Tag Archives: Woodstock Birthdays

Birthdays, Music et al, Music of the 60s, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden

1 Comment

Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden

April 7, 1938 – January 11, 2004

Woodstock alum
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee
Sound clip: “A Small Package of Value Will Come To You, Shortly” from After Bathing At Baxter’s by Jefferson Airplane written by Dryden

Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden

Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden

Not the first

Spencer Dryden was not the Jefferson Airplane’s first drummer. Spencer Dryden was not the Jefferson Airplane’s last drummer. But Spencer Dryden was the Airplane’s drummer.

Born in New York City, Dryden grew up in Los Angeles where his father often brought him to jazz clubs. Jazz was Dryden’s first love and drums his choice of instruments.

Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden

Peanut Butter Conspiracy

Like many young musicians of the early 60s, the writing on the wall said Beatlemania rock and the emerging folk-rock was the writing on the wall and Dryden became part of the Ashes (later known as the Peanut Butter Conspiracy).

When Skip Spence (guitarist who played drums for the Airplane and guitar again for Moby Grape) left the Airplane to form Moby Grape, Dryden was asked to step in. When Dryden arrived in San Francisco he was surprised and accepting of the communal atmosphere he found in Haight-Ashbury.

Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden

Skip Grace

Fortunately for the Airplane (and Dryden), they’d also lost their lead singer (Signe Toly Anderson) at the same and in came Grace Slick.

Dryden and Slick formed an unofficial pact that helped drive the Airplane’s musical direction. Along with the other members their first album together was 1967’s Surrealistic Pillow, one of the most famous and well-respected albums in rock.

Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden
cover of Surrealistic Pillow
Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden

Spencer Dryden

The late 60s carried Dryden and the Airplane along for an amazing ride. The Monterey Pop Festival (1967) and both Woodstock Music and Art Fair and Altamont in 1969.

Here is the Airplane doing Somebody to Love from the sunrise serenade it provided that hazy Sunday morning in August 1969. Dryden’s drums highlight the song’s drive.

Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden

Grounded

The pressures of success combined with the resources success provided hobbled Dryden. Unpredictable behavior led to difficulties with the band. The group “released” him in early 1970.

Dryden did not leave music. From the Airplane he joined the New Riders of the Purple Sage.

Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden

Continued to be active 

From All Music: “Dryden was enough of a fixture on the San Francisco scene that he was asked in to various combos of veteran Bay Area players during the ’80s, including the Dinosaurs, whose members included veterans of such bands as Country Joe & the Fish, Big Brother & the Holding Company, and the Quicksilver Messenger Service, and played on one of Barry Melton’s albums as well. He was the only member of the classic lineup not to participate in the Jefferson Airplane’s 1989 reunion tour and album, though he was present in 1996 for the group’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.”

Dryden died of colon cancer on January 11, 2004.

Airplane Drummer Spencer Dryden
Birthdays, Music of the 60s, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Richard George Manuel

1 Comment

Richard George Manuel

April 3, 1943 – March 4, 1986

Richard George Manuel

“She Knows” 1985-12-13, O’Tooles Bar, Scranton, PA by Rick Danko & Richard Manuel
Richard George Manuel

E  Pluribus Unum Band

It goes without saying that the five members of The Band were an amazing ensemble. Each contributed to a greater whole. Levon Helm’s spice from the American South; Robbie Robertson’s compositions; Rick Danko’s humor; and Garth Hudson’s keyboard anchor. An angelic Richard Manual hovered over all. Mainly on piano, it was his voice, sometimes a pulsating baritone, other times a hair-raising falsetto, that glued all.

Richard George Manuel

The Beginning 

Richard George Manuel was born in Ontario, Canada. His musical path parallels that of many musicians: he began playing piano at an early age and later formed a band, the Revols, with other teenage friends.

Dame Fortune always plays a part on our journey and after the Revols shared a bill (theirs in smaller letters) with Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks. Hawkins recognized the genius of Manuel and put him in the band.

Richard George Manuel
The Squires (the Hawks without Ronnie Hawkins): L – R…Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, and Robbie Robertson.
Richard George Manuel

Dylan arrives

In 1966, Dame Fortune smiled again. Or perhaps she smirked a smile. Having left Ronnie Hawkins and gone out on their own, Bob Dylan asked the five of them to back him on his new electric adventure. They did and became Bob’s band before simply becoming The Band.

It was through Dylan that the band met his manager, Albert Grossman. And also through Dylan that, following his recuperation from a motorcycle accident, the band moved to  a house in West Saugerties, NY near Woodstock. The house was pink and, of course, the inspiration for their first album.

