Travis Dickerson Recording Studios Forum

General => Older General Discussion (read only) => Topic started by: gkg on January 13, 2005, 12:12:00 PM

Title: RIP Spencer Dryden - may you follow that rabbit
Post by: gkg on January 13, 2005, 12:12:00 PM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=495&ncid=762&e=7&u=/ap/20050113/ap_en_mu/obit_dryden

down the hole... and find a new adventure.
Title: Re: RIP Spencer Dryden - may you follow that rabbi
Post by: spencer on January 13, 2005, 05:05:55 PM
Again... Not familiar, but the guy shares a first name with me, so that\'s not cool.

Kinda like that movie American Splendor, Harvey Pekar feels bad when he finds out the other Harvey Pekar dies.  
Title: Re: RIP Spencer Dryden - may you follow that rabbi
Post by: gkg on January 14, 2005, 12:20:53 PM
this Spencer was the drummer for Jefferson Airplane so i\'m not too surprised you don\'t know him.

Spencer is a good name - the son of a friend of ours is named Spencer - he\'s a very good guitarist too, from what i\'ve heard.
Title: Re: RIP Spencer Dryden - may you follow that rabbi
Post by: spencer on January 14, 2005, 12:47:59 PM
Neat stuff, I\'m only a mediocre guitar playing spencer myself, so it\'s good to hear that there\'s one good spencer guitar player in California.  We Spencer\'s have to keep it real!  :)

And by the way, I\'m familiar with Jefferson Airplane through VH1.  But I haven\'t heard them :-/
Title: Re: RIP Spencer Dryden - may you follow that rabbi
Post by: gkg on January 14, 2005, 12:53:40 PM
get the CDs - they\'ve reissued stuff - there is some really wonderful imagery in some of their lyrics and some good music in general.  hard for me to put it in words - some one here can do it better - Travis? Oldfolkie?  anyway - for reference alone they are worth your checking them out.
Title: Re: RIP Spencer Dryden - may you follow that rabbi
Post by: oldfolkie on January 14, 2005, 04:33:30 PM
Don\'t know how I missed this earlier.  :(

Jefferson Airplane - he was their drummer - was one of THE bands in the late 60\'s/early 70\'s.

Surrealistic Pillow was a mainstay album of my high school years & still their defining album. They took Alice in Wonderland to a whole new level. Sex, drugs & rock\'n\'roll. Oh man, those were the days. Grace Slick put acid in Pat Nixon\'s tea (remember Nixon? ha!! remember acid? ), everything was psychedelic , the legends are endless.

It sounds like a very sad ending. May he RIP indeed.

Surrealistic Pillow  is available on CD now, remastered & with extra tracks. It is simply great music. Google Jefferson Airplane & check out their site if you\'re interested. PEACE  8)
Title: Re: RIP Spencer Dryden - may you follow that rabbi
Post by: gkg on January 14, 2005, 05:16:01 PM
absolutely.  i still can\'t quite find the words though to discribe the music - it\'s not just rock, there was a jazz element to it, a sort of bluesie thing too... trippy and yet there was an edge...

what was it Maurice sang?  "ah yes - i remember it well..."
Title: Re: RIP Spencer Dryden - may you follow that rabbi
Post by: oldfolkie on January 14, 2005, 05:47:45 PM
It\'s a hard sound to pin down. Grace Slick\'s voice is almost like traditional British folk (think Maddy Prior or June Tabor), especially on White Rabbit & Somebody to Love. The guitar solos were unique, but for me they defy labels - Jorma Kaukonen was influenced by groups as far apart as the Carter Family and Howlin\' Wolf - Today & Embryonic Journey for instance. And Spencer Dryden had quite a bit of jazz in his background, and really put some interesting touches on White Rabbit. So there\'s country & folk & regular rock in there along with blues & jazz, plus a touch of whatever they were on at the time.  ::) like I knew them. But we spent so much time with the music you felt like you DID know them, in a way. The music just wormed its way into your head.

Don\'t know, I have difficulty with it too. I think they just took neat stuff from all their influences, tossed it down the rabbit hole, and it all came together just right. 8)

I guess I "remember it well" because I was a little too young to get really brain-fried. You know the old cliche - "if you remember the 60\'s you weren\'t there". I was 14 in 1967, when Surrealistic Pillow came out.
Title: Re: RIP Spencer Dryden - may you follow that rabbi
Post by: gkg on January 14, 2005, 06:27:26 PM
QuoteI guess I "remember it well" because I was a little too young to get really brain-fried.

exactly - me too - only it had a weird bent for me - i was 6 and just learning English in 1967 - watching my parents\' friends tripping and dancing like nutters.