Sherman Hemsley a huge GONG fanatic...YES - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Ireneparalegal · 07-24-2008, 12:28 AM

Funny but interesting article here on Sherman

Seems Sherman is a huge fan of the progressive rock band YES.

June 2008
WORLD’S BIGGEST GONG FAN

By Mitch Myers

I once interviewed musician Daevid Allen at a recording studio in San Francisco. Back in the 1960s, he was (briefly) a member of the wonderfully creative British band Soft Machine, but Daevid ended up forming his own strange psychedelic group called Gong.

During his life, Daevid Allen has hung out with everybody from William Burroughs and Jimi Hendrix to Bud Powell, Paul McCartney, Syd Barrett, Keith Richards, Richard Branson and a whole bunch of other famous people that he can’t remember.

One famous person Daevid does recall spending time with is Sherman Hemsley AKA George Jefferson of the 70s sitcom “The Jeffersons.” Sherman had been a jazz keyboardist long before portraying George Jefferson on television, and his progressive sensibilities led him to appreciate the offbeat sounds of Daevid Allen and Planet Gong. Apparently, cosmic Gong compositions like “Flying Teapot” and “Pot Head Pixies” really resonated with the TV star’s psyche.

Years after David’s brief encounter with Sherman Hemsley, the actor would go on collaborate with Jon Anderson, lead singer of the prog-rock group Yes. Their joint musical production was entitled “Festival of Dreams” and supposedly described the spiritual qualities of the number 7.

Anyway, here is Daevid Allen’s verbatim account of his sole meeting with certified Gong fanatic, Sherman Hemsley:

“It was 1978 or 1979 and Sherman Hemsley kept ringing me up, I didn’t know him from a bar of soap because we didn’t have television in Spain. He called me from Hollywood saying, ‘I’m one of your biggest fans and I’m going to fly you here and put flying teapots all up and down the Sunset Strip.’ I thought, ‘This guy is a lunatic.’ He kept it up so I said, ‘Listen, can you get us tickets to LA via Jamaica? I want to go there to make a reggae track and have a honeymoon with my new girlfriend.’ He said, ‘Sure! I’ll get you two tickets.’

I thought, ‘Well, even if he’s a nut case at least he’s coming up with the goodies.’ The tickets arrived and we had this great honeymoon in Jamaica. Then we caught the plane across to LA. We had heard Sherman was a big star, but we didn’t know the details. Coming down the corridor from the plane, I see this black guy with a whole bunch of people running after him trying to get autographs. Anyway, we get into this stretch limousine with Sherman and immediately there’s a big joint being passed around. I say, ‘Sorry man, I don’t smoke.’ Sherman says, ‘You don’t smoke and you’re from Gong?’

Inside the front door of Sherman’s house was a sign saying, ‘Don’t answer the door because it might be the man.’ There were two Puerto Ricans that had a LSD laboratory in his basement, so they were really paranoid. They also had little crack/freebase depots on every floor. Then Sherman says, ‘C’mon upstairs and I’ll show you the Flying Teapot room.’ Sherman was very sweet, but was surrounded by these really crazy people.

We went up to the top floor and there was this big room with darkened windows and “Flying Teapot” is playing on a tape loop over and over again. There were also three really dumb looking, very voluptuous Southern gals stoned and wobbling around naked. They were obviously there for the guys to play around with.

[My girlfriend] Maggie and I were really tired and went to our room to go to bed. The room had one mattress with an electric blanket and that was it. No bed covering, no pillow, nothing. The next day we came down and Sherman showed us a couple of [The Jeffersons] episodes.

One of our fans came and rescued us, but not before Sherman took us to see these Hollywood PR people. They said, ‘Well, Mr. Hemsley wants us to get the information we need in order to do these Flying Teapot billboards on Sunset Strip.’ I looked at them and thought they were the cheesiest, most nasty people that I had ever seen in my life and I gave them the runaround. I just wanted out of there.”

I liked Sherman a lot,’ He was a very personable, charming guy. I just had a lot of trouble with the people around him.”

