Exclusive Spirit bio, and complete history of local shows w/setlists, photos, more
Jay Allen Sanford, December 7, 2012
Ed "Cass" Cassidy - the drummer and co-founder of Spirit died yesterday (Dec. 6) at the age of 89. Damn. He'd been in a nursing home, having been diagnosed with prostate cancer several months ago.
Here's my Spirit Rock 'N' Roll Comics story, plus a complete rundown of every time Spirit ever played in San Diego (including quite a few shows I attended, having some of the best times of my life) --
Spirit has been my favorite band for over 30 years now. I’ve come to feel the same way about guitarist/bandleader Randy California that Deadheads feel about Jerry Garcia, a performer inexplicably linked to Sprit only by virtue of both bands having dedicated jam-fan followings. I can’t stand the Dead, or most jam bands for that matter, but Spirit were far above and beyond mere hippie trailz and melting muzik.
Before discovering Spirit’s 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus in 1979 and playing it over and over in my little corner room at the Palms Hotel on 12th and Island downtown, I had heard jazz bands that rock (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Spyro Gyra, the Headhunters, et al).
But I had never heard a rock band that, well, jazzes --
It's hard to explain why their music continues to appeal to me so, even years after Randy California’s tragic death in 1997 and the band’s final dissolution. It evokes an emotional response that's difficult to put into words.
28 years ago (August 6, 1984), I was lucky enough to catch one of the handful of reunion shows the entire classic lineup did, beginning at the long-gone Rodeo nightclub in La Jolla, the group's first performance in nine years to also include original members Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes (who were having hits as Jo Jo Gunne) and John Locke. It was the opening date of their first tour together in 14 years (tho the reunited ensemble ended up playing less than a dozen shows).
Cassidy was 61 years old, Ferguson and Andes had tasted considerable post-Spirit success (Andes had also played with Firefall and was still with Heart), and California had clearly taken his version of Spirit in a more hippie-jam direction since the original lineup fractured.
My balcony seat afforded me a great view of both the band on fire and a wildly enthusiastic audience stoking the flames. Even if it weren't a historic occasion for Spirit (in my opinion the best and most underrated band ever to emerge from L.A.), I'd still rank it among the top fives shows I've seen.
However, despite the five-album deal they'd just signed with Mercury Records, and regardless of the demonstrative sellout crowd in San Diego, the reunited Spirit only played a handful of subsequent gigs.
Members soon went their separate ways -- again -- leaving only core members Ed Cassidy and Randy California to carry on the name. For a while. California drowned in 1997, while saving his son from an ocean riptide in Hawaii (his son survived). Locke died in 2006 from complications due to lymphoma.
SETLIST: (My tape of this show is incomplete, but Spirit biographer Bruce Pates supplied probable missing numbers, given the other few reunion shows): Black Satin Nights, Mr. Skin, 1984, Fresh Garbage, Rasta Girl in a Ferrari, Prelude - Nothing to Hide, Nature's Way, All Over the World, Dark Eyed Woman, Mechanical World, I Got a Line on You, Uncle Jack, Pick it Up, Miss This Train, I Got a Line on You (reprise)
Here’s a backstage Rodeo interview done for the San Diego Reader ----
