Naturalust--I posted this in response to the many 45th anniversary articles that say-- "The Stones and their management made their key mistake of a day filled with mistakes when they hired the San Francisco chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang to provide event security..."

Quote
Naturalust
Yes of course the Stones didn't directly hire the Angels, that is pretty much accepted by all the stories I have heard. But I'm pretty sure I read an interview where Sam Cutler did indeed put up the cash for the free beer for them. He was particularly miffed that he never got reimbursed for it and insinuated that that was the original deal.

So whomever originally asked Sam to put up the cash for the beer would likely be the party who could theoretically be the one who "hired" the Angels. The fact that they never reimbursed him is interesting but doesn't really make them any less responsible. And I've no doubt someone gave the Angels the instruction to keep the audience off the 3 foot high stage (ie: security duties), there was nobody else around to do it.

Sam had said several times the show was organized by Santana, Jefferson Airplane, The Dead and CSN&Y with the Stones just being asked to participate, and that these bands people had no idea how to organize a free show of that magnitude at the last minute. A recipe for disaster. Those bands were certainly not the type who would be likely to hire cops to do anything..

Ron, I'm sure your Altamont experience and perspective is somewhat unique and certainly interesting and I'm looking forward to hearing it! But I don't think you need to defend the Stones and their role in hiring the Angels, I think it's pretty clear they were not involved with that aspect of the show.

peace

Quote
bmuseed
Naturalust--I posted this in response to the many 45th anniversary articles that say-- "The Stones and their management made their key mistake of a day filled with mistakes when they hired the San Francisco chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang to provide event security..."

Yeah I understand the response now. Sterling Whitaker at Ultimate Classic Rock not really doing his homework, among others. Fortunately most of the fans on this board are a bit more informed. Let us know when your book comes out, I'm sure it will be of much interest to most folks here. Thanks.


peace

Quote
bmuseed
Naturalust--I posted this in response to the many 45th anniversary articles that say-- "The Stones and their management made their key mistake of a day filled with mistakes when they hired the San Francisco chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang to provide event security..."

Understanding the context of the post better now. And, yes, zoicks(!), the media stories for the 45th anniversary are horrific. Just more impetus to get the facts straight. One story published yesterday talk about the "homicide." Whatever one's opinions of what happened, the death was not considered a homicide. A BBC piece has Hells Angels arriving at Altamont with lead hammers attached to pool cues. The NPR story misspelled "Altamonte" and attributes Keith's saying "If you cats don't cool it---" to Mick in the transcript. This sloppy reporting, myth-making, and misinformation will only get worse over time if better "documents" aren't out there. I'm happy to be part of all efforts to get factual information out there. I wish it could all happen faster, but I'm doing the best I can.

- swiss



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-12-08 02:21 by swiss.

Quote
swiss
I'm happy to be part of all efforts to get factual information out there. I wish it could all happen faster, but I'm doing the best I can.

- swiss

Take your time swiss and do it right. We will all digest it like Thanksgiving dinner.

Besides in the long run, generally, people don't remember how long you took to do a job, just how well you did it. peace

Quote
Naturalust

Quote
swiss
I'm happy to be part of all efforts to get factual information out there. I wish it could all happen faster, but I'm doing the best I can.

- swiss

Take your time swiss and do it right. We will all digest it like Thanksgiving dinner.

Besides in the long run, generally, people don't remember how long you took to do a job, just how well you did it. peace

Thanks, Naturalust

Look me up when you're back in the Bay Area.

Yes Swiss, great job..and I couldn't agree with you more.

Quote
swiss
I'm happy to be part of all efforts to get factual information out there. I wish it could all happen faster, but I'm doing the best I can.

- swiss

Swiss - enjoy your detective work...keep it going.
I know the footage of CSNY u are talking about...it does seem fairly late in the day.
Wasnt the fact that Bill Wyman was running late also contribute to the Stones going on so late?

Re the "hiring" of the angels pretty sure Cutler did this with the help of The Dead.

