The first time you saw her, she had you. The minute you heard her voice, game over.
"Grace Slick was the first “girl singer crush” I ever had at the ripe old age of about 10. It was everything about her. Her look, her attitude, her voice. She looked like she “belonged” where she was."
November 7th, Welcome to “Way Back When-sday” on the Live Vinyl Lovefest. This morning’s selection came as the result of a discovery by Scott Fahy, an audio buddy of mine who discovered his copy of this record kind of by happenstance. So, today I give you The Great Society - "Conspicuous Only In It’s Absence” recorded live at The Matrix in San Francisco. There’s not a lot of info on the record itself or the recording of it, and my suspicion is that this was released by Columbia to ride the wave of success by The Jefferson Airplane. Over time I’ve been on the lookout for some live Jefferson Airplane and frankly had not found a great deal to choose from. But honestly, this is more in line with what I was looking for anyway. Something with some meaningful roots to the creation and existence of The Jefferson Airplane in “their time”. The Great Society with Grace Slick certainly fits that bill. This band pre-dates The Airplane circa 1965-66 and even offers versions of couple of the biggest hits by The Airplane including “Somebody To Love” and “White Rabbit”. And as a bonus, it sounds surprisingly good!
Grace Slick was the first “girl singer crush” I ever had at the ripe old age of about 10. It was everything about her. Her look, her attitude, her voice. She looked like she “belonged” where she was.
Honestly, I’ve only been “star struck” a couple of times in my life through out my career in music. Being in her presence was one of those times. While on tour with Jefferson Starship in the very early 80’s, while working for the opening act, I tried to NEVER miss a Jefferson Starship show or sound check. And honestly, the sound check is where the real show took place. The band would usually start the checks and get things kind of set and going for themselves and then she would come on stage. You could simply feel the entire room “brace” for her. She took no prisoners on that stage. When she arrived it was a very different atmosphere. And when that voice came roaring out of her mouth, whether she was singing or speaking, you simply stood up and took notice. If not, you were "on notice".
That was a thrilling time for me personally but even more so because of my early exposure and infatuation with her as a young boy in the 60’s. Female singers, especially ones claiming to be rock singers, never looked the same after Grace Slick. She set the mold in my opinion. She was loud and boisterous but was also totally disarming with a lethal combination of sexiness and charm but at the same time, threatening with her intelligence and strength. He biography is one of my all time favorite biographical reads. I think of her every.single.time. I hear someone claim that a singer or performer should “just sing and keep their political views to themselves”. Yeah, I would have liked to seen and heard Grace’s response to someone "suggesting" that to her. Yeah, I would pay hard earned cash to see that.
“Grace” is not only what, but WHO is needed in the mix of today’s political shit show.
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