I can't fathom how come I've never seen that clip before, but frankly I don't even know where to start with how amazing it is. I mean, they're being interviewed by Ameria's Oldest Teenager, fer crissakes.
Anyway, it's no secret that I'm a huge fan of these guys (and please -- don't mention their successor Starship, who were IMHO the most unconscionable sell-outs in rock history) in part because, unlike most of the rest of the smelly hippie acts that dominated the SF scene (conspicuous exception: Moby Grape) they had, as you can see in the clip, genuine charisma. They were real rock stars, is what I'm saying, and consequntly it's kind of wonderfully funny that neither of the records they're lip-synching has any contribution from their founder/co-lead singer Marty Balin, here reduced to pretending to play a (what looks like a Farfisa) keyboard he rarely touched in concert (and the "you gotta be kidding" look on his face when the camera closes in on him during "Love" is hilarious). I also enjoyed Paul Kantner's answer to Clark's question about the generation gap, which has that wonderful look-out-old-farts-we're gonna-change-the-world smugness that was an essential part of the game that was being played in those days.
Also -- I don't know exactly how to characterize the outfit Grace Slick is wearing (Goth Nun a-Go Go, perhaps?), but let's just say that if she had worn it on a visit to my house she could have had me if she'd played her cards right.
Coming tomorrow: From the sublime (the above) to the ridiculous (you'll have to wait and see).
12 comments:
Alas, what I assume in a kinoscope (film recording of video shot off a tv monitor) really distorts the hell out of Grace Slick in this clip. Makes her look squat. Just look how oval the drum kit appears to get an idea of what it is doing to Grace (and everyone else, it just doesn't show as much on the guys because they don't have curves).
Nonetheless, cool clip.
Re; Jefferson Airplane/Starship.
One of my desert island disc's is Paul Kantnors - Blows Against The Empire.
Baby Tree.outstanding
Have You Seen The Stars Tonite
A way,way underrepresented album.
BTW- been a huge Moby Grape fan forever.
If you will tndulge me I was hitch hiking in Northern Maine @ 1981
Guys picks me up - what does he have in his cassette player- Moby Grape !!!
rob
.
Ps- perhaps one of the most radical J/A songs ever written (Tear Down The Wall)
Paul at his most radical, Grace at her throatiest.
Kids today don't have a clue
rob
Gazing at the young Grace Slick still (and will always) make me week at the knees!
Bedazzled Captain Al
I just listened again to my favorite post-Jefferson song by Balin - from the KBC Band [Kantner-Balin-Casady] - there's a live performance on YouTube but I prefer the album version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlMlygtY9OQ&t=350s
I think of it as a song about not quite connecting
Al. Grace went to Finch in Manhatan -whiie not quite Smith, Finch was the
Antioch of the East.
For you younger readers this was your radical, hippie, college to attend, to back in the 60s
rob
Gracie attended to many of my rock & roll and more base fantasies!
My wife played along with my fascination for Grace much to her amusement and laughter.
"Come here 'hon' The Airplane are on the radio"!
Captain Al
Just to give a little more historical perspective on this Airplane appearance on Bandstand, it was aired two days after "Sgt. Pepper" was officially released. The Airplane was in Hollywood beginning the recording of "Baxter's." 2 weeks earlier, they co-headlined with the Doors at a high school stadium in Van Nuys. Others on the bill included the Merry-Go-Round, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Peanut Butter Conspiracy. They made their appearance on the Smothers Brothers a month prior, doing “Somebody to Love,” in color.
I got into the Airplane early because I had a cousin in Modesto who tipped me to them. "Come Up the Years" was getting airplay up north. It was Top Twenty. I never bought that single or the first album at the time, though. When "My Best Friend" came out it was Top Twenty in Berdoo. I bought that single. "How Do You Feel" was the flip. Sandy and I used to goof to the A-side as we practiced kissing guys with each other in her bedroom. Sandy bought me the “Surrealistic Pillow” LP for Valentine's Day. Although not as adventuresome as some of their later records, it's fucking perfect.
My first Airplane show was a couple of weeks after Easter vacation 1967. This was at the Cheetah on the Venice Pier. The Doors were also on that bill. It was a matinee show which was late getting started. A long line of people were waiting to get in, bitching about the doors not being opened and the three dollar ticket price. We didn’t give a shit. Just sat in the queue, smoked a joint and blew bubbles. Some weird dude in a cape was passing out tabs of White Lightning near the entrance. In those days, I never said no to strangers with “candy.”
