Big Brother history, part four, January to June 1968

Posted on April 26, 2012 by J L tagged.

This is the story of Big Brother and the Holding Company.

January to June 1968

Linda McCartney took this photograph when she was Linda Eastman. Linda and I and quite a few other people became vegetarians at this time, not for our health, as Isaac Bashevis Singer might say, but for the health of the chickens.

Hey, I get to be Kermit the Frog.

5 January 1968 Rainbow Ballroom Fresno California

6 January 1968 Sacramento State College Steve Brown captured this lovely image of Janis.

12 January 1968 Shrine Auditorium Los Angeles

13 January 1968 Barnes Park Bandshell Monterey Park California

16-21 January 1968 Golden Bear Club Huntington Beach California

25 January 1968 Fillmore Auditorium San Francisco

26-27 January 1968 Winterland San Francisco John Byrne Cooke, son of Alistair Cooke. John studied Romance Languages at Harvard. He was our estimable road manager and has remained a good friend.

I don’t want to say that John is tall, but here he is hovering over Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Mimi Fariña and Joan Baez.

John writes western novels, he’s a photographer, he sings Louvin Brothers songs and he introduced us to a whole new world.

John is now writing a book about his days with Janis in Big Brother, the Kozmic Blues Band and Full Tilt.

John took this photograph of Debbie Green and Mimi Fariña.

28 January 1968 Avalon Ballroom San Francisco

We’re playing Oh, Sweet Mary.

Chet and Lori Helms with Bill Graham. Bill is doing the talking. Imagine that.

2 February 1968 The Cheetah Los Angeles

3 February 1968 Earl Warren Showgrounds Santa Barbara

9 February 1968 Santa Clara County Fairgrounds Santa Clara California

10 February 1968 Community Concourse Exhibit Hall San Diego

16 February 1968 Palestra Philadelphia

A palestra was originally a wrestling school in Greece (palaistra). In Italian, the word now means gymnasium.

17 February 1968 Anderson Theatre New York City

This restaurant was right next door to where we played so we spent a lot of time there.

Tastes, feelings, colors, smells, enthusiastic people who were personal, direct and kind, the people we encountered were the opposite of the stereotype of New Yorkers.

Ukrainian easter eggs, Afghan coats, secondhand shops, it was like a giant bazaar.

23-24 February 1968 Psychedelic Supermarket Boston I walked into a store in Boston, asked for yoghurt and the grocer almost spat at me. Yes, folks, there was a time when yoghurt was seen as exotic, something that only a Democrat would eat.

25 February 1968 Rhode Island School of Design Providence Rhode Island

I lived in Paris 1962-1964 and a friend there was feeding yoghurt (yaourt) to his baby. First time I tasted it. Delicious. Tastier then… and there. We often had it with meals in the student cafeteria at the Sorbonne.

1-2 March 1968 The Grande Ballroom Detroit Michigan

8 March 1968 Fillmore East opens. Linda Eastman (McCartney) made this poster.

We were living in the Chelsea Hotel.

Jane Fonda lived in the Chelsea at that time. So did Julie Christie.

Combination of the Two

9 March 1968 Wesleyan University Middletown Connecticut

15-17 March 1968 Electric Factory Philadelphia

22-24 March 1968 The Cheetah Chicago

2-6 April The Generation New York City

7 April 1968 Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Richie Havens, Paul Butterfield. B.B. King inspired us that night with his sacred words and music.

10 April 1968 Anaheim Convention Center

11 April 1968 We play Summertime on ABC-TV Hollywood Palace.

11 April 1968 Fillmore Auditorium with Booker T and the MGs and Iron Butterfly

12-13 April 1968 Winterland San Francisco

14 April 1968 Carousel Ballroom

19 April 1968 Selland Arena Fresno

20 April 1968 University of California Santa Barbara

24 April 1968 Straight Theatre San Francisco

26 April 1968 Foothill College Los Altos California

27 April 1968 San Bernardino California

1 May 1968 College Field Chico State College Chico California

2 May 1968 Carousel Ballroom San Francisco

1968 3-4 May The Shrine Expo Center Los Angeles

3-6 May 1968

10 May 1968 Cal-Poly State University San Luis Obispo California

Sam Berdofsky drew this poster for our gig in Santa Rosa.

