Since his main claim to fame is being in the post-successful Lovin' Spoonful, some people have left comments on social media about how they "can't listen to that music again."
Is that such a bad thing? Outside of "Summer in the City" they were a pretty dippie bunch of hippies. And if you can't separate music from the people who make it, you might not be much of an adult.
Jerry was in several groups when he was young and not, uh, nostalgic for childhood. These included The New Christy Minstrels and the Modern Folk Quartet. Arguably either group produced music a little more challenging than the Poon Full. Er, Spoonful. PS, how many straight, upright and decent people did NOT find something lurid in the term "Lovin' Spoonful?" The same bunch that don't know how the band 10CC got its name?
While Jerry did play piano on "Do You Believe in Magic," he didn't actually join the Spoonful until Zal Yanovsky was replaced. The band limped along for another year and broke up in 1969. It was then, that Yester reached his artistic height with "Farewell Aldebaran," produced written and performed with his wife, the legendary Judy Henske. Buoyed by the critical (but not commercial) success of the album, Jerry and Judy formed a band called Rosebud, and issued another album.
Also in Rosebud was arguably one of the most brilliant of session keyboard players, Craig Doerge. Eventually, Jerry and Judy were divorced. Judy married Craig, and they've been together ever since. Yester worked as a producer, saw The Modern Folk Quartet briefly come back together, and eventually joined the reformed Lovin' Spoonful in 1991. Just about a year ago (October 7, 1917) he was arrested. Pedo porn was found on his computer. He was kicked out of the Spoonful, which was still touring at the time. Now, a year later, he awaits sentencing. He's 75, out of work, and the question is whether a few years in jail is really needed as a warning to him or a warning to others.
Meanwhile, below, a pensive track from "Farewell Aldebaran" with Jerry on lead vocal. It's a moody look at old age and death, a subject that might've had something to do with Jerry's sudden interest in the absolute reverse.
HENSKE YESTER
One More Time Instant download or listen on line. No Zinfart passwords, links for bogus out-of-date Flash downloads, malware or spyware anywhere.
UPDATE, FEBRUARY 10th, 2019. Apparently Jerry was able to get a deal...and/or perhaps what was on his computer wasn't THAT bad. He turned up in November of 2018 at the Grand Tavern Restaurant (Grand Central Hotel, Eureka Springs, Arkansas) playing piano behind guitarist singer Catherine Reed (who was doing Paul Simon covers). Catherine and Jerry ended with a duet on the Everly Brothers tune "Bye Bye Love" that Simon and Garfunkel often played. "Bye bye love...bye bye happiness, hello loneliness, I feel like I could die...my lovin' baby is through with me..." February 7th, 2019 he was in Nyx in Eureka Springs, Arkansas for a set (photo below). Nice to know he's not in hell. Maybe purgatory or limbo...because yes, on the far right is the TIP jar and the $15 CDs are laid out, hoping somebody will buy.
7 comments:
WTF ISN'T HE LOCKED UP !!!!! HEY UNCLE NOW MY CHILDHOOD MAKES ALOT OF SENSE !!!!! BURN IN HELL YOU ROTTON EVIL BASTARD !!!!!
No idea what the deal (literally) was between Jerry and the judge. Unlike Michael Jackson, this was a guy who looked but didn't touch. Did he have a lot of somewhat harmless images taken from nudist magazines? Was this sublimating any urge to do something worse? The case is probably sealed. It's a terrible situations to have suffered from a dirty uncle, a corrupt priest, or any other adult who was trusted and who failed. Pedophiles, as Dennis Miller once suggested, "should off themselves. Take one for the team." Some are pathetic (ask Sugar Ray Leonard about the two he encountered on his way to the Olympics) and others are demons (Jimmy So Vile Savile). It's rare when someone (Scotty Bowers, for example) claims that molestation was no big deal, or even fun. Robbing children of their innocence is horrendous.
He definitely used a 12 step program an social media to try an escape charges !!! Shame on You ... that is NOT O.K.
I knew the man long ago when he produced the association my husband was the co founder. Jerry yester was a splendid and musically enlightened fellow. I think something awful must have happened to him in the interim, as I could not imagine this morally upright beacon being brought to the charges. I wish him the best and hope he prevails in his life, knows he is loved and is returned to the high regard he has earned forever in music.
Thanks, the last "Unknown," regarding your recollections of Jerry. It does seem that "something awful" may have happened, leading him to explore the very strange obsession he developed. As we know from "Lolita" and other things, real or case history, people can go along normally and suddenly develop a need that wasn't there before. A morbid fascination. There doesn't appear to be any history with him, or with his own daughter (featured on the cover of "Farewell Aldebaran"). Demonizing the guy isn't the answer. (The movie "M" made this point in the case of a guy who did much worse with his compulsion. Here, Jerry left it at downloading images, which might have people wondering if any naked children artwork in museums should be removed because somebody might react in the wrong way to them). It's a tragic situation, and from a distance, it appears that he was honest about what he did, maybe not even sure why he did it, and was ready to answer for his actions.
That's exactly right, thank you.
I found this page while searching for the status of the case. There are only time stamps, not dates, on these comments, but I can see your last "update" was Feb. 2019, so I wanted to link to this story about Yester being sentenced to two years in prison as of last July.
https://5newsonline.com/2019/07/16/former-lovin-spoonful-sentenced-for-child-porn-charges/
Also, for those who, despite his latter-day personal failings, still respect his musical artistry, you should know about the album Pass Your Light Around that came out on Omnivore Recordings in 2017 - actually I believe it was released the very same day as his arrest, which of course scuttled any publicity for the release, but it consists of unreleased sessions from the early '70s and is a collaboration with Tim Buckley's lyricist Larry Beckett (who also played drums on Farewell Aldeberaan), and is an amazing "lost album" from the period.
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