What do you say to a legend? That crossed
my mind when saying hello to Grace Slick in a recent
interview. Fortunately there was a good topic to talk
about, quelling my panic. When the former Jefferson
Airplane/Starship vocalist put down her mike in 1989,
she picked up a paint brush. And never looked back.
Today, Grace is known world-wide for her amazing artwork
which has found favor with all audiences, not just
her rock following. She frequently does exhibits at
galleries from coast to coast. This weekend she has
one in Orange County at Wentworth Galleries in Southern
California. See the end of this interview for dates,
times and locations.
Talking with Grace is like having lunch
at one of those buffets where the food is paraded
in front of you. You get a bit of this and a bit of
that. While we talked about her art and how she got
started, we also touched on a pile of other subjects.
Well, we had to. Man, this gal has lived. She's seen
things and done things. When she does something, she
does it all the way. That's what makes her art as
inviting as her music. Read along and get a unique
perspective on life from one of rock's hell-raising
originals – Grace Slick.
antiMUSIC: Hi Grace. How you doing?
Grace: Okay. For an old person I'm doing
ok (laughs)
antiMUSIC: This is a complete and utter
thrill to have the honor to get to speak with you.
It's almost too weird to be talking to somebody I've
listened to since the late '60s. The very first rock
mag I ever picked up in my early teens was Circus
and you had just done one of the most interesting
interviews with Scott Cohen I had ever read and I
was fascinated from then on. (laughs.)
Grace: (laughs)
antiMUSIC: First of all I have to say,
I think your artwork is excellent.
Grace: Thank you
antiMUSIC: When you hear that some people
are painting who have been in music or other fields,
you just kinda go, yeah right. I mean, there's some
people out there that when I see their paintings I
just wonder what they're thinking showing them to
people.
Grace: A whole bunch of musicians and
actors and so forth do that. Like Jane Seymour, Jonathan
Winters, Anthony Quinn , Tony Bennett, Marty Balin,
let's see, the guy who shows in the same galleries
as me, is one of the Rolling Stones…come on,
come on Grace…
antiMUSIC: Ronnie Wood.
Grace: Yes, thank you. I faded out there
for a minute…um, Joni Mitchell, and you know…and
Myles Davis and some of these people are really good.
Jerry Garcia was good. He drew and unlike me, he's
a multi-tasker. I'm not. So he used to take his paints
and stuff on the road. But I've seen some of his stuff
and some of it's good. But I think it's kinda normal
because it's all the same part of the brain. The arts.
But you don't want any of us doing your accounting
or fixing your television set, right? Because we uh
suck in those areas. (laughs) Pretty much. Some don't.
Gene Simmons is a musician but he doesn't do any drugs.
His addiction is sex. I don't what he's doing any
more, but I know my ex-husband was the lighting director
for KISS for a while and we went over to talk to Gene
about something or other. Money or, you know, the
tour or something and he asked, "Do you want
to see my Polaroids?" And he shows Polaroids
of every woman he's ever screwed.
antiMUSIC: Yeah right, the famous scrapbook.
Grace: And I'm just going, 'Ah, Jesus
do I have to look at this?' I so don't care, you know.
My ex husband pretty much cared because he was kind
of a sex addict or you know whatever they call they
call that kinda stuff. But you know, a woman (pfff)
I could care less. But Gene's very good at business.
Frank Zappa was pretty good at business. And Frank
Zappa didn't do drugs either. Drugs really get in
the way of paying attention to what your accountant's
saying because it's so boring. Jefferson Airplane,
when we first started making, you know, big money,
we brought in a financial advisor who advised that
we buy train, cargo cars for trains in the south somewhere,
and we looked at him, like, 'Are you fucking serious?
Do we give a flying…?' You know, so we didn't
do that and consequently, you know Paul Kantner is
having trouble. He has to go around the country pretending
he's Jefferson Starship and so does Mickey Thomas…and
basically I own the name along with our manager. And
so it's illegal for them to be doing it but I don't
care. They have to make money. As long as they don't
do product. Once they do product, then I'll step in
and say, 'Okay we get a percent. You know, you can't
do that'. So you know it's a little gnarly, but I
don't care if they use the name. I didn't care for
Starship anyway. Like the '80s version of Starship
was just all…songs were written by other people
and ah, God, it was just dumb.
antiMUSIC: You weren't big on "We
Built This City" and all that?
