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| The Who at Monterey 1967 |
Bon soir, friends. I'm watching the Mr. X saga unfold on Allegra Lansing's YouTube channel. Mr. X mentions he was the drummer in a band that played at The Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967.
Here is a link to the festival performances. I enjoyed watching the groups and listening to the commentary between songs. Dare I dream one of our community was in that crowd and is willing to paint the picture for me?
On a more focused note, I'm wondering if anyone else is following the Mr. X saga, or is interested in watching Lansing's video and sharing your thoughts on Mr. X's claims? +ggw
47 comments:
44:00, Fayez: Sadie commands, "join me!" and there's a great description of her armpit hair.
Quite a surprise at the end there lol. I was like whutttt.
X was at the Monterrey Concert, but only as a spectator, not as a performer.
That was Joplin's breakthru with Ball & Chain, as I recall. Up to that point she was mainly local to the Bay Area.
I suspect that Joplin and Krenwinkel had some of the same problems.
Yes.Lansing corrected me in the comments section as I was wracking my brain to figure out his identity based on Monterray Pop drummers
Cliffhanger...part 2 to come
That film + the associated audio releases (some artist sets have been released in full on CD/digital) is about my favorite artifact from that summer. The "Summer of Love" at its finest. By August, it was all going south . . .
If rhe Beach Boys showed up at Monterey as scheduled in their LA hippy clothes with the Wrecking Crew and played a set from Pet Sounds and Smile, that's what we would all remember. Jimi could have lit his hair on fire and he still would have been an "also appearing."
Peter said:
If the Beach Boys showed up at Monterey as scheduled in their LA hippy clothes with the Wrecking Crew and played a set from Pet Sounds and Smile, that's what we would all remember
Buddah woulda coulda shoulda ! 😏
Anyone care for a handful of jellybeans? We have Starburst and Sour Patch Kids. The SPK's are not as good as I, errr pardon me, the Easter Bunny imagined.
I think my issue with Mr. X, if I have one, is anyone here could say the things he said. Any decently long-time student of the case could easily repeat all of that, too. It's almost like a Manson greatest hits presentation. I'm also not sure how Mary could've changed education with her bachelor's degree but that's whatever. Looking forward to Part 2.
Peter said...
If the Beach Boys showed up at Monterey as scheduled in their LA hippy clothes with the Wrecking Crew and played a set from Pet Sounds and Smile, that's what we would all remember.
Yeah... just like everyone remembers the Mamas & Papas fantastic performance :-)
What'd bobby do with the drums? Why weren't they set up at spahn? I've never heard of the family jams playng amplified music.
He also puts tex in a clique with bobby and lil paul but then backs off tex being a musician. I don't see tex hanging with those guys but maybe when bobby brought lvh that's when Tex n lvh had their epic rendevouses (Tex was on the periphery of the family so he may have had little access to the girls' honey pots)
Yeah... just like everyone remembers the Mamas & Papas fantastic performance :-)
67
Uncanny--and unfortunate--resemblance to Krenwinkel...
I wasn't there, but seriously, this is what everyone talked about after the festival.
As a person who has been a fan of brian wilson & the beach boys for decades and who has studied their history in detail for an equal amount of time, I feel the need to respond to peter's comment about how the group would have supposedly ended up delivering the greatest and best-received performance at monterey in june, 1967. In a word: NO (and remember, I love the beach boys' music). The beach boys' capitol lps and 45s were unquestionably some of the most awesome pop records issued in the '60s, but, sad to say, their live performances at the time (they definitely improved in the early '70s, but we are referring here to 1967) were markedly inferior to their vinyl releases and, with rare exceptions, didn't come close to reproducing the awesomeness of the former. In addition, for better or worse, american pop music fans in 1967 were (mostly) desirous of harder-edge, multi-guitar based loud stuff...in a nutshell, rock as opposed to pop. The beach boys, at least in 1967, couldn't do rock. Also, due to the repeated delays of smile, there had been no new music from the group since the previous october, so they had been off the public's radar for quite a while. And pet sounds, though it finally got the public and critical accolades it deserved years later, was a huge sales disappointment (at least, compared with the group's previous albums) at the time of its release. To reiterate, I love the beach boys' work (more specifically, their mid-60s to late-70s prime period stuff), but must, regrettably, agree with those who say the group would have most certainly NOT "blown away" the audience at monterey. Plus, they wouldn't have been dressed in "LA hippy clothes"....they were still wearing their standard striped shirts when they played hawaii in august, 1967.
60sRockRules:
I, too, really connected with the Beach Boys, from about 63 on. That would havde made me a sophomore in HS, I think.
