Take Me to a Circus Tent: The Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual
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by:
ISBN:
0-7414-3656-6
©2006
Price:
$29.95
Book Size:
8.5" x 11"
, 543 pages
Category/Subject:
MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Rock
Ninety photos starting from 1963, including maybe the rarest one ever, 33 interviews, 266 questions and answers and a look at 121 live shows and sixty unreleased studio treasures.
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Abstract:
The most comprehensive look at the live and unreleased (studio) history of the Jefferson Airplane ever compiled. 90 photos, 121 performances, 110 different songs, 33 Jams, a combination of 36 improvisations, riffs, and vocal teases are examined. Explore 60 unreleased, alternate, excerpts, Jams, demos, rehearsals, and rough mixes. Including the earliest authenticated studio recording, the demo for Columbia Records (That is correct) circa 8/65. Find 266 questions, and answers, regarding the Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna, Jefferson Starship, KBC Band, SVT, and Wooden Ships. For dessert, 33 interviews from Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna, Jefferson Starship, and San Francisco friends (Not quotes but interviews).
Click Here for a SNEAK
PEEK of this book.
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Customer Reviews
The ultimate Airplane book for the ultimate band!
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11/23/2006
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Reviewer:
Jeff R. Son
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Take Me To A Circus Tent:
A review by Jeff R. Son
The 22nd of November, 2006
Writing letters or reviews isn’t something that is common for me, however in getting to read a sneak-peak of Mr. Fenton’s masterpiece I would be depriving Airplane fans of a must read.
Authors often times seem to write what is hot, hip, or what the publisher tells them is the flavor of the month. Mr. Fenton’s words are from the heart. I have never seen any Airplane fan with this much knowledge and the ability to share it as if it is a long time friend talking to you.
You can see how fan friendly he is by the attention to every detail. If you enjoy photos he gave over 90 and there are pictures that are so rare I bet the band members don’t even own them. If your bag is the music, the look at the 121 live performances and 60 unreleased songs/jams/tid-bits from the vaults could grow hair on a bald person. He left no stone unturned. References to riffs that were played for only a matter of seconds, song titles that before were never mentioned. He could have stopped there and taken a bow but there are 266 questions and answers that look not only at the Airplane but Hot Tuna, Jefferson Starship, KBC Band, & Wooden Ships. The information is a treasure chest. To top off the most exquisite meal Mr. Fenton finishes the book with 32 interviews. What he did was always make the most use out of the time afforded for the conversation. You can tell he didn’t even need notes to conduct the interviews, because often times the musicians asked him stuff!
If seeing a photo of David Freiberg as a folk performer from 63 or a concert bill (1964) with original bass-player Bob Harvey, or a group photo without Jorma doesn’t excite you, simply turn to the interviews with Marty, Paul and even Signe Anderson. If that doesn’t get your attention why not look at the first and last time a song was ever performed by the band, or find out the history of the group through the eyes of the people that were there.
If you are looking for a holiday gift for a friend, co-worker or family member you have found it. If you are like me and often get the worst holiday presents that will set under a bed or get returned, treat yourself to what is under the circus tent.
I’ll go now because I want to look at some of the amazing photos of Grace from the Great Society days and alternate covers to the 2nd record.
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The Airplane soars to new heights
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12/14/2006
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Reviewer:
Terry Sorenson
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This was the best gift I have given myself. All the reviews thus far don’t even touch the surface of what Craig’s “Take Me To A Circus Tent” is all about.
When you get the book you can see how articulate Craig is when he talks about the intro of the book and the page before the interviews begin. What sets him apart from so many other writers is his ability to write as if it is for one person. He talks as if he is hanging out with you.
The information he gets from the performers is outstanding. For Craig to get Tim Gorman to talk about how Keith Moon of the Who was really replaced shows that it doesn’t matter if it is Airplane, Beatles, Stones, Who or the band down the block, he is a magician with information and a passion I have never come across for 60’s and 70’s rock and roll music.
The interviews with the Airplane members are superlative but check out the conversation Craig has with Greg Douglass formerly of Hot Tuna and Jerry Miller of Moby Grape.
I recommend three copies of the book. One to read, one to keep as a part of San Francisco history and one to give to somebody that is important to you.
Craig, you are the Airplaneman, Hot Tunaman, KBC, etc.
Thank you again and again and again.
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The final ,definitive word
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01/20/2007
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Reviewer:
Glen Boyd
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1/20/07 http://theglenblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/take-me-to-circus-tent-jefferson_20.html Blog Critics www.blogcritics.org
I can only say to Glen Boyd thank you so much for the kind words. Blog Critics has days that 100,000 people visit the sight.
