This chronology is an edited version of that compiled for my forthcoming book on the history of Jefferson Airplane and all its many off-shoots. The book will come out when I can get it finished, but until then, I'm releasing edited versions of some portions onto the 'Net to gauge peoples reactions to it. Unlike the book version, this chronology has links to various related sites of interest, which is one advantage cyberspace has over print! If anyone has any information or interesting memories of Airplane/Starship shows, or any good anecdotes concerning past or present members, I'd love to hear from you.
13/8/65 Jefferson Airplane make their public debut at the opening
of Marty Balin's "Matrix" club. In the audience that night
is future Jefferson Airplane/Starship member Grace Slick
and her husband Jerry.
15/10/65 The Great Society, the band formed by Grace and Jerry Slick
following their attendance at the opening of the "Matrix",
make their public debut at the opening of "The Coffee
Gallery" on Grant Avenue, San Francisco.
16/10/65 Jefferson Airplane appear at the first Family Dog dance, at
Longshoremans Hall, San Francisco, together with the Great
Society. This is the first of many occasions during the
next year that the bands will appear together. It brings
Grace Slick's vocal talents to the attention of the band,
and Paul Kantner in particular, who follows the Great
Society just to hear her sing.
11/9/66 The Great Society play their last public show at the
Fillmore Auditorium, supporting Jefferson Airplane.
14/10/66 After Signe Anderson fails to appear for a show at the
Fillmore Auditorium, Grace Slick, who had already been
asked to replace her, makes her live debut with the band.
15/10/66 Signe Anderson performs with Jefferson Airplane for the
last time, at the Fillmore Auditorium.
14/1/67 Jefferson Airplane play at the first "Human Be-in" in
Golden Gate Park, SF.
16?/6/67 Jefferson Airplane appear at the first day of the Monterrey
Pop festival.
?/7/68 The band purchase 2400 Fulton street in San Francisco. The
house will form the home base for the band and, later,
their own label, Grunt records, for the next 17 years.
31/8/68 Jefferson Airplane headline day ? of the first Isle of
Wight festival.
6/9/68 The group play the first of two nights at the Roundhouse in
London. Although both the Airplane and their co-headliners
The Doors are filmed, only the footage of The Doors is ever
shown.
1/11/68 Jean-Luc Godard films the group performing on the roof of
the Schuyler Hotel, NYC, (well before the Beatles) for his
abortive "One American Movie" project. The footage will
eventually be used by D.A. Pennebaker in "One P.M".
16?/8/69 Jefferson Airplane make an early morning appearance at the
Woodstock festival.
26/11/69 During one of two shows the same day at the Fillmore East,
Grace Slick appears on stage dressed as Adolf Hitler.
6/12/69 Jefferson Airplane play at the ill-fated Altamont rock
festival. During their performance, Marty Balin is knocked
unconscious by one of the hells angels acting as security
for the show.
23/3/70 Following a back-stage row with Balin over a fourth encore
at a show in ?, Spencer Dryden quits the band.
24/4/70 Grace Slick is invited to a White House tea party held by
Patricia Nixon, who attended Finch College, ?, ten years
after the then Grace Wing. Grace attempts to gain entry to
the party, but is turned away as a "security risk" as she
is "escorted" by Abbie Hoffman. In her pocket, Grace had
some powdered LSD which she intended to surreptitiously
introduce into Richard Nixon's drink.
28/6/70 The group return to the UK to play the Bath Festival in
Wiltshire. This will be Jefferson Airplane's last UK visit.
5/10/70 Papa John Creach joins Jefferson Airplane for a show at
Winterland after spending some time as a member of Hot
Tuna.
25/1/71 China Wing Kantner, daughter of Paul Kantner and Grace
Slick, MTV VJ and actress, born in French Hospital, SF.
5/3/71 "White Rabbit" is included on an FCC list of songs "not to
be aired" due to possible drugs references. Other songs on
the list include "Puff the magic dragon" and "Lucy in the
sky with diamonds".
2/8/71 The band announce the formation of their own record label,
Grunt Records, distributed by RCA. The first release on
Grunt will be "Bark".
21/8/72 Grace Slick maced and Paul Kantner manhandled in an
after-show scuffle at the Rubber Bowl in Akron, Ohio, after
equipment manager Chick Casady (Jack's brother)was arrested
and beaten for obstructing the police. The incident began
when Casady saw the police using clubs on people dancing
in the aisles. Grace Slick's obstruction of Casady's
arrest led to her being punched by the police, resulting in
a black eye and her own arrest. Kantner's attempted
protection of Slick led to his arrest also. The three were
released when manager Bill Thompson paid the $500 bail.
3/10/72 Jefferson Airplane play their last live show. The venue is
the Winterland Auditorium. The show is recorded for
posterity, and will later be broadcast on FM radio.
