Song:Omaha
Album:Moby Grape
Moby Grape had the talent to be one of the most enduring groups of the late 60s. The fact that they are mostly forgotten due to record company bungling and internal conflicts within the group is a cautionary tale. Moby Grape was started in San Francisco in 1966 by former Jefferson Airplane drummer Skip Spence (born Apr. 18, 1946 in Windsor, ON). Spence and Jefferson Airplane manager Matthew Katz has been fired and were looking to form a new group. Spence played guitar in Moby Grape. He met bassist Bob Mosely (born Dec. 4, 1942 in Paradise Valley, CA) and guitarist Peter Lewis (born July 15, 1945 in Los Angeles) and nemed the band Moby Grape. Lewis is the son of actress Loretta Young. Spence recruited lead guitarist Jerry Miller (born July 10, 1943 in Tacoma, WA) and drummer Don Stevenson (born Oct. 15, 1942 in Seattle, WA) from the Seattle group The Frantics. They all wrote songs and sang. As a publicity stunt, Columbia released five Moby Grape singles simultaneuosly. It backfired as the group was then perceived as overhyped. Moby Grape appeared at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. But Katz wanted a small fortune to allow them to appear in the film. They weren't in the film. Another missed opportunity. The 1967 debut album Moby Grape was critically acclaimed and reached #22 on the Billboard Hot 200. It is available on CD from Sundazed with bonus tracks. Columbia released the follow up Wow/Grape Jam as a 2 for 1 album. The music wasn't as good as the debut and it underperformed commercially. But the band really fell apart when Skip Spence went on an LSD feuled rampage at a New York recording studio and wound up in Bellevue Hospital under psychiatric care. Spence continued to have mental health issues until his death on Apr. 16, 1999 at age 52. Then Bob Mosely enlisted in the US Marines. He was discharged with schizophrenia and his mental health problems have him currently homeless. There were attempts to keep Moby Grape going during the 70s but they were unsuccessful. They do reunite occasionally. Here's Moby Grape performing Omaha and 8:05 on The Mike Douglas Show 1967.
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