The White Rabbit Mourns
Paul Kantner, the Jefferson Airplane’s co-founder, has died. He was 74.
The Fox News obit is IMO a good one. It’s worth a look if you were a fan.
Politically, IMO the man was out to lunch. But he and his compadres nonetheless made some powerful music.
RIP, Mr. Kantner.
Category: Blue Skies, Pointless blather
Honestly, I;m surprised any of that group survived this long.
Seen on Facebook: “It’s time we all started thinking about what kind of world we’re going to leave for Keith Richards.” 😀
I think Keith plans on playing at his own funeral. And given how damn lucky he’s been to have survived this long, he just might be lucky enough to pull it off! (smile)
Mr. Richards passed away sometime in 1972. The chemicals still coursing through his veins will not allow his body to cease operations until sometime after 2035.
Didn’t he fall out of a coconut tree a few years ago? WTF he was doing up there no-one actually explained
See the weekend open thread as to Daniel Bernath’s coconut dilemma.
When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen’s off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head
Feed your head
I’ve always said a lot of these people have politics that aren’t realistic on any platform, but I don’t mind that they are the dreamers.
In addition to our warriors we need the workers, the bureaucrats, but perhaps most importantly we need the dreamers, whether they are dreamers in the realm of science and work to dream the next big invention or they are simply the artistic dreamers who would like buy the world a coke and sing Kumbaya our culture and our lives are better for their presence.
We don’t all have to agree on anything, but that variety makes this nation such a joy to behold. We are all of us somewhat different but all of us Americans.
The dreamers make the dreary reality of being a warrior more bearable at times, when the job itself becomes drudgery or worse. The dreamers are a necessary component, and I am always saddened to see them leave the planet at whatever age.
I agree Hondo, some truly powerful music. Grace Slick didn’t always require her own zip code, once upon a time she was slender, beautiful muse and the JA was a sign of the times wherever they performed.
We’ll miss you Paul, rest easy if you can.
Amen, VOV.
Ditto.
Sigh. You know you’re getting ancient when all the bands of your youth are passing. Saw them live in the Bay area late 60’s. Wonderful memories. RIP
Your getting ancient when you turn on the radio and the bands you loved in high school are on the oldies, ahem, Classic rock station
You know that you are getting old when your favorite musicians are dying of natural causes.
You know you are getting old when you hear your favorite classical rock song being done by a string instrumental group minus voices and piping in elevators,hospital offices and corridors, department stores and nursing homes.”In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” is a good example as well as “White Rabbit”
The day I heard Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir on the Muzak at a Denny’s in Madison WI is the day I realized my days as a living breathing human being were numbered…
LOL
Somehow, in reading this, it brought back memories of Grace Slick singing “When the truth is found to be lies”. Made me think of TAH’s never-ending efforts in flushing out Military Embellishers and Phonies. Thanks, Hondo, for the comments.
There was an interview done probably at least a decade ago, with Slick, who has repeatedly declined offers to take part in a Jefferson Airplane “reunion” even though I’m sure it would make millions of $$.
In the interview, Slick said something to the effect that to see old people trying to recreate the spirit or the atmosphere of what she thought was a revolution, is just sad and pathetic.
And I kind of admire her for saying that. Even as I enter my “nostalgia years” I have to say that I think there are some experiences of the past – even good ones – that need to stay in the past. Trying to re-create them just sullies and cheapens them.
You can’t catch lightning in a bottle and you can’t recreate the zeitgeist of the 60’s by having a “reunion” of geriatric rock stars who have been living a comfortable life for the past 40 years.
Are you telling me that I should just continue to be a legend in my own mind?
Well stated, VOV. I don’t get upset when musicians or artists express wacky political views because I expect artists to be a little crazy, a little out there, a little bit off the map. In fact, I want them to be out there. And I don’t have to agree with someone politically to appreciate the art they create.
Camille Paglia (another pretty hard lefty that I like) has said something to the effect that “great art rarely comes from a healthy mind.”
Thanks, I agree with you about Paglia she makes some pretty outrageous comments but she’s pretty consistent and I can respect fortitude even in disagreement.
The comments section of the FoxNews article is pretty mean spirited & a bit hilarious.
I have some “memories” of Jefferson Airplane/Starship during the 60’s+ that I can’t/won’t share here – save one: Walking out of Woodstock while they were playing so I could be back at work on time Monday. We stopped behind the stage to listen a bit before walking several miles back to the car (59 Buick) to head back to Cape Cod.
Worth noting that Jorma Kaukonen is still alive and has a patch in Ohio.
Grace Slick was born in 1939 and will be 77 in October. Thus, she has not been trustworthy in nearly 47 years.
At one point a hell of a band till they started taking their own selves too seriously… unfortunately they really peaked at Surrealistic Pillow (there are maybe a coupla good songs on Bathing at Baxter’s total, and Revolution was the only good one on their 4th.) It’s indicative that not long into the ’70s people would go to a JA concert to see Hot Tuna open for them – and then leave. Won’t ever get rid of the old Great Society or Pillow albums… but I laugh when folks say “they were the most influential SF group of the time. (There was this other group called the Grateful Dead, y’see)
correction, think the song title from the 4th was “Volunteers.” Age and a few pickled brain cells tends to do that to you…
Man. Jefferson Airplane. I still think the guitar lead in to White Rabbit is a classic.
And Grace Slick … dear Lord that awesome voice! Never could decide between White Rabbit or Somebody to Love as my favorite cut.
Talk about antique, I’m amazed Mick Jagger is still kicking.
“Up against the wall, MF’er…”
And for you Airplane freaks, how does one smoke caterpillar, anyway?
My guess is the same way Tommy Chong smoked roaches, 2/17 Air Cav:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z08zZ1xW9Yw
(smile)
I remember the remake of White Rabbit in “Sucker Punch” as being quite a good one. The video that comes up when you put it into youtube is classic psychedelic rock from the 60’s.
Never met them, but I remember when the Airplane rented a big falling down house on the Bolinas Lagoon north of San Francisco. At that time Bolinas, population around 500 of mostly reclusive eccentrics, had two main attributes. There were three bars: Smiley’s, Scowley’s, and Snarley’s. There was also a feud going on with the highway department. It seems that every time CalTrans would put up a road sign pointing to the place, some of the locals would go and cut it down.
For the revolution, my brothers…
Leaving on a Jet Plane… Wasn’t it written for our father’s and brothers going to Vietnam?
Country Joe and the Fish….what are we fighting for? I don’t give a damn next stop is Vietnam…
All the bands that wrote songs that were meant for the guys in Nam….CRAP! I have a 8mm tape of a protest down Geary in Frisco… Finding it and sending copy to Jonn…
Not sure that is correct – most of the artists of the day seemed genuinely surprised at how popular their songs were with military members especially those IN Viet Nam. Most said that their protest songs were written for civilians. Some actually wrote them as recruiting tools.
How ironic that John Denver wrote “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” RIP John.
Signe Anderson, the Airplane’s original female vocalist, died on the same day as Kantner.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/signe-anderson-original-jefferson-airplane-singer-dead-at-74-20160131#ixzz3yqjuf2zG