It was 40 years ago today...

...the Monterey Pop Festival got underway.  Can you believe the "Summer of Love" was 40 fucking years ago already?  Don't mean to make youse guys feel old or anything, but Sgt. Pepper is now 40 years old.  So is Are You Experienced? and "I Can See For Miles" and "Happy Together" and "Incense And Peppermints" and The Doors' first album—these and many many more!

Meanwhile, back at Monterey, the first of the big-time festival concerts was a smashing success, organized by the late John Phillips of the Mamas & The Papas, and featuring his group, as well as Janis Joplin, the Jefferson Hairpie—er uh—Airplane, Booker T. & The M.G.'s, not to mention the legendary breakout performances by the late Otis Redding (just six months before his untimely death), The Who and the Jimi Hendrix Experience (featuring "Bob Dylan's grandmother", aka bassist Noel Redding).  This turned out to be probably the most well-organized and well-run of all the big '60s mega-fests.

I love the stories I've read about the dispute between Pete Townshend of The Who and Jimi Hendrix about who would play first on the bill.  Neither act wanted to follow the other one, given their (literally) explosive nature on-stage, so it came down to a coin flip (which Jimi lost), but it didn't fucking matter—both bands emerged as stars after this gig, even though de 'orrible 'Oo blew the place up first, then Jimi set his guitar on fire at the end of "Wild Thing".  Roger Daltrey of The Who also related a great story about an impromptu jam session that took place under the stage that included himself and Pete, as well as Hendrix, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones (one of the emcees of the show), Mama Cass and several others that Roger totally regrets wasn't caught on tape.  He claims it was better than the concert itself, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's right.

While I'm on the subject of concert anniversaries, it was 28 years ago tomorrow that I attended my first legitimate Rock concert—Summer Rock '79 at Arrowhead Stadium (are you with me, Brother Raley?)—featuring Ted Nugent, Heart, The Cars, Sammy Hagar and Missouri.  I was only 15 at the time, so my old man had to drop me and my friend Tom off and pick us up after the show.  I still have pretty healthy memories about the show:

—I distinctly remember Sammy Hagar coming back for his encore and screaming into the microphone, "Turn this fucking mic back on!"  Uh, Sam, I think it's on...

—The Cars weren't terribly well-received because this was their first K.C. appearance, and they all kinda stood still on stage while they played.  I do recall to this day how Greg Hawkes' synthesizer echoed around the stadium on "You're All I've Got Tonight", but the band didn't come off well at all that day.  The Cars were actually a damn good live band in the right venue—i.e. smaller clubs and theaters—as evidenced by the recent DVD release of various live performances from their career.  I always thought they should've toured with The Police.  Get it?  The Police Cars Tour?  Har-dee-har-har...

—Heart was quite good during their set, although I don't remember much about it.  They were on their Dog & Butterfly tour, or "Dog & Butt", as the receipt read when I later bought the album...

—Ted Nugent was the headliner, and he was quite adequate, but slightly subdued because of an ankle injury he'd sustained earlier that week.  The highlight of the show was the impromptu trash-throwing session during Nugent's set, wherein the majority of the crowd just started throwing anything they could get their hands on all around the stadium.  Tom and I survived the melee unscathed and unharmed...