1969 – 1972 The Long Slow Slide Down the Other Side.
2-3 February 1969
7 March 1969 Dale Burkhardt attends a Kozmic Blues Band show and snaps this one.
28 March 1969
The Kozmic Blues Band played at The Royal Albert Hall, so to celebrate, I took a bath.
Queen Victoria baptised the Royal Albert Hall in 1871. And now we came to play here almost a hundred years later.
The Royal Albert Hall, or, as the London cabbies call it, Halibut Oil (‘ albut o’l), is in the north part of South Kensington.
We had a splendid time here which put me in a party mood.
The acoustics in this Hall were originally so bad that people said it was the only place where a British composer could be sure of hearing his work twice. Eric came to see us.
Bob Seidemann, old friend of ours, who did one of our album covers, plus the magnificent Blind Faith album, was there. He looks like this now. He didn’t then.
I thought about the people who had spoken and played in this space: Winston Churchill, Wagner, Verdi, Elgar, Rachmaninoff.
In 1969, engineers installed sound bafflings that were known as “mushrooms” or “flying saucers,” and the sound was vastly improved.
Suzy Creamcheese was so sweet to me in so many ways. She took me out to Hampton Court and gave me the royal tour. Suzy, thank you forever.
29 June 1969
20 July 1969 Snooky Flowers and I saw this event on television as it was happening. The Chelsea Hotel, NYC.
8 August 1969 660 Great Highway Tyrannosaurus Rex and Tongue and Groove.
December 1969 At a Stax/Volt party in Memphis with Janis Joplin, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Al Jackson, Jr., Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn and Booker T. Jones who is now a San Rafael resident. Duck Dunn died today, 13 May 2012, in his sleep in Tokyo. He was seventy.
25 August 1969
17 October 1969 Austin
18 October 1969 Hemisphere Arena San Antonio Sharrie Gomez and I doing a Macy’s ad.
24 October 1969 I’m listed as playing on this recording, but I’ve never heard it.
Talking god and the universe with Janis and Richard Kermode.
Richard came out of that Hammond B3 jazz scene in Buffalo. A lot of great players including him.
15 November 1969 This was a huge California demonstration against the war in Viet Nam.
19 November 1969 Fillmore West Steve Miller had to cancel this show so Big Brother played it billed as Mumble, Fumble, Jumble and Dumble.
29 December 1969 Geary Theatre 415 Geary Boulevard San Francisco
Janis said, “I don’t look good in this photo, so I’m putting it in just for you.”
Anthony Edman took this photograph of the Carol guitar.
7 February 1970 Encore Theatre Burlingame California
13 February 1970 Pepperland
20-21 February 1970 Great Highway Rhythm Dukes Jerry Miller Bill Champlin
27 February 1970 Alaskaland Civic Center Fairbanks Alaska
5-7 March 1970 Keystone San Francisco
They had some wonderful shows here, but the place was right next door to the police station in North Beach.
13-14 March 1970 New Orleans House Berkeley Horses in Tiburon.
20-22 March 1970 Family Dog at the Great Highway Kaleidoscope Devil’s Kitchen
28-29 March 1970 Lion’s Share San Anselmo California
4 April 1970 Fillmore West Janis joins us for this one. James Gurley.
This photograph seems to be very heraldic of the 1970s. My overheated imagination sees mistrust here, matters gone awry, loss of faith, paranoia, alienation, loneliness. Am I being carried away ? Probably. Was it a weird time ? It certainly was. Richard Kermode Linda Gravenites Janis George Ostrow Bobby Neuwirth
7-9 April 1970 Matrix
12 April 1970 Winterland Kathi McDonald Nick Gravenites Mike Finnegan David Shallock We had a GOOD band.
23-24 April 1970 Inn of the Beginning Cotati California James Gurley. He’s big, huge.
1 May 1970 Family Dog Great Highway San Francisco I think this is a Randy Tuten poster.
8 May 1970 Merced Fairgrounds Merced California
15 May 1970 City Center Kelowna British Columbia
Kelowna is a vacation spot in British Columbia, on the east side of the Okanagan Valley.
16-17 May 1970 Strawberry Mountain Fair Mission British Columbia
20 May 1970 Pauley Ballroom University of California Berkeley
21 May 1970 Pepperland Bermuda Palms San Rafael California Full Tilt Grateful Dead
With the amazing Meyer sound system.
The event is memorable for many reasons.
This is a Hells Angels party to begin with, so the money will be straight and the sound system excellent.
There will also be more drugs and alcohol than would seem to be prudent.
This will be the first time that Janis’ old band and her new band will be at the same venue, so everyone is a little on edge.
Not exactly a battle of the bands, but not exactly not one either. Janis gets into a fight with an Angel and he punches her. She breaks a bottle over his head. This is the peace and love crowd.
22 May 1970 Keystone Korner Berkeley
29 May 1970 Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
9 June 1970 Diamond Head Crater Festival Hawaii
8 June 1970 The Andrews Amphitheater Hawaii This place is used for commencement exercises for the University of Hawaii. I was proud to play here.
My wife is Hawaiian. More Hawaiian blood, as a matter of fact, than most Hawaiians. Here she is with Grant Jacobs, Richard Hundgen, and I wish I knew her name, she has a lovely smile.
The equipment managers that we had at that time, forty years ago, decided to jump ship and become Hawaiian. They are there still.
And of course our President was born there in the same hospital, Queens Hospital, as my wife. Either there or in Kenya, I forget which. Depends on whom you ask, someone who actually knows something, or someone who is incredibly ignorant and backward. President Obama went to Puniho High School, and so did Jonelle DeNike, here with her husband Howard in Paris, old friends from University of San Francisco days.
This proportion may surprise you. It did me, almost as difficult as realizing that the eyes are half way down the head instead of near the top where children draw them.
10 June 1970 Kahului Armory Maui Hawaii
Also called the Pu’unene Armory.
Maui is the island without a military base, so they just had to build an armory here.
My father was in the Air Force, and so I was raised in places like this. Still, it does seem like a rather Spinal Tap place to have a concert.
Remember in Spinal Tap when the lieutenant (Fred Willard), looking at his watch says, “I make it, oh, 1830 hours now, so why don’t you go on about 1900 ?”
And Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) says, “You mean it’s seventy hours until we play ?”
Steve Keyser.
13-14 June 1970 Portland Music & Art Fair Portland Oregon
17 June 1970 Convention Center Las Vegas
19 June 1970 Terrace Ballroom Salt Lake City I have a cassette tape of this gig. We actually played all that music.
26 June 1970 Junction Night Club Kelker Colorado
3-5 July 1970 Euphoria San Rafael California Another Randy Tuten poster.
11 July 1970 Sports Arena San Diego Full Tilt Boogie Band I remember flying home with Janis, Nick Gravenites, Mike Bloomfield et alia from this one. Bloomers was on a roll. He was ranting in that special Bloomfieldian style about taping two baloons full of lukewarm water to a bathroom mirror and masturbating into the sink. You know, typical inflight conversation. It was something else to have Big Brother and Full Tilt in that same small tight space. Good thing we all loved each other. Of course, in those days you could smoke and the flight attendants wore miniskirts. If I remember correctly, there was even a piano bar upstairs. Seat belts were only for taking off and landing, and sometimes not even then.
17 July 1970 Love Valley Festival Love Valley North Carolina There was a counterfeit Big Brother running around about this time. Maybe they played this one ?
I always thought, “Why in the world would anyone want to counterfeit us, when they could just go ahead and be themselves ?”
I mean, it couldn’t be for the money, because we weren’t making any, so how could they ?
Might as well be yourself, as Oscar Wilde noted, everyone else is taken.
31 July 1970 Phoenix Veterans Coliseum Arizona
6 August 1970 Peace Festival Shea Stadium Flushing Meadows New York
13-15 August 1970 Fillmore West San Francisco Commander Cody George Frayne, one of my favorite people. Good artist too.
18-19 August 1970 The Matrix San Francisco No, he wasn’t on the gig, but I love the way he sings, so here he is. Paul supposedly came to the Matrix to see us one time, but when we met him, we asked him about it and he said he wasn’t lucky enough to be there.
26 August 1970 Washoe County Fairgrounds
28 August 1970 Sing Auditorium San Bernardino Mary Swope took this photograph.
25 September 1970 Saginaw Auditorium Michigan
3-5 October 1970 Euphoria San Rafael California
4 October 1970 The Landmark Motel Hollywood A British writer just interviewed me from the very room. He mentioned all of the scrawlings on the bedroom closet wall.
Swimming in the pool, yelling up to the rooms, “Hey, come on down ! Bring Mary Jane with you, OK?”
6-7 October 1970 The Matrix Blues for an old friend.
23 October 1970 Basin Street West Omigawd, we substituted for Sarah Vaughan ? I wonder how that worked ? I can’t remember, but I do know that Combination of the Two doesn’t sound a lot like Over The Rainbow.
26 October 1970 Lion’s Share The Drinks Are On Pearl.
Janis left $ 2,500, a lot of money then, for us to have a party in her honor. We did it right. Music and dancing all night.
27-29 October 1970 The Matrix
30 October 1970 46th Street Rock Palace Brooklyn
2 November 1970 Harding Theatre San Francisco
20-21 November 1970 Winterland San Francisco
5 December 1970 The Birmingham Palladium Detroit
We all signed this one. I was with Carol Cavallon when I bought this guitar on 48th Street, Manhattan, across the street from Manny’s.
8-9 January 1971 Fillmore East Buddy Miles Sweetwater I loved the way Buddy looked when he was on the drums.
17 January 1971 Syria Mosque University of Pittsburgh
18-19 January 1971 Ungano’s New York City
20 January 1971 Capitol Theatre Port Chester New York Carol Cavallon Putney Vermont
29-30 January 1971 ”El Monte” always makes me think of Reuben and the Jets, Frank Zappa.
