themontereycountyhera ld • sunday , june

Transcription

T H E
M O N T E R E Y
C O U N T Y
H E R A L D
•
S U N D A Y ,
J U N E
1 0 ,
2 0 0 7
MONTEREY INTERNATIONAL POP FESTIVAL ♥ 1967-2007 ♥ THE SUMMER OF LOVE
T H E
F E S T I V A L
The Monterey International Pop Festival was a
seminal event in rock ’n’ roll history — and defined
a generation that embraced peace, love and
change. The unprecedented bill of musically diverse
acts showed rock’s power to change the world.
Preceding Woodstock by
two years, it was the first
major rock festival, the first
ever rock charity event and
spawned the first ever rock
concert movie.
For one weekend, June
16-18, 1967, the harsh
realities of the Vietnam War
— student unrest, the Cold
War, racism, urban riots,
poverty and domestic
politics — were forgotten
and even transcended.
The artists performed for
Poster by Tom Wilkes
free, with all revenue
donated to charity through
the nonprofit Monterey Festival Foundation.
Estimated weekend attendance figures went as
high as 200,000, and the festival is remembered
fondly as the apex of the so-called Summer of Love.
T H E
S T A F F
SPECIAL TO THE HERALD
➤ Directors: From left: Lou Adler and John Phillips
➤ Emcees: Eric Burdon, David Crosby, Bill Graham,
Chet Helms, Brian Jones, John Phillips, Paul
Simon, Tommy Smothers, Peter Tork
➤ Film crew: D.A. Pennebaker and Associates
➤ Founding board of directors: Lou Adler, Donovan,
Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Roger McGuinn,
Terry Melcher, Andrew Oldham, Alan Pariser,
Johnny Rivers, John Phillips, Smokey Robinson,
Paul Simon, Brian Wilson
T H E
L I N E U P
Friday, June 16
The Association; The Paupers; Lou Rawls;
Beverly; Johnny Rivers; Eric Burdon and The
Animals; Simon and Garfunkel
Saturday, June 17
Canned Heat; Big Brother and The Holding
Company (with Janis Joplin); Country Joe and The
Fish; Al Kooper; The Paul Butterfield Blues Band;
Quicksilver Messenger Service; Steve Miller Band;
The Electric Flag; Moby Grape; Hugh Masekela; The
Byrds; Laura Nyro; Jefferson Airplane; Booker T
and The MGs; Otis Redding
Sunday, June 18
Ravi Shankar; The Blues Project; Big Brother
and The Holding Company; The Group With No
Name; Buffalo Springfield; The Who; The Grateful
Dead; The Jimi Hendrix Experience; Scott
McKenzie; The Mamas and The Papas
S E C T I O N
C R E D I T S
➤ Cover design: James Hererra/The
Herald. Photos of Janis Joplin and police
officer courtesy of Elaine Mayes.
➤ Editor, layout and design: Mike Hale
➤ Copy editor: David Jackson
“The Pop Festival was an event that altered our world from the inside out.
Through our ears, eyes and minds, a new culture redirected the future.”
— John Bassett McCleary, author
40 YEARS AGO
By JOHN BASSETT McCLEARY
Herald Correspondent
T
he sun was shining on 30,000
music lovers. Even the
morning fog sparkled.
Harmonica notes flowed
between the oaks and pines.
Guitar riffs tore through leaves.
Lovers cuddled in their sleeping bags
amid the sweet smell of green
dreams.
The Monterey International Pop
Festival on June 16, 17 and 18, 1967,
was not just a musical event. It was
not just an excuse
young people
COMMENTARY for
to come together
to do frivolous,
youthful things. It
was the beginning
of a new kind of
gathering. It was
the beginning of a
new form of
music. It was the
beginning of a
political and
spiritual
John McCleary
movement.
Everyone who
attended
Monterey Pop
was changed by
the experience.
First, we stopped
using words such
as “attended.”
“Made the scene”
was more like it.
Secondly, we
became
“The Hippie
“experienced,”
Dictionary: A
really
Cultural
experienced, not
Encyclopedia of the
just for a résumé,
1960s and 1970s,”
but spiritually and
by John Bassett
politically.
McCleary (Ten
The Pop
Speed Press)
Festival was an
event that altered
our world from the inside out.
Through our ears, eyes and minds, a
new culture redirected the future.
In each generation there are
defining moments. For some, Pearl
Harbor may be that point. To others it
could be 9/11. For me it was
Monterey Pop and Woodstock. Of
course, this opens my generation up
to a flood of ridicule.
Many folks think that sex, drugs
and rock ’n’ roll were the only
contributions of the hippie culture.
Yes, I said hippie culture.
I am a hippie and proud of it, and,
yes, there is a hippie culture. My
generation is the peace generation,
the people who came along right after
PHOTO BY ED CARAEFF/Special to The Herald
Perhaps the most iconic image of the Monterey International Pop Festival was
this colorized photo of Jimi Hendrix lighting his guitar on fire.
the “greatest” generation. My
generation is responsible for a lot
more than just S, D and R&R.
Let’s make a list: the civil rights
movement, anti-war, ecology,
women’s liberation, men’s lib, gay and
lesbian rights, health and whole food,
exercise and body awareness, new
spirituality and all self-help
movements. Oprah wouldn’t have a
job if it weren’t for the Hippie
Counterculture!
It all started with the Beatnik
mentality of the 1950s and
germinated at the love-ins of the
1960s. Yes, the Monterey
International Pop Festival was a
love-in!
If you choose to consider only the
music of Monterey Pop, that alone is
a story of many dimensions. That
event brought into prominence two of
the most memorable performers of
the past 100 years and the future 100.
Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin were
both triumphant and tragic.
Ravi Shankar and his Eastern soul
Please see McCleary page 3
McCleary
From page 2
and music introduced a generation of
spiritually-starved people to the
possibility of other religions. Ravi was
presented to America at the Pop
Festival. We were now given the
opportunity to choose our own
religions, not that of our parents.
And then psychedelic music was born
during those few days. You can take
music out of psychedelic music, but you
can’t take the psychedelics out of
psychedelic music. And it uplifted us
not only to pleasure but to intellectual
pleasure.
In all cultures, music is the fuel for
our emotions. Psychedelic music
elevated our awareness of the world
around us.
Monterey Pop was the convergence
of music, psychedelics and Eastern
sensibility. It was particularly
frightening to those whose job, wealth
and power demanded religious and
economic obedience. Our individuality
and intellect would make it impossible
for them to control us anymore.
Even if you were to observe Monterey
Pop and ignore the music, you would
have much to consider. The society that
was being born there was soon to
enlighten the world on many levels.
One of the changes being made that
weekend was people’s understanding of
manhood. Men’s liberation is a
movement of the ’60s and ’70s that most
people overlook.
In the 1950s, many young men
suffered from the expectations of our
macho society. Parental pressures on
both boys and and girls to fit into
established molds damaged many
young people.
At Monterey Pop, Hendrix came on
stage wearing a feather boa. Yet no one
today would ever question Jimi’s place
as a man’s man! Country Joe McDonald
wore flowers painted on his face, yet
everyone who saw him that day will tell
you that he was the coolest man they
had ever seen.
And Joplin, stomping her feet,
demanding respect, was the most
powerful person on stage among her
male band members. Roles were
changed that day, and no man or
woman was ever taken for granted again
among thinking people.
Many things can be said about the
uniqueness of Monterey Pop. We can
say that everyone was beautiful. We can
talk about the peace and love displayed
by those who were there. We can tell of
how the music moved us.
Hendrix played as if he were a god,
yet mortal as all of us are. Country Joe
became the most truthful politician we
had ever heard, when he sang the “Fish
Cheer” and “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’To-Die Rag.” And Janis Joplin cried for
every woman and man, yet demanded
that we stand up to the reasons for our
tears.
Most of us came to the festival, and
the movement, for the sex, drugs and
More than
20,000 fans
camped
peacefully on
the football
field at
Monterey
Peninsula
College. Some
performers
played
impromptu
concerts there
at night.
THE HERALD FILE
rock ’n’ roll, but we soon realized that
there were many more dimensions to
the culture. And one of the dimensions
was that it was a culture, albeit a
“counterculture.”
Even the sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll
were different, a reaction to that before
it.
By the way, hippies did not invent
sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll! These very
important elements of life have been
with mankind since the beginning,
when we were still a slimy ooze.
What hippies were trying to do was
make sense of these things. And we
have done a pretty good job of doing so,
if you care to listen to us. And many
people are starting to listen, even
though it is 30 years later!
Yes, it is official! The hippies were
right all along! More and more people
are copping to our rightness. Even the
White House, just this year, finally
admitted that there is a
greenhouse/global warming problem.
You can’t pick up a good newspaper
anywhere without finding an article
vindicating hippie ideals or intellect.
I don’t want to trash the “greatest
generation”; they did what they did
using the things they knew at the time.
But their mentality was frozen in a
misguided past of greed and violence.
If mankind is to survive, it must
evolve into a more forgiving soul.
Survival of the fittest is OK in the lower
animal kingdoms where they don’t have
bullets and explosives. What we must
realize is that self preservation will only
be for all of us when we start thinking in
terms of all of us together as one.
And that kind of thinking started for
many of us at Monterey Pop. Once
you’ve been to a love-in you never want
to go back to the hatred and violence of
a frustrated society. Cooperation and
the brotherhood of all mankind is one
of the most prominent hippie ideals. It
is an attitude we took from Christ and
all the other spiritual teachers before or
since him.
Many people might think that
Monterey Pop was just a blip on the
heart monitor of this world, but it was
much more than that.
I will not paint the hippie
counterculture in a “whitewash” of
tie-dye. There were mistakes and
tragedies. A number of the performers
on the stage on that June weekend in
1967 have died or self-destructed in the
experiment that is the hippie
counterculture.
But we were the guinea pigs, and
now it seems we did not die in vain
because people are starting to listen.
The flower child has not wilted. Our
idealism was founded in a compassion
for this Earth and its inhabitants. The
sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll for which we
were ridiculed has been proven to be of
a purity that shines in comparison to
what we see displayed today.
In 1980 several things happened to
derail the evolution of mankind. John
Lennon was killed, Ronald Reagan was
elected and Bo Derek was voted a 10.
Today it is time for us to compare those
events with Monterey Pop.
The Monterey Pop moment was a
glimpse of how people could live. The
reality that followed was shattering.
On this 40th anniversary of The
Monterey International Pop Festival, let
us re-evaluate the way our world has
gone since then. Let us relive the
debate about the hippie culture. Those
of us who consider ourselves hippies
welcome this scrutiny. And if you
recognize that we were right, please,
please, for the sake of your children and
children’s children, make changes in
your life today.
John Bassett McCleary is a Monterey
resident and author of “The Hippie
Dictionary: A Cultural Encyclopedia of
the 1960s and 1970s.”
AT
CDs, DVDs, Gifts,
Ukuleles, Guitars, Drums,
Grateful Dead Shirts & More!
Now Featuring:
Monterey Pop Festival:
2-CD Set
Jefferson Airplane at Fillmore East
Also: Listen My Friends!:
The Best of Moby Grape
DO•RE•MI MUSIC & VIDEO
Carmel Rancho Shopping Center • Next to Brinton’s • (831) 625-1229
Q U O T A B L E
“Monterey Pop was
a seminal event: it
was the first real
rock festival ever
held, featuring
debut
performances of
bands that would
shape the history
of rock and affect
popular culture
from that day
forward.”
Rusty DeSoto
music writer
D I D Y O U
K N O W ?
Rumors circulated all
weekend that The Beatles
would make a surprise
appearance, and the
sighting of Brian Jones
(above, right) of The Rolling
Stones sparked more
rumors about that iconic
group appearing. In the
end, the rumors were
unfounded.
T R U T H
B E T O L D
The Mamas and The
Papas were originally hired
to headline the event for a
huge sum, leaving no
money left for other bands.
Group leader John Phillips
and record producer Lou
Adler offered to take over
running the event, and
turned it into a benefit, with
bands playing for free.
Alan Pariser had already
reserved the date and
raised $50,000 seed
money, so Phillips agreed
to pay Pariser off.
“We knew we had to buy
the date from (Pariser),”
he said. “The price agreed
upon was $50,000. Lou put
up $10,000, Michelle
(Phillips) and I put up
$10,000, and we made
three phone calls to raise
the remaining $30,000.
Record producer Terry
Melcher, Johnny Rivers and
Paul Simon came up with
$10,000 each. We explained
what we wanted to do, and
each said, ‘Count me in.’ ”
Legends were born on a foggy Monterey weekend in 1967
THE MUSIC
By BETH PEERLESS
T
he music at the 1967
Monterey International
Pop Festival is to this
day the most significant
aspect of the seminal
event’s legacy. Legendary
careers were made, while others
just came and went as quietly as
the fog on that misty summer
weekend 40 years ago. Yet, all
will live on in history as part of a
watershed event in which pop
music’s direction would take a
sharp detour from the past.
Organizers of the nonprofit
festival understood the
possibilities in presenting such a
diverse array of talent under one
banner. The lineup brought
together in one place the
polarized California music
communities of San Francisco
and Los Angeles, introduced
promising new acts alongside
established stars, bridged the
worlds of Indian classical music
with the swinging London
scene, and integrated American
soul music and the blues with
rock ’n’ roll and folk music. This
ambitious undertaking would
never again be repeated, but it
served to inspire a new
generation of festivals where
acts of all persuasions joined in a
common cause to raise money
for charitable causes.
The eclectic concept had its
roots in the revolutionary San
Francisco FM underground
radio station KMPX and the
ballroom scene where
promoters Bill Graham and Chet
Helms presented varied lineups
at the Fillmore Auditorium and
Avalon Ballroom, respectively.
In one evening a local
psychedelic band could appear
in concert with jazz legends,
blues progenitors, folkies, world
music stars or an English
blues/rock group.
The Monterey Jazz Festival
inspired the original Los
Angeles-based organizers, Alan
Pariser and Benny Shapiro, to
hold the event in Monterey over
a three-day period. Lou Adler
and John Phillips, with funds
they raised among their friends,
bought out and pulled the reins
away from Shapiro when he
voiced dissent over the idea of
the event being nonprofit. They
then organized a board of
directors that included Paul
Simon, Johnny Rivers, Terry
Melcher, Paul McCartney, Mick
PHOTO BY ELAINE MAYES
Janis Joplin wowed the Monterey crowd in two separate performances.
Jagger, Andrew Loog Oldham,
Donovan, Jim (Roger) McGuinn,
Smokey Robinson, Brian Wilson
and Abe Somer.
These already famous
musicians and music industry
types organized the lineup
through referrals and personal
picks, but in the end were
dependent upon the San
Francisco scene, where the
Ravi Shankar
vanguard of rock was coalescing
organically. Fueled by the folk
boom of the early ’60s, the
blues, The Beatles and the
introduction of LSD to the
burgeoning underground art
world and protest movements in
the greater Bay Area, not to
mention the hippie ideals of
love, peace and harmony, the
bands were like pied pipers of
the counterculture.
A majority of the S.F. bands’
managers were wary of the L.A.
promoters’ motives. Even
though they participated
wholeheartedly, they refused to
allow their bands to be filmed
for what they thought were
exploitative reasons. It was
simply a difference in opinion on
how to do business. In the end,
it was Grateful Dead
co-managers Rock Scully and
Danny Rifkin, with the help of
their friend, poster artist Stanley
Mouse, who orchestrated the
S.F. music community’s last
laugh.
“After everyone drifted away
from the arena late Sunday
night, we backed Mouse’s van
up to the stage and loaded a
bunch of Fender amps into the
back and drove off without
anyone noticing,” said Scully,
who, because of his personal
ties to the Monterey Peninsula,
helped to organize the football
field at Monterey Peninsula
College as an off-site
campground for the overflowing
crowd, an estimated 200,000
over the course of the weekend.
“We used them to stage free
guerilla concerts in Golden Gate
Park’s Panhandle where we’d
drive out a flatbed truck, set up,
and skank electricity from a
nearby house. Jimi Hendrix and
Eric Burdon came up after the
festival and played, and S.F.
bands like The Grateful Dead,
Steve Miller and Santana
performed free over about a
month before we gave the amps
back.”
In a return letter to festival
organizers, who queried The
Grateful Dead as to the
whereabouts of the equipment,
they told them where to pick up
the amps and added, “When you
come, be sure to wear flowers in
your hair,” a rhetorical slap in
reference to the song John
Phillips had written for his
friend Scott McKenzie, “San
Please see Performers page 5
(fake band from Hollywood, ya
know); and Augustus Stanley
Owsley, a.ka. Bear, made a
special batch of LSD for the
event called Monterey Purple.
Needless to say, it was some
kind of party where innocence
still prevailed at a certain level.
Looking through the haze,
here is how history remembers
each of the artists that
appeared at the Monterey
International Pop Festival.
Performers
From page 4
Francisco (Be Sure To Wear
Some Flowers In Your Hair).”
It had been released just prior
to the festival and became a
radio hit, just the kind of thing
that went against the grain of
what the San Francisco scene
was all about.
Yet, the festival itself
miraculously came off with
virtually no outward problems,
and the acts that rose to the
occasion, such as The Jimi
Hendrix Experience, Big
Brother and The Holding
Company (featuring Janis
Joplin), The Who, Otis Redding
and Ravi Shankar gained
considerable notoriety and
went down in history, while
others such as Laura Nyro,
The Association, Moby Grape,
Beverly and The Paupers
couldn’t manage to pull out
enough juice to get noticed.
Established stars such as
Simon and Garfunkel, The
Mamas and The Papas, Johnny
