Associating bus travel and luxury is not the case, unless one is a star musician. And for those stars, one of their roadies once told me, “Travelling down a highway in a steel tube at 75 mph is not luxurious.”
In other words, the huge majority of people taking bus transportation are doing so for its necessary convenience not its Lucullan comfort.
Charlotte Brown was born in Maryland in 1839. James E Brown, her father, had been a slave. Her mother, Charlotte, was a free seamstress who had purchased James’s freedom.
With California having just made slavery illegal in 1949, the Brown family moved to San Francisco during its Gold Rush. James, an ardent abolitionist, ran a livery stable and was a partner in Mirror of the Times, a black newspaper.
Charlotte Brown Refused
Refusal
On the evening of April 17, 1863, Charlotte had a doctor’s appointment and boarded a Omnibus Railroad and Cable Company streetcar. The conductor, collecting tickets, came to Charlotte, refused to take her ticket, told her to get off the car, and when Charlotte refused, forcibly removed her saying Blacks were not allowed on the cars.
From a Wherever There’s a Fight article: Brown recalled, “He took hold of me, by the left arm, somewhere. I made no resistance as he had taken me by the arm. I knew it was of no use to resist, and therefore I went out, and he kept hold of me until I was out of the car, holding on to me until I struck the walk.”
James Brown filed suit.
Charlotte Brown Refused
$25 Success/5 cent reality
From KQED Rebel Girls: [filing suit was a brave reaction] ...given that it had only been a matter of months since African Americans in California had gained the right to testify against white people in court. During the case, Omnibus defended its racist policies, arguing that people of color should not be permitted to ride streetcars in case they made white women and children feel “fearful or repulsed.”
While Charlotte ultimately won the case and was awarded $25 and costs, appeals by Omnibus kept her tied up in court for months. The end result saw her award sum reduced to just five cents, the cost of Charlotte’s original ticket. What’s more, the case did not change Omnibus policy.
Just days after the first case was finally over, Charlotte was removed from another Omnibus streetcar.
Charlotte Brown Refused
Judge Orville C. Pratt
Judge Orville C. Pratt
Charlotte and her father went straight back to court, this time finding themselves arguing in front of a very sympathetic judge. Judge Orville C. Pratt of the 12th District Court deemed segregation “barbaric” and awarded Charlotte $500.
in his opinion: “It has been already quite too long tolerated by the dominant race to see with indifference the Negro or mulatto treated as a brute, insulted, wronged, enslaved, made to wear a yoke, to tremble before white men, to serve him as a tool, to hold property and life at his will, to surrender to him his intellect and conscience, and to seal his lips and belie his thought through dread of the white man’s power.” [from a Black Then article]
Charlotte Brown Refused
Mary Ellen Pleasant
Though Pratt’s ruling would suggest that San Francisco’s Black residents could now ride the streetcars, that was not the reality. Refusals continued.
In 1866 a conductor on the North Beach Municipal Railroad refused to pick up Mary Ellen Pleasant.
She sued, and a jury awarded Pleasant five hundred dollars in punitive damages. The streetcar company appealed the decision to the California Supreme Court. The high court ruled streetcar exclusion based on race was unlawful, but it also rescinded the damage payment to Pleasant, since there was no proof “to show willful injury,” or any proof that the streetcar company had a policy of excluding blacks.
The lawsuits succeeded in changing the racist practice: no more stories about streetcar exclusion appeared in the local black press, which had reported all such incidents vigilantly. In 1893 the legislature enacted a statewide prohibition on streetcar segregation and exclusion. [also from Wherever There’s a Fight site]
photo taken by David Marks who was on Bill Hanley’s sound crew
The Incredible String Band was supposed to be part of Friday’s folk-oriented lineup, but circumstances pushed their performance to Saturday. Unfortunately the so-called psychedelic-folk group using mainly acoustic instruments followed the rousing electric and brass performance of the Keef Hartley Band. It was about 6 PM and for some in the crowd who hadn’t had “lunch” it was dinner time. They went in search, often unsuccessfully, for that dinner.
Incredible String Band did make it to the Monument, but not into the initial release of the movie or the soundtrack.
