Paul Kantner dead at 74

[Adesmar123]

RIP He's seeing the stars tonight close up

 

[MilfordHusky]

I hope he found somebody to love.



We've lost David Bowie, Glenn Frey, and Paul Kantner in a little over a week.

 

[alexrgct]

I went to school with a son of his, also named Alex,as I recall...RIP.

 

[j66kicker]

Wow. Mortality crisis. Haight-Ashbury, Fillmore, etc., seems like only yesterday.

R.I.P. PK

 

[Beemer]

I hope he found somebody to love.



We've lost David Bowie, Glenn Frey, and Paul Kantner in a little over a week.

Well they say it happens in threes. Hopefully this will be it for awhile.

 

[Zorro]

But Kieth Richards will never die. Maybe Mick also.

 

[Scud49]

Paul Kanter and the Airplane......wow, what music.......real music.

RIP Paul....one of the very best from that time.

 

[Intpseeker]

Saw the Airplane at Woolsey Hall in '67. Kantner, Jorma, Casady , Spencer, Marty Balin, and the amazing Gracie Slick. RIP

 

[Intpseeker]

 

[Adesmar123]

See how Kantner is facing sideways on the album cover? Its a sure sign that Paul is dead.

 

[Scud49]

In between the Airplane and Starship days, Kanter teamed up the Dead, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and other Airplane members to produce "Sunfighter" - always loved the song "Holding Together" from that album:

 

[Adesmar123]

In between the Airplane and Starship days, Kanter teamed up the Dead, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and other Airplane members to produce "Sunfighter" - always loved the song "Holding Together" from that album:

Very Kantner- like song.....reminiscent of "Blows". By the way, Tower of Power was on that album.

 

[MilfordHusky]

But Kieth Richards will never die. Maybe Mick also.

Keith actually died about 20 years ago, but no one noticed. It's like "Weekend at Bernies."

 

[j66kicker]

In between the Airplane and Starship days, Kanter teamed up the Dead, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and other Airplane members to produce "Sunfighter" - always loved the song "Holding Together" from that album:

The kid on the cover is Grace's son, whom she named "god" (with a lower case "g", as she wanted him to be humble).

 

[Scud49]

Another one of his ventures - the PERRO project, and a tune from them - Mountain Song - that I always really liked:

 

[BigBird]

A couple of my favorite Airplane/ Starship LP's were ones that weren't huge successes. One was Red Octopus. It was less brash and strident that their earlier works. Perhaps that explains why Plane-heads disliked it. The other was Grace's powerful LP called "Manhole." That album was actually supposed to be the sound track for a movie that never got produced. Grace Slick with a few of her Starship chums AND a string orchestra. If you've never heard it, it's been on You Tube and elsewhere for years.

 

[Scud49]

Thanks Big Bird, I shall check those out a bit more- I do remember seeing the Red Octopus album around way back when.

Got to post one more for Mr. Kanter- "Wooden Ships" that he wrote with Crosby and Nash IIRC. I love both the Airplane's version and CS&N's:

 

[BigBird]

Got to post one more for Mr. Kanter- "Wooden Ships" that he wrote with Crosby and Nash IIRC. I love both the Airplane's version and CS&N's...

Agreed. While the band's image was edgy - for lack of a better term, some of their best songs were the softer and slower ones. My favorite was "Harptree Lament."

 

[JordyG]

I'm an old timer that was lucky enough to see The Airplane (not Starship and with Marty) once and Hot Tuna twice. And yes CSN and CSN&Y along with Stills solo. Another era is passing for us oldsters. RIP to all.

 

[Scud49]

Thanks Big Bird - I shall check out that one out. And Jordy, I sure am envious - you were very fortunate! I have seen CSN&Y once and loved it.

One more video (that's what YouTube is for right? )

This is White Rabbit from Woodstock. Damn, if I say so myself, they sound great. You can see several shots of Paul Kantner in the background, but the camera boys were rather fixated on a certain lead singer of theirs.

