From: malcolm@wrs.com (Malcolm Humes)
Subject: Re: _GONG_ (>> was Re: STEVE HILLAGE )
Keywords: acid gong hilage
Organization: Wind River Systems, Inc.
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 19:10:50 GMT

adekhtya@ho08.eng.ua.edu (Alexander M. Dekhtyar) writes:

>      Thanks for Steve Hillage's career. I will check whether
>      we've got  alt.music.progressive here.
>      Speaking about 
>                      _GONG_
>      Can anybody post their lyrics, or
>      at least point to the place where one can get it.
>      I'm esp. interested in their trilogy ( _Flying Teapot_
>                                             _Angel's Egg_
>                                             _ You _)
>     
>     And one more question about _Gong_
>     I wonder how popular this group was in the US in 70ies.
>     Did actually anybody know about them ?

Careful, folks, I had added a.m.p to the distribution on the original
Hillage post in a.rock-n-roll... I have a feeling we're about to see 
40 posts by folks saying they have heard of Gong. Here's my 2 cents:

I have no help to offer on the lyrics, perhaps someone will type them in
and archive them - there may already be some available via ftp at
ftp.uwp.edu. 

I don't think Gong ever achieved the poplurity in the US that they did 
in Europe, where by some accounts Gong and Hawkwind were sort of the
European Grateful Dead. The free festival concerts that Gong played in
the UK and France and other places probably account for a large part of
their huge popularity there, where they've played to festivals of 50,000
people or more. Without that kind of exposure in the USA I doubt they 
ever got very well known here. I think they did do some US concerts in 
the early 70's. Also in the late 70's Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth were
based in New York and started the offshoots NY Gong and Mother Gong, which
toured a lot in the US between 1979-81. Recently a grass-roots touring
network set up by fans has brought Daevid Allen, Gilli, and Tim Blake
through parts of the US in the last two years, and ambitious plans for
this year include another tour by Daevid in march, Gilli this summer and 
also a tour by Didier Malherbe's trio around July. So there is some 
awareness, but mostly small pockets of fans spread across the US and that
means the tours haven't done very well - since the artists get virtually
no radio exposure and have very limited products pressed which are hard to 
find it's an uphill battle to not lose money when they tour. But they keep
trying anyway, hoping that maybe the 90's will see Gong-folks break in the 
US to the point where they can play larger shows and bring more fans together. 

The "tour network" has Kevin Ayers coming through the US in February, and
Daevid Allen in March. Here's the info I have so far, subject to change, 
and lacking info about venues for almost all of the shows. Check locally
for ads, flyers and ask here if you can't find out where they'll be in
your area. 

Kevin Ayers tour:

2/18 Denver
2/20 San Francisco
2/21 Los Angeles at McCabe's Guitar Gallery
2/22 Kansas City
2/24 Rochester NY
2/25 and 2/26 Toronto
2/27 Cleveland
2/28 Detriot
3/2  Waterbury, CT
Friday 3/5  Hoboken, NJ 
Saturday 3/7  Baltimore (unconfirmed)

Seattle & Portland look unlikely at this point.  NY is not yet confirmed. 


Magick Brothers Tour  March  3
==============================
Feb 28th at Komotion in San Francisco
March 3, San Francisco, at the Kennel Club
Seattle 13th with art exhibit of gong related paintings
3/19 Denver
3/21 Detroit
3/23 Kansas City
3/24 Rochester
Thursday 3/25 Toronto   
Saturday 3/27 Cleveland
Saturday 4/2  WashingtonDC

more dates expected to be added. 
 

 - malcolm@wrs.com