Category Archives: Music et al

Eugene Pop Festival

Eugene Pop Festival

Held at the University of Oregon’s  Hayward Field on July 26, 1969

Cost: $5;  attendance: 5,000

1969 festival # 26

Most pictures from this link   and information from Eugene Musicians dot com

F.A.M.E. stood for Film, Art, & Music in Eugene.

Unfortunately, the event did not go as planned and several scheduled acts,  including The Byrds and The Youngbloods, didnot perform.

Bands that did perform: The Doors, Them, Alice Cooper, Rockin’ Foo, J Geils Band, Peter, River, Truth, The Bumps, and Zu.

Eugene Pop Festival
Newspaper: Eugene Register-Guard Author: Unknown Publish Date: July 18th – 1969

The Doors arrived only minutes before taking the stage and played an extended set (70 minutes instead of 45 minutes) to make up for the missing bands.

 

As you will be able to read from the newspaper articles below, the announcement that the Byrds and Youngbloods, two of the biggest names on the bill,  drew an angry reaction from many in the crowd some of whom demanded their money back.

Boyd Grafmyre
Former Seattle concert producer Boyd Grafmyre, pictured here in Seattle in 1970. (Courtesy of Damien Grafmyre)
Former Seattle concert producer Boyd Grafmyre, pictured here in Seattle in 1970. (Courtesy of Damien Grafmyre)

Boyd Grafmyre promoted the event. He was becoming one of the biggest names in rock music production in the northwest.

FAME Expo - Agreement

Here is his obituary from the Seattle-Times dated December 13, 2019If you saw some of the biggest bands perform in Seattle back in the ’60s  — The Doors, Led Zeppelin or Jimi Hendrix at the Eagles Auditorium, or the Seattle Pop Festival in Woodinville — you can thank Boyd Grafmyre.

“He really was responsible for bringing the music scene to Seattle in the late 1960s,” said Joseph “Lightnin’ Joe” Meyering, a musician and the owner of the JAM PRO NW recording studio in Port Townsend. “It was all him, or those bands probably wouldn’t have made it up here. Boyd got those acts to Seattle.”

Mr. Grafmyre, who was still dreaming of producing the next big act, died Monday, Dec. 9, in Port Townsend. He was 79.

“He would always tell me, ‘I have this deal, it’s going to work, it’s going to happen next month,’ ” remembered his son, Damien. “Sometimes I think he was living for what he had.

“But he had a creative mind, and he had an ear for music. He knew what was good, and what was not good.”

Born in Bellingham and raised in Seattle, Mr. Grafmyre graduated from Queen Anne High School and had dreams of becoming an actor. At 19, he moved to Los Angeles and studied at the Pasadena Playhouse, then went to New York for a spell before he returned to Seattle. He was drafted and spent six months as a reservist in the civil affairs unit of the Army.

He spent a year at Seattle Repertory Theatre, where he met his future wife, Jana Thurner. They had two sons, Dylan, now 51, and Damien, 48. The couple later divorced.

In 1963, Mr. Grafmyre was asked to be the tour manager for a combination gospel and pantomime show. One day, he pulled the bus over next to a cornfield and watched the performers stream out and dance around in the stalks.

“I took one look and decided I was through with actors and that kind of temperament,” he told The Seattle Times in 1969. He returned to Seattle and joined a promotional agency called Trips-Lansing that was putting on a festival at the Eagles Auditorium at Seventh Avenue and Union Street, where the ACT Theatre now operates.

Mr. Grafmyre saw the crowds, rented the space on his own and started booking talent for weekend shows — but he barely broke even. That problem was solved in the spring of 1967, when he booked The Doors — the band had just released “Light My Fire” — and had to turn away 4,000 people.

Other acts followed: Steve Miller, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, who famously stayed at the Edgewater Hotel during their booking at the Green Lake Aqua Theater. Joe Cocker said he gave one of his best performances at the Eagles Auditorium, which Mr. Grafmyre took pains to ensure had good acoustics, sound system and lights.

In 1969, Mr. Grafmyre booked a property in Woodinville for the three-day Seattle Pop Festival, which drew more than 50,000 people to see artists such as Chuck Berry, Santana, the Byrds, Ike & Tina Turner, Ten Years After and The Doors.

Damien Grafmyre and his brother were raised in Hawaii after their mother remarried, to a minister. (“I have a rock ‘n’ roll father and a minister father,” he said).

Despite the distance and their father’s musical aspirations, they were connected.