The thanks also goes to the great people who supported the book, Don Aters, Rick Martin, Mike Somavilla, Rick McNamara and Jeff Tamarkin (For being a class act every minute of the day and for keeping the J.A. flying with his terrific contribution to rock and roll).
Saturday, January 20, 2007 Glen Boyd
Take Me To A Circus Tent: The Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual
"The object of this book was not to reinvent the wheel, or in this case reinvent the Plane," author Craig Fenton explained to me earlier this week, describing his remarkable new book on the Jefferson Airplane.
"The aim was rather to help the spread the word, and to keep the torch going of one of the greatest bands ever."
Amen Brother.
Make no mistake. Craig Fenton's Take Me To A Circus Tent: The Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual is not just any rock book. It is in fact, the final, definitive word on the music of the band which most defined the so-called psychedelic acid-rock "San Francisco" sound of the late sixties (the very sound which would define an entire generation).
The fact is, this may be the most extensive, meticulously researched account of the music of any rock and roll band ever. Period. From a purely historical, and especially from a musical standpoint, Take Me To A Circus Tent delves as deeply into the sixties phenomenon that was the Jefferson Airplane as any rock and roll book ever has.
But let's get one thing straight right up front. This is a book which focuses strictly on the music.
If you are looking for one of those sex, drugs, and rock and roll exposes, you'd best look elsewhere. You are not going to find any tales of band members lying face down in a pool of their own vomit. Nor will you find the sort of acid-fueled sex-orgies which have characterized the written accounts of other rock stars from the sixties, fallen and otherwise.
Not that Craig Fenton didn't have his chance however. In the extensive research that went into this book, Fenton was given what amounted to an all-access pass, resulting in rare footage such as this, a great clip from the Dick Cavett show in 1969 of the Airplane performing "Somebody To Love," with David Crosby sitting in:There are complete interviews (and opportunities to dish the dirt) with no less than 32 Jefferson Airplane insiders contained within the 543 pages of this book. These include everybody from original members Paul Kantner and Marty Balin (who says that Fenton "knows so much about the Jefferson Airplane family I had to ask him the questions"), to guys who were there like Moby Grape's Jerry Miller and Big Brother And The Holding Company's Peter Albin (who remembers the late JA drummer Spencer Dryden).
These interviews make up the latter half of the book. For the first part, Fenton exhaustively and extensively recounts the complete history of every single song written, recorded or performed by the Jefferson Airplane, as well as it off-shoots such as Hot Tuna and the various Jefferson Starship aggregations.
The result is the sort of scholarly work that could have only come from the pen of a true music obsessive. Craig Fenton is basically an Airplane archivist. From his roots as a fan who discovered the Airplane after hearing "The Ballad Of You Me & Pooneil" on progressive rock station WNEW in the sixties, to his own career in rock radio, he has meticulously documented the evolution --the flight path if you will-- of the Jefferson Airplane.
In Take Me To A Circus Tent, no less than 121 Jefferson Airplane shows are broken down song by song. There are also some 93 photos, many of which have never been seen before. But we are not just talking about photos and setlists here. Fenton breaks down everything from the first and final performances of individual songs; who played what and when; to songs never before officially documented at all.
On page 149 for example, we learn of an incredible show performed in San Bernadino where the songs "Wooden Ships," and "Volunteers" were performed for the very first time. Later, we learn of a show in 1969 at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park days later where "Good Shepherd" is debuted, but sung by Grace Slick, rather than the version sung by Jorma Kaukonen on the Volunteers album.
That's the type of detail we are talking about here.
However, Take me To A Circus Tent is by no means complete. How could it be?
By his own yardstick, Craig Fenton refused to include any information on shows or performances that he could not confirm either through interviews or tapes from his own rather extensive archives.
For example, I had no luck finding my own point of reference to a 1969 show in Honolulu, Hawaii where I had my first exposure to the powers of Jefferson Airplane's live performances myself. As a thirteen year old attending that show at Honolulu's Civic Auditorium, I met the band on a day that also saw one of Hot Tuna's earliest performances opening for JA. Paul Kantner was also busted for marijuana posession that very day in Honolulu near Diamond Head.
Still, this book is about as complete as rock books get.
Word to the wise though. It is also laid out as something of a master thesis. This is definitely a book intended more to be painstakingly analyzed then it is to be read from cover to cover.
