May 1975. Me, I was a freshman at MSU. It was spring term and we had survived the big snows and the big, big flood. With the year drawing to a close MSU Pop Entertainment was putting on one more big show. Truth be told this was the show I had been waiting for even though I didn’t know it.
My first favorite rock band had been the Jefferson Airplane. From “Somebody to Love” to “Lather” to “Volunteers” I just ate their music up. When the band blew up and pieces parts comingled with the Grateful Dead, David Crosby and a slew of other San Francisco bands to put out the one-off Jefferson Starship “Blow Against the Empire”, I just about lost my mind. God, I loved the whole sci-fi themed long player.
Eventually an actual band formed under the name Jefferson Starship. With the three main vocalists from Airplane, Slick, Balin and Kantner back together they took it on the road. Pop Entertainment’s spring show was this version of the Jefferson Starship. Oh, how I remember that concert.
I am not quite sure on this part of it but I think I was hoping to get my roommate Nate to go to the show so I had bought an extra ticket. However, for some reason he wasn’t using it. I tried to get other people to buy it but they we all demurring. Looked like I was going to have to eat the cost of the ticket, $6.50, a great deal of money in those days.
During this period, I would occasionally talk to my good mate Larry who was in NYC on a work/study gig from Drexel University. Calling late night, to avoid the brutal early evening Bell system long distance rates, I was bemoaning the situation. As I was talking to Larry on the telephone about how I was stuck with an extra ticket to the Jefferson Starship show, I said I wasn’t sure what to do. Larry, always the practical one (Ha) told me not to sell the ticket, he would fly out from the east coast and we could catch it together. Way cool.
The concert itself had moments, from what I can remember of it. A friend of mine named Darvon had baked some brownies and given a couple to me. Larry and I wolfed them down before the show stems, seeds and all. By the time the Starship hit the stage, we were flying along right there with them in the reaches of far space.
The opening act was Michael Quatro, Suzi’s little brother. Mr. Quatro was an arse of the highest magnitude. In the first song of his set, he used flash pots so bright that just about everybody in the audience was temporarily blinded. I think I still am seeing purple splotches from the damage to my retinas. When the fiery white phosphorus explosions went off you could hear a collective yowl of pain from 6,000 voices.
The main act delivered making the pain worthwhile. The Jefferson Starship played all the stuff off Dragonfly and some of the stuff off Red Octopus. Great set. Toward the end of the show, they sang “Have You Seen the Saucers”. I remember that one because the house lights were up and the band was playing and singing with such kinetic energy it could be barely contained. Encores used to be like that. Somewhere in the middle of the show Papa John Creech fell off the stage and had to have his ribs wrapped. As a result Paul Kantner launched into a profanity laced tirade about the stage hands. Still, the band gave it their all.
After the show Larry and I kicked around ideas about where to go and what to do next. We talked about the Kentucky Derby. Back then airline fares were regulated and a round trip ticket to Philly cost $73 barely more than a flight to western Kentucky. At that time, I had a romantic interest on the east coast. Thus, I wanted instead to go see somebody in the City of Brotherly Love. Churchill Downs and the Derby fell by the wayside. We tried to call first the young lass first but I think we got an answering machine. Not even knowing if she was there, we headed off. Too much pot in the brownies will lead to rash decisions.
When we arrived in East Lansdowne, we knocked on the front door and I remember her beating on me/us saying she was supposed to be somewhere else but given the call she knew something was up. She kept repeating this mantra, “You two are crazy.” I really don’t remember what we did in Philly when we got there. I don’t think it was the zoo visit because that one started in Fairmount Park and went way sideways in the zoo's aviary.
But I do remember the flight back. Again, this was the time of airline regulation and airlines had to honor their commitments to service small airports. At best there were about 8 people on the plane and the stewardess asked me if I was hungry because they had way too many chicken dinners for the number of passengers. I said I sure was and at the end of the flight she gave me at least 16 chicken dinners. If you are old enough you might remember getting served a couple of pieces of fried chicken on a Melmac plate wrapped in Saran Wrap on a United Air flight.
Before I left Philadelphia, I had called the guys from the dorm to tell them when to pick me up at the Lansing International Airport. I am joking about that International part. The guys from the dorm who had heard about this insane trip I has just taken, came over in a big assed ancient Olds 88. One guy came in to greet me as I got off the plane and he walked me out to the parking lot. Sitting there in the lot like a metallic monster the Olds with its dome light on was bleeding ganga smoke out through it windows and metal seams. I think there were six of us when we all finally crammed into that car. The MSU scholars had come equipped with a baggie filled with pot and a couple of quarts of beer. Yes, I know now I shouldn’t have gotten in. Back then I was immortal. Back then I was young and I was foolish. Besides a cab would have cost me an arm and a leg. So, I did and off we went.
Between the weed and beer, the lads were hungry and not a single one of those chicken dinners made it back to the dorm. Yeah, it was a peak life experience. Yeah, times then were different.
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