Rock stars die all the time... but THIS TIME it really hit hard.
Sandy West, drummer for the influential 1970's band THE RUNAWAYS, died Saturday, October 21, 2006 at a hospice in San Dimas, CA after a long battle with lung cancer. She was just 47 years old....
Sandy left her indelible 'stamp' on rock music. Even today, she remains a leading inspiration for a number of other musicians - both male and female. Her band, The Runaways, were an 'all-girl' rock band without peer or precedent back in 1975.
Many young musicians can trace their inspiration directly to the first time they heard "Cherry Bomb." She will be remembered by more than one generation of fans as a strong part of their musical landscape.
But Sandy's impact was felt far outside of the music industry as a loyal friend, loving confidante and strong defender of those she loved most.
Her strength as a player, passion as a person, and dedication as a friend will be remembered always by friends, fans and fellow musicians alike.
"We shared the dream of girls playing rock and roll. Sandy was an exuberant and powerful drummer," Joan Jett said in a press statement. "I am overcome from the loss of my friend. I always told her we changed the world."
Runaways vocalist and life-long friend, Cherie Currie had this to say, "Sandy West was by far, the greatest female drummer in the history of rock and roll"
"No one could compete or even come close to her, but the most important was her heart"
"Sandy West loved her fans, her friends and family almost to a fault. She would do absolutely anything for the people she loved"
"It will never be the same for me again to step on a stage, because Sandy West was the best and I will miss her forever"
Born and raised in Huntington Beach, West was a bona fide 'California Girl', splitting her time between shopping, surfing and skiing, Currie added.
(the above text is taken from an article published in the LA Times)
This is a promo for The Runaways film "Edgeplay" - it has an added poignancy now Sandy's gone. Watch it through to the end, but if you already know the back-story about this troubled band, be careful... it will break your heart.
LATEST:-
July 15th 2007:- Another has been taken too soon... Girlschool founder member KELLY JOHNSON died today, after a 6 year battle with cancer of the spine. Rest in peace Kelly.
A celebration of Kelly's life, featuring Girlschool, was held at The Rock N Roll Kabaret in London on 20th August.... See 'my top friends' to visit Kelly's tribute page.
A memorial concert was held for Sandy on December 9th of last year. This was organised by her close personal friends and was hosted by Runaways' singer Cherie Currie...
(poster artwork by Mara Fox)
Another 'Runaway', Victory Tischler-Blue (who made the movie "Edgeplay") was also there. A great line-up of artists played on the night, including Cherie performing a Runaways set.
Every one of the artists performing gave their time for free, and the event was a full house!! (many more photos from that night are available to view in my blog section - big thanks to The Eagle and Ian Kevin Mitchell for posting these photos)
All proceeds were donated to The Sandy West Foundation
A second memorial tribute was held in Tokyo on Christmas Eve of last year, which had been organised by Sandy's Japanese friends and fans.
Details are in the blog section, but Keiko Ginger Suzuki has very kindly allowed me to post a slideshow of the event (the slideshow ends with a great Runaways design by Atsuko Shima). Our thanks and gratitude go out to Keiko and her friends....
Sandy is the seashore
And Sandy is the sea
Sandy is the clear blue sky
Or so it seems to me
Yes I see her everywhere
In everything I see
She can turn to anything
That she would like to be
Sandy is the summer's day
She laughs inside the brook
Sandy is an autumn moon
She shines down when I look
Sandy is a cozy fire
On a snowy winter's night
And Sandy is the soft spring rain
In the early morning light
Sandy is my mirror
There are secrets in her eyes
And every single morning
She dawns a new disguise
She has caught the mystery
Of all that's wild and free
Oh yes, I see the world in her
For she means the world to me.
by Harry Chapin @ 1975 Portrait Gallery
Sandy's friend Paul Hone posted this clip on YouTube - (he was in The Sandy West Band during the '80s) - it is his personal eulogy to his friend, and ends with a message from Sandy which she left on his answer machine - it is both heartwarming AND heartbreaking...
(many thanks to photographer Niva Bringas for the pictures above)
(thanks to Ramona Blackheart of The Riot Grrrls for this photo-montage)
As testament to the enduring influence on those following in The Runaways' footsteps... Teenagers Ramona and Sandy are THE RIOT GRRRLS who were nominated for the BATTLE OF THE BANDS but they need our support!! Click here and see how they are doing, or visit their myspace page. Their debut CD "Teenage Runaway" is due for release in 2007... I'll keep you posted.
PLEASE READ THE COMMENTS BEING LEFT BY VISITORS TO THIS PAGE... AND TAKE A LOOK AT "THOUGHTS AND MEMORIES" IN MY BLOG SECTION WHICH CONTAINS MANY OF THE MESSAGES LEFT ON THE RUNAWAYS' WEBSITE....
