Monterey Pop Festival 1967: Focus on Skip Spence, Moby Grape

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  • Опубліковано 3 лис 2024

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  • @glennandadriansrocktalk
    @glennandadriansrocktalk  Рік тому

    If you're enjoying our content, please subscribe! We're looking at a goal of 1000 subs by the end of the year! Would very much appreciate it!

  • @crochunter35
    @crochunter35 4 місяці тому +3

    Thanks for the memories. I saw Moby Grape a couple of times at the Fillmore. Great band.
    I also saw Jimi at the Fillmore. Greatest show ever.

  • @hurdlerock1
    @hurdlerock1 Рік тому +6

    I live in Salinas and I went to the Monterey Pop Festival when I was fifteen. I went with my best friend who’s father had an apartment in Monterey that we could spend the night in. We walked to the festival since neither one of us could drive. We couldn’t afford the arena so we bought general admission tickets. I loved the layout. They had booths and venders like the fair. There was a drum circle near the gate that blew my mind. I saw the very first synthesizer and got to play with it. But the part of the story that really intrigued me was about the missing Fender amp.
    I played guitar in a rock band since Junior High. A short while after the Pop Festival I was offered to buy a Fender Twin reportedly stolen from the event. This guitar player from another Salinas band said that he went up and grabbed this amp and when questioned about it told them that he was going to take it to MPC for the other show. I did end up buying it and when I went to pick it up there were no speakers in it. I had to go to the pawnshop and buy the speakers back.
    Sorry to say but later on I traded it for a Duel Showman top with two Single Showman bottoms. So it made me wonder if I ended up with the missing amp.

    • @glennandadriansrocktalk
      @glennandadriansrocktalk  Рік тому

      Could be! Regardless of whether it was or not, it makes a great story. Thanks for sharing - G

  • @walterfechter8080
    @walterfechter8080 Рік тому +12

    "Sitting By the Window" is one of my favorite tunes by Moby Grape. Great memories here. Thanks.

    • @glennandadriansrocktalk
      @glennandadriansrocktalk  Рік тому +1

      Mine too! - G

    • @jackwezesa1081
      @jackwezesa1081 Рік тому +4

      I like “Someday “ and “Bitter Wind “. They should have gone places. It was such a shame.

    • @alexgasiewski4970
      @alexgasiewski4970 Рік тому +2

      ​@@glennandadriansrocktalkit's a beautiful day today

    • @glennandadriansrocktalk
      @glennandadriansrocktalk  Рік тому

      @@alexgasiewski4970 Love it. Moby Grape '69 - Peter Lewis. BTW his daughter Arwen has an album out of Grape covers and he contributes to it, released 2015. Most of the songs mentioned in this thread are on it.

    • @KittyGrizGriz
      @KittyGrizGriz Рік тому +2

      Me Too; it’s an ear worm for me; beautiful song!

  • @TT64NOVASS
    @TT64NOVASS Рік тому +10

    I grew up in Detroit , we liked Moby Grape, along with our locals like Frigid Pink etc, etc, thanks for posting this !

    • @glennandadriansrocktalk
      @glennandadriansrocktalk  Рік тому +2

      Our pleasure! I've been following the Grape story for over 30 years... love their catalog, wish Skip could have been a bigger part of it. I have that first Frigid Pink album too - G

    • @maxsno
      @maxsno Рік тому +3

      Dig , Detroit was super, The Frost especially fave of mine , of course MC 5

    • @TT64NOVASS
      @TT64NOVASS Рік тому +1

      @@maxsno
      Good days !

    • @TT64NOVASS
      @TT64NOVASS Рік тому +1

      @maxsno
      I never saw the Frost , but I've always been a huge fan of Dick Wagner (and Steve Hunter) !

    • @marksavage1744
      @marksavage1744 Рік тому

      Frijid Pink! Sing a Song for Freedom!

  • @briangallagher2236
    @briangallagher2236 Рік тому +2

    Moby Grape’s manager (we know who he is) made life difficult for the Airplane, Moby Grape, and It’s A Beautiful Day

  • @arjaylee
    @arjaylee Рік тому +8

    I always liked "Omaha" by Moby Grape

  • @alexgasiewski4970
    @alexgasiewski4970 Рік тому +14

    That f--king manager is as responsible as anyone to this day why so few people even have a clue who Moby Grape was

    • @johnsradios484
      @johnsradios484 Рік тому

      Listened to one or two of their LPs. Great sounding, great band. Where robbed from top to bottom.