4 February 1971 Inn of the Beginning Cotati California
13 February 1971 Pepperland 737 East Francisco Boulevard San Rafael California
Whitey Litchfield, millionaire construction magnate, created Litchfield’s Bermuda Palms in the late 1940s. This was “California’s Las Vegas.” I mentioned before that I had played tenor saxophone in numerous big band rehearsals here, little dreaming at the time that Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton and many other stars of the 1940s had played in that same room.
20-21 February 1971 Pepperland
23 February 1971 Broadcast of television series The Turned On Crisis including an episode with Big Brother: Why Can’t You Hear Through The Noise in Your Ear.
6 March 1971 Shasta College
12-13 March 1971 Friends and Relations Hall Great Highway San Francisco Kathi McDonald.
Also on this gig: Clover I see Alex Call Huey Lewis John McFee Sean Hopper
25 March 1971 New Monk Berkeley
The New Monk was in Berkeley where Shattuck and University make a T. 2119 University. It was a funky place. Freddie Herrera bought it in August of 1971, and it became the Keystone Berkeley in March 1972. I think that this expression could fairly be called supercilious. Or even supersillyious.
9-10 April 1971 Friends and Relations Hall Kathi McDonald, one of the best singers ever… and the funniest.
15 April 1971 Inn of the Beginning Cotati California
19 April 1971 Friends and Relations Hall Hubert Sumlin Snooky Flowers Rich Kirch Freddie Roulette
22-23 April 1971 Bimbo’s San Francisco
24 April 1971 Peace Rally Golden Gate Park
Always a good idea.
26 April 1971 Sonoma WELL ! We know when we’re not wanted. We left in a huff. (Actually, it was a Buick.)
7 May 1971 California Hall San Francisco
17 May 1971 New Monk
21 May 1971 Keystone Nick Gravenites
28 May 1971 Selland Arena Fresno California B.B. King Elvin Bishop Elvin liked to play poker after a gig.
10 June 1971 Fox Theatre Long Beach
9 July 1971 Harlingen Texas
August 1971 Release of How Hard It Is
We had a great B3 player on this one, Mike Finnegan, who can sing as well as he can play. He recorded Buried Alive In The Blues with us and we should release that someday. It’s definitely the best version of that song.
Mike went on to play with everyone, including Joe Cocker performing here on American Idol, another of Rupert Murdoch’s panderings to the lowest common denominator. But, as Mike says, “A gig is a gig.” Hey, maybe Kacee Clanton was on this one too ? I think she was.
9 October 1971 Monterey Fairgrounds Clover Jon Sievert took this one.
7 November 1971 Trying to guard Kathi. Can you hear me barking ?
12 November 1971 Winterland
13 November 1971
9-11 December 1971 Inn of the Beginning Cotati California
31 December 1971 Many photographs of this guitar because she is gone now, playing the Hard Rock Café circuit.
1 January 1972
14 January 1972
30 January 1972 Curtis Hall Tampa Florida
13 February 1972 Mama Einstein’s What do you want ? I was the only one left.
15 February 1972 Valentine’s party The Boathouse Harding Road San Francisco You know, out by Lake Merced.
19 February 1972 University of Iowa Iowa City Allman Brothers Vivid memories of partying with these guys. They had a couple of revolvers from the Civil War. Confederate, of course.
26 February 1972 American Legion Hall Merced California
19 March 1972 You have to watch these rock writers all the time. Kathi was our new singer, not Elvin’s.
13 April 1972
22 or 23 April 1972 Dubuque & Court Street Party Iowa City
Kathi and I went out partying in an old farmhouse, deserted, crackly, in the middle of a cornfield. It seemed as if we were there for days.
25 April 1972 Iowa Wesleyan Fayetteville Iowa
29 April 1972 Upper Iowa Mt. Pleasant
1-2 May 1972 Ace Beer Garden Iowa City
June 1972 Pioneer High School Whittier California
2 June 1972 Fort Homer Hesterly Armory Tampa
June 1972 Schererville Illinois Blue Oyster Cult. These guys were great to hang with. Hysterical as a matter of fact.
June 1972 Catholic High School Niles Illinois
June 1972 Romeoville Roller Rink Romeoville Illinois
15 June 1972 Hersey High School Arlington Heights Illinois
June 1972 Grande Ballroom Detroit
June/July 1972 Louisiana Life becomes quite fuzzy along about now. Note that there are often no specific dates for these events.
July 1972 Miami Spirit
22 July 1972 Marine World Redwood City California I love mingling with wild life, marine or otherwise.
4 September 1972
17 September 1972 A slice of life in the 70s. If you read between the lines, this pretty much says it all.
9 October 1972 Berkeley Folk Music Festival Big Mama Thornton Earl Collins Silver String Macedonian Band Frontier
24 November 1972 Marin County Civic Center Auditorium Quicksilver Clover Yogi Phlegm A Cold Turkey Rock Party
Clover ! Johnny Ciambotti. John McFee is there. Mitch Howe. Alex Call. Huey Lewis. Sean Hopper. Good band. Alex has a beautiful voice.
And, talking of Marin musicians, this is one who has been an inspiration to me for years: Terry Haggerty.
Somewhere in my personal effects I have a Local # Six Musicians’ Union directory from the 1950s. Terry’s father is in there along with Paul Desmond and many other noteworthy players from that era.
Terry and David Shallock came to my house in Fairfax one day, and they did a smokin’ version of Frosty, the Snowman. It was so great to hear that. Especially in August.
It’s the whole person, though, you know ? Terry is a great guitar player, one of the best, but it’s as a human being that he shines brightest.
Thank you for being here, and I’ll see you in a week.
Sam Andrew
Big Brother and the Holding Company
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Tags: 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, BBHC, Berkeley, big brother, Big Brother and The Holding Company, bob seidemann, California, Carol guitar, dale burkhardt, Fillmore, James Gurley, Janis Joplin, Kathi McDonald, kozmic blues band, Matrix, Music, Pepperland, peter albin, Richard Kermode, Royal Albert Hall, Sam Andrew, San Francisco, San Rafael, Shasta College, Suzy Creamcheese
July-December 1968 The top of the mountain.
5 July 1968 Concord Coliseum Concord California
The Concord Coliseum began as a grocery store. Then it was a holy hall of music, and now it has become a Petco.
6 July 1968 Santa Rosa Fairgrounds Santa Rosa California Balls and Chains.
7 July 1968 Golden Gate Park San Francisco
10 July 1968 Provo Park Berkeley
12-13 July 1968 Kaleidoscope Los Angeles
16-18 July 1968 Fillmore San Francisco
20 July 1968 Lagoon Opera House Ogden Utah
I remember taking rides on these fast little cars that could turn on a dime.
A little hippy humor.
Backstage where the magic happens.
22 July 1968 Westbury Music Fair Long Island
25 July 1968 Columbia Records Convention San Juan Puerto Rico Blood, Sweat and Tears were so good that night.
27 July 1968 Newport Folk Festival Newport Rhode Island We had always dreamed about attending this event and now we’re playing it.
Baron Wolman took this one at Newport.
An ad for Cheap Thrills: Notice the emphasis here on the nonverbal experience. Very interesting for an ad from a corporation. But, hey, it’s the 60s.
2-3 August 1968 Fillmore East with the Staple Singers. Big thrill for us to be with the Staples.
4 August 1968 First Annual Newport Pop Festival Orange County Fairgrounds Costa Mesa California This was the first music event to attract more than 100,000 people. Trouble is, I can’t remember if we played there or not, and you would think I would remember something that big. Some of the books say we “may have played there,” but we aren’t on the posters.
We had just played Newport, Rhode Island, only a week before, so the two gigs may be conflated here.
Myra Friedman wrote the first important biography of Janis. She won a New York Times book prize for it.
Some Jewish high school kids in St. Louis, 1949.
Myra Friedman is in the first row left.
9 August 1968 Kiel Auditorium St. Louis
10 August 1968 Forest Park St. Louis
14 August 1968 Indiana Beach Monticello Indiana
When my wife Elise first saw this photograph, she said, “You look mental. Is everything all right?” (She’s a nurse, OK?, so it was a professional question.)
16-17 August 1968 Aragon-Cheetah Chicago
18 August 1968 Tyrone Guthrie Theatre Minneapolis
23 August 1968 Singer Bowl Flushing Queens New York City
Singer Bowl Flushing Queens… Now, could you make up a name like that ?
Jimi broke a string right on the first song. He said, “Don’t worry, I’m going to make it up to you in spades.” He did too.
30 August 1968 Palace of Fine Arts San Francisco
6 September 1968 Hollywood Bowl
10 September 1968
12-14 September 1968 Rick Griffin Wes Wilson Bonnie MacLean Mouse and Kelley Their art will last much longer than our music.
15 September 1968 Rose Bowl Pasadena We hopped in a limousine after the gig, and the fans piled on top. I was afraid we would be crushed.
22 September 1968 Del Mar Fairgrounds San Diego
27 September 1968 University of California at Irvine
28 September 1968 San Diego I got a ticket for driving a hundred miles an hour to this gig.
4 October 1968 Public Hall Cleveland
Little did I realize then that Cleveland would loom large in the Big Brother legend. We will play in Italy in June 2012, and two of the band members will be from Cleveland. Cleveland was the first place where I was music director of Love, Janis in 1999, and I made a CD there in December 2011 with Mary Bridget Davies, Ben Nieves and Jim Wall, all Clevelanders. And of course the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is there, even if they won’t let us in.
5 October 1968 State University of New York Buffalo
10 October 1968 Quaker City Rock Festival Philadelphia
11 October 1968 War Memorial Auditorium Syracuse
13 October 1968 Music Hall Cincinnati
I kissed Susan Ammon, third from left, then, and was lucky enough to kiss her again on Earth Day, forty-four years later.
15 October 1968 Grande Ballroom Detroit
Janis and Peter, all dressed up with everywhere to go.
