DJTees Blog — Johnny's History Of Rock

As you’ll know if you’ve been reading a lot of my blogs, Detroit and Michigan in general was quite the state for rock n roll shows and festivals from 68 - 72. The Grande Ballroom scene had been a proving ground for so many bands and really was the counterculture hub for those years, though it closed in 1972. But where there's money there are always hustlers and there was a vibe in freaksville that Michigan had its fair share of dudes looking to exploit rock n roll for a big pay day. In truth, this could be said of...

In January 1972, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Underwood, a 33 year old colonel, going on 103, formerly of the Queen's own Cameron Highlanders and owner of a 47 and a half acre estate in the Kent village of Bishopsbourne announced it was to be the site for the Great Western Festival, to take place over the Whitsun Holiday weekend in May. The locals were severely dischuffed with this turn of events and set about being beastly to our Colonel in what sounds more like the opening of an Agatha Christie story. "A small minority have behaved with viciousness and in an...

The Aachen Open Air Pop Festival was a rock festival held at Hauptstadion in Aachen, Germany, on 10–12 July 1970. The Hauptstadion is located in the Sport Park Soers in Aachen. It was more usually used for equestrian and show jumping and had a capacity of 40,000. This was an early German rock festival and like many, it drew heavily on the emerging British progressive bands for its line-up of performers. The "Soersfestival", as it is commonly called, was the initiative of three local students: Golo Goldschmitt, Walter Reiff, and Karl-August Hohmann. The gig faced the usual problems trying to...

This was the second Saugatuck Pop Festival and was held on July 4-5, 1969 in the same spot as the first the previous year, next to Potawatomi Beach, but because the ‘69 Festival was projected to be two or three times larger, the adjacent property owned by Pauline Nichols, was secured with last years Manifold property to accommodate the larger festival. It was an all-star lineup of Michigan bands, most of whom had only been in existence for 18 - 24 months at most. Big Mama Thornton (didn’t show), Brownsville Station, Früt of the Loom, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters,...

There is a genuine mystery about this festival. It’s another for the ‘it never happened’ file and in that, no so unusual. As we know, The Man was always trying to fend off the freaks with legislation, sometimes successfully, mostly not. But the Mid Winter Pop Festival doesn’t fall into that category.  Blythe is a wee town on the border between California and Arizona, right out in the desert. Basically head east from Palm Desert on the 10 and you end up there. I love that road, it’s so elemental and wild out there. You feel so tiny and transient...

The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival was held at Varsity Stadium, at the University of Toronto, to an audience of over 20,000. The originally listed performers for the festival were local band Whiskey Howl, Bo Diddley, Chicago, Junior Walker and the All Stars, Tony Joe White, Alice Cooper, Chuck Berry, Cat Mother and the All Night News Boys, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, Little Richard, Doug Kershaw and The Doors. Kim Fowley was listed as the Master of Ceremonies. Screaming Lord Sutch was later added to the bill, as was the Toronto area band Flapping. What sort of a name...

What interests me about this show is that, by any usual definition, it wasn’t a ‘festival.’ Rather, it was a regular gig. Three bands played Tim Buckley headlined, supported by Iron Butterfly, Blood Sweat And Tears. It was held indoors at the 3,000 capacity Cleveland Public Hall on April 18, 1969. Tickets $5.50 in advance $6.50 on the door. Now, the fact that it was christened a ‘festival’ shows, I think, how the word was becoming even in 1969 as a kind of dog whistle for rock fans, freaks and hippies. This would normally have just been ‘a concert’ but...

Sky River was unusual, if not unique, in that it was held for three consecutive years from 1968-70. 1970’s was held between Fri Aug 28, 1970 and Tue Sep 08, 1970 at the Edwin Tate ranch, Clark County, Lehr Road, Washougal, Washington. Yes it was 10 days long!  All Sky River fests were very hippie affairs and sound brilliant. With over 10,000 there each day and 40 bands performing across the 10 days, there were also a lot of alternative lifestyle events. At one point 15 couples got married on the stage and then, on the last day of the...

The second Sky RiverFestival was held on from Sat Aug 30, 1969 - Mon Sep 01, 1969 at Rainier Hereford Ranch, Tenino, Washington. The promoters said Sky River II was meant to “combat racism, hatred, violence, and poverty” which sounds cool. Did the locals want such altruism on the doorstep? What do you think?   For most of the month preceding the festival, it looked as if the event would never take place. Under intense pressure from a local leader of the John Birch Society, police, conservatives, and the Catholic Archdiocese, virtually every county in the area passed laws prohibiting or severely...

The Day on the Green gigs were legendary. They took place in Oakland Coliseum across from San Francisco and were put on by Bill Graham of Fillmore fame. They ran from 1973 through to 1992, a year after Bill’s tragic early death in that 1991 helicopter crash, but their peak years were mid70s to early 80s when he would compile some truly amazing bills, often featuring local SF bands like Steve Miller, Sammy Hagar, Journey, 415 and many more.  Perhaps the peak years for people of our tastes were 1976-78. Look at these bills.  Day On The Green # 1...

It's 1968 and we're on Betty Nelson's organic raspberry farm just outside of Sultan, Washington, about an hour's drive from Seattle. The fact that it was an organic raspberry farm, should give you a clue that it was run by someone sympathetic to the burgeoning counterculture revolution. An organisation called The New American Community was a liberal sort of aggregation headed up by a local college professor, who I imagine, looked like a cross between Jerry Garcia and an owl. He was John Chambless, he got a lease off Betty and set about convincing Mr and Mrs Straight that Freaksville...