    • @jamesfitzgerald6636
      @jamesfitzgerald6636 Рік тому +1

      Was well aware of Moby in London at that time

    • @jenniferhill1882
      @jenniferhill1882 Рік тому +1

      I love Moby Grape.

  • @timmotel5804
    @timmotel5804 Рік тому +1

    Very Cool. Thanks guys. Seeing Moby Grape and Skip was wonderful. I had the albums that you showed. To a degree, sadly, I was South East Coast. Born in 1952. It took a while for the "West Coast" music and bands to make it over. Taught myself to play drums in 1964. I still play. I missed so many Live and Local bands and so much music, by living East. Oh Well. Best Regards.

  • @avdavey
    @avdavey 6 місяців тому +1

    Matthew Katz passed away in September of 2023.
    Skippys attack with the fire ax happened at the hotel the band was staying in at the time and not a rehearsal as i understand it. Luckily none of the Band members were there at the time though.

  • @freddell7358
    @freddell7358 Рік тому +4

    I'm from northern New Jersey, the Grape were big there too, with that amazing first album

  • @bobhoyer775
    @bobhoyer775 Рік тому +6

    I saw Moby Grape perform at the Matrix in San Francisco in 1967/68 somewhere. They were great-3 guitars up front. Bob Mosley on bass excelled. 10:29

    • @timmotel5804
      @timmotel5804 Рік тому +1

      Excellent

    • @GayleMI
      @GayleMI Рік тому

      Mosley was The Man. His singing chops were unequaled.

  • @AntarblueGarneau
    @AntarblueGarneau Рік тому +2

    I played a sitar recital with tabla at the Mt Tamalpais amphitheater in the 1970s. I met Matthew Katz there after he was no longer managing Moby Grape. I think Katz was probably running this festival on Mt Tam. When it was about time for us to go on the stage was covered in direct sunlight. I expressed concern about the delicate Indian instruments and tuning in direct sunlight. I mentioned that it would be good to have a canopy. Thereupon Katz said that I was a "prima donna" and he began comparing me to all the artists he had managed.

    • @glennandadriansrocktalk
      @glennandadriansrocktalk  Рік тому

      Thank you for sharing that memory! Sounds about right.

    • @elgringo8411
      @elgringo8411 11 місяців тому

      Yeah, that nutjob Katz. Like others like him, gotta go back to the type of mother who brought him up.

    • @avdavey
      @avdavey 6 місяців тому

      Matthew likely produced that show.
      His comments are likely true. Given his hard scrabble upbringing he wasn’t typically sympathetic to whining.

  • @IanYoung-ko4ws
    @IanYoung-ko4ws Рік тому +7

    That post-Monterey gig was known as "The Panhandle" and was held in Golden Gate Park, Sunday 25th June 1967, Hendrix' appearance was described by Noel Redding as "a strenuous set", the Experience had just arrived in the States and had everything to prove yet. The Otis/Jimi live album shows the level of performance people achieved in those days, and Otis had them in the palm of his hand from the moment he declared "this is the love crowd, right?" and went on to show them what's what. Jimi did the same when he played "Like a Rolling Stone" and a particularly acrobatic "Hey Joe", songs widely covered by the West Coast luminaries, but never quite in that fashion. Moby Grape gave everyone a run for their money, and the American bands, particularly MB, Janis and Big Brother, the Airplane, Country Joe & the Fish and the Blues Project gave stellar performances but it was the black and also British-based performers who really stole the show with their stagecraft. When Hendrix trashed his gear, following The Who's dynamite appearance, somebody said to Pete Townshend "Hey, Pete, he's stealing your act", to which Townshend replied "No, he's DOING my act". There was a new kid in town, ironic in the extreme since Hendrix was an American who had had to go to England and then return to the States to get noticed, after nearly 10 years of being ignored in his own country. Moby Grape should have been huge but the record companies didn't know who or what they were dealing with, and I think that helped to compound Skip's already fragile mental state.

    • @glennandadriansrocktalk
      @glennandadriansrocktalk  Рік тому +3

      Thanks, Ian. I referenced the solstice concert on June 21 since that one was explicitly mentioned in Dennis McNally's book "The Long Strange Trip." I notice in retrospect that the panhandle concert was mentioned in the book "This Is All A Dream We Dreamed". I used to have Rock Scully's book too, which talked about those amps, but I can't locate it to reference! Jimi himself used his marshall stack but you can see Fender amps on that flatbed.
      I have to agree with your assessments, and appreciate the extra info. We have a future vid on the way where we check out Otis's set.
      - G

  • @KittyGrizGriz
    @KittyGrizGriz Рік тому +2

    Found out about Moby Grape from Robert Plant, he loved them and after checking out their music I love them too!❤

  • @SEKreiver
    @SEKreiver Рік тому +3

    Robert Plant is a HUGE Moby Grape fan.

