"Gimmee An 'F!' "

“Gimmee An ‘F!' "
The Return of the “Heroes of Woodstock” to Southern California, 41 Years Later! By Sunny Sun-Downer (As published in the current issue of the Desert Valley Star)




This year has seen the “Return of Woodstock” to the world’s “Modern (yet Limited) Attention,” being the 40th anniversary of that Epic “Grand-Daddy of All Concerts” in 1969. But how many people realize that we actually had our own “West Coast Woodstock” right here in Southern California, the year before?
While it didn’t have quite the number of acts, or quite the same number of attendees, this concert, the “Newport Pop Festival,” held at the Orange County Fairgrounds was quite notable, having about twenty name acts of the day (compared to Woodstock’s 34) and at least 100,000 ticket holders, and, just like Woodstock: gate crashers. Although called the “Newport” Pop Festival, technically it was held in Costa Mesa- but it was just a “Stone(r)’s Throw” from Newport Beach, and I’m guessing the promoters, Wesco Productions & KHJ-AM Radio DJ “Humble Harve” wanted to capitalize on the name “Newport” to borrow from the legacy of the famous East Coast “Newport Folk Festival.”
Whereas, in a Desert Valley Star article about Woodstock that I wrote earlier this year wherein I related that at 14 years old and living in the “suburban waste-land” (now called) “The O.C.,” I didn’t make it to that East Coast phenomenon, what makes this story special for this reporter is that I DID make it to THIS concert! In spite of the sibling rivalry inspired by “Western Dysfunctional Society,” my older sister, Chris, was kind enough to allow me to accompany her & her new friends from the group our mom had joined after divorcing our dad, “Parents Without Partners.” So, while I was allowed to go down to the concert with them, I was not, however, allowed to “hang out” with them, and proceeded to experience on my own, one of the most life-changing events of my teenage “formative years!” With my paper route money I had been buying “33 1/3” LP’s and “45’s” of some of these music groups (translation for my younger readers: 33 and a 1/3 “revolutions per minute” of a vinyl record album were called ‘LP’s” for ‘Long Playing” and “45’s” were that number of “rpm’s” on a record slightly bigger than today’s CD’s) at the local “Music Box” record store from a guy that looked like Elvis who was always smoking cigarettes. (Other times, when I could get a ride there, I’d get even a better deal at the music store called, “Licorice Pizza”… a challenge for you younger readers to guess where that name came from!)
The groups I was most into who were playing at the festival were Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Country Joe and the Fish, Canned Heat, Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly (with their near-20 minute version of “Inna Gadda Da Vida”) and the Animals. Although I didn’t have any of their record albums, another favorite group was “The Illinois Speed Press,” simply because they had performed at our local night club that even allowed teens in, called “The White Room” on Orange-thorpe in Buena Park. (I even remember riding my bike up there one afternoon after school and eating some food across the street at the “A & W Root Beer Drive-in” next to some guys from a group called “Poco” who were on their way to a sound check there. I was just researching their name-change to tell you when [1968] they had to change their name from “Pogo,” which they had named themselves after Walt Kelly’s comic character, but were forced to drop when the cartoonist threatened a copy-right lawsuit. So it was synchronous to this article, then, to find out that Paul Cotton, the guitarist of Illinois Speed Press, replaced Kenny Loggins’ recently re-united partner Jim Messina after he left Poco in 1970).
Meanwhile, back at the fairgrounds, other than those groups who I have previously mentioned (and financially supported), the ones I saw (but honestly don’t remember too well, in spite of the fact that it was probably the only concert I’ve attended where I wasn’t actually stoned- that would happen soon after and is “fodder for a future yarn,” heh-heh!) were the Grateful Dead, Blue Cheer, the Byrds and Electric Flag, undoubtedly among others.
Other groups that I’m fairly sure I didn’t experience in the 3-D world, as they performed on the day before which I didn’t attend, were Alice Cooper (which was the band’s name before Vincent Furnier personally took on the moniker), Tiny Tim (the most popular “Freak” of our generation, with his long curly hair, pot belly & ukulele upon which he strummed his eternal hit song, “Tip Toe Through the Tulips”), Sonny & Cher (who, according to various reports were either ignored or even boo’d), Paul Butterfield Blues Band, James Cotton Blues Band, and (tic-tock, tic-tock…) the Chambers Brothers (who non-the-less would “psychedelize my soul” with their big and lengthy hit, “Time” in the near future, along with Hendrix at “Newport ‘69”- again, watch for the sequel).
Some 40 years later, I honestly don’t recall everything that I experienced that day, however, some of my memory was re-stimulated after reading this post on the Orange County Register’s article written last year, posted by “Ashleigh2k”:
“I was there..! I was in the 6th grade and thought I was quite sophisticated, cuz I looked a lot older than my age... I remember getting body painting done with a friend of mine- there were people getting their whole bodies painted, but I modestly settled for a flower on my arm and on my face! The music was great, and there were vendors everywhere selling incense, candles and wares of the 60's throughout the whole thing… I remember people (hippie guys) giving us water from 5 gallon bottles that were freshly unloaded (we were all dying of thirst!), and that it was very hot… it was so much fun, but in hind-sight, it really was no place for a couple of 12 year old girls... But we weren't aware of any drugs being used, (there were, it turns out- but WE didn’t have a clue!), and everyone just thought we were sweet innocent flower children of sorts... We weren't bothered or given anything illicit... It was just one big blast, a ton of fun and great music, and I've always wondered why Woodstock gets all the glory, when really, that weekend at the Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa a year earlier, was WAY cooler!! It was groundbreaking, and should be looked at as bigger than Woodstock for starting it all!” (You can see more stories like this and very cool old photos with the Register article, by searching for “Newport Pop Festival,” or email me for the link).
I too, remember it being so hot that people rushed this big bottled water truck that pulled up on the outskirts of the crowd, and started pulling them out so fast that one slipped and fell, cutting a guy’s head pretty badly. That was the only “bummer” I witnessed the whole day. My other vivid memory, other than the amazing psychedelic music, was saying “high” to this tall brother with hair half-way down his back in a pony-tail. I later met him in the infamous Tim Leary “tribe” stomping grounds of Laguna Beach, “Mystic Arts World,” where he worked in the “bookstore section.” In a “what-goes-around-comes-around” fashion, Michael Callan is now a “High” desert-dweller and can be found performing his musical craft there to this day.
“Furthur”-more, in another “what-goes-around” fashion, some of the musical icons of that “West Coast Woodstock” are returning to Southern California in a rare opportunity for desert dwellers and visitors: The “Heroes of Woodstock” tour will be docking its big “Hippie School Bus” at Spotlight 29 Casino, this Saturday night, Oct. 10 at 8 pm. Yes, 41 years later you can experience (to a degree, heh-heh!) what we did, with survivors of Jefferson Airplane, Canned Heat, Country Joe, Grateful Dead, plus Ten Years After, Big Brother and the Holding Co., and the dynamic singer who wrote one of Woodstock’s anthems: “Candles in the Rain”- Melanie. Ticket info: www.spotlight29.com or (800) 585-3737, and for more info on how you can get downloads of the concert after attending, go to www.theheroesofwoodstock.com
-Sunny Sun-Downer can be reached at conchustimes@yahoo.com and his blog is www.conchustimes.blogspot.com