?/2/74 Kantner, Slick, Freiberg, Barbata and Creach begin
rehearsals with Jorma Kaukonen's brother Peter (working
under the name of Peter Kangeroo) and 19-year old guitarist
Craig Chaquico, who had worked with Kantner and Slick on
their solo LPs. They adopt the name Jefferson Starship,
first used by Kantner four years previously for his solo
work "Blows Against The Empire".
?/4/74 Jefferson Starship begin their first tour. Peter Kaukonen
will quit the band at the end of the tour, to be replaced
by Pete Sears, another veteran of the Kantner/Slick solo
efforts as well as noted bay-area bands Copperhead and
Stoneground, who had supported Jefferson Airplane on
several occasions.
21/11/74 Marty Balin makes a surprise appearance on-stage with
Jefferson Starship. His appearance is a surprise to the
band as well as the audience, and will later lead to his
rejoining the band full-time.
30/9/75 The band join The Grateful Dead for a free concert in San
Francisco's Lindley Park.
29/11/76 Grace Slick marries the bands 24-year old lighting
engineer, Skip Johnson.
17/6/78 Fans at the Lorelei festival at Hamburg, Germany, riot
after Grace Slick is unable to take the stage due to her
increasing alcohol problem. In the riot, the band lose most
of their equipment, valued at around $0.25 million.
24/6/78 Jefferson Starship make their sole UK appearance at the
Knebworth festival. The band appear without Slick, who had
been sent home in disgrace following the Lorelei festival
disaster.
?/9/78 Marty Balin leaves the band.
13/5/79 Mickey Thomas and Aynsley Dunbar make their public debut as
members of Jefferson Starship at a free concert in Golden
Gate park.
30/10/79 "Freedom at Point Zero" released, the first Jefferson
Starship LP not to feature any contributions from Airplane
founder member Marty Balin.
12/11/79 Marty Balin's rock opera "Rock Justice" opens for a 4 night
run at the Old Waldorf Theatre in San Francisco. Amongst
the cast are Mike Varney, who would later form Shrapnel
records, Leonard Haze from Y&T and Jeff Pilson, later of
heavy rockers Dokken.
26/10/80 Paul Kantner suffers a brain heamorrage during the
recording of "Modern Times". Although he will recover
fully, recording is postponed for several weeks while he
spends 15 days in Ceders-Sinai medical centre, LA.
?/2/81 Grace Slick re-joins Jefferson Starship after a three year
absence.
?/10/82 Donny Baldwin, who performed with Mickey Thomas in the
Elvin Bishop Group, replaces Aynley Dunbar as drummer.
8/10/83 Following a 5 year absence, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady
reform Hot Tuna.
?/6/84 Paul Kantner announces that he is dissatisfied with the
musical direction of the Jefferson Starship, and intends to
take an extended break from the group.
?/10/84 Paul Kantner joins the Marty Balin Band for a free show in
Golden Gate Park, where they perform the old Jefferson
Airplane song "It's No Secret". This provides the spark for
the eventual formation of a new band involving the duo and
ex-Airplane bassist Jack Casady.
31/12/84 With the absent Kantner claiming ownership of the name
"Jefferson Starship", the band appear as Starship Jefferson
for a new years eve show at the San Jose civic centre, CA.
23/3/85 The Kantner, Balin and Casady Band make their public debut
at the 8th Bammies in San Francisco.
?/9/85 2400 Fulton Street, the band's San Francisco home for 17
years, is sold for $650,000.
7/12/85 The Kantner, Balin and Casady Band, now performing as the
KBC Band, make their "official" debut at the re-opening of
the Fillmore Auditorium. Their performance includes the
first public appearance in 19 years of original Jefferson
Airplane member Signe Anderson, who joins the band for
"It's No Secret".
15/3/86 Jorma Kaukonen joins the KBC Band for a show at the
Berkley community centre.
?/7/86 China Kantner makes her first appearance on US MTV. She
will make several other appearances over the next two
years, including interviewing her own father, Paul Kantner,
for MTV's "Summer of love" 20th aniversary show "?".
5/5/87 Starship begin a four week run at the top of the UK singles
chart with "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". This is only the
third time in the history of the band that they have
appeared in the UK singles chart, and the first time they
have entered the top 10. The song will go on to be the
second biggest selling single of the year in the UK.
26/5/87 Pete Sears leaves Starship following a row with the rest of
the band over his exclusion from the video to "It's Not
Over ('Til It's Over)", on which he did not play.
4/3/88 At a Hot Tuna show at the Fillmore, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack
Casady are joined by special guests Paul Kantner and Papa
John Creach, but the highlight of the evening is a surprise
appearance by Grace Slick, who joins them on stage much to
Kantner's surprise. (Grace's appearance had been kept from
him as an in-joke by the others.) The appearance on the
same stage of five members of the final line-up of
Jefferson Airplane spark rumours of an impending Airplane
reunion.
16/4/88 Grace Slick announces that she is no longer a member of
Starship, and will be pursuing other options.
16/7/88 Paul Kantner performs at a free concert in Golden Gate
Park. He is joined for a two-song acoustic set by Grace
Slick.
