So Debra did you help him with his problem? hmmm?

My mom once met John in a guitar shop in the Village and the subject of Dylan came up. When comparing himself to Zimmy on harmonica, he said "I play it better than Dylan". I think that Sebastian is probably right although I still think Dylan is the single greatest performing artist of the 20th century.

Charles Baudelaire
1821-1867

Big Al Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does anyone here like them?
>
> They seem to be one of the real "forgotten bands"
> of the mid-late 60's Californian scene. I think
> they recorded some wonderful songs and John
> Sebastian is a truly underrated songwriter.
> Younger Girl, I Believe In Magic and Summer In The
> City are all classics in my opinion. No household
> be without a Best Of The Lovin' Spoonful.

Speaking of 60's California bands, Paul Kantner has Jefferson Starship on the road playing the old Airplane stuff. Country Joe McDonald is with them when they're playing in New Orleans next month. Not sure if he's doing the whole tour. Check out jeffersonstarshipsf.com

Sebastian is a divine harmonica player but I can stand his coice.

I just saw that the Starship Galactic Family Reunion is scheduled to play BB Kings in August here in nyc. No Marty Balin. !!! !!! !!! Despite the presence of Tom Constanten and Country Joe Macdonald, I think the band should change its name to "Jefferson Crash Landing" or how about "Spunk eyed Starshaft"?.

Charles Baudelaire
1821-1867

No Luke, He didn't get no satisfaction at the shelter that day, he had his wife with him that day as well. He brings his own pussy with him I guess, the spare one that he wanted was to replace one that died! Nothing appealed to him that day, at least nothing in the cages!

Ha ha...good one Debra. I was worried that I had offended you.

I LOVE the Lovin' Spoonful...

A cousin of mine turned me onto them in Dec. '65, and I've been lovin' them ever since.

One of my Top 5 all time favorite groups.

I've seen Sebastian live many times, and he is one of the greats. (although in recent years he's had some throat problems, and his vocal range is limited) He is also a real gentleman, very, very nice to his fans.

He let Joe Butler go on with the Spoonful name after he left the band, and gave the whole project his blessing. Joe recorded a Spoonful album sans John (Revelation Revolution '69) which had a minor hit, the John Stewart country rocker "Never Goin' Back." Joe also sang lead on a few tracks when Sebastian was still in the group, most notably on "Full Measure."

Joe has toured with Steve Boone and Jerry Yester (Zal's replacement) in recent years. Without JB it seems like a bogus Spoonful, but hey, people have rent to pay. He had a daughter (Yancy--I think was her name) who starred in a TV show for awhile.

Zal died a couple years ago. (His solo album "Alive and Well in Argentina" is wild, what a brilliant guy he was)

The only reunion of all the original members happened in 1980 when they played themselves in the Paul Simon movie, One Trick Pony. In the liner notes to the Rhino Anthology cd, Sebastian says they were offered huge money to re-form and tour, but they did Paul's movie instead.

It pissed me off for years that the Spoonful was kept out of the RnR Hall of Fame...for 10 long years after they were eligible! Maybe the problem was that they weren't on a major label like The Byrds, and their original albums were out of print for 30 years. It was almost as if there was a conspiracy going on that wanted to create the myth that the Byrds created folk-rock single handedly. Finally, the first year that the Spoonful was placed on the nomination list, they were inducted. But the delay was unnecessary, and humiliating.

The closest thing in recent years to the Spoonful has been NRBQ. John has joined them to play Spoonful songs on stage and sat in with them on some Q originals. In 1985 they backed him on the two episodes of a TV show he hosted called Deja View. The highlight of the show was when John and the Q were joined by Felix Caviliere, and they alternately performed a bunch of Spoonful/Rascals hits.

I was fortunate enough to be sitting front row center during the taping, and I tell you, when Sebastian started playing the harmonica part on "Groovin'" the hair was standing up on my arm!

good post, my friend

NRBQ gets mentioned on a Stones board. They deserve a couple of threads of their own. Very possibly America's best-ever bar band. Bar none.

T&A Wrote:
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> good band. sebastian layed down some heavy blooze
> harp on the Doors' Roadhouse Blues, too - he gets
> extra credit for that


And he's captured live on "Alive She Cried" - great cover of Little Red Rooster

Great post LOOG, very interesting! And yes, I'm glad they finally made it into the Hall of Fame, such a shame it took so long. And Luke, I thought your post was a riot, not offensive.

you are too kind Debra...I think you intentionally set me up for that one about that guy looking for a cat

Yes, wonderful post!

I'm glad my thread has gotten such a great response. In 5 or 6 years as a poster on Rocks Off and more recently here, this is the FIRST TIME I've seen or participated in a discussion about them. They made some of the most perfect pop songs of the 1960's and I'll tell you what. As much as I like some of those Byrd’s tracks, I really don't se how they're any better. I know they completely rearranged them, but all my favourite tracks of theirs were written by Dylan and not by them.

Luke, it is totally TRUE because he owns a summer home here in the Berkshires but I made the pun just for you!I just couldn't resist! He wanted a CAT for sure but his wife didn't see the pussy of her dreams thast day. Truth IS stranger than fiction!

you are too funny Debra!!!