18 October 1968 Penn State University University Park
19 October 1968 The Spectrum Philadelphia
20 October 1968 Alexandria Roller Rink Alexandria Virginia
Jeff Beck was supposed to be a terror to work with, the bad British blues boy. I found him to be good natured and polite. Plus, he played an SG as James and I did.
25 October 1968 Curry Hicks Cage University of Massachusetts Amherst
26 October 1968 Worcester Polytechnic institute Worcester Massachusetts
1-2 November 1968 Electric Factory Philadelphia We met a man in a gorilla suit here who became the “big brother” in Big Brother and the Holding Company.
8 November 1968 Rocky Point Warwick Rhode Island
9 November 1968 Woolsey Hall Yale University New Haven Connecticut
10 November 1968 White Plains New York
Very characteristic view of John and Janis. I can hear them talking.
11 November 1968 Ridge Tech Arena Braintree Massachusetts
12 November 1968 Jersey City New Jersey Hey, we finally got rid of that messy “Big Brother and the Holding Company” part altogether.
14 November 1968 Hartford Connecticut
In Hartford, I visited Mark Twain’s very interesting home as I do every time I go there.
15 November 1968 Hunter College New York City I was seething with anticipation. I thought maybe Sparta, Corinth, Mycenae and Athens had decided to sponsor us.
But, then, I realized. Oh, it’s just Animal House, a lot of fraternities and sororities. Well, OK. It was a fun gig. I love Hunter College.
16 November 1968 State University of New York Stony Brook
23 November 1968 Houston Music Hall Houston Texas
24 November 1968 Coliseum Dallas
26 November 1968 Denver Auditorium Denver
29 November 1968 Eagles Auditorium Seattle
30 November 1968 Pacific Coliseum Vancouver British Columbia
1 December 1968 Family Dog Benefit Avalon Ballroom San Francisco
2 December 1968
Bobby Neuwirth, serious artist, good songwriter, fellow traveler, intelligent, witty court jester. He wrote Mercedes Benz with Janis and Michael McClure.
18 December 1968 One of the first, if not THE first, rehearsals of The Kozmic Blues Band with Michael Bloomfield and Nick Gravenites presiding.
Mike was a consummate musician, gifted and highly intelligent.
Next time you’re in a restaurant, turn over the salt or pepper shaker and take a look. Very often there’s a tiny B there, B for Bloomfield. Mike’s father was a multimillionaire.
Al Kooper and Mike had a great idea. They would make an album and hire Norman Rockwell to do the cover. I wish I would have thought of that.
Robert Crumb did our Cheap Thrills album cover, of course, but, then, for our other albums we could have had Mr. Rockwell do one, Al Hirschfeld (the line king) do another, and David Levine do a third. Well, maybe next time. Anyway, I loved working with Michael and Nick at those early Kozmic Blues Band rehearsals.
In fact, when I did the guitar part on Little Girl Blue at the Black Rock in New York, Michael was right by my side guiding me through the chord changes.
He was always helpful, lavish with praise and very supportive. Mike did the slide solo on One Good Man, but didn’t credit himself. Maybe because of contractual obligations elsewhere ?
When Dylan went electric at Newport, Michael Bloomfield was the main man. One of the great scholars of the guitar. What can I say ? I miss the guy.
In the 1950s, the Cedar Tavern in Manhattan was the artists’ watering hole.
The drinks were cheap and it was close to lofts and studios. Jackson Pollock was there. Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, everybody from that abstract expressionist scene was there, really. I was in the Cedar Tavern once and said the word “divisive,” rhyming it with “dismissive,” and the most beautiful woman whirled around on her stool and said, “That’s the first time I ever heard any one pronounce that correctly.” (To this day, I’m not sure how to pronounce “divisive” and say it differently each time, but each time, you may be sure, I think of that beautiful woman.)
Le Roi Jones, as he was known then, and Diane Di Prima, probably my favorite beat poet, in The Cedar Tavern.
Carl Solomon, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Allen Ginsberg, typical denizens of The Cedar Tavern.
Mickey Ruskin founded Max’s Kansas City at 213 Park Avenue South (Seventeenth Street) which, despite the higher prices and the greater distance from the painters’ lofts, became the artists’ locale for the 1960s as The Cedar Tavern was for the 1950s. Big Brother and the Holding Company went often to Max’s and I practically lived there in the 1970s, because I actually lived in a loft quite close by on Twentieth Street, just down the block from Danny Fields. Mickey cashed my checks and put up with a lot of nonsense from me. I used to sit at the bar and draw the sculptures. Here is Mickey Ruskin (right) with John Chamberlain.
Dorothy Dean always sat by the door at Max’s. She was the guardian of the gates. She told me once or twice that she had danced The Tennessee Waltz in Tennessee with Tennessee Williams.
Dorothy was once a fact checker at The New Yorker, a fact that impressed me greatly. She hung out with a lot of gay men, but she hated the term “fag hag,” so called herself a fruit fly.
Dorothy was one of The Factory people and she was in several Warhol films. Here she is inspecting Norman Levine while being serenaded by Eric Anderson.
I liked the clientèle at Max’s, even the ones who weren’t as notorious as these characters below. Andy Warhol held court in the back room of the restaurant. Tim Buckley was a great guy, just like his son in many ways.
Debbie Harry, already quite beautiful, was frequently our waitress and she was a good one.
Lenny Kaye did his time at Max’s. He had roughly the same relationship with Patti Smith that I had with Janis Joplin.
Lenny is soulful, very intelligent, writes books, teaches at Rughers, I believe, and is just an all around good man.
Danny Fields, an “executive at Elektra,” as he is often billed, has been a kind of PR man for Max’s since it opened. Danny brought Jim Morrison to the restaurant, and he introduced Iggy Pop to David Bowie there. Here Danny is with Tammy Faye Starlight.
And somewhat earlier with Nico from The Velvet Underground.
Many people at Max’s were quite well known and many were not, but all were interesting. It was quite a scene. Some of the people in this photograph are: David Bowie, Danny Fields (hey, Danny, where are you now?), Robert Mapplethorpe, Jim Morrison (peeing in a bottle), Lou Reed, Patti Smith. I’m there too. I think I see Lenny Kaye. We’re not posing. This is a typical Max’s scene out on the sidewalk on a summer night. David Bennett Cohen is there.
It’s funny what you remember about a place. I’ll bet that everyone who went to Max’s remembers the little bowls of dried garbanzo beans (chick peas). Everyone ate them like candy while they talked. Very salty, so of course they needed washing down with something.
And now a thank you to Donna Patterson and Anthony Edman for your help on this history. It is much appreciated. Donna is trying to be anonymous, so don’t remember her, OK?
Ant Knee, thank you always for being a good friend.
Part Six next week. See you then.
Sam Andrew
Big Brother and the Holding Company
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Tags: 1968, art, big brother, Big Brother and The Holding Company, blog, British Columbia, California, carousel, Cheetah, Chet Helms, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, donna patterson, Fillmore, Forest Park, history, James Gurley, Janis Joplin, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Music, musicians, New York, painting, Penn State University, peter albin, Philadelphia, Piece of My Heart, poster art, posters, Rhode Island, Rose Bowl, Sam Andrew, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, sundays, University of California at Irvine, University of Massachusetts, Virginia, Worcester
This is the story of Big Brother and the Holding Company. This is the part where we go up, up, up.
January to June 1968
Linda McCartney took this photograph when she was Linda Eastman and a dear friend of mine.
We became vegetarians together. That way we wouldn’t eat each other.
Not for our health, as Isaac Bashevis Singer might say, but for the health of the chickens.
5 January 1968 Rainbow Ballroom Fresno California
6 January 1968 Sacramento State College Steve Brown captured this lovely image of Janis. I think she liked him.
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 I always liked playing here.
25 January 1968 Fillmore Auditorium San Francisco
26-27 January 1968 Winterland San Francisco John Byrne Cooke, son of Alistair Cooke, Spanish major at Harvard, was our estimable road manager and 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, and he introduced us to a whole new world when we went East in 1967.
He 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.
Albert Grossman, the schvitzing Svengali, our manager, the gray cloud, and now he’s gone.
28 January 1968 Avalon Ballroom San Francisco
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
Elliott Landy took some very sweet photographs of nearly everyone at that time.
The lower East Side was a magic place to be in those days.
This restaurant was right next door to where we played.
Colors, smells, enthusiastic people who were personal, direct and kind, rather 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.
25 February 1968 Rhode Island School of Design Providence Rhode Island Yes, folks, there was a time when yoghurt was seen as exotic.
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.
1-2 March 1968 The Grande Ballroom Detroit Michigan
Back in New York, in Albert Grossman’s office listening to what we did at The Grande. One of those moments of truth.
Bill Graham becomes the king of New York.
8 March 1968 Fillmore East opens. Linda made this poster.
We were living in the Chelsea Hotel, once home of Mark Twain, Eugene O’Neill, Thomas Wolfe and many other heroes of our youth.
William Burroughs lived there. So did Brendan Behan, O. Henry, Virgil Thomson, Larry Rivers, Charles Bukowski, Patti Smith and let’s not forget Sid and Nancy.
Jane Fonda lived there. So did Julie Christie. I visited each of them there. We were just friends. Coworkers, really.
9 March 1968 Wesleyan University Middletown Connecticut Janis is playing Combination of the Two.
15-17 March 1968 Electric Factory Philadelphia I always loved Philadelphia. The people I met there seemed very soulful. Still do.
Visiting the Columbia Records vault, New York City. Lots of treasure there.
And recording at the Black Rock. Columbia Recording Studio. I once did a session here at seven in the morning.
The Black Rock is at 52nd Street and Sixth Avenue.
I was very excited to be on this street and I walked west at night, hearing the ghosts of Monk, Bird, Diz, Bud Powell, Bill DeArengo, Milt Jackson, J.C. Heard, Ray Brown.
I walked 52nd Street whistling the tune they wrote and played here. That middle part is something else.