December 18, 1969, Vol. XIV, No. 62

Viewing the Remains of a Mean Saturday
by Grover Lewis

SAN FRANCISCO -- On the morning of December 10, a scattering of friends and kin gathered in a foggy cemetery in the bedroom commuter community of Vallejo to bury Meredith Hunter, who had just turned 18. Hunter was the apparently drug-freaked young black man who'd been kicked and stabbed to death before thousands of impassive spectators during a brawl involving the Hell's Angels at the mammoth free Rolling Stones concert in the Livermore Valley five days earlier.

Hunter's murder took place, Lord save us, while the Stones were playing "Sympathy for the Devil."

At press time, no arrests had been made in connection with the slaying, although it was reliably reported that the Maysles Brothers, who were authorized to film the concert by the Stones management, had shot the grisly episode in its entirety.

Similarly, the Alameda County sheriff's department reported no leads in the search for the hit-and-run slayer of Mark Feiger and Richard Savolv, both 22 and both from New Jersey, via Berkeley. The two men were killed after the concert when an auto leaving Altamont Speedway plowed into their group, huddled around a campfire. Several other young people were critically injured in the accident.

Two days after the concert, Sonny Barger, president of the Oakland chapter of the Angels, called disc jockey Stefan Ponek at KSAN-FM, defending the Angels' strong-arm tactics at Altamont. Barger's statement was broadcast live:

"The Stones hired us to act as security for $500 worth of beer. That Mick Jagger, he used us for dupes. We were the biggest suckers of anybody. I'm not no peace creep by any sense of the word. I'm a violent cat when I gotta be, but I don't really wanna be. I'm bum-kicked by the whole trip. I don't like what happened...Some of those dudes out there, they started kicking and trying to destroy our bikes, and that made it personal. They got thumped. They got got. There ain't nobody going to kick my bike. It's my life and all I got. You love that thing better than anything in this world..."

Despite Barger's flat claim that his group had been hired by the Stones personally, the report persisted that Rock Scully, ex-manager of the Grateful Dead and himself reputedly a former outlaw biker, had made the deal with the Angels. Another report named Emmett Grogan, founder of the now defunct Diggers and an advance man for the concert, as the principal negotiator of the arrangement...

Following through on a tip from Jon Sagen, a member of the rock group West, I contacted Lauren Gonsalves, who works in the advertising department at Rolling Stone magazine. She said she'd worked for the Stones in early efforts to set up the concert, but had withdrawn when the project deteriorated in organization. She referred me to John Burks, Rolling Stone's managing editor. In a windy, rambling monologue, Burks conceded that, yes, he knew who had hired the Angels, but he hadn't yet decided what stance to take about releasing the information.

At the suggestion of Steve Pillster, who lives deep in the heart of the labyrinthine rock circus in Berkeley, I called the Grateful Dead's headquarters in Marin County. The call was accepted by a girl named Susan, who went on to identify herself as a member of the "family" called Alembic, which manufactures rock sound equipment. She said that Alembic and the Dead, who share the same quarters, had held a joint meeting early in the week and unanimously agreed not to discuss the question of who had hired the Angels. At the mention of the Stones, Susan painted it emphatically black: "The Stones screwed us all over royally. The Dead paid us all of their own expenses to fly to Altamont and back by helicopter, and then they weren't allowed to play. They put out money that hasn't been reimbursed, and now they're flat broke. The Stones are just not nice people, you know? I guess you should expect shit like that from the Angels -- they're totally devoted to violence...One of them, Terry the Tramp, was nice to those of us who were working on sound, but the majority of those dudes were just crumby animals. They felt righteous about what they were doing, I guess -- sanctioned, sort of. The whole bunch of them stayed around the bandstand until 4 a.m., getting drunker and drunker and punching out anyone who got in their reach. They burned all the packing crates for our spotlights, and at one time they threatened to set fire to the stage, but I guess they got loaded and forgot about it. A great, great many people got hurt out there. Even thought I had a pass, I was bodily thrown off the stage by the Angels twice in a row. I guess they were just feeling mean, and I was handy."

