1969 New Orleans Pop Festival.

Way, way back, (before the term "in the day") there was a pop festival. It was held Forty years ago, hard for me to believe so much time has past since then. The celebration started Sunday, August 31st and ended Monday (Labor day) September 1st, 1969. It was a very hot summer weekend, but goers at the crowded event (25,000) did not seem to mind. Several friends talked about a party with many great bands was to be staged at the Louisiana International Speedway, north of Gonzalaz, La. I was hesitant at first, but they said we would have a "far out" time, be "out of state", have fun and spend some time together before I shipped out to Germany later that year, I agreed to come along. I was not then and later was never really a hippy, though I sported long hair for several years after I got out of the service, but in my soul I loved the music just as much as any flower child.

Hurricane Camille had hit Biloxi, Ms, the Gulf Coast and me August 17, 1969 (right in the middle of Woodstock). This was our first leave after starting the cleanup from the 190 mph storm. Storm surge waves of 25 feet had hit all along the Mississippi coast, sparing nothing. At that time it was the greatest storm on record, tearing down houses that had stood on or near the beach for 200 years. My boss said that I could take off for a couple of days and I did not ask twice. I had spent the past two weeks, night and day with a chain saw in my hand, clearing roads and houses of 100 year old trees, as big submarine and dearly needed some R & R

The festival was a blessing for many people still in shock over the loss (including me, but that was not much) of everything they had owned. It allowed an escape from the hellish landscape and horrible conditions of the Mississippi Coast. This was the first time I had seen houses or street lights lit. You could go to a service station, get gas (Wow) and a bag of ice, luxuries we had not seen in a while. Store and restaurants were open and were air conditioned. This celebration became as much about life as it was about music. It was a great time, know matter how you look at it.

The lineup for the New Orleans Pop Festival included The Byrds, Canned Heat, Chicago (Transit Authority), Grateful Dead, Iron Butterfly, It's a Beautiful Day, Janis Joplin, Santana (my favorite), T-Rex, Youngbloods "and many more stars". The two day event cost a whopping $16.00 at the gate. It also included free camping and a "giant fireworks show". I have a copy of the poster to the top right, but could not find it, Dena must have taken it to the "Antique Road Show".

Notice the flying "boats" on the advertisement above. They are derived (I found this out later) from the "Mystery Submarine" on display at the Louisiana State Museum at Jackson Square, downtown New Orleans. I found the photo of the sub on another blog site. Read about it if you are inclined.

http://peripateticengineer.blogspot.com/2009/02/louisianas-mystery-submarine.html

This music celebration followed on the heals of "Woodstock", too. It was in New York, several weeks earlier, spanning our hurricane. I had met some "hippies" about three weeks earlier, on their way to a "music festival in New York" (no big deal, I thought?). I met them while idling on the beach in Biloxi, MS, where I was stationed in the good ole' US Air Force. They were headed to some town very near the Catskill Mountains, below Albany, NY, on a farm owned by some guy named Yasgur. (Sing it to me, Jonie Mitchell) It was many months later, when the gravity of the Woodstock concert and those hippies going to the very same festival, hit me. (Dah!) What stories they must have had to tell.

Carlos Santana and his band had already found their there way into my musical catalog. He is one of the best, if not 'the' best guitarist in the world. (with the possible exception of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton.) There is to my knowledge no video or audio of the N. O. Pop Festival, but Woodstock, several weeks prior, was filmed including a very good ten minuet rendition of "Soul Sacrifice". (See the link below, but be advised, there is some nudity in the video. Shut off the video and listen to the audio.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnamP4-M9ko&NR=1

Pictured to the left at the New Orleans Pop Festival 1969 is Carlos Santana on guitar and Jose ("Chepito") Areas on congas. (Photo, showing some age, courtesy, : Me.) A lot of the photos did not turn out, but I saved this one. The music flowed and the people were happy.

Carlos said in a recent interview, that he had taken some mescaline thinking he had hours to come down, but since other bands could not get through the traffic jam, his band had to go on immediately.

He said that because of the drugs, his guitar had turned into a large snake with which he wrestled the entire performance. He prayed that he would never do mescaline again, if he could only stay in tune and beat.

Another band that really came across well was "It's A Beautiful Day" with their song "White Bird" (". . . in a golden cage"). Before this festival, I do not think that I had ever really noticed an lead electric violin in a rock band. It was not until 1972 that Marshall Tucker played his 'bad' fiddle. David LaFlamme (great name) on a 'killer' violin and his wife Linda LaFlamme's memorable voice and organ playing.

The album cover below is one of the prettiest

cover I ever seen.

A "pillow fight broke out when one or two of the celebrants, probably having a little too much sprits (or something like that) decided that a little snow would cool thing off. It got a little out of hand, as several other pillow toting goers added their feathers to the mix and we had an early Christmas.

On the way out, Monday afternoon I took a shot of some of my very tired friends that had stayed to the bitter end. Clowning for the camera, right, Rich Sonjia(?) (I can't remember that French-Cajun spelling) and is sister (yellow shorts) and several guys to the left. Some of the people we partied with were regulars, but some we barely knew their name. Not pictured is Gregg Lockhart, my roommate who I think left early to beat the crowd. As you can see we waited until the bulk of the crowd had left. We headed back to the horrible damage of Biloxi and started back to cutting and cleaning. Later that year I was shipped to Germany (tough break) =) and did not get back to Biloxi until the mid-Seventies. By then most of the coast was back on it's feet, but there were still remnants of the storm and scares that would never heal.