Thread: Grace Slick, klutz?

Grace Slick Is Neither Graceful Nor Slick -- She's a Klutz!

(July 7) -- Grace Slick has a shocking secret: She's the biggest klutz in the world.

It's a secret that the former Jefferson Airplane singer and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has been hiding during her 40-year showbiz career, but one that is finally catching up with her.

"I am the biggest klutz in the world," she admitted to AOL News. "I went to an art store recently to pick up some art supplies, and I slammed into some metal sliding and broke my left arm in three places and hurt my leg as well."

This injury marks the first time that the woman who wrote hits like "White Rabbit" has ever broken anything, and the injury is putting a crimp in her style -- and her artistic career.

Despite being known as one of rock's most influential front women, the 70-year-old Slick retired from music in 1989 because she didn't like seeing anyone over 50 doing rock onstage. So she has spent the past 20 or so years focused on the visual arts, with gallery shows around the world.

Her latest show opens July 10 at the Alexander Salazar Gallery in San Diego and features her portraits of famous musician friends, like Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, as well as her interpretations of scenes from "Alice in Wonderland," the book that inspired her "White Rabbit" hit.

Still, she admits the arm injury makes it difficult to create new works.

"The way I paint is to hold a canvas in my lap," Slick said. "I use a tray now, and I can draw, but I can't paint."

Some might excuse Slick's recent accident as the sort that is caused by age, but she is adamant that age has nothing to do with it.

"I am an extreme klutz," she said. "I can succeed in any of the arts but dancing. People used to say, 'You look so cool the way you slowly move around the stage.' But if I move fast, I'll fall down. I took ballet classes when I was 5 -- I think I was the Sugar Plum Fairy in 'The Nutcracker' -- and afterwards the ballet teacher politely suggested to my mother that maybe I'd enjoy some of the other arts."

Although the arm injury will require extensive physical therapy, it isn't keeping Slick from painting or her other hobby: giving the middle finger to the establishment.

After all, this is a woman who was once invited to the White House and wanted to use the occasion to dose President Richard Nixon with 600 milligrams of LSD, so it's no surprise she is still politically involved.

For instance, even though she no longer sings in public with the Jefferson Airplane or its offshoots, Jefferson Starship and Starship, she does write lyrics for a performer named Michelle Mangione.

"I write lyrics all the time, it's like a habit," said Slick, who calls herself a "non-drinking alcoholic." "I will write a bunch and send it off in an envelope or by fax to [Michelle], and sometimes she'll use one line."

Their latest collaboration is a song about the lack of response to the BP oil spill.

"I'm not sure what the song will be called, but I'm working on the CD cover," she said. "It's going to be a bird covered with oil, and I am drawing the bird's eye over and over trying to get it just right, because that's the most important part."

Slick helped expand the boundaries of pop music lyrics with songs like the 1967 classic "White Rabbit," an allegory linking drugs to "Alice in Wonderland." While that song is a stone-cold classic, she doesn't see rock lyric writing as a craft with a high level of difficulty.

"I always make sure the lyrics rhyme, but [lyric writing] is not a precious, obscure art," she said. "You can be a moron and understand the lyrics. The way I paint is the same way."



Watch the video of her artwork if it's still available. She is an amazing artist. That video and the article are from:

Grace Slick Is Neither Graceful Nor Slick -- She's a Klutz!

A CBS interview:



LOL Very interesting, but I'm curious about her self esteem. What, 70 year olds can't be HAWT?

Ffwd to 2:50 for the Jerry Garcia acrylic. WOW!

What 70 year old isn't a klutz....that's the "Help I've fallen and can't get up age..."

and the CD cover is going to be a bird covered in oil, wow way to get super-creative....how about a bird just cleaned crying a black oil tear.....