A Day In The Life Of A Cat

Grace Slick...she's slick indeed. And, that's her real name. Do you know who she is? You young things might not know of her. I didn't know who she was until I saw a VH1-Behind The Music special about the band Jefferson Airplane (later became known as "Starship" in the 80's) a few years ago. She's the one you hear singing lead on the 1966 hit song "Somebody to Love". When I hear that song, I get visions of swirling psychedelic colors in my mind. She had to be loaded on LSD when they recorded that song.

I read this about her:

"Grace Slick, to the public mind, is synonymous with Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship in the way that Mick Jagger is synonymous with the Rolling Stones. Ironically, Grace was not an original member of the band, nor was she with Starship at the very end. But Grace's importance to every phase of the band cannot be underestimated. White Rabbit, which she wrote, helped define not only Jefferson Airplane but also the acid rock era. Her unconventional vocals on Somebody to Love gave the Airplane its biggest hit. As one of the first female rock stars, Grace helped redefine women's role in modern music as more than just a sex symbol backed by a band. Of course, with her statuesque beauty and icy blue eyes, Grace had the sex symbol bit down pat as well."

She was beautiful in her early years...and had that entire band under her spell. Before the band broke up for good, she'd had a sexual relationship with all of them. Can you guess why they broke up? Grace claims she didn't know there was tension between the band members because of her ~ *chuckle*.

But it wasn't just the band she had under her spell. One of Grace's most famous incidents occurred when she was invited to a reception hosted by President Nixon's daughter, Tricia, at the White House. The organizers of the affair apparently had no idea who Grace was, or of her opinion on Nixon's anti-drug policy. Grace was barred from entering because her guest was '60s radical Abbie Hoffman - no way they were letting him in. Grace later said that, had they been allowed in, they had planned to spike Nixon's tea with LSD, so that the president would "see the truth." Can you imagine what would have happened? I kinda wish she had got in and slipped him the LSD....that would make for some very interesting history lessons.

So she's old now....64. Is supposedly recovered from alcoholism and drugs, but who knows. She's taken up painting and get's between $1100 - $8700 bucks per painting. They are actually pretty good. She majored in art at the University of Miami before she "fell in with the wrong crowd" back in 1958. Seems like all the rock stars from that generation start painting when they get old. Maybe they still see those psychedelic colors when they dream and become inspired.

If you'd like to see a few pictures of Grace, visit http://www.geocities.com/gslicktrip/pics3.htm. The 3rd picture in the top row is sooooo her!

That's your rock history lesson for today.