Can't believe the Lovin' Spoonful are coming here to play! Didn't they break up a long time ago?

Great band, many good songs.

Mike

New Year's Eve in Tulsa, Oklahoma !

[www.lovinspoonful.com]

[en.wikipedia.org]

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tippy2toes
Can't believe the Lovin' Spoonful are coming here to play! Didn't they break up a long time ago?

Their lead guitarist, the late Zal Yanofsky left the group in '67 and was replaced by Jerry Yester. Singer/songwriter John Sebastian departed in '68, and the following year drummer and sometimes vocalist Joe Butler recorded a final "Lovin' Spoonful" album, which included a fine semi-hit single of the John Stewart song "Never Goin' Back"

The original Spoonful reunited one time only for a brief appearance in the Paul Simon movie One Trick Pony in 1980.

Sebastian has had a long solo career, working on occasion with NRBQ, a band whose music channels the same roots and joy of the Spoonful.

Joe Butler and original bassist Steve Butler, along with latecomer Jerry Yester now tour as the Spoonful, with Sebastian's blessing. It's kind of a Creedence Clearwater Revisted deal where the main man behind the group is missing, but I saw them last year and they put on a fun show. They signed stuff afterwards and I asked Yester about the Zal Yanovsky solo album that he produced, Alive and Well in Argentina. Long out of print, I bought a copy that he burned for me.

I was glad to be able to tell them how much their music has meant and continues to mean to me.

Didn't John Sebastion do the theme song for Welcome Back Kotter ?

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Edith Grove
Didn't John Sebastion do the theme song for Welcome Back Kotter ?

Yes. He also plays harmonica on "Roadhouse Blues" by The Doors. Doors producer Paul A Rothchild produced Sebastian's first solo album.

Is Sebastian on this tour?

Are they really the Lovin Spoonful woth Joh Sebastian ?

What's the lonk between 10c.c. and The Loving Spoonful ?

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tippy2toes
Is Sebastian on this tour?

According to their official site, no.

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Nanker Phlegm
What's the lonk between 10c.c. and The Loving Spoonful ?

Apparently the average man's ejaculation!


"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"

Indeed Deltic 100 cc OOOPS i meant 10 , fraudian slip there is the average ejaculation and Lovin Spoonful is a euphemism for said ejaculation

There were on one of those PBS oldies shows a few years ago. The audience looked a little confused. Maybe because the band didn't seem to have any of its original members.

I always loved this band in the 60's so it was a really cool surprise when back in 1994 on a camping trip in Vermont, Joe Butler was our guest. My boyfriend was great friends with the man who knew Joe pretty well and they organized a camping expedition for the weekend. On Friday night, around a huge campfire, Joe appeared with his wife...a very under-stated entry. He is one of the nicest guys you could ever meet, a fabulous story teller so of course, being the music lover in the group, I monopolized the conversation with him and we ended up eating and chatting at our picnic table long into the night. His wife got exasperated with him for telling so many stories but it was really my fault because I kept asking questions.
About 2 years ago I was working the desk as a volunteer at our Humane Society and in walked Joe!! He remembered me and our camping trip, and he was looking for a kitty. We feel into a very easy conversation, again; he was up from NYC for the weekend and they'd just lost a cat that they loved. I gave him the tour and showed him the cats we had up for adoption but a lot of the conversation was about music, his future projects etc. I liked him ever more knowing he was an animal lover!! I'd love to see him in concert this summer.

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tatters
There were on one of those PBS oldies shows a few years ago. The audience looked a little confused. Maybe because the band didn't seem to have any of its original members.

Well, they do...it's just that they're missing the guiding lights of the group, John and Zal.

But Steve co-wrote some of their biggest hits (Summer In The City, for one) and Joe sang lead on a few key tracks (Full Measure) so it's not as bad as some of the bands out there.