The songs lyrics can be deceptively simple and almost joyously naive, but really, you had to be living in S Cal at that time, and songs like "True to Your School" and "Sittin' in My Car" (is that the actual title?) make some level of VERY STRONG nostalgic connection. Even at the time. They kinda ennobled these sentiments.
They also deal with young heterosexual love (there was no other kind in popular songs at the time). They had what I see as sorta "bookend" songs about heartbreak/renewal with "Wendy", about a girl who dumped a guy, and "Help Me Rhonda" about possibly that same guy on the rebound.
I liked the sound of their "custom era" songs, catchy melodies, well-executed harmonies, as always, but to me over the line since I could not really empathize with a feeling for a car like that.
Favorite single, unattached song is the relative unknown "Farmer's Daughter", where there's a very idyllic narrative about a time/place/ethos that may never have existed, but it would be nice if it did. I heard a cover of it by Fleetwood Mac, and they completely butchered it.
Hah! "Wouldn't It Be nice"!!!
HAH!!! :^)
Thanks for reminding me!
shoegazer said:
They also deal with young heterosexual love (there was no other kind in popular songs at the time)
Even if there were, they would have been disguised, the way early drug songs like "She's a woman", "It's only love" and "Day Tripper" were. There was a time when there was lots of speculation that the Beatles' "You've got to hide your love away" and the Kinks' "See my friends" were songs that dealt with homosexual love, but John Lennon and Ray Davies have never copped to it. The third verse of "Jailhouse Rock" may well have pointing that way ~ and that was the 50s:
Number forty-seven said to number three
"You the cutest jailbird I ever did see
I sure would be delighted with your company
Come on and do the Jailhouse Rock with me"
The earliest rock song I know of that the writer has openly stated dealt with gay themes is the Pretty Things' "Defecting Grey", which is an absolutely incredible song for 1967.
"Wouldn't It Be nice"
As far as I can recall, this was the first song of the Beach Boys that I remember. It came out in England in 1976 or maybe I heard it on the radio or maybe it was a re-release, but it was '76 when I heard it. I quite liked it. Still do. There was a sort of famous mental hospital not too far from us, called Shenley and I used to sing the opening line as "Wouldn't it be nice to go to Shenley ?...."
I also love their song "Darlin'", but I first knew that as a David Cassidy song at the end of 1975. Always loved that song. It was the 4th song I ever taped off the radio when my Dad bought me a cassette player. It was years before I discovered it was actually by the Beach Boys. My interest in them perked up when I heard "I get around." Even when I hear it now, it launches my memory back to Nigeria in 1979.
SixtiesRockRules! said:
but must, regrettably, agree with those who say the group would have most certainly NOT "blown away" the audience at monterey
After the performances of the Who, Hendrix, Janis and Ravi Shankar, I'm afraid the Boys wouldn't have been blowing the audience away. Whether or not those performances were liked, they were unforgettable. I mean, come on, even the Wrecking Crew couldn't top a black guy setting his guitar on fire or an Englishman with a huge nose twirling his guitar like a cheerleader with a baton and then smashing that expensive guitar to bits and then while the drummer beats the drums up and kicks them over, the lead singer and guitarist calmly walk off stage.
Yeah, "Sloop John B" and "Surfin' USA" would've been what everyone remembered after that ! 🤩
"The third verse of Jailhouse Rock may well have pointing that way " should read, "The third verse of Jailhouse Rock may well have been pointing that way."
Re Monterey I remembered that there was a festival earlier in the summer on Mt Tam, in Marin county (it's where the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge goes). It was more Bay Area performers focused.
Magic Mountain Music Festival
No, I wasn't there, either.
shoegazer said...
"That was Joplin's breakthru with Ball & Chain, as I recall. Up to that point she was mainly local to the Bay Area.
I suspect that Joplin and Krenwinkel had some of the same problems"
I can't recall the source, it could even be this blog for all I know, but I remember once hearing that Atkins was living in the Haight in the periphery of the Dead's communal house and recalled listening toJanis and the Dead often jamming from where she was living. Anyone else remember this account from somewhere?
Does anyone remember the Death of Hippy parade?
"FUNERAL NOTICE: HIPPIE. In the Haight Ashbury District of this city. Hippie, devoted son of Mass Media. Friends are invited to attend service begining at sunrise, October 6, 1967 at Buena Vista Park."
Magic Mountain Music Festival - The Merry Go Round played. Bill Reinhart was their bass player. Connected to Manson. Early interviewee of police after murders
More MF connections (beyond Cass, the Canadian dealers, Bill Reinhart) at Monterrey...Joel Larsen played drums for the M & P. He also drummed with the Merry Go Round + first call sessions. Definitely ran in similar circles as the Family (if not hanging out with Bill @ Spahn and, dealing drugs)
Let me ask you folks who were around at the time of the Death of Hippy Parade. Did the Diggers leave SF immediately afterward?
