TAKE ME TO A CIRCUS TENT (THE JEFFERSON AIRPLANE FLIGHT MANUAL)   Introduction: There are times you take a path that is clearly chosen.  Sometimes opportunities come along by circumstances becoming intertwined.  When I started to passionately collect any music from the Airplane that I could procure, I noticed an amazing void in the accuracy of archival information.  This was diametrically opposed to The Beatles, Grateful Dead, or Frank Zappa for example.  As a life-long Beatles fan any question about a live or unreleased version of a song would be answered within seconds of posting on a Beatles Board, or an email to one of the many Fab Four musical geniuses.  When I would search for information about the Airplane’s concerts, and studio sessions I would often encounter a question mark next to a song title.  It perplexed me to no end how could somebody not want to know what they are listening to.   Countless times if the Airplane played a blues song it would be listed as a Jam.  The proper dating of the recording sessions, and live shows more often then not were incorrect, because of the dates being transposed.  Since there isn’t a universal (Why not I declare) way of writing month, date, and year, when information would be sent to archivists in and out of the U.S.A., it wasn’t uncommon that songs were being listed as performed several months before they were written!  Maybe worse than wrong information is no information.  If fans don’t make notations of special events at a show such as an extended Jam, an unreleased song appearing for the first time, a special musical guest, and or some nuance during the vocals, how would one concert ever be differentiated from another?   Keeping with the same flight pattern, if a bunch of phenomenal Airplane material from the vaults is only listed by song title, or a question mark how would we ever be able to discuss the cover of the Rolling Stones song you will read about, the instrumental Martha, or the differences between the censored versions from the first album, and the originals intended for the record?  That is why as far back as 1976, I started to write notes on any Airplane music that I could substantiate.  I would listen intently for alternate lyrics, longer playing times, and information from different shows.  I started to keep a journal of both musical information, and lesser known facts about the group.   In 1981 I began a nine year career as a radio disc-jockey.  I would go back to broadcasting every now and then post 1990, but for the most part I ventured into a more stable job environment.  (Then again maybe not.  Writing isn’t exactly the way to be firmly anchored).  While working for various stations I would often get great questions asked from listeners both on the phone, and at live promotions.  Almost immediately after beginning my first announcing job, I jotted down any questions I was asked about a specific band.  A common theme at the three rock radio stations I called home during those years, were a large amount of inquiries about 1960’s and 1970’s American bands, and 1970’s U.K. progressive music.  As days turned to years, I had countless inquiries about the Airplane Family.  Additionally as computers became common in American homes, I would answer emails from other Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna, and Jefferson Starship fans.   In the past few years I had given serious consideration to putting the documentation into book form.  I thought the Airplane fan would enjoy having the information at their disposal.  There was one segment missing.  The reader of a book that spends hard earned money deserves something extra.  The idea was to include one additional segment in the book.  If I had a cross-section of interviews from the Airplane Family, it would enable the reader to find out where some of the former members have been, and where they are now.  Rick Martin has a long history of involvement in the San Francisco scene as a fan, an archivist of the Jefferson Starship music, and a friend to numerous musicians associated with the Airplane Family.  Rick organized several interviews for me and those contents are proudly displayed in the final section of the book.  Don Aters the amazing photographer contributed with his contacts as well, as did the “Fan Man” himself Mike Somavilla.  Thank you!   The is no reason for repetition.  I never aim to reinvent the wheel or the book in this case.  There is a niche for everyone.  The focus isn’t on one musician dating another, and the break-up led to…..  The central purpose is to explore where the plane hasn’t stopped before.  The archiving of the live, and studio music, finding questions to discuss during the interviews that aren’t the same ones that have been in print for forty plus years, and the question, and answer segment fly’s into a good deal of uncharted air space.    Thank you for reading, and may you derive the same pleasure from the words as I had researching, and archiving.    All the best, Craig Fenton (Craig The Airplane Man)