2018-19 Guide To Yellow Springs

39 Y e l l ow S p r i n g s N ews the Guide to YelLow Springs y 2018 - 1 9 on two albums. Suggested listening: “Winding Boy,” from the 1964 “Blues Project” compilation album. 7. Jorma Kaukonen In 1967, two Jefferson Airplane hits particularly captured the feeling of the Summer of Love: “Someone to Love” and “White Rabbit.” Pioneer- ing acid rock, both prominently featured their lead guitarist, Jorma Kaukonen. From 1959 to 1961, Kaukonen lived in Yellow Springs as an Antioch College student. According to Antioch College housing records, in 1961, he lived on the second floor of what is now Morgan House at 120 West Limestone St. Ian Buchanan lived on the third floor. “This would prove to be a pivotal point in my life,” wrote Kaukonen in a recent email. “Our house was filled with string music at all times,” he wrote in his new memoirs of his time at Morgan. In the 1970s, Kaukonen started blues- rock band Hot Tuna. In recent decades, he founded the Fur Peace Ranch in southeast Ohio, offering star-studded music instruction. Suggested listening: Jefferson Airplane, “Somebody to Love,” with special attention to Kaukonen’s psychedelic guitar solo at 2:25. 8. Brien Fisher Country music producer Brien Fisher is responsible for more hits than any other former Yellow Springer. Beginning in 1978 with the Kendalls “Heaven’s Just a Sin Away,” Fisher produced about 20 Top Ten country hits. In the 1950s, Fisher lived at 502 Livermore St., now the Dharma Center. See page 68 for Fisher’s story. Suggested listening: Betty Foley, “Old Moon,” co-written by Brien Fisher. 9. John Flansburgh They Might Be Giants may be best known for their 1990 #3 hit “Birdhouse in Your Soul.” In the decades since, they’ve released about 20 records, including three gold children’s records; won two Grammy Awards; provided music for TV commercials; and scored the SpongeBob SquarePants Broad- way musical. One of the two founders, John Flans- burgh, lived in Yellow Springs in 1979–1980 as an Antioch College student. While living here, he started his first band, Black Out, Flansburgh told Wakka Ciccone in a 2002 Antioch Record interview. “My very first stage experience was at the [Antioch] Caf - eteria. I was wearing pajamas and singing. I had never done anything like that before.” According to Antioch housing records, he lived in the now-demolished Presidents dormitory, on the southwest corner of Livermore Avenue and E. North College Street. Suggested listening: They Might Be Giants “Birdhouse in Your Soul.” 10. The Gits Banding together as The Sniveling Rat-faced Gits at Antioch College in 1986, Mia Zapata, Joe Spleen (Andy Kessler), Matt Dresdner, and Steve Moriarty embraced the punk rock ethos of that era: loud and fast rock music, mixed with an independent do-it-yourself attitude. Besides good riffs, their ace-in-the-hole was the powerful and soulful voice of their lead singer, Mia Zapata. Relocating from Yellow Springs to Seattle in 1989 just as the grunge music scene began, the Gits — their shortened name — toured up and down the West Coast from San Diego to Vancouver and back, as well as Europe. Along the way, they shared bills with future super- stars Nirvana, Sublime and Green Day. While recording their second album in 1993, the unspeakable happened: Zapata’s murder in downtown Seattle. Since then, the three surviving Gits have periodically reunited, including an album and tour with Joan Jett. While at Antioch, the Gits practiced at Antioch’s West Hall at 114 E. North College St. “It was abandoned and unused while we were there, which is why we were more or less allowed to practice in one of the rooms,” recalled Gits guitarist Joe Spleen recently. Suggested listening: the Gits “Whirlwind.” 11. Ray Benson In 1975, “The Letter that Johnny Walker Read,” by Asleep at the Wheel, hit #10 on the country charts. Co-written and sung by the band’s leader Ray Benson, it’s a story song about a drunk man mourning the loss of his family. In the decades since, Benson has been the band’s only constant. Releasing more than 20 albums, Asleep at the Wheel has won nine Grammy Awards. Then known by his birth name Ray Seifert, Benson lived in Yellow Springs as an Antioch student in 1969–1970. In 1970, according to Antioch housing records, he lived in the apartment building at 777 Xenia Ave. Suggested listening: Asleep at the Wheel, “The Letter that Johnny Walker Read” 12. John Hammond Since 1963, blues singer and guitarist John Hammond, son of legendary record producer