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The History Of Starship, Part 2 (1973-1965).
|1972|1971|1970|1969|
|1968|1967|1966|1965|
Go to Part 1 (Present-1974)
1973
April "30 Seconds Over Winterland", a live album recorded during the last U.S.
tour, is released.
July Kantner, Slick and Freiberg's "Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun"
reaches U.S. #52.
October Balin's new group with Vic Smith, Bodacious D.F., releases a self-title
debut album.
1972
January 1 "Pretty as You Feel", an edit from a 30 minute studio jam, featuring
Jerry Garcia, Carlos Santana and Creach, makes U.S. #60
Kantner and Slick's "Sunfighter", which features baby China on the cover,
makes U.S. #89, Creach also releases his first solo album on Grunt, featuring
guest spots from Airplane members, while Hot Tuna appears on David Crosby's
"If Only I Could Remember My Name".
April Jefferson Airplane members regroup for fresh recording sessions, during
which Covington leaves to join Black Kangaroo, and is replaced by ex-Turtles
drummer, John Barbata (b. Apr 1, 1946, NJ).
May Hot Tuna's "Burgers" makes U.S. #68.
August 12 Airplane plays at the Roosevelt Raceway, Long Island, NY, as part of
the "Festival of Hope" benefit for the Nassau Society for Crippled Children and Adults.
August 21 Slick is maced and Kantner slightly injured when a scuffle ensues, after
the group's equipment manager calls police "pigs" during a show at the Rubber
Bowl, Akron, OH. Police arrest Casady and drag him offstage.
September "Long John Silver" reaches U.S. #20.
September 22 US tour, which has included guitarist David Freiberg (b. Aug 24, 1938, Boston MA), fresh from Quicksilver Messenger Service, ends at Winterland, with
Balin guesting. It will prove to be the last Airplane gig for 17 years. The
Hot Tuna members make a final break and resist any attempts to woo them back.
(The band will make six more albums before breaking up in 1978.)
1971
January 25 Slick gives birth to a daughter, modestly named God, at a San
Francisco hospital, subsequently reducing the child's name to China.
February Compilation album, "The Worst of Jefferson Airplane" reaches U.S. #12.
April Balin leaves the group, taking a year off before returning to produce the
band Grootna for Columbia Records in 1972, before becoming lead vocalist for
Bodacious D. F. the following year.
May 13 Slick crashes her Mercedes into a wall near the Golden Gate Bridge
in San Francisco. She is hospitalized briefly, causing Jefferson Airplane
recording sessions to be canceled.
July Hot Tuna's second album, "First Pull Up, Then Pull Down", makes U.S. #43.
August 2 Jefferson Airplane launches its own RCA-distributed label, Grunt Records.
October The first Grunt release, Jefferson Airplane's "Bark", climbs to U.S. #11,
eventually earning a gold disk.
1970
February Dryden, long dis-illusioned, quits, set to join New Riders of the Purple
Sage in 1971. He is replaced by Joey Covington, who has been drumming with Hot Tuna.
February 27 The group is fined $241,000 for obscenity in Oklahoma City, OK.
March "Volunteers" reaches U.K. #34.
May 16 Balin is arrested for drug possession in a Bloomington, MN hotel
room. He will be sentenced to one year's hard labor and a $100 fine, reduced
on appeal to just the fine.
June 27 The group co-headlines the "Bath Festival of Blues & Progressive
Music" at the Royal County Fairgrounds, Shepton Mallet, Somerset with Led
Zeppelin. Tickets for the all-weekend festival are 2 Pounds (10 Shillings).
October Slick, now pregnant by Kantner, is unable to make live appearances.
Casady and Kaukonen, who have, for some time, been playing occasional support
gigs to Jefferson Airplane as Hot Tuna, either with other musicians or as an
acoustic duo, formalize the offshoot group. They recruit Papa John Creach (b.
May 28, 1917 Beaver Falls, PA), who also becomes a member of Jefferson
Airplane, making his debut with the band at Winterland on the 5th (Balin will
refuse to perform in a tribute to Janis Joplin, who had died the previous
day). Kaukonen switches to electric guitar and Covington plays drums. A Hot
Tuna gig at the New Orleans House, Berkeley, is recorded and given a low-key
release.
November Kantner and Slick have invited Jerry Garcia, David Crosby and Graham Nash to contribute to "Blows Against the Empire", billed as by Paul Kantner &
Jefferson Starship (the first use of this name), which reaches US #20 and is
the first album to be nominated for the sci-fi writers' Hugo Awards.
December Hot Tuna plays US dates with Covington as drummer and Papa John Creach on violin.
1969
January Slick is hospitalized with a suspected throat growth, undergoing a
second operation for nodes on her vocal chords.
April Live album, "Bless Its Pointed Little Head", recorded in 1968 makes U.S. #17
May 16 Casady is arrested for possession of marijuana, in New Orleans, and will receive a 2-year suspended sentence.