 

[JordyG]

Thanks Big Bird - I shall check out that one out. And Jordy, I sure am envious - you were very fortunate! I have seen CSN&Y once and loved it.

One more video (that's what YouTube is for right? )

This is White Rabbit from Woodstock. Damn, if I say so myself, they sound great. You can see several shots of Paul Kantner in the background, but the camera boys were rather fixated on a certain lead singer of theirs.

Don't be envious. We oldtimers had no choice but to try to see our favorites in person. They weren't being played on the radio, they weren't being booked on TV, there were no digital downloads or file sharing. Fortunately for us the concert prices were ridiculously low, and for the performers the only way to have a personal relationship with their audiences was to perform. Sometimes for free. Different times. The good part of it was before I was 12 I had already seen over 100 live acts.

 

[Bonpland]

Jordy's comment about accessibility is a good one. Big groups and famous solo acts played colleges and at small venues (for a few dollars a ticket) before mega-tours became the fashion, and I along with a million others were able to see some of the biggest names of the day play in front of a few thousand, (not twenty or forty thousand), on a regular basis.

I saw the Airplane at Woodstock and then a year or two later I saw them perform in a field behind a college gymnasium. Between '66 and '72 or '73 I saw Simon and Garfuncle, The Band, The Who, Frank Zappa (who was a big draw then among college students) Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, The Grateful Dead, and others perform before a few thosand at outdoor venues or college gyms.

Now legendary folkies and country artist like Dave Van Ronk, Buffy St. Marie, Rambling Jack Elliot, Jesse Winchester, Tim Hardin, Tim Buckley, Jerry Jeff Walker, Leo Kotke, Maria Muldaur, Jesse Youngblood, David Bromberg and a myriad of others sang in public parks and small enough bars or clubs that a courageous young man or women could afterward engage one of them in conversation at the bar or as they were casing up their instruments. (I've bored my totally unimpressed children with the story of the night I sat next to Phil Ochs in a bar and managed to spend my next week's meal money buying him drinks. Later when his biograhy was published I was crushed to learn that it wasn't my presense that caused him to miss the first bus back to NYC that night, but rather the fact that by '68 he was already a full-fledged alcoholic).

By the time of Watkin's Glen the big groups were playing The Garden and it would be another twenty years or more before their relative popularity faded enough that you could again watch them perform in small halls. (The young Jackson Browne played in front of 1,500-2,000 followers for four or five years in the early seventies walking up to the mike and to tell stories about the history of his anthems and about his Califonia Sound buddies like Glen Frey and J.D. Souther, but by '76 he was filling the Hartford Civic Center for two sold out shows and then repeating that experience on Long Island, Boston , Albany, Philidelphia......... Now I go to see him at The Beacon where he again walks up the mike to tell stories about his songs and his old friends).

On thing about Jefferson Airplane (that is bound to draw some fire), is I never thought that they were a great performance band; they weren't as good as the sum of their parts. With Jorma, Jack, Paul, Marty and Grace they had talent everywhere but they weren't very exciting to watch. I felt thrilled to be there, and their music had a great influence on other artists and an entire generation of Boomers, but if you wanted to stand for two hours singing along, stomping your feet and howling like a banshee you were better off seeing the Kinks or New Riders of the Purple Sage (who never disappointed).

For me Airplane spurred a generation to consider who they were and then blessed us with Jorma and Jack's career's that morphed to Hot Tuna and fifty years of great guitar playing.

But in the beginning it was Paul and Grace who were the face of the band and who were the ones that seemed to challenge authority at every turn and then succeeded in luring us in with their mesmerizing new music.

R.I.P. Paul Kantner, for my generation you were one of the pioneers of disruptive thinking.

 

[JordyG]

Jordy's comment about accessibility is a good one. Big groups and famous solo acts played colleges and at small venues (for a few dollars a ticket) before mega-tours became the fashion, and I along with a million others were able to see some of the biggest names of the day play in front of a few thousand, (not twenty or forty thousand), on a regular basis.

