hippies

When You Really Think About It, Jefferson Starship May Have Produced a Stronger Quartet of Songs Than Any Four Songs by Jefferson Airplane

Nov 052009

It’s been a little more than 11 months since I first posted this controversial view. One of the characteristics I most admire in our Townspeople is our ability to reconsider past views and objections. Now may be as good a time as ever for each of us to reconsider our initial opinions and for newer members of Rock Town Hall to chime in on this issue.

Frankly, I was surprised at the lack of support my query elicited. I didn’t expect the majority of Townspeople to hear things as I heard them, but I surely didn’t expect that the closest thing I got to agreement was a vote for plain, old Starship! Why don’t you join me in reviewing our first discussion of these matters, replaying the supporting video clips, and sharing any new insights that may have resulted from your growth as a music listener? I look forward to your comments.

This post initially appeared 11/30/08.

Granted, Jefferson Airplane is a favorite whipping band among certain segments of Rock Town Hall – and I don’t believe anyone who’d hang here like Jefferson Starship, but when you really think about it, Jefferson Starship may have produced a stronger quartet of songs than any four songs by Jefferson Airplane.

I speak specifically of a quartet of mid-70s Jefferson Starship songs:
Continue reading »

Gateway Drug Songs (and a Special, Bonus Last Man Standing)

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Sep 172009

In honor of Peter, Paul, and Mary’s Mary Travers, who died last night, what’s the first “drug song” you were aware of as a child? By “aware,” man, I mean, like, cognizant of the fact that adults around you were mumbling about the song’s true meaning. As a young boy, I was aware that “Puff the Magic Dragon” has something to do with smoking…something. A couple of years later, I started hearing about the “true” meaning of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

Considering the demographic of our regular participants, it wouldn’t surprise me if these two songs end up being the first two gateway drug songs for the majority of us. However, rumor has it that some of you may not have been shaving until 1980 or later. What would younger folks’ first gateway drug songs have been in the second half of the ’70s, the ’80s, or – if our youngest Townspeople care to participate – the ’90s?

If you’d also like to take this into Last Man Standing territory… Continue reading »

Unlocking the Secrets to Jerry Garcia’s Soloing Style

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 262009

This weekend the band I’m in with a few Townsman played semi-acoustic at a house concert. In 25 years (and then some) with the core of us playing together, I don’t think we ever played as acoustic as we did on Saturday night: both of our guitarists played primarily acoustic stringed instruments (our other guitarist, Jim McMahon, played 12-string acoustic, mandolin, and something called a charango) only mic’d, not using any pickups, which we thought would defeat the purpose. The two of us even sat on stools, which I don’t think I’d ever done in concert before, not even when I played in a primarily acoustic band with Townsman E. Pluribus Gergely. It was cool. I felt like one of the guys from Badfinger in Concert for Bangladesh.

There were some other firsts for our band that resulted from that gig, but perhaps the most significant one was it was the first time we ever covered a Grateful Dead song. The hosts for our show are Deadheads, and we wanted to give them a treat. The obvious choice was “Bertha,” a Dead song that hints at a Motown beat and contains no extraneous “space” breakdowns. For some reason, I was the obvious choice to take the solo. In preparing for the solo, I asked myself, What would Jerry do?

Although I didn’t have time to match his facility in moving up and down the neck in his loopy approach to the pentatonic scale, I could focus on a couple of keys that would unlock the secrets of Jerry’s soloing style:

Give all notes equal rhythmic weight, minimizing rests, syncopations, and the like.
Maintain a pleasant, easy-going facade while soloing, avoiding the urge to make any kind of Rock Faces.

These two simple keys aided my performance. I stumbled on one segment of my solo and another time I unsuccessfully fought the urge to crack a sarcastic smile, but for the most part I felt like I’d learned something. Should I have the opportunity to play this or another Dead song in the future, what other keys might I find in unlocking the secrets to Jerry’s soloing style?

Turned-On Burdon!

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jun 182009

For your pleasure, may I invite you to turn on with Eric Burdon and the Animals. Following are some tracks from the band’s 1966 to 1968 period. You may recall we discussed this period last week. I’ll spare you the studio version of my personal favorite, “San Franciscan Nights,” and if you don’t think “Sky Pilot” is one of the coolest “acid rock” songs ever we may have to part ways, baby.

As you listen to these tracks, think about the whole concept of Eric Burdon getting tuned in, think about an age in which Angry, Young Eric could begin to feel like he belonged, man. I mean, just a couple of years earlier he had to get outta that place. Check out the video that opens this thread and tell me you’re not witnessing the transformation at work. These songs must have begun the process of lifting a tremendous weight off Angry, Young Eric.

“Don’t Bring Me Down”

Another day, perhaps, we can explore the next phase of Eric’s career, in which he wrestles with his Black Man’s Burdon, so to speak.

Psychedelic Eric Burdon: Turn On or Tune Out?

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jun 092009

As right as it is wrong, all the thrills and spills of a working-class, R&B-based musician dropping acid!

Do you prefer Eric Burdon pre- or post-“turning on?”

Sons of Champlin

Posted by Mr. Moderator

May 222009

In seeking out some tracks and an entire album by Jefferson Airplane last night, I came across an album by another SF band I’d always heard about but never heard, Sons of Champlin. The album I stumbled across is called Follow Your Heart. After checking it out last night, I’m tempted to say that I’ve finally found a SF band I can sink my teeth into: really soulful singing, nice ensemble playing, little of the melodrama that has always bogged me down with Jefferson Airplane. Along with the title track, I was impressed by “Children Know,” “Before You Right Now,” “Hey Children,” and “Child Continued.”

The Perfect Storm

Posted by Oats

May 192009

Lately, I’ve been coming across a lot of articles online that attempt to show neophytes and the hippie-averse how to learn to love, or at least approach, The Grateful Dead.

How To Get Into The Grateful Dead

Resonant Frequency #59: Broken Thoughts and Hand-Me-Downs

Dead Reckoning: What Your Favorite Grateful Dead Song Says About You

For some reason, I love to read these articles, even as I remain apprehensive about listening to The Dead. But that’s neither here nor there.

I’m wondering what other artists that could serve as the subject of these kinds of articles. I surmise: Not that many. This is because The Grateful Dead are the Perfect Storm of bands.

The Reasons:

1) They jam. And even beyond that, there is something in the organization of their sound, something about the laid-back-ness perhaps, that easily turns a lot of people off.

2) They have a voluminous catalog, especially with all the bootlegs and whatnot. Steely Dan turn a lot of people off with their jazz chords and tasty licks, but they do not have a legendary live career and tapers’ community.

2) Their fans are hippies. Zappa doesn’t get as much hatred as the Dead, I think partially because people respect his lifelong disdain for hippies.

But I’d love to be proven wrong. Is any other band such a Perfect Storm of love and hate as The Grateful Dead? Did I miss any other aspects of The Dead’s Perfect Storm? Do let me know.

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