  • @RATCLIFFE-LISTENS
    @RATCLIFFE-LISTENS 7 місяців тому

    ThankYou Thank You Thank You. The Group was comprised of some the finest Musicians ever to assemble during that period in the Country.
    I worked in SF for CBS ( their label)
    beginning about 4 years later.

  • @Nazz1967
    @Nazz1967 Рік тому +6

    love Monterey Pop, much better than Woodstock i think . I got into Moby Grape about 1991 i think after hearing Omaha on the radio, fantastic alternative radio station played it .I was 20 years old .

  • @DocJJohnson
    @DocJJohnson 11 місяців тому +1

    Moby grape Monterey pop festival

  • @rooftopcat1785
    @rooftopcat1785 Рік тому +4

    I hear ya, MOBY GRAPE, HE, 8:05, omaha , and so many more.

  • @rafehr1378
    @rafehr1378 Рік тому +1

    73 years old. 17 back when. I still have 2 Moby Grape albums with the back cover showing the "F U" finger on the washboard. Those days of FM radio playing "Heavy" Rock & Roll. AM radio was 3-minute songs, DIck Clark music. Blue Cheer was on American Bandstand. Few were high on LSD too.

  • @sober041978
    @sober041978 3 місяці тому

    You two are doing a great job and I really appreciate how you present the music and history.
    I was a teenager at the time and saw Monterrey Pop many times at The Biograph Theater in DC. No idea how many times friends played the Otis Redding/ Jimi Hendrix and loved it every time.
    Curious what others think but I believe Monterrey Pop changed rock music and culture more than Woodstock.
    I met a guy when I was 15 and he had Grape Jam and it was like putting on a new pair of glasses when he played Moby Grape and The Dead's first album. Everything changed.

  • @myradioon
    @myradioon Рік тому +14

    Skip Spence's solo record is ethereal greatness. Good info here.

    • @ronfisher5259
      @ronfisher5259 Рік тому +1

      Totally agree-I love OAR

    • @maximusindicusoblivious180
      @maximusindicusoblivious180 Рік тому +1

      @@ronfisher5259 Me too. And Skip played most of the instruments himself.

    • @ronfisher5259
      @ronfisher5259 Рік тому

      @@maximusindicusoblivious180 Oh yeah, I think it’s pretty much the definition of a ‘solo album’

    • @surfwriter8461
      @surfwriter8461 Рік тому +1

      I'm a big fan of Moby Grape, especially their early recordings, but I think the Skip Spence "Oar" album is vastly overrated, despite accolades from a number of renowned current recording artists. There are two or three nice songs on the album, but in my view most of the material is quite thin. I highly recommend people unfamiliar with the band instead listen to the first album, which is a classic.

    • @ronfisher5259
      @ronfisher5259 Рік тому

      @@surfwriter8461 oh yeah, with a band you get a well rounded sound and I think better songs from the melding of the musicians but I love most of the songs on OAR and the stripped-down simplicity adds to the charm

  • @brucybabyy7355
    @brucybabyy7355 Рік тому +3

    thanks guys. i have the rhino box + the criterion DVD set of the movie and bands.

    • @maxsno
      @maxsno Рік тому +1

      Dig , without a doubt to a person the most creative and talented individuals, also the most unfortunately screwed by management and misfortune. Moby Grape.

    • @maximusindicusoblivious180
      @maximusindicusoblivious180 Рік тому +1

      I also have the rhino box set. Tiny Tim was also featured well along side Jimi and Otis.

  • @davidedgar2818
    @davidedgar2818 Рік тому +5

    M Smothers doing the intro is amazing to me. I don't think my parents would have watched the brothers had they realized this. My father especially ( he was an Archie Bunker type for sure)
    I'm about 7 to 9 years to young to have experienced this but I have friends with older brothers and sisters that had gone to Monterrey and then Woodstock.
    My grandmother had taken a folk music course at Stoney Brook, she had that Dead album and two others.