A 2020 BBC article says that comedian and banjo-player Billy Connolly, who was a massive fan and who got to know them when they played the folk clubs of Glasgow, described the band as “hairy, exotic and interesting“.
And before we get to the set, here’s a picture that David Marks took of ISR’s performance. He was part of Bill Hanley‘s sound crew that weekend (as well as a few other time’s). David took lots of pictures when he had the chance.
Incredible String Band Woodstock
Invocation
For some this band is too difficult to approach. Their instrumentation is proficient, but their lyrics require attention. For many the huge setting was not the intimate setting to appreciate this band.
Mike Heron began with a poem.
I make a love peace with youLifers that move the heartIn fur and scaleAncient associatesAnd fellow wanderersYou that place yourselves in this space.You that strengthen the hornAnd make quick the eyeYou who run the swift fox and the zigzag flyYou sizeless makers of the mole and whaleAid me and I will aid youI make a peace with youYou that lift the blossom and the green branchYou that weave symmetries more trueYou who make time slower,And watch the patternsYou who eat deep And eat water stretching high You rough-coatedYour green bloodMy red bloodWe will mingle themBut I harm you notThat you shield me.I make a pact with youYou who are unconfinedAnd have no shapeWho are not seenBut only in your actionWho have no depthBut choose directionWho bring what is willedThat you blow my ship to pleasant harborsI make a pact with youYou who are the liquidness of the watersAnd the spark of flameI make a pact with youYou who make fertile the soft groundAnd guard growthI make peace with youYou who are the blueness of the skyAnd the wrath of the stormI take the cup of deepness with youEarthshakersAnd with you the sharp and the hollow hillsI make reverence to youRound wakefulness weCall the earthI make wide eyes to youYou who are also awakeEvery created thing both solid and sleepyOr airy lightI weave colours round youYou who will come with meI will consider it beauty
Incredible String Band Woodstock
The Letter
I Looked Up album cover
The Letter typifies what ISB did. In some ways, its simplicity and beauty is comparable to a Richard Brautigan poem. The song would appear on their 1970 album, I Looked Up.
Started rubbing my eyes When I heard the birds talk Hey Mister Sleep you’re gonna Have to take a walk But nothing has as much power to Make me rise as the post man Bringing a morning surprise
Here he comes Here he comes Too much I’ve got a letter I’d better get out of bed I said
Then I pulled the covers right Up to my nose I thought well the letter Might be for Rose Her mother she writes very regularly Mister Postman have you got A letter for me
Mr. Heron, yes I have yes I have Too much I’ve got a letter
Better get on up out of bed Came from Maria, Chicago, Illinois
And I never have met her but she sounds sweet Like a flower Grown on a rubbish heap She’s got a lot of things ’round her She’s gotta sort out But she’s gonna make it And I have no doubt
Neither does she, not Maria
Maria, the plane that brought your letter must have Felt a little bit lighter And air hostesses must’ve felt brighter bringing your letter over the sea And the pilot was your Orpheus Singing a song for you Maria I’m singing Hear me singing I’ll be your Orpheus too
And by the time you hear this song your Your troubles will be gone And you’ll be left with what’s shining Through your letter you
By the time you hear this song your Troubles will be gone And you’ll be left with what’s shining Through your letter you
Incredible String Band Woodstock
Gather Round
Before the band can begin their next song, Chip Monck asks people to sit down, to move away from the camera crane, and to descent from the light towers. He emphasized the importance of the crowd’s cooperation.
Gather Round does not appear on any ISB album.
Gather round and I will tell you,Of the man who walked alone,He met with me one dusty evening,
He could not recall his home.
And he was not a beggar
But people pressed coins in his hand
And his skin it was weathered
His eyes full of far foreign lands
And beneath the food they offered him
For the hunger in his soul
And the ones who wished him evil
It was written on their scroll
He had sold his heart's desire
Winding many a tangled thread,
Salted tears, he drank for water
Hopeful thoughts he ate for bread.
