Tenorcat,

                    I was at Fri. Stood in front of the stage left monitors through all sets.After Dino Valenti,took me about 10 years to realize acoustic could actually be something that wasn't excruciating.The  thing I rememer best is  at one point the lights   hitting him just right and he was the cover of Elec Lady Land. I've always liked to think he didn't die but just returnrd to the home planet

 

As a teenager I was a huge Eddie Van Halen fan. I still am to a great extent. When I was 15 someone said, If you like Eddie then check out Jimi Hendrix. I got Jimi Hendrix Smash Hits. I thought this weird looking dude is ok but he's not close to what Eddie is.

 

 

Then someone else said no, no, check him out live! So I bought a 2 record set called The Jimi Concerts. To say I was blown away was an understatement. This dude was BAAAAAD!!! I loved blues to begin with as well. I heard Red House on Smash Hits, but when he did it in concert it became alive and touched me in ways unknown to me before.

 

 

I have listend to both of these concerts and it puts me right back in my bedroom in Richmond, Virginia when I was 15 all over agian. Hendrix and Van Halen along with Eric Clapton are the reason I picked up the guitar that same year and I am still playing today.

 

Thanks Jimi

I graduated from HS in 1968, small town Ohio. My parents were worried that I had become too immersed in the drug culture, so sent me to visit my hip cousin in San Francisco for 10 days!! Little did they know that I went from the frying pan into the fire!!!! Anyway, I was in SF a week before the Hendrix show.......have the handbill, which I had framed some years back. I was fortunate enough to catch Jimi when he played Columbus OH in March of 68 so listening to him via this wonderful "Vault" brings back alot of fuzzy memories

Peace

Nancy 

Billiam,

 

talking of the February show at Winterland: As far as I know the Soft Machine were also on the bill. Did they really play that date? Have you seen them? Any memories that you might want to share with a Canterbury maniac?

 

Thanks

Propylaen2001:  Sorry, I have not checked this forum for a few weeks.  For sure, the February show was Hendrix, Mayall, and Albert King.  The Soft Machine did tour with Hendrix in early '68 but they were not at Winterland at that time.  By the way, I recently saw Alan Holdsworth perform in Berkeley and as I am sure you know, he was the Soft Machine's guitarist in the mid-70's.

 

Back to Jimi: Thanks to all who noticed my concert review, you are welcome.  You know, I was extremely lucky to have been born in 1951 and therefore able to experience the turmoil, drugs, love, sex, rock and roll, and political changes that were the hallmark of the Bay Area (and other parts of the country) at that time.  I really enjoyed Tenorcat's description of his night with Jimi at Winterland.  His remembrance of the red wine being poured reminded me of an incident we had on Sunday night (this is the October show later in the year, which of course was Jimi's last there).  Without going into details, my friend (who was trippin') layed his head back on the floor into a pool of vomit, as someone from the balcony (!!drinking wine??) had puked over the edge.  Ahh, the old Winterland shows. 

Actually, I found the Winterland and Fillmore West shows to have very civilized crowds.  It wasn't until the late 60's and maybe even the 70's that crowds seemed to get much more rowdy.  One thing I hated was when dudes would put their drunk girlfriend on their shoulders.  I want to see the performer, not some wispy, dirty blond waving her arms, trying to get the lead singer to look at her for 3 seconds.

 

I have also wondered why a movie of the times has not been made.  Without chronicling what has been attempted (like the recent "Almost Famous"), I know that there is no movie that captures the 60's and the concerts scenes.  Would people want to see actors portray Janis, the Airplane, Quicksilver, Moby Grape (casting Skip Spence would be fun)?  I would pay to see it.  The story line could be about the concert-goers or about the groups, or both. Maybe when I retire, I will write something, but by then the baby-boomers will be too old to be interested.  Actually the future success of the Vault will be one way to guage interest in the material.  I for one, am chomping at the bit to buy DVDs of the concerts I atttended. Now, if the legal crap can get cleared up....

