Re: (TV) Sky Saxon RIP

[andy fekete <andy.fekete@gmail.com>]

Let us mourn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifQK_86Nk-A&NR=1

On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 5:58 PM, Graham
Urquhart<gurquhart@madasafish.com> wrote:
> This will no doubt get lost in the Jackson farrago:
>
> http://skysaxon.com/
>
> Obit from Nels Cline below:
>
> NELS CLINE ON SKY SAXON:  MY FIRST ROCK IDOL June 25th, 2009
>
> Guitarist Nels Cline (spotted most recently with Wilco) grew up in the
> shadow of the Seeds and Sky Saxon and later went on to perform and record
> with Sky himself. He takes some time today to send L.A. RECORD these
> thoughts:
>
> I am truly saddened to learn of the death of Sky Saxon. As a boy growing up
> in Los Angeles, Sky Saxon was my first rock idol of sorts. The Seeds  music
> was important to me, sure, but Sky s amazing charisma as he appeared rather
> ubiquitously on TV shows like  Boss City  and  The Groovy Show  around 1966
> was galvanizing. I would stare in disbelief as he clad in shiny satin Nehru
> shirts bedazzled with some gaudy brooch would gyrate around lasciviously,
> holding the microphone in every cool way imaginable. He seemed from another
> planet. I thought he was amazing.
>
> Years later, in the late  70s, Sky became known as  Sunlight,  and
> manifested a few eccentric and quite acid-soaked (or so they sounded)
> recordings that led credence to the rampant stories of his decaying mind and
> artistry. He came into the record store I worked at for years and with his
> face covered in a long mane of hair, massive beard, and shades went silently
> through the
> stacks with wraith-like fingers. I was dismayed and a bit freaked out by
> this creature the former beautiful god of rock  n  roll otherness.
>
> But only a few years ago as my friend and colleague Carla Bozulich and I
> were going into our local Trader Joe s, we ran into a bass player friend of
> mine named Rick, who had in tow a gray-haired, aging hippie type of man with
> an unavoidably compelling face and style. Carla, not normally interested in
> old hippies, immediately whispered to me,  Who s THAT?!  Of course, you know
> it was Sky Saxon. And Rick was playing in the new version of the Seeds,
> recording just down the street from Carla s house! Long story short, I went
> and hung out a bit, ended up recording a song about a corrupt judge on the
> then-upcoming Seeds record. (Sorry that the titles escape me today.) Sky was
> really quite deferential to me. Plus he seemed to be in quite good shape. He
> gave me a record, recently issued, of some of his pre-Seeds 1950s
> doo-wop-ish rock songs. How old IS this guy? I wondered.
>
> We ended up doing a duo gig of almost totally improvised music one night at
> Zen Sushi. I was ecstatic. I suggested we call ourselves the Flower Lady &
> Her Assistant, but Sky immediately countered with the Flower God Men and
> Their Assistants. I had gear problems on the gig, and Sky had a bit too much
> sake before we played, but it was amaz
> ing to me. There were barely 30 people there anyway! I started plotting ways
> to do some more improvising with him. He was going off in a very Beat-style
> manner. I thought of collaborations with my trio, The Singers, but then Sky
> went off to more European touring, headed back to Shasta. Rick moved to New
> York
> I won t ever be able to do those things with Sky. I feel lucky to have ever
> even seen him on TV, yet alone to have played some wild, extemporaneous
> psychedelia with him. They say Mick Jagger copped tons of his moves and
> style, and I believe it. But there was so much more to this man that remains
> to be revealed.
>
> - Nels Cline
> Glendale, CA
> 6/25/09
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