Craig's Mailbag
Send us your questions for Craig or the band and we'll see if we can get some answers for you.
Craig - You share stories about your father and mother, which are just so moving. You've mentioned that your father played the sax. Did he play with a jazz band and did he ever have any recordings? Have a great one!! Julie Taylor
Hi Julie! Dad never recorded anything that I know of, but he played the sax and accordion in a jazz band that toured the country while he was still in his teens. He ended up playing in New Orleans for a while and decided to come back home to California when his dad wouldn't sign a release to let him play as a minor age musician in the band on a cruise ship that would be leaving the USA. So he came home, settled down by learning a more stable trade, married mom, and then World War II and the US Navy became a major focus in his life for the next four years or so.
Mom and dad always played music around the house, though mom was in her own band in Sacramento as a teenager called the Three Musketeers and played piano and organ in church and on the radio (KFBK) to accompany various singers. She also settled down with a more stable job and was invited to work for the state of California after winning several typing contests while she was still in high school. She retired after 25 years and is enjoying her second childhood at age 85 while still playing the keyboard in her spare time. Mom just gave the family up here in Ashland two ancient violins that great-grandpa played and brought over from Portugal on a boat! I am learning to play a few notes on the old family "strat" violin that will appear on my next CD…who woulda thunk a hundred years ago when the same violin was being played by my great-granddad that it would end up here? Who knows what it will be doing a hundred years from now?
I did hear a story about how great grandpapa would smile and play the violin and tell stories to any audience that would listen and how he would sometimes come out and play the violin w/his back to the audience wearing a fancy suit and jacket and pants. He’d then turn around still playing the violin madly with a big smile on his face under his handlebar mustache and with the bow of the violin coming through the zipper of his trousers and his hand hidden underneath his fancy jacket with the empty sleeve tucked in the pocket. My hero! I’m thinking of perfecting this age-old family tradition and technique in the near future–btw.
Anyway, now that I'm nearly 50 with a family of my own, I realize how much my mom and dad supported my own music....I had posters of my "heroes" on the wall in my bedroom growing up playing my own guitar with my bedroom door locked with posters on my walls of Santana, Clapton, Hendrix, King(s), Page, Richards, Allman, Benson, Carlton, Gilmore, Montgomery, Atkins, Paul, Johnson, Segovia, Kaukonen(s) etc. But, now after meeting and sometimes even sharing the stage with many of my guitar playing "heroes" I realize the real heroes were my mom and dad who had the courage to settle down and go to work every day and be able to afford to raise a family and buy my 1st guitar for me and allow me to have my own room with the walls that had all those posters of guitar players on them, hopefully they never looked under my bed. Thanks for the question Julie see you soon! Craig
Craig - My favorite Jefferson Starship LP was/is "Earth". I've always wanted to know the chord progression of my favorite song "Runaway", but I cannot seem to find a Piano-Guitar-Vocal book for this. Could you list the common chords for this song, as I'd like to give it my best amateur try at playing the song? Thanks! Dr. Ron Schwartz :-)
Hi Ron! One of my favorite songs to play and record with the gang back then was Runaway, I had a double neck guitar especially made by Carvin so I could play the 12-string lick in the chorus and then switch to the 6-string for the verses when we did the song live in concert!
Well, sorry this took so long doc, but as you may know I have had a little trouble with a hand and wrist injury to deal with. All's well that ends well I always say though, and I am finally almost back to 100% playing! 90% of this guitar playing thing is half mental anyway so, to be honest, even though I remember the lead guitar parts I played on that song, I actually forgot what all those chords were and that's also why it's taken me so long to get back to you. I searched my garage to no avail and finally called my mom to see if she had any old JS songbooks in her closet with all the various memorabilia she has been collecting of mine, lo and behold she had the sheet music to RUNAWAY after all…thanks mom!
The main chords are Cmaj7, Fmaj7, Dm7, the bridge is Gm7, F, Em7, F, D7 hope that helps! If not, just do what I do when I don’t know the chords....close yer eyes and fake it! If ya want I can fax you the actual sheet music just lemme know, bro!
Thanks! Craig