Ask “Mr. Music”
Jerry Osborne



FOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 20, 2003

DEAR JERRY: Recently one of your readers wrote asking for information about the band Redbone and you nicely provided the '60s and '70s details.

As an original member of Redbone who is still with the band, let me jump in and update everyone on what the band is now doing.

Redbone, a tribute to the Native American, is again ready to tour. Our current lineup includes Pat Vegas (bass), also a founding member, and me, Pete “Last Walking Bear” Depoe (drums).

Our newly added members are: Mark Guerrero (guitar), Mike Rossana (guitar), Ron “Raven” Hernandez (guitar), Steve Roybal (drums), and George Ochoa (keyboards). All of the guys sing.

My older brother, Bill Depoe, the traditional chief of our Siletz tribe, has been added to open the show for Redbone.

When we first formed Redbone it was simply about the Indian in music. Believe me, it was hard until we got the people behind us. From Wounded Knee to Alcatraz it was intensely uplifting with the high spirits of our ancestors all around.

It's Redbone's time to do it again, for one last time. It will be the band's final tour.

Music is the universal language, a medicine for the soul, and a reason to celebrate. It's a new era of prosperity for our people.
—Pete “Last Walking Bear” Depoe, Olympic Peninsula, Wash.

DEAR JERRY: To me, one of the best of the British groups would be Blind Faith. They were not around for long, but the one album I once owned was fabulous.

I have long since lost it, but I do recall the nude young girl on the front cover. Any idea who she might be?

What are the names of the group members?
—Lorne Harwell, Huntsville, Ala.

DEAR LORNE: Blind Faith is one of those so-called super groups, comprised mostly of established stars.

After Cream disbanded, Eric Clapton (guitar) and Ginger Baker (drums) formed Blind Faith.

From Traffic and the Spencer Davis Group came Steve Winwood (keyboards/vocals), and from Family they added Rick Grech (bass).

As for that famous cover photo, Michael Moseley of St. Louis writes to ask pretty much the same question.

When first issued, in the summer of 1969, the cover photo of their self-titled LP (Atco 304) is exactly as you recall — a nude young girl, pictured from the navel up, holding what appears to be a toy airplane.

Though never named at the time, most sources reported the girl's age to be 11.

In what was an uncommon marketing move at the time, there is no text whatsoever on the front cover, not even the name of the band.

The cover caused a stir with the media on both sides of the Atlantic, so Atco quickly reissued it with a nondescript photo of the band.

In spite of the negative publicity — or perhaps in part because of it — “Blind Faith” soon became the No. 1 selling album in the country.

One of two widely-reported stories as to the girl's identity is that she is the daughter of Blind Faith co-founder Ginger Baker, but the girl in photos that we know to be of Baker's daughter does not resemble the cover model.

The more plausible account is that the photographer spotted a girl at a London bus stop that he wanted for the photo shot. He followed her home and asked her and her parents if she would pose.

That young lady declined, but supposedly her younger sister overheard the offer and she agreed to do it.

We have yet to learn with certainty the identity of either of the sisters.

IZ ZAT SO? In late 1976, RSO decided to reissue the #Blind Faith+ LP with the original cover art and it charted for the second time.

Copies with a 1969 first issue cover sell for around $50.00; ones that picture the band, about $20.00; and those on RSO, just $8.00.





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