rabbit". Show two had David Crosby and Carole King. Evidentally, the radio show was an offshoot of book of interviews Nash had done.

NH

<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>"There's bears on the stairs, often in pairs, and they're very hard to get along with..." #("Bears" - Quicksilver Messenger Service)</span>

[SternART]

Cipollina was definitely cool.......he had this rig with several actual metal horns, like trumpets sticking out,
at the top....for the horn lens..... with like jbl 375's as the horn drivers. He had a distinctive tone. His rig is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I got to see Quicksilver & Copperhead several times......they used to play the Longbranch in Berkeley every month or so. His Mom was a well known piano teacher here in the Bay Area. Unfortunately John was a casualty of the abuses of the time. After Copperhead IMO he was never the same in bands like Zero, Nick Gravenites,Terry & The Pirates, Bay Area All Stars, or The Dinosaurs.....I kept going to check him out, but he was pretty burnt out. If I'm not mistaken it was his sister who once played with Rudy Cippola at the GAMH, he was with his Mom backstage & I talked a bit with him...weird to run into him at a Mandolin Orchestra kinda show....this was close to when he died...his younger brother Mario played bass in Copperhead & Terry & The Pirates......later with Tony Williams and Huey Lewis and the News. Man..Quicksilver was another band that was stellar at their peak.....great improvisation from both guitarists.

[jaco]

My favorite era of music. Cippolina just killed me back in the day. What was that long (15 minute or so cut) on the first Quicksilver album? What a distinctive style. The guy could play two notes and you knew who it was immediately. Major Bigsby Mojo. I lived in Hawaii back then (late sixtys) and alot of the bay area bands would come over for gigs at the HIC or band shell gigs. Hendrix was my first rock show. Talk about an introduction. Literally blew me away. When Jorma and Jack were on the Airplane could go anywhere. The Dead in the late 60's early 70's were unbelievable. The spaced out jams were Bitches Brew before Miles recorded it. Miss those days of magical music.

[mandocrucian]

What was that long (15 minute or so cut) on the first Quicksilver album?
"The Fool"

http://www.johncipollina.com/

Love the look of his guitars. I've came up with a design for a doubleneck 8-string mando/5-string mandola which has never been built - has the whole vibe/look of those.

Recoil: John Cipollina in Music and in Memory (http://www.johncipollina.com/oikopleura/) DVD box set supposed to come out on Halloween, 06.

[Jimbo69]

on the Jefferson Airplane topic
At merlefest this year, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings alond with Chris Thile, played a version of White Rabbit

Fun time

jim

[Spruce]

I saw 'em all, and the Airplane on a good night in '68-'69 was the best of the bunch...
Just a powerhouse...

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-9/833581/airplane-chicago.jpg

[SternART]

On a good night indeed they soared.....Jack always had the coolest hippie clothes.....and seeing this photo w/ Spencer Dryden, when he left a few years later IMO they weren't the same......but this was also the same timeframe as the double Live Dead album / Dark Star / St. Stephen etc. where their music really came into focus. There were some cool double bills in SF back in the day.

[Spruce]

"There were some cool double bills in SF back in the day."

Good timing, Art....
36 years ago today, the Airplane shared the bill with Quicksilver Messinger Service and The Dead at Winterland...
I think it cost me $3.50...

Broadcast on two SF radio stations so you could hear it at home in quadraphonic sound if you had two stereos... #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

It was a very weird night, however, because Janis OD'd that evening...
Just a weird weird scene backstage....

I have many memories of those days, and that evening was one of the strongest and stragest... # http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif

[Cetecea]

I'm going to see Jack and Jorma on Dec. 2nd. Mandolinist Barry Mitterhoff will be there. I'm happy!http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[bush-man]

I see I've found the old hippie forum. lol http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif Baxters is definetly my fave JA album. You can find live recordings from this era on etree. I was also a big fan of Blows Against the Empire back then. Actually I still listen to this stuff. And Cippolina! Man he was my favorite back then. Glad to see some feel this way. I love the live album, Happy Trails. The stuff he does on calvary is mesmerizing. Pure stoner music. hehehehe Feels weird posting this while I'm listening to Del McCury with Dawg live. Have to say, that this site rocks!

russell

[wah]

"Old hippie forum," lol, #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif Then I'd better chip in. What a great time for music - the Airplane (I agree with After Bathing at Baxters - still love that album, yes I have it on vinyl!), Dead (that Live Dead era - nobody was making music like that), Quicksilver (Yes to every word said about Cippolina), not to mention Big Brother, It's A Beautiful Day, Santana, Country Joe & the Fish. Don't forget there were dozens of less well-known bands like the Sons of Champlin or Joy of Cooking - I'm amazed I remember this stuff!