Grace: Yeah, we had a lot of number
ones, but I don't really care about number ones. I'd
rather do music that's interesting and different and
is written by the band, not somebody else. So I'm
kind of a stickler on that kind of stuff.
antiMUSIC: When did you first start
feeling comfortable enough to share your art with
the public?
Grace: Well I was just doing it, I was
living with this guy in 1992-1993 who I'd known for
a long time and I just thought he was eccentric and
he's lived in Rio for about 30years. So he said I'd
like to come up and visit, and I thought, oh cool,
cause he's REALLY good looking. He used to be a male
model and he's got an IQ of about 185. He used to
be a quiz kid in the '40s. So I've known him for a
long time, he was married to my best friend, but they're
obviously no longer married. But I said yeah, sure
come on up and I thought 'oh boy', you know, 'screw
him for a while, that'll be good'. But he's bipolar.
So he gets physically violent and he'll start sweating
and turn red and for no reason start shoving me around.
And I thought okay, 'I'll argue with people forever,
but I don't do shoving.' So I had to...I said maybe
you ought to go back to Rio cause your kids miss you
and so forth. And he, when he left I said, 'Geez what
a waste of a brilliant mind', you know and a beautiful
man, but he's just crazy. And he wouldn't take the
drugs for bipolar because sometimes it affects getting
a hard-on, okay? So he'd rather screw and be crazy,
which I can kind of understand. (laughs) But I don't
do shoving around, and his wife who lives Rio, she's
Portuguese, or whatever everybody is down there, and
they're used to it. The man shoves you around, that's
what men do. And I'm American, so no, I'm sorry, you
don't shove ME around. But when he left, I was sad.
So I started painting animals, just to make ME happy.
I put them up all over my house, cause I like animals
and they make me feel good. So my friend said, wow,
you ought to do that professionally. And here I am.
(laughs) I thought I was retired in 1989. You know,
I was studying bio-medical research fraud and for
about 4 years, various facets of producing drugs and
medicine and so forth. I'd go on television and argue
with the researchers at the University of California
and one time I went on, and there were about four
researchers and I said to the producers: 'Okay, is
there anybody on my side or is it just me against
all these guys?' And I didn't care. I just wondered.
You know, it was kind of imbalanced. And he said 'Oh,
yeah, we got somebody on your side.' 'Who is it?'
'Gordon Liddy' (laughs) So Gordon Liddy is almost
right up there next to Hitler being right wing. And
I'm just to the left of a Sandinista. So at the end
of the show, I said, look this is probably confusing
for the audience, talking about medicine and it's
kind complicated and everything. But if Gordon Liddy
and I can agree on something, you better look into
what that is. (laughs) and Gordon Liddy laughed. He
was very knowledgeable about it. And for some reason,
like me, he was fascinated with how shitty drug testing
and pharmaceuticals. More people are killed in this
country coming from doctors than all the street drugs
combined. And when I read things like that I thought,
'Ok, I've got to figure this one out. This is just
crazy.' They are drug dealers in suits. And they really
don't care. Like the drug dealers we had in the '60s,
one of them lived in our office. He did some carpentry
and he was a black belt in karate and he was a really
sweet guy. And he dealt coke. But our dealers were
kind of our friends. I mean it wasn't cheesy the way
it is now. You know, it's just brutal now. The drug
dealers we knew wouldn't sell you bad stuff that was
cut with baby laxative and everything. We used to
get it straight. Cocaine straight from the factories
in Germany. Uncut and sealed, ok? I think all drugs
ought to be legal and have the government, regulate
them. They're not very good at it, but have them regulate
it so that you can't sell crappy stuff that's been
cut with weird things, you know what I mean? And if
people want to do it…get crazy on their own
time, fine. The only place where I think it ought
to get real serious is driving because a car is a
weapon if you're loaded. So yeah, come down...I wouldn't
be alive if the highway patrol hadn't have come down
hard on me driving drunk. And I appreciate them doing
that, you know? They were the ones who said, either
you go to AA or you lose your license. Now in California,
you don't want to not be able to drive. (laughs) I'm
more addicted to cars than to drugs, so I said fine,
I'll do that. And I liked AA, I thought it was neat.
So I was lucky.
antiMUSIC: What were some of your first
pieces and can you describe the process of putting
them together --- how long they took and that kind
of thing.