In the bag across his shoulder
Was a painted paper heart
Filled with several thousand reasons
Why two souls can seem to part
For he knew the truth was seldom spoke
Nor written with the ten pens of the hand
And he sought not wealth or glory
Only wished to understand
And he sang of times a'coming
When those secrets would be known
And the stars will sing in the chorus
And no soul will walk alone.
Here we are
Here we are
Here we are
Here we stay
Here we are
Here we are
'til the clouds shall roll away
Incredible String Band Woodstock
Fantastically Happy
Robin Williamson mentions to the crowd something that is often heard by other Woodstock alum: “I’d just like to say right now that I’ve never been to anything like this before and the thing that surprises me is how many of us there are and it makes me fantastically happy.”
Incredible String Band Woodstock
This Moment
This Mike Heron song would also appear on their I Looked Up album.
This moment Is different From any Before it And this moment
Is different It’s now And if I Don’t kiss you That kiss is Untasted I’ll never No never Get it back
But why should I want to I’ll be in The next moment
Sweet moment Sweet lover Sweet now
The walls of this room Are different from any before them They are now They are now
The air that you breathe Is different from any before it It is now It is now
You may think that life is repeating Repeating, repeating, repeating, repeating You may think that life is repeating Oh no, Oh no, Oh no, Oh no, Oh no
Oh no.
Each moment Is different From any before it Each moment Is different It’s now
Incredible String Band Woodstock
Come With Me
Incredible String Band Woodstock
This Robin Williamson song was recorded before Woodstock, but did not appear on an album until they Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending [the soundtrack for a film of the same name,] in March 1971.
I have a ship both sleek and fine I point her bows wherever I will The seven bright seas they all are mine I call the winds I call the winds her sails to fill
If you will flee away with me And bid farewell to the land you know I’ll show you marvels presently And wonders And wonders that the earth does show
The diamond mountains – 0 Speak on sir Shouting valleys The caves where sleep the stars by day Eve’s clouded bower Adam’s garden The secret land that love does see O come with me I will come with thee
The gentle spring rains will lave your face The winds will bear your train The morning birds will sing your song The earth will call your name The stars will be your canopy The sun your candle flame The greenygold wheat your incense sweet My heart your windowpane O come with me I will come with thee
Acknowledgement
Robin Williamson
Robin Williamson, as many other performers had already observed, speaks to the size of the crowd and thanks them for their called-out requests, but “…we thought it would be nice to do all new songs today which haven’t been recorded yet cause it’s nice for us to play them. I hope you don’t mind that.
Incredible String Band Woodstock
When You Find Out Who You Are
The last song is Robin Williamson tune also appears on the I Looked Up album. Again an apology for the time it took to start songs as “all the instruments got wet last night.”
It’s of a strange and furious time When men did speed to pray Along the road of discontent to gods of gold and clay
Some did seek security Among the seas of change Some did seek dear life to wound A furious time and strange
But when you find out who you are Beautiful beyond your dreams
But when you find out who you are Beautiful beyond your dreams
But when you find out who you are Beautiful beyond your dreams
But when you find out why you are Beautiful beyond your dreams
Just look around and notice where you are
Just look around and notice what you see Each moment born for you innocently And when I see what we have made What we have cut with the mind’s blade
Stood In the blackness feel it all Repeated faces rise and fall With ancient goals unwondering fail Further obscures the ancient trail
Filling with the endless years Rivers of my heart’s tears
You are the way
I swear you have the power As the angels do
Spread out your fingers and
Make all things new Change the world by the things you say By the things you love
And by the games you play And you make each new day
You are the way
But when you find out who you are Beautiful beyond your dreams
When you find out who you are Beautiful beyond your dreams
When you find out who you are Beautiful beyond your dreams
When you find out why you are Beautiful beyond your dreams
Oh how funny in your mummy’s tummy Before you get born into
The world for to carry on Remember young man of the time Before you first went to school How did it feel trying to live by the rule
Remember young man of the time When your love stick First rose free between your legs Like a growing tree
Remember you walked with your lover Like a gypsy and a gypsy queen Under the stars where the sign was seen Under the stars where
The leaves were green Under the stars where the sign was seen
0 how many shining hearts With love have guided me
And many I have met before In lands across the sea We used to speak of that ocean deep How little words can say
It’s better now to ask your friend What makes you sad today
0 how many shining hearts With love have guided me
And many I have met before
In lands across the sea
We used to speak of that ocean deep What little words can say
It’s better now to ask your friend
What makes you sad today
You can make it come true
Make it come true
Incredible String Band Woodstock
Goodbye
We have to leave now. I’d like to say goodbye. Thank you very much. Goodbye.