Imagine if the Stones had broken up 30 years ago, and now a "Rolling Stones" tour was announced...and the band was Bill, Charlie, and Mick Taylor. In a way, it's sort of the same deal with Steve, Joe, and Jerry Yester. I've seen Sebastian live many, many times, and I had some doubts when I finally checked out this version of the Spoonful. But I liked it. They don't try to fool anyone about what they are, and they honor both John and Zal during the show.

without sebastian it wont be the same. Like the Faces came and no Rod, just Ronnie singing.........boring.

John has basicly lost his voice. I saw him on a show where he was attempting to sing " Daydream" and it was horrid. Maybe that's why he is not touring with them today.

I see they're playing NYC on August 4th.....circle that date!

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Edith Grove
Didn't John Sebastion do the theme song for Welcome Back Kotter ?

No. That was Vinnie Barbarino singing lead with Epstein, Horsheck, and [I can't for the life of me remember the black guy's name] on backing vocals.

Here's a little John Sebastian trivia:.

John performed "Welcome Back" on Saturday Night Live on April 24, 1976, the same night that John Lennon and Paul McCartney were hanging out together at the Dakota when Lorne Michaels made his seeming ridiculous (but actually very clever because it was exactly the sort of thing that just might have worked, and in fact, almost did) offer to pay the Beatles $3,000 for a live appearance on the show. It was immediately after Sebastian sang "Welcome Back" that Michaels made his pitch.

A WHOLE $3000!?? Wow, that would make them want to run right down to the studios!

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mickschix
A WHOLE $3000!?? Wow, that would make them want to run right down to the studios!

John and Paul went to NBC that night and wanted to walk on, but there was some sort of hang up when their cab driver got lost and they didn't get there in time. So they never bothered to go in. I remember watching it that night...Lorne's speech was very funny, especially when he suggested that they could pay Ringo a smaller cut if they wanted to.

Had they made it to the show on time, it would have been the greatest live moment on television ever. When asked later what if the Beatles had shown up--and this is before Michaels knew that John and Paul had actually made an attempt--Michaels said that he would have "held the show over." I doubt he had the power to do that back then, but I would have loved to have seen them together under the closing credits. The audience response would have been like nothing ever seen before.



Re: Sebastian's voice. Yes, he's had some vocal problems over the last 20 years and really strains to hit the notes these days. That's part of the reason he's focused on his guitar playing of late. His recent album with David Grisman displays his new virtuosity and a fresh approach to his art that embraces his maturity, making a strained and slightly old-sounding voice a strength, as funny as that sounds. And that harmonica sound of his is still as distinctive and warm as ever.

His decision not to reunite with the Spoonful--their only other reunion besides the cameo in One Trick Pony was the RnR HoF--has more to do with Steve and Joe's unwillingness to cut Zal back into the group for a full share of royalties when their catalog was finally reissued. That was John's final straw, but he still wishes them well. I'm sure they would have John perform with them again in a heartbeat--ragged voice and all--if he were willing to do it.

But when I saw the Spoonful last year--and as a Sebastian fanatic I hate to admit this-- I thought Jerry Yester did a fine job on the vocals and sounded better than John would have.

If you have a chance, try to see both--the Spoonful and Sebastian solo. As popular as they were back in the day, and their music continues to be, I think they are underrated.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-05-30 09:04 by loog droog.

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mickschix
A WHOLE $3000!?? Wow, that would make them want to run right down to the studios!

Yes. It would. At the time, they were beging offered $50 million (that would probably be $1 BILLION in today's money) for a 20-minute concert that was to be shown live, like the Ali-Frazier fight, on closed circuit TV in movie theatres all over the world. Michaels, maybe getting a little advice from his friend Paul Simon, figured a ridiculously LOW offer would appeal to the Beatles unique sense of humour, so much so, he hoped, that they might even take him up on it.

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loog droog

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mickschix
A WHOLE $3000!?? Wow, that would make them want to run right down to the studios!

John and Paul went to NBC that night and wanted to walk on, but there was some sort of hang up when their cab driver got lost and they didn't get there in time. So they never bothered to go in. I remember watching it that night...Lorne's speech was very funny, especially when he suggested that they could pay Ringo a smaller cut if they wanted to.