Rivers, Eric Burdon and The
Animals and Jefferson Airplane
acquitted themselves
Friday, June 16
➤ The Association had the unique
THE HERALD FILE
The Association was the opening act at Monterey Pop.
honorably, and groups such as
The Electric Flag, Paul
Butterfield Blues Band,
Canned Heat, Country Joe and
The Fish, Quicksilver
Messenger Service, The
Grateful Dead, The Byrds,
Steve Miller Band and Buffalo
Springfield became legends
over the span of their careers,
even though some individuals
and bands burned out in short
order.
Rumors of The Beatles being
at the event circulated all
weekend, and Rolling Stone
Brian Jones’ presence gave rise
to the possibility his band
would perform. Neither was
true. Hip Hollywood stars such
as Dennis Hopper, Doug
McClure, Tommy Smothers
and Candace Bergen made the
scene; Monkees Peter Tork
and Mickey Dolenz came but
were not really appreciated
honor of being the opening act for
the Monterey Pop Festival. The Los
Angeles-based band originally
formed in 1965 as a 13-piece
folk/rock group known as The Men.
When they disbanded, six members
remained and became The
Association. Their first hit came in
1966 with “Along Comes Mary,”
followed by their first No. 1 hit
“Cherish.”
In May 1967, the group had
another No. 1 song with “Windy,” and
it ruled the charts prior to the
band’s Monterey appearance.
“Never My Love” hit No. 2 on
Billboard’s chart and No. 1 in Cash
Box in autumn 1967. The love song
has the distinction of being one of
the most played songs ever, right
next to The Beatles’ “Yesterday.”
“Everything That Touches You” was
the last Top 10 hit for the group in
1968. In 1969, they performed the
soundtrack for the film “Goodbye
Columbus,” but failed to gain any
major hits after “Never My Love.”
Two members from the band’s
classic lineup, Russ Giguere and
Larry Ramos, currently tour and
play up to 70 dates a year with the
modern version of the band.
➤ The Paupers was a Canadian
group that originally formed in 1964
as The Spats. The group never had
any major hits, but its live
performance reputation earned
them high praise, and Bob Dylan’s
manager Albert Grossman bought
out the band manager’s interest in
early 1967.
The Paupers’ highest charting hit,
“If I Call You By Some Name,”
reached No. 31 on Canada’s RPM
chart. After a stint opening for
Jefferson Airplane at New York’s
Café Au Go Go, the band recorded
“Magic People,” its debut recording,
and set off for a series of West
Coast dates that included San
Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium and
the Monterey Pop Festival. The
Paupers career never reached
grand heights, yet they were a
popular opening band for legendary
bands such as Cream and The Jimi
Hendrix Experience.
The band’s second album, “Ellis
Island,” was released after the band
Step back in time to the “Summer of Love!”
Come join the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the Monterey International Pop Festival on
the June 16th opening night at the Golden State Theatre. See the acclaimed music festival
film, “Monterey Pop,” an on-stage interview with the filmmaker, D.A. Pennebaker, and
meet rock ‘n’ roll’s most famous photographers and celebrities from the original 1967 event.
TICKETS: $25 “Monterey Pop” screening, Pennebaker interview, festival photo art exhibit.
Available at Golden State Theatre Box Office or call 831-372-4555. www.goldenstatetheatre.com.
Proceeds benefit the Monterey County Film Commission and the Monterey International Pop
Festival Foundation.
TICKETS: $50 for Celebrity VIP Reception, includes party with Pennebaker, “Monterey Pop”
screening, interview, photo exhibit. Tickets available at Monterey County Film Commission,
831-646-0910, and at the Old Monterey Farmers’ Market, Tuesdays from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the
Monterey Pop booth by the Golden State Theatre. Info: www.FilmMonterey.org
Continue the Summer of Love at “Words and Music: The Art of the Rock Poster”: June 9 to
Sept. 9 at the National Steinbeck Center, Salinas www.steinbeck.org. Vintage original psychedelic
rock posters and handbills from the 1960s.
Performers
From page 5
broke up in 1969.
➤ Lou Rawls’ appearance at the
festival had no real impact on his
career. Evidently the Vegas-styled
performance was not greatly
appreciated on the first night of the
event when the audience was
preoccupied with getting settled and
establishing ties with neighbors in
the arena. Rawls’ expressive voice
garnered three Grammy Awards
during his lifetime, the first coming in
the same year as Monterey Pop with
“Dead End Street.”
The Chicago-born blues, jazz and
pop singer’s hits include second
Grammy-winner “Natural Born Man”
(1971), “You’ll Never Find Another
Love Like Mine” (1976), “See You
When I Git There,” “Lady Love” and
“Unmistakably Lou” (1977), and his
last charting hit “I Wish You
Belonged To Me” (1987). Rawls died
of cancer in 2006.
➤ Beverly, whose real name was
Maureen McGeehie, was picked by
Paul Simon as his talent discovery
for the festival. He knew her from
his days in London two years earlier.
Her performance did nothing to
elevate her career and after
Monterey she performed and
recorded with her husband, British
folk singer John Martyn, under the
name Beverly Martyn.
➤ Johnny Rivers was among the
small group of initial investors in the
festival. His participation came
through his relationship with Lou
Adler, who was instrumental in
getting Rivers’ career launched with
his first live recording made at L.A.’s
hip Whisky A Go Go nightclub.
The Louisiana-raised singer’s
early career brought him into
contact with the Nashville elite and,
in turn, his move to L.A. brought him
great success. His big hits came in
the mid to late ’60s. They included
covers of Chuck Berry’s “Memphis”
and “Mabellene,” “Midnight Special,”
“Seventh Son,” “Poor Side Of Town”
and “Secret Agent Man.” In 1967, he
continued to score big with R&B
covers “Baby I Need Your Lovin’ ”
and “Tracks Of My Tears.” Rivers
has had a busy career in producing
other artists’ successful careers,
most notably The Fifth Dimension.
The part-time Big Sur resident has
continued to record and tour, and
has appeared locally in fundraising
events.
➤ The Animals formed in England
in 1962 when Eric Burdon joined the
1958-formed Alan Price Combo. In
the summer of 1964, the group had a
No. 1 hit on both sides of the Atlantic
with “House of the Rising Sun.”
In 1965, they charted with “Don’t
Let Me Be Misunderstood,” “We
Gotta Get Out of This Place” and “It’s
My Life.” Timing was right for the
successful group to be included in
what was termed the British
Invasion, led by The Beatles and The
Rolling Stones. Shake-ups in the
band caused shifts in the lineup, but
the group continued to have hits in
1966 with “Inside-Looking Out,”
Eric Burdon
and The
Animals
were a big
hit, playing
such songs
as “San
Franciscan
Nights.”
THE HERALD FILE
“Don’t Bring Me Down” and See See
Rider.” At this point, the band
became known as Eric Burdon and
the Animals.
They came to perform at
Monterey, and subsequently, Burdon
wrote the classic song about the
festival, “Monterey” (1968). Beyond
its appearance on the festival’s main
stage, the group became legendary
in festival lore for Burdon’s
impromptu late-night performance
at MPC’s football field encampment.
Psychedelia moved into the R&B
inspired sound of the band with “San
Franciscan Nights” (1967) and “Sky
Pilot” (1968). The group fell apart a
year and a half later, but Burdon
reformed as Eric Burdon and the
New Animals before he decided to
go solo and split for L.A. There he
hooked up with the band War, and it
backed him on the 1970 hit “Spill The
Wine.”
Burdon left War and continued
with a solo career that lasts until this
day. The original band was inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
1994.
➤ Simon and Garfunkel was the
only act Friday night that could
silence the restless crowd. Paul
Simon and Art Garfunkel were a
hugely successful duo at the time of
their appearance, and Simon was an
integral member of the festival’s
board.
The two New York school chums
discovered they could harmonize
and early on enjoyed singing doo
wop songs, but soon they began to
write their own originals. They
recorded “Hey Schoolgirl” in 1957
and under the name Tom and Jerry,
had a Top 50 hit with the tune and
appeared on American Bandstand.
Subsequent attempts to match their
first success fell short and they
broke up.
They met again in 1962, while busy
with alternative careers. Yet Simon’s
continued songwriting productivity
earned them another recording
contract, this time with Columbia
Records. They released the album
“Wednesday Morning, 3 AM” in 1964,
and went about their separate
careers. Simon was working the
British folk circuit when he got the
news in the summer of 1965 that
“The Sound of Silence” had become
a No. 1 hit in the U.S.
Upon Simon’s return to the
States, the duo went out on tour as
Simon and Garfunkel. The hits that
followed included “Homeward
Bound,” “I Am a Rock” and “Parsley,
Sage, Rosemary and Thyme” in 1966,
“At The Zoo” and “Fakin’ It” in 1967,
and then they did “Mrs. Robinson”
for the soundtrack to “The
Graduate.” Continuing success
garnered hits “Bookends,” “The
Boxer” and “Bridge Over Troubled
Water” (1970, their biggest career
hit), and the LP yielded three more
hit singles and won six Grammys.
They went their separate ways in
1970. Simon’s solo career has had
numerous hits and Garfunkel had
most of his success in acting,
although he continued to work as a
solo artist. The duo was inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
1990.
Saturday, June 17
➤ Canned Heat got things rolling
with some boogie blues on Saturday
afternoon. The band’s history
started in Los Angeles in 1965, and
soon after its appearance at
Monterey, released its debut
recording “Canned Heat.”
Leaders Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson
and Bob “The Bear” Hite were joined
by Henry “Sunflower” Vestine, Larry
“The Mole” Taylor and Frank Cook.
Guitarist Harvey Mandel toured with
the band extensively through the late
’60s. Besides riding high with hits
“On The Road Again,” “Going Up The
Country” and “Let’s Work Together,”
the band was also known for helping
Son House and Albert Collins get
their careers back on track.
Fito De La Para replaced Cook as
drummer in 1968, and he is the only
early member in the current lineup
of the band. Bassist Larry Taylor left
in 1970, but returned in 1994 for
occasional gigs. The group appeared
at Woodstock and in the movie
about the infamous huge outdoor
concert.
➤ Big Brother and The Holding
Company was one of the breakout
acts of the weekend, due to the
appeal and passionate, raw bluesy
delivery by vocalist Janis Joplin.
As part of the S.F. contingent that
rejected the film proposal, the
band’s set Saturday afternoon was
not recorded. But after leaving the
stage after her triumphant
performance, Joplin felt regret for
not having it taped. In order to
capture such a riveting act, the
festival presenters gave her another
opportunity to perform Sunday
evening after several slots opened
due to cancellation (The Beach Boys
was one act that bailed only days
before the event).
Joplin had joined Big Brother and
The Holding Company a year after
its inception in 1965. Manager and
friend Chet Helms had brought
Joplin to S.F. from Texas, and the
band benefited greatly from being
managed by Helms, who was the
leading light of the Family Dog
concert presenting group. Bob
Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman
wooed the band away from Helms
after the Monterey performance.
The group’s second LP, “Cheap
Thrills,” reached the top of the
charts in 1968, and the single “Piece
of My Heart” put Joplin on the radio
map.
She left Big Brother in 1969 and
pursued a career as a solo artist
with new backing bands. The first,
the Kozmic Blues Band, performed
with her at Woodstock. She then
formed The Full Tilt Boogie Band.
Joplin and her new band joined the
1970 Festival Express train tour
through Canada and several years
ago the film cans from that event
were dusted off and footage was
fashioned into a full-length movie.
During September 1970 Joplin and
her band were in L.A. to record a
new album. Joplin died of a drug
overdose before its completion, but
enough was completed to release it
posthumously. “Pearl” (1971)
contained the biggest hit of her
career, “Me and Bobby McGee.”
Both the album and single went to
No. 1. Joplin’s legacy continues to
flourish with biographical films and
stage shows celebrating her
all-too-short tenure at the top of the
music world and examining her often
painful personal life. Her flamboyant
and confident outward persona
belied a tortured soul beneath.
➤ Country Joe and The Fish was
the most overtly political band out of
the San Francisco psychedelic
scene, having formed in Berkeley in
1965 amid the protest movement
going on at the University of
California-Berkeley campus. Initially
Joe McDonald and Barry Melton
performed as a duo, and the band
was loosely constructed until early
1966, when the five-man lineup
coalesced.
As part of the San Francisco
scene, the group performed often at
the Fillmore and Avalon with other
local psychedelic bands such as The
Grateful Dead and Jefferson
Airplane. The song the group is most
famous for is the “I-Feel-Like-I’mFixin’-To-Die Rag,” a satirical ditty
that lampooned the Vietnam War
effort. Other songs such as “Not So
Sweet Martha Lorraine” and
“Section 43” were staples on the
revolutionary S.F. FM stations KMPX
and KSAN.
The band appeared at both
Monterey Pop and Woodstock,
appearing in both movies as well. In
THE HERALD FILE
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band played Saturday.
Performers
From page 6
1971, the band appeared in the film
“Zachariah” with Don Johnson as an
outlaw gang called Crackers. Other
film credits include “More American
Graffiti” and “Gas-s-s-s.” While
Country Joe and Barry Melton have
maintained solo careers since the
band’s initial breakup in 1971, there
have been occasional reunions.
➤ Al Kooper has worn many hats
in his career. At the Monterey Pop
Festival, he worked as an assistant
stage manager, and performed a
hastily prepared set with his own
band only weeks after he left the
Blues Project (also on the bill), which
he co-founded in 1965.
His early career highlights include,
as a 15-year-old, work with the Royal
Teens, which had a No. 3 hit in 1958,
“Short Shorts.” His list of performing
and producing credits is long, with
highlights to include forming the horn
band Blood, Sweat and Tears in
1967, and producing and performing
on the classic “Super Session” with
Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills.
He discovered and produced the
Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd,
produced The Tubes first LP in 1975
and Nils Lofgren’s “Cry Tough.” He’s
written music for television and
THE HERALD FILE
THE HERALD FILE
Johnny Rivers.
Lou Rawls.
movies, released numerous albums
as a solo artist and written a
memoir, the revised edition titled
“Backstage Passes & Backstabbing
Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock ’N’ Roll
Survivor.” Kooper currently teaches
songwriting and production at
Berklee College of Music in Boston,
and plays weekend concerts with his
bands The ReKooperators and The
Funky Faculty.
➤ The Paul Butterfield Blues
Band formed in 1963 in Chicago and
was one of the most influential
American blues bands.
Butterfield’s harmonica style and
vocal abilities came straight out of
the south side of Chicago, where he
would sit in as a teen with legendary
bluesmen such as Howlin’ Wolf and
Muddy Waters. Up until right before
the Monterey Pop Festival, the band
had two guitarists, lead guitarist
Mike Bloomfield and rhythm guitarist
Elvin Bishop.
Bloomfield is considered one of
the greatest guitar players of all
time for his blues sensibilities and
improvisational style. At the festival
he debuted his new band The
Electric Flag. The band, minus
Butterfield, backed Bob Dylan for his
controversial electric coming out
party at the Newport Folk Festival.
Although there weren’t any “hits” for
this band, its first couple of albums
are considered classics in the genre
and were influential in the careers of
many modern blues musicians.
Butterfield died in 1987 at 44 from
complications of alcoholism.
➤ Quicksilver Messenger Service
was one of the prominent San
Francisco psychedelic bands with a
penchant for jamming. Although they
released several albums that were
regionally successful, they never
achieved the national attention of
their counterparts on the scene.
They formed in 1965 and released
their first eponymous album in 1968.
The initial members included John
Cipollina, Gary Duncan, David
Freiberg and Greg Elmore, and
through subsequent lineup shifts,
also included Dino Valenti, Nicky
Hopkins and Jim Murray. The band
broke up in 1975.
➤ Steve Miller Band formed in
San Francisco in 1966 and soon
after, Miller’s friend Boz Scaggs
joined the band. Miller’s history has
interesting elements, such as Les
Paul being his first guitar teacher as
a young kid in Texas, and a time
when he lived in Chicago and formed
a band with Barry Goldberg and
hung with the guys in The Paul
I
Studio 13
•
Tattoo & body Piercing
award winning artists
sterile procedures
custom tattoos & portraits
Exotic piercings
huge jewelry selection
full aftercare procedures
mention ad
and recieve
20% off
758-1313
115 john street • salinas
www.studio13salinas.com
re
•
e
Butterfield Blues Band.
After the band’s appearance at
Monterey, Miller received a
recording contract with Capitol
Records that yielded one of the
highest advances for the time, and a
great royalty deal. His first hit was
“Livin’ in the U.S.A.” off his second
album “Sailor.” He continued to
record great albums and build a
larger fan base, yet he was void of
any hits until he changed his sound
after a time off due to injury and
illness. “The Joker” came out in 1973
and the single of the same name
became a hit. His next album, “Fly
Like An Eagle,” came out three years
later and stayed on the charts for
three years.
Next up was the album “Book of
Dreams” in 1977, which contained
three hits, “Jet Airliner,”
“Swingtown” and “Jungle Love.”
➤ The Electric Flag debuted at
the Monterey Pop Festival. Mike
Bloomfield had just left The Paul
Butterfield Blues Band and teamed
with drummer Buddy Miles and
several other notable players to play
a mix of blues, rock jazz, soul and
country. They sparked the
rock-with-brass trend. Their first
album made it into the Top 40, but
ego conflicts among the members
undermined them and the band
Q U O T A B L E
“Towards the end,
as part of their
act, The Who
started
meticulously
banging, breaking
and shattering
their instruments
on the stage. That
was the limit! I
couldn’t take it any
more and left with
disturbing
sensations in my
