Jefferson Airplane

[collin]

This clip is epic :



It has it all:

Singing Grace Slick Nun
Psychedelic pickguard /electrical tape 360/12 FG (Paul Kantner)
Lava Lamps
Spooky looking haunted house backdrop
Nervous and confused Dick Clark
Horrible interview questions
Classic R&R....

Love it.

[kiramdear]

Collin, thanks for making my evening complete.

I wonder why Marty didn't take his place in front?
Jack looking like he's been hanging out with Pig Pen.
Jorma's predictions for the Summer Of Love.

The questions weren't actually that bad if you consider the time and source. The answers were better, though.

[firstbassman]

As most of you know, I have started several Airplane related threads.

(Geez, look at my avatar!)

I wonder why Marty didn't take his place in front?

Kira, it would take a while to answer that question in detail but I think it is obvious when you realize that the band was completely Marty's idea. He wrote most of the songs on the first two albums. The original female singer (Signe Anderson) left. The new singer brings over two songs (one written by her brother-in-law) and they become huge hits!

For Marty it was all downhill from there. I'd feel the exact same way.

[kiramdear]

Do you think he was just peed off that day? I saw them play those songs plenty of times and Marty would usually share the singing spotlight with Grace. Also I saw him too "ill" to perform once or twice, when he sat in the back. But on teevee with lipsynching there was no need to hide him back there. Strange. When did he quit the band (the first time)?

[collin]

The new singer brings over two songs (one written by her brother-in-law) and they become huge hits!

For Marty it was all downhill from there. I'd feel the exact same way

That's just it......it's a bummer for Marty that his material didn't become as popular, but even just two solid hits were enough to cement the popularity and reputation of the band forever. Without them, people would be scratching their heads saying..."Jefferson WHO?" or maybe saying nothing at all....

It's a bummer that things were downhill for Marty after Grace joined the band, but he should have been thankful that he was along for the ride, even if they weren't riding HIS material.

[kiramdear]

This clip is from the verge of their initial huge success. Although Marty is already beginning to tire of the "star trips", I don't think that he's completely disillusioned yet. I think he was still enjoying the ride at this point in time. IMO, up until Baxter's they were stable and balanced in the musical department, with contributions from all quarters accepted. They never were huge single hit makers, but they had astounding album sales. After Baxter's I think Marty reached the point of no return with his enthusiasm, and eventually froze out by 1971. This is, of course, grossly oversimplified, but it's just to submit that the dick Clark clip above was made only a few months after they even started playing away from SF and their singles were still hot. Despite the various and sundry differences and struggles that first defined them and then killed them (and made them legend) and which were always there, as you point out, they held together musically and personnel stayed pretty stable for five years.

[firstbassman]

Do you think he was just peed off that day? I saw them play those songs plenty of times and Marty would usually share the singing spotlight with Grace. When did he quit the band (the first time)?

Yeah, Kira that particular day, who knows? He may have been peed. Alcohol was also something Marty used a lot to help soothe the wounds he was feeling.


What do you mean the "first time" Marty quit?
Marty only left the Airplane one time.

His last show was in November 1970 (just after I saw them at the Fillmore East ... Grace was seven months pregnant and Marty was in his 'Charles Manson' mode).

[kiramdear]

What do you mean the "first time" Marty quit?
Marty only left the Airplane one time.

Yeah, you're right. I stand corrected.

His last show was in November 1970 (just after I saw them at the Fillmore East ... Grace was seven months pregnant and Marty was in his 'Charles Manson' mode).[/color]

That's what I may have been thinking of when I referred to "the first time". But he actually "re-joined", if only for a night, during one of the shows which became the 30 Seconds Over Winterland album. After that they all quit until re-forming in 1989. I know about the "reunion" because I was there with a backstage pass. I guess all their friends wanted to say goodbye because the crowd backstage comprised just about everyone who ever played with or near them, as well as Jerry and that crew. Marty was through his Manson phase and looked more clean-shaven cowboy that night than anything else.
Sadly, the alcohol that you mention prevented him from doing little more than greeting the crowd and singing the choruses to "Somebody To Love", with some coaching from Grace and me and my friend. Seeing him in the wings that night, Grace called to him to come on stage. He first refused and waved them on to the next song. My friend and I went to him and said things like, "Marty, go out and see the people. They just want to see you". He sat, holding his head in his hands, and said to us, "I can't. I can't remember the words." He was soooooo drunk. "It doesn't matter", we answered, "They just want to see you". That was the gist of our conversation, and we succeeded in getting him to stagger out and sing STL with them one last time. Papa John was there, Jack and Jorma at their fiercest best, and all in all it was a fantastic show. Mid-1972, I guess.

I ran into Marty many times over the years that followed, as he was more accessible than the others and would play out everywhere. What a cool, shy, funny guy. He is a very nice person. I thought Wolfpack stood a good chance of doing Marty some good, but they didn't get much of a break outside The City.

[8mileshigher]

I thought Wolfpack stood a good chance of doing Marty some good, but they didn't get much of a break outside The City.

I remember Marty put together another solo effort called "Bodacious" and Bodacious second-billed a couple of times at Winterland for awhile and then after their one LP died on the charts they disappeared. I think Bodacious had one minor hit that got some airplay. Then another re-incarnation came about ….I have a album called KBC which was Kantner, Balin and Cassidy. KBC was formed several years after Hot Tuna first got cookin, but Jack and Jorma's alliance has always been sort of loosly structured and goes through it periods of performances and laying low. Jack has come back and played with Airplane/Starship members on several occasions. I think KBC just had the one LP.

Some observers characterize that Marty always seemed a little bitter that his creation, Jefferson Airplane, sort of evolved out and away from him and he became a side-man. But there has always been a magnetism between the band members that transcends their differences. Marty went on to work with Paul and Grace and contributed "Caroline" on the Dragonfly album in the early 70s that eventually morphed into Jefferson Starship. And wasn't Marty's "Miracles" the biggest hit ever for Jefferson Starship ?

Hey, on that Dick Clark intro on the You Tube.... is clean-cut Dick Clark sort of signifying or implying the motions for smoking something, when he brings his fingers up to his lips when he talks about the album title Surrealistic Pillow ?

[kiramdear]

Rich, thanks for filling in the blanks here. I agree with your comments 100%. Yeah, "Miracles" proved to everyone, once and for all, that Marty was not to be overlooked.

[shamustwin]

They look somewhat...modern!

[collin]

wasn't Marty's "Miracles" the biggest hit ever for Jefferson Starship ?

haha, I'd think it would be "Nothing's gonna stop us now," or (the abomination) "We built this city."

....or was that just Starship....not Jefferson Starship? bah....can't get all the sad details straight.

[firstbassman]

Kira,

Thanks for that story. Great stuff.

I've never met Marty and he may be a great guy.
But when he tours with Paul and the guys he never (at least in my experiences) comes out to see anyone and sign autographs like Kantner and Freiberg do.
I once asked Paul about it and got an answer that basically said he wasn't Marty's keeper and that Balin will just do what he freakin' wants.

[kiramdear]

Marty always struck me as a little private, nervous and shy (but I really only spoke with him a few times at shows, and once on the street). I don't think he went in much for the star treatment, and even less so as time went by. He really only seemed to enjoy himself when he was singing.

[beatlefreak]

Here's the Airplane two years later at Woodstock:

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