June 28 "Bless Its Pointed Little Head" becomes the group's first U.K.
chart entry, spending a week at #38.
August 1 The band performs at the Atlantic City Pop Music Festival, Atlantic
City, NJ, before an audience of 110,000.
August 12 The group headlines a concert at Tanglewood, Lenox, MA, with B.B. King
and special guest stars, the Who.
August 17 Jefferson Airplane closes the second day, by now early Sunday morning,
of the "Woodstock Music & Art Fair", Bethel, NY.
October 17 Kantner is busted for marijuana possession in Honolulu, HI, found
guilty of a misdemeanor and fined $350.
November 26 The group plays at the Fillmore East, with Slick dressed as Hitler
and Rip Torn making an appearance as Richard Nixon.
December "Volunteers", the band's most overtly political work, reaches U.S. #13.
December 6 The band takes part in the Rolling Stones' ill-fated concert at Altamont
Speedway, CA. Balin is attacked by one of the Hells Angels "handling" security.
December 20 Extracted title track, "Volunteers", makes U.S. #65.
December 31 The group plays New Year's Eve show at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.
1968
February Now once again managed by Bill Thompson (due to Graham's dismissal), the group's "After Bathing at Baxter's" marking the beginning of a working
relationship with producer Pat Ieraci, reaches U.S. #17. (Casady is currently
featured on Jimi Hendrix's album, "Electric Ladyland", and Country Joe and the
Fish's "Together").
February 14 Airplane and the Grateful Dead each take a 10% interest in a partnership to manage the Carousel Ballroom in San Francisco.
April 20 "Greasy Heart" stops at U.S. #98.
April 30 The band opens the Kaleidescope Club on Sunset Strip in Los Angeles with
Canned Heat.
June 28 The group appears on the cover of Life magazine, which features
articles on Cream, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Mothers of
Invention and the Who, under the caption "Jefferson Airplane, top Rock Group,
with music that's Hooked The Whole Vibrating World."
July 5 Bill Graham takes over the running of the Carousel Ballroom, renaming
it the Fillmore West, while the band buys a house at 2400 Fulton in San
Francisco (for $65,000, selling it in 1985 for $650,000), which will become
its headquarters.
August 4-5 The group performs at the "Newport Pop Festival" in Costa Mesa, CA
alongside the Byrds, the Grateful Dead, Sonny & Cher, Steppenwolf and others.
August 29 Jefferson Airplane makes its first live U.K. appearance at a party at the
Revolution club in London, at the start of its first European tour, which
includes a well-received appearance at the "Isle of Wight Festival" and a free
gig at Parliament Hill Fields in London.
September 6-7 The group plays two nights at London's Roundhouse on a bill with
the Doors.
September 15 A plastered Jim Morrison wanders on stage and collapses at Marty
Balin's feet during a concert in Amsterdam.
October 24-26 Returned home, they perform at the Fillmore West.
November "Crown of Creation" hits U.S. #6.
November 10 The group makes its third appearance on CBS-TVs "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour."
December 7 The extracted title track, "Crown of Creation", makes U.S. #64. French
movie director, Jean-Luc Godard films the band playing on a rooftop, for his
projected "An American Movie" film. After Godard drops his plans, the footage
is picked up by documentary film-maker DA Pennebaker, and is use in "One PM".
Kaukonen and Casady form a splinter group, initially called Hot Shit, then renamed Hot Tuna.
1967
January 8 Now managed by Bill Graham, the band appears at an RCA promotional
party at Webster Hall, Greenwich Village, New York.
January 14 They play the first "Human Be-In" in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco,
before embarking on their first East Coast tour.
February 3-5 They perform at the Fillmore Auditorium with Quicksilver Messenger
Service.
May 7 The group guests on CBS-TVs "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour".
June "Surrealistic Pillow", the first album to feature Slick, vocals and
produced by Rick Jarrard, with the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia as musical
advisor, hits U.S. #3, earning a gold disk.
June 16-18 The band is the sixth act to appear on the second evening of the
Monterrey International Pop Festival at the County Fairgrounds, Monterrey, CA.
"Somebody to Love", written by Darby Slick, Grace's brother-in-law, hits U.S. #5.
June 20-25 The group plays at the Fillmore with the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
July 29 "White Rabbit", a surreal interpretation of Alice in Wonderland
written by Slick, hits U.S. #8, also becoming a million seller.
August "Surrealistic Pillow" is released in the UK, in an altered form which
excludes major tracks, such as "White Rabbit" and "Plastic Fantastic Lover",
and substitutes for them from the un-issued in the UK first album.
August 15 The group plays with the Grateful Dead at the Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, CA.
August 23 "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil" makes U.S. #42.
December 23 Watch Her Ride reaches U.S. #61.
December 31 The band performs a New Year's Eve concert, with Big Brother and the
Holding Company, at the Fillmore West.
1966
February 26 Following the release of its debut single, "It's No Secret", in
January, the band plays at the Fillmore West on a bill with Big Brother & the
Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Grass Roots and the Great
Society. (During the year they will perform at the venue more than ten times,
sharing the bill on most of those occasions with either the Grateful Dead or
Paul Butterfield.)
