Bay Area Blog Round-Up

We are a little embarassed to admit that during high school Pink Floyd was our drug of choice. We actually didn't need to enhance the experience with anything else (we were way too jittery and naturally paranoid for pot), but a nice six a.m. bus ride in the pitch-dark cold Cleveland winter with Pink Floyd playing on a Walkman, well, that was pretty transcendent. So we were saddened to hear of Syd Barrett's passing. The oral legend around rock bands, and the 60s in general, is pretty overgrown, and separating fact from fiction can be, well, daunting, so we make no claims to the veracity of this next anecdote. But if you're trying to put into context just how unknown but influential Syd actually was, consider this. David Bowie admits that he was influenced by early Pink Floyd, and is said to have noted after David Gilmour replaced Syd in the band that, "When Syd left, there was no more Pink Floyd for me." That's right, the group that went on to incredible super-stardom and recorded an album that remained on Billboard's Top 100 chart for over 500 weeks didn't exist for Bowie once Barrett was no longer a part of it.