mouth, ears and
heart.”
Ravi Shankar
musician
D I D Y O U
K N O W ?
Janis Joplin’s
showstopping
performance of “Ball and
Chain” at the Monterey
Pop Festival is considered
a true milestone for
women. Big Brother and
The Holding Company
followed that effort with
“Cheap Thrills” (1968), the
first rock album to hit No. 1
with a female lead singer.
Joplin abandoned the
group upon her success
and embarked on an
erratic solo career that
ended with her death in
1970. “Me and Bobby
McGee,” written by Kris
Kristofferson, became her
only No. 1 single,
posthumously.
T R U T H
B E T O L D
Contrary to popular
myth, Jimi Hendrix did not
carve his name on the main
stage at the fairgrounds. It
was carved a few years
after Hendrix’s death, and
was recently almost
completely sanded over.
Performers
From page 7
lasted only 18 months.
➤ Moby Grape was the San
Francisco band that had the most
promise, but the least success, due to
bad luck, stupid moves and record
label gimmickry. Its debut recording
was brilliant, with more stock given to
short radio friendly tunes rather than
the long jams of their counterparts on
the psychedelic scene. “Omaha” off
the first album was the only tune to
chart. After two more releases, the
band would break up and regroup
several times under varying names
due to a contractual problem with the
band’s manager that gave him the
legal power over the name.
In 1993, they released a
retrospective album titled “Vintage”
that received more attention than the
band did in its heyday.
➤ Hugh Masekela began singing
and playing piano as a child in South
Africa, and eventually took up the
trumpet. He played with South
Africa’s first youth orchestra and was
a member of the Jazz Epistles, the
first African jazz group to record an
LP. After fleeing South Africa’s
apartheid state in 1960, he came to
the United States and befriended
Harry Belafonte. His hits in the U.S.
included “Up, Up and Away” and
“Grazin’ in the Grass.”
After Monterey Pop, Masekela
played primarily in jazz ensembles,
with guest appearances on albums by
The Byrds and Paul Simon. In 1987, he
had a hit single with “Bring Him Back
Home” which became an anthem for
the movement to free Nelson
Mandela.
➤ The Byrds were popular and
influential through the 1960s and early
1970s, bridging the gap between the
folk music of Bob Dylan and the
hybrid pop of The Beatles. The
original lineup included Roger
McGuinn, Gene Clark and David
Crosby. Bassist Chris Hillman and
drummer Michael Clarke later joined
the trio.
Throughout their career, they
helped forge such subgenres as folk
rock, space rock, raga rock,
psychedelic rock, jangle pop and, on
their 1968 album “Sweetheart of the
Rodeo,” country rock.
After several lineup changes (with
lead singer/guitarist McGuinn as the
only consistent member), they broke
up in 1973.
Some of their trademark songs
include pop covers of Bob Dylan’s
“Mr. Tambourine Man” and Pete
Seeger’s “Turn! Turn! Turn!” and the
originals “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better”
and “Eight Miles High.”
They were inducted into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame and several
band members launched successful
solo careers after leaving the group.
➤ Laura Nyro was best known and
had the most commercial success as
a composer and lyricist, rather than
as a performer. Her best-known
songs included “And When I Die” (a hit
for Blood, Sweat & Tears), “Stoney
End” (covered by Barbra Streisand),
Keith Moon during The Who’s memorable Sunday evening
performance.
“Wedding Bell Blues,” “Stoned Soul
Picnic,” “Sweet Blindness” and “Save
The Country” (all covered by the Fifth
Dimension) and “Eli’s Coming” (a hit
for Three Dog Night). Ironically,
Nyro’s own best-selling single was a
cover of Carole King and Gerry
Goffin’s “Up On The Roof.”
Nyro died of ovarian cancer in
1997, at the age of 49.
➤ Jefferson Airplane debuted
Aug. 13, 1965, at the Matrix nightclub
in San Francisco. The first
performance featured Marty Balin on
vocals, Paul Kantner on
vocals/rhythm guitar, and Jorma
Kaukonen on lead guitar. Signe
Anderson (who sang on Jefferson
Airplane’s first recording “Jefferson
Airplane Takes Off’’) also performed.
The bass player, Jack Casady, and
drummer Skip Spence (who was later
one of the original members of Moby
Grape) joined the band two months
later. Spencer Dryden became the
drummer in June 1966 and Grace
Slick joined as vocalist in October that
year. The band performed the first
concert for Bill Graham at the
legendary Fillmore Auditorium in San
Francisco in February 1966.
Jefferson Airplane performed at
the Berkeley Folk Festival, Monterey
Jazz Festival, Monterey Pop Festival,
Woodstock and Altamont. They had
hit singles “White Rabbit” and
“Somebody to Love,” from the album
“Surrealistic Pillow.” They were on
the cover of Life Magazine in 1968.
The band co-headlined with The
Doors in Europe in the summer of
1968.
The band was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
➤ Otis Redding moved into the
Saturday night headliner slot after
The Beach Boys bowed out. Festival
co-founder Lou Adler called Redding’s
performance “one of the best overall
concert performances ever, and
certainly on film.”
In 1960, Redding began touring the
South with Johnny Jenkins and The
Pinetoppers. That same year he
made his first recordings, “She’s All
Right” and “Shout Bamalama,” with
his group Otis and The Shooters.
In 1962, he made his first real mark
in the music business when he
recorded “These Arms of Mine,” a
self-written ballad. Further hits
between 1964 and 1966 included “Mr.
Pitiful,” “I Can’t Turn You Loose”
(which later became The Blues
Brothers’ entrance theme music),
“Try a Little Tenderness,” “(I Can’t
Get No) Satisfaction” and “Respect”
(later a smash hit for Aretha
Franklin).
Tragically, Redding wouldn’t live
long enough to bask in glow of his
breakthrough Monterey
performance. Redding and six others,
including four members of his backup
band, The Bar-Kays, were killed in a
plane crash on Dec. 10, 1967, in Lake
Monona in Madison, Wis. Redding was
26.
Redding’s biggest hit, “(Sittin’ on)
the Dock of the Bay,” was recorded
only three days prior to his death. It
was released the next month and
became his first No. 1 single and first
million-seller.
Sunday, June 18
➤ Ravi Shankar began writing
scores for film and ballet and started
a recording career with HMV’s Indian
affiliate in the 1940s. He became
music director of All India Radio in the
1950s.
Shankar then became well known
to the music world outside India, first
performing in the Soviet Union in 1953
and then the West in 1956. He
performed in major events such as
the Edinburgh Festival, as well as
major venues such as Royal Festival
Hall.
Beatle George Harrison began
experimenting with the sitar in 1965.
The two eventually met through this
common interest and became close
friends, which, in turn, expanded
Shankar’s fame as Harrison’s mentor.
This development greatly expanded
his career. He was invited to play
venues that were unusual for a
classical musician, starting with the
Monterey Pop Festival. He was also
one of the artists who performed at
Woodstock in 1969.
Shankar has written two concertos
for sitar and orchestra, and
composed extensively for films and
ballets in India, Canada, Europe and
the United States, including for the
epic movie “Gandhi,” for which he
received an Academy Award
nomination.
Shankar’s daughter is Norah
Jones, the Grammy-winning
singer-songwriter.
➤ The Blues Project was a
short-lived rock ’n’ roll band from the
Greenwich Village neighborhood in
New York City. They were most
remembered as one of the earliest
practitioners of psychedelic rock, as
well as one of the world’s first jam
bands.
The band’s last hurrah was actually
in Monterey. Half the original lineup
was gone, and original member Al
Kooper had formed his own band and
played at the festival as well.
Later, Kooper and band founder
Steve Katz joined forces to form the
band Blood, Sweat & Tears.
The Blues Project, with a modified
lineup, reformed briefly in the early
1970s and released three albums.
Since then, the group’s activity has
been confined to a few sporadic
reunion concerts.
➤ Big Brother and The Holding
Company (see previous description)
➤ Cyrus Faryar was an American
folk musician and record producer
and Modern Folk Quartet member. At
the Monterey Pop Festival, Faryar led
a band dubbed The Group With No
Name, which made an anonymous
appearance at the festival on Sunday
evening. He was discovered and
invited to join the festival by John
Phillips.
➤ Buffalo Springfield was a
Performers
From page 8
short-lived but influential folk rock group that
served as a springboard for the careers of
Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and
Jim Messina. It is most famous for the song
“For What It’s Worth.”
After its formation in April 1966, a series of
disruptions, including internal bickering, as
well as the pressure of working in the music
industry, resulted in constant changes in the
group’s lineup — and ultimately culminated in
the group’s disbanding after roughly 25
months.
Buffalo Springfield released a total of three
albums but also left a legacy that includes
numerous demo recordings, studio outtakes
and live recordings.
Although Buffalo Springfield was never a
major commercial success, “For What It’s
Worth” was a legitimate hit, and the group’s
reputation would only grow stronger with the
later successes of its members. Stills went on
to form a band with David Crosby of The
Byrds and Graham Nash of The Hollies in 1968.
Young launched a solo career, but in 1969 also
reunited with Stills in Crosby, Stills and Nash,
which saw the beginning of his sporadic
relationship with that trio.
➤ The Who is an English rock band that
first formed in 1964 and grew to be
considered one of the greatest and most
influential bands of all time. The primary lineup
consisted of Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey,
John Entwistle and Keith Moon.
The Who rose to fame in the United
Kingdom with a series of Top 10 hit singles
(including the celebrated “My Generation”)
and Top 5 albums, beginning in 1965 with “I
Can’t Explain.” They first hit the Top 10 in the
U.S. in 1967 with “I Can See For Miles.” The
1969 release of “Tommy” was the first in a
series of Top 5 albums for the group in the
U.S.
Their appearance in Monterey was
punctuated by the band members destroying
their instruments on stage and throwing the
debris into the audience.
Moon died in 1978, after which the band
released two more studio albums, “Face
Dances” and “It’s Hard,” with drummer
Kenney Jones, before officially disbanding in
1983. They reformed on several occasions
during the 1980s and 1990s to perform at
special events such as Live Aid and for tours
celebrating anniversaries of “Tommy.”
In 2000, the three surviving members began
to discuss the possibility of recording an
album of new material, but Entwistle died in
2002, which delayed recording. The two
remaining members, Townshend and Daltrey,
continue to perform as The Who. Their most
recent studio album, “Endless Wire,” was
released in 2006.
➤ The Grateful Dead formed in 1965 in the
Bay Area. The band was known for its unique
and eclectic songwriting style, which fused
elements of rock, Calypso, folk music,
bluegrass, blues, country, jazz, psychedelia
and gospel,
The group’s fans, some of whom followed
the band from concert to concert for years,
were known as Deadheads and were
renowned for their dedication to the band’s
music.
After meeting their new manager Rock
Scully, they moved to the Haight-Ashbury
section of San Francisco. Many bands from
this area, such as Jefferson Airplane, Big
Brother and The Holding Company and
Santana, went on to national fame, giving San
Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead plays Monterey Pop.
Francisco an image as a center for the hippie
counterculture of the era.
Of these bands, The Grateful Dead had
members with arguably the highest level of
musicianship, including banjo and guitar player
Jerry Garcia, bluesman Pigpen, the classically
trained Phil Lesh and drummer Bill
Kreutzmann. The Grateful Dead most
embodied all the elements of the San Francisco
scene and came, therefore, to represent the
counterculture to the rest of the country.
After Garcia’s death in August 1995, the
remaining members formally decided to
disband. The main focus of the members was
to pursue various solo projects, most notably
Bob Weir’s Ratdog, Phil Lesh and Friends and
Mickey Hart’s music for the 1996 Olympics.
In 2003, the band reformed under the name
The Dead. The members would continue to
tour on and off through the end of 2004. The
band included Jeff Chimenti on keyboards,
Jimmy Herring on guitar and Warren Haynes
on guitar and vocals.
➤ The Jimi Hendrix Experience was a highly
influential, though short-lived,
English/American rock band famous for the
guitar work of Jimi Hendrix on songs such as
“Purple Haze,” “Foxey Lady,” “Fire,” “Hey Joe”
and many others. Although Hendrix was the
main focus and frontman, both bassist Noel
Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell were also
vital to “the experience.”
Following the lead of Cream, they were one
of the first groups to popularize the “power
trio” format, encouraging more extroverted
playing, often at very high volumes. In the case
of The Experience, Hendrix mixed lead and
rhythm guitar duties into one, while also making
use of then-revolutionary guitar effects such as
feedback and wah-wah.
Visually, they decked themselves out in
psychedelic costumes and permed afros. The
Experience was also one of the first integrated
bands. Given the racial turmoil of the times, the
sheer idea of having a black frontman with two
white men was quite a strong political
statement.
The lineup first came to prominence during
the Monterey Pop Festival, where the band
delivered a stellar performance that ended
with Hendrix famously setting his guitar on fire.
Hendrix died in September 1970 in London
from a drug overdose.
➤ Scott McKenzie (born Philip Blondheim),
is best known for his 1967 hit “San Francisco
(Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your
Hair),” a song written by John Phillips to help
promote the Monterey Pop Festival.
Phillips, who played with McKenize in an
early group called The Journeymen, played
guitar on the recording and Michelle Phillips
played bells. It became a hippie anthem and a
Top 5 smash in the United States and around
the world. McKenzie followed it with “Like An
Old Time Movie,” also written and produced by
Phillips, which was a minor hit. His first album,
“The Voice of Scott McKenzie,” was followed
with an album called “Stained Glass Morning.”
He stopped recording in the early-1970s.
In 1986, he started singing with a new
version of The Mamas and The Papas and, in
1988, co-wrote the Beach Boys hit “Kokomo”
with Phillips, Mike Love and Terry Melcher. In
1998 he retired from the road version of The
Mamas and The Papas. He currently lives in
Los Angeles.
➤ The Mamas and The Papas was one of
the few North American groups to maintain
widespread success during the British
Invasion. The group recorded and performed
from 1965 to 1968, releasing five albums and
achieving 10 hit singles.
Denny Doherty, Cass Elliot, John Phillips and
Michelle Phillips formed the group after
previous folk groups (The Mugwumps, The
New Journeymen) failed.
Elliot headed off to California and, soon
after, John, Michelle and Denny followed her
hoping to make it on the burgeoning West
Coast folk scene. Elliot was at first reluctant to
join the band but, after auditioning for Lou
Adler, signed up with the other three
members. The foursome hit it big immediately
with “California Dreamin’ ” — still their most
recognizable and enduring song.
The group hit No. 1 in the U.S. in March 1966
with “Monday, Monday,” and followed that with
successful singles “I Saw Her Again” (No. 5),
“Words of Love (No. 5), “Dedicated to the One
I Love” (No. 2) and “Creeque Alley” (No. 5).
Originally selected to headline the festival as
paid performers, The Mamas and The Papas
elected to perform for free, with John Phillips
joining forces with Adler to turn the concert
into a benefit.
With the deaths of John Phillips, Elliot and
Doherty, Michelle Phillips is now the last
surviving member of the original group.
The pioneering Big Sur educational institute dedicated
to personal and social transformation.
In its 45th year of offering over 500 diverse residential
programs and workshops per year.
Esalen
Congratulates the Monterey Pop Festival
http://www.esalen.org
Q U O T A B L E
“We all agreed, no
arrests unless
somebody was
really stoned. My
first thought was,
all these people
came here, and
they were so
wonderful, so
courteous. We hired
football players to
be bodyguards, but
I could have hired
kindergartners to
do the same job. It
was so peaceful.”
Sam Karas
Citizens Committee for
Monterey Pop Festival
D I D Y O U
K N O W ?
Although The Beatles did
not play Monterey Pop,
they did create some
artwork for the festival
(above), what has become
the only known artwork
created collaboratively by
the four members. The
drawing shows some
strange thinking of The
Beatles. Written along the
side of the drawing are the
words “Congratulations
Elvis. Say hello to Uncle
Stan. How are you Bob.”
The Beatles also promoted
their album, “Sgt. Pepper’s
Lonely Hearts Club Band”
on the painting. It is signed
“John, Paul, George” and
the last signature appears
to say “Harold,” but it may
be Ringo.
T R U T H
B E T O L D
Ravi Shankar was the
only performer paid to
play at Monterey Pop; he
received $3,000.
D.A. Pennebaker’s classic documentary chronicled the music and the counterculture around it
‘MONTEREY POP’
T
was born in the nightclubs of
Chicago’s black jazz and blues
culture. As a young man, he
frequented these places because
he name Donald Alan
that was where real life could be
Pennebaker was too
found among his otherwise
long to fit into those
uptight Midwestern
little boxes on forms, so
surroundings.
he changed it to D.A.
In the 1950s, New York was
Pennebaker — “Penny” to his
the place to be and when
friends. But we know him as the
Pennebaker arrived he was
cinematographer and director of
bombarded by the magnitude of
the Monterey International Pop
its creativity, noise and grit.
Festival film.
With a used, hand-wound
When Pennebaker was asked
camera, a wide-angle lens,
to film “Monterey Pop” in 1967,
several rolls of film and Duke
he was 41 years old, practically
Ellington’s recording of
the oldest person who attended
“Daybreak Express,”
the festival. This was
Pennebaker made his
during a time when
first film, “Daybreak
members of the young
Express,” in 1953 (5
pop culture were saying,
min., color).
“Don’t trust anyone over
Over the next 14
30!” However, it’s a
years, Pennebaker
good thing that festival
filmed, produced or
co-directors John
directed half a dozen
Phillips and Lou Adler
other projects. And then
entrusted Pennebaker
came “Don’t Look
with the documentation
Back.”
of that seminal moment
Pennebaker’s
in rock music and pop
documentary of Bob
culture.
Dylan’s 1965 tour of
Without Pennebaker’s
England was a fluke and
vision and skills, who
a triumph of filmmaking.
knows what that
As one can guess from
weekend would have
watching any footage of
produced. Most likely,
Dylan at the time, he
Jimi Hendrix, Janis
was an enigma, and an
Joplin, Otis Redding and
intensely creative
The Who would not be
person. Dylan was only
the vivid and important
24 at the time, but the
parts of our history and
film revealed both his
culture that they are.
power and vulnerability
And the hippie
to established Dylan as
counterculture might
the cultural force he was
not have had such a
to become.
graphic effect on our
By the time
world.
SPECIAL
SPECIALTO
TOTHE
THEHERALD
HERALD Pennebaker arrived in
The Monterey
Filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker.
Monterey to shoot the
International Pop
Pop Festival, he was
Festival was a bright
primed to film the best music
spot in the dark clouds that were to remove the film process itself
event of the era in the best way
engulfing America at the time.
from filming. Without a script,
it could be portrayed. The film
Civil rights were being
paid actors, special lighting or
was the beginning of a whole
trampled, cultural gaps were
arranged sets, the reality of the
widening, the Cold War was
new technical direction in
moment becomes the story and
freezing and a devastating
motion picture media, but it was
the script. If one watches
conflict was growing in Vietnam. Pennebaker’s films it is almost
also the introduction of a new
Music and joy were needed to
form of expression for a
as if the audience becomes a
lift our spirits. And the Pop
generation that needed a
player in the drama and comedy
Festival did just that.
broader canvas for its way of
of the moment. It is a very
To record this event,
life. The “living camera” gave
personal form of media.
Pennebaker employed
room to the movement, color
Pennebaker was born in
revolutionary techniques and
and boundless energy of a
Evanston, Ill., on July 15, 1925.
equipment, most of which he
culture that questioned
He attended MIT and received
pioneered himself. For example, an engineering degree from
authority, its constrictions and
he built the five portable 16 mm
its boredom.
Yale. That degree would help
cameras his team used to film
Monterey Pop was more than
him later with the technical
that weekend. His great vision
a musical event, although it
skills needed to build his
was to free the camera to move
introduced to the world at least
cameras. His father was a
with the action.
two of the most influential
photographer and that
Several years earlier,
musicians of the 20th century.
presumably helped his creative
Pennebaker was instrumental in
The influence of Jimi Hendrix
eye.
developing one of the first fully
and Janis Joplin on music was
Pennebaker’s love of music
By JOHN BASSETT
McCLEARY
portable synchronized camera
and sound recording systems.
This invention provided the
latitude in the new genre of
cinéma vérité.
Verite is the French word for
“truth” and this documentary
style of filming was in search of
truth. Also called “living
camera” or “direct cinema,” the
technique of hand-held
cinematography was born with
Pennebaker and his colleagues,
and revealed to the world
through his film “Monterey
Pop.”
The intent of cinéma vérité is
If you go
➤ What: VIP reception and special
screening of “Monterey Pop.” The
Monterey County Film
Commission celebrates the 40th
anniversary of the Monterey
International Pop Festival with a
celebrity reception at 6 p.m.,
followed by the film screening and
a lecture. Benefit for the
Monterey County Film
Commission and the Monterey
International Pop Festival
Foundation.
➤ When: Saturday, June 16
➤ Where: Golden State Theatre,
downtown Monterey
➤ Tickets: The reception is $50 ($40
for members) and includes the
celebrity reception, screening and
lecture, plus special seating.
These tickets only can be
purchased at the film commission
office at 646-0910. Tickets for the
screening (8 p.m.), along with an
interview discussion with
filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker (7
p.m.), are $25 at the Golden State
Theatre box office at 372-4555.
➤ Information:
www.filmmonterey.org,
www.goldenstatetheatre.com.
incalculable, but it was their
lives, tragic as they seemed,
that affected the culture in
depth. Even their deaths, no,
because of them, we learned
lessons about ourselves.
Monterey Pop was the
cultural turning point for a
generation and those that
followed. Freedom of
expression was celebrated and
given a larger venue. If not for
Monterey Pop, MTV would
have come later, if at all. When
Hendrix burned his guitar,
when Joplin stomped her feet
insisting that we love her, deep
questions were raised, and
therefore answers were soon to
follow.
Barry Melton keeps his musical legacy alive — beyond his day job as a public defender
‘THE FISH’ AT 60
the end of your career and life, certainly
not in this state anymore. I think people
are better able to accept that people
ive me an F! F!!!! Give me an
choose to live their lives in alternative
O! O!!! Oh, forget it. It’s too
ways. I think the ’60s made that
much to ask. Forty years ago I possible.
might have had the audacity
“On the other hand, we got so
to spell out the whole word
alternative that we actually threatened
“forty,” but the person who would be
our very health and well-being. So that
better suited for such a gig would be
wasn’t great. The negative part of the
Barry “The Fish” Melton, who at nearly
drugs is, that kind of permissiveness
60 years of age has more energy and
obviously led to the deaths of some
audacity than most people half his age.
really precious folks. The well-known
In fact, he is particularly qualified for
ones are easy to recount, but there are
leading such a cheer. As a co-founder
lots of folks who died as a result. And
with Country Joe McDonald of the ’60s
that’s a shame. But it also wrapped up
psychedelic activist rock band
with the growth of meditation
Country Joe and The Fish,
and Eastern religious traditions,
famous for its “Fish Cheer” that “Some part and modern concepts of
psychology have maybe
preceded the five-piece band’s
of why I’m
improved our collective
most famous song
to some degree.
“I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die
still alive is consciousness
Some part of why I’m still alive
Rag,” he’s developed an ear for
sheer luck. is sheer luck. We didn’t
cheers. And 40 years ago, he
understand the forces we were
was present at the Monterey
We didn’t
setting in motion.”
International Pop Festival, on
understand
Melton’s career as a musician
stage Saturday afternoon with
has kept pace with his hectic
his band and over the weekend the forces
life as a lawyer. He’s been
as an observer.
we were
practicing law for 25 years, and
“If you really want to know
he sees his job as public
what the ’60s were about, check setting in
defender as an extension of his
out the film ‘Monterey Pop,’ ”
motion.”
civil rights activism he
Melton said in an interview
practiced as a young person in
from his office, where he tends
Barry “The Fish” Los Angeles, and the anti-war
to the business of law as the
Melton
activism he subsequently
Yolo County public defender.
wielded with both his guitar
“That event was a musical and
and his actions when he came
sociological event. In fact, it was a
to San Francisco in 1964.
charitable event, it was music, and it
“People who know me understand
was incredibly peaceful, so much so
that in some general way, I’m doing
that the chief of police said, ‘I’d
what I’ve been doing all my life,” he
welcome one of these events again.’ It
said. “I have a certain anti-authoritarian
went off without a hitch. There were no
streak that has existed for my entire life.
arrests and it was a wonderful,
Being a public defender is just another
manifestation of that.”
charitable gathering.”
Melton’s history with The Fish took
Despite all the good vibes and great
many turns and brought him a level of
music, the city of Monterey declined to
success and notoriety that continues
host a second Monterey Pop Festival.
today with his Barry Melton Band.
And like Otis Redding, Janis Joplin and
Previously, he played in the Dinosaurs,
Jimi Hendrix, the brightest stars at the
a band of ’60s veterans that has at
festival who all died tragically young
various times included Peter Albin and
within the next three years, the legend
David Getz (Big Brother and The
grew and has gathered momentum
Holding Company), John Cipollina and
since because of its short life. Yet, the
Greg Elmore (Quicksilver Messenger
legacy lives on in the major benefit
Service), Papa John Creech (Hot Tuna
concerts that have come and gone over
and Jefferson Starship), Spencer
the years. And with this year’s 40th
Dryden (Jefferson Airplane and New
anniversary of the event and the
Riders of the Purple Sage), Robert
so-called Summer of Love that followed, Hunter (Grateful Dead lyricist), David
there is a renewed celebration of all that LaFlamme (It’s a Beautiful Day), Jerry
was good about those times. And a
Miller (Moby Grape) and the
chance to reflect on the hard lessons
incomparable Merl Saunders on
learned as well.
keyboards.
Melton, again, is qualified to discuss
“I have a CD coming out in Germany
those issues.
any day now,” he said as our talk drew
“We were testing all kinds of limits,”
to an end. “I generally tour Europe in
he said. “Like what the family is, how
the summer for three or four weeks,
we organize our lives as human beings
and I play locally. It’s so much a part of
and things like that. Some of it has had
me. I need to do it just to feel OK. It’s
positive outcomes. In my workplace, if
like having a conversation with
somebody. It’s a conversation I have to
you happen to be a single parent or you
have.”
happen to be gay, I don’t think that’s
By BETH PEERLESS
G
Barry Melton, shown at right in the 1960s and, at left, more recently, co-founded
along with Country Joe McDonald the psychedelic activist rock band Country Joe
and The Fish. Melton, approaching 60, who now works as a public defender in Yolo
County, still performs around the world. Read more about Melton at
www.counterculture.net/thefish.
Finally, a renovation that saves money!
Keep your thermostat and heating bill low by Zone Heating with Regency Fireplace Products. Visit
us today for more details. Clean, efficient & convenient – a Regency fireplace is the natural choice.
Call or visit our showroom today!
2088 SUNSET DRIVE, PACIFIC GROVE (IN THE RUSSEL SERVICE CENTER) • 831) 372-4474
CMYK
Celebrating Over 40 Years
in Business in Monterey County!
At Chicago Title, the castle stands for
the strong, secure and reliable way we
do business. We have been in business
for 160 years – not many companies
can make that claim.
Monterey Insurance Agencies
First American
Title Company
Since 1888
10 Bonifacio Plaza, Monterey
Phone: (831) 373-4925 • Fax; 373-6935
Email: Montereyins.com • Website: www.montereyins.com
Count on Chicago Title for the strongest title protection in the industry.
250 Bonifacio at Tyler, Monterey • 375-2262
26609 Carmel Center Place, Carmel • 625-5676
License # 059256
Monterey’s #1 Title Company
SALINAS MAIN
NORTH SALINAS
MONTEREY
60 W. Market St.,
Ste. 140
Salinas, CA 93901
(831) 424-0317
1628 N. Main St.
Salinas, CA 93906
(831) 443-9188
300 Bonifaco Place,
Ste. 3
Monterey, CA 93940
(831) 373-4331
CARMEL
DOWNTOWN
CARMEL
RANCHO
N. E. Corner Dolores
& Eighth
P.O. Box 2177
Carmel, CA 93921
(831) 625-6775
3855 Via Nona Marie,
Ste. 100
Carmel, CA 93923
(831) 625-5980
12
McCORMICK
The Taste You Trust
Flavoring Monterey County 40 Years
McCormick and Company, Inc.
Salinas Distribution Center • www.mccormick.com
tic
n
e
h
t
Au lian Still Going Strong Since 1953!
Ita ers
Discover Caruso’s Corner Restaurant and you’ll see why we have been
n
around for over 50 years. Whether you’re looking for an intimate
n
i
D
dining experience or a place to bring the whole family,
come to where the locals have been coming for years.
t
Enjoy authentic Italian Cuisine and affordable dining,
The Bensch
u
warm atmosphere and friendly service. You won’t
L
BBQ wn!
leave hungry. That’s tradition ~ Buon Appetito.
n To
i
❦ DINE IN OR TAKE OUT
•
•
•
•
•
•
Luxurious Pillowtop Beds
Free Wi-Fi
Free Expanded Continental Breakfast
New Executive Rooms with 52" Desks
Pool
24 Hour Front Desk
Find out first hand how our
front desk knows the meaning of service.
Call us today for a reservation.
Monterey Downtown Travelodge
675 Munras Ave., Monterey, CA 93940
(831) 373-1876
RECREATION FOR
THE ENTIRE FAMILY
• Toy Haulers
• Horse/Livestock
• Equipment Trailers
• Cargo/Auto/Specialty
M-F 11-2
CARUSO’S CORNER
2101 North Fremont Street
Monterey • (831) 375-5014
Traditional Italian Dinners Nightly from 4:30 PM
www.powersrv.com • (831) 424-2966
236 South Main Street • (831) 422-6181
Salinas, California 93901
Registered Jewelers • Member American Gem Society
Monterey Pop Festival • The Monterey County Herald, Sunday, June 10, 2007. • www.montereyherald.com
Monterey Pop Festival • The Monterey County Herald, Sunday, June 10, 2007. • www.montereyherald.com
Leading the Way in
Affordable Excellence...
13
Music producer Lou Adler was the major force behind the festival
THE FATHER OF ‘POP’
By MARC CABRERA
Herald Staff Writer
H
e’s become the
official spokesman
for the Monterey
International Pop
Festival, and
rightfully so. After all, Lou
Adler was the man behind the
scenes making it happen.
Adler’s legacy in the music
industry and Hollywood would
have been cemented without
Monterey Pop. He managed
the duo Jan and Dean, and
produced such varied
performers as Sam Cooke, The
Mamas and The Papas, Johnny
Rivers, Barry McGuire, Scott
McKenzie, Spirit, Carole King
and Cheech and Chong.
Adler, along with John
Phillips of The Mamas and The
Papas, served as co-producer of
Monterey Pop. He was on
board for every aspect, from
finalizing the original lineup, to
flying to Monterey to meet
with city officials, to making
sure the artists had every
available amenity. No one is
more qualified to serve as
festival spokesperson than
Adler, especially in advance of
the 40th anniversary.
Adler took some time to talk
to The Herald about his
memories of the festival, John
Phillips, the performances and
why Monterey was chosen as
rock ’n’ roll central in 1967.
Q: Where did the idea come
from?
A: (A concert promoter) had
the idea to do a one-day,
one-night show. Not a festival
show, but in a festival setting in
Monterey. They came to John
Phillips and myself, and they
wanted to buy The Mamas and
The Papas to close the show.
Weeks or so before that,
John and I, and I think (Paul)
McCartney and a couple of
other people, were at Cass
Elliot’s house, and we were
talking about how rock ’n’ roll
wasn’t considered an art form
in the same way that jazz was,
and how they still thought we
were a trend that would be
over by the summer. And (we
thought) it would be great if we
could validate (the music) in
some way.
So, knowing that the
fairgrounds up in Monterey
also had the Monterey Jazz
Festival and the Monterey Folk
Festival, we thought this might
be the time and the place to do
this. And we bought the dates
from the promoter and we
expanded it to three days and
we started calling acts.
Q: You sort of answered the
question, but I’ll ask anyway:
Why the small town of
Monterey?
A: Well, (laughs), because
that’s where they already had
the dates. We weren’t looking
to do a festival, we sort of fell
into it, and the dates were
already in Monterey. But the
appeal to us was the fact that
the Jazz Festival was held
there, so that if you do a rock
festival in the same venue, you
sort of validated what we were
doing.
Q: For the first-ever rock
festival, you would think you
would have chosen San
Francisco or Los Angeles as
the site.
A: Actually, what we wanted
to do was be right in the
middle, so we could get the
L.A. bands and San Francisco
bands together without
favoring one or the other.
Q: Was there any dissension
from the city officials or local
authorities about the festival?
A: Yeah, we had to win them
over. The (Monterey) police
chief, his name was Marinella,
(he) was retiring about six
months from that date. He
wanted no problems, no
bumps. He just wanted to ease
out and, to him, the hippie and
the Hell’s Angel was the same
thing. Everybody was a Hell’s
Angel that didn’t look like the
people of Monterey.
The idea of what he thought
might be 30,000 people
coming, which eventually
turned out to be 200,000 . . .
We had to win him over, win
the mayor over. We went to a
lot of City Council meetings.
John Phillips was very
charming and quite a good liar,
actually, so we were able to
promise him anything . . .
What I really mean was, to
understand what we were up
against, the city officials were
asking a lot of questions that
we didn’t have answers for. It
wasn’t really lying, but it was
making up answers. He’s not
really a liar.
Q: Was there ever an effort to
have a second festival?
A: We received a lot of
requests, from not only
Monterey and California, but
from all over the world to do a
second one there. We actually
went up to Monterey and
talked to them a little bit, but
the situation had changed so
much. They were very naive —
we all were going in. But once
they saw the numbers and
what it meant, all the prices
went up: cost of insurance, cost
of police. And it’s just that the
THE HERALD FILE
Monterey Pop Festival co-director Lou Adler addresses the
concerns of the Monterey City Council in this image taken in 1967.
atmosphere was a lot different
than the first one. We just
thought, ‘We’ve done it. Why
do it again?’
Q: Going into the event, it
was pretty revolutionary, just
the idea of a rock festival, but
did you have any idea of the
impact it would have?
A: We had no idea what we
were going to get until the
Friday morning (of the
festival), when we showed up
that morning at the fairgrounds
before the first show. There
were approximately 1,500
different media outlets that had
shown up to cover the festival.
Crews from all over the world.
At that point, we knew
something was happening in
Monterey.
I didn’t think 40 years from
now, I would be talking to you
about it, but that’s the first
inclination we had that
something big was about to
happen.
Q: Talk to me a little more
about what it was like working
with John Phillips.
A: Phillips, he went to West
Point. He obviously didn’t
finish and didn’t go into the
Army. But he was from the
South, very well-educated, very
charming. He and I, we were
like two guys that went to
different schools together. We
were about the same age, grew
up liking the same music . . .
We were aware of a lot of the
musical events that had shaped
jazz and had shaped pop music.
We both liked playing
basketball, we both had played
in school, so we were close
very quickly.
He was a brilliant
songwriter, and the
unfortunate thing was that he
died relatively young and
wasn’t able to continue,
because he could have written
in any genre. He was like a
throwback to the Tin Pan Alley
type songwriters, as well as a
pop and a folk songwriter. I
guess, with Brian Wilson, he
may have been the best vocal
arranger to come along in 50
years.
He was quite a guy.
Destructive. Very
self-destructive and along with
whoever might be close around
him. And unfortunately,
whatever he got into just
accelerated that and we lost
him.
Q: Was there any one act or
performance that stood out?
A: There’s three or four. I
think Otis Redding’s
performance is one of the best
overall concert performances
ever, and certainly on film.
Janis Joplin was incredible, but
it was one or two songs that
got the audience. Every song
that Otis sang was a
tremendous performance that
night. And (Jimi) Hendrix and
The Who. If you watch the
“Monterey Pop” film, you can
see the looks in the audience.
Something was happening and
we were in on it for the first
time.
Q: Where did you put up the
acts? Where did they stay?
A: There were 11 hotels and
motels in the area, and they
were spread out. But every act
had a driver. It was just things
that rock ’n’ roll acts had not
experienced yet. Some of them
had, but very few, and they had
whatever the best rooms that
we could get in those hotels
and motels if we had to.
We had set up a tent directly
behind the stage, and that was
open 24 hours a day. Served
everything: cracked crab,
lobster, caviar. Anything that
they wanted.
It was a chance for acts that
had heard about each other
and listened to each other, but
never had a chance to see each
other perform, or sit down and
have a meal together, or pull
out a guitar and start playing
with someone. The jams
backstage were exciting to
watch
Q: Any specific jams that
stick out?
A: Well, it was unusual to see
Hendrix and Paul Simon play
together (laughs).
Q: For you personally, what
did the experience mean?
A: It’s corny, but to be a part
of history and to be able to, in a
sense, be the spokesman for it.
But what’s most important is
that the foundation that we
started in 1967 continues to be
funded by the ancillaries that
the film and the videos and the
CDs, the DVDs, that were
created then. And to fund the
foundation and give to things
like free clinics and PS Arts,
which keeps art going in public
schools . . . and all of these
things are still being funded on
behalf of the artists that
appeared in Monterey. That’s
very gratifying.
Q U O T A B L E
“Unlike many rock
festivals to follow,
Monterey Pop was
peaceful.
Unfortunately,
there were a few
moments when
things got a little
out of hand. An old
hippie showed up
with his dreaded
‘windowpane’ acid
and I had to pull
some of the crew
out of the trees.
Crazed drug freaks
set lawn furniture
on fire while
beating on trash
cans and chanting.
Other than that,
‘music, love and
flowers’ said it all.”
Tom Wilkes
festival art director
D I D Y O U
K N O W ?
Owsley Stanley (also
known as Owsley or Bear)
was an “underground” LSD
chemist from
Haight-Ashbury who
appeared in Monterey that
weekend to distribute
(often given away for free)
his high-quality acid
nicknamed “Purple Haze”
or “Monterey Purple.” He
was also an accomplished
sound engineer and the
longtime soundman for The
Grateful Dead; the band’s
well-known “dancing bear”
icon derives from his
nickname, as he frequently
printed the image on
blotter sheets of LSD
distributed at concerts
T R U T H
B E T O L D
Belying her onstage
persona, Janis Joplin was
known as quiet and shy.
Before taking the stage she
was often seen drinking
from a bottle of Southern
Comfort, which was really
filled with codeine cough
syrup.
“For most of us, the festival was a spectacular tribal weekend, a pinnacle celebration of a vision
for a way of life. But I also sensed that Monterey Pop meant an end to an era.”
— Elaine Mayes, author, from the foreword to her book “It Happened in Monterey”
CAPTURING IT ALL
Editor’s note: Perhaps no one
captured the essence of the
Monterey Pop Festival better
than photographer Elaine Mayes.
On assignment with Hullabaloo
magazine, Mayes compiled her
images in her book “It Happened
in Monterey.” The following are
her recollections of the event, as
written in the book’s foreword.
I
n May of 1967 I was a
young freelance
photographer living in San
Francisco’s
Haight-Ashbury when I
got an assignment from
Hullabaloo magazine to cover
the Monterey Pop Festival. I
drove there with friends —
photographers and writers who
also had press passes — and we
spent the next 21⁄2 days
backstage and in the jammed
press section or “pit.” The
standing area for the press ran
the length of the stage and was
only a few feet deep.
There were too many of us to
fit there at any one time. (It was
reported that more than 1,000
people were issued press
passes.) We were supposed to
take turns, but I quickly
discovered that once you left
your spot, it was impossible to
squeeze back in. Since the stage
was about 6 feet high, seeing
the performers wasn’t easy. Yet
I managed to photograph nearly
every band.
I also spent time backstage,
but I really wanted to see the
performances and be part of the
audience. I had managed to be
in the right place at the right
time. The music was incredible.
Before the shows and during
the breaks I wandered about,
photographing some of the
160,000 Flower Children
reported to have been there.
People were mellow. A lot of
them were just hanging out,
smoking dope, talking, playing
guitars. Except for a few who
looked lost, they all seemed
high and happy.
Most people who attended
the festival were from the ranks
of what the press called The
Hippie Movement or Flower
Children. The festival began the
Summer of Love, a term used to
describe what was anticipated in
San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury
district by hippies making
pilgrimages to San Francisco
If you’re interested
Elaine Mayes’ Monterey
International Pop Festival
photographs were in an archive
until recently.
A 2001 symposium in Monterey
exhibited her photos and brought
her together with many of the
figures she photographed in 1967.
They were happy to flash back
and out of the experience
completion of her book idea was
made possible, with a jacket
design by the original Monterey
Pop art director Tom Wilkes and
an introduction by festival
co-producer Lou Adler.
As a result, “It Happened In
Monterey” is not only a book of
Mayes’ photography, but a
thorough recollection of a
weekend that became one of the
most significant in the history of
modern rock and popular culture.
After the Monterey Pop
from everywhere. As all who
were there knew, being a hippie
meant revolting against the
status quo — dropping out of
mainstream culture, refusing a
nine-to-five existence, and
abandoning ingrained social
structures for a freer kind of life.
Being a hippie also meant
embracing generosity, being
attracted to spiritual and
philosophical realms, smoking
pot and probably dropping acid
to become more enlightened.
The truth is, many young
people, especially in the Bay
Area, had been hippies at heart
for some time. The music
revolution had been around
since Bob Dylan and The
Festival, Mayes began teaching
photography and film at the
University of Minnesota. She then
moved on to Hampshire College in
Massachusetts for 10 years, and
at Bard College for two more
before accepting a position at
New York University, Tisch School
of the Arts. She retired as chair
of the Department of Photography
in 2001.
Mayes has won numerous
awards for her photography,
including three National
Endowment for the Arts
fellowships and a prestigious
Guggenheim fellowship. She is still
an active photographer and her
work can be seen at
www.elainemayesphoto.com.
To order a signed copy of her
book “It Happened in Monterey,”
visit her Web site. Cost is $25 and
includes shipping and handling.
Beatles released their first
albums, and by 1967 there was a
huge group of young people in
sync with all that the Hippie
Movement came to symbolize.
I was familiar with the San
Francisco and Los Angeles
bands and others who played in
Monterey, but before this event
I had not known of Otis
Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Paul
Butterfield or Michael
Bloomfield. Their performances
were riveting.
Earlier, when I took pictures
of (Hendrix) in a local flower
market, I thought he was just
another colorful hippie. It wasn’t
until Hullabaloo ordered those
shots that I realized he was Jimi
Hendrix, the wild man who had
destroyed his guitar and
brought down the house with
his Sunday night performance.
For most of us, the festival
was a spectacular tribal
weekend, a pinnacle celebration
of a vision for a way of life. But I
also sensed that Monterey Pop
meant an end to an era. Maybe
this inkling was because my
sleeping bag was stolen from
Gibby Folger’s car in the
parking lot of our motel on the
last day of the festival.
Apparently not everyone in
Monterey was sympathetic with
the kindness practiced by most
hippies. I remember the rest of
the summer in the Haight as
mostly wonderful and wild, but
after the Solstice and as the
summer progressed, the joyous
freedom of the hippie ideal
diminished. Harder drugs
appeared, and the Diggers
couldn’t feed everyone. You
couldn’t sleep in the park
without being arrested, and the
people whose lifestyles initiated
the idea of being a hippie moved
to the country or traveled to
places like India. Traffic
increased on Haight Street, and
. . . life in the Haight-Ashbury
became a tourist attraction.
Since Monterey Pop, I’ve
been watching American
culture, following other
rebellious swells, and I’ve
learned to see the Monterey
milestone with greater
perspective. For many, life in
the ’60s was a lot of fun, and by
1967 a generation of young
Americans had set out to
revolutionize our way of life. In
spite of Vietnam and the civil
rights tragedies, for most of us
the air of that era was optimistic.
Living seemed open ended and
free floating. But the feeling of
that time has now passed.
Circumstances today seem
much more troubled and
infinitely more difficult and
encumbered. The thrust of
materialism and the culture of
promotion have increased
worldwide. I was very fortunate
to be young and alive in the ’60s,
when consumerism and the
status quo were challenged, and
when — briefly — it seemed
possible to transform our value
system into something more
positive, more spiritual and
more generous.
‘‘We were all charged up that this was an event for us — for the youth and our budding liberation.”
Talitha Stills: Carmel girl went to hear her soon-to-be-famous brother
I
blithely headed into my
graduation from Carmel High
School and afterward to the first
night of the Monterey
International Pop Festival. My
brother, Stephen Stills, a musician who
had moved to Los Angeles for the
scene, now had a band (Buffalo
Springfield) and they were playing at
the Festival.
I had no idea he would bring the
entire band of
long-haired and
just-a-bit-wild
players to my
graduation,
where their
rowdy vocal
support got them plenty of attention.
And I had no idea — of course none of
us did, really — how powerful those
three days would be and that they
would usher in the Summer of Love.
I was quite stunned that my brother’s
band was sharing the stage with many
very big names. Buffalo Springfield
played an incredible set, which
launched many careers firmly anchored
in rock ’n’ roll which, as it turns out 40
years later, indeed will never die.
It seemed all the high school and
college kids on the Monterey Peninsula
were there, several of them graduating
classes. As we all poured into the
theater area, with its rows of chairs, one
side with bleachers and the other
ringed with booths of food and hippie
stuff for sale, we were all charged up
that this was an event for us — for the
youth and our budding liberation.
We were equally in awe that the
police and National Guard were
stationed everywhere and we all scoffed
at such paranoia on the part of the
“authorities.” A spontaneous group of
people formed and they went and
bought flowers by the bushel loads and
handed them out to everyone, and so
began a wave of people approaching the
law enforcement officers and placing
flowers in their pockets, on their ears,
on their hats and helmets, in their gun
barrels.
Most of the young women on those
warm June days and evenings were
pretty scantily dressed and quite
effusively showering love, peace and
brotherhood in all directions, so the
cops really had to smile and accept the
tokens of friendship. Most of the guys
were dressed in bright paisleys, flowing
garb and sandals and that wasn’t
exactly intimidating. The cops managed
to maintain their cool completely, as I
recall, and it seemed they enjoyed it all
as much as everyone else.
The lineup of musicians was
astounding — so much talent it was
overwhelming. Many of the artists had
well-known names and some were
newer, yet all were just beginning to
climb what would be astounding
Talitha Stills holds a
photo of herself
from 1967. She
attended the
Monterey
International Pop
Festival the day
after she graduated
from Carmel High
School. Stills, who
lives in Santa Cruz,
is the sister of
musician Stephen
Stills.
PERSONAL
MEMORIES
VERN FISHER/The Herald
heights of success. Otis Redding
brought sweet soul and blues into rock
’n’ roll range, but within months he was
dead. A fine musician from his band
that day was Booker T. Jones,
accompanied by the MGs, and who just
last March played in Santa Cruz,
sounding stupendous 40 years later!
Some other greats are gone, too —
Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Mama Cass.
So many are still mega-stars, actively
playing, touring and recording — Paul
Simon, Steve Miller, Neil Young, The
THE HERALD FILE
Stephen Stills of Buffalo Springfield at
the Monterey Pop Festival.
Who — to name just a few. Indeed, the
entire generation continues to benefit
from their re-defining the notion of
aging and the realm of creativity as
endless. I’ve listened to the influence of
all the musicians who played those
three days as it continues to be felt
throughout the eras of music in the
years since the first and greatest
festival.
More than four hours of Ravi Shankar
on that glorious Sunday created a
veritable state of bliss. Everyone in the
crowd was swept into a dreamlike state
by the lilting, exotic music sinking into
hearts and souls, imagining faraway
places, and encouraging all present to
lift their spirits above that earthly place.
As a group, bound together, we did.
We also accepted this sitar
performance as an integral part of
popular music, a newly revealed part of
rock ’n’ roll, part of its role to enlighten.
From that experience, many in the
audience went on to seek a greater
spiritual understanding of many faiths
and make music an integral part of life
and worship. The beautiful strains of
sitar wafting over the crowd had an
equal impact backstage, where the long
set allowed the usual commotion and
buzz to calm down and the other
performers and the crew to became still
and let themselves also be carried away.
Hanging around backstage that day, I
learned how to stay out of the way of
lots of rapidly moving equipment. I was
impressed then by how capable this
team of young men were who managed
the event’s complex logistics and
worked frantically behind the scenes.
People relied on pay phones and
messengers to relay information. There
were no fax machines to confirm the
arrival of dozens and dozens of
performers. Meeting the power
demands and catering to a crowd of
thousands for three days were
challenges. There were no computers
or laptops to run the soundboard. It was
definitely not a union show; it was
produced by musicians and crewed by
long-haired hippies who worked like
mad.
The “straights” in those days thought
the kids were wild with their long hair
and freak clothes. Today, those
expressions seem mild. In Monterey
that day, kids wore flowers in their hair
and didn’t have tattoos, weren’t studded
up, didn’t wear gang colors and still
loved going to the drive-in in their cool
Mustang or GTO. Most of the kids
were really focused on being good,
loving, egalitarian, peaceful-living
people who didn’t want to grow up
supporting wars and divisive hatred or
destroying the land. That’s what
musicians wrote about and what the
people heard in the music that day,
with lifelong impact on all of us.
If nothing else, no one in attendance
will ever stop questioning the intended
messages, perhaps about life’s
impermanence, about violence, art,
performance and creative expression,
that Jimi might have been trying to
convey when he set his guitar on fire,
or that Pete Townshend meant to
impress when he smashed his guitar to
bits. Janis warned us that life, love, war,
even rock ’n’ roll might become a ball
and chain, but on that innocent, elated
day, we didn’t want to believe that. We
were eight miles high.
‘‘We were listening. We were exploring. We were open and we were searching.”
Julian and Cathryn Varlet:
Young couple’s intimate journey
started at Monterey Pop
Y
es, we were there. Our names
are now Cathryn True Varlet
and Julian deMiramont Varlet.
(Julian is now my husband but
then my “to-be” high school
sweetheart! That is, after Monterey Pop
Festival.)
That’s where it all started! My name
was Cathy Brewster, before I reclaimed
my father’s name, True, after my
graduation in 1968.
We had heard that an event was
being planned to bring musicians from
all over the
world. It was to
be “a
happening”!
Julian had just
graduated from
Carmel High
School and I
was a junior there — a songleader.
We were expectant and innocent. I
was only 16. Julian was 17. I had been
dating his best friend but that fell apart,
and I was sitting with Julian. When we
walked the grounds, we felt like we
were getting a “contact” high! Neither
one of us had taken drugs, but it was
definitely going on!
We stopped in a little area where
someone was painting psychedelic
patterns and flowers on people’s faces,
and I had Julian’s face painted. I was
wearing feathers in my hair and
beginning to design my own clothes.
That day I had on some colored beads
and a feather on a leather band around
my head. I was carrying a wooden flute
that I had stuffed flowers in, and I had
flowers stuck in my hair, as well.
We saw some pretty far-out-looking
people. Some looked kind of spaced
out. Others were just curious, and
innocent, like us. Some were obviously
musicians, carrying guitars and things.
Others brought their own guitars onto
the grounds and were jamming around
with other folks, like our friend, Robert
Harris. All kinds of psychedelic wares
and paraphernalia were available.
It was a wonderland but it was mainly
focused on the music and people
congregating. Statements were being
made everywhere. We were listening.
We were exploring. We were open and
we were searching. We were like young
“flower children,” hopeful, looking for
alternative lifestyles, musical messages,
artists budding in our own rights, ready
to be impressed and inspired.
When the music started in the main
arena, it was compelling. It was a life
statement. It was a cultural voice. Some
lyrics sung of love. Others spoke of
protest.
We practically lived there that
weekend. There were all kinds of
musical styles, all kinds of people from
everywhere. But I’ll never forget when I
first heard Janis Joplin sing. She was
not to be compared with anyone. What
a voice. What a lack of inhibition. She
PERSONAL
MEMORIES
Known then as Cathryn Brewster, a
photo of her appeared in the book “It
Happened in Monterey.”
Julian deMiramont Varlet in 1967.
was braless. She was “free.” Of course,
we found out later she certainly was not
free, but bound. She was hanging onto a
bottle of Southern Comfort backstage.
She was a terribly unfulfilled, lonely,
depressed woman, able to sing the
hard-luck blues from personal
experience. She stomped, she belted,
she soared with her voice. It was
passionate. I had never heard anything
so heart-wrenching.
It was the most gutsy,
pull-the-stops-out, earthy, raw,
emotionally exposed, rough-cut singing
I have every heard. I was stunned. I
wanted to be as expressive. My
immediate ambition was to become the
Cathryn True Varlet, left, and Julian deMiramont Varlet (Carmel High School
students in 1967) had their first date at the Monterey Pop Festival. The
now-married couple live in Del Rey Oaks.
“chick singer in the band,” and thus I
went on to pursue that as a passionate
goal, to sing my heart out, like Janis.
But when Hendrix came on, it was
the ultimate. The way he sang, the way
he moved, getting those incredible
sounds out of his guitar. Haunting,
mournful sounds. They sounded the
way I felt, deep down in secret places.
He brought hidden, dark things into
the audible. He was incredibly
evocative and sensual. Never had I seen
a man or musician more flamboyant,
yet so totally male and sexual with his
instrument. He seemed to break all the
“rules,” as did Janis.
We had somehow managed to climb
onto the stadium roof, with a ringside
view of Hendrix, just launching into
“Purple Haze,” and we were “peaking”
on acid, when he lit his guitar on fire,
straddled on top of it, undulating,
inviting the flames with his fingers.
“Wild Thing” or something came next.
It was absolutely indescribable,
fantastic, taking us to depths and
dimensions not yet traveled musically.
Nothing has since compared with his
bold, improvisational and sultry style of
singing and guitar playing.
We were in another world, in Jimi’s
world, somehow. We understood.
There were hidden messages in the
music everywhere — some not so
hidden.
But then, on Sunday, there was Ravi
Shankar. We had never heard Eastern
music before. Sitar, tamboura and
tablas. It was amazing. We were
transfixed. It was a modal jam session,
with the tabla player and Ravi’s sitar
“talking” back and forth, “riki
tiki-ta-tiki-tik-ta-da-tiki-ta,” weaving
increasingly frenetic rhythmic and
melodic patterns, building until it
reached a musical climax. I would have
been surprised to know that, in 1979, I
would begin to play tamboura and
study North Indian Raga with Pandit
Pran Nath at Mills College, where I
would study music composition and do
three multimedia live concerts for my
masters thesis. We were inspired
enough for a lifetime.
We went on to pursue music in our
own ways, me professionally —
singing, playing keyboards, doing
concerts and writing songs — Julian to
play his guitar, later to play in groups
together, do radio shows, write
musicals and record in our own home
studio. Heartstreams Music came out
of musical inspiration. Later, a Web
site: www.heartstreams-music.com.
Within three years, we would go
separate ways, Julian north on the
Persevere, his own fishing boat, up to
Alaska and Washington, me to study
music in the San Francisco Bay Area
and then on to Hawaii, with travels
through Europe. I returned to Carmel,
where Julian was living, the summer of
2003. The rest is history. He came to
Maui, proposed, and we married five
months later, moving back to Carmel
after 37 years.
And now, we’ve come full circle, with
the 40-year anniversary celebration of
the Monterey Pop Festival. My
high-school sweetheart, Julian Varlet,
and I, Cathryn True Varlet, have been
married now, nearly 31⁄2 years. We have
our own house in Del Rey Oaks, around
the corner from the fairgrounds.
Unbelievable.
— By Cathryn True Varlet
‘‘The feeling there was something like I never felt before and have never felt again. It was a letdown when it was over.”
Dan Chavez: Working man from Salinas still in awe of his experience
I
t’s hard to believe it’s been 40 years
since the Monterey Pop Festival;
the memories of those three days
still remain clear in my mind.
During that time I was working at the
former Firestone Rubber Co. in Salinas,
and about 27 years old at the time.
Because I was working in the morning,
I attended the festival at night with my
brother-in-law and a cousin, a draftee
from Arizona who was visiting
Monterey
before he had to
leave and go to
Vietnam. I had
to go to work in
the morning
every day, very
tired, but it was all worth it. We went
back each day because we couldn’t stay
away from the great music.
The first thing that we all noticed was
the amount of people walking around
with painted faces, very happy, some
definitely “high” on some type of drugs.
Along the main stage (outside) were
several rows of booths where you could
buy all sorts of hippie drug
paraphernalia, leather vests, tie-dyed
clothes, jewelry, photographs and
psychedelic art. I bought a large poster
and different kinds of pins.
Strolling along the fairgrounds we
heard music playing inside one of the
exhibition buildings. We went inside
and saw a group of musicians from
different bands jamming on one song
for over an hour. Leading the band was
Jerry Garcia from The Grateful Dead.
At the fairgrounds you could see
photographers and camera people with
director D.A. Pennebaker filming the
entire event. They filmed everything,
PERSONAL
MEMORIES
Dan Chavez from Salinas attended the Monterey Pop Festival and still owns the
unique poster he purchased there.
not just the musicians playing. Inside
the fairgrounds, the amount of color,
flowers and peace signs was fantastic.
Outside the main stage there was more
music activity happening. Hippies were
dancing to “Light My Fire” by The
Doors and having a great time.
Ironically, that song was so popular
during that time, I couldn’t understand
why they were not invited to participate
in the festival, especially being a
California band.
Those three days, music was played
until the early hours of the morning.
Sunday morning, The Mamas and The
Papas was the last band to close the
festival. During that whole time, I don’t
recall anyone being arrested or any
violence happening. I think the only
thing close to violence I saw was The
Who smashing up the stage during
their set.
People showed a lot of love and peace
during those three days. The hippies or
“flower children,” many coming from
San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, spent
the nights camping out at the Monterey
Peninsula College football field. You
couldn’t help but see them driving to
Monterey, down Highway 68 in convoys
of every type of vehicle you can
imagine. The people of Monterey were
really kind to all the music fans. Many
people didn’t have a ticket to get in or a
place to sleep; so many residents of
Monterey let them sleep on their front
lawns. It was a kindness that you just
don’t see anymore. People helping
people and making them feel welcome.
Some of my favorite artists I saw,
either walking around or hearing them
play, were Brian Jones of The Rolling
Stones, Otis Redding, Booker T and the
MGs, The Byrds, The Who, The
Mamas and The Papas, Eric Burdon
and The Animals, Jerry Garcia of The
Grateful Dead, The Jimi Hendrix
Experience, Buffalo Springfield and
Johnny Rivers. My favorite moments
were: The Jefferson Airplane’s lead
singer Grace Slick singing “White
Rabbit,” and the legendary Janis Joplin
— there was no one like Janis. The
music was just perfect.
This festival seemed like one moment
in time were people forgot about the
war in Vietnam, protests, civil rights
clashes. Everything terrible about the
’60s was gone from our memories for
three days. There are no words to
explain it; you just had to have been
there. The feeling there was something
like I never felt before and have never
felt again. It was a letdown when it was
over.
Hearing Eric Burdon’s tribute to the
festival in his song “Monterey” helped
us all relive some of those moments.
I’m just glad to have been a part of it.
Those of us who attended came for one
reason, to listen to some great music.
What we didn’t expect was to
experience something special in history
— and it happened here in Monterey.
‘‘It was a combination of a traveling circus, psychedelic bazaar and snake-oil show — all rolled into one.”
Fred Arellano:
I
Fred Arellano at home in Capitola. Arellano was raised in Monterey and
graduated from Monterey High in 1967. He says that attending the
Monterey Pop Festival was a life-altering experience.
n everyone’s life there will come a
defining moment of clarity and purpose.
For me, this was the Monterey Pop
Festival in 1967.
I had just graduated from Monterey High
two days before and, basically, up to that
point had led a pretty normal and sheltered
life at home. This was all about to change . . .
There was an air of anticipation in
Monterey, after it was announced that a
major rock ’n’ roll extravaganza would take
place in our sleepy little town the second
weekend of June 1967. All I can say is: We
were not ready for this, nor did we have a
clue of what we were about to receive.
When the trucks started to arrive, it was a
combination of a traveling circus,
psychedelic bazaar and snake-oil show — all
rolled into one. The Monterey Fairgrounds
A weekend turned
him onto music
had a definite Mardi Gras atmosphere about
it, and we all knew that we were going to be
a part of something special the world had
never seen before (or since).
When I saw Jimi Hendrix burn up his
guitar, that was it for me. I knew right then
what I wanted to do. Music became the
major focus of my life. I wanted to entertain
people and experience every kind of music I
could. I turned it into a 30-year career and
never looked back.
Although most of my work was done on
the other side of the microphone, in
production and technical support, I still have
had a great deal of satisfaction in what I’ve
done. And the wonderful people I’ve met
along the way.
Fred Arellano lives in Capitola.
Beth
Peerless
weekend of music at the
Monterey Pop Festival. They
camped at the Monterey
Peninsula College football
field, and experienced Eric
[email protected]
Burdon’s impromptu
Cruzin’
performance.
We arrived Sunday, June
18, in the early evening, and
before I knew it, my brother
came to our new house to
take me to the last concert of
the watershed event.
Neither of us had tickets,
but we walked onto the
was on board for Beatlemania. Monterey Fairgrounds site
he first time I wrote
My Dad got us tickets to see
about my experience
unhindered. The evening
The Beatles at Candlestick
at the Monterey
concert was under way, and
Park for their last live concert
International Pop
we gravitated to the back of
in August 1966. So I was on
Festival was for the
the arena where a crowd had
the concert scene by the time
20th-anniversary coverage as
gathered to view the stage
I was 12. My older brother
a pre-aspiring journalist for
through the fence. The
had been attending the shows Grateful Dead’s set was under
The Herald. I don’t think I
at the Fillmore Auditorium in
had yet begun school studies
way, and when the crowd
toward my journalism degree; San Francisco and brought
began to push forward, we
home records from the blues
I was only exercising my
went with them through the
and psychedelic bands he
personal interest to write.
weakened barricade.
heard. When The Byrds came
My recollection was
My memory has gotten a
accepted for publication, and I to San Jose in 1966, we went
little fuzzy after 40 years, and
to see them.
thought that was pretty darn
I can’t remember every little
By then, my brother and I
cool. It was my first published
detail, but I do know we just
were staying up late beyond
piece of writing, and who
stayed around the back of the
would have
arena and
thought that
experienced
At such a young age, or at any age for that
today I’d be
what turned out
writing about
matter, it’s rare to understand the ramifications to be the
music as a
of the moment while you’re living it. Perspective epochal
professional
moment of the
for the same
only comes with time.
festival. The
newspaper.
Jimi Hendrix
So, of course, I
Experience came on next, and
our bedtime, unbeknownst to
felt it appropriate to revisit
I was there! It was pretty
this story at the 40-year mark, our slumbering parents, to
amazing and mind-blowing to
tune in to the embryonic
albeit with a bit more detail
say the least, to hear him and
stages of progressive FM
surrounding the general
to see him burn and destroy
radio station KMPX. It came
cultural shift that was
his guitar.
on after midnight, and we
occurring at that time. For
We stayed until the end and
would stretch out in front of
many of us who came of age
heard The Mamas and The
the speakers, volume down
during the revolution in
Papas close out the festival.
low, and listen to all the new
consciousness, it wasn’t a
I’ve always felt extremely
music and the far-out DJs.
matter of choice, it was a
fortunate to have slipped in at
The first weekend of June
matter of destiny.
the last moment to catch what
1967, there was the Magic
In preface, my interest in
turned out to be a major
Mountain Music Festival at
music dates back to
moment in music history. The
Mount Tamalpias where my
childhood, with inspiration
same goes for being at the
girlfriend and I first
from both my grandmothers
last Beatles concert. At such a
experienced The Doors and
to play piano. I studied the
young age, or at any age for
Jim Kweskin Jug Band,
piano at age 8, and I loved to
that matter, it’s rare to
listen to music of all kinds. By among many other groups.
understand the ramifications
Two weeks later, my family
the time I was 10, the radio
of the moment while you’re
moved to the Monterey
became a close friend and
living it. Perspective only
Peninsula.
served as my introduction to
comes with time.
At 13, I had already been
the wide world of pop and
At this 40th anniversary of
exposed to the
rock music.
the Monterey Pop Festival
countercultural movement in
We lived in the San
and the Summer of Love, for
the Bay Area. At the Magic
Francisco Bay Area and we
all of us who were there, it is a
Mountain Music Festival, we
were often in Los Angeles
time of nostalgia and a time to
were in the thick of it, but still reflect on how our lives were
visiting relatives, so the AM
pretty naïve as we were really
radio stations in those two
changed as a result. I know
at heart still teenyboppers.
major markets opened my
for myself, I’m glad to have
But the times, they were a
ears to all the incredible
made it through the
changin’ and, since music was dimensional warp that was the
diversity available prior to the
such a big part of the whole
radio formatting of today.
’60s. There were plenty who
psychedelic thing, I was
My parents encouraged my
did not survive the gauntlet of
attracted to the brave new
musical interests and, when
those revolutionary times.
world of the hippies.
The Beatles arrived in
Yet, the music is what drew
My brother and his friend
America in 1964, we all
me to it then, and it continues
came to Monterey a few days
gathered around the
to feed my soul to this very
television for their appearance before my parents and me,
day. And I am thankful for
and they attended the entire
on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” I
that.
Music promoter has booked the Monterey Fairgrounds
in July to try to rekindle old memories
Monterey
flashback
Blessed to peek inside
momumental event
T
By BRENDA MOORE
Herald Staff Writer
T
hink of it as a slightly
fuzzy flashback: The
current incarnations of
some of the bands that
played the Monterey
International Pop Festival plan
to come back in July for a 40th
anniversary concert.
Music promoter Andrew
Hernandez has booked the
Monterey Fairgrounds, site of
the groundbreaking concert in
June 1967, and signed on
bands including The Riders on
the Storm, Robbie Krieger and
Ray Manzarek’s latest version
of The Doors; Jefferson
Starship; Quicksilver
Messenger Service; Big
Company, which originally
featured Janis Joplin; David
LaFlamme (doing the music of
It’s a Beautiful Day); Electric
Flag; and Moby Grape.
Hernandez has scheduled a
two-day festival, July 28-29,
featuring old bands, new bands
and tribute groups that
replicate the music of some of
the giants of the ’60s.
Tickets are on sale at
www.sfsummeroflove.com and
range from $47.50 for a one-day
badge for the lawn/picnic area
of the fairgrounds, to $195 for a
two-day badge with prime box
seats.
The original festival was a
landmark in rock history. The
artists performed for free, with
all revenue donated to charity.
An estimated 200,000 fans from
all over the country attended
the event, which is generally
regarded as the beginning of
the so-called Summer of Love.
The festival became
legendary for the first major
American appearance by The
Who and by Jimi Hendrix, who
was booked on the insistence
of board member Paul
McCartney. It also was the first
major public performance for
Janis Joplin, backed by Big
Company, and Otis Redding,
backed by Booker T and The
MGs. Redding died only a few
months later, followed by
Hendrix and Joplin in 1970.
Many of the original players
are either dead, retired or
performing different music
with different people. But
Hernandez is trying to line up
as many of the still-active
musicians as he can. He’s
worked in the business for
years on a small scale, booking
groups at clubs, publishing a
music magazine about
up-and-coming Bay Area bands
and, most recently, running a
tribute show with
impersonators of The Doors,
Hendrix, The Mamas and The
Papas and other rock icons.
Hernandez said he decided
to try to put on the Monterey
show after he couldn’t find
anyone else organizing one. He
had hoped to call it Monterey
Pop Festival Part II, or
something similar, but couldn’t
get the naming rights, he said.
So he’s calling it “Monterey
Summer of Love Festival.”
He has been working closely
with Michael Gaiman, longtime
manager of Jefferson Starship.
Most of the groups signed so
far were already lined up to do
a 40th anniversary Summer of
Love tour, Gaiman said.
Monterey will be a special stop.
“There are certain places in
the annals of music and
hippiedom that are hallowed
ground,” and Monterey is one
of them, he said.
Among the players who are
scheduled to return are Paul
Kantner and Marty Balin,
founders of Jefferson Airplane;
and vocalist/violinist
LaFlamme, formerly of It’s a
Beautiful Day. The
performance of Moby Grape
would be a reunion after a
yearslong breakup. The son of
the drummer, the late Skip
Spence, is scheduled to join the
original members, Gaiman
said. Tom Constanten, a
member of the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame who played
keyboards with The Grateful
Dead, also is scheduled to
perform.
Tribute bands include The
Sun Kings performing The
Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s” album
with a partial orchestra; Second
Flyte as The Byrds; The
RaveUps as The Yardbirds; and
The Unauthorized Rolling
Stones. Also scheduled is San
Francisco’s Summer of Love
Revue, with performers
re-creating Hendrix, The Who,
The Mamas and The Papas,
The Animals, Led Zeppelin and
others.
‘‘Being an usher also meant wearing a sports coat and tie, which made us look like extras
from ‘Leave It To Beaver’ amid all the tie-dye and flowers.”
John Greenwald: Monterey grad had up-close view as driver, usher
L
ittle could I have imagined
when I woke up on the morning
of June 15, 1967, that before the
day was over I would be
rubbing elbows with rock stars.
The big event on my schedule was
supposed to be my high school
graduation, but with the 5 p.m.
ceremony still hours away, my attention
shifted to the Monterey Pop Festival.
On a whim I drove down to the
fairgrounds to
check things
out.
Within
minutes of
arriving, I had
exchanged nods
with John Phillips of The Mamas and
The Papas and had been recruited to
transport musicians from the Monterey
Airport.
My first assignment was to pick up a
group called The Paupers. As I
approached the terminal, I was
confronted by a bevy of teenage girls
lined up in front of the gate with signs
proclaiming their undying love for John,
Paul, George and Ringo. The big rumor
flashing around town was that The
Beatles were going to make a surprise
appearance. The rumor ultimately
proved baseless but, on this Thursday
morning, Beatlemania was in full swing.
I greeted The Paupers as they exited
the plane and discovered as we headed
off that they were from Canada. I had
never heard of the group before, but I
found them to be friendly chaps and
enjoyed every minute of the ride into
town.
John
Greenwald
from
Monterey
holds a photo
of himself
taken in 1967.
Greenwald
worked at
the Monterey
Pop Festival
after just
graduating
from
Monterey
High School.
PERSONAL
MEMORIES
Once I had The Paupers taken care
of, I was given a second assignment:
Pick up the Steve Miller Band and
deliver them to a motel on Fremont
Street.
Upon arriving at the motel, I helped
the band unload, and they invited me to
linger in their room for a few minutes.
This was maybe the coolest moment in
my young life, and I still had the whole
festival ahead to enjoy.
As luck would have it, I had the
perfect job at the festival to ensure
maximum enjoyment: I was an usher.
To be an usher meant having unlimited
access to every area except backstage.
Our badges, which read “Seat
Power-We Love You,” allowed us to
come and go as we pleased. Of course,
being an usher also meant wearing a
sports coat and tie, which made us look
like extras from “Leave It To Beaver”
amid all the tie-dye and flowers.
Each usher was assigned a section,
and it was our responsibility to make
sure the right people were sitting in the
right seats. This was great, in theory,
but when a group of Hell’s Angels
plopped down in my section, I decided
not to ask for ticket stubs.
On Saturday night I walked all
around the perimeter of the arena so
that I could view Otis Redding from
every angle. It was late, and the
spotlights piercing through the cool,
moist air cast Redding in an ethereal
glow as he pounded out an R&B set
that had every member of the audience
nodding and shaking as one. With each
song, the energy grew, leaving the
crowd at the end begging for more.
On Sunday afternoon, after the arena
had emptied out, I wandered up to the
stage to watch a sound check by a guy
named Jimi Hendrix, and I stood
transfixed as he played his Stratocaster
upside down and squeezed out notes
that came from places no guitarist had
ever gone before. Photographer Jim
Marshall, who was standing next to me,
summed it up: “This cat is wild.”
Seeing him up close during the
sound check left me primed for
Hendrix’s show that night, and he did
not disappoint. In fact, he took his act to
another level, complete with lighter
fluid and a flaming guitar, teeth as a
guitar pick and a carnal encounter with
his Marshall amp. In a final climactic
burst, he destroyed his guitar, leaving
the audience slack-jawed. This cat was
beyond wild.
There were other big moments
during the weekend, of course. Janis
Joplin belted her heart out in two
separate performances, and The Who
answered Hendrix with smoke bombs
and guitar mayhem as they talked
about their g-g-g-generation.
For me, the weekend was one wild
way to celebrate my graduation from
high school. It was my first major live
rock ’n’ roll encounter and, though I
have had many other amazing live
music experiences over the years, none
can compare with that weekend in June
when my hometown became the rock
’n’ roll capital of the universe.
Others: People all over the country remember one incredible weekend
Editor’s note: When we asked readers,
both online and in print, the question,
“Are you experienced?” we never quite
expected such an overwhelming response.
E-mails and letters poured in from
around the country, and we’ve printed
some of them here.
W
hat a perfect, innocent,
optimistic and riotously fun
time that was.
I was 15 and living in Half
Moon Bay. I hitchhiked to Big Sur
several days before the festival and got
a ride with a VW busload of hippies,
whom I brought home with me.
They planned to head back to
Monterey before I did, so I sent them
off with a breakfast of psychedelic
pancakes (I added food coloring and
gently swirled it through the batter;
they added whatever was in their
pockets). We spent much of the next
eight hours listening to records and
sunbathing before they finally shoved
off. (I doubt the sun shone that day at
Go to:
montereyherald.com
to view photos and to hear
audio interviews.
all, but sunbathing was more a state of
mind.)
I hitched to Monterey with no money.
I took nothing but a shoulder bag
(hairbrush, toothpaste, toothbrush) and
a jacket made out of an army blanket.
I got a ride that dropped me off south
of the fairgrounds and got another ride
north with a whole bunch of people. I
put my bag in one car, but it was full, so
I hopped in the next vehicle. There was
no guarantee I’d ever see my bag again,
but I did.
I jumped the fence to get in (after
taking the enormous leap of faith of
throwing my bag and jacket over the
wire first) and stayed the whole
weekend.
Much of my time was spent up on the
hippie/old school bus roof that was
outside of the concert arena. We all
drank red wine from a large jug of Red
Mountain that made its way around
every once in awhile. One afternoon,
some guys on the bus roof told me
about this incredible breakfast some
other guys had told them about. It was
up in Half Moon Bay, there were
psychedelic pancakes, a blonde was
involved.
In the livestock barn one night, there
was a black guy playing guitar. It was
impromptu and not an organized
concert; he was just hanging out. I
stayed there quite awhile, wondering
why he wasn’t performing on stage. He
did later on; it was Jimi Hendrix.
Nothing was going to stop me from
seeing The Blues Project when they
performed, so when a couple of guys
tried to charge the arena entrance from
the direction of the old bus and were
chased by the cops, I ran the other way
and sneaked into the arena. Every time
I was asked for my ticket, I said my
boyfriend had it “up there,” I said,
waving vaguely toward the stands and I
just kept walking.
I found a seat and when The Blues
Project came on I borrowed a woman’s
binoculars to see them better, even
though I had seen them every time they
played the old Fillmore. Anyone who
ever heard Danny Kalb play guitar
knows why I couldn’t have been pulled
out of there with a pry bar.
One of the nights there, I slept
against a tree with the army blanket
jacket pulled over my knees. Another
night, a guy loaned me his sleeping bag
because he had no plans to sleep. In the
early morning, there was enough noise
to my right to wake me up. Finally, I sat
up, pulled out my hairbrush and started
brushing my hair. I gave a look of
disdain toward the noisemaker, only to
find myself staring into a large movie
camera.
Please see Memories page 21
‘‘The Monterey Pop Festival was like a wonderful dream. The daily fog and misty nights. The crowd. The music.
The smoky air wrapping us all up in a common bond.”
— Marie Gilmore, Pacific Grove
Memories
From page 20
When D.A. Pennebaker’s
“Monterey Pop” came out, I
went to see it with friends and
there I was, brushing my hair,
cool scowl directed at the
camera.
Another recollection from
the festival is clearly hearing
my name announced over the
PA system; I was asked to go to
one of the information areas.
Being a 15-year-old fugitive,
there was no way I was going
to identify myself. I figured if a
friend was looking for me,
they’d find me in that sea of
thousands. And just like the
pancake story, they did.
— Heidi Tiura, Monterey
I
was there working as
“flower power” for (Beatles
manager) Brian Epstein
. . . Sleeping on the
grounds overnight during the
whole festival. I was just a
teenager.
A photo of myself with a
flower in my mouth was used
by Time/Life as a portrait of a
hippie in their book called “The
Hippies.” So I’m a documented
hippie!
I got to hang out with Jimi
Hendrix before the festival
started, when I didn’t even
know who he really was. I
helped Brian Jones (The
Rollling Stones) get into the
main arena when the Monterey
High School jocks wouldn’t let
him in.
— Joseph Lucido
Local fulltime musician
I
was 15 years old when my
mother, who was reading
the newspaper one Friday
night, asked me: “What are
hippies?”
I didn’t have the slightest
idea. We were a family of
Mexican-American migrant
workers who had recently
arrived in Salinas from rural
Arizona. Momma said: “It says
here that there are going to be
20,000 hippies and flower
children this weekend in
Monterey for a music festival.
Let’s get up early tomorrow
and take a ride over there.”
So off we went on Saturday
morning, my parents and six
kids, me being the oldest. We
were not prepared for what we
saw. Brightly painted
psychedelic vans and cars
everywhere. When we walked
onto the fairgrounds we were
greeted by a longhaired man in
his 40s handing us necklaces of
COURTESY JOSEPH LUCIDO
Local musician Joseph Lucido, left, shown with his sister Cathleen
at the Monterey Pop Festival. The image is from a Monterey Pop
photo collection once displayed at the Fillmore in San Francisco.
“Love Seeds” (sunflower
seeds).
I was in awe of the beautiful
flower children, their faces
painted with flowers and
garlands in their hair. Some of
the girls wore big hats, long
skirts and sandals. Everybody
was happy and smiling,
walking with their arms around
each other. You really could
feel the love in the air. They
were so nice and welcoming.
After we strolled around a
bit, some hippies made room
for us at a spot with a great
view of the stage just outside
the chain-link fence. This
separated the paying
customers from the “free
show.” I remember that the
hippies gave us oranges and
handed us lighted incense
sticks.
We got to see Buffalo
Springfield, Jefferson Airplane,
Country Joe and The Fish,
Janis Joplin, The Who and Jimi
Hendrix. The psychedelic
images on stage were
awesome, too. I’d look over at
my mom and dad and they
were just as excited as I was to
be there. They must have
been, because we ended up
spending the night there
amongst the hippies. It was one
of the best experiences of my
life. After that I wanted to be a
flower child.
— Rosie Regalado, Lindsay
M
y older sister ditched
me outside the
fairgrounds’ gate.
Desperate to go to the
Monterey Pop Festival, I
climbed the chain-link fence
and leaped into a pine tree on
the other side.
I was wearing high leather
moccasins with beaded fringe
and a green wool poncho. My
hair was long and dark with
heavy bangs. I had turned 19 in
that year of 1967.
Inside the fairgrounds I
wandered alone, asking people
where they were from. I was
curious about how everyone
was from somewhere else —
Boston, Chicago, New York,
etc. I was from Hollywood.
Smoke filled the air.
Everyone was happy, laughing
and milling around. Then the
music started.
I had managed to watch
Janis Joplin and The Holding
Company perform by climbing
up on a fence on the side of the
main stage. This was my secret
spot with a great view. Janis
had a unique way of moving as
she sang. A stomp of sorts that
swung her silky bell-bottom
pants as she tore into her
songs. I was a big fan.
Late at night, having no
other place to stay, I slept in
the fairgrounds’ stables. Then
one night we were herded to
the MPC football field. A
strobe light was set up and it
was so much fun to play with
our strobing shadows as we
danced. The next morning I
went over to the edge of the
football field where the local
bikers we hanging out with
their motorcycles. A nice guy
gave me a ride on his
three-wheeler.
Back at the Pop Festival I
had bought tickets to see Ravi
Shankar perform. I had good
seats and felt part of the
mesmerizing music. I was
already familiar with Indian
music from friends in Los
Angeles and so really had a
deep experience.
Jimi Hendrix was brand new.
At first I saw him on a big
closed-circuit screen in one of
the fairgrounds’ exhibition
rooms. He was wild. I ran over
to the main stage and watched
again from the side, climbing
up on the fence for a great
close-up view. Hendrix was so
cool. His clothes, his sensual
and outrageous body moves.
His cutting edge music. I knew
I was lucky to see him first at
the Monterey Pop Festival and
would later listen to his first
album again and again and
again.
One evening I was
wandering around and heard
Otis Redding’s music coming
from the main stage. I was
behind the arena next to the
old bathrooms in the back.
Then, out of nowhere, a big
hand reached down from the
bathroom roof and said, “Grab
my hand and I’ll lift you up.” I
was hauled up onto the rooftop
where we all boogied to Otis in
his sharkskin suit.
The Monterey Pop Festival
was like a wonderful dream.
The daily fog and misty nights.
The crowd. The music. The
smoky air wrapping us all up in
a common bond.
I never did find my friends
coming up from L.A. And found
my sister only after days of
being on my own. But I loved
it. I loved the freedom and
adventure. I had heard great
music and soaked in the
experience of being at the right
place at the right time with
great musicians — there with
my own big booming
generation.
I also found the Monterey
Peninsula, to where I returned
and have lived for nearly 40
years with my children and
grandchildren.
— Marie Gilmore
Pacific Grove
I
am a second-generation
native of Monterey. I was
at the Monterey Pop
Festival (I attended with
my mother and my aunt). I was
born in October 1965, so I was
only 2 at the time. I think the
Monterey Pop somehow
affected me through “osmosis.”
I have always loved the
music of the 1960s (even as a
middle school and high school
student in the late ’70s and
early 1980s when my peers did
not know who Jimi Hendrix or
Janis Joplin were — and did
not care to find out about them.
(Ironically, I am local high
school teacher today, and
suddenly there is a resurgence
in the interest of the fashion
and music of the 1960s).
I attended the Monterey Pop
“reunion” held at the Maritime
Museum and at the Monterey
Fairgrounds a few years ago. I
had the opportunity to meet
Michelle Phillips (Mamas and
Papas) and her daughter
(China Phillips). Michelle
Phillips told me of her joy
when she found out she was
expecting (China) during the
Monterey Pop Festival. She
told me about Mama Cass and
Janis Joplin as well.
The Phillips family stayed at
a beautiful home on El Bosque
in Pebble Beach during the
festival — they were not “really
hippies,” she said. I was so glad
that I had the opportunity to
attend this event (I guess it was
not well-publicized) so I ended
up having lengthy
conversations with people like
Phillips, two photographers,
including Elaine Mayes, who
showed me the prototype for
her book (released about a
year later) that included her
photos at Monterey Pop.
(Included among her photos is
the now famous image of Jimi
Hendrix and a girlfriend
walking by the flower market
stand on Fremont Street).
I also met D.A. Pennebaker,
who directed the filming of
“Monterey Pop.”
Another documentary film
director from San Francisco
wanted to interview me for a
film he planned (to include the
babies and children of
Monterey Pop). I was one of
the few who had actually
attended the festival — and I
was certainly the youngest.
— Carol DiMaggio, Monterey
I
was 15 years old and
visiting from Los Angeles
with my Aunt Gingy and
cousins who lived in
Carmel.
My aunt had purchased
tickets to all shows, thinking
that the Monterey Pop Festival
would be a folk festival with the
likes of The Kingston Trio,
Joan Baez, etc. With my sister,
Barbara, and cousins Kathy
and Bob, Aunt Gingy took us
over to the fairgrounds, where
we were quickly swept off our
feet by the sweet smells of
incense and marijuana.
Hippies, flower children and
beats engulfed the fairgrounds.
We took our most excellent
seats and were soon blown
away with back-to-back
performances by Otis Redding,
Mamas and The Papas and the
knockout performances of The
Who, Jimi Hendrix, Janis
Joplin, Buffalo Springfield
(Stephen Stills) and a short
“Who knew that within months, (Otis) Redding would die in a plane crash, and a few years later
(Jimi) Hendrix and Janis (Joplin) would also be victims of their own excessive behaviors?”
— Bill Monning, Carmel
Memories
Joe Gomez,
still a
hippie at
age 72,
poses with
his
daughter
Denise in
San
Francisco.
From page 21
performance by The Grateful
Dead, who joined Hendrix for a
free impromptu performance at
the MPC football-field-turnedcampground.
The Dead also made off with
a truckload of Fender amps
after allegedly dosing the
security guards with
LSD-tainted beers.
The concert served as an
awakening. Who knew that
within months, Redding would
die in a plane crash, and a few
years later Hendrix and Janis
would also be victims of their
own excessive behaviors?
I remember my aunt
watching in awe, then I
realized, everyone in the arena
watched in awe. The
performances were powerful
and launched many of the
artists onto the international
stage.
The police were smart and
accommodating. No violence,
few arrests. A cultural
movement went through a
major birthing experience. I
remember rumors moving
around the arena with the
wafting smoke — “The Beatles
are here . . . Paul McCartney
will play.” Even though The
Beatles never appeared, those
who did made their mark on
the audience and their mark on
rock history.
Fortunately, lots of the
performances were captured
on film . . . not The Dead,
however, as they refused to
sign the paperwork giving
commercial rights to the Los
Angeles-based promoters.
I count my good fortune for
being treated to two evenings
and three days of live music
and a social/cultural phenom. I
thank my Aunt Gingy for her
faith in the folk tradition she
believed she was investing in.
While memories are a bit
distorted by time, the
Monterey Pop Festival left
strongly imbedded impressions
of the prospect for peace and
love to prevail on this planet as
the people who came truly
learned how to “all get along.”
— Bill Monning
Carmel
S
ome time in the
beginning of 1967, my
friend Bob Hite, frontman
and founder of the blues
band Canned Heat, told me
about a rock concert in
Monterey that he was going to
be at.
At the time, I was living in
West Los Angeles, and my
brother Jose and I made plans
to go.
We arrived that Friday, late
afternoon, and stayed up all
night, until noon Saturday, at
which time we were hungry,
tired and broke, with just
enough money to order a side
of pancakes and coffee, and my
brother and I split them. We
had only enough money for gas
to get back.
But the time and experience
we spent during those 20 hours
or so were to never be
forgotten . . . the music, the
people, the police, the vibes. It
was an experience I live over
and over. Like walking around
the fairgrounds, which had no
fences then, and walking
toward us was Brian Jones of
The Rolling Stones, and all the
“beautiful people” just enjoying
the moment.
The little coffee shop that we
split the pancakes at is now
called Caruso’s Corner, and
where Beverly’s is now was an
empty lot. What I also
remember is thinking that the
Peninsula was paradise, saying
to myself, “I would love to live
here.”
Little did I know I would
move here. Talk about destiny.
One other thing I recall is
the afternoon we arrived
(Friday) just after my brother
parked the car, in pulled up a
few hundred Hell’s Angels. It
was awesome. They were real
cool and peaceful. I also
remember how the police were
also real cool, to the point that
they allowed girls to put
flowers on their bikes and
police helmets. Unbelievable!
The vibes and aura that I felt
that Friday and Saturday were
the same I had felt at
Haight-Ashbury and the
several “love-ins” I attended
around that era.
— Joe Gomez
Sand City
Y
es, I do remember the
festival — and I did
attend. I was in the
Army (drafted, that is)
and just coincidently happened
to obtain a pass for that very
weekend, but coming from
Texas I certainly wasn’t aware
of anything called the
Monterey Pop Festival.
When I arrived home I got in
touch with my friends and,
being 20 years old, I was
naturally looking for some
weekend excitement. My
friend Dave mentioned that
there was this music event at
the fairgrounds — some kind
of festival. He said that Jimi
Hendrix was going to be there.
“Yeah, RIGHT Dave. In
Monterey?”
“And The Mamas and The
Papas; and The Byrds; and
Janis Joplin,” he said.
“Yeah, sure thing, Dave.”
“And The Who; and Otis
Redding; and Jefferson
Airplane; and The Animals.”
“Dave, you are so full of
@#%@!”
Well, being an avid music
lover, I was aware of these
groups, but nobody had ever
heard of anything like a “Pop
Festival.” Needless to say, I
didn’t believe a word of it. Dave
had me call another friend and
when he repeated the same
B.S., I knew it was an obvious
conspiracy — just to jerk me
around.
But I played along with their
little game and even went down
to the fairgrounds early
Saturday afternoon — just to
call their bluff. Boy, was I in for
a surprise! Everything they
said was true. They were all
there. And practically everyone
I knew was there. In a word, it
was “unbelievable!” The body
art. The clothes. The colors.
The music. The feelings of love
and belonging — it was all
there. And, yes, that certain
smell wafting through the
atmosphere. “Flower Power”
had just blossomed and,
despite my military haircut, I
managed to savor every
moment.
None of us had tickets to get
into the arena (although Dave
somehow managed), but we
did climb some nearby trees
and did hear much of the
music and strolled the
animated grounds in a state of
pure wonder, amazement and
joy.
What a weekend! What a
time! It was the first event of its
kind, and bore the promise of
better things to come. And who
knew that, not only would this
festival forever remain as the
greatest festival of all, but in a
very short time things would
deteriorate so rapidly — finally
culminating with the tragedy of
Altamont (a concert I also
attended); many more that I
knew would end up in Vietnam;
and my friend Dave, a Navy
corpsman, would lose his life
over there, along with tens of
thousands of others from my
generation.
So, when I look back on the
Monterey International Pop
Festival, I must couple my
feelings of exuberance and joy
with those of deep sorrow. I
can remember that wondrous
weekend of innocent, youthful,
overwhelming elation we all
shared but, likewise, I can
never forget my good friend
Dave McGlochlin and how
soon, and how sadly he was to
leave this world. For me, those
memories will always be
intertwined.
— Larry Parrish
Carmel Valley
F
or my 19th birthday my
parents gave me and my
future (and ex) husband
box seats to the
Monterey Pop Festival.
Although it’s never
mentioned, I sense the most
memorable set was Ravi
Shankar’s. It was
mesmerization of the collective
consciousness. While he
played, no one was talking. No
one was moving. He played the
entire set on Sunday afternoon.
We all sat there like children at
his feet while he told his
legend through his music.
When he finished, no one
reacted for a few seconds. We
were all stunned. Then the
arena exploded with sincerely
overwhelming appreciation.
Truly extraordinary and truly
soulful.
Of course Jimi and The Who
stick to the memory because of
their theatricals — flaming and
smashing guitars. And that
wasn’t necessary to bring
attention to their music. They
were just more than fine
without it.
There wasn’t a bad
performance. Everyone,
festivalgoers and festival
players, was ecstatic. You
know, like when you can’t stop
smiling and your cheek
muscles hurt.
I don’t remember any
conflicts during the three days
of the event. It was filled with
love and good feelings.
— Kathy Klawans Smith
Carmel Valley
T
hat was the weekend of
my 17th birthday. Man,
what a weekend. We
really didn’t know what
history was being made at the
time; just colorful folks and
great music emanating from
the main arena.
We perched on the roof of
the horse stables, smoked
opiated hash and saw most of it
from there. Otis Redding was
incredible, The Who
embedded themselves forever
into my psyche . . . Moby
Grape . . . Didn’t know who
Hendrix was but the sounds
coming out of the arena were
wonderfully bizarre . . . Byrds,
great harmonies . . . just a great
time that will never happen
again.
Went to the ’89 effort to
relive that weekend. The
financing had fallen through,
yet we still were treated to Billy
Preston and Jeff Healy, Randy
Hansen’s tribute to Jimi.
Awesome stuff but not the Pop
Fest. We could use a dash of
that again.
— Laurence Randolph
Seaside
I
attended the Monterey
Pop Festival along with my
best friend Lynette
Mendonsa. Lynette heard
about the festival from a San
Francisco newspaper and got
us tickets for both the
afternoon and evening on
Saturday.
Along with other memorable
groups, we saw Big Brother
and The Holding Company and
I was in awe of Janis Joplin. I
remember her crocheted outfit
and telling my mom about how
you could tell she wasn’t
wearing underwear. At that
time it was really risque.
I saw Mama Cass in the
audience and I thought I saw
George Harrison, too. The
aroma of pot permeated
throughout the grounds and
made my friend a little sick.
We left early that evening and I
only got to hear Otis Redding,
something I have always
regretted.
— Carol Elarmo
Monterey
N
icknamed “The Pot
Festival” — yes, I was
there. I remember
clearly all the police
lined up, expecting trouble, but
there was NO violence,
Monterey Pop, Summer of Love big business 40 years later
I
By MARC CABRERA
Herald Staff Writer
f it seems like Monterey
Pop and the Summer of
Love are showing up
everywhere, don’t worry,
you’re not suffering a
trippy flashback.
Instead, you’re succumbing
to the onslaught of Monterey
Pop nostalgia, as several
national television networks,
publications and institutions
turn their attention to the
biggest rock ’n’ roll concert of
its time. Monterey’s popping
up on your favorite music video
channel, magazine, even where
you buy coffee.
Here’s a short list of some of
the more prominent national
tributes, along with a few local
selections. Flowers not
included:
➤ Razor & Tie/Starbucks CD:
This week, record company
Razor & Tie and Starbucks
Entertainment released
“Monterey International Pop
Festival,” a two-CD
retrospective with recordings
Memories
From page 22
because everybody was
completely stoned, extremely
polite and very nice, to the
astonishment of all. Sat close
up, in awe, watching Janis
Joplin in her knitted dress with
no bra — giving it all with her
whisky voice. Oh, boy! Jimi
Hendrix making love to his
guitar on stage. It was truly the
most amazing event that I have
ever been to in my life.
— Jasmine Tritten
Corrales, N.M.
T
he Monterey Pop
Festival was definitely
everything that we
thought it should be in
expressing the hope, peace,
love and understanding we felt.
I went to the Friday night
concert with my girlfriend from
Carmel, Suzanne Byrne, and
we saw The Association and
some other groups I can’t
remember (does that prove I
was there?), but returned to
spend most of Saturday just
hanging out in the “outer” area
with friends.
The atmosphere was pretty
amazing and, whether or not
you were high artificially, you
couldn’t help but be affected by
the positive overall vibe. There
were the usual assortment of
face-painters, bead-, bangleand jewelry-sellers, palm and
from the historic 1967 music
festival.
Among the performances:
Jefferson Airplane, The Who,
The Jimi Hendrix Experience,
The Mamas and The Papas and
Big Brother and The Holding
Company featuring Janis
Joplin. Also, unreleased
material from Simon and
Garfunkel and Buffalo
Springfield.
The CDs are available at
both Starbucks Coffee Co.
shops and retail outlets.
➤ The Rock and Roll Hall of
tarot readers, jugglers, incense
and patchouli vendors, etc.,
that you would usually expect
at such functions. But the
overriding aura of peace and
love and friendship was
naturally enjoyable and
contagious.
That weekend made hippies
out of a lot of people! Saturday
night was amazing and, for
every one person at the concert
inside, there were probably 10
more outside listening to the
unbelievable strains of Jimi
Hendrix, The Who and The
Mamas and The Papas.
I think the culmination was
the Sunday afternoon concert
with Ravi Shankar and Alla
Rakah. A short time after its
beginning, the gates were
opened and those of us
standing at the cyclone fence,
watching and listening, were
allowed in to sit cross-legged
on the ground. What I
remember most of all was the
thunderous applause and the
simultaneous rising of the
audience to its feet. We were in
awe of not only what we had
just heard and felt, but how
deeply we had been awakened
— and moved — spiritually.
— Jim Thomas
Loveland, Ohio
I
performed with the band
Country Joe and The Fish
at the festival. I have many
great memories of those
three days and I remain
convinced that the Monterey
International Pop Festival was
Fame and Museum special
exhibit: The museum in
Cleveland is hosting a large
exhibit on the Summer of
Love, including an individual
exhibit on Monterey Pop. The
exhibit opens July 25 with a
special lecture by Lou Adler.
For more information, visit the
Web site www.rockhall.com.
➤ VH1 documentary: The
music channel will air
“Monterey 40,” an original
documentary about the iconic
festival.
“Monterey 40” will be part of
the network’s Rock Doc series;
it’s set to air at 9 p.m. June 16,
on both VH1 and VH1 Classic.
Paul McCartney, Rolling Stone
magazine founder Jann
Wenner and Grateful Dead
guitarist Bob Weir are among
those interviewed in the
documentary.
D.A. Pennebaker, director of
“Monterey Pop,” the original
concert film about the music
fest, served as a consultant.
➤ Rolling Stone magazine
tribute: The magazine’s
June/July edition will be a
double issue dedicated to the
Summer of Love, with
coverage of Monterey Pop.
➤ National Steinbeck Center
rocks: The National Steinbeck
Center museum in Salinas is
hosting “Words and Music:
The Art of the Rock Poster”
exhibition, which opened June
8. Later in the (recycled)
summer of love, the annual
Steinbeck Festival takes place
Aug. 2-5, with the theme “A
Culture of Discontent:
Steinbeck and the ’60s.”
The poster collections are on
loan from Bob Gamber, rock
music aficionado and owner of
The Vinyl Revolution in
Monterey, and The Rock
Poster Society, a nonprofit
organization devoted to the
collection and preservation of
rock poster art.
Featured in the exhibition
are important examples by the
pioneering “Big Five” artists of
Northern California
psychedelic poster design: Wes
Wilson, Rick Griffin, Victor
Moscoso, Stanley Mouse, and
Alton Kelley, along with other
prominent rock poster artists.
This artistic movement
emerged out of San Francisco’s
Haight-Ashbury music scene in
the late 1960s.
The exhibition is included
with museum admission.
General admission is $10.95 for
adults, with discounts for
seniors, students, children and
groups. The museum is open
daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For
more information visit the Web
site www.steinbeck.org or call
775–4721.
➤ Monterey Pop (Part 2?): A
two-day “Monterey Summer of
Love” concert is scheduled July
28 and 29 at the Monterey
Fairgrounds.
Among the acts from the
original lineup are Jefferson
Starship, Quicksilver
Messenger Service, Big
Company and Moby Grape,
along with new bands and
tribute groups.
the apex of much of what was
best about the counterculture
movement of the ’60s. We were
hopeful, idealistic and positive
in June 1967, yet by the time of
the Woodstock Festival little
more than two years later, we
had all been deeply wounded
by the assassinations of 1968,
the riots at the Democratic
Convention in Chicago, and
many of the hopes and deepest
yearnings of my generation
had turned to despair.
But, oh, the music! I can still
remember The Mamas and
The Papas, Canned Heat, Otis
Redding, The Who and Jimi
Hendrix. The debut of The
Electric Flag, with Mike
Bloomfield’s phenomenal
guitar sculpting the air, was
particularly memorable. What a
time to remember!
— Barry “The Fish” Melton
Yolo County
visiting my mother in
Monterey. We went to the
Saturday afternoon
performance. On stage that day
were Canned Heat, Country
Joe McDonald and The Fish,
plus Big Brother and The
Holding Company, with Janis
Joplin.
The people attending were
the most interesting, beautiful
and peaceful people I had ever
seen. Canned Heat blew me
away, Country Joe was the
coolest man I had ever seen,
and then there was Janis.
When Janis Joplin came on
stage and started singing, I got
up from my seat, transfixed. I
walked to the stage and stood
six feet away, looking up at this
amazing image. She was
wearing a light pink, knit pant
suit, stamping her feet, singing
“Ball and Chain.” Half of my
being was thinking, “You can’t
do that!” The other half was
saying, “Right on, girl!” She
was sexual, self-confident and
demanding her rights as a
woman. I became a feminist
that day. At that hour.
I went back to L.A. and,
within a few months, I left my
job selling worthless things to
people who couldn’t afford
them. I became a hippie.
Many people were changed
that weekend. The world
changed that weekend.
Because of the hippie
counterculture and all the
things that it produced and the
sensibilities it created, the
world still has a chance to be
the Garden of Eden.
— John Bassett McCleary
Monterey
I
n June of 1967, I was an
advertising copywriter, art
director and account
executive working in an
advertising agency in Los
Angeles on accounts such as
Bank of America, McDonald’s
and Richfield Oil. I was
“straight” at the time — marital
sex, no drugs and Southern
California rock ’n’ roll, (The
Beach Boys, Mamas and
Papas).
My cousin, Diane
Hildebrand, who wrote songs
for The Monkees, gave me
tickets to this “happening” in
Monterey. My wife and I were
I
was 16 years old at the
time. My friends and I
were hanging outside the
fence at the fairgrounds
listening and grooving like
everyone else. We noticed a
spot along the fence where the
tree limb hung over the barbed
wire. My friends jumped over
and were caught by security. I
waited a few minutes for them
to be hauled away and I made a
break for it. I made it over the
fence and stood behind a tree
until it was safe. I began
walking the grounds and
stayed a few days and nights,
sleeping in cramped horse
stalls with lots of others.
I remember ads in the paper
about people offering their
front lawns for people to sleep
on. Monterey Peninsula
College’s football field was
jam-packed with sleeping bags.
There was a sweet smell in the
air, everywhere.
I guess the most memorable
thing was when Jimi kept
trying to light his guitar. When
it lit, the skies opened up and I
felt an extreme spiritual
moment. Another highlight
was when The Who smashed
all their equipment and threw
pieces out to the audience. I
was only a few feet from where
Pete Townshend’s guitar neck
hit the crowd.
— Ron Lynch, Monterey
Moss Landing
Sunday, June 29th
Preview Saturday, June 28th
Commercial & Residential Rentals Now Available!
We Are Looking for Consignments: Call 632-0180
Hamlin Properties LLC
Located in Historic Fishing Village & Antique Center
7981 Moss Landing Road
(831) 632-0180 • 760-0952
www.hauteenchilada.com

themontereycountyhera ld • sunday , june

Transcription

Similar documents

Vadsö_kulturnaringslivseminarie 080605

2012 PN Archivist Tasting Notes

Thornhill by Moxy Früvous

The Comics

The 60s - The Hippies - Union City High School

what`s for sale? - Alabama Butterbean Festival

Squirrel Nut Zippers

DUF 2014 Showcase flyer

Year End Report - Afro

social raquet - ALEXANDER PARK TENNIS CLUB