Joey Covington RIP.

[adorshki]

This just seen from AP:
Former Jefferson Airplane drummer Joey Covington dies in car crash
Posted: 06/06/2013 11:55:15 AM PDT
June 6, 2013 6:56 PM GMTUpdated: 06/06/2013 11:55:16 AM PDT


PALM SPRINGS -- Former Jefferson Airplane drummer Joey Covington has died in a Palm Springs car crash.

A Riverside County coroner's report says the 67-year-old Palm Springs resident wasn't wearing a seat belt when his car hit a retaining wall at about 5 p.m. Tuesday. He died at the scene.

The Palm Springs Desert Sun says police don't believe alcohol or drugs were involved.

A friend, Keith McCormick, tells the paper that Covington's wife, Lauren, suspects he had a stroke or heart attack before the accident.

Covington replaced Spencer Dryden as the Airplane's drummer from 1970-72. Before that, he was with the Airplane offshoot Hot Tuna and played congas on the 1969 Airplane album "Volunteers."

Covington co-wrote several Airplane songs, including "Pretty as You Feel" and the 1976 tune "With Your Love."

"Pretty As You Feel" was my favorite tune from what I'd call "Jefferson Airplane mark III" (Skip Spence who went on to co-found the legendary Moby Grape was the original drummer and Signe Anderson was the original female vocalist on "Takes Off")
"Pretty As You Feel":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dbshnvztGA
Another little novelty on that album was "Thunk", which has still stuck with me after all these years:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRNRVe0kgC0
Wouldn't surprise me if Hot Tuna fans take this even harder than Airplane fans.
Rest easy Joey, hope they appreciate ya at the great gig in the sky, as much as we did.
:sorrow:

 

[southernGuild]

Thanks for those links Al. I hadn't heard those songs before so they were like 'new' to me, and they were a real treat to take in. I'll have to look into more songs from JA and HT...............The time seems about right now. Better late than never.
Lots of folks posting condolances on the youtube comments too.

 

[adorshki]

If you're any kind of a w-a-a-y back to the roots blues fan, Hot Tuna is a must. Sandy'll back me up on that, although like me he's also a fan of their extended jam LOUD era in the mid to late '70's.
First album's all acoustic, second one's all electric.
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Tuna

 

[southernGuild]

^^^So True Al. ....They are just one of those bands thnat I have often been close to catching on to, but all too often, just let things slip away.
I Know that Sandy, Frono, and Yourself know these guys very well ( Sandy has even met Jorma I believe, and I regularly see Jorma in my acoustic guitar mags, etc) But I just never got around to sitting down and tuning into their music well and truely. ( Well, I had The J.Starship "Earth"album, back in the late 70's...Really enjoyed that one too!)
My Brother-in-law, a Jazz musician, actually met up with them in the early 70's at their San Fransisco home. He and my sis had a great time. He was a fan too ( and gave me the 'Earth' album I recall)
But, Yea, I somehow just keep managing to miss out on them.
Like I say, Better late than never, So, I'll start checking these guys out. Its a good thing really, All that great music will be 'New' to me!
Sounds like I'm in for some good listening.:teapot:

 

[adorshki]

If you hadn't come across the backstory yet, Jack and Jorma as a team actually predated the Airplane. They were playing acoustic blues in a couple of coffeehouses here in my hometown of San Jose for a couple of years prior to heading up to the San Francisco scene. Hot Tuna was actually a return to their first love musically speaking.
Jack himself had been performing professionally since a teenager so they were already pretty well seasoned before ever joining the Airplane. Recommend "Embryonic Journey" on "Surrealistic Pillow" for a taste of Jorma's level of development at the time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IzoiqDaG4A
And that was over 40 years ago.
I myself was permanently hooked ever since the first time I heard the first chords of "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning" on "First pull up...", and "Death Don't Have No Mercy" on "Hot Tuna".
Here's a "modern" take of "...no Mercy":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZkdRJqEVyg
Another one that haunts me is a cover of "Another Man Done Gone" but can't seem to find it on the track listings.
ahh, here we go, I thought it was on "Quah":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkkppeu7-Fs
Here's a little gem that's been posted before but a rerun certainly won't hurt, the original Hot Tuna on a local PBS show in 1969:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ0onxQIY_w
Well those oughta get ya started but there's also 2 more Tuna signature tunes you'll see links to on the Youtube sidebars:
"Watersong" and "Keep on Truckin' " from Burgers. "Watersong" is like an updated electric "Embryonic Journey" and features what some people consider to be some of the greatest licks Jack ever recorded.
:wink:

 

[southernGuild]

Thanks Al, Great link an info. Beautiful song! I can see what you mean. That one led me to a best of Full album on Youtube....Have in on now and It's sounding great! I'll check out those other songs you've noted over the weekend.
I'm on my way.:snowman:

 

[P-E-Zmusic]

another one gone

 

[fronobulax]

If you hadn't come across the backstory yet, Jack and Jorma as a team actually predated the Airplane. They were playing acoustic blues in a couple of coffeehouses here in my hometown of San Jose for a couple of years prior to heading up to the San Francisco scene.

I'm not in the mood to do a search to verify my memory, but are you sure about that? I distinctly recall several stories to the effect that Jack and Jorma had played together on the East Coast (D.C. area?) including stints where Jack was playing guitar and/or too young to legally drink in the bars they were playing. I thought that Jorma invited Jack to join him on the West Coast specifically to play bass for the Airplane. So while their collaboration does pre-date the Airplane it was on the other coast. Perhaps, since the Airplane wasn't formed in a day, the gigs you recall were stop-gap gigs played after Jack flew out to join the Airplane but before the Airplane became a full time gig?