Had they made it to the show on time, it would have been the greatest live moment on television ever. When asked later what if the Beatles had shown up--and this is before Michaels knew that John and Paul had actually made an attempt--Michaels said that he would have "held the show over." I doubt he had the power to do that back then, but I would have loved to have seen them together under the closing credits. The audience response would have been like nothing ever seen before.

More Sebastian trivia:

When I saw him last year on a double bill with Roger McGuinn, Roger said it was a pair of wire-rimmed glasses with cobalt blue lenses that Sebastian used to wear in the early 60s, before he was famous, that influenced McGuinn's AND John Lennon's famous choices in eyewear.

I always thought Sebastian looked a little like Lennon, circa Beatles in India, early 1968. Check the photo on the picture sleeve for Lady Madonna if you have it handy.

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loog droog

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mickschix
A WHOLE $3000!?? Wow, that would make them want to run right down to the studios!

John and Paul went to NBC that night and wanted to walk on, but there was some sort of hang up when their cab driver got lost and they didn't get there in time. So they never bothered to go in. I remember watching it that night...Lorne's speech was very funny, especially when he suggested that they could pay Ringo a smaller cut if they wanted to.

And it was just seven months later, on Nov. 20, 1976, that George Harrison DID appear on SNL. The show began with George trying to collect his $3,000, and Michaels telling him that the $3,000 was for FOUR people, so ONE measly Beatle would only get paid $750, which George said seemed kind of "chintzy". Lorne said he'd throw in another $250 if George would say "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" and, of course, George turned to the camera and said it.

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tatters
I always thought Sebastian looked a little like Lennon,

Back then, the thinking was the other way around when Lennon started wearing glassees.

And I once read that the other Beatles jokingly called Lennon "John Sebastian" when he started wearing those round wire frames, because they were basically Sebastian's world-famous trademark look at the time.

Years ago Sebastian credited his old pal from the Village folk scene, Fritz Richmond--who later played with John's J-Band--as being the first young guy to wear what were old antique eyeglasses. The J-Band were a jug-band revival group that featured a shifting cast of guest players, grounded by John with Conan O'Brien's Jimmy Vivino on guitar and Fritz playing....jug. And washtub bass.

The J-Band recorded two very fine albums, "I Want My Roots" and "Chasing Gus's Ghost." The first of the two was Sebastian's most consistent long-player since "Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful" and worth seeking out.

So Fritz, who died a couple of years ago, was ground zero for the revolution in eyeglass style in the '60's. A real break from the Steve Allen horn-rims of the 50's, the retro look of wire rims were like the rejection of crew-cuts for long hair. Those little glasses--be they McGuinn's tinted "granny glasses" or Sebastian's trademark round specs--represented more than fashion, they were a statement of identity of a generation that saw things differently than the older ones. The Spoonful even recorded a funny song on the whole thing called "4 Eyes."

In the same way, when Elvis Costello debuted in 1977, his big black specs represented another break--this time more musical than cultural--that reached back to the pre-60's past. He was brilliant because every promising singer/songwriter in the early '70s was saddled with the "New Dylan" tag, and he sidestepped that by calling himself Elvis and looking like Buddy Holly.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2009-05-30 19:09 by loog droog.

Saw the LS back in '66
Simon and Garfunkle were the opening act

I agree Tatters that the two John's look alike but with Lennon a bit older, we have to say Sebastion looks like Lennon. Always loved the " granny glasses", even bought a few pair myself in my hippy days. They looked AWFUL on me! And Loog, that is a very interesting recounting of that night John and Paul almost showed up on SNL...IF ONLY!! I have seen John Sebastion solo a great many years ago at a place in Lenox, Ma called Tanglewood. He opened for Chicago and the Jazz Hall Presevation Band. It was an awesome night! The air was " sweet perfumed", and John was magical. I love his harp playing.
When I met and spoke with Joe Butler around the camp fire, there was no animosity towards John, only fondness.