Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    

Hey, do the folks on the 2400 Fulton list know about this interview?  Let's
hear ffrom you -- send questions or comments to inkwell-hosts@well.com
  

    
>>I had no idea there was a Starship between about 1979 and
> the Airplane reunion in 1989 until I read your book!<
>
> Let's just say you didn't miss much...

Well, there was something worse than Starship:  That torturous ballad
by Marty Balin that mysteriously persisted on the radio for weeks and
weeks and weeks (about '81 or '82).  They must have shelled out a lot
of payola to get it that much airplay.  Did it actually sell?  I still
think that's the worst record ever produced.  And I actually liked
Balin's voice before that.  (I forget the name of that thing - "Hearts"
was it?)  The second-worst song ever is clearly, "Ride the Tiger."

But _Surrealistic Pillow_ remains one of my "desert island" choices.
  

    
I totally agree withyour last statement, gerry, and I totally disagree with
your first.  I haven't listened to it inn quote a while, but I recall really
liking "Hearts."
  

    
"Ride the Tiger" was on Red Octopus. Is the Balin thing you hate
"Miracles" (7 mins. on RO, 3.55 on the single edited down from it)?
That's his best musical composition, though my favorite Balin vocal
remains "Today".
  

    
Hmmm...  Gans, I tend to respect your opinion on matters of music, so
I'm sitting up and taking notice.  Are we talking about the same thing?
 I'm not sure I got the title right, but it was a ballad - a tedious
ballad - with words "Is everything alright..."  Maybe it's just me, but
it grated on me something terrible.

slippage from <jax> -- Yes, "Today" definitely - I loved it since
1967.
  

    
That's the song, Gerry.  It;'s no "Today," but I liked it.
  

    
And there we have it - further proof that I'm an oddball.     ;-)

As my dad used to say, "That's why they make different kinds of
whiskey."
  

    
Well, I like "Hearts" and I really, really like "Ride the Tiger," so
there ya go. A matter of taste, I suppose. I can see where some people
might find some of Marty's ballads a bit on the mawkish side but I've
never encountered anyone who thought "Ride the Tiger" was a lousy song.
What is it that you don't like about it? It's got one of the great
all-time Chaquico guitar riffs and it soars throughout--JS used it to
open their shows for a long time. It was on "Dragon Fly," by the way,
not "Red Octopus." Are you sure that's the song you're thinking of?
I'll grant you that the line "Look to the summer of '75, whole world is
gonna come alive" is a bit silly (especially in retrospect--I think
disco was the only thing that came alive) but I still find the song
thrilling.

I'll tell you what marty song I don't like: "Summer of Love," of the
'89 Airplane reunion album. 
  

    
one of my favorite starship moment....band is playing the universal
amphitheatre....the band is yelling "fuck you, we do what we want"....paul
is on his knees pounding his fist on the stage.

ah, the good old days!   %)
  

    
(Didn't Frampton come alive in '75?)
  

    
Oooooooh ... that hurts!
  

    
Only if you listen to it, David. 
  

    <scribbled by gerry Sun 3 Aug 03 14:37>
  

    <scribbled by gerry Sun 3 Aug 03 14:38>
  

    
Now that I think of it, "Ride the Tiger" wasn't that bad.  I liked it
until I paid attention to the lyrics.  I didn't want to hear it
anymore after that.  I thought the words were dumb.

"Black wants out of the streets 
Yellow wants the country 
Red wants the country back 
And white wants out of this world 
Sing - sing to the sky 
I want to ride the tiger... 

"...It's like a tear in the hands of a western man 
Tell you about salt, carbon and water 
But a tear to an oriental man 
He'll tell you about sadness and sorrow or the love of a man and 
a woman." 
  

    
Jeff, 
good, good stuff. just read the first half of the book in one sitting.
i appreciate the notes about where to find the songs (and versions of
songs) that you mention in the text. its also nice that you provide
pronunciations for some of the names involved.
  

    
>"...It's like a tear in the hands of a western man 
Tell you about salt, carbon and water 
But a tear to an oriental man 
He'll tell you about sadness and sorrow or the love of a man and 
a woman." <


I love that verse! This was from Paul and Grace's big Chinese period,
by the way. They were really into kung fu and all that stuff, and of
course named their daughter China. They had a karate teacher named
Byong Yu (which is where the song title "Be Young You" came from) and
he actually gave Paul those words and Paul used them in the song.


OK, now who's using Flower Bomb Song as their ID here? What a hoot.
That song makes my book too. And despite Crosby's protestations, the
Airplane definitely performed it, though I've yet to come across any
tapes of it. Glad you like the book--I felt I had to give the
pronunciations. Having heard all sorts of variations on my own last
name, I can only imagine what poor Craig Chaquico and Jorma Kaukonen
have gone through!
  

    
Re: # 101, I wouldn't think you'd want any comments/questions from
Fultonites here, right, Jeff?? ;-)
  

    
Why not?
  

    
>Re: # 101, I wouldn't think you'd want any comments/questions from
Fultonites here, right, Jeff?? ;-)<

Hi Joyce, of course we do! Especially from you. Except maybe let's
stay away from the events of the last couple of days because no one
here will probably care. (I can hear Gans thinking, what events? Of
course we care. But trust me, you probably don't.)
  

    
Uh-oh.
  

    
Hold him upside down and give him a pink belly until he tells :-)
  

    
Let's not.
  

    
Its great that you talk about who wrote what and how.
I think I had pictures of Marty's stuff, for example, being pretty but
sometimes sorta wimpy and then you noted that he wrote "If You Feel"
one of my favorites and pretty blang blam. And, Volunteers, AND Crown
of Creation...
  

    
OK, Jeff.  Let's dish.  What's your take on Marty not wanting to do
Grace??