Grace: Yeah, I'm sorry. We're supposed
to be talking about painting aren't we? (laughs)
antiMUSIC: No problem. (laughs)
Grace: (laughs). Mostly animals. And
there's this thing, that most artists don't use, I
don't know of any who uses it, I'm sure there are
some but I've got the kinda corner on it. It's a thing
called a slate board. And it looks like a blackboard.
And what you do is you etch into it and anything you
carve, and you use these little tiny points, there
are tools for it. I use a safety pin because I prefer
how it acts to the professional tools. Anything you
scratch in there with a safety pin turns white. So
it's the opposite of what you normally draw, which
is a pencil or pen, black on white. This is white
on black. So instead of doing the hollows of things,
where it's dark, which is what you do with a pencil
or pen. This one you do whatever's lumpy. In other
words, whatever's shiny. The tip of the nose has got
more strikes of white, you know, than say around the
nostril area, which is dark. So it's the reverse of
drawing. And it lends itself very well to animal fur.
You've got to be a compulsive nut to do the fur because
it's like about a million scratches per painting.
antiMUSIC: I would imagine that it's
very unforgiving also.
Grace: That's it. Yeah, you don't make
mistakes with that. So I like it for that reason.
And I like it because I like doing animals and it
really lends itself to fur. It's just amazing. So
I do a lot of animals, pandas and polar bears and
whatever or people dressed in...like the bad red queen
in Alice in Wonderland. She's bad so she's wearing
a fur coat. So I can do fur on her. It doesn't lend
itself in particular to skin because you're making
strikes, right, so it's a little crude when it comes
to skin. I do dots. I'll just do little, tiny dots
for skin, but it's still, I prefer really not to do
many humans with that.
antiMUSIC: How did you start working
with that?
Grace: I'd never heard of a slate board.
And my agent, he wanders around in art stores and
he sends me stuff occasionally. He's great. And he
sent me this stuff, and he said I don't' even know
what this is; I've never seen it before so I thought
maybe you could fool around with that. And I thought
okay, so it'll be black and white. So the first thing,
obviously, I did to make it easy on myself, was a
panda. But the copies of that panda in just regular
copy, it's not scratch board. Tons, you know, hundreds
of copies, are selling like crazy. And it's called:
self-esteem. And he's got a great look on his face
because animals don't have what we do which is all
these goddamn issues. And I have an issue with the
younger generation because: 'Oh, I just can't go to
work today, I'm having a panic attack. And I'm obsessive
compulsive.' And oh just get your goddamn socks on.
Go ahead and have all your problems, because we ALL
have problems. But that doesn't mean you stay in bed,
ok? Get the hell out of bed. Get a job and shut the
fuck up. Because they're all entitled. Like, 'I shouldn't
have to work at Starbucks, because'…no, sorry.
You've gotta work at Starbucks and work your way up
to either managing it, or going somewhere else. But
you can't lie around, you know, and I supported my
daughter for a long time and finally I said ok that's
enough of that. That's stupid, but she and a friend
of hers had this entitlement. And I just think, where
did they get the idea that you don't have to do anything
and it'll all just sort of fall in your lap, you know?
antiMUSIC: I guess it all starts with
shitty parents.
Grace: Apparently, because I'm a shitty
parent because I didn't pull it real early and say
'Ok, guess what, it's hard knocks at the beginning.'
But my daughter had a job as a VJ for MTV, in the
middle '80s when she was about 15. And wow, what a
job for a kid, right? And then she got a recurring
role on Tim Allen's thing, it was the no.1 sitcom
in the country at the time. And then she and I got
sober about 9 years ago, again. I mean I've done this
off and on all my life. But she and I…she has
too, off and on, but we've both been sober for 9 years.
But after she got out of rehab she said, 'Oh I'm just
not going to do acting any more.' It's just too stressful.
I can't handle it…and I thought, ah, Jesus.
So then a little later on, she decided to go back
to college. Now she has a 4.0 average so she's real
smart. But that doesn't mean she isn't hammered by
this weird shit that the younger generation thinks
they ought to hang out, you know. (laughs) 'I think
I want to be Paris Hilton." Well, okay most people
don't have the Hiltons for parents, so, uh, get a
job.'
antiMUSIC: You've written a great deal
of music over the years. Do you find the process of
painting is similar to songwriting or does it come
from a different part of you?