Billiam,

 

thanks for your reply and your great recollections. What a great time it was. I was only 10 years old in 1968, started going to concerts about 4 or 5 years later then.

 

Back to the Winterland: I just found that this package was originally billed for 3 subsequent nights: February 2 - 4 and the Soft Machine are said to have played the first night but did not play the other 2 nights due to some disagreement with Bill Graham.

 

Can you recall which date exactly you were at the Winterland?

 

And, yes, I know Allan Holdsworth for sure, only saw him once on stage so far. But there is talk about possible shows in my area some time this summer. I will be there!

 

Cheers

Joerg

I am sure I was at the last night of the Oct show, but in the Feb show, I think we were there Saturday night, as our custom was to spend the day in Golden Gate Park then go to the Winterland. The poster of the show always and only had Mayall and King, not the Soft Machine. I doubt they would/could change the poster in time.

I was a bit disappointed in the Holdsworth show. I respect his playing immensely, but I felt that he did not open up all the way and the music was a bit mechanical. The best jazz fusion group I have seen in the last 20 years is Chick Corea's Electrik Band. Great drummer, great guitarist. I got to see Weather Report (with Jaco) at Winterland in 1977 and they were outstanding. Al Dimeolo opened and Santana jammed with him for a bit.

Thanks for your reply.

 

That would make perfectly sense: Saturday was Feb. 3rd and it is confirmed that they played on Friday the 2nd. I know that they were not listed on the poster and this may have been one reason causing the disagreement with Bill Graham.

 

As for Allan Holdsworth, that's sadly the case once in a while. He's rarely satisfied with his performance.

 

These days I really dig some great live recordings from the late Shawn Lane. This guy was simply breath-taking!! Highly recommended!!

 

Take care

Joerg

I saw Alan Holdsworth at the legendary Keystone Korner in North Beach. It was some kind of electric fusion band with a killin' keyboard player. I remembered that he was blazing straight eighth or sixteenth notes like a horn player, except that he didn't have to breath and ran the lines right through the phrases. I just remember him smoking. Hey man, that was a long time ago and I saw so much stuff that It all kind of runs together.

EJ, At the time we all took this stuff for granted. Who knew? One of my friends talked me into going to see the Who. I was like, well OK. He was a big Pete Townshend fan and between the sets he dragged me back stage. There was no security or anything, these guys weren't stars or anything. We found Pete sitting with a guitar on his lap. My friend went up and started talking to him, then my friend pulls out a big fattie and and asks him if he wanted to smoke. We sat there getting ripped.

You have to understand that there was no music business per se as we know it today. Rolling Stone was a little rag of a newspaper printed on Haight Street and cost fifty cents or something. Bill Graham almost invented the modern music business as we know it. We weren't that far removed from black and white TV and no stations on the FM dial. Top 40 music on the radio was pop music, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Cash, John Coltrane made the charts with My Favorite things, Dave Brubeck's Take Five still get airplay, surf music, soul music, Motown, Byrds, Beatles Stones and Psychedelic Furs, Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Louie Louie. You get the picture? It was all pop music in heavy rotation. Elvis and Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Polka Dot Bikini, The Monster Mash... There wasn't a music business like today where every thing is categorized.

I'm sure Billiam and I went to different high schools together! I be if we talked that we know the some of the same people.

Maybe he could correct me if my memory is bad. Most of the shows that I went to were at Fillmore West. The ticket price was $2.75 on Friday and Sunday nights and like $3.00 or $3.25 on Saturday and Sunday. When the ticket price went up to $3.50 we were shocked. Go look at the ticket prices on the posters.

In high school, my whole bedroom wall was papered with posters handbills and postcards from the Family Dog, Winterland and Fillmore. Once my mom found a big bag of weed in my room. She called the cops and they wouldn't do anything because they didn't find it, couldn't prove it was mine. She was so angry that she tore them up. AHHHH!