Regardless, I would consider Take Me To A Circus Tent: The Jeferson Airplane Flight Manual your personal reference guide to one of the greatest rock bands ever.
As rock and roll books go, this truly is as complete as it gets.
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A Mesmerizing book!
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01/21/2007
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Reviewer:
Brandon Daviet
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Despite being cut from a genetically different cloth, sports fanatics and music fanatics have a thing or two in common. While most sports fans usually pine over self-preservation and athletic skill, music fans (I’m a card-carrying member of the latter, for the record) tend to lean more towards slacking off and inventing new methods of self-destruction. One of the two camps' common traits lies in their undying, obsessive love for their chosen heroes. Sports fanatics tend to spend their time documenting performance statistics while music fanatics document musical performances and the comments made about them. Overall it’s the same kind of thing and is really just another facet of the human race's infatuation with fame and celebrity.
For author Craig Fenton, his fan-boy obsession centers around the comings and goings of Jefferson Airplane, the highly psychedelic band that formed in the womb of the legendary ‘60s San Francisco music scene. Jefferson Airplane is perhaps most famous for introducing the world, and Hunter S. Thompson’s drugged-up lawyer, to the song "White Rabbit". But the story of Jefferson Airplane, who have also been known in leaner times as Jefferson Starship, is far more involved than many people know, as Fenton details lovingly in his new book: Take Me To A Circus Tent (The Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual).
Circus Tent is a treat for both hardcore fans of Jefferson Airplane and casual listeners alike. While I consider myself a fairly well-read music fan, my exposure to Jefferson Airplane has been mostly limited to owning a copy of Surrealistic Pillow, buying the soundtrack to the 1987 movie Mannequin for the song “We Built This City,” and seeing guitarist and the band's founder Paul Kantner perform the album Blows Against the Empire for a small crowd at a bar I worked in several years ago.
Fenton, on the other hand, knows his stuff - and the book is a mind-boggling, phonebook-size documentation of the band's history. The book shares a lot in style with the Deadbase, the meticulously compiled history of the live performances of the Grateful Dead that any Deadhead worth his weight in patchouli oil owns. The main difference being that while The Grateful Dead and their fans carefully documented the band's career from day one, Jefferson Airplane's history relies more on recollection than historical record.
In any event, Take Me to a Circus Tent is a mesmerizing book that will provide anyone who picks it up with hours upon hours of enjoyment. This is truly a unique book and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the roots of psychedelic music or the band who once asked the world, “Don’t You Want Somebody to Love?”
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Fenton Knows his stuff, the book is mind-boggling
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01/21/2007
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Reviewer:
Brandon Daviet
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• Brandon Daviet Flies with Author Craig Fenton and The Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual
Book Review: Take Me to a Circus Tent (The Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual) by Craig Fenton
Published: January 20, 2007
Type: Review
Section: Books
Filed Under: Books: Nonfiction, Books: Entertainment, Books: Biography, Music: Rock
Writer: Brandon Daviet
Brandon Daviet's BC Writer page
Brandon Daviet's personal site
Despite being cut from a genetically different cloth, sports fanatics and music fanatics have a thing or two in common. While most sports fans usually pine over self-preservation and athletic skill, music fans (I’m a card-carrying member of the latter, for the record) tend to lean more towards slacking off and inventing new methods of self-destruction. One of the two camps' common traits lies in their undying, obsessive love for their chosen heroes. Sports fanatics tend to spend their time documenting performance statistics while music fanatics document musical performances and the comments made about them. Overall it’s the same kind of thing and is really just another facet of the human race's infatuation with fame and celebrity.
For author Craig Fenton, his fan-boy obsession centers around the comings and goings of Jefferson Airplane, the highly psychedelic band that formed in the womb of the legendary ‘60s San Francisco music scene. Jefferson Airplane is perhaps most famous for introducing the world, and Hunter S. Thompson’s drugged-up lawyer, to the song "White Rabbit". But the story of Jefferson Airplane, who have also been known in leaner times as Jefferson Starship, is far more involved than many people know, as Fenton details lovingly in his new book: Take Me To A Circus Tent (The Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual).
Circus Tent is a treat for both hardcore fans of Jefferson Airplane and casual listeners alike. While I consider myself a fairly well-read music fan, my exposure to Jefferson Airplane has been mostly limited to owning a copy of Surrealistic Pillow, buying the soundtrack to the 1987 movie Mannequin for the song “We Built This City,” and seeing guitarist and the band's founder Paul Kantner perform the album Blows Against the Empire for a small crowd at a bar I worked in several years ago.
