Day Tripping: October 30

Go ask Alice

Grace Barnett Wing was born in Chicago in 1939 in the suburb of Highland Park. Her father’s work with an investment banking firm brought Grace to California where she attended a private girl’s school.

After college, Wing worked as a department store model while writing music in her spare time. Some of her work was used in a short film by Gerald Slick.

“Through literacy, you can begin to see the universe. Through music, you can reach anybody. Between the two there is you, unstoppable.”

Grace married Jerry Slick in 1961 and four years later, they founded a band called The Great Society. Shortly after the band’s debut in a San Francisco coffee house, Grace Slick wrote the lyrics in the moment of a psychedelic trip.

White Rabbit was reportedly written in under an hour, but the song would be the prominent reason for her new band’s launch to stardom. The album Surrealistic Pillow also propelled Grace Slick into the spotlight as one of the pre-eminent female vocalists of the Psychadelic Rock era.

Grace Slick had a long history of alcoholism and drug experimentation. Her rebellious nature often garnered her headlines for all the wrong reasons. Her use of the word ‘MF’ on the Dick Cavett Show is only one example.

Yet, Grace Slick is one of the few survivors of a tumultuous era. She reinvented herself as a painter and now advocates for LGBTQ rights and people who live with HIV.

Today is:

Buy a Doughnut Day Candy Corn Day — why not put them together because it’s also…

Mischief Night

Musical Ride

Yusuf Islam, better known as Cat Stevens, was invited to play at a Washington event hosted by Jon Stewart in 2010. Ahe began playing Peace Train at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear concert when Stephen Colbert jumped on stage to introduce Ozzie Osbourne.

Ozzie went straight into Crazy Train, drowning out Cat. Stewart and Colbert got into it while the two artists continued their weird mashup of Train songs. The end shows Ozzie and Cat embracing, to the delight of the audience.

Interesting Notes

Muhammad Ali completed the unlikeliest of comebacks as World Heavyweight Champion when he knocked out the then-undefeated George Foreman at the Rumble In The Jungle in 1974. The fight in Zaire came seven years after Ali was stripped of his title for refusing his induction into the US Army.

Foreman had won 40 consecutive fights and posed a formidable figure against smaller opponents like Ali. Big George went down in the eighth round, and the photo of The Greatest standing over him is as iconic as David and Goliath.

Gone But Not Forgotten

Robert Goulet rose to fame with stage and then film performances in Camelot. As a relative unknown, Goulet starred with Richard Burton and Julie Andrews. Robert Goulet died in 2007 at the age of 73.

Notable Births

1945 — Henry Winkler said, “How you learn has nothing to do with how brilliant you are.”

1981 — Ivanka Trump: Does anyone actually care what she says?

I’d rather listen to the Fonz.

K. Barrett Maria Rattray Maryam Merchant Dr. Mehmet Yildiz Tree Langdon Myriam Ben Salem Phil Truman Chelsea Mandler MAT Terry Mansfield Hollie Petit, Ph.D. Terry Trueman Dr. Preeti Singh John Gruber Bill Abbate James G Brennan ScienceDuuude Marcus Liam Ireland Claire Kelly Noorain Hassan, BMS Amy Pierovich David Acaster Nora Thewriteyard David Perlmutter Joe Luca Holly Kellums Michael Burg, MD Lucy Dan Dave Logan

All previous Day Tripping entries are available at the following links:

The Story Of Day Tripping Through History What’s Past Is Often Present

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