11 May 1968

12 May 1968 San Fernando Valley State College Northridge California

15 May 1968

Fairly typical set list at this time.

16 May 1968 That doesn’t look like one of James’ usual guitars.

17 May 1968 Freeborn Hall University of California at Davis

18 May 1968 Santa Clara County Fairgrounds Santa Clara Northern California Folk Rock Festival

This was a special gig, quite memorable. The weather was beautiful and there was a spirit of togetherness.

19 May 1968 Civic Auditorium Pasadena James singing Easy Rider. “And I will even buy you some cardboard fruit.”

21 May 1968 Bermuda Palms San Rafael California One dollar seemed to be the going rate for these Angels affairs. Would be about $10 now.

I used to play saxophone in this building with a big band.

Five errors ? Dave, Janis, Sam, James and Peter. That was easy.

24-26 May 1968 Carousel Ballroom with the Clara Ward Singers

31 May 1968

9 June 1968 Whisky-A-Go-Go Hollywood

13 June 1968 Fillmore Auditorium

14-15 June 1968 Winterland San Francisco

16 June 1968 Fillmore Matrix Benefit

22-23 June 1968 Carousel Ballroom

Owsley Stanley put us on tape many times. SONY released his recording of this engagement.

24 June 1968 Burlingame Country Club Burlingame California

26-29 June 1968 Denver

Janis Joplin

See you next week?

Sam Andrew

___________________________________________________

Big Brother history, part three, July to December 1967

Posted on April 19, 2012 by J L tagged.

July to Decmber 1967

1 July 1967 Avalon Ballroom Big Brother and the Holding Company Quicksilver Mount Rushmore Horns of Plenty

“Big Brother and the Holding Company ?” How did you get a name like that ? Well, on a beautiful spring day in 1965, Chet Helms held in his hands two legal tablets full of quirky, eccentric, purposefully puerile names. Names like Tom Slow and his Sarcastic Grand Mo. Or Country Schmo and The Knish. Or Quicksilver Military Service. The Grapefruit Head. The Jefferson’s Bear Pain.

On one legal tablet, Chet had the name “Big Brother,” no doubt prompted by a recent reading of Orwell. On another legal tablet page, Chet had the words “The Holding Company.” ‘Holding ?’ Why Holding ? “Holding” was slang at that time for “possessing,” as in, “Hey, man, are you holding any drugs ?”

So, on one yellow tablet Chet had “Big Brother” and on the other he had “the Holding Company.” “Big Brother ?” “Holding Company ?” “Big Brother” was big government. “”Holding Company” was corporate government. Corporations weren’t people yet. Their ‘free speech’ hadn’t yet become protected by the Supreme Court, which was still an honorable institution.

“Big Brother ?” “Holding Company ?” Very political. Country Joe and The Fish were a political group, but their name was non political. They should have had our name and we should have had theirs. Country Janis and The Fish would have been something to consider, even if we didn’t have Janis yet.

James Gurley said, “Hey, how is a name like Big Brother and the Holding Company going to fit on a marquee or a record label ?”

And I thought, “You mean there’s going to be a marquee… and a record label ?”

2 July 1967 Mount Tamalpais Marin County, California.

I had a difficult time driving down off Mount Tamalpais after this gig. We had a 1955 Cadillac hearse which was unwieldy anyway, and I didn’t know Marin County yet, and especially Tamalpais, so I had a fun time negotiating all those curves, peaks and valleys after cocktails and cannabis.

4-6 July 1967 Fillmore Bo Diddley Big Joe Williams Quicksilver Big Brother

7-8 July 1967 Circle Star Theatre San Carlos California Theatres in the round, such as the Circle Star, can be quite tricky. Westbury Music Fair on Long Island is another one. When they begin revolving there is a slight jerk that you should be ready for or otherwise you could spill your Bombay martini.

