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Jelly, jelly so fine

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The Bees - Voices Green And Purple


Antique and southwestern art dealers might recognize the pungent guitar of their very own Bob Zinner. This is the hit song of one of the sixties bands he played with, The Bees. He was also in the W.C. Fields Memorial Electric String Band. One of the treats of going to Santa Fe is listening to Robert Zinner jam with the local blues players every year. Great guy, great guitar player. This has got a bit of a garage flavor for sure but put yourself in McGuinn granny glasses and a Sonny Bono caveman vest and imagine that you are on the swinging Sunset Strip and perhaps you can enter into the spirit of the thing...

11 comments:

grumpy said...

for the record i'd just like to say, i've never heard of Bob Zinner, or the Bees, and this song does absolutely nothing for me...

Blue Heron said...

Well, there you go again, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan. Can't even enter into the spirit of a little garage psychedelia. You have to visualize, Grump. You've been drinking a little Boone's farm out of a paper bag with your runaway girlfriend from Dubuque and some cat has given you a couple hits of Owsley's purple double dome and you say that you know what you're doing but your acne has barely cleared up and the flashing lights and sirens have turned the nighttime scene into a freaky Hitchcock thriller and now she is puking on the curb and you just want to get back to Mayberry but your arms are stretchy and elastic and this song is the one thing that delivers the hope that maybe the good lord will let you reenter your earthly vessel and take that job down at Mr. Hurley's gas station and you will promise to be a good boy and even go back to church and yet you get the thought that you can maybe pull a Diane Linkletter and fly but it's difficult when your spongy feet that look like rock cod right about now are firmly rooted on the vomit filled curb...Capiche?

Anonymous said...

Dear Author www.blueheronblast.com !
I think, that you are not right.

Blue Heron said...

It's the voices, man.

marcy said...

For the record I knew Bob Zinner the Bees etc. In the 60's. I am happy to' read that he is doing well. I always wondered if he continued playing his music.

regalbloeg said...

One of the best psyche-punk song !
I love Voices Green And Purple, it's so deranged and ahead of its time (october 1966).

PSBlueslover said...

Marcy, Bob is alive and playing in Palm Springs. For the next few Friday / Saturday nights he will be playing at Woody's Burgers on Indian.

Grumpy, no worries. There are a lot of great artists out there that one is not familiar with.

For information only:
Zinner's a blues guitarist who has played with Jimi Hendrix, Eric Burton, Johnny Rivers Winters, Leon Russell, Steven Stills, George Duke, and Beck.

And others. Bob had a motorcycle accident which injured his right hand. In spite of which, he still lays down some of the best blues I and others who know, have and continue to hear.

Anonymous said...

For the record...Bob Zinner was in The Bees, but 'Voices Green & Purple' was recorded by an entirely different Bees combo in the '60s. Zinner's Bees recorded for Mirwood and Mira Records.

Blue Heron said...

I was with Bob yesterday, will call him later and get his take. Thanks.

Steve Owen said...

I think This group was from around Covina California, and one of the members was my friend Dave Johnson.
The single was sold at Wallich's Music City in West Covina, Ca, but didnt chart...it turns out to be a garage classic and was one of the
1st pyschedelic records..The group was managed by Mickey Mc Kee and we are talking like about 1966.
I think that the other poster is correct, it's a different group from the the one that recorded on Mirwood.

Deborah said...

This group was from Hollywood. I met them at the Roller Rink in Glendora. They visited my house several times in Covina. I was friends with them from the Bees to the W.C.Fields Memorial Electric String Band. They were awesome guys and Bob Zinner is and amazing guy. He is a great musician. I'm glad to hear he is still playing music.