When we arrived at the Santa Monica Pier, we found the Starship Dock just as promised.
We were under no delusions about our destination.
We would not be heading outside of our universe or even to a distant galaxy.
Venus and Mars were alright that night, but really, what can you actually do there?
And even the harvest moon, fat and yellow in the sky before sunset, would not be visited.
No, our destinations would be on the time horizon, measured by mother earth years rather than lightyears, very much like Doc Brown, Marty McFly and Peggy Sue.
Okay, I know Peggy Sue was not in "Back to the Future," but because the featured attendees at take-off were Julie, our son Jay and me, for metaphorical accuracy I needed to include a woman who traveled back in time. Yes, I know Marty McFly's girlfriend Jennifer did time travel a bit herself, but Jennifer traveled to 2015, which no longer seems too impressive.
Besides, while in this metaphor I consider myself Marty McFly, some might mistakenly think Jay could be Marty, and Jay dating his mom would be as wrong as it was for Marty in the first installment of the series.
To further clarify, instead of going all the way back to the '50s, we didn't go further than the '60's, but that fifty year jump is further than thirty year jumps by those movie characters from 1985.
Do you remember the '60's?
I wasn't quite mature enough to participate in hardcore hippie-era activities for which Jefferson Airplane were the band leaders, but I've always loved the music.
Another band from the '60s that was very popular where I grew up in Orange County, California, was Quicksilver Messenger Service. It turns out that one of the stars of Jefferson Starship, who also played with Jefferson Airplane at times in the '60s, is the same David Freiberg who was a singer/songwriter/instrumentalist in QSM. Now 77 (his age, not the year), Freiberg sounded terrific singing not only Jefferson Airplane/Starship classics but also a couple of QSM songs, including "Fresh Air."
Yeah, I admit they didn't look the same up close as the classic band's lineup did back in the early 1970s when I saw them at the Hollywood Palladium In fact, none of them were in the very first Jefferson Airplane lineup, which changed often over the years and eventually morphed into Jefferson Starship.
The beautiful face of the bands, Grace Slick, retired when she was 49 and is now an artist, but her replacement, the appealingly quirky Cathy Richardson, sounded exactly like her. Jefferson Airplane co-founder Marty Balin is also an artist but still involved in music, just not with Jefferson Starship on this particular night.
Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship Captain Paul Kantner had a heart attack recently and had to skip the show. Jude Gould stepped in for Kantner, Balin and also blues virtuoso Jorma Kaukonen. Gould proved himself to be a sensational guitar player and also, surprisingly, is the editor for Guitar Player Magazine.
But this isn't an article about band personnel. It's about time travel, and Jefferson Starship also took us to the musical era with which I have the strongest personal connection, the early to mid-'70s, before disco.
In a further tip of the hat to "Back to the Future," we were musically transported to the 1980's, with this song which Jay said was his personal favorite by the band. We could imagine the disco era hair styles of a band that over time turned out to be as chameleon-like as twilight itself.
It was a wonderful two hour trip.
Before Jefferson Starship took off, Purple Mountains Majesties, an Orange County band as young as Jefferson Starship was back in the '60s, played an entertaining set of their eclectic reggae-infused music to the audience of hipsters, old hippies and people who just happened to be on the Santa Monica Pier on the night of this free concert.
We all love to travel free of the daily obligations of normal life, and certainly a cruise makes that easy. You can leisurely go out at night to enjoy world class entertainment and then meander back to your stateroom without flagging a taxi or risking a DUI ticket.
When you go on vacation, you remember that younger version of yourself who was always ready to attend a free concert, visit a new city or hike through the wilderness, and once you've found yourself again, you can bring that fun version of yourself to events and adventures near home to bridge the gap until your next great vacation.
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