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'' the slippery rock string band "

I had previously asked for information on this band but soon after found an interview with bob harvey on line who furnished much new material on the bands formation and history with the following taken from my youtube channel. ~ an interesting name for an interesting band...formed end of '62/early '63 when a banjo and flatpicker (lee cheney/chuck mccabe & finally mike mindel) were singing harmony together at hoots when bob harvey  heard and asked to join but was told they didn't need a singer but a bassist! so bob went out and got a double bass and the group then named themselves 'the slippery rock string band'...they actually got to play in vietnam with bob hope! ...they started playing around the city particually at 'coffee & confusion' but they wanted to move on to bigger things and venues such as 'the drinking gourd' which was the place for folkies to play...it was there one day that bob heard two musicians talking about forming a folk-rock band and overhearing them asked if they wanted a bass player? so it came to be that 'jefferson airplane' was formed along with jorma kaukanen/signe anderson/marty balin and drummer jerry peloquin...balin had also got together with some dentists to front him money to open his own club and feature the newly formed group...the members would also be 'partners' but after playing there night after night no one saw a penny! this was around summer '65..the airplane with harvey would play the very first family dog dance at the longshoremans hall 'a tribute to dr.strange' october that year along with the charlatans/the marbles and the great! society...the new group through manager matthew katz went to los angeles to record a five song demo at 'columbia records' but columbia didn't like what they heard and so the tapes were taken by katz to a friend at 'RCA records' who signed the band...october saw harvey 'asked' to leave as the group wanted an electric bass player and so kaukonens friend jack cassidy came on board just as the group signed with 'RCA'....(as a funny sidebar ca
sady was paid $1000 by katz for playing on the demos!!!!)...so harvey was out of a job but instantly got the 'string band' back together and made off to los angeles and a management deal with the dillards manager and a chance to record...and thats where this single comes from 'tule fog/sally brought him home' dome records 1967...it shows off their folk/rock/jazz/good timey roots and is quite a hard single to find...it all adds to our musical and historical facts about the san francisco music scene of the mid sixties...
GR

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