Category Archives: Festivals

Festivals, Music et al, Music of the 60s

Raccoon Creek Rock Festival

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Raccoon Creek Rock Festival

at Livingston Gymnasium indoor track of
Denison University
November 6, 7, & 8, 1969
1969 festival #47

Presented by the Denison Campus Government Association, the Racoon Creek Rock Festival was one of the smaller festivals of 1969, but a festival nonetheless.  Held indoors at the school’s Livingston Gymnasium indoor track (it was November and it was Ohio, after all).

This is one of those festivals about which not much is known. I’ve tried to contact the Denison newspaper, but received no response. I did find a school newspaper edition from just before the event. It’s humorous to me how the article’s headline described the event as featuring “Six Name Groups.”

Raccoon Creek Rock Festival

Raccoon v Racoon


It’s also interesting to me that the newspaper spells Raccoon with the two “c”s as it is normally spelled, but I find several spots where the second “c” is omitted. 

Raccoon Creek Rock Festival

 

Raccoon Creek Rock Festival

Vague

The newspaper article also fails to say specifically who would play on Friday, yet one of the posters does specify.

The Who and Owen B were scheduled for Thursday. The article also notes that “The English group has produced many hit singles including “Magic Bus,” “Pinball Wizard,” and “I’m Free.”

The article then states that The Spirit (I have only seen them referred to as simply Spirit) and The Dust (ditto) would play on Saturday.  The day is a typo and should read Friday as the article continues and states that Johnny Winter, Lycidas, and The Dust would appear on Saturday (also) to complete the 3-day festival.

Raccoon Creek Rock Festival

Johnny “Everywhere” Winter


Winter, it is noted, “performs a variety of interpretations of black vernacular and a wide range of black instrumental approaches.”

Good to know.

Raccoon Creek Rock Festival

Raccoon Creek Rock Festival

Concerns

The writer seems to be somewhat unfamiliar with the line-up, but has the same worries expressed by all who would be in the range of a 1969 festival. After mentioning that there had been outside interest in the event (“as far away as upstate New York”) they go on to say: “We’re expecting to turn people away, but we hope the Denison campus will still be one peaceful community during the festival.”

Raccoon Creek Rock Festival

Raccoon Creek Rock Festival

Great price points

The Who on Thursday cost a ticket-buyer $3.50. The lesser known Spirit only $2.50, but back up a touch for Johnny Winter’s Saturday appearance to $3.00. Student could purchase all three nights for $8.00, a savings of $1.

Raccoon Creek Rock Festival

Looking for more

Thank you to those who have commented below. If anyone else  has any information about the festival, I’d love to hear from you.

Raccoon Creek Rock Festival

Next 1969 festival: Palm Beach Pop Festival

Festivals, Music of the 60s

1964 Teen Age Music International Show

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1964 Teen Age Music International Show

October 28 – 29, 1964

1964 Teen Age Music International Show

At first glance the 1964 Teen Age Music International Show and the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair are two very different events, but they do have a few things in common:

  1. the live show was free
  2. the show was recorded
  3. a movie was made of the concert
  4. many of the day’s top stars performed
1964 Teen Age Music International Show

Moondog Coronation Ball

The first rock concert that wasn’t

The idea of a rock and roll show was not new. The honor of the first rock and roll show belongs to Alan Freed who on March 21, 1952, produced the Moondog Coronation Ball at the Cleveland Arena. It attracted nearly 25,000 young people to a hall that only held 10,000. Police shut down the show, which featured artists such as the Dominoes and Paul “Hucklebuck” Williams. Police shut down the show after one song when thousands of ticket-holders, denied entrance, broke through the lines and charged into the venue.

New Wave

As I have mentioned in other blog entries here, 1965 was a turning point in American pop music. In 1964 the Beatles became the avante garde of the British Invasion, but Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan, simply Bob at the time of course, wasn’t working on Maggie’s farm no more, telling her as he left, “It ain’t me, babe.”

After Bob Dylan introduced the Beatles to Mary Jane in 1965 and the Beatles realized that music could be personal, poetic, and still please their fans, they went in a whole new direction.

The 1964 Teen Age Music International Show captured American pop just before that change.

The show itself was free because those who attended were simply extras for the movie that director Steve Binder and television producer Bill Sargent were making with a high-tech method called ‘Electronovision.’ Transferring the video to a movie using this system allowed for greater clarity.