Thankyou to everybody who has taken the time to write or to leave a voice message.
copyright Chrys Stylle @ Runaways.com
http://www.rocketcityrecords.com/sandywest
It was 30 years ago today....
2007 is the 30th Anniversary of that landmark event in rock history when five American teenage girls arrived in Japan to unexpected acclaim and adulation. They would return minus two of the five original members, and their future in disarray. But this apocalyptic tour would culminate in the release of an album of songs recorded live! which eclipsed all their previous studio recordings...
A potted history of THE RUNAWAYS...
In 1975, SANDY PESAVENTO was a 16 yr old drummer who approached '60s 'pop impresario' Kim Fowley and lit the spark that was to become all-girl rock band The Runaways.
Fowley introduced her to guitarist JOAN LARKIN and bass player SUE THOMAS.
We know them now as Joan Jett, Sandy West and Michael (Mikki) Steele - who was to become a Bangle some years later!
Having become their manager, Fowley recruited guitarist LITA FORD and singer CHERIE CURRIE.
PEGGY FOSTER replaced Mikki Steele for a brief time but the band was still without a recording deal.
Foster was in turn replaced by JACQUELINE FUCHS (who wisely changed her name to Jackie 'FOX') and it is this seminal line-up that secured a recording contract with Mercury Records.
This now legendary 5 piece recorded two classic studio albums - the self titled debut and "Queens Of Noise".
Most of the songs were written by Fowley, KARI KROME and Joan Jett, though all members contributed with their own self-penned titles.
After a tumultuous tour of Japan in 1977, bass player Jackie left the band, followed shortly after by singer Cherie and 'exploitation meister' Fowley.
From the ashes rose the critically acclaimed album "Live In Japan" - widely regarded as the band's opus. The girls carried on as a 4-piece but the damage was done and the cracks were beginning to show.
The Runaways released their third album (the last under the control of Fowley) 'Waiting For The Night' - with Joan Jett taking (and loving) centre-stage...
The re-vamped look and sound of The Runaways also introduced the world to new bass player VICTORY (Vicki) BLUE.
But 'musical differences' were already pulling the band apart - Joan desired a more 'punk' sound, but Lita wanted to play heavy metal. The band had lost its way and the internal friction was showing...
They recorded a final studio album "And Now..." but The Runaways (as a cohesive unit) had fragmented long before its release.
Drafting in yet another bass player (LAURIE McALLISTER) after Vicki left with 'health problems' (the only thing she was sick with was the fast-disintegrating band itself) seemed like a desperate attempt to paper over the cracks.
The band played its last gig in San Francisco on New Years Eve 1978 ('Frisco must have been a cursed place to play - that same year the Sex Pistols "left THEIR heart there" and The Beatles played their last concert in SFO way back in '66)
Four years and four albums, and The Runaways were no more... yet their legacy and influence has remained intact - not because they were the first, but because they were the best...!!
Graphics by Chrys Stylle http://www.therunaways.com/
My thanks to Mara Fox and all at 'TheRunaways.com' for their support and the use of some copyright material.
As a footnote, you may not be aware that Sandy and Lita formed a band after the demise of The Runaways, and Cherie and Vicki played as "The Currie Blue Band" but neither group got as far as the recording studio...
Sandy continued to play, fronting the Sandy West Band - but the real survivors were those responsible for the friction (both Joan Jett and Lita Ford had huge commercial success as solo artists)
Time couldn't heal The Runaways' wounds... the resentment felt by individual members of this troubled outfit toward the manipulative exploitation of their 'lost childhood' left emotional scars which cut so deep that (despite sustained pressure from the fans over the last 3 decades) a Runaways reunion has never materialised.
The death of Sandy West - the founder member... the one who 'cared enough' about something she lived through and lived for - means it will never happen now!
Perhaps now we can finally 'close the book'...
From a distance
I first saw you
Looking like an angel
The sun shining down
Kissing your golden hair.
From a distance
I would gaze at you
Watch your lips
As they curved in a dazzling smile
Capturing my heart.
From a distance
I listened to you
As you showed your talent
Time and time again
Effortlessly.
From a distance
I could watch you swim
Run, play
Always laughing and
Having the time of your life.
Now you are the one
At a distance
And you can watch me
As I pray for you
And miss you.
I will see you again beautiful Sandy.
by Cass Smith © 2006 Pot O'Golden Dreams
Goodnight Sandy
xxx
"EDGEPLAY" a Victory Tischler-Blue film...
