TALKING POLITICS

The Great Society was a set of domestic programs proposed or enacted in the United States on the initiative of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Two main goals of the Great Society social reforms were the elimination of poverty and racial injustice. New major spending programs that addressed education, medical care, urban problems, and transportation were launched during this period. The Great Society in scope and sweep resembled the New Deal domestic agenda of Franklin D. Roosevelt, but differed sharply in types of programs enacted.
Some Great Society proposals were stalled initiatives from John F. Kennedy's New Frontier. Johnson's success depended on his skills of persuasion, coupled with the Democratic landslide in the 1964 election that brought in many new liberals to Congress. Anti-war Democrats complained that spending on the Vietnam War choked off the Great Society. While some of the programs have been eliminated or had their funding reduced, many of them, including Medicare, Medicaid, and federal education funding, continue to the present. The Great Society's programs expanded under the administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. And in OMO it did not work then and it will not work now!


The Great Society (aka The Great! Society!!) were a 1960s San Francisco rock band that existed between 1965 and 1966, and were closely associated with the burgeoning Bay Area acid rock scene. Best known as the original group of model turned singer, Grace Slick, the initial line-up of the band also featured her then-husband Jerry Slick on drums, his brother Darby Slick on guitar, David Miner on vocals and guitar, Bard DuPont on bass, and Peter van Gelder on saxophone. Miner and DuPont would not remain with the band for the duration of its existence.
In the late summer of 1965, Grace, Darby, and Jerry were inspired by The Beatles to start their own group, assembling it fairly quickly. Grace has also said that seeing Jefferson Airplane perform for the first time was an influence as well. The band made its debut at the Coffee Gallery in San Francisco's North Beach section on October 15, 1965 and continued to perform throughout 1966.
The band released only one single during its lifetime, the Darby Slick penned "Someone to Love" (b/w "Free Advice"). The single was issued in February 1966 on Autumn Records' tiny Northbeach subsidiary label and made little impact outside of the Bay Area. While signed to Autumn Records, the band worked with the label's staff producer, Sylvester Stewart (better known as Sly Stone), who at the time was still in the process of forming his own band, Sly and the Family Stone. Purportedly, Stewart would eventually walk out as the band's producer after it took The Great Society over fifty takes to record a version of the song "Free Advice" that was suitable for release.
Momentum for the band began to build as they started opening for Jefferson Airplane and other successful local bands, with Columbia Records offering The Great Society a recording contract. By the time the contract arrived in the mail, however, Grace had been spirited away to replace departing vocalist Signe Toly Anderson in the Airplane, taking "Someone to Love" and her own composition, "White Rabbit", one of Great Society's live showcases, with her. Jefferson Airplane went on to record "Someone to Love" (retitled as "Somebody to Love") and "White Rabbit" themselves, with both songs being issued by the band as singles during 1967, reaching #5 and #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively. As both the visual and musical focal point, the band could not survive without Grace Slick and disbanded in the fall of 1966. Grace and Jerry Slick would divorce as well.

The Great Society Live At The Matrix 1966
(some time between June 21 & 26th, or 1st July)

A completely different set of recordings from their released LPs

Down Home Girl
Born To Be Burned
Talk To Your Father
Who Do You Love
Black Crow Blues
Didn't Think So
Someone To Love
Slow Movin' Man
Darkly Smiling
Father Bruce
Daydream Nightmare
You Can't Cry
Often As I May
Drive Me Away
Outlaw Blues
Get Out My Life Woman
Born To Be Burned

line-up
Grace Slick vocals, recorder
Darby Slick lead guitar
David Minor Guitar, vocals
Peter Vandergelder bass, saxaphone
Jerry Slick drums