Another one gone.......

[j45nick]

Paul Kantner, co-founder and one of the two guitarists of Jefferson Airplane, died today at age 74. Jorma Kaukonen (now known for his Fur Peace Ranch guitar training program) was the other guitarist for the group.

 

 

This is getting depressing. All the guys of my generation of rockers and folkies are dropping like flies. Surrealistic Pillow was the first "psychedelic rock" album I ever bought, and I still love it.

[jedzep]

Oh Good Shepherd. E D A E. Just the basics.

 

74? Good. I might have 10 more years.

[MissouriPicker]

Yeah, been a tough start to the year with all these deaths. Big names and giant names. I guess you're lucky if you stopped "burning the candle at both ends" before the flame extinguished itself. Most of these folks did a lot of abuse to their bodies back in the day. Couple that with maybe a family history of heart disease, etc. and the odds shrink. I've almost become numb to hearing these names (seems like every week). When your twenty and cool, you kind of feel immortal. Then, when your past forty and start seeing your idols disappear, you start to take notice...We never know what's waiting around the corner for us.

[j45nick]

I guess you're lucky if you stopped "burning the candle at both ends" before the flame extinguished itself. Most of these folks did a lot of abuse to their bodies back in the day. Couple that with maybe a family history of heart disease, etc. and the odds shrink.

 

But then there's Keef.....

[zombywoof]

This one hits hard right in the gut. I was a hard core Jefferson Airplane fan in the 1960s. Saw them maybe a dozen times. I was even at the infamous "bust" show in Oklahoma City. Paul will be sorely missed.

[E-minor7]

Sad to hear this - Surrealistic Pillow is a classic in the best and most important sense of the word. The band a phenomenon - an iconic flagship of its time.

 

Can't bear to see those godfathers/mothers of rock'n'roll's phase 2 fall.

 

It's so strange and unreal and I won't get used to it.

 

Can't look forward from now on. . .

 

Impossible

[Boyd]

Very sad, I was also a big fan of Jerfferson Airplane and Starship.

[Allie]

74's not so bad, and it's as they say 'no matter how you struggle and strive, you'll never get out of this world alive' and think about it....would you really wanna be stuck HERE forever? I will add that at age 60 ( this month,thank you very much) had I known I was gonna last this long I'd have taken a LOT better care of myself.

[zombywoof]

74's not so bad, and it's as they say 'no matter how you struggle and strive, you'll never get out of this world alive' and think about it....would you really wanna be stuck HERE forever? I will add that at age 60 ( this month,thank you very much) had I known I was gonna last this long I'd have taken a LOT better care of myself.

 

 

But at age 60 (by the way congratulations) you missed out on the 1960s. I always figured that gives you a bit better chance at longevity. Me, on the other hand...

[zombywoof]

I am feeling very fortunate at the moment. I was at the Fillmore East Thanksgiving show where Airplane recorded part of "Bless It's Pointed Little Head." I just wish I could recall it.

[j45nick]

But at age 60 (by the way congratulations) you missed out on the 1960s. I always figured that gives you a bit better chance at longevity. Me, on the other hand...

 

 

I reckon you're right. I just turned 69, and didn't miss out on the 60's. Or at least the part of it I remember......

[MissouriPicker]

Didn't Yogi Berra say something like "If I'd known I was going to live this long, I wouldn't have gotten older"?

 

Marty Stuart said that touring with Johnny Cash was like riding a tornado, and Stuart didn't join Cash's band until Cash was almost fifty. Marshall Grant, Cash's bass player said it was amazing that Cash made it to forty. I really doubt that many people being in the midst of all those wild times could turn down what was being offered to them. I couldn't. Maybe a saint could do it, but let's face it, it's far easier being a sinner than a saint. Besides, sinners have more fun. Can you imagine being a guy in his twenties and a young Grace Slick asks if you want to share some mushrooms with her?...God Lord, she was a dream-come-true. We're human beings. We do things that often seem and are advantageous at that moment, but may have repercussions for us later in life........ Still, it gets discouraging hearing of the passing of so many of my generation and the generation that came before me. Life happens. We're only here for a while......Glad I've got a gig at noon. Get to play some songs and tell a few jokes and get me through a somber mood...lol...

[zombywoof]

I reckon you're right. I just turned 69, and didn't miss out on the 60's. Or at least the part of it I remember......

 

 

It might have been Robin Williams who said if you remember the 1960s you were not really there.

[E-minor7]

It might have been Robin Williams who said if you remember the 1960s you were not really there.