Jack and Barbara are identified as the Jack Gordon and "Ruth Gordon" who appear in the Manson family mugshots.
The baby, Aaron Gordon, that died, has "Cline" given as the mother's name.
Let me ask you folks who were around at the time of the Death of Hippy Parade. Did the Diggers leave SF immediately afterward?
I doubt it.
The reason I remembered it yesterday for the first time in probably 40 years was the way it was covered in the media in the Bay Area. It was on the 6 PM news, for example, and it was in the vein of...
"Well, what won't those crazy, lovable scamps think of next...".
And I sorta recall that I had the impression that the ceremony was tongue-in-cheek.
I need to emphasize that everything from the hip side of the SF universe was inspired as conscious "street theater". Everything was at its core for public consumption.
I'm saying thus with 50+ years of hindsight, you understand.
Bunt, I see a Barbara Cline and a Barbara Klein who went to school in LA at times that make sense. Nothing on a child with a Jack Gordon though.
bucpaul2812 said:
I can't recall the source, it could even be this blog for all I know, but I remember once hearing that Atkins was living in the Haight in the periphery of the Dead's communal house and recalled listening to Janis and the Dead often jamming from where she was living. Anyone else remember this account from somewhere?
It could be from Susan's book, "Child of Satan, child of God". Pages 78 and 79 state:
"No problem," Barbara said. "We have a lot of visitors."
The family's home was a big 2-storey brown house at the corner of Oak and Lyon Streets. It was an impressive old home in the midst of several impressive ones. The area had passed its prime but still maintained a certain elegance.
"Janis Joplin lives over there," Barbara said, pointing to the house next door. "There are a lot of great people around here."
For 3 weeks I was constantly loaded on hashish, marijuana or acid. I was fulfilled for the first time in my craving for dope. There seemed to be an endless supply. One of my favourite pastimes was sitting, stoned, on the front balcony and listening to Janis Joplin playing, singing and boozing.
And if it's not what you were thinking of, well, have it for free to add to what you were thinking of ! 🥸
Cutter
grimtraveller said:
"It could be from Susan's book, "Child of Satan, child of God". Pages 78 and 79 state:
"No problem," Barbara said. "We have a lot of visitors."
The family's home was a big 2-storey brown house at the corner of Oak and Lyon Streets. It was an impressive old home in the midst of several impressive ones. The area had passed its prime but still maintained a certain elegance.
"Janis Joplin lives over there," Barbara said, pointing to the house next door. "There are a lot of great people around here."
For 3 weeks I was constantly loaded on hashish, marijuana or acid. I was fulfilled for the first time in my craving for dope. There seemed to be an endless supply. One of my favourite pastimes was sitting, stoned, on the front balcony and listening to Janis Joplin playing, singing and boozing.
And if it's not what you were thinking of, well, have it for free to add to what you were thinking of"
Thank you, grim! I just KNEW I remembered that account from SOMEWHERE :-)
If this site is to be believed, the closest Atkins lived to Joplin the dead would be over a mile. Not that it matters, really.
Haight-Ashbury houses
Manson house
Map
Another source says Manson lived at 636 Cole. This is .3 mile away.
Cole St
Map
Or was this before she lived with Manson?
Before she lived with him. The family she mentions in the excerpt is the family of drug dealers she ended up crashing with.
GT:
Before she lived with him. The family she mentions in the excerpt is the family of drug dealers she ended up crashing with.
Do they name the address of this house where the dealers lived? If so, can you share it?
Hi, Patty! Welcome back :)
Holy moly. Mr. X kinda unintentionally doxxes Ruth Gordon from the mug shots. Credit goes to Buntline for putting it together first.
Patty is speaking from beyond the grave when she tells you that this guy is a fake. Cutter was my catfisher almost exactly ten years ago now. So many people want to represent themselves as being close to the family. Allie is naive. This is just another fake.
Doug said: "More MF connections (beyond Cass, the Canadian dealers, Bill Reinhart) at Monterrey...Joel Larsen played drums for the M & P. He also drummed with the Merry Go Round + first call sessions. Definitely ran in similar circles as the Family (if not hanging out with Bill @ Spahn and, dealing drugs)"
Abigail Folger was at Monterey with photographer Jim Marshall (they were dating at the time), photographer, Elaine Mayes and others. One source says she can be seen in the movie walking through the crowd wearing a yellow hat. I was never able to locate that. He did not take any photos of her, there.
