RIP Sam Andrew

[spellbound]

Sam Andrew, guitarist for Big Brother and the Holding Company, died today, Feb 13, of heart trouble at age 73.


Sam Andrew, Guitarist for Big Brother and the Holding Company, Dies

[Scrotum Scissor]

He was good.

I believe he's the third of the original band to go. Joplin always spoke particularly warmly of him, IIRC, so do several biographies from the S.F. scene.

Peter Albin's still alive, I believe?

[rapidfirerob]

Yeah, sad news. There were photos on FB a few days ago from his hospital bed with him smiling and looking pretty good. Thanks for
the music Sam.

[No Pride]

Sam was an acquaintance of mine. I played guitar in a show about Janis Joplin called "Love, Janis." It was commissioned by Janis' siblings, Michael and Laura Joplin and they got Sam on board as the musical director, so we (the band and singers) worked with him every day for a couple of weeks until the show opened. He was a good guy who I think just did too much acid in the '60s. I've got a few stories, but this one is my favorite:

Sam came from that '60s rock hippie school of doing everything by ear. He couldn't read music and wasn't even capable of writing a chord chart and preferred to teach the band everything by showing it to us. I didn't mind because that's basically what I did in my early days of playing in bands and I have a pretty good ear and quick memory skills (to make up for being a shitty sight-reader), but it bugged some of the musicians who were regular Broadway musical players; they had to make charts for themselves. Anyway, Sam "taught" me the guitar solo to BBatHC's version of "Summertime," but it was far from how I remembered it. I decided to learn the original solo from the "Cheap Thrills" album. So the next day of "previews" (that's when you do the show for an audience before it officially opens; the crowd comes with the understanding that it's still a work in progress), I told him I was going to try something different on "Summertime" and could he let me know what he thought of it. So afterwords, he comes up to me and says, "That was GREAT, could you teach me that?" I said, "that was YOUR SOLO!" He said, "yeah, I know, I forgot it."

So... yeah, too much acid. But he was a good guy and I regret that I'll never see him again. He gave us an open invitation to sit in with (the still touring) BBatHC anytime and I kind of wish I had taken him up on that.

R.I.P. Sam.

[Steve F.]

I liked BB&THC and I liked Sam's lead-work.

I think BB&THC were under-rated as far as Frisco psych bands go and Janis got all the attention and the band got too little - In any event, I don't think Janis was ever backed as well, even after she left BB for a 'better' band.

It doesn't surprise me to learn that Sam was a little fried around the edges. That was the tenor of those times.

[spellbound]

[Scrotum Scissor]

I think BB&THC were under-rated as far as Frisco psych bands go and Janis got all the attention and the band got too little

Absolutely. And this one's from their most underrated (and IMO finest altogether) record, How Hard It Is:

[mozo-pg]

Great story Ernie! I really like the band.