May Spence leaves, and heads to Mexico, before returning to the Bay Area to
form Moby Grape. His replacement is jazz-schooled drummer Dryden (b. April 7,
1938, New York, NY), currently drumming with the Ashes (which will evolve into
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy.).
June 24 The group takes part in the "KFRC Presents the Beach Boys Summer
Spectacular" at the Cow Palace, San Francisco, sharing a bill with the
headliners, Lovin' Spoonful, Chad & Jeremy, Percy Sledge,
the Byrds and Sir Douglas Quintet, among others.
July 4 They participate in the "Berkeley Folk Festival", Berkeley ,CA.
August Just prior to the release of its debut album, the group fires manager
Katz, replacing him with interim, Bill Thompson.
September The band appears at the 'Monterrey Jazz Festival", the first rock group
to do so.
September 11 The Great Society performs in their final concert.
October 15 Anderson, unable to cope with the demands of being a new mother and
playing in a band, makes her final appearance with the Airplane in the middle
of a three-day stint at the Fillmore Auditorium.
October 16 Slick makes her debut with the group, bringing with her two songs from
the Great Society, the bolero-like "White Rabbit" and "Somebody To Love"
(The Great Society has recorded two live albums, but Columbia will not release
them until Slick finds fame with Jefferson Airplane.).
November Their debut album, "Jefferson Airplane Takes Off", recorded in December
1965 is released in the U.S. by RCA, and makes #128 (it will not be released in
Britain until 1971.)
1965
July 6 Balin (b. Martyn Jerel Buchwald, Jan 30, 1942, although he will
subsequently claim 1943, Cincinnati, OH) performing in a professional
production of "West Side Story", having cut the solo singles, "I Specialize
In Love" and "Nobody But You" for the Challenger label, and having spent
some time with the folk group the Town Criers while living in Los Angeles, CA,
begins the process of recruiting players for a band he intends to assemble to
play at a club he has acquired at 3138 Fillmore Street, near the marine
district of San Francisco, CA. He has persuaded three investors to contribute
$3,000 each, with his newly-formed group to retain a 25% interest, to purchase
and renovate the now-closed Honeybucket Club. His first recruit is guitarist
Kantner (b. Mar 12, 1941, San Francisco), who has failed in his attempt to
form a folk duo with David Freiberg and whom Balin meets at a local
club The Drinking Gourd. Kantner, in turn, recommends guitarist/vocalist
Kaukonen (b. Dec 23, 1940, Washington DC), whom he has met at Santa Clara
University, Santa Clara, CA and who is about to head for Europe when he is
approached. Upright bass player Bob Harvey and drummer Jerry Peloquin round
out the new band's rhythm section. Signe Anderson (b. Signe Toly, Sept 15,
1941, Seattle WA), who had sung in Portland, WA, as the girl of Two Guys & A
Girl, is heard by Balin at the Drinking Gourd, where her brother is tending
bar, and completes the line-up. They adopt the moniker after local blues
musician Steve Talbot gives Kaukonen the name of a fictitious blues singer,
Blind Thomas Jefferson Airplane, a parody of Blind Lemon Jefferson.
August 13 The group makes its debut on the opening night of the Matrix Club, a
gig reviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle's Ralph Gleason, which leads to
Airplane receiving contract offers from several major companies. Grace Slick is
in attendance at the concert. Peloquin is
soon replaced by Skip Spence (b Alexander Spence, Apr 18, 1944 Windsor, ON,
Canada) who Balin thinks looks right for the part, despite the fact that he
has never played drums. He soon learns.
October 16 Jefferson Airplane headlines the first Family Dog commune "A Tribute
to Dr Strange" dance at Longshoreman's Hall, San Francisco. Kantner is much
taken with Grace Slick (b. Grace Barnett Wing, Oct. 30. 1939, Chicago, IL),
who is singing with another band on the bill, The Great Society.
November Harvey is replaced by Casady (b. John Casady, Apr. 13, 1944, Washington),
with whom Kaukonen played in Washington rock n' roll band, the Triumphs, in
the late '50s. He is about to start a new term in Montgomery Junior College in
Maryland when he receives the call from Kaukonen to join.
November 6 The band participates in the first San Francisco Mime Troupe Benefit,
organized by Bill Graham and featuring Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg
and John Handy.
December 10 Jefferson Airplane performs at the inaugural concert held at Bill
Graham's Fillmore Auditorium with among others, The Great Society. Admission is $1.50.
December 16-18 With a $25,000 deal signed by newly appointed manager Matthew Katz and RCA's West Coast A&R man, Neely Plumb, the group cuts its first tracks, "Its
No Secret", "Runnin' 'Round the World", "High Flyin' Bird", "It's All Right"
and "Run Around" for the label in Los Angeles, with Tommy Oliver producing.
Go to Part 1 (Present-1974)
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