Could she give me any specific details about the meeting between Alembic and the Dead?

"Well," she faltered, "I guess you could say that Emmett Grogan defended the hiring of the Angels...and I guess Rock Scully did, too"...

As the week wore on, the casualty list mounted in the aftermath of the mass gathering at Altamont. Belatedly, it was revealed that Mick Jagger himself had been assaulted by a shaggy blond kid when the Stones arrived by helicopter at the race track. "I hate you, I hate you," the unidentified boy reportedly screamed, lunging at Jagger and clouting him on the head. Flamboyant attorney Melvin Belli, as it developed, had also been roughed up by an Angel near the bandstand, and Denise Jewkes, a singer with the all-girl rock group, the Ace of Cups, had suffered a fractured skull after being hit by a thrown beer bottle near the performance area. Denise was four months pregnant, but her doctors were hopeful that she wouldn't lose her baby...

On Friday, blindly following an impulse, I drove back to Altamont to view what can only be called the remains. At the 80-acre site, a few volunteer scavengers, stick figures in the hazy distance, were still picking up the tons of garbage littering the bald brown hills. Vast expanses of the scrubby slopes were scorched black where bonfires had been lit. Neighboring fences sagged and gaped under a dismal, overcast sky.

Surveying the empty amphitheater from a trash-strewn hilltop, I tried to comprehend exactly what had happened on that now bloodied ground below me a week before. The event sired by the Stones had been vaster than the mind could readily grasp, garishly colorful, mostly peaceable, frequently frightening, and perhaps well-intended. The end result was a mountain of litter, scores of injuries, a sea of stolen cars abandoned on the access roads to the track, thousands of bad drug trips, extensive damage to surrounding property, and four violent and senseless deaths.

Driving back to the city in a hammering rain, I couldn't help recalling what somebody had remarked to Ralph Gleason early in the week: "There was no love, no joy at Altamont. It wasn't just the Angels. It was everybody. In 24 hours, we created all the problems of our society in one confined area -- congestion, violence, dehumanization."

Quote
bmuseed
Hi John Lomax-My book includes the 1965 US tour, 1966 US tour, 1969 US tour, Altamont, 1970 Euro tour and Gimme Shelter, as well as my time with the Beatles, Sam Cooke, and many others. Besides the personalities, it deals specifically with the business of the '69 tour, 1970 Euro Tour and the producing of Gimme Shelter!

Quote
john lomax
Hey Ron - really looking forward to your book about the 1969 tour. Stanley Booh's book has long been one of my favourites, but I really loved the different perspective in Sam Cutler's book - so I think yours will be fantastic. Will you be including anything about the business/logistical side of arranging the tour - I find the whole economics of rock tours really interesting and particularly so in the late 60s when the concept of an arena tour was in is infancy.

Same here Ron in looking forward to your book! Just out of curiosity, do you know who arranged and approved the London chapter of the Hell's Angels to act as security at the Hyde Park concert? Seems funny that a few months later, the same suggestion and approval is made once again for Altamont!

Quote
2000 LYFH
Hunter's murder took place, Lord save us, while the Stones were playing "Sympathy for the Devil."

No. It was Under My Thumb.

Susan painted it emphatically black: "The Stones screwed us all over royally. The Dead paid us all of their own expenses to fly to Altamont and back by helicopter, and then they weren't allowed to play. They put out money that hasn't been reimbursed, and now they're flat broke. The Stones are just not nice people, you know?

Wow this is a strange perspective. Swiss I wonder it there is any truth to this lady's comments. I mean how did the Stones screw the Dead over? And the "weren't allowed to play" bit sounds like it wasn't the Dead's idea not to play. Obviously everyone had their own ideas about what happened that day but this seems like an angle I haven't heard before from a participant who was close to the action. Sounds like something you might be able to clear up for us. Thanks!

peace

Quote
Naturalust
painted it emphatically black: "The Stones screwed us all over royally. The Dead paid us all of their own expenses to fly to Altamont and back by helicopter, and then they weren't allowed to play. They put out money that hasn't been reimbursed, and now they're flat broke. The Stones are just not nice people, you know?

