Fly Jefferson Airplane

Hi,

That would definitely be a bad statement and idea. The real fact was related to sales of the music, and remember that up until the days of Elvis Presley, rock music was not considered important and worth while music, and when it got to the Beatles and Rolling Stones selling millions, changed the ideas ... to where the money could be made ... the idea of the bigger places, was more related to the incredible amount of sales that made the smaller places very difficult for most bands that now wanted a bit more, and deservedly so.

The smaller ones, did not exactly get closed down, although one could say that some just went down by the size of the status of the bands, and the most important one ... no local talent to replace it, since the focus is on the big money and who cares about many local bands. This ended up with a really big issue in LA that got to the courts, and the record/radio companies LOST and had to provide time for the new bands ... which was a part of the new thing ... when KMET was taken down to become whitewash music by 6AM when it came back on. Many of the companies, decided screw it ... we're gonna change the format ... and the rock bands that were local? Screw them!

This has never really been cleared up, and the FCC making sure that a corporation could own all of the stations in LA (for example) killed a lot of clubs, since none of those bands came to town everyday ... too expansive. ... and some places have a lot of small bars and clubs, but nothing that would double up the size to help get a few more bands in ... Portland has at least 40 or 50 of these, and the number of bands going through them is insane, and you know they are all on a bus to nowhere ... tomorrow in Seattle, and next day in Vancouver BC for 10 dollars more!

Again, my take is that it is the numbers thing that hurt the music ... and keep folks out of the clubs and hearing new bands ... and the main reason why I do not enjoy any "numbers" in relation to "progressive" ... progressive is not competing with anyone ... the music is its own ... but some folks (specially one here) thinks that the numbers are more important ... by making sure no one will listen to the bottom 10, of course! 

Hi,

In general, by the words and the works. The first generation (my term, btw ... !!!) would be the likes of GD, JA, Santana, CSN&Y, Steve Miller, Quicksilver, CCR and even Big Brother and the like. The "2nd" generation for me, would be Boz Scaggs, and the bands around the Bay area, since the "first group" was already too big to be able to play at the Fillmore at all ... even if BG was associated with some of them. 

I do not discount the idea/fact that the Fillmore, by 1971, was now too small and over loaded to be an effective concert venue, for a lot of bands, but while many had the name and players, like Hot Tuna, for example, to my knowledge, they were already past the prime era ... even though  HOt Tuna were with JA for many shows at the end of the Fillmore. But Hot Tuna did not have the socio/political touch that JA and many other bands had.

I used the term "2nd generation" as a way to separate the originals that got the Fillmore really well known, as opposed to the later bands, but the differences are clear, as it signaled the end of the "hippie" era in SF, so to speak ... a viable location for everyone to meet and have fun with some outstanding music. 

It makes, generally, a sad ending ... that vital music, all of a sudden "disappeared" and the SF scene was never the same again, or at least as strong as it had started ... but blaming it all on sex and drugs, sometimes seems like a cop-out for me, thus I tend to think that the quality of the work was not as important or valuable as the first group of bands.

You know what it felt like? That all of a sudden the flowers in your hair were all plastic ... the reality was gone!

Hi,

I enjoyed Grace's own book ... although I think she should add about 5 or 6 more chapters to it NOW, since things are not exactly the same ... but in general both books are essential to the time and place. However, 10 years ago, I think she was looking at things way too cynical for my tastes, and I am not sure that gave credence to the music, the art and its effect ... which I think she might now wish to discuss! Too many conflicting emotions?

The book on the Fillmore and BG is also worth it, but we also get to see how many folks/bands were already "not hip" at all, thought we might think/assume that BG was making it look like he was the one making things "hip", and in the end, by the quantity of bands he brought forth in SF (specially), I would really think that he deserved more credit than otherwise, but the stories seem to spend their time on how the Fillmore in the East Coast is what burned him out.

The Jerry Garcia book is also really good, though you know the ending already and it's a sad moment ... such a great musician!

In general, the only sad thing about that time and place, is how so many of those folks in the scene flamed out later in the 70's ... and it makes me think that it became all sex, drugs and more sex and drugs and the music was kinda forgotten, except the stuff that was already known, although the 2nd generation of the Fillmore bands, for me, is not half as good as the first. I also think that by that time the music industry had already ripped a part too many folks and created bands (help put them  in the map!) simply to get an audience and make money ... and I'm not sure that the music itself was ever that great or as valuable. It certainly lost its politics, which was one of the issues in the first generation! But I guess that after "Ohio" ... we really do not want any more reminders, with a thanks to Neil Young for his anthem.