    • @AdrianFink
      @AdrianFink Рік тому

      I don't think Tommy Smothers was even in the movie. He does appear in the Out-takes disc from the 3 DVD set, introducing Paul Simon (who introduced Blues Project). I must admit that Moby Grape footage is new to me.

    • @koa2341
      @koa2341 Рік тому

      I knew the Smothers and Dick married an ex, and he was a great guy. Tommy is the biggest asshole I’ve ever been around, and I’ve seen plenty of celebrities.

    • @geneobrien8907
      @geneobrien8907 2 місяці тому

      @@AdrianFink TS is in the scene where he introduces the Airplane as "a perfect example of what the world is coming to".

  • @Teleman73
    @Teleman73 Рік тому +2

    Big influence on The Doobie Brothers. Tom Johnston hung with Skip quite frequently. The 3 guitar lineup of Johnston, Simmons and Baxter was inspired by Moby.

    • @KittyGrizGriz
      @KittyGrizGriz Рік тому +1

      Wow, had no idea. Love their ‘72 album ‘Toulouse Street’ older brother had it. Saw them in concert, a great band.

  • @jimdutka2909
    @jimdutka2909 Рік тому +14

    Incredible clip. Please don't talk over this classic music. Reverence for one of the greatest least known bands. Doobie Brothers claim MGrape was their inspiration when they began.

    • @johnstegmeier3758
      @johnstegmeier3758 Рік тому +2

      Yes!.... but for good measure, everyone should give the album cuts a good listen. Moby Grape 🍇 was very talented and could really put together some intricate sounds.

    • @glennandadriansrocktalk
      @glennandadriansrocktalk  Рік тому +3

      I agree, they are to be revered. We'll try to keep the talking to a minimum while clips are rolling in future vids. - G

    • @jason698
      @jason698 Рік тому +3

      If you don't want to hear no talking look up the clips yourself

  • @sharktroubles
    @sharktroubles Рік тому +3

    Marty Balin fired Alexander "Skip" Spence from Jefferson Airplane when it was discovered that Spence had taken an impromptu trip to Mexico when he was scheduled to play drums at a J.A. gig.

  • @MobyGrape
    @MobyGrape 3 місяці тому

    best band ever

  • @bobyoung1698
    @bobyoung1698 Рік тому +5

    You can't talk about the roots of psychedelic rock in San Francisco without giving homage to Moby Grape. They were instrumental (pun intended) in forging a new expression of rock and roll from the tried, true, and rapidly fading folk/rock foundation laid by groups like The Byrds. While psychedelic rock would have been born eventually, the Grape made it happen far more rapidly.
    Skip Spence was a bit of a genius, but, like Brian Wilson, just couldn't get the magic in his head out fast enough. As Neil Young later said, "It's better to burn out 'cause rust never sleeps."
    And as for me and Moby Grape, I still love "Omaha" as much as when I first heard it.

  • @thomasbell5417
    @thomasbell5417 6 місяців тому

    I remember the name of the group "Moby Grape" being thrown around a lot back then. I just cannot remember any of their songs. 🤔

  • @seanconlon2408
    @seanconlon2408 Рік тому

    Mickey Dolenz saw Hendrix at Monterrey (he'd seen him in Greenwich Village years earlier) and decided Jimi would make a perfect opening act for the Monkees' upcoming tour.

  • @RATCLIFFE-LISTENS
    @RATCLIFFE-LISTENS Рік тому +1

    The Absolute Finest SF Group ever!! Three Guitars Beautiful Voices Harmonies and the writing on all their Albums was so far above everything else at the time ask Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. Peter Lewis had this deep resonance amazing. If you would like to hear the cleanest recent stuff listen to their Live Show in Austin from about 5-8 years ago. On UA-cam. Jerry Miller ( Lead Guitarist) from my part of the we’re Worlds rated very high in R&R Best Guitarists. They were never equaled. Oh yeah Skip Spence from the Airplane was in the Band writing Omaha and released the Lp as lauded her OAR. Killer.

  • @jeffreyguilbert808
    @jeffreyguilbert808 11 місяців тому

    Skip Spencer 😢

  • @jeffclement2468
    @jeffclement2468 Рік тому +1

    In the late 70's, my older sister brought home from Goodwill that entire set of picture sleeve 45s from that 1st Grape album and gave them to me. Very little wear, if any, on them. She maybe paid 2 dollars (if that much). I held onto them for years until somebody got 2 of them from me in a trade, thus breaking up the set. Years later, the remaining 3 perished in a flood...
    Anyway, yeah that was a stupid idea to release them all like that.
    Fun fact: Their rhythm guitarist Peter Lewis, is the son of actress Loretta Young.