John H. Hammond, has released over 30 albums and received multiple Grammy nomi - nations. Well known to blues cognoscenti, Hammond lived here as an Antioch College student in 1960–1961. “John Hammond was a year behind me although we both lived in South Hall,” wrote Jorma Kaukonen in a recent email. Con- firmed by Antioch student housing records, Hammond lived on the fourth floor, while Kaukonen lived on the second floor. Suggested listening: “Fannin Street,” from his 2001 album of TomWaits covers, Wicked Grin. 13. Medicine Ball Caravan In 1971, the Medicine Ball Caravan movie played in theaters across the country. Documenting a caravan of traveling rock festivals, one of the concerts occurred in Yellow Springs on Aug. 21, 1970. On the Main Lawn east of Antioch’s Main Building, Van Morrison and Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band performed. Local artist Robert Paschell attended and recently recalled that Wavy Gravy’s Hog Farm served mescaline popsicles there, though he did not partake. “I did jump in a bowl of red Jell-O that was in the Plexiglas turret of a B-24 bomber,” he said. Neither Morrison nor Wright made the movie’s final cut. The only Yellow Springs scene in the movie shows a tedious fight between a defensive Caravan member and the duo of Tom Forcade, later to found High Times magazine, and musician David Peel. Pictured is Sal Valentino of Stone Ground. Suggested listening: Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, “Express Yourself.” 14. The Pyramids It was during an Antioch Education Abroad year spent in Europe and Africa in 1972–73 that Chicago-born saxophone player Idris Ackamoor founded an Afrofuturist jazz ensemble called The Pyramids with fellow Antioch College students Margaux Simmons and Kimathi Asante. When they returned to campus, the three studied with legendary avant-garde pianist Cecil Taylor, playing in his Black Music Ensemble. Another student, Bradie Speller, joined The Pyramids and they recorded two albums in Yellow Springs, “Lalibela” (1973), and “King of Kings” (1974), then headed to the Bay Area, where they released their seminal “Birth / Speed / Merging” in 1976 before disbanding. In 2007, the group reunited for a European tour and in 2011, got back into the studio. The Pyramids, whose music is described as “deeply spiritual, afro-psychedelic music,” released its most recent album, “An Angel Fell,” in 2018. Suggested listening: “Message to my People,” from their latest album, “An Angel Fell,” by Idris Ackamoor and The Pyramids. 15. Cindy Blackman Santana Though a trained jazz drummer, Blackman Santana,who is married to music icon Carlos Santana, is best known for playing with Lenny Kravitz and Santana. Born in Yellow Springs in 1959, she lived here until age 11 in 1970. “I’m very proud to be from here,” she said in a recent interview. Yellow Springs “made a big impression on me as a kid.” From an old Yellow Springs family with local roots back to the 1800s, music runs on both sides of Blackman Santana’s family. For her, though, it all began in her child- hood home at 634 Keystone Court, a geographic outlier to our tour. Suggested listening: “I Remember,” her own composition, on the 2017 Santana- Isley Brothers album, Power of Peace. 16. John Batdorf Towards the end of the 2017 movie “Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume Two,” the hero Quill relaxes in his spaceship with his feet up, snacking. Just as he’s drawn into intergalactic battle, Silver’s 1976 hit “Wham Bang Shang-a-Lang” plays. Singing lead on the song is John Batdorf (at left). Born and raised here until age six in 1958, Batdorf first charted in the early 1970s with the duo Batdorf & Rodney. In later years, he’s composed and recorded for TV and film, while also releasing his own records. Though he moved from Yellow Springs after kindergarten, his family has deep Yellow Springs roots. “My grandparents owned KBS Hardware” on Dayton Street, where Design Sleep now stands, he explained in a recent interview. His child- hood home stands at 139 Cemetery St., another geographic outlier to this tour. Suggested listening: “Oh, Can You Tell Me,” on Batdorf & Rodney’s self-titled album. 1 of musical paths through the village y Search Spotify for “Yellow Springs Rock Tour” to find a playlist created for this tour, featuring most of the suggested listening. While you’re there, check out the “Yellow Springs” playlist, comprised of songs from other bands featured in this supplement. Ff y ROCK TOUR y Spotify PLAYLIST