Wow this is a strange perspective. Swiss I wonder it there is any truth to this lady's comments. I mean how did the Stones screw the Dead over? And the "weren't allowed to play" bit sounds like it wasn't the Dead's idea not to play. Obviously everyone had their own ideas about what happened that day but this seems like an angle I haven't heard before from a participant who was close to the action. Sounds like something you might be able to clear up for us. Thanks!

peace

Naturalust, I see it as one person's informal un-vetted account, a few days after chaos struck, probably based on rumors, gossip, and hearsay that was flying around. I've looked into who this "Susan" was (NOTE: not me! I was barely out of rompers when Altamont happened, and on the East Coast), and am pretty sure I know who--may eventually try to verify that and talk to her. But, really, as the article says, she was the person who picked up the phone when Steve Pillster (who is still around) recommended Lewis call.

As you know, more people stay in the Bay Area than leave, and tons of the original extended cast of characters of the Altamont story are still kicking around here.

The perspectives on Altamont are myriad, usually don't jive, and often are straight-up in conflict with one another--going beyond simple differences of opinion or perception. Do you remember those images that were in fashion in the early '90s -- it looked like a bunch of colors til you stared at it long enough, and then a scene would take shape? And if you stared at it long enough another image would "pop out" at you? Altamont is a little like that. All these stories, adding color, but the whole picture--the "What Is this thing?" is illusive. I spent many years trying to discern the one clear true picture, but there isn't one. There are many. And there are MANY---and growing---untruths, myths, misperceptions, etc. Like the statement in the article about SFTD playing. That "fact" was trotted out immediately after Altamont, and persisted for at least 20 years (and sometimes still is repeated).

But, beyond that, I have always found the articles by Grover Lewis (of The Village Voice, written contemporaneously, right after Altamont) sort of puzzling. I don't know what to make of them. Lewis died in 1995, so I can't ask him to revisit it, but I sense there is more to the story and his telling than what we see here. I don't mean anything nefarious, but it just seems sloppy. Maybe "new journalism" of the time -- not being tied to any of the old-fashioned strictures of stogy Establishment journalism? And perhaps not envisioned as future "history," to be read 45 years later. But more an on-the-fly reportback from someone on the ground?

Pprhaps there was competition between Rolling Stone and The Village Voice to have the definitive or the hippest or edgiest word on anything/everything countercultural at that time, and to declare: "This, man, is what's happening!"

I don't know. I take this article as an interesting contemporaneous piece, but with a lot of grains of salt. Just because someone "was there," doesn't mean they were "right." I haven't deconstructed it (or the 1969-70 Rolling Stone pieces) sentence by sentence, and will have to do so, eventually, but for now, put it in the same category as the voluminous Rolling Stone magazine compendium of accounts, written directly after Altamont, by, like 8-9 various authors from Lester Bangs to Greil Marcus to many many more. Great flavor and color. Some good clues to follow. And a lot of chaff.

That's my take, at least.

[fwiw...kinda neat...here is that Village Voice piece in its original context].

Here, also for whatever it's worth, is the other --front page-- piece from the same issue of The Village Voice, by Grover Lewis

- swiss

Jeebus, this whole altamont hype thing is way outta hand.

A really quite minor event in stones and rock history blown way out of proportion.

Thanks swiss for the thoughtful reply. But I'm still curious how someone who was just at a meeting with the GD organization would say "The Stones screwed us over royally". It seems her opinion was likely held by more than herself.

I'm guessing that as the weirdness of the night progressed that the Stones suggested or told the Dead that they wouldn't go on if it meant waiting another coupla hours before they could get the hell outta there, and the Dead used that opportunity to split the scene themselves.

It would be an interesting story to add to the many of that night if true.

I wonder if Ron can give us any insight on this? bmuseed are you still listening? Much Thanks.

peace

Quote
Koen

Quote
2000 LYFH
Hunter's murder took place, Lord save us, while the Stones were playing "Sympathy for the Devil."

