Spirit Stories Page 7

As some of you "old timers" may recollect, the late 60's and early 70's

were a time period which ushered the beginning and peak 

of the pop festival phenomena. Such is the time frame 

(West Palm Beach Pop Festival-1970?) of my first encounter live with Spirit-----------

the band that is. Though the memory is a bit fuzzy around  the edges, due in part ,no doubt,

 to the state of  mind in which the experiencer experienced it,

 the essence  remains today with as much lucidity

 as can be expected under the circumstances.

I had slipped down south to W. Palm Beach from Jacksonville, where at

the time I was a sophomore enrolled in the local university there. My

friend, roommate, fellow "seeker" and, transplant from Long Island

accompanied me. We both had a  rough summer together  in California in '69  just following his 

freshman year there. Parental concerns deemed  Fla. 

The lesser of evils (compared to Cal). and consequently we found ourselves rooming 

together in Jacksonville where I had enrolled

 during the previous year. Up until (and after) W. Palm Pop our  studies consisted of: 

Exploritory and Behaviorial Chemistry and Psychedelic Music-101, 

both unofficial cources and projections of our own minds---------

what better time to see Spirit?

West Palm Pop Festival contained some memorable players and events like

King Crimson's first (or nearly so) U.S. performance, Johnny Winter who

brought his little brother Edgar (an unknown at the time) 

on stage to play. Janis Joplin and-- Janis Joplin & Johnny Winter jamming together!!.--

their styles meshed perfectly  and when their set was over I knew that  

I had just witnessed a history making event-How could it be beat?------------ 

Shortly after I got the answer. Backtracking a bit:

During our  experiments in "musical chemistry"  Spirit 

slowly became  one of the main players of 

our psychedelic repertoire joining the likes of:  

Moody Blues, Hendrix, It's a Beautiful Day, Dead, Ouicksilver etc.---

Mainly the albums "Clear and Family That Plays Together"  

(12 Dreams hadn't been cut at the time) had "THE SOUND". 

But what was "the sound" and in Spirits case- 

where did it come from?---certainly the lyrics alone didn't point you in any direction

.------At W. Palm we  found out. Like many "peak experiences"

 the experience of "Spirit" is a difficult one to package into words--.

 In the bands case, their name was their sound and the experience. 

At West Palm there --"Sririt were 

and they had fun doing it! "is about the best way I can describe their performance. 

Oh yea, I still remember Randy's magic box as we called

it--with it's feedback  that acted as sort of a thread between songs, 

blending them together so that

 all you really heard was one song that lasted the whole set.

 Then there were the lyrics that left more than one 

person  dumb-founded trying to figure them out. 

As I remember it Randy sang something like

 " And this girl came up to me and said "are you Randy California the fastest guitarist ?

"--(plays a hot lick)---"and are you Randy  California the sexiest guitarist ?"

---(another guitar lick)--probably one more verse-

(hey give me a break it was almost 30 yrs ago) before- 

" and then she said"--(Full band harmony in) 

"I ...doooon't caaaaare" repeat full-band harmony about 3 times 

in perfect pitch harmony etc etc.- 

My friend and  I were laughing and crying 

at the same time though I can't help think than many 

of the crowds reaction could best be summed 

up in a Keith Reid verse from a Procol Harum song 

"and though the crowd clapped desperately they did not see the joke". 

I also remember Jay Ferguson

 in black leather vest w/ something like a quarter moon on the back- 

twirling  microphone and stand upside down.--- 

But most of all it was the bands perfect harmony sounding like one entity

which could not be broken down into it's separate parts.---the set came

off like one song, and one note---------THE NOTE.

They were the best there were and the best there ever will be!!!!

David Blody

The 1st time I saw Spirit was at the Sacramento Pop Festival. 

The bill was Jefferson Airplane, 

Captain Beefheart, Hour Glass, Strawberry Alarm Clock, 

Dirt Band and introducing Spirit. 