Richard Manual wrote three of the album’s twelve songs: “In a Station,” “We Can Talk,” and “Lonesome Suzie.” He co-wrote “Tears of Rage” with Bob Dylan.

Life in music’s fast lane offers many diversions and addictions to heroin, cocaine, and alcohol grasped Manuel. His songwriting and general contributions to the band diminished.

Thanksgiving Day 1976 brought the Band’s figurative and literal Last Waltz. The five would never take the stage again.

Richard George Manuel

Time out

The break-up provided Manuel with a respite which he used to recover from his addictions. During the early 80s he again performed, sometimes with a reconfigured Band, sometimes as part of an acoustic duo with Rick Danko.

Unfortunately, but the mid-80s, his addictions controlled him again and on March 4, 1986 he wife found him dead. He had hung himself.

In 1994, Manuel was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Band.

               Three songs were later written in his memory:

  • The Band, “Too Soon Gone” (1993)
  • Ronnie Hawkins, “Days Gone By” (1995)
  • Robbie Robertson, “Fallen Angel” (1987)

…of the three, Robbie Robertson’s is my favorite:

Are you out there?
Can you hear me?
Can you see me in the dark?I don’t believe it’s all for nothing
It’s not just written in the sand Sometimes I thought you felt too much
And you crossed into the shadow land And the river was overflowing
And the sky was fiery red
You gotta play the hand that’s dealt ya
That’s what the old man always said Fallen angel
Casts a shadow up against the sun
If my eyes could see
The spirit of the chosen one In my dream the pipes were playing
In my dream I lost a friend
Come down Gabriel and blow your horn
‘Cause some day we will meet again		 All the tears, all the rage
All the blues in the night
If my eyes could see
You kneeling in the silver lightFallin’, fallin’, fallin’ down
Fallin’, fallin’ down
Fallin’, fallin’, fallin’ down Fallen angel
Casts a shadow up against the sun
If my eyes could see
The spirit of the chosen one All the tears, all the rage
All the blues in the night
If my eyes could see
You kneeling in the silver lightIf you’re out there can you touch me?
Can you see me? I don’t know
If you’re out there can you reach me?
Lay a flower in the snow
Richard Manuel’s grave at the Avondale cemetary in Stratford, Ontario.
The grave is located in section 23A, grave 193. Section 23A is near the very back of the cemetary (as far west as you can go). There is a pathway right through the section. Richard’s stone is just to the right (west) of the path.
Richard George Manuel
Birthdays, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Sha Na Na Henry Gross

3 Comments

Sha Na Na Henry Gross

from henrygross.com
  • original member of Sha Na Na
  • youngest Woodstock alum
  • hit single “Shannon”
  • center of a profanity-laced Casey Kasem rant
Sha Na Na Henry Gross

Henry Gross

Sha Na Na Henry Gross
from the Henry Gross site

Henry Gross was born on April 1, 1951 in Brooklyn, NY. According to his site, “By age thirteen his first band, The Auroras, performed at The New Jersey pavilion of the Worlds’ Fair in New York City. At age fourteen he was playing regularly in local clubs all over the New York area and spending his summers playing at Catskill Mountain Resort hotels.”

When he was 18, Henry Gross helped form Sha Na Na.

Woodstock then solo

Sha Na Na’s successful appearance at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair launched their career. It also launched Henry Gross’s career as he went solo in 1970.

His first A&M album, “HENRY GROSS” (AKA “The Yellow Album”) sold very well and had several regional hits including “Simone,” “Come On Say It,” “Skin King” and a near gold cover of Lindisfarne’s European hit “Meet Me On The Corner.”

He also had success as a sessions guitarist on recordings by Dion and  Jim Croce.

Carl Wilson connection

In 1976, he released the song “Shannon.” It was written about the passing of Beach Boy Carl Wilson’s Irish Setter of the same name.

Casey Kasem rant

Nine years later a request for the song led to a now infamous tirade by Casey Kasem. On September 14, 1985 while recording his show, Kasem read a “Long-Distance Dedication” from a listener who asked Kasem to play the song “Shannon” because his dog Snuggles had died.

Kasem was upset that the dedication had segued out of the uptempo “Dare Me” by the Pointer Sisters. Here is that piece. Warning: this is a side of Casey you’ve likely not heard before. NSFW. You have to click to listen.

Keep the Dream Flowing

Henry Gross continues to perform and in 2022 released a new album, “In My Own Sweet time.”

 

On September 20, 2022, Henry was part of an interview with Donny York on the Keep the Dream Flowing podcast. Here is the link to part one of that interview.

Happy birthday Henry!