  • @mikeaustin4138
    @mikeaustin4138 Рік тому

    Great first album. The second was uneven, to put it charitably. Parenthetically, my cousin dated the Grape's bass player (Bob Mosley?) for a while.

  • @andrewloukidis658
    @andrewloukidis658 Рік тому

    Somebody posted the whole concert with full sets by all the bands on YT a couple years ago I found, but it was pulled not long after.

  • @HamptonGuitars
    @HamptonGuitars Рік тому +2

    The best set at Monterey was Ravi Shankar!!

  • @arjaylee
    @arjaylee Рік тому +1

    The Who had an awesome set.

  • @mitchgawlik1175
    @mitchgawlik1175 Рік тому +1

    Interesting video, Glenn. I'm still such a big fan of that era and its music. Being 16 and in Chicago, there was no way I'd be attending Monterey,
    but I've got my collection of debut albums (cds now) of the best of the bands to fall back on: The Dead, Country Joe, the Grape, Jefferson Airplane,
    Buffalo Springfield, Cream, the Doors, the Paupers and the Electric Flag. Was this the most interesting and vibrant time for rock music?

    • @glennandadriansrocktalk
      @glennandadriansrocktalk  Рік тому +1

      Sounds like a great collection to me!

    • @mitchgawlik1175
      @mitchgawlik1175 Рік тому

      @@glennandadriansrocktalk It is. I couldn't have been happier with the music I was hearing. Okay, maybe Country Joe's
      "Electric Music For The Mind and Body" was a bit out there but, still, all those bands released great debut recordings. I
      just listened to the Youngbloods' debut the other day...a little cheesy, "Elephant Mountain" was a more thought out record,
      I think, and less ''65-'66 "poppie".

  • @koa2341
    @koa2341 Рік тому +1

    Clapton called Jerry Miller the best guitarist he’d heard.

  • @johnstegmeier3758
    @johnstegmeier3758 Рік тому +1

    A shame about the sound quality..but folks were just learning to handle live rock acts and with 3 guitars and a bass with multiple singers... it was a lot. Jefferson Airplane had similar issues with the complexity of their arrangements.

  • @putzengiler
    @putzengiler Рік тому +1

    Saw Moby Grape @ Fillmore East open for B.B. King 6/71 shortly before the venue closed, wasn't one there better outings , B.B. pretty much saved the show...disappointing since I really liked their records..they were pretty much the Buffalo Springfield of S.F.

  • @SpenceCurry
    @SpenceCurry Рік тому

    Spence had a thing going with Tuesday weld for a while

  • @skipklauber1162
    @skipklauber1162 Рік тому

    Whenever I hear the jerks who laud the use of drugs I think of people like Skip Spence and Peter Green.

  • @stephenbouchelle7706
    @stephenbouchelle7706 Рік тому

    Musicians’ number one problem is probably substance abuse. #2 is certainly their management.

  • @larrywaxmunski2053
    @larrywaxmunski2053 11 місяців тому

    Watch a clip of them on the old Mike Douglas show.Much better sound.

  • @verndebes892
    @verndebes892 Рік тому

    By the time the group hit Phoenix the whole group was fake or had new members! Matthew Katz was there being a ahole ! The animals opened for the group (Eric Burton’s new animals) they put on a great show! Katz had another band on the ticket don’t remember their name but them and the moby group put on a good show with moby sounding like the first moby! Both of Katz’s group put on a free show which went over good! That’s when a lot of people caught on to the fact that the group wasn’t the same! They learned this from a newspaper reporter! But still it was a good show!

    • @avdavey
      @avdavey 6 місяців тому

      Perhaps Indian Pudding & pipe or Tripsichord Music box?

  • @koa2341
    @koa2341 Рік тому

    Couple of bald 70’s guys critiquing great band from the 60’s…Makes sense to me ??

  • @ITS_DEMONA
    @ITS_DEMONA Рік тому

    So that's moby grape
    No wonder
    It's just a bunch of noise with a beat
    Are you kidding

    • @richieboy6825
      @richieboy6825 Рік тому +2

      It’s not really a fair representation of their stuff. Having said that I’d say most of their songs have some promise but the writing/arranging is incomplete- like they had the beginning of a good idea but didn’t really finish it. Like they had 1/2 of a hook.

    • @anominous3895
      @anominous3895 Рік тому +1

      What have you done?