Former Seattle concert producer Boyd Grafmyre, pictured here in Austin, TX in 2012. (Courtesy of Damien Grafmyre)
Boyd Grafmyre, pictured here in Austin, TX in 2012. (Courtesy of Damien Grafmyre)

“He never mistreated us and always loved us,” Damien Grafmyre said. “He wasn’t there, physically. His lifestyle was music, and that’s probably why he and my mom got divorced. But he was always a loving person.”

Mr. Grafmyre was still hoping to get back into the music business, “but I don’t think he knew how to do it,” his son said.

Mr. Grafmyre spent the last years of his life in a small apartment in Port Townsend, where he walked four miles a day, greeting everyone in his path.

Two years ago, Mr. Grafmyre was diagnosed with throat cancer, which was treated, but recently affected his ability to swallow. He went to the hospital for tests and went into cardiac arrest. He never regained consciousness.

In the days before he died, Mr. Grafmyre’s family sat in his room, talking and playing the music of Led Zeppelin, Neil Diamond and Hendrix. Meyering came in and played his harmonica.

Meyering’s fondest memories of Mr. Grafmyer are seeing him sitting with his feet hanging out the window of his top-floor place, looking out at the water, a glass of wine in one hand, the other waving hello.

“It was always good to see him,” Meyering said. “Boyd always had good energy and a smile. And he was always working on the next big thing, the next big artist he was thinking about promoting.”

Mr. Grafmyre is survived by his sons and three grandchildren: Jacob, Sebastian and Rose Elane.

No services are planned. Mr. Grafmyre will be cremated and his ashes spread in places he loved: Port Townsend, Bainbridge Island and in Seattle, where his mother and sister were laid to rest.

 

The next 1969 festival is the Seattle Pop Festival.

Related articles

Eugene Pop Festival
Newspaper: Eugene Register-Guard Author: Mike Stahlberg Publish Date: July 27th – 1969

 

Eugene Pop Festival
Newspaper: Eugene Register-Guard Author: Unknown Publish Date: July 28th – 1969

Canadian Bassist Brad Campbell

Canadian Bassist Brad Campbell

October 22, 1945 – November 14, 2019

Canadian Bassist Brad Campell

Brad Campbell played at Woodstock as part of Janis Joplin’s Kozmic Blues Band. Of course, like all musicians, he’d had things happen before and many things following.

Canadian Bassist Brad Campbell

Early on

Among the beautiful gifts these Woodstock Whisperer posts serendipitously  bestow are comments from someone who was at the event the post is on or knew the person the post is about. Below you can read a comment by an Ian Box, but it is such a great background comment that I want to include it in the post itself. Thank you Ian.

Hi. My name is Ian Box. I am the brother of Graeme Box. One correction, in the band’s early years they where called The Shamokins.

I knew Brad from about the age of 10 and I hung out with Brad after he returned from San Francisco for a few years. He still had his Triumph TR6.

I took the B/W picture of Brad wearing the headphones at the top of this article. It was taken shortly after his return in his mom’s basement in Clarkson, now part of Mississauga.

I have alot of fond memories listening to music under headphones in that basement with Brad. He teamed up with my brother Graeme often and they played alot of great music together. Occasionally they let me play acoustic.

Although I was a number of years younger than Brad, it never seemed to bother him. He was quite simply one of the coolest people I have have ever known. I was privileged to watch him play his bass many times. He was in that level of talent not many musicians ever reach.
He was also one of the funniest people I have ever known. Growing up he was close friends with my brother Leigh and Wayne Cooper. To see these 3 guys together often left me in tears from laughing.

He had several jobs during the time I hung out with him. He work at a Steel Mill, was a Baliff for Mississauga and got his license to drive heavy road equipment.

It was a great shock when I learned of his passing. Even though I hadn’t been in contact with him for many years I still think of him as one of my best friends from that time of my life. My most sincere condolences to Linda and her family.

Last Words

Canadian Bassist Brad Campell

Though little known in the US, the first big band Brad Campbell played in was the Canadian band, The Last Words. The original group was comprised of Graeme Box (lead guitar), Ron Guenther (drums) and Brad’s brother Noel Campbell (piano).

According to a Barbed Wire Design article, The Last Words began in Clarkson, Ontario in 1961 as the The Beachcombers.  Began and ended after two gigs.

Then, liking Ronnie Hawkins, they became the Nighthawks.

In 1964 Noel Campbell left the band, but before leaving invited brother Brad to join. Brad played bass.

Now they were The Smamokins band, but that soon changed to The Last Words.

