Two great musicians:
Nicholas George Gravenites, sometimes performing under the stage names Nick “The Greek” Gravenites and Gravy, is a blues, rock and folk singer and songwriter, best known for his work with Janis Joplin, Mike Bloomfield and several influential bands and individuals of the generation springing from the 1960s and 1970s.
Gravenites is credited as a “musical handyman”, helping such San Francisco bands as Quicksilver Messenger Service and Janis Joplin’s first solo group, the Kosmic Blues Band.
He wrote several songs for Joplin, including her Woodstock hit “Work Me, Lord” and the unfinished instrumental track “Buried Alive in the Blues”. He also worked extensively with John Cipollina after producing the first album by Quicksilver Messenger Service. He and Cipollina formed the Nick Gravenites–John Cipollina Band, which toured throughout Europe.
Gravenites was the lead singer in the re-formed Big Brother and the Holding Company (without Joplin) from 1969 to 1972. He was a songwriter with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band; the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. In 1967 he formed the Electric Flag with Bloomfield. Gravenites also wrote the score for the film The Trip and produced the music for the film Steelyard Blues. (wikipedia)
John Cipollina (August 24, 1943 – May 29, 1989) was a guitarist best known for his role as a founder and the lead guitarist of the prominent San Francisco rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service. After leaving Quicksilver he formed the band Copperhead, was a member of the San Francisco All Stars and later played with numerous other bands.
During the 1980s, Cipollina performed with a number of bands, including Fish & Chips, Thunder and Lightning, the Dinosaurs and Problem Child.
He was a founding member of Zero and its rhythm guitarist until his death. Most often these bands played club gigs in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Cipollina was well-known.
Cipollina died on May 29, 1989, at age 45. His cause of death was alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, which he suffered from most of his life and which is exacerbated by smoking. (wikipedia)
Nick Gravenites (the name is of Greek origin) presents to the greek audience John Cippolina as “O Giannis Cipollina”, translating John as Giannis (in Greek, this is it). Before the second song, he turns to the audience the phrase “Imaste oli edo gia kalo kairo”, an attempt to translate in Greek the “We are all here for a good time” phrase. He continued to spread greek phrases and regards all around, showing that he had good use of the language.
The event took place on New Year’s Eve of 1987 (31 Dec 1987) in the legendary live club “Rodon” (meaning: “Rose”) of Athens, Greece. I didn’t attend the concert, I was too young and had never heard of them both legends. Anyway, I had heard some sayings years later that the concert actually went on for hours, after the turn of the year, until the early morning hours of the first day of 1988 (actually, in 23:51 NG says to the audience “Don’t worry, we’ve got a long night ahead…we’re gonna go everywhere”). In the end, only a handful of people had stayed as the audience and the group joined them off stage. It is a saying and maybe a story of fantasy…but if anyone is able to corroborate this, I’d be extremely happy! (by Dr Rayman)
Personnel:
John Cipollina (leadguitar, vocals)
Nick Gravenites (vocals, guitar)
Tony Johnson (drums)
Doug Kilmer (bass, background vocals)
CD frontcover (discover the difference):
Tracklist:
01. Walkin’ Blues (Johnson) 6.45
02. Funky News (Gravenites) 4.23
03. Anna (Gravenites) – band introduction 6.27
04. Get Together (Powers) 6.08
05. Born In Chicago (Gravenites) 5.13
06. Small Walk-In Box (Gravenites) 9.54
07. Four Floors Or Forty (Gravenites) 5.28
08. You Can’t Hurt Me No More (Gravenites) 3.53
The official Nick Gravenites website:
ManyFantasticColors 