I was The Electric Flag’s last roadie and the roadie for Mike Bloomfield & Friends so I spent a lot of time with Nicholas both on and off stage. While Nicholas was a great front man I don’t think his behind the scene work is well known. For instance, in the early 60s he was involved with the San Francisco folk scene and with a Texas transplant named Janis Joplin and later helped with the Full Tilt band. There are lots of stories like that. He also produced some very good records. One you might not know is Sam Lay In Bluesland starring the great drummer. One that sadly didn’t work out was the record he was going to do with Magic Sam, who tragically died the month it was to be recorded. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Nicholas was the Musical Director for a lot of the “San Francisco\u00c2\u00a0 Sound.” I’ll miss him but he left behind a huge body of work we can still enjoy.<\/p>\n
Phil Brown<\/p>\n
P.S. Nick did in fact write Groovin Is Easy. He was trying to get out of a songwriter’s contract he had with someone so Ron Polte, manager of the Quicksilver and a friend from Chicago, “wrote” Nick’s songs on the album.<\/p>\n
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I was saddened to learn of the passing of Nick Gravenites with whom I had the privilege of working for quite a few years this century. \u00c2\u00a0He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of the documentary film \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Born In Chicago\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that chronicles the rise of young white blues players mentored by their idols. \u00c2\u00a0The centerpiece of the film is the Chicago Blues Reunion, the band\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s core being Nick, Barry Goldberg, Harvey Mandel along with, at various times, Corky Siegel, Tracey Nelson, Jimmy Vivino, Charlie Musselwhite and Elvin Bishop, all of whom are musical treasures deserving greater recognition and appreciation. \u00c2\u00a0Of course, Nick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s song, that was Butterfield\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s theme song is the source of the film\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s title and the truth is that Nick was born in 1938, not \u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u212241 as cited in the song, but he explained that it scanned better that way \u00e2\u20ac\u201d he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fake his age. \u00c2\u00a0He actually was born just outside of Chicago but the fact his that despite his having attended the University of Chicago, he embraced what he called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the hoodlum life stye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and carried a gun on occasion.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
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The film was written by Joel Selvin, includes commentary by all of the aforementioned (including Nick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s commentary on his being enthralled by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the hoodlum life style\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) as well as Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Buddy Guy, Steve Miller (Barry Goldberg\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s former partner), Hubert Sumlin and some others. \u00c2\u00a0Dan Aykroyd narrated it but in his real voice not the Elwood Blues character thank goodness. It was directed by John Anderson (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Horn From The Heart: The Paul Butterfield Story\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and Bob Sarles (“BANG: The Bert Berns Story\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sweet Blues: A Film About Mike Bloomfield.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
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It played quite a few film festivals and the band toured in support of it. \u00c2\u00a0It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s streaming now on Amazon and Apple and here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the trailer:<\/p>\n
https:\/\/vimeo.com\/bsarles\/review\/579679761\/74806b4ab8<\/p>\n
Best,<\/p>\n
Bob Merlis<\/p>\n
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Nick was as authentic a soul as you could ever meet. He spent the lion’s share of his career living in remote Sonoma County, a small town called Occidental, where he played chess in a coffee shop during the day and played music at night in an Italian restaurant three nights a week. He walked to work. His Janis Joplin royalties kept him in business (“Dead people pay my rent,” he liked to say). He was always the old soul in his crowd, the beatnik who mapped out San Francisco for all his old Chicago pals and brought them out — Bloomfield, Elvin, Charlie. He always knew what he was about. Have you seen our movie, “Born in Chicago”? It’s showing on Amazon these days. Nick is all over it and he has pretty much the last word in it when he says that it wasn’t the English guys who saved the blues, it was him and the cats from Chicago.<\/p>\n
Joel Selvin<\/p>\n
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Thank you so much for this. As we are losing so many of my generation, your likening it to the original blues founders was somehow comforting. The death of Happy Traum was devastating for our community. As you know, he was tutored by Brownie McGee. So I like the idea of a chain of creation, passed on from one generation to the next.<\/p>\n
Keep up the good work and the documentation of the music we love.<\/p>\n
Johanna Hall<\/p>\n
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Along with Harvey Brooks (who lives in Israel these days), Nick produced the first (and best) Quicksilver Messenger Service album.<\/p>\n
RIP<\/p>\n
Richard Pachter<\/p>\n
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Thank you for writing this. I almost sent you an email asking if you’d write something or if you’d even heard, but I figured I’d give it a week. Or, maybe, I thought, Nick was just a Bay Area legend and not on your radar.<\/p>\n
As for where he’s been: Occidental, CA. Up until about 10 or 15 years ago, he’d play every Saturday night at Negri’s hotel. It wasn’t the easiest place to get to from Santa Cruz, but it was always worth the trip when I made it happen.<\/p>\n
I didn’t know Nick personally but I loved his music. I’m what you like to refer to as an 80’s deadhead. As such, I didn’t experience the 60’s scene. I first learned about Nick when we were coming out from the East Coast for dead shows in the 80’s. He was playing with Cippolina in band called Thunder & Lighning. When I moved to California in 1990, Nick was playing with band called Animal Mind. He’d play every Saturday night or so at a place called the Boathouse in SF. He’d also play The Saloon and some other places in SF often throughout the 90’s. There was a crew of us that would go see him a lot. I have so many great memories from those shows.<\/p>\n
