THE STARSHIP’S MARTY BALIN
Hippies have roots, too!
“Sometimes,” mused Marty Balin, crossing his Holiday Inn room to switch tapes on the portable cassette deck, “I hate being white.”
He fiddled with the volume control, paused to pick a handful of grapes from a pile of fruit strewn across the dresser, then flopped on his double bed.
“Let’s face it,” I said, jealously watching the grapes disappear down Balin’s mouth. “You are white.” Balin gazed blankly at the color TV spewing Sunday baseball soundlessly through the room. “Yeh,” he agreed, “but I’m not too happy about it.”
Ten ye^rs ago, it didn’t sound so odd to hear your average hippie on the street spouting this w^ird kind of selfloathing. Then again, the biggest hit single of 1967 was “To Sir With Love.” Balin, of course, is no addled casualty of 60’s psychedelia. If anything, he is a shrewd and immensely gifted rock -shaman. He’s also an extremely elusive witch doctor—interviews with Balin have been few and far between.