Grace: The same person is knocking the
stuff out, so the joy or passion that I have, I'm
really focusing on this kinda stuff in either music
or art. But if you said to me, I'm sorry, you can't
paint anymore, I'd say okay, then I'll be a set designer.
I'm sorry you can't be a set designer. Okay, then
I'll be a writer. I'm sorry you can't be a writer.
Okay I'll be a character actress. I really don't care.
Any of those...because I've noticed that anything
I do, if it's in the arts, I'm obsessed with it. And
I just love it. And I've been fortunate, most of my
life, people pay me to do stuff I like anyway. So
yes it's coming from the same person. And it's quite
similar, in that the paintings are rock and roll because
it's not like jazz. They're very easy to understand.
They're strong colors. They're in your face. And they're
simple.
antiMUSIC: When did you start moving
away from animals and doing people and characters?
Grace: The suggestion of agents. A book
agent about 10 years said 'Ok, we're doing this book
which is an autobiography, you know. I wrote and then
I sent it to the co-writer to have it correct the
English. My English and spelling are just god-awful.
I don't use semicolons and stuff. I mean, I just do
dashes. That's it. Sometimes I'll put a period in
there, or a comma but I don't do, you know, grammar.
So I'd fax it over to her and she'd correct all the
English. But the agent, the book agent, said, okay,
now I want you to draw a couple of rock and roll people
for the book…and I said, 'Oh, isn't that cute.
Rock and roll draws rock and roll.' And I said, 'No
I'm not doing that.' And she said 'Just do a couple.'
So I thought okay, I did…I don't know Garcia
and Hendrix or something, but I found, when I did
them, I really enjoyed it. So whenever my agent, the
art agent now suggests stuff, I pretty much do it
cause he knows what sells, and it is a business. And
so 50 percent of what I do is just some screwing stuff
that comes out of my head, that I just want to do.
And the other 50 percent is the combination of my
agent or commissions. Like the last commission that
I did, was a man who wanted me to draw Elvis Presley
from the movie Jailhouse Rock for his daughter's bar
mitzvah. (laughs) And I never did like Elvis Presley,
every body else did. And I thought, 'Okay, this is
a challenge. I didn't even like the guy.' But I like
being pushed. So I like it when they bring up stuff
that I would have never thought of. One woman had
a commission and the copies just sell like crazy.
So she knew was doing. She said okay, I want a picture
of the Golden Gate Bridge. And I thought oh, man.
This is the 850 gazillionth picture of the Golden
Gate Bridge. She said I want the Golden Gate Bridge
from the point of view of China Beach, and I knew
what she was talking about because I lived there,
on top of China Beach, from the viewpoint of China
Beach with a bunny in it. And I went 'ah Jesus. This
is too corny and you know, a bunny and the Golden
Gate Bridge.' But she got the original and my agent
made copies and people love that picture. So I thought,
okay, they know something I don't know. So I do 50
per cent of what I'm told to do, and the other 50
is my own stuff, my own head.
antiMUSIC: The rock stuff is just great.
Your Jerry Garcia, the black and white one is phenomenal.
Grace: Thank you
antiMUSIC: And the Jim Morrison one
as well. Particularly his eyes are bang-on. How many
attempts do you make on each one or are they one-offs?
Grace: Well they're all one offs, but
here's how it goes. I'll start with a three by five
file card because I'll be driving along and I'll get
an idea. I'll pull over, pull out a file card and
draw a real quick pencil sketch of what I had in my
mind. Then I get home, pull out the file card and
do a more detailed copy on an 8 by 10 blank you know,
drawing…sketch pad. Then I will erase it, and
do it again, and erase, and oh, I don't like the way
that fingers goes, and I'll do it until I get it the
way I want it. Then I'll take it down to MailBoxes
and have it blown up. Then I'll put carbon paper underneath
it and trace the outline, or not trace, I guess, impress
the outline onto a large canvas. And then I keep the
8 by 10 to see what I wanted to do with the paints.
So it is one-off in the sense that the 8 by 10, that's
it. I mean I work on it until I get it the way I want
it in pencil. So it's one off. I don't do it a couple
of times on a canvas. It goes one time on the canvas.
antiMUSIC: Can you describe your studio
for us?
