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When/how did you meet John? |
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| In 1981 I met Barry "The Fish" Melton, who had just passed The Bar and was starting his law practice. A mutual musician friend introduced us, as I was a booking agent at the time, and Barry wanted to start gigging again. At one of his first gigs he decided to put together a band of 60’s all stars (which he would name DINOSAURS). He recruited Peter Albin (Big Brother & The Holding Company), Spencer Dryden (Jefferson Airplane), and John Cipollina (Robert Hunter, the Grateful Dead’s lyricist would join the band a few months’ later). |
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What were your first impressions of John and his guitar playing? |
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| I had some apprehension about meeting John, because for some reason I thought he was a junkie. Nothing could have been further from the truth. John was one of the nicest, friendliest, charming, humorous people I have ever known, and other then enjoying pot, was absolutely not a junkie. Ever since I first started listening to QMS in the 60’s, I marveled at the unique sound that John could get out of his guitar. Being able to listen to and see him play live was unbelievable I kept pinching myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming here I was, hanging out with some of my musical heroes! |
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John blended various genres of playing into his own unique style- what were his musical influences and likes? |
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blended various genres of playing into his own unique style - what were his musical influences and likes? John was a classically trained guitar player (his only guitar teacher was my fiancée's late father!). He was a big fan of flamenco guitar. As a boy he decided to take up the electric guitar after he heard Mickey & Sylvia’s "Love is Strange". He was a big fan of Link Wray, who he got a chance to hang out with and play a concert with in the mid 70’s. |
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He was an integral part of Quicksilver Messenger Service and of the exciting West Coast music scene. Did he relate to you any of his favorite moments about this time? |
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| John was the greatest story teller I have ever known. I remember the story he told about how he recruited Nicky Hopkins into the band, who had been staying at Steve Miller’s house not far from where John lived. |
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What were John's memories of jamming with Jimi Hendrix & Jorma Kaukonen after The Monterey Pop Festival? (I've read there was a lot of acid dropping going on at that backstage party) |
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| John liked to talk about an extended jam with Hendrix backstage at Monterey. We have searched and prayed for years to find someone that may have taped that hallowed event! |
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QMS did a lot of touring and many performances with The Grateful Dead with whom they were great friends. Did John relate any of his favorite memories of performing with them? (ie. New Year's Eve show 1966 with The Dead and The Airplane - or any others) |
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| John always enjoyed playing with the Dead, but most of the time he played his guitar was turned way down in the mix...like they didn’t want anyone to show up Jerry or something...I never quite understood that...on some of the tapes you can’t even hear John in the mix! One of his favorite stories was about the time the Dead raided QMS’s ranch in Marin County and stole all their women; so to get even the guys in QMS planned on storming into a Dead show at The Fillmore, tie up the band, and then play a tune on their instruments. But the plan was foiled when they jumped out of their van in front of the Fillmore with a bunch of broken rusty guns and rifles (both bands were into the cowboy and Indian thing) and the cops busted them! |
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Did John have any favorite QMS songs or albums that he was particularly proud of? |
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| I think he was proud of the first QMS LP. He always seemed to like their earlier work the best. |
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John was so open-minded when it came to music, what would he be playing and experimenting with today? |
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| Well, considering that he was in 6 different bands when he passed away, there is no telling what he would be doing today. I think it’s safe to assume that he’d be playing lots of rock & roll, and still having those nights when he’d play a set with one band in one part of town, and then jam across town to get in a set with yet another band. |
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Tell us the story behind John's amplifier stack getting into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame? |
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| John was the pioneer of the stereo amp. He liked to use both solid state and tubes. There’s a full explanation and photos at www.johncipollina/rock.html |  |
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Are you still involved in the music business? |
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| Yes, as an avocation. I still book Barry "The Fish" Melton’s band. They play about once a month. I’m also working on releasing a video biography of John’s life that we produced in 1991, but the expense of getting licensing and releases will probably keep that project stuck on the shelf. Also working on the re-release of DINOSAURS’ CD, and a few other projects. |
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He as quite enthusiastic about the band PROBLEM CHILD. He was writing tunes for that band and we all thought that it might be the second coming of COPPERHEAD, and great band that was never in the right place at the right time. |
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In the 20 years that I have been in the music business, to this day I have never met a man that was so well loved by so many, and yet had absolutely no attitude about it. John was extraordinary but at the same time he was just a regular guy. He had so much going on, yet would always take as much time as the person talking to him wanted. He was an incredible artist (painting, drawing, carving), an outrageous collector, and a true friend, who always put the people in his life before his career. |
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What was John's relationship with Dino Valente like? |
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| John and Dino were very close. In the mid 80’s Dino had some sort of brain hemorrhage, and I remember taking John to the hospital to sit with Dino for hours when we all thought we were going to lose him. Dino recovered that time, but never was well enough to gig again with John, although I know they both talked about it. |
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John's later years saw him playing in "Man" and "Dinosaurs". What were these bands like? Any album releases? |
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| Sure. Man put out an album called "Man" in 1975. John’s guitar is featured on the cover. And Dinosaurs put out an album called "Dinosaurs" (how do these creative bands come up with such creative names?) in 1985, which we might re-release soon. His post-QMS albums include numerous Terry & The Pirates, Zero, Problem Child, Thunder & Lightning, Rocky Sullivan, Fish & Chip, Copperhead, Robert Hunter, Mickey Hart, and Raven, amongst others. There’s a fairly complete discography at www.johncipollina/disco.html |
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The West Coast scene was quite the family - QMS, Joplin, Airplane, Dead- Did he talk much about those times? |
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| He hung out with guys from all of those bands for most of his life. They were always recalling some insanity from their pasts. |
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What can you tell us about John's relationship with Nicky Hopkins? |
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They became good friends and lived together for a while. John and Nicky were great pals. They had the most respect for each other. Both were sickly from the time they were children and had to deal with poor health for many years. I had New Years’ Eve dinner at the Cipollina house with Nicky a few months before he passed away, and attended the Grand Opening of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum with Nicky’s widow Moira. |
