I actually spoke to Sky (via telephone for an interview for the zine I was doing) back in 1986. I was going to put out a cassette comp of modern garage/psyche artists and put a solicitation in the zine. A friend of mine who was going to school in Florida saw a "where are they now" feature that included Sky in Rolling Stone and sent him a copy of that issue because it had a picture of Saxon on the cover. About a month later my Mom calls me at work to say that a woman claiming to represent some named 'Sy Waxman' or something like that had called the house asking about my "record label". I called the woman - who turned out to be one of Sky's wives - in Hawaii, explained to her what the situation was and asked if I could interview Sky. She gave me his number in LA and I called him at what turned out to be a motel with no phones in the room. The desk clerk had to run down the hall, knock on the door, and wake him up. He eventually came to the phone and I spoke to him for about 20 minutes. Lot's of "we should have been bigger than the Beatles".
I briefly met Sky when a revived Seeds played here back in 2004. He autographed my copy of the first Seeds LP -"To James, My Brother, Sky Saxon." He even invited me to "jam" with the band, which I declined.
It's funny, most people now remember the Seeds as a one-hit band who stuck around a little longer than they should have. But if you look through the pages of most teen and rock mags from 1967, you'd think that Sky Saxon really was as big as Jim Morrison, Mick Jagger or Micky Dolenz. The Seeds got quite a bit of exposure back in their time, and they were usually mentioned in the same context as whoever else was big in the rock world. I just got back from seeing ? & the Mysterians live at an outdoor show...I was expecting some kind of onstage reference to Sky (who would have been one of the Mysterians' peers back then), Farrah or Michael, but it didn't happen (I'm sure they knew).
My former co-worker was Sky Saxon's nephew. He used to always talk about the strict Mormon side of his family in Utah/California and about this "crazy" uncle, who was the family pariah. After a few overheard conversations, I heard him mention that the uncle was in "some band no one's heard of" back in the 60s. When I prodded him for the band name and he told me the Seeds, I had to clue him in that he should just google his uncle and see what a following he has. My co-worker had no idea. He had stories about cult activities and drug-fueled antics at family get togethers (a particularly memorable one about videotaping his own mother's funeral) for days, but had never really bothered to investigate or develop any respect for the music.
I actually spoke to Sky (via telephone for an interview for the zine I was doing) back in 1986. I was going to put out a cassette comp of modern garage/psyche artists and put a solicitation in the zine. A friend of mine who was going to school in Florida saw a "where are they now" feature that included Sky in Rolling Stone and sent him a copy of that issue because it had a picture of Saxon on the cover. About a month later my Mom calls me at work to say that a woman claiming to represent some named 'Sy Waxman' or something like that had called the house asking about my "record label". I called the woman - who turned out to be one of Sky's wives - in Hawaii, explained to her what the situation was and asked if I could interview Sky. She gave me his number in LA and I called him at what turned out to be a motel with no phones in the room. The desk clerk had to run down the hall, knock on the door, and wake him up. He eventually came to the phone and I spoke to him for about 20 minutes. Lot's of "we should have been bigger than the Beatles".
RIP
Wild life, that's for sure. Thank God for people like Sky Saxon, Arthur Lee and all the other stubborn dreamers who inhabit a completely different plane (if only for a period of time). RIP, Brother Sky!
The_Hook_Up
8,182 Posts
one of the greats.
Comments
A friend of mine who was going to school in Florida saw a "where are they now" feature that included Sky in Rolling Stone and sent him a copy of that issue because it had a picture of Saxon on the cover.
About a month later my Mom calls me at work to say that a woman claiming to represent some named 'Sy Waxman' or something like that had called the house asking about my "record label".
I called the woman - who turned out to be one of Sky's wives - in Hawaii, explained to her what the situation was and asked if I could interview Sky. She gave me his number in LA and I called him at what turned out to be a motel with no phones in the room. The desk clerk had to run down the hall, knock on the door, and wake him up. He eventually came to the phone and I spoke to him for about 20 minutes.
Lot's of "we should have been bigger than the Beatles".
RIP
It's funny, most people now remember the Seeds as a one-hit band who stuck around a little longer than they should have. But if you look through the pages of most teen and rock mags from 1967, you'd think that Sky Saxon really was as big as Jim Morrison, Mick Jagger or Micky Dolenz. The Seeds got quite a bit of exposure back in their time, and they were usually mentioned in the same context as whoever else was big in the rock world. I just got back from seeing ? & the Mysterians live at an outdoor show...I was expecting some kind of onstage reference to Sky (who would have been one of the Mysterians' peers back then), Farrah or Michael, but it didn't happen (I'm sure they knew).
Anyway...
R.I.P.
Wild life, that's for sure. Thank God for people like Sky Saxon, Arthur Lee and all the other stubborn dreamers who inhabit a completely different plane (if only for a period of time). RIP, Brother Sky!