Mar 31 2010

Mixed Feelings Open Thread

(For your Midnight Madness – promoted by TheMomCat)

Just having a lot of mixed feelings… about everything.

You…?

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  1. for the pleasant camaraderie, acceptance and the occasional lightning bolt, that I have found here at DD.

    Photobucket

  2. can you surrey?

    • Edger on March 31, 2010 at 04:16
    • #

  6. Some interesting background on “Somebody to Love”, Jefferson Airplane’s first and biggest hit, released on April Fool’s Day, 1967 (really), courtesy wikipedia.  And what might the Jefferson Airplane have been without Grace Slick?  Read on for the answer…

    “Somebody to Love” is a rock song that was written by Darby Slick and originally recorded by 1960s folk rock band the Great Society and later by the rock band Jefferson Airplane. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Jefferson Airplane’s version #274 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

    Written by Great Society guitarist Darby Slick and first performed by that band, which included his then-sister-in-law Grace Slick on vocals, the song made little impact outside of the club circuit in the Bay Area. The song was released in 1966 as a single on the North Beach subsidiary of Autumn Records and received minimal circulation outside of San Francisco.

    When Grace Slick departed to join Jefferson Airplane, she took this song with her, bringing it to the Surrealistic Pillow sessions, along with her own composition “White Rabbit.” Subsequently, the Airplane’s more ferocious rock and roll version became the band’s first and biggest success; the single by Jefferson Airplane scored at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

    “Volunteers” was released in September, 1969, and was also performed at Woodstock that year.  I posted a list of my favorite protest songs from the late 1960s and early 1970s yesterday on this site, and, in retrospect, should have included this song as well.  The following background is provided courtesy wikipedia…

    “Volunteers” is a Jefferson Airplane single that was released to promote the album Volunteers two months before its release. It was written by Marty Balin and Paul Kantner together. Marty was woken up by a truck one morning, which happened to be a truck with Volunteers of America painted on the side.[1] Marty started writing lyrics down and then asked Paul to help him with the music.

  7. The later incarnation of Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship released a studio album in 2008, which has what may be one of the best album titles ever, “Jefferson’s Tree of Liberty.”  You can read more about it here and see an image of their album cover.

    Marty Balin, one of the founding members of Jefferson Airplane, and a lead singer, had mild autism as a child, which continued to affect him in later life as well.  He had, arguably, the second most recognizable voice among the members of Jefferson Airplane.  Balin released a solo album in 1981, entitled, “Balin”, which yielded two Top 40 singles, “Hearts”, which rose to #8 on the charts, and “Atlanta Lady”, which topped out at #27.  


  8. Im kinda new here, but some of you may recognize me from dkos. I think I am going to start commenting here more often.  

  9. David and Linda La Flamme’s group, “It’s a Beautiful Day”, featured haunting vocals and included the violin, adding a wonderful effect. David La Flamme appears with Jefferson Starship on one of their songs from their 2008 album, “Jefferson’s Tree of Liberty.”  

    I had the privilege of seeing them perform locally a couple of times around 2006. Linda La Flamme (David’s wife) was part of the group, however, even though she had the same name, she was actually the second Linda La Flamme. Her voice sounds very much like her predecessor, the original Linda La Flamme, who is heard on the 1968 album.  

    Toward the end of the first set, they invited Jerry Miller to the stage to perform a couple of numbers with them.  They had known each other during the late 1960s in San Francisco since Jerry was one of the founding members of “Moby Grape.”  

    They both seemed like very nice people, and sold new copies of their “It’s a Beautiful Day” album, which they autographed.  Otherwise, unless this has changed recently, most versions of the album that we available were either very expensive or were imports, the latter seemingly of inferior quality.

    The following, again courtesy wikipedia, explains more about their first album, the eponymous 1968 album, “It’s a Beautiful Day.”  

    The cover was designed by George Hunter and painted by Kent Hollister based on the cover of a housekeeping magazine from around 1900[1]. The cover used an old version of the Columbia logo that George Hunter felt was fitted with the feel of the rest of the cover[1]. The album cover is number 24 on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 greatest album covers.

    It's A Beautiful Day Pictures, Images and Photos

    The group’s signature song “White Bird” was inspired by the experiences David and Linda LaFlamme had while living in Seattle, Washington. For a few weeks in December 1967 the group members lived in the attic of an old house while playing and rehearsing at Seattle’s Encore Ballroom. In an ironic twist on the band’s name, the song was partly inspired by Seattle’s rainy winter weather. In a later interview David LaFlamme said:

    Where the ‘white bird’ thing came from … We were like caged birds in that attic. We had no money, no transportation, the weather was miserable. We were just barely getting by on a very small food allowance provided to us. It was quite an experience, but it was very creative in a way.[2]

    Here is “White Bird”…

    and another great song from this album, “Hot Summer Day”…

  10. Although he is obscured by the bushes in this video, here is one of his performances at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, on September 2, 2007.  He is assisted by David La Flamme, of the S. F. group, “It’s a Beautiful Day” and Tiran Porter on bass, formerly of the Doobie Brothers.

    Jerry Miller was ranked #69 on the Rolling Stone list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, from 2003.  Here is Jerry on lead guitar and vocals in this 1994 performance.

  12. …clouds, looked at life from both sides now…

  13. Obama just the way he did to Napoleon: He angrily changed the 3rd symphony from Bonaparte to Eroica after Napleon’s betrayal from the so called man of the people to an emperor.  

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