22-24 March 1968 The Cheetah Chicago
2-6 April The Generation New York City B.B. King inspired us this night with his sacred words and music.
7 April 1968 Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Richie Havens, Paul Butterfield, Joni Mitchell.
10 April 1968 Anaheim Convention Center
Tuning, always tuning. In the Renaissance they said that if a lute player lived to be eighty, he would have spent sixty years tuning. That’s about right
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 Now we’re home with our friends, practiced, proficient, professional and prone to perilous propensities.
Don’t ask me what that means. Well, actually, I know what it means, but am loathe to elucidate.
This gig at Winterland was recorded.
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 Chico is close to Paradise. I bet Donna Patterson can come up with a better line than that.
2 May 1968 Carousel Ballroom San Francisco
1968 3-4 May The Shrine Expo Center Los Angeles
3-5 May 1968
3-6 May 1068
10 May 1968 Cal-Poly State University San Luis Obispo California
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 This 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.
Sunny, beautiful day, Janis relaxed and happy, sitting in the grass with me and the other children.
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 I used to play saxophone in this building with a big band.
24-26 May 1968 Carousel Ballroom with the Clara Ward Singers. Five errors ? Dave, Janis, Sam, James and Peter. That was easy.
31 May 1968
9 June 1968 Whisky-A-Go-Go Hollywood
Always so much going on at The Whisky.
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 has just released his recording of this engagement.
24 June 1968 Burlingame Country Club Burlingame California
26-29 June 1968 Denver
Part five next week. I love you all, you know that, right ? OK, just making sure.
Sam Andrew
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Tags: 1968, Alistair Cook, art, big brother, Big Brother and The Holding Company, Bill Graham, Black Rock, blog, California, Cheetah, Chelsea Hotel, Chet Helms, Columbia Recording Studio, Electric Factory, Elliott Landy, Fillmore, James Gurley, Janis Joplin, John Bryne Cooke, linda eastman, Linda McCartney, Los Angeles, peter albin, Rainbow Ballroom, Sam Andrew, San Francisco, Shrine Auditorium, sundays, Vegetarians, Winterland
Well, hello, everybody !
July to Decmber 1967
This is the continuing story of Big Brother and the Holding Company.
The third of twenty-five chapters.
1 July 1967 Avalon Ballroom Quicksilver Mount Rushmore Horns of Plenty
“Big Brother and the Holding Company ?” How did you get a name like that ?
2 July 1967 Mount Tamalpais Marin County, California.
I remember I had a hard time driving down off that mountain after this gig. We had a 1955 Cadillac hearse which was unwieldy anyway, and I didn’t know Marin County yet, and especially Mount Tamalpais, so I had a fun time negotiating all those curves, peaks and valleys.
Anyway, 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 Big Bother and the Folding Company. Or Country Schmo and The Knish. Or Quicksliver Military Service.
4-6 July 1967 Fillmore Bo Diddly Big Joe Williams
7-8 July 1967 Circle Star Theatre San Carlos California
Theatres in the round 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.
On one legal tablet, Chet had the name “Big Brother,” no doubt prompted by a recent reading of Orwell.
14-15 July 1967 Continental Ballroom grand opening.
20-21 July 1967 Avalon Ballroom Mount Rushmore On another legal tablet page, Chet had the words “The Holding Company.”
Holding ? Why Holding ?
23 July 1967 Straight Theatre San Francisco Grand Opening Freedom Highway The Phoenix Wildflower Grateful Dead
Mount Rushmore Quicksilver Messenger Service New Salvation Army Band Mother Earth Country Joe and The Fish The Charlatans Blue Cheer
28-30 July 1967 California Hall San Francisco
“Holding” was slang at that time for “possessing,” as in, “Hey, man, are you holding any drugs ?”
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 So, on one yellow tablet Chet had “Big Brother” and on the other he had “the Holding Company.”
11-12 August 1967 Continental Ballroom Santa Clara California ”Big Brother ?” “Holding Company ?”
13 August 1967 Avalon Ballroom ”Big Brother” was big government. “”Holding Company” was corporate government. Corporations weren’t people yet.
16 August 1967 Golden Gate Park The Supreme Court was still an honorable institution.
Sharrie Gomez and I doing a Macy’s ad.
24-27 August 1967 Avalon Ballroom Bo Diddly Bukka White The Salvation Army Banned
28 August 1967 Lindley Meadow Golden Gate Park ”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 perfect.
We were not “political” at all in the Berkeley sense. We were political just by being who we were. Our politics were non proselytizing, spiritual, private.
Joe MacDonald had a difficult time understanding this then and he may still.
So… “Big Brother ?” ”The Holding Company ?” For a group of people like us ?
We had a shoot in Sausalito at the Heliport with Irving Penn, master of photography, another not overtly yet intensely political artist.
This is the way Irving Peen’s portrait of us and the Grateful Dead looks on the walls of 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
You probably cannot see that Janis and I are committing some kind of nefarious act over there under the tree.
Talk about truth in advertising.
15 September 1967 Canceled. Anyway, so Chet put the names together. Big Brother and the Holding Company.
James Gurley said, “Hey, how is a name that long 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 ?”
September 16, 1967 Monterey Jazz Festival T-Bone Walker B. B. King Richie Havens The Clara Ward Singers Afternoon Blues Show
T-Bone Walker was my guitar hero when I was 14, him and Charlie Christian, 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 James Gurley’s question was prescient. Big Brother and the Holding Company has always been a difficult fit.
On marquees, on record labels, on book titles, philosophically, spiritually… a difficult fit.
6 October 1967 The Ark Sausalito California
7 October 1967 Avalon Ballroom See ? The version below might fit us a bit bother, I mean, better.
8 October 1967 Santa Clara Fairgrounds Santa Clara California
13-14 October 1967 Eagles Auditorium Seattle This engagement was also canceled, I believe, and we played at The Ark instead.
To make the name Big Brother and the Holding Company fit on a poster, we have to squeeze it, so that our name is smaller. Boo, hoo.
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 Richie Havens
? November 1967 Golden Bear Club Huntington Beach California
4 November 1967 Winterland San Francisco Richie Havens Pink Floyd
4 November 1967 The Ark Baltimore Steam Packet Moby Grape
13 November 1967 Avalon Ballroom Grateful Dead Quicksilver Messenger Service
16 November 1967 Cubist stock certificate.
Lisa Law took this one in San Geronimo Valley not far from where I am sitting now.
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 Sandy Bull Dan Hicks
2 December 1967
14-17 December 1967 Whisky-A-Go-Go Hollywood
17 December 1967
18 December 1967 California Hall
19 December 1967 Shrine Auditorium Los Angeles We became acquainted with Connie and Renee Pappas somewhere along here.
They were good friends and the next time we played the Golden Bear or the Shrine, they had a party for us at their house.
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
31 December 1967
Happy New Year !
Part four next week. See you then.
Sam Andrew
Big Brother and the Holding Company Alain Bertrand painted this. Notice the billboard down the street to your left.
Alain, je te remercie mille fois. My good friend.
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Tags: Avalon Ballroom, BBHC, big brother, Big Brother and The Holding Company, blog, Bo Diddly, Cal State, California, Contra Costa College, Family Dog, Haight Ashbury, history, Hollywood, James Gurley, Janis Joplin, Jazz Festival, Music, musicians, peter albin, Sam Andrew, Sharrie Gomez, sundays, Whisky-A-Go-Go
January to June 1967
I found this photograph tacked to a telephone pole. By whom? Why ? I have no idea.
Palais des Beaux Arts. San Francisco.
A lot of our inspiration was coming from KMPX radio. They had a beautifully adventurous playlist which was the soundtrack to our lives at this time. Erik Satie, then Quicksilver, then Telemann, then Mississippi John hurt, then, well, it could go anywhere.
Howard Hessman didn’t only play a DJ on TV. He was one in real life, and a good one too.
Chet Helms about the time that we shared a house in Bernal Heights, San Francisco.
1 January 1967 Golden Gate Park “New Year’s Day Wail” with the Grateful Dead and the Orkustra
Fayette Hauser’s Cockettes in the Panhandle, Golden Gate Park.
The Panhandle in the 1890s.
Diane Vitalich playing in the Park, probably with the Ace of Cups, a good band.
The Wizard Martoon, Martin Gorak, artist, gentle soul, great human being, soul brother. He taught me a lot about how the stars move across the sky. Great painter.
9 January 1967 Straight Theatre
Rehearsing with James Gurley.
We took an early group photograph in Golden Gate Park by one of these windmills out near the ocean.
A very appropriate symbol come to think of it.
12 January 1967
13 January 1967 Santa Venetia Armory San Rafael California Ralph and Al Pepe presented Moby Grape, Morning Glory and us.
I remember John Cipollina at this one, talking my ear off , explaining what Leos and Virgos were. Full speed. Quicksilver.
Hey ! It’s Janis ! In San Rafael.
This is Peter’s school. He majored in photography here. Light is faster than sound.
14 January 1967 Human Be-in Golden Gate Park San Francisco
15 January 1967 Shrine Auditorium Los Angeles
The Merry Pranksters were along for this one.
17-22 January 1967 The Matrix San Francisco
Amazing what happened in this tiny room. Steve Miller was also on this bill.
24-26 January 1967 Soul City Club Dallas Texas
28 January 1967 Continental Ballroom Santa Clara, Calilfornia.
How it felt, how it looked.
29 January 1967 Avalon Ballroom San Francisco
Allen Ginsberg, Grateful Dead, Moby Grape.
Chet Helms, the high priest.
31 January to 5 February 1967 Matrix
I’ve noticed that a lot of really good singers have very wide, generous mouths.
3 February 1967 A Benefit for Hairy Harry California Hall Head Lights does the light show.
4-5 Feburary 1967 Matrix Where did they go ? All those sounds we played in that small room ?
10-11 February 1967 Golden Sheaf Bakery Berkeley
12 February 1967 California Hall
14 February 1967
We played with Moby Grape and Jack the Ripper.