Canadian Bassist Brad Campbell

I Symbolize You

Their first single in 1965, The Laugh’s On Me / She’ll Know How, for RCA Canada received very little air play, but in 1966 they hit the Canadian charts with a Columbia release, I Symbolize You / It Made Me Cry.

In late 1966, they released their last charted single, Give Me Time / Drive A Mini Minor, again on Columbia.

Bill Dureen left the group in 1967 and the remaining members continued with three others until 1968. Next was joining “The Paupers” with Skip Prokop (Lighthouse).

An interesting aside, Albert Grossman managed the Paupers and in early 1967 when Monterey Pop organizers were inviting groups, Grossman pushed to have the Paupers there. They did perform on the festival’s first night, but this was before Campbell was in the group.

Luckily for Brad…

Canadian Bassist Brad Campbell

Janis Joplin

photo by Ian Box

In 1968 he went to New York.

He auditioned for Janis Joplin and she instructed her agent Albert Grossman to hire Brad.

He joined the Kozmic Blues band in late 1968. He’d eventually join Janis Joplin’s Full Tilt Boogie Band.

A Know Your Bass Player article wrote: To my ears, the Kozmic Blues Band and Full Tilt Boogie Band, with bassist Brad Campbell, were the perfect match to advance Janis’ groundbreaking artistry after she departed Big Brother & The Holding Company.

Throughout I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama (1969), Pearl (1971),  and tracks on the archival In Concert (1972) [Campbell} fortified Ms. Joplin’s forays into soul and rhythm and blues on such classic tracks as “Try,” “Move Over,” “Half Moon,” and “Me and Bobbie McGee” with harmonic and rhythmic passages evocative of the Motown, Stax, and Atlantic Records session masters – who, at the time, were his peers.

Canadian Bassist Brad Campbell

Post Janis

Brad returned to Canada after Janis’s death.

He’d married and begin a family and apparently worked for the courts. 

His 2019 obituary read: Brad Campbell passed away suddenly and peacefully on November 14, 2019. Survived by his loving wife Linda of 45 years. Cherished by his loving daughters; Melissa, Diana and Meredith. As per his wishes cremation has taken place. He will be missed by family and many friends. Brad will also be remembered for his love and passion for music. Donations in Brad’s memory may be made through www.musicounts.ca.

His Discography from the Discogs site.

Canadian Bassist Brad Campbell

Bassist Larry Graham

Bassist Larry Graham

Born ‎August 14, 1946

“I’m gonna add some bottom… so that the dancers just can’t hide!”

Screen grab of Graham from a 2012 concert, Bataclan, Paris

None of us had ever done anything even close to Woodstock. Then, all of a sudden, we had the attention of the world. If you were part of that, it just turned everything around.”

So said bassist Larry Graham in a 2014 interview with George Varga in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Beaumont, Texas

Larry Graham was born August 14, 1946 in Beaumont, Texas.  From an article in The Watchtower: I was born into a musical family…, my mother’s only son. She was a pianist with the church choir, and my father was a jazz guitarist. Soon afterward my family moved to Oakland, California, where I started tap dancing at the age of five. Two years later, I learned the piano under the guidance of my grandmother, who cared for me in those early years.

From the Varga interview:  “My biggest influence was actually my mother’s left hand. Because, before I went to bass, I was playing guitar. And when she would solo, I would play bass lines on my guitar. And when I would solo, she’d play bass lines on piano with her left hand. That’s the way she played anyway, before I started playing with her.  So when I started playing with her, I was influenced by her left-hand bass lines.”

Bassist Larry Graham

Sly

Bassist Larry Graham
Graham is in the back in yellow

His breakout success was with Sly and the Family Stone (1966 – 1972).

Albums with Sly and the Family Stone

  • 1967: A Whole New Thing
  • 1968: Dance to the Music
  • 1968: Life
  • 1969: Stand!
  • 1971: There’s a Riot Goin’ On
  • 1973: Fresh
Bassist Larry Graham

Bass Technique

From that same interview: “By slapping the strings and expertly plucking and popping them with his fingers, he transformed the electric bass, making it as prominent as a guitar and dramatically increasing its rhythmic intensity. By dong so, he laid the foundation for several subsequent generations of bassists, including everyone from Stanley Clarke, Victor Wooten and San Diego’s Nathan East to Les Claypool of Primus, Level 42’s and Mr. Big’s Billy Sheehan.”

Bassist Larry Graham

Witness

In 1973, he met his future wife Tina. Tina’s mom was a Jehovah Witness and asked Tina to be present at her baptism in the Oakland Coliseum. Graham attended and says he’d never seen anything like the gathering before.