After completing this essay, I ran the text through a computerized spell check. Upon encountering Daevid Allen’s first name, the “(Word Services) Apple Events Spellswell7” instructed me to replace "Daevid" with the word "teapot." Somewhere in Silicone Valley, a very clever Gong fan is laughing.

Brieannas21 · 07-24-2008, 12:37 AM

I don't know what to make of this, I don't know if it's real or what. That just sounds too crazy and out there for me lol

Ireneparalegal · 07-24-2008, 12:40 AM

Tell me abt it.

I did some checking and apparently Sherman is this huge progressive rock fan. I also remember he did wear a YES t-shirt on that show LIVING IN TVLAND that had a segment with Sherman. I can't imagine Sherman liking progressive rock.

I guess I see him as George Jefferson too much.

Brieannas21 · 07-24-2008, 12:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

Tell me abt it.

I did some checking and apparently Sherman is this huge progressive rock fan. I also remember he did wear a YES t-shirt on that show LIVING IN TVLAND that had a segment with Sherman. I can't imagine Sherman liking progressive rock.

I guess I see him as George Jefferson too much.

The Rock and Roll part I can understand since he seem like a person who's really into music. It's the drugs that is not sounding right to me, the whole freebasing, weed smoking and LSD thing that's taking me for a loop. Also Sherman having people run all willy nilly through his house. I could see this happening with Richard Pryor or Rick James

Not Sherman Hemsley

Ireneparalegal · 07-24-2008, 12:47 AM

Rick James...

True. Very true.

TVFactFan · 07-24-2008, 12:56 AM

Yeah I remember reading in TV guide from 75 and 82 that he had this secret life. So i guess that article Irene is touching on that.

Ireneparalegal · 07-24-2008, 01:00 AM

There was an article in TV Guide that did talk abt his secret life but for the life of me, I could not find it on the internet. That was how I came across this bit of info.

TVFactFan · 07-24-2008, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

There was an article in TV Guide that did talk abt his secret life but for the life of me, I could not find it on the internet. That was how I came across this bit of info.

Yeah the TV guides that discussed his secret life was the one from June of 1975 and Feb of 1982 or Sept of 82

Ireneparalegal · 07-24-2008, 01:15 AM

Ohhh, as a matter of fact, if you look at that thread I made with the pictures of Sherman on the cover of TV Guide, that is the one with the article!

TVFactFan · 07-24-2008, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

Ohhh, as a matter of fact, if you look at that thread I made with the pictures of Sherman on the cover of TV Guide, that is the one with the article!

The TV guide covers with Mike Evans and the other TV guide cover with Sherman by himself with a blue suit are the tv guides that discussed his secret life.

Ireneparalegal · 07-24-2008, 01:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KingofTVResearch

The TV guide covers with Mike Evans and the other TV guide cover with Sherman by himself with a blue suit are the tv guides that discussed his secret life.

Oh so there were two articles? Man, I wish I could find those articles in some archive or something. I tried and tried but I may have to search further. You don't have those TV Guides?

TVFactFan · 07-24-2008, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

Oh so there were two articles? Man, I wish I could find those articles in some archive or something. I tried and tried but I may have to search further. You don't have those TV Guides?

I had both but threw them away when trying to make space-lol The 75 article dealt with the story of him living with a spanish guy and his girlfriend. It was him and the spanish against the world, no one could seperate them, they were the best of the friends

catlover79 · 07-24-2008, 11:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

Tell me abt it.

I did some checking and apparently Sherman is this huge progressive rock fan. I also remember he did wear a YES t-shirt on that show LIVING IN TVLAND that had a segment with Sherman. I can't imagine Sherman liking progressive rock.

I guess I see him as George Jefferson too much.

I think it's cool he has such eclectic taste in music. I'm a white girl in my 20s and people can't believe my love of classic Motown, R&B and blues in general. So, it's all good.