I remember Bill Graham and "The Fillmore Cop" handing out posters and post cards out at the top of the stairs after the gig with Greensleves playing on the PA in the background. That security cop worked there for years trying to keep us from cutting in the line right as they opened the doors. What was his name? He was famous. He would go, All right chillun', bee careful, take it easy and see 'ya next time. Watch the stairs!

In the late '60s and early '70s there was so much heavy stuff going on in our society that most of this was flying under the radar. Who knew?

I have to give Bill Graham much thanks for turning me on to jazz. We went to see the Dead, Jr. Walker and the All Stars sometime in '68. Miles Davis was on the bill but not the headliner. Miles, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Jack JeJohnette, Airto Morieria and Steve Grossman on Sax. Right before ***'s Brew came out and won a Grammy.

The Dead were so toasted that they couldn't remember the words to songs, their acoustic first set was unbearable and we were big Garcia and Dead fans. Jr. Walker had come right off the Chittlin' Circuit wearing tuxes and playing their showcase.

In those days the first two bands played two sets and Miles played just one set in the middle. That set was so mind bending that it changed the way that I looked at music forever in the same way that Hendrix had. The experience is etched into my memory.

Jr. Walker played the same songs and same "show" for the second set and the Dead sounded so freakin' lame after Miles that it was ridiculous.

My best friend called me a year back and said that he was reading Bill Graham's biography and we were in it. He wouldn't tell me and made me read the book. Bill was ask what he thought the most important part of his legacy was or something like that. He explained how he grew up listening to dance music and was heavily influenced by Latin dance bands and jazz. He thought that jazz and the blues masters were the real thing and these young bands were OK as entertainment, but not real good music. He hoped that he could turn the kids on to some real music.

Bill said that he was standing at the head of the stairs at the Fillmore West handing out posters after the Miles show and two white suburban kids come walking out. One kid asks the other kid what he thought of Miles and the other kid says, "Man, That was the most incredible thing that I have ever heard in my life".

Swear on my stack of Coltane records that I remember Paul asking me that as we walked out. That was us.

Hey Tenorcat,

 

many thanks for submitting your first-hand impressions. I love to read this kind of stuff from folks like you. Very insightful, but on the other hand it makes me even sadder to realize I was born some years too late and in the wrong place. :-(

Nice job of painting a picture, Tenorcat. BTW, I was at Willow Glen High in San Jose, the infamous class of '69. I also was talked into going to see The Who (Fillmore West, August 68, with James Cotton and Magic Sam opening), by my girlfriend (Lincoln High, SJ, class of 70). I thought they were too pop, and I didn't think Townsend was all that great of a guitar player (I liked Green, Clapton, Bloomfield, and the three Kings). Anyway, they blew my socks off and to this day, it was one of the most, if not the most , electrifying musical performances I ever saw. Keith Moon was absolutely stunning and Townsend, well he was Townsend. An A++ show.

I also had my room plastered with posters. My mother took them down when I went away to college. One weekend I came home and they were not under my bed. I asked her where they were and she said "I threw out that trash." Needless to say I was not a happy camper, and of course, she threw out about $25,000 worth of posters at today's prices. Oh well, I can thank my mother for tolerating my music, pot-smoking, etc in those years. In fact, she drove me to my first Fillmore concert (Paul Butterfield and Roland Kirk) because she went to shows at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem when she was growing up.

The cost, as Tenorcat correctly recalled, was $2.50 on Thursday and Sunday and a whopping $3.00 on the weekend. Plus, as most folks who read this realize, there were two if not three big-name groups instead of today's shows were the usual is one band. I agree with your recollection that the top two bands played two sets. The opener played one but I did see two sets from them on occasion too.

Propylaen2001: The scene of the 60's for you is like the scene my mom had in New York City in the late 1930's and early 40's for me. So, I read about the blossoming of jazz and listen to Bunny Berrigan, Dorsey, the Hawk, and Billie, and think that my mom was there, watching these acts in Harlem. That's as close as I can get. I really hope the Vault can release DVD's of these shows, because even if the lighting is bad, and the sound so-so, it may just capture some of the magic of the day.

