Category Archives: Music et al

Music et al, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Country Joe McDonald

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Country Joe McDonald

Country Joe McDonald

Happy birthday, Joe
Born January 1, 1942

Country Joe McDonald

Joe wasn’t scheduled to perform until Sunday with the Fish, but circumstances forced the Woodstock organizers to call a few audibles.

After Quill’s opening set, the crew needed someone to do a few songs to give the them time to set up the next band (Santana). Joe didn’t have a guitar–someone found one for him–and the guitar didn’t have a strap–someone found a piece of rope (see about 1:20 in the video below). He did a 9 song set. The most famous of which was his “Fish Cheer/I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ To Die Rag.”

Country Joe McDonald

California Joe

Joe was born in Washington, D. C., on January 1, 1942, but grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of El Monte, California. where he was exposed to a wide range of music.

Joe moved to Berkeley to go to school, but ended up mainly playing music. In the fall of 1965, the Free Speech Movement on the Berkeley campus organized demonstrations against the war in Vietnam at the Oakland Induction Center, Music was often a part of any 1960 demonstration and Joe and the Fish did that for Berkeley’s.

Country Joe McDonald

Fishy Joe

From Joe’s site: The origin of the name appears to have come from the band’s manager, ED Denson, who coined the phrase drawing from Mao’s saying about “the fish who swim in the sea of the people;” the Country Joe part has numerous variants, the most oft-told refers to Joe’s parents having named Joe for Joseph Stalin, whose nickname during World War II was “Country Joe.”

 

Country Joe McDonald

Contemporary Joe

Joe continues to write, record, and perform. He has released 37 albums since his start as a solo artist in 1969.

In 2017 he released his most recent album: 50

Country Joe McDonald

In 2007 he toured his “Tribute to Woody Guthrie” show, a mix of music and spoken word. I was fortunate to see one of those shows at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. There was a Q & A before the show and several of us showed up early to say hello. I did that and I also sincerely thanked him for the once in a lifetime opportunity to yell out FUCK with 400,000 other people.

Here’s a video of Joe discussing his appearance at Woodstock.

  • Bio from his site
  • Second shorter bio by Joel Selvin.
Country Joe McDonald
Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Cream Mountain Felix Pappalardi

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Cream Mountain Felix Pappalardi

Remembering Felix on his birthday
December 30, 1939 – April 17, 1983

Pappalardi is famous in the lore of 1960s music mainly because of his association with Cream (as a producer) and as the bassist for Mountain.

Cream Mountain Felix Pappalardi

Pre-Cream

He studied classical music at the University of Michigan and returned to NYC,  but couldn’t earn a living .  Like so many other musicians of his time, he gravitated to the Greenwich Village folk scene.

He became an arranger and producer of that scene working with Tim Hardin, the Youngbloods, Joan Baez, Richard & Mimi Farina, Ian & Sylvia, and Fred Neil.

Strange Brew

It was his work with Creme that brought fame to his name. He and his wife, Gail Collins, wrote “Stange Brew” with Eric Clapton.

Cream Mountain Felix Pappalardi

Leslie West

In 1968, Pappalardi began working with Leslie West and produced a solo album for him.

After Cream disbanded, Pappalardi and West formed  Mountain. A New York Times article read: A new rock group called Mountain may not entirely replace the late, honestly lamented British band Cream, but it is carrying on the tradition with power and respect. 

Woodstock

Mountain performed at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair on Saturday of that famous weekend. Here is Pappalardi singing “Theme from an Imaginary Western” at Woodstock.

After Mountain’s breakup, Papparlardi returned to  production, a return reputedly forced due to hearing loss from Mountains loud performances.

Felix Pappalardi solo

In 1979, Pappalardi released his first proper solo album, Don’t Worry, Ma

Cream Mountain Felix Pappalardi

Gail Collins Pappalardi

Pappalardi was married to Gail Collins. She contributed lyrics to many Mountain songs and co-wrote Cream’s “World of Pain” with Pappalardi and “Strange Brew” with Pappalardi and Eric Clapton. Both songs are in Cream’s Disraeli Gears.

As Gail Collins, her artwork appears on the album covers,  Climbing!, Nantucket Sleighride, Flowers of Evil, Mountain Live: The Road Goes Ever On, Twin Peaks and Avalanche.

On April 17, 1983, Gail Collins shot Pappalardi once in the neck and killed him. She claimed it was an accident.

On September 21 of that year, a jury found her guilty of criminally negligent homicide. She was sentenced to four years.

Collins died on December 6, 2013 in Ajijic, Mexico. [NYDN article]

More from the Ultimate Classic Rock site about Gail Collins’s death in 2013 >>> Gail Collins’s death)F

Cream Mountain Felix Pappalardi
Music et al, Music of the 60s, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

1968 Miami Pop Festival

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1968 Miami Pop Festival

Before 1969

While my aim is to have pieces describing each of 1969’s many festivals, mentioning a pre-1969 one is often useful as the several that preceded 1969’s memorable year (capped by the Woodstock Music and Art Fair) helped encourage promoters to expand the number.

1968 Miami Pop Festival
Miami Pop Festival

There were two Miami Pop Festivals in 1968. The first one was in May and Woodstock organizer Michael Lang  played a minor role in that festival’s promotion.

1968 Miami Pop Festival
cover for Miami Pop Festival program

The second Miami Pop Festival began on December 28. An estimated 100,000 attended the three-day concert.  It was produced by Tom Rounds and Mel Lawrence, who had previously produced the seminal KFRC Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival in California. [A side note, the Fantasy Fair occurred before the Monterrey Pop Festival and so is actually considered the first rock festival.]

According to Rolling Stone (February 1, 1969), the Miami festival was “a monumental success in almost every aspect, the first significant — and truly festive — international pop festival held on the East Coast.” Hallandale city officials, horrified by visions of stoned hippies dancing naked at Gulfstream, nixed plans for a second Miami Pop Festival.

1968 Miami Pop Festival

1968

Among the performers, were future Woodstock stars, the Grateful Dead, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Richie Havens, Sweetwater, Canned Heat, and Country Joe and the Fish.

Of course it’s difficult to find recordings or film of the event, but we are twice lucky. There is a film/still shot combination video of Jimi Hendrix doing “Foxy Lady.”

1968 Miami Pop Festival

The Dead

And of course the Grateful Dead did record their performance. You can listen to it through the AMAZING collection at the Internet Archive site: Dead in Miami

According to Wikipedia’s entry, some unique stories of the event were that:

  • Joni Mitchell invited Graham Nash and Richie Havens  to join her onstage to sing Dino Valenti’s “Let’s Get Together“
  • Jefferson Airplane’s Jack Casady played bass guitar with Country Joe & the Fish
  • it was the first rock festival to have separate ‘main’ stages several hundred yards apart (the Flower Stage and the Flying Stage).

There is also some additional information from Miami.com which includes several pictures

1968 Miami Pop Festival