Ireneparalegal · 07-24-2008, 04:59 PM

Here is a snippet of information where Sherman's fellow roommate/co-star on the Surreal Life and his response as to Sherman's many moods

:

http://www.dailypepper.com/mt/archives/000919.html

Movin' on Up: Sherman Hemsley Explained

Sherman Hemsley embodies my kind of Zen. On the latest season of the Surreal Life, he never gets riled up and focuses on what's really important - food and sleep. In every single episode, he is caught snacking and napping.

Sometimes he's merely peckish ...
Sometimes he's only hungry like the wolf ...
Sometimes he snoozes ...
Sometimes he coasts to dreamland ...
And sometimes, he's fully awake and in a sprightly mood ...

From where do the Many Moods of Sherman Hemsley spring? Well, cast member Steve Harwell of the band Smashmouth speculated that Sherman's moods stemmed from the "funny grass."

TVFactFan · 07-24-2008, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

Here is a snippet of information where Sherman's fellow roommate/co-star on the Surreal Life and his response as to Sherman's many moods

:

http://www.dailypepper.com/mt/archives/000919.html

Movin' on Up: Sherman Hemsley Explained

Sherman Hemsley embodies my kind of Zen. On the latest season of the Surreal Life, he never gets riled up and focuses on what's really important - food and sleep. In every single episode, he is caught snacking and napping.

Sometimes he's merely peckish ...
Sometimes he's only hungry like the wolf ...
Sometimes he snoozes ...
Sometimes he coasts to dreamland ...
And sometimes, he's fully awake and in a sprightly mood ...

From where do the Many Moods of Sherman Hemsley spring? Well, cast member Steve Harwell of the band Smashmouth speculated that Sherman's moods stemmed from the "funny grass."

I do know he is not outgoing in real life. That's why he was so uncomfortable being interviewed by Bill Cosby on the Tonight Show in 86

07-24-2008, 12:28 AM	#1
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,691	Sherman Hemsley a huge GONG fanatic...YES Funny but interesting article here on Sherman Seems Sherman is a huge fan of the progressive rock band YES. June 2008 WORLD’S BIGGEST GONG FAN By Mitch Myers I once interviewed musician Daevid Allen at a recording studio in San Francisco. Back in the 1960s, he was (briefly) a member of the wonderfully creative British band Soft Machine, but Daevid ended up forming his own strange psychedelic group called Gong. During his life, Daevid Allen has hung out with everybody from William Burroughs and Jimi Hendrix to Bud Powell, Paul McCartney, Syd Barrett, Keith Richards, Richard Branson and a whole bunch of other famous people that he can’t remember. One famous person Daevid does recall spending time with is Sherman Hemsley AKA George Jefferson of the 70s sitcom “The Jeffersons.” Sherman had been a jazz keyboardist long before portraying George Jefferson on television, and his progressive sensibilities led him to appreciate the offbeat sounds of Daevid Allen and Planet Gong. Apparently, cosmic Gong compositions like “Flying Teapot” and “Pot Head Pixies” really resonated with the TV star’s psyche. Years after David’s brief encounter with Sherman Hemsley, the actor would go on collaborate with Jon Anderson, lead singer of the prog-rock group Yes. Their joint musical production was entitled “Festival of Dreams” and supposedly described the spiritual qualities of the number 7. Anyway, here is Daevid Allen’s verbatim account of his sole meeting with certified Gong fanatic, Sherman Hemsley: “It was 1978 or 1979 and Sherman Hemsley kept ringing me up, I didn’t know him from a bar of soap because we didn’t have television in Spain. He called me from Hollywood saying, ‘I’m one of your biggest fans and I’m going to fly you here and put flying teapots all up and down the Sunset Strip.’ I thought, ‘This guy is a lunatic.’ He kept it up so I said, ‘Listen, can you get us tickets to LA via Jamaica? I want to go there to make a reggae track and have a honeymoon with my new girlfriend.’ He said, ‘Sure! I’ll get you two tickets.’ I thought, ‘Well, even if he’s a nut case at least he’s coming up with the goodies.’ The tickets arrived and we had this great honeymoon in Jamaica. Then we caught the plane across to LA. We had heard Sherman was a big star, but we didn’t know the details. Coming down the corridor from the plane, I see this black guy with a whole bunch of people running after him trying to get autographs. Anyway, we get into this stretch limousine with Sherman and immediately there’s a big joint being passed around. I say, ‘Sorry man, I don’t smoke.’ Sherman says, ‘You don’t smoke and you’re from Gong?’ Inside the front door of Sherman’s house was a sign saying, ‘Don’t answer the door because it might be the man.’ There were two Puerto Ricans that had a LSD laboratory in his basement, so they were really paranoid. They also had little crack/freebase depots on every floor. Then Sherman says, ‘C’mon upstairs and I’ll show you the Flying Teapot room.’ Sherman was very sweet, but was surrounded by these really crazy people. We went up to the top floor and there was this big room with darkened windows and “Flying Teapot” is playing on a tape loop over and over again. There were also three really dumb looking, very voluptuous Southern gals stoned and wobbling around naked. They were obviously there for the guys to play around with. [My girlfriend] Maggie and I were really tired and went to our room to go to bed. The room had one mattress with an electric blanket and that was it. No bed covering, no pillow, nothing. The next day we came down and Sherman showed us a couple of [The Jeffersons] episodes. One of our fans came and rescued us, but not before Sherman took us to see these Hollywood PR people. They said, ‘Well, Mr. Hemsley wants us to get the information we need in order to do these Flying Teapot billboards on Sunset Strip.’ I looked at them and thought they were the cheesiest, most nasty people that I had ever seen in my life and I gave them the runaround. I just wanted out of there.” I liked Sherman a lot,’ He was a very personable, charming guy. I just had a lot of trouble with the people around him.” After completing this essay, I ran the text through a computerized spell check. Upon encountering Daevid Allen’s first name, the “(Word Services) Apple Events Spellswell7” instructed me to replace "Daevid" with the word "teapot." Somewhere in Silicone Valley, a very clever Gong fan is laughing.
	__________________ DALLAS COWBOYS ARE HERE AT TRAINING CAMP!!!