Grace: Ah, let's see. It's got a fireplace
which I never use because I don't do heat. I do cold.
I'm Norwegian. So there's a big plasma screen in front
of the fireplace. I have it on CNN because can you
can listen to it while you're painting. You don't
have to look at it really. All the doors and windows
are open, because like I said, I like a lot of cold
and it's not that cold in Southern California so I
gotta keep it open here. There are three air conditioners,
small air conditioners, aimed at my feet because I
have a really rare condition that only about 300 people
in the world have. If my feet get over 65 degrees
Fahrenheit it feels like someone poured boiling water
into them. Now because there are so few people with
this they can't make any money, even if they do find
a cure, so nobody's studies it. But it doesn't kill
you, it's just annoying. So I've got the air conditioners
in front of me. A table on which to put the drawings.
Mostly I just hold them on my lap. And then two cabinets
filled with all different colors of acrylic paint
and a telephone and a flashlight, and some anti-itch
lotion. I'm just looking around at what I've got.
A calendar, an address book, books that I'm reading,
Norman Mailers The castle and the forest' Some catalogues
because I hate shopping, unlike most women, I don't
like it at all. So I just order shit out of a catalogue.
I need a pair of underpants, I order them out of the
catalogue. Don't have to go into the stores. So I
save the ones that I want order. There's some of those
in there. There's a pillow to rest my feet on. My
purse. A bunch of liquid pencils with very fine tips,
because you want to fill in some color but there isn't
really a brush that can do it. Because brushes...you
can get small pointed brushes but sometimes they're
kinda blobby. The paint's too thick. So I'll fill
in with these liquid kinda pencils. Then there's chairs.
There's a small trampoline which I mostly don't use
because I hate exercise. There's a couch. There's
one of those massage chairs that you turn on. Several
lamps. A kitchen. It's actually a family room, not
a studio. It's family room in my house and that's
where I work
antiMUSIC: And you're out of California,
right?
Grace: Yeah, I live in Malibu.
antiMUSIC: Are you one of those people
that just loses track of time and paints from sun
up to sun down on one piece or can you have several
on the go, completing them within different time frames?
Grace: Yeah, I'm obsessive about it.
I draw until, because I'm looking down, right? I draw
until my nose runs. And then I figure, okay it's time
to go do laundry or go get some groceries because
my head's been in that position for so long that my
nose will actually run. (laughs) Or my back gets funny
because you're sitting in the same position. Now one
thing that I've never had, which is weird, is anything
with my wrists or hands. I don't get carpal tunnel.
My hands and arms can do it forever, but my back hurts
or my nose will run and then I'll stop and do something
else. So that the body gets a chance to re-correct
itself or whatever it does.
antiMUSIC: Do you paint regularly or
only when you're so inspired?
Grace: No I don't have writer's block
or whatever you want to call it. I have several large
envelopes full of ideas that, I will not…I don't
have enough time… my problem is time because
I'm 67. I'll never be able to complete all the stuff
I want to do, so I don't have a problem with, gee
I don't have anything I want to do. I've got a problem
with do I have enough time to do any of this? Because
I have to go around to all these galleries all the
time, which I think is something of a pain in the
ass, simply...I like talking to people, I like that
part, but airports and flying is just god-awful now.
Last night I was wandering around and they kept changing
the carousel that it's on. The guy who was supposed
to pick me up couldn't find me because they changed
the terminal. Ok we're supposed to be at 6 but we're
actually going to be at terminal 7 and I thought oh,
god the guy's never going to find me. And they say,
8 flights are going to have their bags on carousel
4. Eight flights! And I thought, 'ah Jesus, they're
going to change it to four different carousels for
the eight flights.' And then they change it again.
Then you have stand in line and show them your…and
I just though, oh man, I'm just going to kill somebody.
(laughs)
I hate flying. And if I could just be magically transported
or whatever that stuff was in Star Trek or whatever,
it would be fine, because I like taking to people.
But there's a lot of screwballs that come in and they
want their shirts signed from 1967 and galleries won't
do that. So they get all pissed off because they say,
'No she's not signing anything.' 'We'll I saw her
signing…' 'Yeah, the person bought a painting.
That's why the signing.' Yeah, we have those sorts
of arguments, but for the most part I like talking
to people. I just don't like the traveling at all
anymore. I used to love flying and it was great fun.