15 February 1967 California Hall
Papa made the set list. Mama read the papers.
17-18 February 1967 Avalon Ballroom Tribal Stomp
Bob Seideman took this photograph of James.
19 February 1967 Matrix
Mojo Navigator There is a beautiful magazine now in the UK called MOJO. I wonder if they ever give any props to their ancestor ?
21 February 1967 California Hall
23 February 1967 The Ark
24 February 1967 Glide Memorial Church San Francisco
25 February 1967 The Barn Scott’s Valley California
This was a most interesting scene down near Santa Cruz in the magical town of Scott’s Valley. The Hershey Gumbo played downstairs at the same time as we did upstairs, and they were attracting a large audience. Janis and James and I went down to see what was going on. Ralph Saunders, a steel guitar player, was holding forth and there seemed to be some kind of intrigue in the air. Scott’s Valley has now become a wealthy enclave, in places a gated community seemingly unaware of its exotic past.
26 February 1967 Glide Memorial Church Sunday morning service
The Reverend Cecil Williams was a hero to us.
Then, that evening, we drove to Merced and played at The American Legion Hall.
2 March 1967
4 March 1967 Steininger Auditorium University of California Medical Center San Francisco with Steve Miller.
I loved this gig. I was fascinated by Steve, already a great player and very advenurous.
5 March 1967 Avalon Ballroom A Benefit for Newstage & the Straight Theatre Moby Grape Country Joe and The Fish The Sparrow
10 March 1967 Chessall High School Gymnasium Ukiah California
12 March 1967 Fillmore Auditorium San Francisco
14-16 March 1967 The Matrix
17-18 March 1967 The Avalon
Charles Lloyd The Sir Douglas Quintet
21-26 March 1967 The Rock Garden San Francisco
I was talking to Arthur Lee, “Boy, that was a great set you did !” He replied, “Who you calling boy ?”
31 March to 1 April 1967 Avalon Ballroom Charlatans Blue Cheer
Herb Greene took this beautiful photograph of these beautiful people, The Charlatans.
8 April 1967 Mount Tamalpais Outdoor Theatre Marin County
Quicksilver Messenger Service The Sparrow The Charlatans
9 April 1967 Longshoremen’s Hall San Francisco
10-11 April Fillmore Auditorium San Francisco We played that afternoon 10 April on Mount Tamalpais.
12-13 April 1967 Winterland and the Fillmore
15 April 1967 Spring Mobilization Kezar Stadium San Francisco
16 April 1967 Stockton Civic Auditorium Stockton California The New Breed played on the bill with us.
21 April 1967 In Athens there was also counter revolution and questioning of authority.
There was a wave of protest washing over the world. Even the Red Guards in China, misguided as they were, were part of this.
We must all stand together or surely we will all hang separately. Benjamin Franklin.
21-22 April 1967 Fillmore Auditorium with the mighty Howlin’ Wolf
23 April 1967
The light show was Aurora Glory Alice.
The Diggers. There were two leaders of this organization. One died of a heroin overdose in the 1980s. The other became a leading man in films. It seems like every documentary voice over I hear is by Peter Coyote.
25 April 1967 Live in studio performance at KQED “Come Up The Years” San Francisco
When Janis saw this shot she said, “Gosh, Sam, you are such a fan.”
Hey, I knew where the camera was at all times… and so did she.
25-27 April 1967 Matrix
28-29 April 1967 California Hall with Willie Mae Big Mama Thornton The Weeds
5-7 May 1967 Avalon Ballroom
11 May 1967 The Fillmore Vanguard Records throws a party for the release of an LP by Country Joe and the Fish.
12-13 May 1967 California Hall
25 May 1967 Carousel Ballroom San Francisco
26-27 May 1967 The Fillmore with Steve Miller
30 May 1967 Haight Ashbury Legal Organization Benefit Winterland
Jefferson Airplane Quicksilver Messenger Service The Charlatans Grateful Dead
31 May 1967 Filming Petulia The Fairmont Hotel San Francisco
Peter auditioning for Hard Days Night, part two.
It was fun getting to know Julie Christie and Richard Chamberlain who turned out to be a decent man and not at all “plastic,” deadly term of opprobrium in those days.
We filmed right in the Fairmont lobby.
The theme in the film for this event was driving safety, so we performed Road Block.
The director was Richard Lester. He had worked with other musicians, so he knew what to expect.
2-3 June 1967 California Hall
8-11 June 1967 Avalon Ballroom
Canned Heat, still a great band. We play with them frequently.
One of my favorite phoographs of Janis.
10-11 June 1967
17-18 June 1967 The Monterey Pop Festival
I was so in love with Rita Bergman. She was the flower in the sun. She was the one to call on me. She was the farewell.
Singing Road Block.
What a thrill this was.
Some guys will do anything to get a little reverb.
Ravi Shankar, Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix were the people I wanted to see and they didn’t disappoint.
Janis was great. We all felt good and happy to be there.
21 June 1967 Polo Field Golden Gate Park San Francisco Summer Solstice Festival Embarcadero & Lombard Streets
24 June 1967 The Avalon
25 June 1967 The Fillmore with Gabor Szabo and Jimi Hendrix
27 June 1967 Benefit for Lick-Wilmerding School Avalon Ballroom
28 June 1967 Western Front San Francisco
29 June 1967 California Hall
29 June-2 July 1967 Avalon Ballroom
30 June 1967 Napa Fairgrounds Napa California
James Gurley, one of the most interesting people I have ever known.
Next week part three. See you then.
Sam Andrew
Ooops, there I go again.
Big Brother and the Holding Company
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Tags: Avalon, band, BBHC, Berkeley, big brother, Big Brother and The Holding Company, blog, California, California Hall, Chet Helms, Cockettes, Fillmore, Golden Gate Park, history, Human Be-in, James Gurley, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, KMPX, Martin Gorak, Matrix, Moby Grape, Mojo, Monterey Pop Festival, musicians, painters, peter albin, poster art, posters, psychedelic, Sam Andrew, San Francisco, Steve Miller, sundays, The Merry Pranksters, Wizard Martoon
1965 – 1966
Since I was 14 or so, I have been in one kind of a musical group or another. Guitar groups.
Vocal groups.
The Cool Notes Okinawa Japan.
At the University of San Francisco I played trumpet, saxophone and a lot of typewriter, because I edited the literary magazine.
Things were coalescing.
We were listening to Skip James, Ma Rainey, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Victoria Spivey, Mance Lipscomb, Bessie Smith, Mississippi John Hurt, LaVern Baker, Joe Turner.
And Peter Albin was playing like John Lee Hooker.
Big Brother and the Holding Company 1965-2012 …and counting… Golden Anniversary soon. This is our history.
Peter and I started playing as Big Brother in this house… 1090 Page Street San Francisco. 1965.
The image below might be the earliest photograph we have of all of our friends. See anyone you know there ? If you know everyone there, call me immediately.
People I know in this photograph: Peter Albin, Sam Andrew, Rita Bergman, Mike Ferguson, Dave Getz, Martin Gorak, Hongo Gurley, James Gurley, Nancy Gurley, Phil Hammond, Chet Helms, Lori Helms, Dan Hicks, David Homage, George Hunter, Janis Joplin, Alton Kelley, Mortimer Lindner (veterinarian), James Moylanin, Richie Olsen, Paula Preston, Sancho (the family dog), Mike Wilhelm.
Chet Helms, our big brother.
Our first promotional photograph. We are in the cable car barn. San Francisco, 1966.
Chet Helms, Sam Andrew, Peter Albin, Chuck Jones, James Gurley.
November 1965 We play a gig on Clement Street, but we are not called Big Brother yet.
Later in November 1965 We play in the Panhandle of Golden Gate Park as Big Brother and the Holding Company.
Mike Ferguson and Lynn Hughes.
10 January 1966 We held auditions at The Matrix on Fillmore Street, San Francisco.
15 January 1966 Our first public performance. Open Theatre Berkeley.
Lynn Hughes actually auditioned for us at one point. Here she is with Jesse Cahn.
21-23 January 1966 Longshoreman’s Hall San Francisco
12 February 1966 Fillmore Auditorium San Francisco
19 February 1966
George Conger, Ritchie Olsen, George Hunter.
26 February 1966 The Family Dog at the Fillmore.
Darby Slick wrote this. I was TEACHING the lesson. Jerry Garcia and I were both guitar teachers at this point.
Chet Helms and James Gurley in one of Herb Greene’s beautiful photographs.
One of our glamour poses. Not glamor, glamour, please.
1=6 March 1966 The Matrix Chet was our brother and the Matrix was our mother.
12 March 1966 The Matrix
18-20 March 1966 Fillmore Auditorium San Francisco
19 March 1966 The Firehouse
James Gurley.
1 April 1966 Harmon Gymnasium Berkeley Delano Grape Strikers Benefit
2 April 1966
2 April 1966 Geary Temple
4-6 April 1966 Matrix
9 April 1966 Longshoreman’s Hall.
29-30 April 1966 Avalon Ballroom
Peter Albin learning his craft.
6 May 1966
6 May 1966
It was a big thrill to see our name in the San Francisco Chronicle.
13-14 May 1966 Red Dog Saloon Virginia City Nevada
21 May 1966 Muir Beach Marin County
That was fun, to be finding our way, not sure of where we were going.
Janis was a trouper. She was a real musician and she supported the band as much as we supported her.
21 May 1966 Avalon Ballroom
27-28 May 1966 Red Dog Saloon Virginia City Nevada
Hairy ?
30 May 1966 Winterland San Francisco
3-4 June 1966 Avalon Ballroom
10-11 June 1966 Red Dog Saloon Virginia City
Janis and Dorothy Joplin.
19 June 1966 Timothy Leary Benefit at the St. Francis Hotel San Francisco
24-25 June 1966 Avalon Ballroom Janis Joplin’s first engagement with Big Brother unless Chet made a special place for her at the Avalon on 10 June. I can’t remember.
