“Days of Future Past ”
JEFFERSON STARSHIP GALACTIC REUNION

We were young once, the catalyst of free love, commonality and bonding through music and the first generation to disrupt the conventional transformation to adulthood derived from our parents.

We were in search of individual identity as we dared to be different, and along the way, enhanced the ability to love all and everyone despite various religious beliefs, race or political preference.  We embraced the music of our generation and those who comprised the great bands of the day as a deity, the legends that we most emulated and admired.

The hordes of sixties youth were all embroiled amidst the corruption from politics and civil rights and although the most violent of all decades, rather than purge the west coast, the mass migration to our chosen Valhalla was under way.  Eponymous record release by the cherubic guitar slingers of yesteryear and in the hippie capitol of the world, i.e., Haight Ashbury, would see Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother & The Holding Company, The Grateful Dead, The Charlatans & Jefferson Airplane.  Others soon to follow would be inclusive of Blue Cheer, It’s A Beautiful Day, Sweetwater, Moby Grape, Santana , Sons Of Champlin, and Steve Miller Blues Band.  The jaunty stroll has given way to a more subtle stage charisma but the survivors of the era are now on a mission to verify the credibility of the psychedelic genre that reigned so briefly from 1967-1970. 

The linear tunes of such stalwarts as Paul Kantner, Tom Constanten and David Freiberg continue to resonate as they have combined to form a touring time capsule known as Jefferson Starship Galactic Tour, which is now inclusive of Country Joe McDonald.

Gone are the ephemeral days of free concerts in The Panhandle of Golden Gate Park but, for those who have shaken the cobwebs, memories of those glory days with flaxen haired mavens and bare feet, a myriad of aromas from “head shops” and the streets of the city and the striking boutique attire of the day.  The pathos of those who have left this planet much to early is the lingering detriment attributed to the trappings of the genre but those thoughts are quickly vanquished by the survivors of “flower power” and their subsequent music.  Paradox or paradigm, these are the remnants of The Golden Age of rock n’ roll and how great that they have come to terms with their impact on society and to tour together.

These are the shards of a broken commune, the last gasp of what once was and what could still be, these musicians are perennial crowd pleasers who may be aging icons compared to today’s mainstream but, not many bands can claim to have four members of the “big five” from the sixties and three members who were instrumental in the greatest concert known to mankind, Woodstock, 1969 in Bethel, New York.

It is with  great pride that I include the members of this band as friends, and the only missing ingredient is the presence of Chester Leo Helms.  How proud he would be of this scenario and the stories he could tell.

Cheers!