I guess there were 300,000 people in Speedway Meadows this weekend. I can never go there without flashing back to the day I meandered into the meadow hearing Grace and Balins voices soaring on "Volunteers" - The Airplane and Dead free in the park, even the trees moving to the music. Yeh, I was pretty stoned #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

I saw Gillian do "White Rabbit" at Wavy Gravy's birthday in the Berkeley Community Theater this year. She started out intense and built it (didn't let up for a second) until the entire audience was on their feet by the final "feed your head" - great performance!

Wayne

[Jim M.]

Did anyone catch Hot Tuna's set at Hardly Strictly yesterday? Great stuff with Jorma, Jack, and Barry Mitterhoff on mando. Barry was featured a lot, but everyone did some extended soloing. In between Blue Angel flyovers, they really got the crowd moving. "I Know You Rider" was probably a 10-minute jam. I hope they release a CD with this line-up soon.

[AlanN]

#I was also a big fan of Blows Against the Empire back then. #
I dug the album cover...

[bush-man]

Joy of cooking! Great band! How about Lydia Pence with Cold Blood! or 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, by Spirit, or Fever Tree...So much great music back then. Blows against the empire is the only album that ever won a Hugo award [sci fi] for the concept album. Jerry, Crosby, Joni, and a bunch more were on it...The best songs on the album still blow me away....oh and Grace Slick played a very effective piano on the album...


Have you seen the stars tonight?
Would you like to go up on A-deck and look at them with me?
Have you seen the stars tonight?
Would you like to go up for a stroll and keep me company?

Did you know
We could go
We are free
Any place
You can think of
We can be

Have you seen the stars tonight?
Have you looked at all the family of stars?

[Ken Waltham]

We have a really strong female vocalist in our rock band, and we do White Rabbit, followed with Somebody to Love. These always get great crowd response, and Nicky slays them.
But, truthfully, these are the only two I could come up with off the top of my head. At 50 years old, I am just 4 or 5 years too young to really have been involved in their music on a personal level. Hence, this discussion has really interested me. I have always been a huge fan of classic and pshycedelic rock, so, can you guys help?
Can I get some of this Jefferson Airplane on Cd... and... what would you reccomend? Remember, this is not entirely to feed our own heads, ( been there, done that) but to wow and involve the audience.
Thanks a million! Ken

[mandocrucian]

There are numerous "best of" compilations, ranging from 10-song budget jobs (inadequate, imo) to 20+ track single disc sompilations and 30+ track 2-CD issues. This stuff is continually being repackaged.

This is probably the one to get (2-CD) for tune selection, 24 Fulton Street (http://product.half.ebay.com/2400-Fulton-Street-The-CD-Collection_W0QQprZ3107496QQtgZinfo)

but you might find other repackages (which are also good ones), used, at a cheaper price which will give you a better deal for the $ (if that's any criteria for you)*

Journey - The Best of Jefferson Airplane (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:aj87gjiro6i9)

Greatest Hits (import) - Jefferson Airplance/Starship (http://product.half.ebay.com/Greatest-Hits-IMPORT_W0QQtgZinfoQQprZ44232002)

The Worst Of The Jefferson Airplane (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:lraxqj4rojfa) will be the one you'll probably find most frequently at the pawn shops/used bins, since it's been around the longest. But probably won't have the bnonus tracks.

(*When I've got most of this stuff on LPs, and still in pretty good condition, I'm going to avoid spending much getting it again. Everything eventually shows up in the used bins, the pawn shops @$2-3, or at half.com.)

NH

PS: The best Spirit compilation to get is Time Circle (http://product.half.ebay.com/_W0QQcpidZ1767499QQprZ3142348), which contains nearly all (one track missing) of Dr. Sardonicus, plus the best stuff from the preceding three albums. Probably one of the best bands, musically, from that era.

[jaco]

Back in my (way) younger years I played in a band with a strong female vocalist. We did some off of Crown of Creation and the live album Bless It's Pointed Little Head. Also some Janis from Cheap Thrills (live at the FillMore I believe). All great stuff.

[mando_toss_flycoon]

Great thread, you guys.

mando toss flycoon

[Wesley]

Did you ever notice that back then all of the rock bands sounded different? They each had their own style. It's proof that I getting older because when I hear the radio today it seems like a lot of the bands sound alike. And most of them are coping bands that broke up 20 years ago.

But I'm just an old ####. 55 and counting.

[taboot]

Re: Hot Tuna + Barry on a record... I think Jorma and Barry are working on some stuff, but I've heard that it's not going to be a HT recording. I don't know if Jack will play at all or not.

It bears repeating that anyone who digs the mandolin and blues/folk/country music should really make a point to go see Tuna, acoustic or electric if they're in the neighborhood. Jand and Jorma have been playing together now for over 50 years (!) and Barry fits like he was born to it. I saw them earlier this month, and it was *great.*

Christian