Studio: Image Entertainment DVD Release Date: April 5, 2005 Runtime: 109 minutes Rating: NR
DVD Review by Scott "Dr. Music" Itter (www.DrMusic.org) 7/2005 :
It was an album with a gatefold that resembled the latest issue of Playboy when you opened it. Singer Cherie Currie with a blue button down shirt, buttoned way down; tough as nails guitarist Lita Ford in her tight black v-neck; and rhythm guitarist Joan Jett looking as casual and confident as ever. It was every young boy's fantasy – a sexy all-girl rock band that were actually kids themselves (all of them 16, except Jett who was 17). It's that debut album from The Runaways that I still find myself dazzled by to this day. Since its release in 1976 I have had an obsession of sorts with this band. Now, when I say obsession it sounds so, ...um, ...sexually perverse. Well, maybe back in '76 it was a sexually driven obsession, but today it's an obsession with a rock band. A revolutionary rock band that silenced the cynics that had, for so long, believed that women had no place in the male dominated world of hard, driving rock 'n' roll. This film is their story, from the band's beginning to its' sad demise.
This is a film that deals from the artist's point of view. We hear from everyone but the most successful Runaway, Joan Jett. Jett has not stated publicly exactly why she did not agree to participate in the making of the film, but my guess is she did not want to rehash the past and be any part of a "tell all" type of production. Let me say that I admire that line of thought, if in fact that is the reason for Jett's absence; but let me also say, ...Goddamn it Joan, it would have been so incredible with your input. Is the absence of Jett felt while watching the film? Of course. Absolutely. With Jett writing or co-writing just about every song The Runaways ever did, the soundtrack has virtually no Runaways songs on it because of Jett's complete opposition. Is it still an interesting account of the band without her? Absolutely. The film is produced, directed, and edited by ex-Runaway Vicki Blue, who now goes by the name of Victory-Tischler Blue. All through the film she takes a backseat to all of the original members of the band (except Jett, of course) when they vividly reminisce of their time with the band. Going into this, I was afraid I would hear too much about the later years that Blue was a part of, and not enough about the beginnings of the band. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the film dealt with the entire history of the band from start to finish. Blue does a wonderful job of walking us through almost every notable occurrence in the band's history.
As the film's title and cast are introduced in the opening scene, it is befitting to hear a killer track from Suzi Quatro playing in the background. Joan Jett was obsessed with Quatro, and the band was based around the same "tough rocker chick" sound that Quatro was popularizing for fans in Europe at the time. Cherie Currie was actually told to learn any Suzi Quatro song for her audition. When she chose Quatro's lame cover of "Fever", the girls were busy looking down on her, while Jett and manager Kim Fowley penned a little tune called "Cherry Bomb" on the spot. Currie ended up singing the tune for her audition, and the rest as they say is history. We also learn here that bassist Jackie Fox auditioned with the Kiss classic, "Strutter". Fox later in the film explains that each member had a particular musician that they emulated. Currie was David Bowie, Jett was Quatro, Ford was Ritchie Blackmore, drummer Sandy West was "probably somebody from Queen", and Fox was Kiss crazy man Gene Simmons. You can't help but get the feeling that these girls were doing what all young music fans do, just on a huge, realistic scale. We are constantly reminded that these girls were only 16 or 17 years old when they were touring the world with their eccentric manager Kim Fowley.
We hear tidbits from Fowley here also. A guy that nobody liked, but everybody depended on. Horror stories are told of Fowley's harsh, abusive language along with tales of consistent drug use. Currie still hopes somebody blows his brains out, as she says, "If anyone deserves it, that man does." Is this a film filled with each member trash talking the other? You bet. It's done with a classy vibe though. We get a complete history to accompany the verbal assaults, which makes this a bit more than a tabloid-type film. What exactly do we learn that we didn't already know? Quite a bit actually. We hear about Kim Fowley kicking Jackie Fox out of the studio while recording the classic debut, and hiring Blondie bassist Nigel Harrison to play on the record instead. A fact that I, a rabid fan, was unaware of. We hear about singer Cherie Currie's sexual escapades with both Jett and Sandy West. We also hear of her getting pregnant by another band manager, and later getting an abortion. We hear about Jackie Fox trying to kill herself, and her call to Randy Rhoads, who was a good friend, for support. We hear of Sandy West's rough days of drug running and jail time after the breakup of the group. We also hear of Blue's battle with epilepsy while she was in the band. Yes, folks, this was dysfunction at its horrible best.
If you are a big fan of this band, you'll love to just watch these women reminisce. Seeing how they look now, and hearing them get into personal issues with a good friend (Blue) manning the camera was exciting. I do think this is a film for the hardcore Runaways fan though. If you are someone who never decided to check out the band, this isn't the outlet you want to start with. There are a couple of concert clips here, and some vintage footage of the girls early on, but for the most part this is simply the band members and people connected with the group talking to the camera. The excitement level for the casual fan is pretty low. But, for the hardcore, Runaways obsessed fan that still refuses to grow up, this is a wonderful trip.
Petition Banners by Mia @ The Runaways Rock. Thanks Mia