He and Tina began Bible study and visited various Jehovah Witness congregations while on tour. He and Tina were baptized at the district convention in Oakland in July 1975.

Graham would later introduce the religion to Prince. He became a Jehovah’s Witness later in life, and according to Graham, that helped shape Prince’s music as well as his lifestyle.

Graham said that Prince would knock on doors, talk with visitors at his studio-compound Paisley Park in suburban Minneapolis and even share his faith with small groups after a show,

“That brought him joy. That brought him real happiness,” Graham said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Graham Central Station

After Sly [from the QG Enterprise page]: [Graham]…went on to produce a Funk band called “Hot Chocolate”, which he eventually joined and renamed “Graham Central Station”. The original lineup included guitarist David “Dynamite” Vega, organist Robert “Butch” Sam, keyboardist Hershall “Happiness” Kennedy, vocalist/percussionist Patryce “Choc’let” Banks, and drummer Willie “Wild” Sparks. The group used the funk foundation that Graham had established with “Sly and the Family Stone” and sweetened it with various layers of soul, blues and other styles – a magical combination that scored the band a Grammy nomination in 1974 for Best New Artist. Graham Central Station released a string of seven albums throughout the 70’s. Their debut album, a self-titled effort released in 1974, proved highly successful, launching a minor pop hit with “Can You Handle It“. 

He reformed Graham Central Station in the early 1990s and performed with the band for several years. Graham and Graham Central Station performed internationally with a world tour in 2010 and the “Funk Around The World” international tour in 2011.

Graham Central Station albums

  • Graham Central Station (Warner Bros., 1974)
  • Release Yourself (Warner Bros., 1974)
  • Ain’t No ‘Bout-A-Doubt It (Warner Bros., 1975)
  • Mirror (Warner Bros., 1976)
  • Now Do U Wanta Dance (Warner Bros., 1977)
  • My Radio Sure Sounds Good to Me (Warner Bros., 1978)
  • Star Walk (Warner Bros., 1979)
  • Live in Japan (1992)
  • Live in London (1996)
  • Back by Popular Demand (1998)
  • The Best of Larry Graham and Graham Central Station, Vol. 1 (Warner Bros., 1996)
  • Raise Up (2012)
Bassist Larry Graham

Prince

In 1998, he recorded a solo album under the name Graham Central Station, GCS 2000. It was a collaboration between Larry Graham and Prince.

While Graham wrote all the songs, except one co-written by Prince, the album was co-arranged and co-produced by Prince, and most of the instruments and vocals were recorded by both Graham and Prince. Graham also played bass on tours with Prince from 1997 to 2000. He appeared in Prince’s 1998 VHS Beautiful Strange and 1999 DVD Rave Un2 the Year 2000.

When Prince died in 2016, Minnetonka, Minnesota’s Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall held a memorial service for him – “Brother Nelson” as his fellow congregants knew him – Sunday at the church where he worshiped.

At the service, Graham spoke about Prince and their shared faith. [RS article]

Bassist Larry Graham

Credits

All Music has a very long list of his credits. Among the names (in addition to Prince, Sly, and Graham Central are:  Betty Davis (the second ex-wife of jazz legend Miles Davis), George Tyson, the Oak Ridge Boys. Aretha Franklin, Stanley Clarke, George Benson, Stanley Jordan, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Mahalia Jackson, Frankie Lanine, Eddie Murphy, Santana, Chaka Khan, Luther Allison, Government Mule, Billy Preston, Shania Twain,  Kanye West, as well as many many others.

Bassist Larry Graham

Solo

Graham recorded five solo albums and had several solo hits on the R&B charts. His biggest hit was “One in a Million You”, a crossover hit, which reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1980.

Solo albums [all Warner Bros. releases]

  • 1980: One in a Million You
  • 1981: Just Be My Lady
  • 1982: Sooner or Later
  • 1983: Victory
  • 1985: Fired Up
Bassist Larry Graham

Hall of Fame

A 1993 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee as a member of Sly & The Family Stone

Bassist Larry Graham

Check out this live concert. Amazing energy!

Bassist Larry Graham

Drake

Most Woodstock fans might not recognize the name Drake, but he is, as described by Wikipedia, “…a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor [as well as an]… influential figure in contemporary popular music, Drake has been credited with popularizing singing and R&B sensibilities in hip hop artists.

Drake has been nominated for many and won several awards, mainly related to hip-hop.

And Larry Graham is Drake’s uncle.