Marshall later said if Manson was ever released from prison he would meet him at the gate with a shotgun.
Canned Heat. I don't know anything about this Mr. X stuff. As far as living Monterey Pop drummers that may have had a Manson Family connection, Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra of Canned Heat may known them. For years, I've meant to buy de la Parra's memoirs "Living the Blues" to check, but have not. An Amazon search of the book reveals some Canned Heat/Manson Family connections. At least one member, lead singer Bob "The Bear" Hite lived in Topanga Canyon during the Mansonista era. Canned Heat played Monterey June 17, 1967. They're best known for their kickass tunes "Going Up the Country" and "On the Road Again" and their Woodstock 1969 movie appearance.
Toadstool Shadow:
FWIW on Canned Heat,
Within my social circle in that era, they absolutely stood out. I'm not saying that they necessarily generated a fan base like the Airplane, etc., but they came up as contemporaries with the Bay Area groups and they really stood out. There was a sort of elitism in music favoring the SF groups. This was like Seattle and grunge 20+ years later--you needed to be from Seattle to get the full credit for being grunge, and to be hip in the mid-60s, you needed to be from SF, the pennisula, or Marin.
Too, they seemed genuine in the sense that Butterfield was genuine. You could sorta *feel* this even then, as a callow youth, and it seems more apparent now.
"This is called 'gettin' ready for the boogey...'"
Fun remembering... :^)
Toadstool Shadow said: "An Amazon search of the book reveals some Canned Heat/Manson Family connections"
If you are looking for a very enjoyable book about the band, its good.
If you are looking for Manson connections, here they are:
"I was taken to the Federal Building downtown to be fingerprinted and photographed, just like one of the Ten Most Wanted. Once inside, Agent Cox disappeared and I was left in the hands of some uniformed policeman. Noticing my long hair and beard, the cop with the camera turned to his partner. His voice dripping with venom, he said: "Look at this one. He really has that criminal look." It turns out they had just fingerprinted some of Charlie Manson's family members and in their minds anyone with long hair was a drug-crazed killer.
Adolfo de la Parra. Living the Blues (p. 191). eBookIt.com. Kindle Edition.
"This period in the band's life hit a dangerous point. Bob's house had become a beacon for all kinds of misfits, outlaws and outright criminals. The music playing sessions, where nice hippie girls and musicians hung out and learned together, had been replaced by a cesspool of ugly characters. This, along with being broke and disillusioned, brought out Bob's dark side. He started to brag about knowing Manson family members, descendants of the Dillinger gang and other practicing criminals. These people had now become his audience and his mentors. I'd even get calls in the middle of the night inviting me to dine on steaks ripped off from the local supermarkets. Adding to this degenerate environment, was the proverbial non-stop, hard drug use, highlighted by shooting heroin and cocaine, topped off by getting drunk and taking all kinds of pills. Eventually, some of these people actually took over his house--with his approval, of course, since they were providing him with money, food and drugs--and more importantly, adulation. One time, a couple of these characters went to nearby Ventura, a small city about 60 miles from Los Angeles and committed armed robbery, assaulting an old lady who owned a jewelry store specializing in fine turquoise. The $100,000-plus worth of loot was her life's savings and the theft caused the poor women to have a heart attack."
Adolfo de la Parra. Living the Blues (p. 202). eBookIt.com. Kindle Edition.
David, yes. I too have looked at every photo and film clip that I can find of Monterey, and have not been able to see Abigail there. I was able to contact Elaine Mayes in the recent past about Abigail at Monterey. Elaine of course said she was in the company of Abigail at the show, but said she did not take any photos of her. I always found it interesting that although she was in the presence of several photographers, none of them reportedly took pictures of Abigail during that time.
Elaine has written about the experience, though, and said that her sleeping bag was ripped off fron Abigail's car while it was parked at their motel. A sad thing to happen to someone at such a fun festival.
Torque,
I found that story in the forward to the book "It Happened in Monterey" which is a collection of Elaine Mayes' photos from the concert interspersed with comments from attendees. Abigail is also mentioned in a section written by John Luce M.D. who was working for Look magazine at the time according to his blurb.
Abigail was dating famous photographer James Marshall in 1967. She was with him at Monterrey. Marshall was kinda one of the "superstar" rock photogs and he was pretty busy with his VIP access to take photos so Abigail was often roaming around the VIP areas and in the crowd in that VIP area.
From a quick Wikipedia search on Marshall's page...
"In 1967 he dated Folgers coffee heiress, Abigail Folger, who accompanied him and fellow photographer Elaine Mayes to the Monterey Pop Festival.[9] Folger was murdered, in 1969, by followers of Charles Manson."
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