See, I knew it... Hillsdale High, 1970

I don't remember the year, but Bill Graham's offices burned in a fire. I just don't remember the details, but wasn't it arson or something? I do remeber that he lost all kinds of memorabila and tapes and 16mm film. He filmed a lot of the stuff I remember. I thought that all that stuff was long gone and that is why this site is such a mind blower for me.

The magic... that's what I what I'm saying. If they could make a movie like Dreamgirls, it's seems like a better screen play than that could be written about this time cut with archival footage. Maybe we will have to write it... who better?

My parents used to go to the dance hall that turned into the Carousel Ballroom, and when the bands that started it, couldn't manage it, was rented by Bill Graham for Fillmore West. I think it was a Latin social club called El Papaguyo (sp?). Early on, they still had a big board that had interchangeable signs with the names of all the dances that the bands played hung up by the PA stacks. The parents were way into Cha Cha, Merangue, Mambo, Bosa Nova, etc, I think that that's the reason that they didn't care about us going, because somehow they thought of it as a "nice" place.

I lived in Mt. View in the '80s and my neighbors kids were into being Dead Heads traveling all over the place. One day they were trying to put a new cassette player in their VW bus and I helped them out. They were playing bootleg Dead tapes and I said that I used to go see the Dead's free concerts all the time in the Haight and Golden Gate Park. They were so jealous. I said that Garcia was one of my first music heros because he could improvise, but that the last time I saw them was in Germany in '73 and they were horrible. They didn't know what to make of that, except that they would have given anything to be ten years older and experiance the Summer of Love and the ballroom scene.

I said, I would trade seeing Hendrix, Cream, Led Zeplin, Albert Lee and Jeff Beck to have been ten years older and hung out in New York on 52nd St. & up in Harlem at Minton's Playhouse. I'd rather have been around for the birth of modern jazz and bebop. Clifford Brown, Solnny Rollins, Bird, Monk, Dizzy, Miles, Bud Powell, Coltrane and Cannonball, Philly Joe Jones, Kenny Clarke, Paul Chambers, Mingus... that is the S***.

Saxophonist Michael Brecker just passed last week. I have felt the same way that I did when I found out that Hendrix died. What a waste, but what a lagacy just the same.

Billiam, Yeah, James Cotton and Magic Sam... Paul Butterfield and Roland Kirk!!!

I'm a big Rahsaan fan. Saw him many times at Keystone Korner. I never went to any of those Days on the Green or any big stadium shows at all. I was going to see Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Grover Washington Jr., George Benson, Cannonball, Pat Martino, Joe Pass, Oscar Peterson, Miles and McCoy Tyner all at the height of their powers. Three buck cover charge and one drink minimum, maybe a hundred fifty seats. A pitcher of beer was $2.75 and I never got carded even though I was the only white guy and absolutely the youngest at 18. My rocker friends that I had come up with playing in garage bands thought I was nuts. They don't now!

I think that what I learned from Hendtrix... and Clapton, Stevie Winwood, Randy California ('member Spirit?), Garcia, John Cippolina, on and on... was about energy. 'Trane and Miles, McCoy all had incredible energy. You could sit in this little club and feel the energy.

I remember somebody that had an extra ticket to go see Grand Funk Railroad at the Oakland Coloseum. We were so far away that the band looked like ants. It was loud, but somehow disconnected. I guess it was a good excuse to do drugs. What a joke. I thought, never again. I got spoiled by Bill Graham and Chet Helms.

Here is my Rahsaan Roland Kirk story. The difference between the real deal and all the half baked rockers that saw and opportunity to get rich and famous.

There was a small bar in the back of Keystone that had just four or five barstools. Mainly it was for the waitresses. There was a blond woman about forty, dressed to the nines in a slinky red cocktail dress and heels, getting drunk, sitting at the bar by herself. She was talking loudly to the bartender and was being generally obnoxious. The band was smoking and Rahsaan was at the height of his powers at that time. Between the tunes, Rahsaan would talk about the tunes or talk to the crowd. He had all these stories that he told that were part of his act or persona.

