In 1962 San Francisco resident Marty Balin purchased a pizza parlor at 3138 Fillmore in Cow Hollow and converted it into a night club called The Matrix. It opened on August 13, 1965 and featured Balin’s newly formed band, Jefferson Airplane. Additional bands, including Big Brother & the Holding Company[1], The Grateful Dead[2], Moby Grape and Santana got their starts there. Members of Jefferson Airplane painted a huge mural Four Horsemen and the Apocalypse on one wall of The Matrix. Its interior was only 50×80 feet, with cocktail tables in front of the stage and a dance floor behind. Several live albums were recorded there.
Formed in 1965, Jefferson Airplane was one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, with hits that included Somebody to Love and White Rabbit. While the band had multiple member changes in its first year, by the end of 1966 the band lineup was comprised of Jack Casado, Grace Slick, Marty Balin, Norman Kaukonen, Paul Kanter and Spencer Dryden. They played together from 1966-1973, with reunion tours in 1989 and 1996. Ralph Gleason, then jazz critic for the San Francisco Chronicle[3], proclaimed that Jefferson Airplane was “one of the best bands ever”. They started out playing at local venues and benefits, and were the first band to headline Bill Graham’s Fillmore Theater[3A].
In January 1967 Jefferson Airplane headlined at the Human Be In[4], the precursor to the Summer of Love. A year later they became international stars and one of America’s hottest bands after being televised at The Monterey International Festival. They toured Canada with The Grateful Dead and later in Europe with The Doors. In 1968 they purchased a mansion at 2400 Fulton across the street from Golden Gate Park[4A]. Built in 1904 by a lumber baron, the band painted it black and used it as both a studio and communal residence.
In August 1969 Jefferson Airplane played a free concert at New York’s Central Park, followed by a morning performance at Woodstock. That December they performed at the Altamont Music Festival, which was not only the unofficial end to the Summer of Love, but the end of Jefferson Airplane. During the concert Balin was knocked unconscious when he scuffled with the Hells Angels[5], hired to provide security. The incident led him to leave the band. In January 1970 the remaining members of Jefferson Airplane unanimously voted Dryden out. Grace Slick and Paul Kanter began a relationship and had a daughter together. The band, minus Dryden and Balin, toured in 1972. When Kaukonen and Casado left to form Hot Tuna, the remaining members, including Balin, regrouped as Jefferson Starship.
Dryden died of colon cancer in 2005. In 2016 Anderson and Kanter died on the same day but in different locations and under different circumstances. Balin died in 2018. Grace Slick, who went on from Jefferson Starship to form Starship with such hits as We Built This City and Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now, retired from music in 1990.
Jefferson Airplane was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2017 Slick licensed her song Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now for a Chick-Fil-A commercial. When Chick-Fil-A’s corporate views on same sex marriage were made public, Slick gave all the proceeds to Lambda Legal, an organization advancing LGBTQ rights. Slick is currently 83 years old and spends her time these days painting.
[1] Janis Joplin and Big Brother & the Holding Company: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=5072
[2] Grateful Dead: see story coming August 9th[3] San Francisco Chronicle: see story coming January 16th
[3A] The Fillmore: see story coming December 31st[4] Human Be In: see story coming January 14th
[4A] Golden Gate Park: see story coming April 4th[5] Hell’s Angels: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4608
