| July
23 .04J
Stuart
I've been working on a script for a radio show to be aired on
WUTC Chattanooga in August. I'm producing it here locally and
will give them a one hour CD of the final show.
Welcome
to WUTC's "DJ For an Hour". My name is Bob Harvey. I
want to introduce you to just a taste of the music that I've been
involved with over the years. I joined the Navy when I was 17.
I began playing guitar and formed a vocal duet with a fellow sailor
while attached to Patrol Squadron 40, Sangley Point, Philippines.
Here's a song I recorded with Les Overstreet for Gibson Records
in Manila in 1958. It's the first song I ever recorded - Here's
"Be My Girl".
I left the Navy in 1960 and settled in San Francsico where I became
involved in folk music, holding a weekly hootenanny at a local
coffee house called the Golden Lamp. It was there in 1963 that
I formed a bluegrass group called the Slippery Rock String Band.
Chuck McCabe on Banjo, Lee Cheney on guitar, Mike Mindel on fiddle
and me on upright bass. By January of 1965 the band had graduated
from local coffee houses and we finally got our own night at San
Francisco's famous "Drinking Gourd". We were paid $10.00
per man and all the beer we
could drink. In late March 1965 I left the "Slippery Rock"
to became one of the founding members of Jefferson Airplane. In
August of 1965 the Airplane flew to LA to cut a demo for Columbia
Records. Here is one of the first songs Jefferson Airplane ever
recorded. Jorma Kaukonen on lead guitar; Paul Kantner on rhythm
guitar; Skip Spence on Drums; Signe Toly Anderson on lead vocal,
with Marty Balin singing harmony; and myself on bass - it's "Other
Side of this Life".
In October of 1965 I left Jefferson Airplane and reformed the
Slippery Rock String Band. The Slippery Rock signed with a manager
and we went on the road playing folk clubs, military bases and
hotel lounges. The band recorded a single in 1967. The song got
a lot of air play in San Francisco. Here's the Slippery Rock String
Band - Chuck McCabe on Banjo, Lee Cheney on guitar, Mike Mindel
on fiddle with me singing lead and playing bass on, "There's
an old Tule Fog hangin' around the Golden Gate Bridge of my heart".
The Slippery Rock String Band recorded several live shows at the
"House of The Rising Sun" that same year, From the CD,
"The Slippery Rock String Band live at the House of the Rising
Sun", here is the band doing a song written by Lee Cheney,
with me singing lead - it's country comedy at it's best - here's
"Punie Up & Die".
Another favorite at the House of the Rising Sun was this bluegrass
standard - Chuck McCabe shifts his five string banjo into high
gear; Lee Cheney makes his Martin Guitar cry; Mike Mindel shows
what Bluegrass fiddle is all about and I do my best to light a
fire under my bass. Here's "Bugle Call Rag".
Here's a song with the tight three part harmony that was the Slippery
Rock String Band's trademark. Once again I'm singing lead on "Blue
Moon of Kentucky".
I thoroughly enjoyed the songs with tight harmony, but the real
kick was singing lead on a song like "Red Rockin' Chair".
The Slippery Rock String Band broke up in early 1968. I formed
a band called "Catfish Wakely". It was Tom Lane on lead
guitar, Ron Funk on rhythm guitar and myself on bass.
Here is "Catfish Wakely" doing a song which I wrote
after reading a Science Fiction story with a description of a
Starship Crashing and exploding during a landing. It gave me the
idea for the song "Greenworld". Tom Lane's lead guitar
playing shows his focus on East Indian music. His style of playing
gave my music a very unique eastern flavor.
Here is another taste of Tom Lane's lead guitar on a song I wrote,
following the breakup of a love affair. Here's "Blowin' My
Mind".
In Early 1969 I was hired to write music for a movie called "Bitter
Cherry". I used Chuck McCabe from the Slippery Rock String
Band on lead guitar, Homer Blake on drums, and Tye Porter of the
Doobie Brothers on bass. I played rhythm guitar and sang all the
vocal parts. Here's "Bitter Cherry"
In 1971 I produced the music for a "B" Biker Movie.
I wrote the title song and recorded it with Don Preston and other
members of Frank Zappa's "Mother's of Invention". Here's
"Hard Ride to the Movies".
On my 40th birthday, I decided to quite music and go back to school.
I got a BA in journalism and for the next 20 years I only played
music for my own enjoyment. In 1990 I went to Saudi Arabia as
a journalist covering Desert Storm.
It was there I met Brian Fowler, an amazing mandolin player attached
to Seabee battalion 24. Brian rekindled my musical drive. When
we got back to the states, we recorded an album, called "Idiot's
Vision". We called the band San Francisco Blue. We didn't
complete the album until 2000 and released it in 2001.
Since that point, my existence has been refocused towards my music.
There simply isn't time to go deeply into the music we recorded
on that album. Here is my favorite song from Idiot's Vision. It's
lyrics were written in 1969. Brian Fowler wrote the music in 2000.
Here is "High on a Mountain"
Since Idiot's Vision, Brian and I have each gone our own way until
this year, when we decided to do another San Francisco Blue album.
At this point we have recorded two songs. The lyrics to the first
song were written by myself and Thom Cooley, music by Brian Fowler.
Produced and engineered by Melonie Emerson Taft, Here's "Children
of the Wind".
The second song for the new album has lyrics that I wrote with
Skip Spence when we were in Jefferson Airplane. After 40 years
I had forgotton most of the music. Brian Fowler and I put new
music to the song which will be on the latest tribute album to
Skip Spence and his last band, Moby Grape. Here is "Hurting
for People".
Brian and I will be appearing with his current band "Jones
Avenue" at the Spacerock concert coming up in Cullman Alabama,
starring Nick Turner and "Spaceseed". We hope to finish
the new San Francisco Blue album by the first of the year.
Thanks for listening. I hope to have San Francisco blue songs
playing on this and other NPR stations around the country in the
coming months.
Bob
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