They made complete chumps out of the Airplane.

 It was before the first album came out and for what

 seemed like a year I couldn't get their sound out of my head. 

When the 1st album came out the band I was in tried with varied 

success to learn the songs. The best show that 

I saw of them though was at the Sound Factory, 

headliners on a bill with West and the James Cotton Blues Band. 

One of the absolutely best shows of all time. 

I've seen different line - ups through the years and every 

time it was a show to be remembered, 

even including the "Feedback" lineup. 

The last show I saw was October before Randy died. 

One of the highlights was Randy's 

solo opening set. After the show Ed and Randy graciously signed every album of my

 complete collection. My last memory of Randy 

was his smile and a sincere thank you from Randy.

Michael Knapp

My deepest regards for the loss of Randy. 

God has taken another great musician.

 However only in the flesh, his music 

and message will remain in my heart and my finger 

tips as I continue play spirit songs on my guitar.

 I first heard spirit in the early seventies, the twelve dreams album. 

It had a major influence on all the music 

I played or listened to from then on. The thing that impressed me most about the music 

was all the genres one band incorporated into their sound.

 I love music, all kinds, Jazz, Rock, Classical,

 Blues etc. spirit has covered it all and has done it well. 

ED I'm glad that you are keeping the spirit going.

 I hope you get a chance to come to the east coast specificaly the central Pennsylvania

 area like where Penn State university is. 

I saw Spirit in 1984 Houston Texas in a small club. 

I got to shake your and Randy's hand, 

my girl friend asked for your autograph, you did better 

than that you gave her a kiss and invited her 

backstage to meet the band she came back with autographs from the whole band. 

She was thrilled to death that night. 

Thank you for a great night and a wonderful memory.

Steve Rivera

I first saw Spirit in 1978 at the Golden Bear in southern California.

Steve Forbert opened the show (Larry Knight was playing bass back then), 

and my friend and I were so impressed we stayed for the

 second show,  and returned the following night.  Ed and Randy were accessible and

gracious as they always were over the years).

My favorite show though, was in August, 1984, 

when the original band played the Stone in San Francisco.  

They were given a hero's welcome, and it was the only time 

I ever saw an audience give a band a two-minute 

standing ovation BEFORE they played a note!!

I know I am far from alone when I say that 

Spirit is my all-time Favorite band, and 12 Dreams

 my all-time favorite album. Spirit's music has

 meant more to me than I can adequately express in mere words.  

Thanks Randy! Thanks Ed! Thanks Spirit!

Maria

Just wanted to pass you a note of thank you for putting together a great

website ( but  where is the Spirit background music!?) Anyway, just want

to tell you about one night in (I think it was) 1979.  My friend at the

time who had gotten me into Spirit about a year before,

 had gotten tickets for us to see Spirit at "My Father's Place" 

which is located in Roslyn, Long Island, NY. 

It was the best experience I had at a concert at that time...

 in fact to this day it is still etched

 in my mind that one very cold night in Long Island. 

Anyway, in between sets, the group had taken a break and me and my friend saw Randy

 standing there at the bar. My friend decided to go over to him and talk to him. 

 We both decided that we would not 

act like little kids and say.. "Hi Randy, we have all of your 

records and we're your biggest fans!!!" 

We wanted to talk to him about certain lyrics 

within a certain song or something philisophical.  

We ended up sounding like the former!!!  We were so nervous as we got closer to him, 

we shook his hand and said( very nervously, like 2 little idiots, and said, 

"Gee Randy it's great to meet you....." and, well, you know the rest.  

I look back at that one night wishing

 I could have told him much more. Years later, I still have all those Spirit records and 

Randy California imports, but I have not kept in touch with the 

goingson in music, since I have so 

many other things going on in my life now, 

being happily married, a mortgage, a job, etc.  When my wife

 and I finally bought a computer 3 weeks ago, 

I told her I would look up any sights pertaining to Spirit!! Anything!!! 