We did all kinds of gigs. This one was for our friend Dennis Nolan.
Dennis drew this poster. One of my favorites.
I’ve done a few paintings of this band.
1 July 1966 Fillmore Auditorium San Francisco
Rodney Albin, another big brother. Rodney once asked us to turn down… at gunpoint. The only way you can make guitar players turn down, despite an old joke that says otherwise.
2 July 1966 Monterey Fairgrounds
8-9 July 1966 Red Dog Saloon Virginia City
14 July 1966 Fillmore
15-16 July 1966 This one didn’t happen.
Nancy Gurley and her son Hongo who grew to be a fine man. Nancy was a free spirit.
22 July 1966
Lisa Law did some plein air photography of Big Brother out in the San Geronimo Valley of Marin County.
28 July 1966 California Hall San Francisco
29-30 July 1966 Garden Auditorium Pacific National Exhibition Vancouver British Columbia
29-30-31 July 1966
Ken Babbs in control at The Trips Festival.
Playing in Golden Gate Park. It always seemed to be sunny and blue.
2-3-4- August 1966 Losers South
5-6 August 1966 Avalon Ballroom
Sancho, often misspelled “Soncho,” put his pawprint on this poster.
Keeping an eye on things at The Mojo Navigator which was the first psychedelic rock magazine.
7 August 1966 with Grateful Dead, Grass Roots, Sunshine, Jook Savages, PH Phactor, Si Perkoff Jazz Quintet, San Francisco Mime Troupe.
12 August 1966 afternoon show in the Park.
12-13 August 1966 Avalon Ballroom
Figuring out what we’re going to do when we sign with Mainstream Records.
Chicago ! Our first big road trip. We were there from 25 August to 19 September 1966.
16 September 1966 Chicago Sun Times
I saw Howlin’ Wolf, Junior Wells, Muddy Waters, and a lot of other good people up close and personal. Wolf said to me, “You have more soul than I have on my shoe.” First time I heard that expression.
19 September 1966
Stanley Mouse did this beautiful work on my guitar.
23-24 September 1966 Avalon Ballroom. Wolf canceled this gig, so Grass Roots replaced him.
Another beautiful work by Dennis Nolan.
6 October 1966 The Ark Sausalito, California. We also played in Golden Gate Park that afternoon.
The Ark Sausalito, California
The Charles van Damme, alias, The Ark a few years later.
7-8 October 1966 Avalon Ballroom Sutter and Van Ness, San Francisco, California.
13-14 October 1966
15-16 October 1966
Backstage in our elegant dressing room.
22 October 1967 Winterland San Francisco
On one of our pilgrimages to Fritz Maytag’s Anchor Steam Brewery in San Francisco.
We played 1-6 November 1966 at The Matrix.
and 4 November 1966 at The Ark, Sausalito.
Drinking Champagne and being happy backstage.
The artists then were so exuberant and industrious that they would often do two, three or four posters for the same event. The creative juices were flowing.
11 November 1966 We taped a “POW” TV show in San Francisco and played the Trip Room in Sacramento.
We always had a lot of fun at Sokol Hall which was right down the street from 1090 Page where Peter and I started the band.
12 November 1966 Sokol Hall 739 Page Street San Francisco.
Peter Albin wears satin.
13 November 1966 Avalon Ballroom
19 November 1966 The Barn Scotts Valley Santa Cruz
23 November 1966 California Hall 625 Polk Street San Francisco, California.
25-26 November 1966 The Avalon Ballroom Isn’t this a beautiful poster ?
3 December 1966 Wilbur Hall Stanford University A Happening in the Wilburness
9-10 December 1966 Avalon Ballroom
16-17 December 1966 Winterland San Francisco
18 December 1966 We played the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
25 December 1966 We had a Christmas party at our house in Lagunitas. Lisa Law took this photograph of us by the kitchen door.
26 December 1966 The Ark Sausalito
27 December 1966 Avalon Ballroom
31 December 1966 Kezar Pavilion Golden Gate Park
Next week, part two. See you then !
Sam Andrew
Big Brother and the Holding Company
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Tags: 1960s, BBHC, big brother, Big Brother and The Holding Company, California, Chet Helms, history, James Gurley, Janis Joplin, Music, music history, musicians, peter albin, rock and roll, Sam Andrew, San Francisco, sundays
1 April 2012
But if you had been able to anticipate the grand march of human progress and poetic feeling by fifty years, and asked her to sing
You made me love you, I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to do it,
she would have asked a policeman to remove you to a third class carriage. (George Bernard Shaw, writing about his mother).
Lord, what fools these mortals be.
1090 Page Street San Francisco
This was what it cost to see Peter Albin and me play in 1965.
When I first walked into 1090 Page Street in the spring of that year, these are the lines that I declaimed from the staircase down into the Victorian gloom of the foyer:
Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,
And smale fowles maken melodye,
That slepen al the night with open ye,
So priketh hem nature in hir corages:
Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages.
What do you want ? I had been an English major and was now studying linguistics in graduate school at UC Berkeley.
When this prologue is pronounced more or less the way it would be spoken in the fifteenth century, the rhythm and the music of the lines can be overwhelming.
In 1582, Charles IX, king of France, introduced the Gregorian Calendar into his country, and New Year’s Day was moved from 1 April to 1 January.
Many people, even in France, only learned of this change years later. Some are still not sure about it.
The first day of April seems like a far better time to start a new year than the first day of January.
Actually, to me, the first day of September would be best. This is the beginning of the year in many cultures.
The people who were too ignorant or too stubborn to accept 1 January as the new new year were labeled “fools” by everyone else and were mocked with fool errands, fool invitations and fool parties.
The butts of these pranks were called “poissons d’avril,” April fish.
A young fish is easily caught.
So, on the first of April, it was common to hook a paper fish on the back of someone as a joke.
You think he noticed it ?
In the 18th century, this lovely custom reached England, and was introduced into the American colonies by the English and the French. Here is a visual and literal pun on “poison” (poison) and “fish” (poisson).
Below is a ticket to see the “washing of the lions,” something that never happened, so this is an April fools trick in earnest.
In Scotland they take “butts” of jokes literally, so April Fools is devoted to spoofs involving the buttocks and is called Tally Day.
The origins of the “Kick Me” sign can be blamed on the Scots.
In Rome, this holiday was called Festival of Hilaria and it celebrated the return of the god Attis on 25 March, which was also called Roman Laughing Day. Hilaria was also called Cybele.
Another Hilaria in South America: OK, children, tell this pupil Aldo what are the requirements for being a congresswoman? To be Peruvian by birth and older than 25.
The Huli Festival in India comes on 31 March and is a celebration of Spring. People play jokes on each other and smear colors on their friends.
Perhaps because the cold winter is ebbing and the beautiful spring is springing, in many cultures there are lighthearted feasts around this time. One of them is the Jewish Purim which fell on 7 March this year at sundown.
Queen Esther Palin… April Fools !
Japanese style:
Things that happened on April first:
On 1 April 527, Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Justinianus became the emperor of Byzantium (Constantinople, Istanbul), the eastern part of the Roman Empire.
In 1578 on April first, William Harvey discoverer of the circulation of the blood, was born.
The ruins of Pompei were found on 1 April 1748.
On April Fools Day 1778, so the story goes, a New Orleans businessman Oliver Pollock created the $ symbol.
Another possible and much more interesting and ancient origin of the dollar sign is a kind of map made by the Phoenicians of the Pillars of Hercules. This was the Greek name of the promontories on the entrance to the straits of Gibraltar. When the Lebanese traders sailed by these eminences on their way out into the giant Atlantic ocean, the map they made of their threading the pillars was like a dollar sign. The Phoenicians were nothing if not a commercial race, so they took this map to heart.
King Ferdinand was able to make Gibraltar part of the Spanish estates in 1492 and he adopted the symbol of the pillars of Hercules. Later, King Charles V used it in his coat of arms and the symbol in combination with two hemispheres was printed on coins made of the silver and gold that was brought from America by the counquistadores. These coins then spread to America and Europe and the symbol adopted as a currency symbol.
Edmond Rostand who wrote Cyrano de Bergerac was born 1 April 1868.
Paul Gauguin the painter left Marseilles for Tahiti on 1 April 1891.
One fool that should have been kept in jail: 1 April 1924 Hitler was sentenced to five years labor, but General Ludendorff, a coconspirator in the Munich Putsch was acquitted. Herr Schickelgruber used his jail time to write a book.
Louis Marx introduced the Yo-Yo on April Fools 1929, the same day that Luis Buñuel released Un Chien Andalou. By the way, “yoyo” spelled backwards is “oyoy.”
Some other YoYos.
On 1 April 1930, the film Der Blaue Engel (Blue Angel) premiered in America.
Jimmy Cliff first saw the beautiful light of Jamaica on 1 April 1948.
Hey, it looks as if he is playing my Hummingbird… and right handed too.
Big Brother and the Holding Company played a Delano Grape Strikers Benefit on 1 April 1966 with The Great Society and Quicksilver Messenger Service.
Three Slicks.
1 April 1967, we played at The Avalon Ballroom with The Charlatans and Blue Cheer.
April Fools Day 1973, John and Yoko perpetrate the hoax that they are having dual sex change operations.
2003, April first, Big Brother and the Holding Company play at Musiktheater Rex, Lorsch, Germany.
The President playing Peoria.
Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. George Bernard Shaw.
I will see you again on 8 April when the first chapter of my history of Big Brother and the Holding Company will appear. All the best to you.
Sam Andrew.
Big Brother and the Holding Company
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Tags: 1090 Page, April Fools, April Fools Day, art, BBHC, big brother, Big Brother and The Holding Company, blog, James Gurley, Janis Joplin, Music, musicians, painting, peter albin, Sam Andrew, San Francisco, sundays
28 March 2012
Pam Swarz, originally from Buffalo, but now a Phoenician. 