One of the many songs, I loved from that era was “Four floors or forty. Ain’t no difference when you’re falling down”<\/p>\n
Anyway, thanks for writing about him. RIP Nick.<\/p>\n
Rich Waters<\/p>\n
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I don’t know how he survived the later years either sans money making music. He did the best version of Roy Buchanan’s ‘You’re Killing My Love” bar none. He lived up here in Occidental, a great town where the respect and honor the community showed him, according to his words, made him feel like a hero.<\/p>\n
He lived for the music alone.<\/p>\n
John Brodey<\/p>\n
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Excellent piece on Gravenites and all the others.\u00c2\u00a0 The Electric Flag was a great, great band but they had some problems as I understand it.\u00c2\u00a0 But that record was amazing.\u00c2\u00a0 Even better than Groovin’ (IMO) was an outstanding rendition of Killing Floor, with Nick singing and some of Bloomfield’s best guitar work ever.\u00c2\u00a0 That band had great\u00c2\u00a0musicians, played\u00c2\u00a0 blues, soul, and rock like no other group\u00c2\u00a0has,\u00c2\u00a0and, sadly, left just a small body of work.<\/p>\n
You’re right, they’re dropping at a faster rate.\u00c2\u00a0 And the music will never be the same based on what I see.<\/p>\n
Dave Thorn<\/p>\n
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Good one on Gravenites. RIP.\u00c2\u00a0 I LOVED the Flag. What a band.<\/p>\n
I was also a massive Youngbloods fan, from the very first album. I can still play most of the parts and sing all the harmonies. Their second LP was Earth Music, also excellent. No one remembers that one.<\/p>\n
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As far as Banana, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Lowell Levenger. Been in northern CA forever.\u00c2\u00a0 Regular acoustic gigs for umpteen years. Answers emails and facegram posts. Good guy. He was a sideman a few years back with Steven VanZandt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s soul band experiment. Shared some cool and funny stuff during the tour.<\/p>\n
You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re right, though.\u00c2\u00a0 They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re dropping like flies. Sigh.<\/p>\n
Keep up the good work!<\/p>\n
Rik Shafer<\/p>\n
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Hey Bob, thx for all your writing, great stuff. I saw Banana playing in Little Steven’s Disciples of Soul a few years ago at the Beacon, they were great. And yes, Banana! The Electric Flag had two or three albums. I saw Harvey Brooks playing bass with The Doors at MSG and he was on Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew, among many other things. And yeah, Al Kooper, wow. And there’s a whole cadre of lesser-known musicians who are and were important cogs in the giant wheel, people Rob Stoner and so many others. And hey, how about important VENUES\/clubs that are gone, they had a giant place in it all! Keep on writing Bob, thx for all you do!<\/p>\n
Ira Zadikow<\/p>\n
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RIP Nick\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6as brighter lights than I will surely\u00c2\u00a0tell you, Banana\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe great Lowell Levinger\u00e2\u20ac\u201dis indeed alive and doing great shows, primarily as a multi-instrumentalist for Steve VanZant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Disciples Of Soul\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6they even drop \u00e2\u20ac\u0153On Sir Francis Drake\u00e2\u20ac\u009d live on occasion!<\/p>\n
Don Crouch<\/p>\n
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Wow! What a treasure trove of info!<\/p>\n
Saw the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Flag\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in Philly at the Electric Factory. Buddy Miles held court that night and brought the house breaking into a soul shout and repeat mid song . Banana? Hell yeah \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Still at it. Tours with Little Steven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the Disciples of Soul. If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never seen that act live, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a must. Butterfield introduced all us white kids to the Blues in the late sixties. \u00c2\u00a0Was working with Dick Waterman in the 70s, and hearing Paul loved Coors Beer, which you couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get on the east coast then, I brought in a case for him from a trip out west when they were playing in Boston. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll never forget the smile on his face when I walked into his dressing room with the case on my shoulder.<\/p>\n
These were the artists that brought it every night. University of Chicago? \u00c2\u00a0Impressive ! Who knew?<\/p>\n
Barry Schneier<\/p>\n
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“Where in the hell has Banana been all these years? How has he survived?”<\/p>\n
In 2017 when Steve Van Zant resurrected\u00c2\u00a0the Disciples of Soul and went out on the road to back the Soulfire album, Lowell “Banana” Levinger was in the band on keyboards and mandolin.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.littlesteven.com\/disciples-of-soul<\/p>\n
David Fagan<\/p>\n
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Banana, aka Lowell Levinger is alive , well and gigging around Marin County with occasional side trips to Italy where he is a legend.<\/p>\n
Barry Melton is an occasional bandmate.<\/p>\n
And with Little Steven reformed the Disciples of Soul, Banana was one of the keyboard players and had a featured spot playing the instrumental “On Sir Francis Drake” from the Elephant Mountain album.<\/p>\n
Cheers<\/p>\n
Tom Claycomb<\/p>\n
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Banana has not only been continuosly performing music, but has dealt in acoustic instrument collecting and selling, and for the past several years has been a member of Little Steven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Disciples of Soul.<\/p>\n
Check out Banana at\u00c2\u00a0https:\/\/www.lowelllevinger.com\/<\/p>\n
Cheers,<\/p>\n
Rob Bleetstein<\/p>\n
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Nick with Little Steven & The Disciples a few years ago. I love this version:<\/p>\n
“Groovin’ Is Easy”:\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n