Line up

Binder and Sargent held the show at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. The two gathered quite a line-up, that in my opinion, featured a greater variety than Woodstock would 5 years later:

  • The Barbarians
  • The Beach Boys
  • Chuck Berry
  • James Brown and The Famous Flames
  • Marvin Gaye (with The Blossoms)
  • Gerry & the Pacemakers
  • Lesley Gore
  • Jan and Dean (MCs as well)
  • Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas
  • Smokey Robinson and The Miracles
  • The Rolling Stones
  • The Supremes

And the house band was no other than the now-famous so-called  Wrecking Crew, under the direction of Jack Nitzsche with drummer Hal Blaine,  Jimmy Bond electric bass, guitarists Tommy Tedesco, Bill Aken, and Glen Campbell, upright bassist Lyle Ritz, pianist Leon Russell, and saxophonist Plas Johnson.

Rolling Stones Regrets

The Rolling Stones were still looking for the type of big time name recognition and record sales that their friends John, Paul, George, and Ringo enjoyed. To James Brown’s dismay and to the Stone’s insistence, the Stones followed Brown who had put on his usual spectacular performance. In 18 minutes he blew away the crowd.

The Stone’s set was fine, but even today they voice regret at having to follow one of the people whose music put them on the map to begin with.

1964 Teen Age Music International Show

Movie

The movie came out on 29 December 1964. Howard Thompson’s New York Times review was light on the accolades and heavy on the sarcasm: For two solid hours, against a blend of musical din and ear-splitting shriek; from a bobby-sox audience, a procession of young performers parades before the poor camera, all but shattering it. Here’s the menu, for the squares who never heard of the popular recording artists: Meet the Barbarians, Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Lesley Gore, Jan and Dean, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and the Supremes.

1964 Teen Age Music International Show
Festivals, Music et al, Music of the 60s

1969 Gold Rush Festival

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1969 Gold Rush Festival

Country Weather – “Over and Over”
October 4, 1969
Amador, CA
1969 festival #44

1969 Gold Rush Festival

1969 Gold Rush Festival

Nice line-up

It’s October 1969 and you’ve heard all about that Woodstock Music and Art Fair back east, but you were on the west coast. You still are. You hear about a one-day festival coming up in Lake Amador, which is about 50 miles southeast of Sacramento. The price is $3 for the day. Very reasonable. You look at the line-up. Not bad. Not bad at all:

  • Santana
  • Taj Mahal
  • Bo Diddley
  • Albert Collins
  • Kaleidoscope
  • Al Wilson
  • Southwind
  • Ike and Tina Turner
  • Sons of Champlin
  • Country Weather
  • Linn
  • Cold Weather
  • County Daybreak
1969 Gold Rush Festival

Day in the Country

You knew about Santana before Woodstock and knew they were pretty good. There wasn’t anything like Ike and Tina Turner at Woodstock. Nor a Taj Mahal. Nor an Albert Collins.

This could be a very nice day in the country. It was.

If there is a criticism of Woodstock’s three-day lineup, it is that given the year and perspective, there were no black bands as such. There  certainly were black performers and there were bands playing blues and blues/rock, but there was no Taj Mahal. No Albert Collins. No Al Wilson. And certainly no Ike and Tina Turner. One must imagine the impact Tina would have had on 400,000 people that day, on the album that she surely would have been on, and the movie she absolutely appeared in.

1969 Gold Rush Festival

Robert Strand1969 Gold Rush Festival

Robert Strand promoted the event and 40,000 people showed up. He and his family were the financial backers.  Strand was the manager of Country Weather, one of the bands that appeared. He describes the event as a perfect combination of location, music, stage, PA, and weather. He recently assisted in a video report of the event. That video can be found on YouTube in four parts. Here is a link to Part 1. It is a wonderful story by someone who humbly tells the story with lots of detail. Lots of specific information.

Unfortunately, there is no video or recording of the event.

1969 Gold Rush Festival

Remembrances…

1969 Gold Rush Festival

James Hackworth was 22 years old when he and his wife and two kids attended the Gold Rush Festival. His memories include, “…people jammed the banks of Lake Amador to sunbathe, drink wine, smoke marijuana and listen to an all-star roster of musicians at the Gold Rush Rock Music Festival. Since the crowd was peaceful, Amador County sheriff’s deputies chose to ignore the drug use and skinny-dipping. …I remember looking over a sea of people and everyone was really happy and full of enthusiasm.  The music was the catalyst that drew us together. It really was a time of believing in love and peace for humanity.” [Messynesschic dot com site]

1969 Gold Rush Festival

Next 1969 festival: Internationales Essener Festival