Elise and I went to Arizona last week at the behest of our friend Peggy Pettigrew Stewart a glass artist who practices in Scottsdale.
Peggy rang the gong and we came running. We were to do an event together at The Hermosa Inn, a very beautiful place. We are so happy to be there.
The idea was to have dinner at The Hermosa Inn and then talk about Peggy’s glass work and my shady past with Big Brother and the Holding Company.
I went out walking near the Hermosa Inn and came upon this nameless street, the first one I have ever seen. I mean, I have seen roads with no name but never a road that had a sign saying “road without name.”
Arizona is beautiful, of course, and there are interesting forms everywhere, but especially at the Hermosa Inn.
The day before our event, we went to the Musical Instrument Museum a little north of Phoenix.
I used to go to the Metropolitan Museum in New York and I loved their musical instrument collection.
But the Musical Instrument Museum in Arizona might be the largest in the world. It is simply an amazing place to view wonderful musical instruments.
Kalimbas. Thumb pianos.
Ian Smith and his gang came out and did a beautiful job of explaining the museum to us.
Erin Kozak, Pam Swarz, Sandra Keely, Ian, Sam, Elise, Karen Farugia, Peggy Pettigrew Stewart, Cullen Strawn.
With Karen and Erin. These folks were so kind and knowledgeable.
Poor April Salomon caught the flu that I had earlier last week and couldn’t be with us.
Elise Piliwale is showing me how to ring the gong, a skill she learned from her noble ancestors on Hawaii.
Bill DeWalt, seen here with Sylvia, runs the whole show at the Museum. Great to be with such interesting people.
Now it’s Wednesday 21 March and Peggy, Pam and I start thinking about our event at the Hermosa Inn tonight.
First, Peggy talks about her glass process and shows some examples.
We talk to everyone about how we are going to do a project together.
Pam Swarz and Tom Curzon. 
Elisha Greenleaf.
Stephanie Norton. 
Elisha, Elise, Pam and Stephanie.
I was going to play, and Cindy even brought me a guitar, but we all just talked instead, which was better actually.
Elise and Lance were adoring us from afar.
And probably wishing that they were far away.
I told the long tale of Big Brother and the Holding Company, illustrated version:
There were a lot of questions. People seemed to enjoy the evening.
Peggy is doing some really interesting things with glass.
The evening was magical, really, and very Arizonan in its way.
The next day Elise and I went to Sedona.
There must be a LOT of iron in Sedona. Everything is red.
Shadows are lengthening; it’s getting late.
Time to think about starting for home.
This was a fun trip to Arizona. We’ll see you soon.
Sam Andrew
Big Brother and the Holding Company
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Tags: Arizona, art, artists, BBHC, big brother, Big Brother and The Holding Company, blog, elise piliwale, glass art, guitar, Hermosa, Music, Peggy Pettigrew Stewart, photography, Sam Andrew, Sedona
25 March 2012
The word dog goes back so far in English that there is really no other word that it came from, and it is a peculiarly English word.
Other languages have borrowed the word “dog,” but English hasn’t borrowed the word from any other languages.
I love dogs and love to paint them.
In Anglo Saxon the word was “dogca.” The last syllable was a diminutive, so the effect was something like “doggie.”
People on the continent used some version of “hound,” for dogs in general.
The earliest known mention in print of the animal is a Dutch/French sentence: “een dogghe, vn gros matin d’Engleterre, canis anglicus.”
Canis lupus familiarus is the formal designation for the domestic dog.
Janis and George.
All dogs came from the wolf, canis lupus, a member of the Canidae, Carnivora.
The dog I have my hand on here is Sancho. Many people thought of him as THE Family Dog. Sancho was preternaturally clever and stories of his exploits often strained credulity. Mouse and Kelly made this poster for the Avalon and they put Sancho’s footprint on it.
The dog might be the first domesticated animal.
Domesticated dog skeletons have been found in Siberia and Belgium from about 33,000 years before present.
These early skeletons show shortening of the snout, widening of the muzzle and crowding of the teeth, all of which differ them from the wolf.
DNA evidences a split between dogs and wolves about a hundred thousand years ago, but no examples from before 33,000 years ago have been found.
Canis lupus familiaris can refer to the dog we know, but also to the wolf, coyote and jackals.
It can refer to members of the tribe Canini, the African wild dog, foxes, bush dog, racoon dog.
The word “hound” was used for all domestic canines up to the 14th century.
But in the next two hundred years, “dog” became the usual word and “hound” referred to hunting canines.
“Hound” came from Indo-European “kwon,” dog, and this is the word that survived in Latin canis and, for example, Welsh ci (plural cwn).
If you go to the Westminster dog show, you will hear a male canine called a “dog,” and a female a “bitch.” Standard terminology.
This is a rhyton in the shape of a dog’s head made by Brygos in the early fifth century before the common era.
It is difficult sometimes to believe how much a dog or a cat can love us and put up with our silliness.
I am eternally and necessarily grateful for the nonjudgmental aspects of our cat and dog here at home.
This is a handsome dingo. Chet Helms’ brother John had a dingo once and we all lived together. Very educational.
Dingoes are the aboriginal dogs of Australia.
Dogs can see better at night than we can.
And they smell with more acuity than any other creature on the planet.
You probably have noticed things like this.
Egyptians loved dogs too.
Many are the saints who claim to be patrons of dogs.
Saint Roche, or San Rocco as he was called in Italy, is a dog patron saint candidate.
Saint Francis, or, more properly, San Francesco d’Asissi, was another.
Last Spring a couple of foxes tried to make a den under my painting studio. I store my work there, so it is a quiet place, but I must have spooked them when I finally emerged from winter hibernation, because they left and haven’t returned. The male was quite aggressive and he would run up the driveway and growl at me in a surprisingly loud, low voice for a creature of that size and delicacy.
Standard Poodles have a loyal devotee coterie, you see.
A dog from Gilgamesh.
Another Standard Poodle lover.
Heitor Villa-Lobos wrote beautiful music for the guitar and other instruments. His surname means “Wolfville.”
A wolf has recently made an appearance in California, the first one in a hundred years.
The Inu, which merely means “dog” in Japanese has a somewhat wolflike demeanor, but is very smooth and, oh, you know, Japanese.
“Inu” is written like this. You can see that the shell and bone form was a drawing of a dog. Later the character becomes more stylized on bronzeware. The seal inscription style has evolved to a more abstract form and the contemporary kanji is on the bottom left.
Inugami, the dog god. You can see the word “inu” there. The second character is “kami, gami,” god. Similar to “kamikaze” which meant “divine wind” or “god wind.”
Isabella Rossellini, fairly divine herself, looking quite a bit like her mother here.
Christopher Guest’s mother in law.
This was a fine dog. Smart and alert like most Border Collies.
I always like Jean Arthur’s voice. it had an interesting edge. Her dog has spots on his ears.
Two very likable creatures. Or should that be lickable ?
Joel Hoekstra’s puppy, probably huge by now. Joel and Antonia live on the upper West side, Manhattan, and they are beautiful people. So is their dog.
Josie is a pussycat and she loves her best friend.
Kathryn Adams and her, is it?, Boston Terrier.
Dog spelled backwards is God. Makes you think, doesn’t it?
What may make you think even more, is that “wolf” spelled backwards is “flow.”
Or that pup spelled backwards is pup.
Now the hungry lion roars, And the wolf behowls the moon. Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Sacco’s name will live in the hearts of the people and in their gratitude when Katzmann’s and your bones will be dispersed by time, when your name, your laws, institutions, and your false god are but a dim remembering of a cursed past in which man was wolf to man. Bartolomeo Vanzetti 1888-1927.
I like the way their eyes tilt upward.
Louise Brooks was from the Midwest, but she had a career in European cinema, much like that Ohio woman Jean Seberg who starred in À Bout de Souffle with Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Mad-dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun; the Jappanese don’t care to, the Chinese wouldn’t dare to; Hindus and Argentines sleep firmly from twelve to one, But Englishmen detest a Siesta.
Noël Coward.
In 1987 a German Shepherd won Best in Show at the Westminster.
Dogs turn around before they lie down in order to flatten the grass and drive away any small vermin that are there.
Though, as we know, she was not fond of pets that must be held in the hands or trodden on, she was always attentive to the feelings of dogs, and very polite if she had to decline their advances. George Eliot.
A pug is more closely related to a wolf than a German Shepherd is.
When a dog chases a car, the car generally speeds away. The dog thinks he has been successful in chasing it off, so he will repeat that behavior over and over.
The Basenji is a unique dog that originates in Central Africa. They don’t bark, instead emitting a high-pitched “yodel.” Their behavior has been described as cat-like; they groom like cats and they are known to climb trees. My wife Elise is obsessed with rescuing basenjis. She looks at their animal care sites as avidly as some people look at e bay.
En quoi un homard est-il plus ridicule qu’un chien…ou toute autre bête dont on se fait suivre? J’ai le goût des homards, qui sont tranquilles, sérieux, savent les secrets de la mer, n’aboient pas et n’avalent pas la monade des gens comme les chiens, si antipathiques à Goethe, lequel pourtant n’était pas fou. Gérard de Nerval 1808-1855.
How is a lobster more ridiculous than a dog…or any other animal that one chooses to take for a walk? I like lobsters. They are peaceful, serious, they know the secrets of the sea, they don’t bark, and they don’t try to eat your balls the way dogs do. Goethe had an antipathy to dogs and he wasn’t crazy. Gérard de Nerval explaining why he walked a lobster on a leash in gardens of the Palais Royal.
The most intelligent dogs are said to be the Border Collie and the Poodle.
Re vera, cultor denuo renatus deorum Romanorum antiquorum sum. Actually, I’m a born again pagan.
Intense grief over the death of a dog is normal and natural.
The more I see of men, the better I like dogs. Madame Roland 1754-1793.
A dog we met on Okinawa.