No. It was Under My Thumb.

Actually the murder toook place after the Under My Thumb False start,before The actual Under My Thumb. Maysles moved the murder to make it appear after the second take of Under My Thumb.

I figured this out by listening to the audience tape recorded near the murder,(same screams) comparing that to the audio in the movie, and you can see during the final bars of Under My Thumb you hear the Stones playing, but they are visually not playing. The murder footage was shown with an overdub of the movie Under My Thumb. The false start Under My Thumb is on the bootleg audience recording but not in the movie.

Important? probably not, but interesting.

And while we are on the subject and using facts, perhaps Mr. Schneider can explain why Maysles used an alternate Lawyer voice on the phone talking to Mel Belli in the orignal 1970 film, but in the 1986 ABKCO released changed the Lawyers voice with additional and alternate script.

It's the part where Mel says "This is Mel Belli, the lawyer from SanFrancisco", the voice on the phone says "uh oh, and adds later this whole thing is one big pain in the ass".Mel responds with the proctologist line. Two different voices were used. I'm guessing the actual Lawyer, used in 86, didn't give permission in 70 to use his voice and Maysles added the fake, lawyer voice on the phone.

By the way I asked Albert about this in 2008 at The Shidoobee MSG film screening and he had no idea what I was talking about and denied two different Lawyers and scripts were used in the film. But the films don't lie.

Anyone else ever notice this? or care?

Again maybe not important but very interesting and factual.

God Bless old Al, He'll tell you to this day the Hells Angel leader was not at Altamont.
I recall him saying "The guy who was the glue who held them together" or some such. Pretty puzzling and in error. Barger, called the HA maximum leader by Tom Wolf in ACID TEST was most certainly present and they had no other. I can only surmise Al maybe thinking of Frank Sadilek. Called "The George Washington of The Angels" in Hunter Thomsons book, Sadilek abdicated the club for a new life in Hawaii back in 64 or so.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-12-09 05:34 by slakka.

Quote
Naturalust

Quote
rob51
Yeah that little bit of news has always pissed me off too. After all weren't the Dead the connection to the bikers in the first place? Chickenshit of them to bugger off.

It's easy to be judgmental about such things, who knows what their true motivations for not playing were. I can certainly see the logic of not performing if their personal safety was at issue.

Harder for the Stones as the headliner and yes lots of respect to them for pulling it off it such adverse conditions. But if the Dead played, that madness would have gone on even longer and possibly even more violence would have occurred, possibly even against the Stones, who knows. I'd say the general feel of "get this show over with" was prevalent in more that just the Dead.

peace

Agreed.
Think that was the real reason The Dead didnt play...get The Stones on and finish this mess.
I dont buy "The Dead were too scared to play" theory...

RE: "Let IT Bleed Rolling Stone Altamont issue--The music magazine Rolling Stone stated, "Altamont was the product of diabolical egotism, hype, ineptitude, money manipulation, and, at base, a fundamental lack of concern for humanity," in a 14-page, 11-author article on the event entitled "The Rolling Stones Disaster at Altamont: Let It Bleed" published in their January 21, 1970 issue. The story had quite a few quotes from me-the only problem being - I Never talked to Rolling Stone and the quotes are not mine-(nothing seems to have changed at Rolling Stone ie: UVA article)--To be more accurate I would replace the 'Altamont was the product...'from above to 'Rolling Stone is the product .."

re:I'm guessing that as the weirdness of the night progressed that the Stones suggested or told the Dead that they wouldn't go on if it meant waiting another coupla hours before they could get the hell outta there, and the Dead used that opportunity to split the scene themselves.

Dead weren't even there when we arrived. They had already cut and run. Which makes me even prouder of the Stones and their brave attempt to calm the situation. Keith specifically calling the Hells Angels out ..If you were around the stage you felt the evil in the air, yet they went on.

Re: different voices- I have no idea.

Memories!! Don't trust them! I have contacted a couple of people that have made statements and written books that were provably inaccurate to give them the info to 'refresh their memories' with the facts. Their reply to me--'write your own book' and 'that's how I remember it..' So stay tuned..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-12-09 20:29 by bmuseed.