07-24-2008, 12:37 AM	#2
Brieannas21 Member Forum Fanatic Join Date: Apr 05, 2004 Location: Texas Posts: 9,792	I don't know what to make of this, I don't know if it's real or what. That just sounds too crazy and out there for me lol

07-24-2008, 12:40 AM	#3
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,691	Tell me abt it. I did some checking and apparently Sherman is this huge progressive rock fan. I also remember he did wear a YES t-shirt on that show LIVING IN TVLAND that had a segment with Sherman. I can't imagine Sherman liking progressive rock. I guess I see him as George Jefferson too much.

07-24-2008, 12:47 AM	#5
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,691	Rick James... True. Very true.

07-24-2008, 12:56 AM	#6
TVFactFan Member Forum Junkie Join Date: Aug 17, 2002 Posts: 99,064	Yeah I remember reading in TV guide from 75 and 82 that he had this secret life. So i guess that article Irene is touching on that.

07-24-2008, 01:00 AM	#7
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,691	There was an article in TV Guide that did talk abt his secret life but for the life of me, I could not find it on the internet. That was how I came across this bit of info.

07-24-2008, 01:15 AM	#9
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,691	Ohhh, as a matter of fact, if you look at that thread I made with the pictures of Sherman on the cover of TV Guide, that is the one with the article!

07-24-2008, 04:59 PM	#14
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,691	Here is a snippet of information where Sherman's fellow roommate/co-star on the Surreal Life and his response as to Sherman's many moods : http://www.dailypepper.com/mt/archives/000919.html Movin' on Up: Sherman Hemsley Explained Sherman Hemsley embodies my kind of Zen. On the latest season of the Surreal Life, he never gets riled up and focuses on what's really important - food and sleep. In every single episode, he is caught snacking and napping. Sometimes he's merely peckish ... Sometimes he's only hungry like the wolf ... Sometimes he snoozes ... Sometimes he coasts to dreamland ... And sometimes, he's fully awake and in a sprightly mood ... From where do the Many Moods of Sherman Hemsley spring? Well, cast member Steve Harwell of the band Smashmouth speculated that Sherman's moods stemmed from the "funny grass."