Big Brother and the Holding Company Guitarist James Gurley Dies at 69

Where can someone find the "Pipe Dreams" CD, by James Gurley?

i met jim gurley at the 1987 20th anniversary of the summer of love concert at golden gate park...i remember him as having been a nice guy.... the woman i was traveling with at the time was a big brother and the holding company groupie who had one hell of a record collection relating to janis joplin

AS TIME GOES BY SO DO THE PEOPLE . REST IN PEACE AND THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES ......

Superfluous news stories.......................

Your "God Bless Everyone" makes your cause and you so worthless. Go back down into the Subways and jingle your little, used, coffee cup. I highly doubt that any 'God' ever gave trash such as yourself the right to speak in His place.

It is now time, after Mark's mere and abject Comment, to leave it where it belongs. Instead, let this be a wonderful occasion to remember those who invented and developed the sweeping base from which True and Absolute Rock came - and that very much includes James Gurley. May he always remain in every last note of music he ever wanted us to hear, and so much more through those he taught and influenced. - Campbell Hayden.

Dear James,

Thank you so much for all of the wonderdul hours and moments of great music. Your talent and playing touched my life in ways that I can never repay. The joy and sound that you brought to the world is irreplaceable. Thank you so much!

My heart and condolences go out to your wife, family and friends for their great loss.

Sincerely,
Olivia Duke

WOW!!!! I almost never join in the 'rants' until I read about a 'shoot-from-the-hip' complainant.....like Mark. First of all, I have NOTHING in general in the way of negativity to say about today's youth. I'm only 51,so I am between the late Mr. Gurley's 'generation'..and whatever your 'age range/generation' might be. So, Mark, what do you owe to the 60's & 70's? Did you hate your parents?

The way you lay it all out, it seems like much of the folowing JUST MIGHT be true about you: A)unlike Elvis Presley, you did not give up part of your career to ENLIST IN THE MILITARY VOLUNTARILY....& serve your country. My father was on Anzio Beach when they passed out life jackets(& if you don't have the mildest idea what that means, u would have no more belonged in the miltary than did I. If had enlisted, a lot of these readers would have expected you to say so.

As with a great many of the 60's & 70's(as u see them, 'drug-crazed' rockers, granted, few of the music makers were enlisted or served; THE POINT IS: SOME DID.

Many of the fathers & sisters of, for ex. today's Rap & Alternative owe EVERYTHING TO THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY BLUES ARTISTS(&, even tho' I am not a person of diverse cultural heritage), the Motown/soul generation(from whom the 60's & 70's artists learned their craft, often showing us what so many of the '80's-and-beyond' rockers, rappers, & alternative artists have failed to show us: music that is impressive because of the refusal to write solely in 4x4 timing.

I can neither support nor denigrate Country music in MY rant because I just don't like much of it besides Willie Nelson, but THEY TOO owe much of their success to a generation BEFORE YOU, before ME, EVEN before the late James Gurley.

Ya see, Mark, you're casting out an entire generation in your rant without so much as acknowledging that the 60's & 70's, 80's, 90's children......we ALL owe what we like to listen to the most.....props to people from the 1900's-1930's. Don't believe it: e-mail someone from Chevelle, or Rage Against the Machine(if you're into Alt.): ask them who their influences are(& then research who THOSE...artists....wrote before they dies who THEIR...influnces were. If you're a rapper, write someone intelligent like LL Cool J...or Alicia Keyes(regardless of whom she's performed with), ask him how far back his/her influences date(don't write Kanye...I TRIED to keep an open mind, & all I heard was: "I ain't saying she's a gold digger...."(result: trash; his interviews with the media are MUCH more impressive than what he has been paid for). The greatest musicians were amongst the least MONETARILY successful.

Finally, Mark, from the way u talk, you must (A) absolutely be drug-free(including ALL prescriptions); (C) YOU MUST BE A COLLEGE GRAD.....working on grad classes & specifically in a direction that will benefit society; and, by all means, since you've shunned as largely forgettable the 60's& 70's DESPITE THE FACT that they produced the foreign policy IDIOTS of our time: (1)Reagan, RIP; (2) (the elder); (3)Clinton, (4)Bush(the younger).....none of whom gave us the right answers as to how to accomplish peace in the Middle East & Asia(ITS TOO EARLY FOR ME TO TALK ABOUT OBAMA...its not my place...or yours....he inherited a nightmare). Jimmy Carter, who was considered by TOO MANY to be 'largely forgettable', accomplished with the late Anwar Sadat what noone before him had: he created a peace accord that was destroyed only by MIDDLE EAST hardliners that established TODAY'S TERRORISM, today's terrorists...at least Carter saw it coming.....all after him ruled with an iron hand.....leaving something very important for today's musicians to sing about. But do they: OH NO...u can't pick up a RAP song or talk to today's youth & get most to say one sentence unless they're smoking cigarettes & saying the word 'mother------r'......SOOOOOOOO original.

You want to be a standout in 'your generation'?: become the first to teach today's youth how not to say the word 'mother-----r', AND THEN, my youthful adversary, YOU will deserve a NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.

Drug-crazed hippies, huh??....at least many of that 60's-70's generation's musicians understood how to write in something other 4x4 timing(which is the CURSE of most Rappers....who are in it for the money, not the message), as are, SADLY, a lot of 'rockers' TOO).

Go after that Nobel Peace prize young man....beg & TEACH our youth to stop saying the words 'mother------r' & 'Nig---r'. Then you will be a REAL MAN.

Hey Mark, if it wasn't for the "rock morons" of the 60's & 70's, there wouldn't even be this very internet that allows you to spread your unenlightened, uninformed gibberish. Who do you think invented this thing? "rock morons" baby!

Never forget James hugging his amp, lifting it off the ground, huge noise coming out. He used to slay the crowd. Big Brother had such a great feel and I don't think Janis ever had as sympathetic a band again. Sorry to see him go....