Quote
bmuseed
I have contacted a couple of people that have made statements and written books that were provably inaccurate to give them the info to 'refresh their memories' with the facts. Their reply to me--'write your own book' and 'that's how I remember it..' So stay tuned..

lmao, Who needs the truth when there is a good story to be told? Don't be surprised when your 4x6 black and white stories get turned into 8x10 color glossy by your publisher and editor.

Thanks for the replies.

peace

Quote
fuzzbox
Jeebus, this whole altamont hype thing is way outta hand.

A really quite minor event in stones and rock history blown way out of proportion.

+ 1

Mr Schneider
You were in the room, referred to, and filmed during that lawyer conversation with the different voices.

I thought for sure you would be able to answer that

Maybe if you watch that section again it will be more clear

Ron

Will you have any stories in your book regarding recording sessions during the 1969-1970 period? If not, could you possibly give us an idea of what it was like to be in the studio watching the Stones make such magic during those times.

Thanks for all you share and I cannot wait to buy the book.

Cheers!

people are now just starting to realize after all these years just how much "rolling stone" magazine sucks. as he mentioned above the UVA article is now putting the spotlight on what has been years of bad reporting,lies and hypocritical bullshit.

just below them on the vermin scale is the grateful dead.sending out their surrogates and lackeys to blame the stones and downplay their involvment to the point of naseau just to preserve their little peacenik image in the public eye.
dont be fooled,this was a total p.r. move by the dead.if the" band of the poeple" - peace and love greatful dead suddenly had the image out there of them hiring a bunch of hells angels who eneded up killing a guy they were finished.

and the san francisco based "rolling stone" magazine were a big part of putting that narrative out there-put all the blame on the stones at all cost.

it just goes to show what a phony jan wenner is that he later sucked up to the stones for years to sell magazines.but then what do you expect, he also moved the magazine from san fran to a new york high rise the first chance he got and then left his wife for another dude.
this is a guy so twisted with sheer phoniness and hypocricy that he ripped the stones for being "corporate sell outs" by using a sponsor for the 81 tour-in a magazine in which every other page was a corporate advertisement.

as for the grateful dead saying the stones didnt pay them and didnt "allow" them to play-we have them ON FILM putting their tale between their legs and running away.

Quote
lem motlow
people are now just starting to realize after all these years just how much "rolling stone" magazine sucks. as he mentioned above the UVA article is now putting the spotlight on what has been years of bad reporting,lies and hypocritical bullshit.

just below them on the vermin scale is the grateful dead.sending out their surrogates and lackeys to blame the stones and downplay their involvment to the point of naseau just to preserve their little peacenik image in the public eye.
dont be fooled,this was a total p.r. move by the dead.if the" band of the poeple" - peace and love greatful dead suddenly had the image out there of them hiring a bunch of hells angels who eneded up killing a guy they were finished.

and the san francisco based "rolling stone" magazine were a big part of putting that narrative out there-put all the blame on the stones at all cost.

it just goes to show what a phony jan wenner is that he later sucked up to the stones for years to sell magazines.but then what do you expect, he also moved the magazine from san fran to a new york high rise the first chance he got and then left his wife for another dude.
this is a guy so twisted with sheer phoniness and hypocricy that he ripped the stones for being "corporate sell outs" by using a sponsor for the 81 tour-in a magazine in which every other page was a corporate advertisement.

as for the grateful dead saying the stones didnt pay them and didnt "allow" them to play-we have them ON FILM putting their tale between their legs and running away.

Thank you.

deardoctortake1-- as to voices with Belli in the 1970 version. The first guy at 17:00 is Richard St. John head of Filmways not the sheriff. Later Belli talks to the sheriff (I come in at around 43:07 with the number of cars count..in reply to the sheriffs speaker phone query).
Does this help?

This article seems to tie a lot of the players together and answer some of the tough questions, apparently created from direct interviews:

[davrosky.blogspot.com]

Specifically that Sam Cutler has most of the official contact with the Angels and initially hired them to keep the power on, but later to guard the stage as well.