And the seats were big and the food wasn't that bad,
particularly SAS or something like, Scandinavian Air
Systems was really good. And the stewardesses would
get fucked up with the guys and the guys would give
them tickets to concerts and screw them and you know
it was great. And now the stewardesses are usually
almost as old as I am and fat like I am or they're
gay and young really don't have anything to do with
the guys. So it's completely changed. The stewardess
doesn't even have to look good anymore. They used
to have to kinda look good. And the food and the chairs
are getting smaller because they want to jam more
people on the plane. The galleries pay for first class.
I'm sorry, first class isn't first class. It's just
the same as everything else back there, except there
are only two seats rather than 4. That's it. That's
the only difference. And the food is just god-awful
and I told my agent, I'm not doing this shit. Next,
year, starting in September I'm doing 2 flights to
the East coast. The art people can't get their stuff
together. What they do, the art people, is okay we're
going to Philadelphia, then back home. Then we're
going to New York, then back home. Then we're going
to DC. then back home. Then we're going to Boston.
I said no, no, no. here's the way you do it. Do it
rock and roll. Fly to the East coast. You do Philadelphia.
Then you do Boston. Then you come down to New York.
Do Manhattan. Then you do DC. Then you go down to
Florida. Do Orlando. Then you do Tampa. Then you fly
over to Miami. Then you fly to Texas. Then you do...you
don't go back and forth. They're spending money…it's
crazy shit, you know, I was (laughs) yelling it in
this morning. He said well I'll work on that. I thought,
hmmm, I really do like him but they're making money
off me. So I told him, I've got to be my manager.
I've got to be my personal manager because I know,
you want to make money. The galleries want to make
money. And I know you're a sweet guy, but at the same
time somebody's got to look out for no. one too. And
I don't have a personal manger so I'm it.
antiMUSIC: And you've got to stay home
and actually get some painting done.
Grace: Exactly, that's what I told him.
I said I'm doing so much traveling and interviews
and shit, I'm not painting. I've got four paintings
sitting in front of me that I'm working on right now
and I've got to speed it up a little bit
antiMUSIC: You lived more lives than
a lot of people I know in your time in the musical
spotlight. A portion of what fuelled you was an apparent
rebellious streak. You certainly never backed down
when you were confronted with various situations.
Was there anything that you regret never speaking
out about back then. Maybe something that you just
didn't have a chance to address or were perhaps strongly
encouraged to be quiet about by legal advisors or
whatever? Something either political or social?
Grace: Mmm nope. Not that I can think
of. No because I sang a song like, 'Why can't we go
on as three', and that would be a three way and my
political views are real obvious, just real left.
My idea of a good government is Norway which is socialism.
It's not communism because communism doesn't work.
But I think everybody should be equal. In other words,
everybody in Norway, if you don't have money, if you've
got money obviously there's no problem, but everybody
in Norway gets equal education, medical and housing,
and then when you're 18 and you want to live under
a bridge, fine. If you want to be Donald Trump, fine.
But you take care of your own people. This country
has not done that. Generally when you have a problem,
which we do with medical and housing and education
and our kids are stupid and everything. If you've
got a problem you look at a country who has got it
right. Now, why don't they look at Norway? If you
want to be a ballet dancer you look at Nureyev, you
don't look at the guy next door.
antiMUSIC: I had the pleasure of speaking
with Linda Perry not too long ago…
Grace: You probably got an earful too.
(laughs)
antiMUSIC: I was asking her about your
collaboration. You could just hear the awe in her
voice. What was it like contributing to that track?
Grace: Ah, that's really funny. That
was actually my daughter's idea. My daughter knows
Linda Perry. They're about the same age. And she thought
it would be an interesting thing to do and so did
Linda. And I really enjoyed it. I like being around
people who have real strong views. If you're sitting
around saying, 'Well gee, I don't know'…well
figure it out and then call me back. (laughs) So I
like it, when people are strong. Either men or women
I don't care. I'm not this big womens libber. As a
matter of fact I named a solo album Manhole just to
piss off the women's libbers. But the interesting
thing is I never got one letter saying well, how dare
you or any of this kind of stuff and I did it because
I thought 'Oh, this will be fun. I'll get a whole
bunch of letters.' Nothing. They didn't respond at
all. I don't know if they didn't get it. I don't know
if they didn't see it. I don't know what the deal
was. Most people didn't see it, but (laughs) the album
just went up in the air, you know
antiMUSIC: I think most people knew
better than to send you a letter…
Grace: Well, there's that too. But letters
at that time, they're harmless. You can always send
something really hideous to somebody and not have
a return address.
antiMUSIC: Yeah, right, not like the
Internet.
