The JA Visual Icon

[babson]

When I hear JA music it takes me back to the late 60s early 70s. Their music entered our ears and twanged that feeling we all shared back then.

Now for using another one of our senses. The visual sense. When I look at JA playing first I see Grace, then I see Jack Cassidy. To me he was the iconic representation of the head extraordinaire, the cunning, open-minded Hippie. He is my pick for visually twanging that feeling we all shared.

[EmbryonicRabbit68]

The Airplane were definitely a visual band too.They didnt really move around much onstage, and didnt have anything like Pink Floyd or Yes going for them, but they were just cool to look at, and more than alot of bands.Not just because of Grace, but something about them all is truly special.And a cool visual back drop, forgot about that.

Now as for "being taken back to the late 60s and early 70s", alot of us JA fans, including me, were born decades after the stopped touring.I didnt even get to catch the '89 reunion.So, thats why I would pay millions, even do harm if I had to, to get a whole concert of theirs on video, primarily '68-'69.I think they were more of a live band than people take them for.And Jack Casady is f***in' awesome!

[plasticfantastic]

Yeah, I'd say they were pretty visual, but not really because of theatricality (I'm hoping that's a word...), but really because of purely their appearances. Now, then again, none of the guys were drop-dead gorgeous (don't kill me), but the people in that band just looked good together.

I'm in the same situation as EmbryonicRabbit, and I as well would kill for a whole live Airplane show. Fillmore, maybe? Or Winterland? The Dead just released a massive set, nine CDs or so, of JUST live at WInterland. If only Airplane had had the foresight to do something like that.

And Jack Casady is f***in' awesome!

WOO! Hell, yeah!!


This picture is my desktop right now. I always think of this one when I think of The Airplane. DOn't know why, but I can't help weird associations.

[EmbryonicRabbit68]

I know almost all the shows at the Fillmores and alot at Winterland were filmed, and now wolfgangsvault has them and wont release them.I estimate thats nearly 30 Airplane shows filmed, including some in 1965, and their last on 22/9/72 with tons inbetween.

And I love that picture of them.Some of them seem like, "Why are we skipping?", though.Whenever I think of the Airplane, I see them circa Altamont, or Woodstock.You know, the dirty hippie, grungy-yet-stylish-for-the-time look.

This, however, is I think my favorite picture of them.More just the "hippie" look rather than the "dirty hippie" look.


(I was going to post that picture where they look like tacky lounge singers, a pun on the "dirty hippie" thing.However, couldnt find it anywhere.If you havent seen it, you're in for a laugh if you do.)

[plasticfantastic]

Yes, I do deeply love the grungy period.

I know almost all the shows at the Fillmores and alot at Winterland were filmed, and now wolfgangsvault has them and wont release them.I estimate thats nearly 30 Airplane shows filmed, including some in 1965, and their last on 22/9/72 with tons inbetween.

GASP!!!! Why, Wolfgang's Vault, WHY must you torture us defenseless plane-iacs...

And I love that picture of them.Some of them seem like, "Why are we skipping?", though.

You're so right. Paul and Jorma look confused. Marty, Grace, and Spencer are all into it though...



I must have forgotten about this pic.

[EmbryonicRabbit68]

The best representation of them in the 1970s.Their own little Airplanes, trying to fly together.Had to stray though!



This is becoming another photo topic...

[plasticfantastic]

So true. We should move this conversation somewhere else...

Very nice, by the way. I like Jorma's uncharacteristic smiling...

[EmbryonicRabbit68]

So true, everything.

[babson]

Well, contrary to popular belief, I bathed or showered every day. There may have been a handful of hippies who didn't, but most of us were not dirty.
Also, like Gracie at least, we didn't wear underwear, but only in the summertime, as I was in the Northeast, not the southwest.
Don't know about the guys. I haven't read any of their interviews, but I would bet they didn't also.

It wasn't just the way Jack looked, it was how he moved to, and his basic character and posture.

[EmbryonicRabbit68]

Oh I wasnt saying all the hippies were dirty.I was joking on that when I said it like ""dirty hippies"", because I know they werent all "dirty".I just know when you see them at Woodstock, they look and were up for 24 hours, thus looking a bit tired and unwashed.It adds to the feeling of the event.I dont really consider myself a hippie(I dont consider myself anything and hate labels, thus being sort of a hippie), but I dont wear underwear either...to a point.

[babson]

I'm not real sure, as I didn't go to Woodstock, but from some of the reading at the Woodstock website, it sounded like a lot of the bands were taking choppers back to their hotel rooms.

I don't know if JA went back to their hotel or not Saturday night. I think they got there Friday night, but I'm not sure which night they were up all night on the Orange not the brown

[Susan Butcher]

You're right PF, none of the guys are pretty, but Jack's face has an appealing goofiness, and Paul looks like Prince Valiant disguised as a high school chemistry teacher.

Underwear stops pubic hair getting caught in zips, and is easier to wash than seven pairs of jeans. But I hate bras.

[plasticfantastic]

Jack's face has an appealing goofiness, and Paul looks like Prince Valiant disguised as a high school chemistry teacher.

WOW!! Very well said, Susan! Especially the Prince Valiant/Chemistry teacher bit...

[babson]

Underwear stops pubic hair getting caught in zips, and is easier to wash than seven pairs of jeans. But I hate bras.

Must be why button fly jeans were so popular back then, which is what I wore. None of the girls wore bras. Outside at least. The first thing my girlfriends would do is take their bra off once they were out of the house. You've no idea how much these hippie values caused domestic disputes.

[redrabid]

Whether the boys in the band are pretty is a bit like girl's talk, isn't it?
As a painter I am more interested in beauty carried by personality. And personalities, well, the Airplane had lots of them. Marty Balin chose his bandmembers not only for their capabilities but also for their personality and looks (see early interviews with Marty). For me, Spencer Dryden had a frail, gaunt beauty and I always thought that he looked very cool wearing that cowboy hat. Of Jorma Kaukonen Marty Balin once said something like "Jorma is an incredible cat to look at, all those angles and planes". Pictures of Jorma Kaukonen often portray him in a stern, grim way, but some of them show a softer side of him. The photographs by Jim Marshall used for "Quah" show a stunningly beautiful man.
So thanks to Marty JA had personality and looks. No prettiness though, they weren't Herman's Hermits.
We all may deplore the theatrical shows of Pink Floyd and its successors, but I am not so sure that JA is innocent in this. One could argue that JA was at the beginning of this development. JA was one of the very first bands that used lightshows while performing on stage, introducing an important visual part to a rock concert. So JA is accessary to the birth of all those theatrics that spoil a rockconcert nowadays.
As for underwear, pubic hair is shaven these days, I've noticed. Much to my regret, it can have a very ehh stimulating smell.