I saw the Airplane at Woodstock and then a year or two later I saw them perform in a field behind a college gymnasium. Between '66 and '72 or '73 I saw Simon and Garfuncle, The Band, The Who, Frank Zappa (who was a big draw then among college students) Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, The Grateful Dead, and others perform before a few thosand at outdoor venues or college gyms.

Now legendary folkies and country artist like Dave Van Ronk, Buffy St. Marie, Rambling Jack Elliot, Jesse Winchester, Tim Hardin, Tim Buckley, Jerry Jeff Walker, Leo Kotke, Maria Muldaur, Jesse Youngblood, David Bromberg and a myriad of others sang in public parks and small enough bars or clubs that a courageous young man or women could afterward engage one of them in conversation at the bar or as they were casing up their instruments. (I've bored my totally unimpressed children with the story of the night I sat next to Phil Ochs in a bar and managed to spend my next week's meal money buying him drinks. Later when his biograhy was published I was crushed to learn that it wasn't my presense that caused him to miss the first bus back to NYC that night, but rather the fact that by '68 he was already a full-fledged alcoholic).

By the time of Watkin's Glen the big groups were playing The Garden and it would be another twenty years or more before their relative popularity faded enough that you could again watch them perform in small halls. (The young Jackson Browne played in front of 1,500-2,000 followers for four or five years in the early seventies walking up to the mike and to tell stories about the history of his anthems and about his Califonia Sound buddies like Glen Frey and J.D. Souther, but by '76 he was filling the Hartford Civic Center for two sold out shows and then repeating that experience on Long Island, Boston , Albany, Philidelphia.... Now I go to see him at The Beacon where he again walks up the mike to tell stories about his songs and his old friends).

On thing about Jefferson Airplane (that is bound to draw some fire), is I never thought that they were a great performance band; they weren't as good as the sum of their parts. With Jorma, Jack, Paul, Marty and Grace they had talent everywhere but they weren't very exciting to watch. I felt thrilled to be there, and their music had a great influence on other artists and an entire generation of Boomers, but if you wanted to stand for two hours singing along, stomping your feet and howling like a banshee you were better off seeing the Kinks or New Riders of the Purple Sage (who never disappointed).

For me Airplane spurred a generation to consider who they were and then blessed us with Jorma and Jack's career's that morphed to Hot Tuna and fifty years of great guitar playing.

But in the beginning it was Paul and Grace who were the face of the band and who were the ones that seemed to challenge authority at every turn and then succeeded in luring us in with their mesmerizing new music.

R.I.P. Paul Kantner, for my generation you were one of the pioneers of disruptive thinking.

Glad to see another oldster chime in. I too took advantage of the nature of the times to see myriad and sundry performers. Living in NYC and close to the Brooklyn Paramount and Fox I saw every Motown act and every major early R&R act before the age of 12. During the Fillmore heyday I practically lived there. And yes, don't be jealous. The Airplane, The Dead (to me), most of the Cali acts in fact, The Doors, The Byrds, Jeff Beck, Cream and so many where real snores in person. The exciting acts were surprises. The Chamber Brothers, Arthur Brown, early and late Blood, Sweat and Tears, Chicago, Led Zeppelin (most of the English acts), The Allman Brothers. Jimi was always incredible and funny. The Stones. In the 50's and 60's the idea was to put on a great act. After the Beatles the idea was to put on a great image.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Thanks Big Bird - I shall check out that one out. And Jordy, I sure am envious - you were very fortunate! I have seen CSN&Y once and loved it.

One more video (that's what YouTube is for right? )

This is White Rabbit from Woodstock. Damn, if I say so myself, they sound great. You can see several shots of Paul Kantner in the background, but the camera boys were rather fixated on a certain lead singer of theirs.

The Queen of Psychedelic Rock, the legendary Grace Slick. I was fixated on her too.

 

[Scud49]

All right, said I wouldn't do it, but just one more vid from YT!

"Embryonic Journey" - a live performance by Jorma at the Airplane's RRHOF induction ceremony.

Note at the very end Paul coming in with a big smile and handshake for Jorma at the very end.