Mellotronists

Hi Rob,

Yes, I am an academic at Cal State Long Beach. Nice to meet a fellow
colleague and Troniac.

I was 14 at the time when I saw Crimson in 1969. I had no idea who the
hell they were, but I do remember in the weeks prior to the West Palm
Beach Festival calling the radio station to find out who will be
playing. Along with the usually fare at the time (Janis Joplin, Rolling
Stones, Sweetwater, Jefferson Airplane, Canned Heat, Vanilla Fudge,
Johnny Winters, etc...) the DJ told me that two new bands will be
debuting there; Grand Funk Railroad and "some band from Britain", King
Crimson. 

My friend and I spent four days and three nights in a tent experiencing
this amazing festival. The first night of music featured some of the
before mentioned bands, and included an amazing jam session with Johnny
and Edgar Winter, the rhythm section from Vanilla Fudge, and Janis
Joplin. I also clearly remember King Crimson playing a set around 9PM
that BLEW ME AWAY! I remember asking my friend where the damn orchestra
was and trying to figure out what type of organ Ian was playing. After a
few minutes I figured out that the amazing sound I was hearing was
coming from this machine.

No, I did not make a recording of that set. Who would have thought it
would have been as historic as it was? Thank God Fripp found the tapes
and remixed the live sessions from the Fillmores, as the West Palm Beach
performances were sandwiched between the performances from the Fillmores
East and West. So that is pretty damn close to what I heard.

They played again Saturday night, but was cancelled on Sunday due to the
festival falling behind schedule. DAMN, what a disappointment. All
because the Stones wanted to get out early after Jefferson Airplane as
they were the headliners. Well, the %^#$%@ Stones waited until 2AM to go
on anyway, and played an out of tune set. We could have heard two hours
of Crimson music anyway. Oh well..

The upshot is that EVERYONE was raving about that "new band from
Britain". They, and Grand Funk, stole the show.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: robertc [mailto:robertc@...] 
> Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 9:12 AM
> To: David Jacques
> Subject: RE: [Mellotronists] Epitaph
> 
> 
> I too am continually blown away by this section of Epitaph, 
> what I consider to 
> be the high water mark of mellotronics.  Indeed, it was this 
> passage of 
> Epitaph that drew me, a long-time guitarist, to acquire and 
> dabble with this 
> instrument.  I´ve met and discussed this with Ian on several 
> occasions, and he 
> rather non-chalantly, in a traditional British way, says 
> something to the 
> effect, "yes, it is rather nice, isn´t it".  I envy that you 
> saw this band in ´69.  You didn´t happen to record the show, 
> did you?  I saw Crimson in 72, 
> however by then the mellotron was no longer a part of their 
> musical arsenal.  
> Are you an academic at Long Beach?  I teach at UC Berkeley.
> 
> Regards, Rob
> M400 1096
> 
> >===== Original Message From "David Jacques" 
> <djacques@...> ===== 
> >The Mellotron lines to Epitaph.... I was listening to the song again 
> >last night and am continually amazed how Ian McDonald came 
> up with such 
> >a simple, yet effecting line during the "I fear, tomorrow, I'll be 
> >crying" section... It descends, ascends, descends, ascends, 
> descends, 
> >and then ascends to a climax. I remember hearing that for the first 
> >time in 1969 live at the Palm Beach Festival and how blown 
> away I was 
> >by that band.
> 
>