Been really busy lately. Rome wasn’t built in a day. It took a day and a half. Actually, I’m nowhere near finished with it. I have four more major palatial buildings to put in, then all the detail work; the streets of Ancient Rome were packed with every hustle imaginable. There were no police, no justice system, nothing like that at all. Every citizen was responsible for the safety of his home, and houses had no windows, for protection against intrusion — the only light and air came from the atrium. I’ve taken a break from Roman towers and fortifications at 3200 metres, in order to do a little work on the Grand Tour…
This morning, I find myself working on the Saloon near the big church, not quite all the way to the Tower of Knowledge.
I’m building a multi-level stage, just like the one we built back in 1967 for Barry and Larry, our drummer and bass in the L.A. Warlocks — I’ve told the story of the Warlocks and the famous Doors poster screwup a million times. To make it short, Jerry and Mountain Girl came down to L.A. to help out with what turned out to be the last album Jefferson Airplane made for RCA.
Things were not going so well. There was extreme tension between RCA A&R people, mostly Joe Reisman who ran the department — and the Jefferson Airplane…
“Airplane” meaning a complex somewhat symbiotic creature with as many directions and purposes as there were members of the band.
I forget now who was with whom and who went with whom and who was caught in bed with whom, but the end result was that Signe had to leave, and Grace Slick came in as lead singer, with a lucky hit, “White Rabbit” that gave the group some early traction.
Jack and Jorma couldn’t wait to get out on their own with Papa John. Other band members resented being shadowy figures behind the side-man instrumentations.
Various substance abuses explain the rest. Jerry Garcia made a perfect interface between the Airplane and the uptight A&R department chiefs, but eventually it all blew up and the Airplane became the Starship — for legal reasons, mostly snarls with management and RCA executives over name rights, Marty Ballin was dropped and the band went on to their present course, which is “hurtling toward Eternity, Obscurity and Obliteration.
Not at all unusual, but unhandy when you want to keep on turnin’, Rollin’ on the River, by which the Jefferson Airplane was overcome and sunken over a half century ago.
Speaking of the River, on the north levee you’ll find this New Orleans Jazz Club. It’s a rather large and comfortable venue with very powerful “French Quarter Bourbon Street” vibes, and it could prove useful and popular, considering it’s smaller than the head of a pin, but then, so are you.
We’ll talk.
See You At The Top!!!
gorby