| January 12th, 2005 06:43 PM |
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| VoodooChileInWOnderl |
He passed away last night.
http://www.spencerdryden.com/
He was a very nice guy and a great drummer
RIP |
| January 12th, 2005 09:19 PM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
I'm sad and sorry. Goodbye Mr. Dryden and rest in peace. My condolences to his family and friends. |
| January 12th, 2005 11:24 PM |
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| glencar |
RIP. |
| January 12th, 2005 11:30 PM |
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| Tom |
Sad news RIP Spencer |
| January 13th, 2005 10:12 AM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Spencer Dryden -- Jefferson Airplane drummer
Joel Selvin, Chronicle Senior Pop Music Critic
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Spencer Dryden, the drummer for the Jefferson Airplane who once appeared with his group on the cover of Life magazine but had fallen on hard times, died Tuesday from cancer. He was 66 years old.
Mr. Dryden, who had health problems in recent years, retired from performing music 10 years ago, although he hadn't been working much long before that. "I'm gone," he told The Chronicle in May 2004. "I'm out of it. I've left the building."
A benefit last year at Slim's starring Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and Warren Haynes of Gov't Mule raised some $36,000 for Mr. Dryden, who was in the middle of two hip replacement surgeries and was facing heart surgery at the time. His Petaluma home and all his possessions had been destroyed in a fire in September 2003. He was diagnosed with stomach cancer later last year.
Mr. Dryden was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 for his work with the Jefferson Airplane during the band's glory years -- from the breakthrough 1967 "Surrealistic Pillow" album through historic rock festivals such as Woodstock and Altamont. He sat out the band's performance at the Waldorf Astoria that night, watching from the table. "He was always fragile," said Airplane vocalist Marty Balin.
Born in New York City, Mr. Dryden moved with his parents when he was an infant to Los Angeles, where his father went to work as an assistant director for Mr. Dryden's uncle, movie star Charlie Chaplin. One Chaplin biographer described a scene of idyllic domesticity at a family Christmas party in 1943 when 5-year-old Spencer Dryden read "The Night Before Christmas."
After attending Glendale High School, he graduated from the Army and Navy Academy in Carlsbad (San Diego County) in 1955. He played in some early rock 'n' roll bands but soon drifted toward jazz and was working as a drummer at the Hollywood strip club the Pink Pussycat when session drummer Earl Palmer recommended him to the Airplane's manager.
He replaced Skip Spence, who went on to start another Fillmore-era San Francisco rock group, Moby Grape. Mr. Dryden conducted an affair with the band's female vocalist, Grace Slick, and his marriage to the former Sally Mann was covered extensively in Rolling Stone magazine. He recorded on a number of the Airplane's most famous albums, "Surrealistic Pillow," "After Bathing At Baxter's," "Bless Its Pointed Little Head," "Crown Of Creation" and "Volunteers," before leaving the band in 1970.
He replaced Mickey Hart in the Grateful Dead sideline country-rock band, New Riders of the Purple Sage, in February 1971 and stayed with that group until 1978, recording a number of albums including the 1973 gold album "The Adventures of Panama Red."
In the '80s, he joined a group of psychedelic rock veterans called the Dinosaurs that played informally around Bay Area clubs along with former members of Big Brother and the Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Country Joe and the Fish. When the other band members reunited for a 1989 Jefferson Airplane reunion album and tour, Mr. Dryden was not invited to participate.
"Spencer had a flow," said Mickey Hart of the Dead, "a way of going, an impulse power that was irresistible and unique. He was capable of creating a churning, loving rhythm machine for ecstatic dancing."
"He was just the greatest guy," said ex-wife Sally Mann Romano of Houston. "He was so quirky, and he never intentionally hurt anyone."
He last appeared in public in November, after he was already being treated for cancer, signing autographs and shaking hands at a release party for the recent DVD of Jefferson Airplane video clips at the Great American Music Hall.
He died at his Petaluma home, little more than a shack really, that he rented on the back end of somebody else's property outside of Penngrove.
He was married three times and is survived by three sons; Jeffrey, Jes and Jackson Dryden. Plans for a memorial concert are pending.
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| January 13th, 2005 02:14 PM |
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| kath |
shit.
end of an era.
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| January 13th, 2005 02:37 PM |
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| jb |
Did he play on "We built this city"? |
| January 13th, 2005 02:54 PM |
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| VoodooChileInWOnderl |
jb my dear jb my dearest jb OF COURSE NO, he was a member of the Jefferson Airplane and he was NOT a member of the crap band called STARSHIP, the only member of the JA in Starship was Grace Slick (Shame on her for that)
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| January 13th, 2005 02:55 PM |
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| jb |
quote:
VoodooChileInWOnderl wrote:
jb my dear jb my dearest jb OF COURSE NO, he was a member of the Jefferson Airplane and he was NOT a member of the crap band called STARSHIP, the only member of the JA in Starship was Grace Slick (Shame on her for that)
Thanks Vodoo as that was voted the worst song in rock history in a recent US poll.... |
| January 13th, 2005 05:24 PM |
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| Martha |
RIP |
| January 13th, 2005 07:13 PM |
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| kath |
quote:
jb my dear jb my dearest jb OF COURSE NO, he was a member of the Jefferson Airplane and he was NOT a member of the crap band called STARSHIP, the only member of the JA in Starship was Grace Slick (Shame on her for that
INDEED!!!