Also that it was Rock Scully who told the Dead to not play. There is a strange quote from Jerry about his watching the Stones play Sympathy and his believing the music itself was somehow responsible for the wierdness. Was he still there or was his comment based on watching the film?

The following are quotes from the article:

"A simple deal was made. The Angels would hang around the generators, like they had at the Dead’s Golden Gate Park concerts, in exchange for $500 worth of beer.

“They’d just hang out and no-one would @#$%& with them, so the power supply was secure,” Cutler says. “The bands – all of the bands – were supposed to pay that money. The person who paid it was me, and I never got it back, to this @#$%& day.”"


"At some point during the day, Cutler seems to have asked the Angels to become stage security. As tour manager, he had sized up the way the festival was likely to go, particularly in light of the inadequacy of the tiny stage as a barrier to the crowd and to the prospects, and made a decision to use them. It’s an uncomfortable point for Cutler. In his book, written expressly to “set the record straight” on Altamont, the direction he gave the Angels is nowhere to be found.

Did he tell them to guard the stage?

Cutler pauses before answering. “I was talking with them, because I was interested in the security of my band - everyone’s security, for that matter,” he says slowly."

So in a sense if Sam was employed by The Stones at that time, then yes the Stones people may have been partially responsible for the hiring and duties granted to the Hell's Angels.

Also from the article:

"It was Scully who persuaded the Grateful Dead, scheduled to play before the Stones, not to perform - not that they needed much convincing. Gimme Shelter captures the moment when the Dead’s Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh, having just arrived at Altamont by helicopter, learn how badly wrong the festival has turned out from Santana’s drummer. “Hell’s Angels are beating on musicians?” Lesh asks, incredulous, after being told about the Jefferson Airplane incident. “That doesn’t seem right, man.”

“I encouraged everybody to just give up and get the Stones on stage as quickly as possible,” Scully says. “It was getting worse, it was a terrible thing. It was gonna get dark, and we had no lighting, and people were going to be stumbling around in the dark. We really couldn’t go on.”"


peace

Quote
71Tele

Quote
fuzzbox
Jeebus, this whole altamont hype thing is way outta hand.

A really quite minor event in stones and rock history blown way out of proportion.

+ 1

several hundred thousand people at a free concert headlined by the greatest rock and roll band at their apogee and its a minor event? there was even a movie. what other concert did they ever play after that captured the zeitgeist of the era? brussels, knobworth? newark 2012 pay per view? what event in rock history was bigger maybe watkins glen, cal jam, woodstock 99 but who knows those? was it syd viscious od'ing ozzy biting the head of a bat, kurt cocaine blowing his brains out?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-12-09 22:35 by footlooseman.

"captured the zeitgeist of the ERA?" Don't think so.

Where were you in 1969, Footloose?

Quote
footlooseman

Quote
71Tele

Quote
fuzzbox
Jeebus, this whole altamont hype thing is way outta hand.

A really quite minor event in stones and rock history blown way out of proportion.

+ 1

several hundred thousand people at a free concert headlined by the greatest rock and roll band at their apogee and its a minor event? there was even a movie. what other concert did they ever play after that captured the zeitgeist of the era? brussels, knobworth? newark 2012 pay per view? what event in rock history was bigger maybe watkins glen, cal jam, woodstock 99 but who knows those? was it syd viscious od'ing ozzy biting the head of a bat, kurt cocaine blowing his brains out?

Maybe not minor, but analyzed to death. Quick version:
Hastily-organized rock festival yields every problem that you can imagine a hastily-organized rock festival would yield. Add violent Hells Angels to the mix. Add Grateful Dead hippie ethos being exposed as a fraud when they recommend using Hells Angels, then cut-and-run when trouble breaks out. Throw in a pinch of naivety on the part of the Stones.

Why do we have to keep reliving this? It's not the freaking Kennedy assassination, yet some people continue to treat it as such.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-12-10 01:25 by 71Tele.