“I met Sky Saxon!”
Did you work with Sky Saxon?
Did you meet Sky Saxon?
Did you hang out with Sky Saxon?
I’m looking for anecdotes and information from anyone who had first-hand experience with Sky Sunlight Saxon. Please leave a comment in the box below and tell your story.
Any era is welcome, no anecdote too small!
Hello,
I’m 65 yeras old, i was living in quebec city in canada and Sky saxon wrote me on a piece of paper a note in 1967 when i was into the Seeds’s fan club and Flora ( Pamela Anderson ) who was the secretary of The Seeds at that moment and i were wrinting together some letters and it was very funny to receive some letters from Flora, i was very happy for that. So she showed to Sky my letters and then Sky wrote to me something that i really appreciated : he told me i was a really flower child, so i still have that note and the picture of Flora.
Met Sky in the late ’90’s in Seattle. I was loading in gear at a house party gig, when this Chuck Norris-looking guy came up and asked who was playing. Our drummer said “Oh, we’re the Rolling Stones.” He then introduced himself as Sky Saxon, The Inventor of Flower Power. We conned him into singing LA Woman by the Doors, and Pushing Too Hard. The cops showed up and that was about it. There is a tape somewhere.
About a year later, I ran into him at a coffee house in the U-district, and he asked me if I wanted to go into the studio with him. Met up at Mega Sound studios in West Seattle and recorded two tracks, one was 14 minutes, the other was 22 minutes. The cops showed up. He said “The cops always know when Sky Saxon’s in town.” Never saw him again.
I’d really like to find those recordings, they were pretty spacey, lots of phased-out bottleneck guitar. If anyone knows what might have happened to them, let me know!
I met Sky , briefly , twice. I first met him at The Las Vegas Rockaround in 2004. He had a blonde on his arm (He almost always had at least one , sometimes two , women on his arm for the duration of the festival.). When told me he was planning to release a Gospel album , his voice dropped about two octaves. I asked him to sign my Seeds Hip Pocket record. He did , but , not before asking me if I was interested in selling it. I didn’t want to , and he lost interest in the idea , anyway. The blonde told me Sky was going to make her a singing star….OK. I told Sky that I’d reviewed the excellent “Red Planet” album ( With The Wooly Bandits serving admirably as Sky Saxon’s Seeds.). He gave me a big hug. Sky and Kim Fowley were noticeably avoiding each other. Kim had been running The Seeds and Sky Saxon down in print and in private at the time….
I was not in the room when the infamous Saxon/ Fowley showdown took place , but I saw Police storm the Ballroom. Sky had crashed the stage during The A- Bones’ set. I thought he was doing a planned guest spot . He and Billy Miller did an impromptu call and response routine that actually worked. Billy and his widow , Miriam Linna , had invited several performers who had material out on Norton Records. Norton had released an album of Little Richie Marsh material , so it did’nt seem like anything was wrong. Sky later appeared on stage with The Seeds/Wooly Bandits. He supplemented his fantastic psychedelic ensemble with a Mil Mascaras “Lucha Libre” mask , which he didn’t take off until about 5 or 6 songs into a remarkably solid set. I was not aware those cops had been looking for him. He was allowed to do his show , and Fowley opted not to press charges ( Witnesses said that Sky called Fowley out for insulting The Seeds and their fans, and then , he suckerpunched Kim. As I say , I was in the next room.)
A few months later , Sky and The Wooly Seeds came to Chicago. While Sky was masterful at stirring up a party atmosphere , his singing was awful , compared to the Vegas show. I saw him before the gig , and told him we’d met in Vegas. He gave me a big hug , again. He seemed to be in a very good mood , every bit the gentle soul I’d met earlier. He was scheduled to appear a few years later at the same venue with The Electric Prunes and Love Revisited with Johnny Echols. Chicago , despite it’s mind-boggling history of Garage Rock , seldom hosts gigs like these. Sky died suddenly , and , in the end , only Echols and Love Revisited ended up doing the show.
I am “Ed” the drummer on the Sky Sunlight / Stars New Seeds bootleg album recorded at Orpheum Theatre Hollywood 1977. I later recorded albums with The Rub on Happy Squid Records ( http://www.happysquid.com )