Fleetwood Mac did it. The Grateful Dead are doing it. And now even Blondie and Culture Club want in on the act. It seems every chart-topping retiree around is anxiously rekindling the flame of past greatness -- everyone except Jefferson Airplane, that is. |

Last Tuesday the seminal psychedelic rockers released a collection of live songs that hasn't seen the light of day in 30 years. Tapes of the show, which marked the pinnacle of a remarkable rock 'n' roll career, were just discovered six months ago, Bill Thompson, a spokesman for the band told JAMTV last Wednesday.

Live at the Fillmore East was recorded by the band's original lineup on May 3 and 4, 1968 -- "the year the flower children began growing thorns," according to former Airplane guitarist Paul Kantner.

"The concert footage was found in an RCA vault with other antiquated material that is virtually unsortable," Kantner told JAMTV on Tuesday. "Recording in those days was barbaric. We got lucky on this one."

Despite wild fan anticipation following a nine-year Jefferson Airplane drought, the band will not follow in their peers' footsteps with a reunion tour any time soon. Though former bandmates Marty Balin, Jack Casady, Jorma Kaukonen and Kantner have expressed a desire to record and tour together again, lead singer Grace Slick is not sold on the idea, Kantner said.

"Grace is an extraordinary singer, and I think she should continue to share that gift, but she doesn't think that 58-year-old women should be performing onstage," Kantner said. "She still disdains going on tour, but I trust that we will be able to spark her interest again. I think a reunion will happen before the year 2000, assuming we are still alive and kicking."

Assuming that Kantner -- Slick's ex-husband -- and their daughter China can help the Chicago-born singer overcome her middle-age anxieties, Jefferson Airplane will most likely come together on the spur of the moment to create new music rather than regurgitate chart-topping favorites like "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love."

"The band has always been driven by circumstance rather than planning," Kantner said. "Reuniting in order to play music from 1968 is like going back to the fourth grade -- it may be fun for a half hour, but then it gets ridiculous."

Though the estranged members of Jefferson Airplane have not jammed together since their 1989 reunion, Kantner believes the band could pick up where it left off, pleasing old and new fans alike with a fresh creative impulse.

"Maybe we would play in tune for once," he joked. "Jefferson Airplane is like a family in a way. We have shared a lot of experiences that no one else ever could. We appreciate each other for the good and the bad. It's a unique set of circumstances that has welded us together."

Until the inevitable comes to pass, former Airplane members will continue to churn out ample solo projects, including a new Jefferson Starship album titled Windows of Heaven, and a spot on the Furthur Festival tour by Hot Tuna, a band started by Kaukonen.

Meanwhile, Slick is busy editing the final version of her autobiography, due out this September. The memoirs, titled "Somebody to Love," will relive the rock 'n' roll lifestyle that Slick learned -- and forgot -- during her Jefferson Airplane days.

"Grace offered me money to help her remember her life," Kantner said. "I told her I didn't need the money, but I did help her recall key details. I have no idea how it will turn out."

Likewise, Jefferson Airplane fans will continue to ponder the fate of a band that has partially broken up and reunited half a dozen times under three different names over the last 33 years. With a new live album release and various solo projects and tours in the works, a reunion would seem impossible for any other middle-aged band -- but this is Jefferson Airplane we're talking about.

"We have always been amazed at what we could get away with," Kantner said. "We often wondered why we weren't under arrest." (Anni Layne)