Me and Sandy already had seen the Doors before at the Sea Witch and Gazzarri’s. They had a word-of-mouth following in the Southland. Jim was so sexy and aloof. We saw them at the Sea Witch before they had the album out. Also, at Gazzarri’s right after the album and single came out. “Break On Through (To the Other Side)” was a local hit. Both San Bernardino stations were all over it from the get go. L.A. stations caught on a month or two later. And then the floodgates got opened. Listeners requested album cuts like “Crystal Ship,” “Whiskey Bar,” “Twentieth Century Fox,” Light My Fire,” and “The End.” Pretty much every song on that LP got played on SoCal AM radio by popular demand. By March, they had the Number One best-selling LP on the Wallich’s Music City charts in Los Angeles. It led Elektra to release an edited version of “Light My Fire,” as a single with “Crystal Ship” on the flip. This only made frustrated listeners call to radio stations and demand “the long version.” It took the rest of the country a while to catch up. Meanwhile, the Airplane released “Somebody To Love” bw “She Has Funny Cars.” It was bulleting up the SoCal radio charts at the time of the show.
VR
It was a long show and featured more bands than advertised. I mean we figured that the house band would be third bill. At the time it was Carl Holmes & the Commanders, featuring Ruthie McFadden, a black R&B outfit of older musicians. But what happened was different. A crumby band called the Joint Effort opened. They were garage with harmonies but shitty material and horrible stage presence. Next thing you know, KHJ Boss Jock Humble Harv is onstage announcing a special surprise act, The Electric Prunes! That was a total mindblower. They already had big back-to-back hits of “Too Much To Dream,” and “Get Me To the World On Time.”
Sandy and I started asking around how many acts were on before the Doors and Airplane. We had to time our dose. Nobody seemed to have a clue. Finally, Sandy approached Humble Harv and asked him. After all, he was the MC. He told us there were two more acts before the Doors and, after that, the Airplane. We had taken this kind of acid before and it came on pretty quick. So, we figured we’d dose at the beginning of the third to last band’s set. Next up was house band, Carl Holmes & the Commanders, followed by a terrible band called Weeds, which I’d never heard of. We took our L and five bennies each. Keeps you on an up.
Sandy and me were made to take acid. Never had a bad experience because we knew how to let go and surrender. We were telepathic on that stuff. It propelled our bodies to dance, swimming through the rippling waves of aural bombardment. We became one with the music. We could see its hues. We felt its textures running through our fingers as we danced ourselves into the mystic. We wove ourselves into its space. The towering wall of sound embraced us and we felt wholly secure inside them. The saturated air caressed and ravished us with the message. It was fuckin’ bitchen.
And so were the Doors. They were already doing stuff from the second and third albums. Even the fifth. The two of us were free form dancing to the intro of “When the Music’s Over,” like we knew it inside-out. Even though we never heard it till that concert. We did dance on fire. There were a lot of firsts for us in that “total environment” club, or as Zappa would call it, “psychedelic dungeon.” We were voguing in front of the stage and stainless. That stage was so high. Jim looked at us and said “You Are.”
The Airplane was very professional that night. Most of the set was from the first two LP’s. They played “Other Side of This Life” and “Fat Angel” too. Also, from the still not recorded yet, “Baxter’s,” they did “Won’t You Try” “Young Girl Sunday” and “Pooneil”. Balin was real good vocally on “3/5 of a Mile In Ten Seconds,” and “Plastic Fantastic Lover,”. The band percolated and cooked. What a rhythm section! Of course, they did the two Great Society numbers. They even did Balin’s two mellow ones from “Surrealistic.” In our opinion the first LP stuff paled to the newer stuff. “She Has Funny Cars” was in there too. We were frying our twinkies off and yin and yanging it with the music and the moods. On the slower reflective ones, Sandy and I embraced and kissed as we melted into another.
So alive, … so ecstatic.
Fly Jefferson Airplane, gets you there on time … :)
VR
BTW, Fat Angel-Donovan ; D-C-B-A-25 - Jefferson Airplane are drug songs
Vickie:
Start writing your book! You have at least one sale.
Captain Al
VR - you said it best and always my thought - "Let go and surrender"
My fondest adventure
rob
Captain AL-
Here's your Grace fantasy from a private school kid...
I come from an Episcopalian mindset. ;-)
Pleated, scotch print skirt - White Kneesocks, Mary Jane's (pun intended)
Damn those were the days -we wandered around the village- it could have been a Dylan song.
rob
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