He has this story about the "Tongue Snatcher." A guy that used to sit in a tree and when a cute lady would walk down the street, he would unfurl his long tongue and snatch her up. All kinds of wild *** that only a blind black jazz musician could come up with. Stuff about racism and inequality that just made a white person want to crawl under the table.

He pretty much ignored the drunk woman until at one juncture she starts yelling, "Roland, play the blues." Freakin', Rahsaan just erupts. He grabs the mike and yells, "Play d'blues! Play d'blues?!! Play d'blues???!!! I don't gotta play d'blues... I AM D'BLUES!!!"

Yeah. Hendrix WAS the blues too.

Bright Moments...

TenorCat:  Wow, we could talk for hours about those times and music.  I used to go the Keystone Corner in Palo Alto cuz I had moved to Santa Cruz in 1969.  Best show I saw there for sure was Freddy King, about 1972 or 1973.  I mean a great, great show.  My sister got on stage with him and did the bump with big Freddie.  There was a small club in Santa Cruz that hosted a lot of good shows (I think the club is now Moe's Alley Blues Club).  I saw James Cotton there a couple of times. 

When Bill Graham's office were firebombed by some pigs, I also thought the films were all destroyed, but the Vaultsters may blow us away some day with video on DVD's of these historically great shows.

I saw some good jazz in the city, but not as much as you.  Saw Archie Shepp wail one night.  For me, it was the black blues performers that rocked my world, so I concentrated on seeing them.  Like my description above recounts, it was Albert Kings' incredible stage presence that almost stole the show from Hendrix in the Feb '68 show.  When you see John Mayall and Mick Taylor play the blues, then Albert King on the same night in 1968, you see the difference.  I seemed to like the white performers on record more than live, and the black performers more live than recorded. 

My NYC mother saw the period of transition from big bands to be-bop.  Two interesting facts about that. Her father, my grandpa, played in the "first" big jazz band, Paul Whiteman's Orchestra.  Second is my mother was propositioned by Coleman Hawkins in his motel room after a show in Harlem. Yes, my mom was kind of wild (kind of a bohemian), but she turned The Hawk down. She said she was came to his room because she admired his music, not to sleep with him!

I feel the exact same way about large shows.  The old Fillmore held only 1,200, the Winterland about 3,200, and I have researched, but cannot find out the capacity of the Fillmore West (nee Carousel Ballroom) but my guess is about 2,500.  Day on the Green, with miniature performers a football field away?  Sometimes you were more engaged, like it or not, with the drunk/too stoned dudes and their girlfriends right around you (with their whistling and hooting).  I saw the Dead in 1967 (Continental Ballroom in Santa Clara) and did not like their "sloppy" play.  So I ignored them for a long time, then a girlfriend took me to their show at the Greek in Berkeley in 1980 and I got a whole new appreciation for them and for their followers.  You see, from them on, I went to Dead shows, about one per year, because the crowd reminded me of the 60's.  No pushing and shoving and lots of peace, love, and music ( and I think the Dead got a better in their later years, until about 1990 when Jerry's voice went to hell and his playing deterioated shortly thereafter).  Anyway, I live in Sacramento today, what about you?  I still go to as much live music as I can, but it has been curtailed by the birth of my first child (I know, I can do the math - I'll be 72, when she graduates from high school).   My last live show was two weeks ago --Mark Hummel's Blues Harmonica Blowout at the Palms in Winters with Rick Estrin, Paul Oscher (played with Muddy in the late 1960's), Billy Boy Arnold, and Rod Piazza.  

OK, I have written too much not about Jimi Hendrix in this forum.  

Tenorcat: Thanks for the PM, but when I replied, it went "undeliverable". Can you PM again and put your EM address into the message. Thanks, Billiam

I was at both those shows too.  Thanks for the clear memories you have.