starship sucked...... |
| January 16th, 2005 12:33 PM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Slick Remembers Dryden
Jefferson Airplane singer reflects on former bandmate, boyfriend
When Spencer Dryden succumbed to cancer Tuesday, San Francisco rock legends Jefferson Airplane lost the drummer who kept time for them during their pinnacle: from their 1967 classic Surrealistic Pillow album through gigs at the three landmark Sixties concerts: Monterey Pop, Woodstock and Altamont. For their role in popularizing psychedelic rock, Dryden and his bandmates were elected into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Singer Grace Slick remembered her former bandmate -- and former boyfriend -- two days after his death.
How did you react to the news of Spencer's death?
The older you get the less shocking it is. It's too bad everybody can't go out in their sleep at about age 120. But that's not going to happen to most of us. But a chunk of you gets torn out because the members of the Airplane in particular were such a powerful part of my youth that it feels like Janis [Joplin] said, "Take another little piece of my heart now, baby." It feels something like that. Both my parents are gone and every time somebody dies it tears another part of you, a chunk of you out, because they are a part of you, all these people. I lived with Spencer for a little over a year, and it was delightful to watch him appreciate the time that we were in, and make use of it by freedom of imagination.
When you think about him what comes to mind?
A delightful little conspiracy of two, that I think most couples feel they have. And a perfect nose. He had a beautiful face, and that's very superfluous, but that does come to mind. And his childness -- he was very childlike. And that's not a detriment, it's a compliment. It's hard to do when you're thirty years old. You can pretend by making a jerk out of yourself getting loaded -- that's childish -- but I'm talking about childlike. It's different.
What stood out to you about Spencer's drumming?
Very imaginative fills. He was not a power drummer -- he was more imaginative than that. He had a rough call because he was having to keep time. Jack Casady used to play lead guitar before he played bass, so he played kind of a lead bass thing. So Spencer had to hold down the rhythm, which is hard to do with a band that's that loud. So he had quite the task.
Had you been in touch in recent years?
Off and on, yeah, because he called a couple months ago to thank me. He was very sweet. We were doing some benefits to raise money because he had a tremendous amount of medical bills and his house burned down. He got hammered with a lot of unpleasant stuff near the end there. I do painting and drawing and so forth as an artist professionally, so I gave some of my paintings for the auction to raise money for him. I talked to him once in a while. The members of the band all live in different cities, but we talk to each other. I do talk to them, all of them.
Rollingstone.com
[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels] |
| January 16th, 2005 02:03 PM |
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| kath |
lather was 30 years old today
they threw away all of his toys
his mother sent newspaper clippings to him
about his old friends who'd stopped being boys
there's howard c green, just turned 33
his leather chair waits at the bank
and sgt dow jones, 27 years old
commanding his very own tank
but lather still finds it a nice thing to do
to lie about nude in the sand
drawing pictures of mountains that look like bumps
and thrashing the air with his hands.... |
| January 16th, 2005 03:19 PM |
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| VoodooChileInWOnderl |
This is Jack Casady words on Spencer
My friend and partner Spencer Dryden, played drums and percussion during what I believe was the most creative period of Jefferson Airplane. His love of Jazz, and influences of many of the Jazz greats gave his approach to the music of the band such a broad pallet to choose from. For me, some of the best times we shared together were the early RCA Los Angeles recording sessions. That is where he really enjoyed himself and because of our success with Surrealistic Pillow, gave us the extended studio time for albums to follow, where he had the time to experiment and search for unique things to do in the creation of the music. Spencer and I shared a love for some of these music influences form the Jazz world, or for that matter, shared the appreciation of good musicianship in general. We would talk for hours about such things........his knowledge of music was vast and full of depth. But, however, his absolutely wacky sense of humor used to crack us up all the time. We shared so many fine times laughing about silly stuff, and trying not to take the "rock hype" too seriously. I will always remember Spencer for his kind heart, humor, and musicianship. God bless you Spencer. You leave us with so many gifts to contemplate.
Jack Casady
was the most creative period of Jefferson Airplane. His love of Jazz, and influences of many of the Jazz greats gave his approach to the music of the band such a broad pallet to choose from. For me, some of the best times we shared together were the early RCA Los Angeles recording sessions. That is where he really enjoyed himself and because of our success with Surrealistic Pillow, gave us the extended studio time for albums to follow, where he had the time to experiment and search for unique things to do in the creation of the music. Spencer and I shared a love for some of these music influences form the Jazz world, or for that matter, shared the appreciation of good musicianship in general. We would talk for hours about such things........his knowledge of music was vast and full of depth. But, however, his absolutely wacky sense of humor used to crack us up all the time. We shared so many fine times laughing about silly stuff, and trying not to take the "rock hype" too seriously. I will always remember Spencer for his kind heart, humor, and musicianship. God bless you Spencer. You leave us with so many gifts to contemplate.
Jack Casady |
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