Fenton, on the other hand, knows his stuff - and the book is a mind-boggling, phonebook-size documentation of the band's history. The book shares a lot in style with the Deadbase, the meticulously compiled history of the live performances of the Grateful Dead that any Deadhead worth his weight in patchouli oil owns. The main difference being that while The Grateful Dead and their fans carefully documented the band's career from day one, Jefferson Airplane's history relies more on recollection than historical record.
In any event, Take Me to a Circus Tent is a mesmerizing book that will provide anyone who picks it up with hours upon hours of enjoyment. This is truly a unique book and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the roots of psychedelic music or the band who once asked the world, “Don’t You Want Somebody to Love?”
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• Take Me to a Circus Tent: The Jefferson Airplane Flight Manual
Craig, Fenton
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Most comprehensive and definitive work
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03/11/2007
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Reviewer:
Steven Rosen
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3/10/07
There is a distinct charm and allure when you read the words of a writer who loves his subject. Author Craig Fenton adores his. Here is the most comprehensive and definitive work you'll ever want to read on the classic San Francisco Summer of Love band, Jefferson Airplane. Every detail about the band's recordings, live performances, side projects, album tracks, singles, television appearances, collaborations, and anything else you might be able to think of lies in these 500-plus pages.
There is so much information provided that it's almost impossible to simply sit and read this cover to cover. Rather, you need to put on Surrealistic Pillow , turn the lights low, fire up a ... (candle, what did you think I was going to say?) and read a section at a time. As you listen to those marvelous tracks looking for a foothold in your head, you can read about the history of each song.
"The first single released was 'My Best Friend,'" explains an Airplane insider in the extensive interview section. "Very possibly the weakest tune on the record. It was also written by Skip Spence. Skip by this time is obviously out of the band. If we pretend the single sold well you are now promoting somebody that is on another record label. If the public enjoyed that style how will you recreate the song when the writer is with Moby Grape? Nobody could have predicted the well-deserved success of 'White Rabbit,' but if you went through the LP for potential singles, 'Plastic Fantastic Lover,' 'Somebody To Love,' 'Today' and 'White Rabbit' are light years better as an album track, single release, and/or live tune."
At the end of the song, as it falls into that ascending diminished sequence of chords and segues into "Today," one of the most remarkable songs the group ever recorded, you're able to read about the sessions and glean maybe just a little bit of insight as to what it may have been like to have been there. It is 1967, and the world is full of possibilities - and with Fenton's new work, we can once again relive those moments through the words and wit of man who understands this very important group of musicians as clearly as anyone ever has.
Even if you don't read every word, the photos are priceless and timeless. Herb Greene, the man responsible for the iconic Surrealistic Pillow cover provides a tremendous selection of portraits and group shot.
In the bookstore, you'll find bios on rap bands, boy bands, girl bands, rock bands, and pop bands. It's unlikely that even a small percentage of them will be remembered in ten years time. Here, 40-plus years later, the Jefferson Airplane still occupy a place in our hearts and our heads. This book will bring their music and their lives back to you.
Fenton has done outstanding work here. You can't help but be moved by the depth of his passion for one the world's truly significant group of musicians.
Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at © Steven Rosen, 2007
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Essential Jefferson Reference Book
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01/23/2008
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Reviewer:
Kathy Miller McCarthy
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Lately I've been compelled to go back to where I once belonged and rediscover all things Jefferson. Maybe it's the eerie parallel to the late '60's - illegal and immoral war, lying despotic presidency, the Haves & Have More approach to the economy. But I've dusted off the vinyl, bought the recent surplus of live CDs, been cruising A-Deck regularly. I often looked at this book, and finally bought it. It's the size of the telephone book. I first used it to find all the Airplane concerts I attended - from Hunter College & Fillmore East shows to the 1972 topless Grace Slick finale at Gaelic Park, and the 1989 reunion gig at Jones Beach. I needed all of Craig Fenton's research to determine what I heard at these historic shows. My mind was probably altered at the time, and frankly, even if it wasn't, aging alone has done a number on my brain cells. This book is the perfect grazing companion. Reading through the set lists inspire rampant jealousy of the "I wish I'd been there THAT night!" or "Does anybody have a decent tape of THAT?" varieties. But it doesn't stop with set lists, it goes on with annotated notes on concerts, discographies, interviews, FAQ, previously unreleased photos, etc. It is impossible to digest all at once ala "Got To Revolution" but it is the perfect companion piece to that tome. How did he get this stuff? Hat's off to Craig Fenton, and for keeping the lamps trimmed and burning! Well done!
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