14-15 July 1967 Continental Ballroom grand opening.

We’re playing Cuckoo here, a song that became Oh, Sweet Mary on Cheap Thrills.

20-21 July 1967 Avalon Ballroom Big Brother and the Holding Company Mount Rushmore

23 July 1967 Straight Theatre San Francisco Grand Opening Big Brother and the Holding Company Freedom Highway The Phoenix Wildflower The Grateful Dead Mount Rushmore Quicksilver Messenger Service New Salvation Army Band Mother Earth Country Joe and The Fish The Charlatans Blue Cheer

The Gurley man

28-30 July 1967 California Hall San Francisco

Josie and Eddy

31 July 1967 Haight Ashbury Free Clinic Benefit

8 August 1967 Denver Dog Denver Colorado A band at this event played Bye, Bye, Baby. The guitar player even copied my mistakes. First time I heard that.

10 August 1967 Kaiser Dome San Bernardino

11-12 August 1967 Continental Ballroom Santa Clara California

13 August 1967 Avalon Ballroom

16 August 1967 Golden Gate Park

Sharrie Gomez and I doing a Macy’s ad.

Bo and his balalaika

24-27 August 1967 Avalon Ballroom Big Brother Bo Diddley Bukka White The Salvation Army Banned

28 August 1967 Lindley Meadow Golden Gate Park

Hunter S. Thompson

We had a shoot in Sausalito at the Heliport with Irving Penn.

This is the way Irving Penn’s portrait of us and the Grateful Dead looks on the wall at The National Portrait Gallery, London.

1-3 September 1967 Straight Theatre Haight Ashbury San Francisco

4 September 1967 La Dolphine Estate Debutante Party Burlingame California

6 September 1967

8-9 September 1967 Family Dog Denver

Truth in advertising

You probably cannot see that Janis and I are committing some kind of nefarious act over there under the tree.

15 September 1967 Canceled

September 16, 1967 Monterey Jazz Festival Big Brother T-Bone Walker B. B. King Richie Havens The Clara Ward Singers Afternoon Blues Show

T-Bone Walker was my guitar hero since I was 14, so I was very excited to see him here.

19-24 September 1967 Golden Bear Huntington Beach California with Big Mama Thornton.

5 October 1967 The Matrix San Francisco

6 October 1967 The Ark Sausalito California

7 October 1967 Avalon Ballroom

8 October 1967 Santa Clara Fairgrounds Santa Clara California

13-14 October 1967 Eagles Auditorium Seattle This engagement was canceled, I believe, and we played at The Ark instead.

15-16 October 1967 Avalon Ballroom

20 October 1967 Contra Costa College San Pablo California

27 October 1967 Cal State Hayward California

28 October 1967 McNear’s Beach San Rafael California

28-29 October 1967 Peacock Country Club San Rafael

31 October 1967 Trip Or Freak Hallowe’en Ball Winterland San Francisco

2-3 November 1967 Fillmore San Francisco with Richie Havens

November 1967 Golden Bear Club Huntington Beach California

4 November 1967 Winterland San Francisco with Richie Havens and Pink Floyd

James Gurley plays an F# minor.

4 November 1967 The Ark with Baltimore Steam Packet and Moby Grape

Sally Mann photographed by Rosie McGee

Way Beck in the old days

13 November 1967 Avalon Ballroom Big Brother and the Holding Company The Grateful Dead Quicksilver Messenger Service

16 November 1967 Cubist stock certificate

This event never happened. In any year. I wish it would have.

23-25 November 1967 The Family Dog presents Thanksgiving Turkey Strut and Trot at The Avalon.

24 November 1967 California Hall San Francisco

25 November 1967 Avalon Ballroom Mount Rushmore

1 December 1967 The Matrix San Francisco with Sandy Bull and Dan Hicks

2 December 1967 1st L.A. appearance, it says. I didn’t realize that.

17 December 1967

18 December 1967 California Hall

19 December 1967 Shrine Auditorium Los Angeles

20 December 1967 Whisky-A-Go-Go Hollywood

22 December 1967 Turlock Fairgrounds Turlock California

25 December 1967 Sokol Hall Christmas Party

26-31 December 1967 Winterland San Francisco

Happy New Year ! 31 December 1967

See you next week?

