Papa John Creach – Jefferson Airplane, 1970 San Francisco Concert

It was a powerful night at Winterland concert hall in San Francisco and Dean and Dudley Evenson were ready to document the evening with their new Sony Portapack (half-inch video camera). Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service had played and now the Jefferson Airplane was performing. The night before, the world had been stunned with news of Janis Joplin’s death. Her good friend Marty Balin decided not to perform but the band played on. A surprise musical guest was elderly blues violinist Papa John Creach. This debut performance with the Airplane launched a long period of collaboration with the iconic rock band and its various permutations. His powerful violin improvisations drew from a rich background of growing up in Chicago and performing many styles of music because of all the different nationalities there. Once he had relocated to California, he met Joey Covington who later joined the Airplane and invited him to perform at this memorable event. Needless to say, the youthful crowd was capti