It was around 4:45 PM when Chip Monck introduced the Keef Hartley Band. One of the common questions asked by visitors to the Museum at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is, “Why weren’t the Beatles here in 1969?” The simplest answer is that they had stopped touring three years earlier and by August 1969 cracks in the band’s cohesiveness were wide.
Having said that, the Beatles aura was frequently felt. Richie Havens’s opening set had two Beatles songs: With a Little Help From My Friends (also covered even more famously at Woodstock by Joe Cocker) and Strawberry Fields. Early Monday morning, Crosby, Stills and Nash would cover Blackbird.
Many Beatle fans know that before he joined the Beatles, Ringo was the drummer for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. Who was later a drummer in Rory Storm? Keef Hartley.
Maybe you’ll win a drink someday with that Woodstock trivia.
The Keef Hartley Band released its first album, Halfbreed earlier in 1969. The album personnel who also played at Woodstock were: Keef Hartley (25), Miller Anderson (24), Gary Thain (21), and Henry Lowther (27). Jimmy Jewell was not on the album, but was at Woodstock.
Their instruments were:
Keef Hartley: drums
Miller Anderson: guitar, vocals,
Jimmy Jewell: saxophone
Henry Lowther: trumpet, violin
Gary Thain: bass.
Their 47-minute set-list was:
Spanish Fly
She’s Gone
Too Much Thinkin’
Believe In You
Halfbreed Medley: Sinnin’ For You (Intro) >Leaving Trunk > Just to Cry > Sinnin’ for You
The band undeservedly encountered Woodstock’s triple whamie: not on the movie soundtrack, not in the movie, and not on the Monument.
Keef Hartley Band Woodstock
Spanish Fly
While Woodstock fans may associate acts with horns with Janis Joplin, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Sly and the Family Stone, and Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the Keef Hartley Band stands equally beside those great bands’ brass sound.
Spanish Fly is an instrumental and features those horns as well as Miller Anderson’s great guitar. Unfortunately, the crowd response is minimal.
Keef Hartley Band Woodstock
She’s Gone
The band paused just a moment before Keef Hartley drummed the intro of She’s Gone. The whole song is powerful.
Keef Hartley Band Woodstock
Too Much Thinking
No patter. A bit of tuning. A quick mention that Too Much Thinking is from their Halfbreed album and into the song.
There is something wrong with my life Rather than I think But I keep reflection in my mind People imagine in such string Think creeper through my hair I’m tought I’m a man But I feel yeah, just like a campagne Everybodie’s crazy I’m working too if i work so lazy Wonder women everything Gonna stop stop it uneasy Too much thinking no If i don’t stop I gonna stop thinking Woow… woow… yeah But I fell stop myself But stop myself Yes if I stop myself Ooh no… I’m just thinking
But I think myself But I know where I look If you can’t think yourself I’m looking in anybody But strange think cramper to my hair Though i’m a man But I feel just like campagne Everybodies crazy I’m working too if I work so lazy Wonder women everything Gonna stop it uneasy Too much thinking If I don’t stop I gonna stop thinking Woow. I felt stop myself Ooh yes I felt to do that But I stop myself Yes I know I gonna stop myself No… no. no… no I just can take
Keef Hartley Band Woodstock
Believe in You
The next song will appear on the band’s second album, The Battle of North West Six.
(No lyrics available)
Keef Hartley Band Woodstock
Halfbreed Medley
The medley consisted of Sinning For You / Leaving Trunk / Just To Cry / Sinning For You and was 17 minutes long. While there were many long songs played at Woodstock, this medley is the eighth longest.
The song ends, the crowd applauds, Chip Monck asks the crowd not to block Hurd Road and to please get off the light towers–again.