Grace: Yeah. But I never got anything
so I was surprised at that.
antiMUSIC: I know you've said that all
rock stars over 50 should retire but do you not feel
periods of just wanting to get behind the mike at
least and record?
Grace: No because if I do something
I do it. All of it. In other words, showing up at
the galleries, getting on the planes…I don't
like it but that's part of it. If you make a record,
you have to do the videos; go on the road to support
it; do all the interviews, and I'm not a multi-tasker.
Either I'm doing the painting thing, or I'd be doing
music. But there's only two forms, one of them's rap
and it's not even old enough to have anyone that's
old, and the other is rock and roll. And they are
young people's things. Now you can do classical music
or rhythm and blues till you're 150 but not rock and
roll and rap. It pains me to see old people leaping
around trying to act like their 25. It's embarrassing.
I just think 'Oh, god, honey. You don't have to get
out of the music business: become a producer, write
songs. But don't leap around and try to look like
you're 35.' It's like those women on Hollywood boulevard
who are about a million years old and they've got
little cinch belts on and their hair beach blond and
they're wearing spike heels and a big fancy skirt
and you just think 'Oh, Jesus; give it up. You're
a million years old and you look like a jerk.' If
you're 24 years old and you go back to grammar school
and you say 'Hi, can I play jacks with you guys?'
The kids would look at you like 'Oh, Jesus', you know?
It is harmless and if the Rolling Stones or Fleetwood
Mac or whoever want to get up there and play and people
want to see them, that's fine with me. I just don't
want to do it. I felt like a jerk doing it when I
was in my 40s.
antiMUSIC: I was just going to ask you
about Mick and Keith then.
Grace: Well, Keith, now Keith, he can
play forever because he's looked like he was about
150 since he was 25 and he's rhythm and blues so he
can keep going for ever.. Mick, I learned how to be
on a rock and roll stage from him. I didn't imitate
him. But the only thing at the beginning was, a girlfriend
called me up and said, 'Oh you've got to over because
these new guys from Britain are going to be on Ed
Sullivan and they're called the Beatles'. And / she
had this big party about it. And I looked at her,
and I thought, 'Here are four guys in their 20s dressed
in these cutesy little suits, with cutesy little hair,
singing… "I want to hold your hand?', and
I'm going, 'I don't think so'. But then I saw the
Rolling Stones. That's rock and roll. So how do you
behave on the stage? You have to own the stage. If
you don't own it, sorry, you're out of the picture,
you know? You just can't get up there and play with
the side of your pants a little bit and kinda turn
your back on the audience and act shy. No no no. That's
not rock and roll. So I learned a lot from Keith,
but I mean I also learned from Mick Jagger on how
to front a rock and roll band. But there's a time
to give it up. For every season, turn, turn, turn.
There is a time, blah, blah, blah. And you've got
to know when that is, otherwise you look kind of sappy.
And if you turn on the comedy channel, a whole bunch
of other people feel the same way. Even about the
Rolling Stones and people love them. But it's time
to give it up. That doesn't mean people can't listen
to your music, of course they can. They've got records,
they have cds. They got ipods. Yeah, you can listen
to the Rolling Stones, but you don't have to look
at them when their 66 years old, with tight pants
on. Oh please.
antiMUSIC: This was awesome and a real
pleasure. Thank you so much for taking the time.
Grace: It was my pleasure. Thank you
very much.
Grace Slick will be making appearances
at the following exhibits:
Friday, March 23 from 6-9 pm
Wentworth Gallery, 305 Forest Avenue in Laguna Beach
(949) 376-3878
Saturday, March 24 from 6-9 pm
Sunday, March 25 from noon to 3pm
Wentworth Gallery, 271 Newport Center Drive in Newport
Beach
(949) 760-9554
Friday, March 30, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday, March 31, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Sunday, April 1, noon to 3 p.m.
Wentworth Gallery, 1025 Prospect Street in La Jolla
(858) 551-7071
Morley Seaver and antiMUSIC thank Grace
very much for speaking with us.