 

That ol' sayin' covers me - I remember them without really being there.

But also small potatoes have eyes and certain atmospheres, sights and situations were taken in from below.

 

Surely got my singles and LP's and sang along like mad in nonsense English.

Even brought my friends to the Help-movie just after it premiered here in January '66. My 7th birthday - lords bless my parents.

 

Anecdote :

 

Proud to say I was on the first Beatle-wave and long before the film, I both had a scrapbook started and slept under a Fab-poster bigger than myself.

The picture showed them sitting in a bar with suits and Pernods, and only a few weeks ago I found that same 1964 poster on the local eBay, mint condition - naturally bought it on the spot.

What a reunion, , , , after 5 plus decades - Ha, there I was again, , , lost all those years, , , now finally back in the nightclub groove. .

 

"You just can't keep coincidences down". .

[jedzep]

I recall a Grace Slick interview, I think with WNEW-FM's Pete Fornitale, after she had begun puffing up and was putting out that 'Starship' garbage, calling the the 'Airplane' catalog 'silly little songs'. I knew there was a reason I never liked her, but her voice was the right one for the band's sound.

[j45nick]

I recall a Grace Slick interview, I think with WNEW-FM's Pete Fornitale, after she had begun puffing up and was putting out that 'Starship' garbage, calling the the 'Airplane' catalog 'silly little songs'. I knew there was a reason I never liked her, but her voice was the right one for the band's sound.

 

 

There was plenty of pretension going around then, just as now. But the Airplane's music speaks for itself.

 

Don't you want somebody to love?

 

Don't you need somebody to love?

[capmaster]

I recall a Grace Slick interview, I think with WNEW-FM's Pete Fornitale, after she had begun puffing up and was putting out that 'Starship' garbage, calling the the 'Airplane' catalog 'silly little songs'. I knew there was a reason I never liked her, but her voice was the right one for the band's sound.

May have been a personal thing as often between ex-lovers. Should be gone now for deference.

[flatbaroque]

I recently learnt a bunch of new songs to play on the uke. One of them was White Rabbit.Hardly mind blowing Psychedelia on the uke - but still sounds good and is fun to play and sing.

And yea Surrealistic Pillow stands up as well today as it ever did.

[E-minor7]

One of them was White Rabbit. Hardly mind blowing Psychedelia on the uke - but still, , ,

 

Then again you might be on the path to the metadelic level there. .

[j45nick]

Wanted to upload this yesterday, but Photobucket was down for maintenance.

 

Kantner with a Guild 12. Back in the day, when you talked 12-string, you usually meant one of the bullet-proof Guilds. I remember picking one up and thinking "holy crap, this thing is built like a tank!":

 

[fretplay]

Yes it's been a tough month for guitar players leaving this mortal coil but lets look at those still living, what about the father of rock himself Chuck Berry still out there. And taking about Grace Slick as you were wasn't she a beautiful woman, still here a year or two older than me well three actually! Stay young live long guys!

[zombywoof]

Yes it's been a tough month for guitar players leaving this mortal coil but lets look at those still living, what about the father of rock himself Chuck Berry still out there. And taking about Grace Slick as you were wasn't she a beautiful woman, still here a year or two older than me well three actually! Stay young live long guys!

 

 

Gracie, with one or two brief exceptions, has steadfastly refused to take the stage since the Airplane reunion of 1989. She has always said aging rock stars do not belong up there as rock & roll is for the young and you need to have something to say. Not sure how she explains Keef.

[j45nick]

Gracie, with one or two brief exceptions, has steadfastly refused to take the stage since the Airplane reunion of 1989. She has always said aging rock stars do not belong up there as rock & roll is for the young and you need to have something to say. Not sure how she explains Keef.

 

 

Everyone knows Keef (and probably Mick, too) is either a hologram or an animatronic puppet. Or he might be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, or a fragment of underdone potato.

 

Either that, or I'm having a serious flashback, and we're suffering from a mass hypnagogic hallucination....

[Cougar]

This one hits hard right in the gut. I was a hard core Jefferson Airplane fan in the 1960s. Saw them maybe a dozen times....

 

See? There can be memories of the sixties. I got 'em too. Plus, in a mix of coincidence, I just recently picked up a great sounding Guild 12 on which I'm trying to get down Jorma's instrumental from the Surrealistic Pillow album.

 

Lots of great stuff on that album....

[MissouriPicker]

Never saw the Airplane "live," but loved seeing them on TV back in the day. There was the music and Grace Slick. They were literally "flying high." The last one is for Grace fans.