Turbane magna vehiculorum obviam erat tibi venienti huc ? Run into much traffic on the way over ?
Thirty-three percent of dog owners admit they talk to their dogs on the phone or leave messages on the answering machine while they are away.
For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Revelation.
All dogs can be traced back 40 million years ago to a weasel-like animal called the Miacis which dwelt in trees and dens. The Miacis later evolved into the Tomarctus, a direct forbear of the genus Canis, which includes the wolf and jackal as well as the dog.
Ad venatum vadamus. Let’s cut to the chase.
A bear grabbed her dog. She ran after the bear, punched it in the face and snatched her dog back. Don’t make a mother mad.
Aka inu. Red dog.
Small quantities of grapes and raisins can cause renal failure in dogs. Chocolate, macadamia nuts, cooked onions or anything with caffeine can also be harmful.
Avocado, mushrooms and seeds of any type aren’t good either.
Shi dog made by a commercial art studio on Okinawa. People put these dogs at corners of their house on the roof to keep away evil spirits, or maybe just because they like them.
Tuesday Weld was married to Rip Torn. I once sang country songs all night with Bobby Nieuwirth and Kris Kristofferson at Rip Torn’s house. Mr. Torn narrated our video 900 Nights.
Guarding a house across the street from our hotel on Okinawa.
Players, Sir ! I look upon them as no better than creatures set upon tables and joint stools to make faces and produce laughter, like dancing dogs. Samuel Johnson 1709-1784.
Shiba no inu. Is EVERYTHING the Japanese do cute, or does it just seem that way ?
Imagine if there were this much variation in humans. What if dogs bred US ?
Shiba inu.
And daun Russell the fox stirte up atones. Chaucer.
Ozzy Osborne saved his wife Sharon’s Pomeranian from a coyote by tackling and wrestling the coyote until it released the dog. Talk about a hero.
Any man who hates dogs and babies can’t be all bad. W.C. Fields.
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Matthew, probably talking about TV evangelists.
Nunc, vero inter saxum et locum durum sum. Now I am really between a rock and a hard place.
The little dogs and all, Tray, Blanch, and Sweet-heart, see, they bark at me. King Lear.
A dog’s life. He lives in Athens, visits the Acropolis daily and is constantly photographed. Well, okay, the being photographed may be a little disturbing, but…
Yvonne de Carlo.
Sometimes, most of the time?, the worst thing about parting from someone is that you have to leave her dog too.
Woof. Arf. Wag.
Sam Andrew
Big Brother and the Holding Company
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Tags: art, Basenji, Big Brother and The Holding Company, blog, Canidae, Canini, canis lupus, Carnivora, Chet Helms, Dog, dogghe, Dogs, George, hound, Janis Joplin, Jean Arthur, Saint Roche, Sam Andrew, Sancho
18 March 2012
Did you know that cats, the ones who aren’t agnostics anyway, have a patron saint?
She is Gertrude de Nivelles and she is also the patron of gardeners.
Yesterday 17 March was her Feastday. You have to wonder if Santa Gertrudis cattle are named for her and, you know, they probably are.
Gertrude who was born in 626 of our era is often invoked against rats and mice, particularly field mice, so she is the protector of cats.
In my halcyon days, I often liked to take LSD and study the world around me, particularly cats who were near to hand and always fascinating.
They seem to study me too.
Cats are so well engineered and seem to fit in their life niche better than many, many other creatures.
This cat is Jazzy. He lives in San Anselmo.
We brought Lizzy home when she was a baby and in two days she knew how to go the bathroom, clean herself, climb, no, run, up and down the spiral staircase, things that our eight year old dog still has not learned.
I love dogs and indeed plan to write about them soon, but a cat will run circles around a dog when she isn’t actually jumping circles around him.
Notice that I have unconsciously ascribed a gender to each of these animals.
Women are cats.
Men are dogs. Take that any way you want to.
No stereotyping here.
Big Brother and the Holding Company played in Central Park in the summer of 2003. One of our singers was Chan Marshall.
Chan sometimes calls herself Cat Power.
When she was onstage with us, when we were actually playing Down On Me, Chan held a tape recorder to her ear, listening to Janis Joplin sing Down On Me. This was such a post Modern approach to learning a tune that I have never forgot Chan.
Ernest Hemingway was one of the more famous lovers of polydactyl cats.
He was first given a six-toed cat by a ship’s captain.
As provided in his will, his former home in Key West, Florida currently houses some fifty descendants of his cats. About half of them are polydactyl.
I simply can’t resist a cat, particularly a purring one. They are the cleanest, cunningest, and most intelligent things I know, outside of the girl you love, of course. Mark Twain.
Mark Twain was asked: “What is better than a cat?” To which Twain replied: “Two cats!”
Fitting thing for a man named Twain to say.
Motto: Momma loves morals and Papa loves cats. Susy Clemens.
Sir Isaac Newton loved cats. He invented the cat door.
Edgar Allan Poe used cats as symbols of the sinister in several of his stories, although he himself owned and loved cats. He used his tortoiseshell cat “Catarina” as the inspiration for his story ‘The Black Cat’.
T.S. Eliot was a cat lover and he wrote an entire book of poems about cats, that ultimately became a rather well known musical.
Nostradamus (1503 – 1566), the prognosticator of prognosticators, had a cat named Grimalkin, which, with a capital letter or no, is a name used generically for a cat, especially an old one.
Monet loved cats and depicted them in several paintings.
Florence Nightingale owned a large Persian cat named “Bismarck”. She owned more than 60 cats in her lifetime.
Then there’s Kat Patterson who has many feline characteristics.
So does Peggy Pettigrew Stewart, gifted glass artist, here in her natural habitat. Elise and I are going to Arizona to see Peggy this week.
Catalina and Albert.
One of our very early songs in Big Brother and the Holding Company was Faster, Faster, Pussycat, Kill, Kill. I never saw the film, but the tune was fun to play faster and faster.
Robert Crumb said he felt terrible about creating three things because he was ripped off on each of them: 1. the Keep On Truckin’ logo. 2. Fritz the Kat, and 3. the Cheap Thrills album cover because Columbia paid him a small fee and then years later his original drawing was sold at Sotheby’s for some ungodly sum.
I have said so often that Crumb is the greatest artist of our time that I am beginning to believe it.
Why no one in the art world will even try to pronounce “Brueghel” correctly is a bit of a puzzle. Everyone says it as if it were German and written Breugel, but it’s not. It’s Dutch and it is the very devil to pronounce. In Haarlem, I once asked a docent how to pronounce it. I had to ask him three times and I still didn’t get it. It is SOMETHING like Brew hull where the r is said with a flap as in Spanish or Italian and where the h is pronounced as “ch” in German or Scottish. It is definitely not “Broigull,” as Robert Hughes and even Robert Crumb pronounce it.
“Gattare” are Roman women who feed and care for the feral cats of that city.
Edward Gorey and his grimalkin.
Yoko, John and Pepper.
George definitely seems like a cat person.
As does Stan Laurel.
Gato Barbieri was the happening Latin musician when I played with Cubans in New York in the 1970s. Gato is Spanish for “cat,” from Latin “cattus.”
The Classical Latin for “cat” was “felis,” but people in the street said “cattus.” Think of when we say “feline” in English and when we say “cat.”
I once had a cat named Felix, not for “felis,” but for “felix,” happy. Compare Spanish “feliz” and Italian “felice.”
In Greek there was also a learned word for cat (aílouros) and a street word (káttos).
From the word “aílouros,” we get ailurophilia and ailurophbia and you can probably guess what those are. I have a cat who sticks her tongue out just a little bit as this one does. She will leave it there until you call her attention to it.
Ailurophobes are immediately detected by cats who then shower their attention on them… sometimes quite literally.
The poet Martial used the word “catta,” and modern Greeks say “gáta” from Italian “gatta.”
In Catalan, they say “gat.” I think Pablo Picasso may have frequented a café called Quatre Gats (Four Cats) when he was a young man in Barcelona at the turn of the last century.
The English seem to love cats a bit more than the rest of us.
Bowie and Purrie.
Writers like cats, maybe because they are sedentary and soft, or maybe because cats just seem to be wise and comfortable.
I have spent a lifetime drawing and painting cats. I put Mr. O’Reilly in here. He is nothing like that bully on Faux News.
Interspecies love affair, courtesy of my friend Filia Franco.
If you want to draw a kitten, you have to move quickly.
An ailurophile’s bass guitar.
Notice that cats walk on their “fingertips” and that their thumb has migrated up into their inside “forearm” area. You only see four digits in the footprint. Shakespeare called the feline/canine thumb a “dewclaw.”
These thumbs have not migrated yet.
But, hey, they may.
This man loved cats.
Socks also knew his way around the White House.
“I have seven lives. Help me to live at least one of them well.” (I thought they had nine lives.)
Zappa means “hoe” in Italian. No, not that kind of hoe. The other kind of hoe.
I knew this cat well.
Two rather handsome cats.
He assumed the name “Capote” from where I don’t know. It means a big cape or a cloak.
It may even be a top for a convertible.
They visited Minden, Nevada, together.
Drew is a true blue ailurophile.
I love it when cats stick out their arms like this.
Thereby hangs a… oh, you know, a big sweeper.
Cats are as varied in their character and personalities as humans are. Maybe more so.
Some decisive, chiseled.
Others a little softer around the edges.
Ready to go with whatever.
Orange tabbys are always fun.
Love and happiness. (Hey, good idea for a song title.)
Meow.
Sam Andrew
Big Brother and the Holding Company
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Tags: Big Brother and The Holding Company, Brueghel, Cat Power, Cats, Chan Marshall, David Bowie, Ernest Hemingway, Feastday, Felines, Frank Zappa, Gattare, Janis Joplin, Kat Patterson, Mark Twain, Monet, Peggy Pettigrew Stewart, Polydactyl Cats, Robert Crumb, Russell Brand, Sam Andrew, Sir Isaac Newton, T.S. Eliot