 I found Johan's sight and read about the news of 

Randy's passing. All of a sudden, i thought of that one

 night I met randy, and began to cry.

  After all these years, Spirit has been part of my life.  Many of Randy's thoughts and feelings 

about the environment have been a part of me

 and have influenced my way of thinking. Spirit will live on.  

Though Randy is gone he will never be forgotten.

Ira Elting, Staten Island, NY

The first concert I ever attended was at the Inglewood Forum in LA back

In 1968.  My friend had an uncle who 

worked for the Forum and as a result we were able to get 

two seats in the seventh row directly in front of the stage.

 The main act (the one we were there to see) was Cream.  

An unknown up and coming band named SPIRIT

 opened the show.  I was absolutely blown away

 with Randy's magnificent guitar work and the jazz/rock style they presented that nite.

I went out and bought the record the next day and heard all the songs

They had performed the previous nite.  I will never forget hearing

Mechanical World the first time in concert.  Truly amazing! 

Another vivid memory is driving no-where for hours

 with my friends listening to "The Family That Plays "

 on my four-track tape player.  We were to young to have a place to hang out by 

ourselves so we would drive and listen to music. 

 Spirit's "Aren't You Glad" and its climactic guitar

 solo at the end will always give me a rush!

So sad to read of Randy's death.  At least he died saving his sons

life! Truly a sad day for all Spirit fans.

T. Bush

It was the late 60's at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia.  Also on

the bill - Chicago.  Not sure if either band had released an album yet.

I was totally blown away by Jay and Randy.  Mark held down the bottom

rock steady.  Cass's solo was the best ever.  John was sooooooooo

jazzy... soooooooo cool.  I immediately made up my mind that they were

my favorite band of all time, and would remain so forever. I joined

several bands over the next few years, and I made sure that each one of

them covered at least one Spirit song in their repetoire.  Hey, I was 17

and very impressionable. 

When I auditioned for one of these, a girl that came to rehearsals 

took to me and I took to her, so I invited her to

 a Spirit concert to be held at the Civic Center in Philadelphia on December 5th, 1969.  

Also on the bill was the Chambers Brothers (Time!).  

Spirit was even better than I remembered at that concert. 

 My girlfriend and I decided it was one of the most memorable nights of our lives, 

and when we decided to get married a couple of years later, 

we did it on December 5th in honor of our first date. 

 We have had the SPIRIT living on in our lives for 26 years now... 

and it will FOREVER.  

I only wish I could see them ONE MORE TIME.... Randy, we really miss you. 

 Jay, where are you????

R & R LuBell

I became a SPIRIT fan in 1973 after a friend turned me on to 12 Dreams.

I then started to buy other Spirit albums an have been a fan ever since! 

The only time I saw the band live

 was 2-26-79 at the Walnut Street theatre in Philadelphia. 

This was a most unusual place to see a rock 

concert but it was great seeing Spirit in such a small place ! 

Randy ran up and down the isles while playing which was the first time

I ever seen that ! This particular line-up consisted of Randy, 

Ed and Larry "Fuzzy" Knight. Ed "Cass Strange Drums" 

Cassidy performed the STRANGEST 

and quite possibly the BEST drum solo I ever saw ! 

I now own 14 Spirit cd's including the re-mastered first four albums which are 

PHENOMENAL ! Sony Legacy did a great job on the

 sound and the bonus tracks. The passing of Randy California 

was a great loss for me and all SPIRIT fans. 

I hope that "SPIRIT" will live on for many years to come. I would like to see Ed's 

"Spirit Revisited" start playing live. I think it would be great for 

this new line-up to create NEW music in the tradition 

of SPIRIT. In closing I would like to thank 

Mike Nile for this web site and send my best regards to Ed Cassidy.

The GREAT music of SPIRIT will be with me always !

Mahyesman

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