Sam Andrew

____________________________________________

Making A CD.

Posted on December 14, 2011 by J L tagged.

14 December 2011

We Made A CD.

Inspiring, Interesting, enlightening, in vitro, intuitive.

Engrossing, incipient, inclusive, infatuating, impulsive.

In tempo.

On 4 December 2011, I made my way to Cleveland, Ohio.

After landing at the airport, I called Holiday Inn to send me a shuttle

They took me to Snow Road which seemed like a good song title, so Jim Wall, Ben Nieves and I later recorded a thrash/death/progressive/groove/funk metal tune called Snow Road.

In 1965, when Big Brother and the Holding Company started playing with drummer Chuck Jones, we would often go insane for fifteen minutes with no plan at all. In Cleveland just last week, Ben, Jim and I used the same approach to record Snow Road. It is as much fun now as it was then.

Snow Road is in Brook Park which is a part of the Big Creek Watershed in Cleveland.

I was given a room at the end of the hall and very happy with my roll-in shower. It all seemed so Japanese with the drain in the middle of the bathroom floor.

My plan was to walk the watershed to Jim’s house every day.

Easy, right? Educational too.

On the way to the sessions I ran into all sorts of interesting places.

This tree in front of Jim’s house sprouted from an acorn about the time the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Some town officials came out and certified the tree’s age with a plaque, but she stretched as she grew and the plaque disappeared. Maybe she ate it.

Being a rather hoary creature myself, I identified with this magnificent oak.

Hairy, hurried recording sessions.

Mary Bridget Davies showed up with this bag featuring my old pal Chet Helms and his close friend Jesus in their new identities as photo buttons.

Where the magic happened.

I wrote a song called Rock a Bye, Baby when my daughter was born, and then later recorded it with Kathi MacDonald. We decided to try it again here.

Jim’s shirt.

I wrote a couple of ballads that seem straight out of the 1940s, and Ben got into the spirit of it. His solos are so beautiful.

Ben played everything with this thumb. That face is a blister.

Mary Bridget Davies.

We recorded a tune called Dogs In The Rain. I wrote it with Wendy Rich, but we couldn’t hear all the words, so Teressa Wilcox supplied some, and Ben Nieves, always a volunteer, added a few more.

Trying to look like my dad.

We did You’ve Been On My Mind Lately, a positive version of a tune that Big Brother did long ago.

Ben Nieves does Coast To Coast On A Piece Of Toast.

Mary Bridget sang Shining Glory. I wrote this song in the 1990s and it sounds better than ever now.

With Jim Wall.

Beneath that quiet, civilized exterior lies the heart of a savage.

Ditto.

We did a song called Now. Chris Hanna is going to play piano, and Teressa Wilcox will write the words. This is a tune that I played on the piano long ago and I want Jim Wall to compose an interlude for it, some kind of bridge to another section of the tune. Not absolutely necessary, but it would be fun.

I stayed in the Big Creek watershed area of Cleveland and walked four miles every day from Brook Park to Jim Wall’s house in Parma Heights. I took Snow Road for two and a half miles and then turned right on Stumpf Avenue for a mile and a half.

As I walked to Jim’s house every day, I thought about people who traveled through these woods before me. The Erie and the Shawnee tribes were here, and the Seneca and Iroquois nations came later.

When the Iroquois arrived, they called this land Ohiyo (it is beautiful). One of the songs we recorded is called Beautiful. I wrote it a long time ago with Kim Nomad. Jim Wall helped Mary Bridget Davies decipher and complete the words to this lovely tune, which is, after all, the literal translation of “Ohio.”

Leaf Shake Blues was fun, our only blues. I didn’t write this one. I made it up. Yes, I stole that line from Janis Joplin.

Ben Nieves and I played a song called Anxious Heart. Teressa Wilcox wrote the very beautiful words and Ben came up with a line or two. We had fun playing this one.