John waited until I’d gotten through making up my cup of coffee and said, “You done?” I said, “Yep” and he proceeded to pour an entire bowl of sugar cubes into his cup. He then poured coffee over the tall pile of cubes, staring into my eyes with an utterly deadpan look on his face. When the cubes had melted, more than 20 of them, he grabbed the cup, still staring at me, and gulped it down in one long swig.
My shirt was soaked and uncomfortable but we really rocked the session. Every track we put down, we were playing and hearing for the first time. Every piece was a first take. Merl Saunders [the musical director] had us do a couple of pieces that resembled the memorable “Who Do You Love?” [Quicksilver Messenger Service] guitar solo jams for John to cut loose on. During the love scenes, Norton Buffalo and I played with the world famous Kronos Quartet. Merl told me, “I’m using you on this stuff because you can make your guitar cry.”
The soundtrack band for this episode was:
John Cipollina, Michael Hinton – guitars
Norton Buffalo – harmonica
Merl Saunders – organ
Tony Saunders – bass
Ray Chew – drums
It felt like we’d been playing together for years. We were inspired and really had fun. It was tight from the getgo.
Ray is the musical director/kybd player for American Idol. We played together on the soundtracks for many other Twilight Zone episodes [CBS ’85-’87]. He always sat in when Merl’s Rainforest Band was in N.Y.C. He’s Merl’s nephew. Tony is Merl’s son.
R.I.P. John, Norton and Merl.
Twilight Zone – The Girl I Married
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d24K4lRGg5A
Here’s Quicksilver Messenger Service at Monterey Pop:
And here’s John Cipollina with the Grateful Dead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVbnnkqOxjI
