Technically, no, the Dead didn't play there. They were scheduled to play, and they were there and ready to play. After the Hell's Angel/Marty Balin incedint, they were freaked to the point that they didn't want to participate anymore, and went home. The Marty Balin thing is fully captured in the film. The Airplane was on stage, and the Angel "security" guard who was also on stage to keep people from jumping up, was being less than gentle with enthusiastic concert goers. Balin asked him to chill out a bit, and try to be nice. Angel spun around and full-on donkey punched Balin in the jaw. Knocked him several feet back, into the amps. Balin was on his ass, out cold. Paul Kantner barely avoided getting getting punched out too, as the Angel grabbed a mic stand. Jerry saw this from back stage, "Whoa, time to get outa here." Thing is, the dead had asked the Angels to keep an eye on things at many other shows prior to this, with no problems. Matter of fact, it was Jerry's sugestion to the Stones people that brought them there in the first place. Sidebar-Tidbit----The Grateful Dead song, "New Speedway Boogie", was written by Robert Hunter in response to calamities of the day.
Hmm, after googling I see that a young George Lucas was a camera operator during the filming of the show at Altamont but was only able to shoot about 100 feet of film before the camera jammed, another Marin connection to the story.
You sure the Dead played there ? I remember an interview in the film with Weir & Garcia but thought they just attended the show, didn't Marty Balin get knocked out by a punch from a Hells Angel ?
Long way to hitch hike. I'd have been bummed. Did Mr. Niman toss you some protein? A nice rib-eye, perhaps? Cool. At the time, I was an IJ paperboy, so I read all the front page articles leading up to the concert, and really wanted to be there. Mom said NO! There's an exceptionally good documentary film that really captures a lot. "Gimme Shelter" deals mostly with the Rolling Stones, but most of the opening acts are there too. Dead, Airplane, etc. The camera work is super spontanious, and the edit process leaves the Gnarly vibes intact. Did'ja know that up to just a couple of days before it took place, it was gonna happen at Sear's Point? Melvin Belli was the point man for the Stones, and the movie shows him in the throws of trying to make all these 11'th hour venue switches. Initially, it was gonna be in Golden Gate Park. City pulled the permits two days prior. Big scramble. Land owner from Tracy area offers his land, adjacent to his racetrack, cause he figures the publicity would be good. The rest is history...
Rob, missed the MMF but I did go to Altamont, I went their with some older hippies from Sttinson, I remember hearing the gunshots but could not see what happened. When the concert ended there were thousands of people exiting and I got seperated from my friends and had to hitchhike all the way back from Livenomore to Stinson. I was at the Molino intersection by 11:30 pm and caught a ride from Bill Niman ( Niman Ranch meats ) who was a teacher at Bolinas school at the time. What a day.
Well, speaking of Altamont, I went to that also while in high school. Subject came up with my boyfriend when we started dating. He is 1 1/2 years older than I and his mother absolutely forbade him from going. Can't believe mine didn't (it turned out to be my introduction to pot)! He is the biggest music fan I have ever known (has virtually been to every 60's/70's concert). He was 18 or 19 at the time. He obeyed (good boyfriend material) but a week later push came to shove with his mom and he moved out on his own and regrets to this day he wasn't more timely in his decision!
That, my dear, is the strangest post I've read. Hooray that you were there, though. I was only eleven years old at the time, and, in retrospect, wish I had been. I also am sorry that I was to young to have gone to Altamont. Yeah, I know, heavy vibes--but still....
My favorite memory off MMF was using the psychadelic pink/orange flyer as an ear megaphone. My parents had one of those original make-it-yourself hi-fi sets with one speaker. My brothers and I would take turns sitting inches from the speaker with the rolled up flyer jammed into our ears in hopes of hearing the music louder than Mom allowed! The tip of our "megaphone" got pretty raunchy eventually.
We were 14 and my mom drove us to the shuttle in Mill Valley. No cars allowed up there. I do remember lots of awesome bands but what really stuck out is when the Fifth Dimension was on stage and doing "Up Up and Away". A plane flew over and someone parachuted out. Very dramatic. Was that real? Now looking back I realize how cool our parents were to have let us go up there. There were LOTS of temptations!
MMF was way over the top and an amazing event. If memory serves me correct, Gracie came up to the parking lot in a white flowing gown, on the back of a three wheeler piloted by Sonny Barger. hard to recall it ALL........ whew
The Magic Mountain Festival happened on the 3rd weekend of June, 1967. It was postponed for a week in early June because of RAIN. KFRC arranged for "Trans-Love Bus Lines" to bring people to and from the city. If you climbed a nearby hill the promoter had arranged for kids to slide down the hill on cardboard - it worked pretty well. Besides the SF bands, the Doors also played. A few years ago I was sitting in the ampitheater when some twenty-something hikers happened by. I yelled out "hey, you're standing on the exact spot Jim Morrison sang from 30 years ago" They said "who???"
I think it was in the summer of 1966 when KFRC put on a 3 day festival at the ampitheater on Mt. Tam. They had all the big name San Francisco Sound bands up there. That's when KFRC took over as number one AM station after KYA and KEWB ( Channel 91 ) went off the air. That was the beginning of a series of less commercial events that were put on at the ampitheater on summer nights. In those days Mt. Tam was not gated and it drew a lot of people up there , ( Hippys ) . The Park Officials let it go for a couple of years but eventually succeded in squelching musical events and closed the mountain at night. They said the problem was a concern of fire. When I lived in Stinson Beach , some summers were foggy , so we would go up to Mt. Tam and it would be the inversion layer ( heat waves ) . I miss those amazing nights up on the mountain .