?/11/88 Grace Slick, Paul Kantner, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady
reform Jefferson Airplane, although no official
announcement of the reformation will be made for several
months. By the time the announcement is made, Marty Balin
will also have joined in the reunion.
18/8/89 The reformed Jefferson Airplane begin their first tour for
17 years with a show in Milwaukee.
30/9/89 The reunion tour ends with the traditional free concert in
Golden Gate Park.
7/10/89 The reformed Jefferson Airplane play their last ever show,
the March For The Homeless in Washington, DC.
8/6/91 Grace Slick performs a three-song set at the "Festival For
The Animals" at the San Francisco Civic Plaza. Following
her set, she joins Buffalo Roam for an impromptu
performance of "White Rabbit". The event is hosted by
Grace's daughter, China, which leads to some comic moments
during Grace's introduction.
?/1/92 Paul Kantner's new group, Jefferson Starship - The Next
Generation, make their public debut at Konocti Harbor,
Clearlake, CA. Among the members are Jack Casady, Mark
"Slick" Aguilar, and Tim Gorman. The band also features
female vocalist Darby Gould from fellow Bay area band World
Entertainment War.
4/10/92 Marty Balin joins Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation
for the encore of their show in New York's Central Park.
30/4/93 Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation begin the "Deep
Space" tour, the first with Marty Balin as a full member of
the band.
16/9/93 Grace Slick's house overlooking Mill Valley golf course is
gutted by a fire started by sparks from a gate being welded
by Marin County workers. Lost in the fire is her personal
collection of memorabilia and several studio tapes. Three
firefighters are fired after they were caught stealing
items from the scene.
3/10/93 Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation play their first
show with new singer Diana Mangano replacing the
temporarily absent Darby Gould. Diana got the job after she
gave the band a tape of herself singing old Jefferson
Airplane/Starship material following a show in her native
New York. She will remain with the band, alternating
appearances with Darby Gould, who is unable to tour for
much of the year due to a combination of a back injury and
touring commitments with her own band, Blind Tom.
22/2/94 After suffering a heart attack as a result of the Los
Angeles Earthquake, Papa John Creach dies from pneumonia at
2.20pm in Midway hospital, LA.
?/3/94 Grace Slick is arrested at her new home in Tiburon, CA, for
threatening police, who were investigating a report of
gunfire, with an unloaded shotgun. She is released on
$7,000 bail and, after agreeing to plea bargin, enters a
detoxification programme to control a recurrance of her
alcohol problem. Apparently, she had begun drinking again
(after several years "dry") following the fire at her last
home, and had decided on a bit of indoor target practice!
26/7/94 The band play their first UK show since Knebworth in 1978
when they make a single appearance at The Bottom Line in
Shepherds Bush Green, London. The converted cinema is
packed to its capacity of 200 people by fans eager to see
what what they have been dreaming of for many years.
Although well received by the fans, the show generates very
little media interest, and passes almost unnoticed by the
UK music press.
21/1/95 Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation play a
memorial/benefit show for Papa John and Gretchen Creach at
the House of Blues in Los Angeles. Participating in the
show are Grace Slick, making her first public appearance
for almost four years, China Kantner, who provides some
backing vocals, Merl Saunders and David Laflamme from It's
A Beautiful Day. The event is recorded for release as
"Deep Space/Virgin Sky", the first Jefferson Starship LP
for eleven years.
28/9/95 The band make a return visit to The Bottom Line in London
for a single show as part of the "Deep Space/Virgin Sky"
tour. As with the previous London show, media interest is
slight, but a capacity audience again greets the band.
Future UK visits are jeopardised by after-show problems
with the promoters of the show, who withhold money due to
the band.
17/1/96 Jefferson Airplane are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame in Cleveland. Grace Slick, unable to travel for
medical reasons, declines the invitation to attend, and
instead sends a rude note containing many four-letter
words.
31/5/96 After several months of touring as Jefferson Starship -
Acoustic Shuttlecraft/Explorer, the full electric Next
Generation return to touring with a show at the Palace
Theatre, Myrtle Beach, SC. Unfortunately, Paul Kantner is
ill, and remains in San Francisco. This show marks the
debut of the bands new keyboardist, T. Lavitz.
2/6/96 A return to the House of Blues, Los Angeles, sees the band
again joined by China Kantner, who joins them for their
second encore, the old live favourite "The Other Side Of
This Life".
22/6/96 The Glendale Street Party, an open air show in Glendale,
CA, sees China Kantner make her second appearence onstage
with the band in less than a month. She sits at the back of
the stage throughout the show, providing occasional backing
vocals, and shares her father's mic during "Wooden Ships".
This chronology is copyright © Adrian Brown, 1996. It may be downloaded for personal use, and may be distributed freely on disk or via the Internet provided no charges, other than those to cover reasonable costs such as postage etc, are levied. Any such distribution must include this copyright message.
Page created:- 24/11/96
Last update:-
© Adrian Brown.