It would be presumptuous to attempt a detailed account
of the many events at Atlanta's first International Pop Festival in Hampton
last week-end. Despite conflicting estimates, the pop festival was a fabulous
success with crowds far in excess of the most optimistic of earlier estimates.
Reliable sources placed Friday's crowded some 50,000 and Saturday nightÕs
attendance at 100,000, a phenomenal turn-out.
The sun was broiling hot both days, though Saturday
was cooler, and both evenings the temperature dropped appreciably. Although,
over 1000 were treated for heat exhaustion, the fans were never too hot or
tired to move with the music, yell or clap, if they had room. Everyone was
packed like sardines into a small area at one end of the raceway, a scene
perhaps prophetic of the time in the future (the year 2525,maybe) where
everyone has one square foot of land. In retrospect, however, the festival
lucked out weather-wise, considering July is a month notorious for sudden,
sudden thundershowers. While a thundershower may have been welcomed for a few
cooling minutes, it would have made a mess of things.
The
raceway was cluttered with booths selling incense, pop festival shirts, and
other items. Even The Great Speckled Bird had their set-up, along with a number
of other underground papers and magazines that various persons were hawking
about the festival.
We should also thank the 150,000 persons from the
Atlanta area and from all over the country and Canada attending the festival
who really made it a booming success.
Later, jazz artists Dave Brubeck and Gerry Mulligan
entertained with a type of music many pop fans had probably not paid much
attention to Ian and Sylvia, a young folk duo performed several numbers, a
combination of country, folk, and rock.
About midnight, Johnny Rivers one of the major
attractions made his appearance after being flown in by helicopter and kept
waiting for eight hours. The original schedule was shot to pieces to begin with
A few seconds into his first number, the trouble started, a series of
capricious power failures which continued into the morning, and forced Rivers
to begin one of his songs three times before getting through it, Noticeably
peeved. Rivers cut his concert short after blowing an amp. Next was Johnny
Winter, seemingly not annoyed in the least by the power failure during his act
that again left the entire raceway in darkness and relative silence.
Winter, a cross-eyed Texas-born albino is a prime
example how record companies are all too eager to discover or ÒcreateÓ a white
blues star. Winter's present popularity is undoubtedly due to his awesome
appearance on stage. Regardless of one's opinion of his apocryphal blues he
presented a formidable image in a black outfit, contrasting dramatically with
his bleached-blond-colored hair and pale white skin. In fact, Johnny Winters
ghostly visage gave the appearance of one pop star who had been return to his
coffin before the sun rose, A zealous applause elicited a frenetic encore from
this controversial new performer.
Canned Heat, whose double LP was a best seller, came
on early Saturday morning with a disgusting brand of rock boogie, led by a
singer appropriately nicknamed ÒBearÓ, a couple hundred pounds of blubber that
bounced and cavorted an stage until it appeared he might collapse under his
weight. The Canned Heat should be canned.
Next, Spirit, a group with a sometimes hand rock and
sometimes supernatural sound provided a refreshing breath of diversity,
performing a wide variety of pop music from hard rock to stow rock, including-
"Mechanical World" in response to requests shouted from the audience,
Drummer for the Spirit is completely bald.
Blood, Sweat, and Tears, one of the two biggest
attractions Saturday night, obviously lived up to everyone's expectations,
performing over an hour many cuts from their best-selling LP's, as well as
their hit "Spinning Wheel" and "You Made Me So Very Happy."
With horns and other instruments not usually part of the run-of-the-mill rock
group, plasma, perspiration and visual precipitation produce a sound most rock
groups would be unable to imitate if they wanted to. They performed an encore
after a cheering applause and wild shouts, for more it was obvious they would
since when they left the stage, there was no scurrying to remove their
equipment as was the case right after most other groups had finished.
Finally, came what most people deemed the number one
attraction at the pop festival, Janis Joplin, a 26-year-old blues singer,
Newsweek acclaimed as the first female blues superstar. However, after seeing
Janis Joplin who has little control over the quality of her voice, mainly
because her voice has no quality, it becomes exceedingly difficult to
comprehend how on earth she ever got where she is today, more famous than Grace
Slick, Joan Baez, or Judy Collins,. Nevertheless, for all the screaming and
wailing dissonance, Joplin's style of vocal anarchy remains a pop phenomena.
In the same article referenced above, Newsweek leveled
a valid criticism at artists like Winter and Joplin. How can you have a blues
superstar? It is contradiction in terms. How can one truthfully sing the blues
and get paid $25,000 for it? Take heart Janis, we've had heart transplants,
certainly voice transplants are next.
After Joplin, half the crowd left, and Sweetwater and
Joe Cocker played to a rapidly dwindling audience.
Can you imagine a mammoth traffic jam on the highway
at 4 am. in the morning? 50,000 Pop fans can.
Now, how about everyone who went to the pop festival
writing in stating what they thought of the festival and who were the best
groups, etc. Send you letters or postcards to Lovely Living, c-o The Atlanta
Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia,30302.