Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated:
1
00:00:35,161 --> 00:00:36,371
Jimi Hendrix!
2
00:00:43,628 --> 00:00:46,464
Jimi Hendrix made every night
a magical moment.
3
00:00:46,673 --> 00:00:48,716
And the "Atlanta Pop Festival"
had the greatest acts.
4
00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:50,426
I mean, more than "Woodstock."
5
00:00:50,635 --> 00:00:52,887
it was amazing, bigger than "Woodstock."
6
00:00:52,971 --> 00:00:55,265
Three days
of some of the most incredible music
7
00:00:55,348 --> 00:00:59,644
from the Allman Brothers, B.B. King,
Bob Seger, Grand Funk Railroad.
8
00:00:59,769 --> 00:01:01,563
You never knew
what was going to happen next.
9
00:01:01,646 --> 00:01:04,274
This rock festival phenomenon
was something really special.
10
00:01:04,357 --> 00:01:05,858
I had to have Jimi Hendrix.
11
00:01:05,942 --> 00:01:08,695
Somebody should shoot this thing,
it's gonna be big.
12
00:01:08,778 --> 00:01:10,822
Four hundred thousand people,
you can't control it.
13
00:01:10,905 --> 00:01:14,826
It was July the 4th and they were gonna hear
The Star-Spangled Banner, by God.
14
00:01:19,706 --> 00:01:21,791
The way he performed,
the way he wrote songs,
15
00:01:21,874 --> 00:01:23,668
the way he played his guitar...
16
00:01:26,170 --> 00:01:28,298
Some people are bigger
than the instrument they're playing.
17
00:01:28,381 --> 00:01:30,508
Hendrix, he certainly falls in that category.
18
00:01:30,592 --> 00:01:32,385
There weren't any boundaries
with the way he played,
19
00:01:32,677 --> 00:01:34,929
and in the way
that his playing made me feel.
20
00:01:36,639 --> 00:01:38,683
He was always pushing the envelope.
21
00:01:39,684 --> 00:01:42,687
He was the real deal, and he had star power.
22
00:01:45,815 --> 00:01:50,278
The 1970 "Atlanta Pop Festival"
was the last of the great pop festivals.
23
00:01:50,361 --> 00:01:54,073
A little pecan grove in Atlanta
was one of the places
24
00:01:54,198 --> 00:01:56,826
where he could have his concert.
25
00:01:59,454 --> 00:02:02,749
All I heard about
was people taking their clothes off
26
00:02:02,832 --> 00:02:05,918
and jumping into each county creek.
27
00:02:06,002 --> 00:02:08,296
We were all making it up as we went along.
28
00:02:08,379 --> 00:02:12,592
And the film sat undeveloped in my barn
for 30 years.
29
00:02:17,221 --> 00:02:18,765
Jimi represented a new freedom.
30
00:02:18,931 --> 00:02:21,851
The fact
that Jimi was not afraid to be different,
31
00:02:21,934 --> 00:02:25,355
put him out front,
separate from his contemporaries.
32
00:02:25,438 --> 00:02:26,522
He was one of a kind.
33
00:02:26,606 --> 00:02:28,858
It was a most unique presentation
34
00:02:28,941 --> 00:02:32,362
of anybody in contemporary music,
black or white, at the time.
35
00:02:54,676 --> 00:02:55,968
There was an air of mystery about him.
36
00:02:56,052 --> 00:02:59,013
We didn't know where he came from,
because no one else looked like that.
37
00:02:59,097 --> 00:03:02,725
Part of Jimi's appeal was the fact that
the way that he dressed,
38
00:03:02,767 --> 00:03:05,895
and he did not do a lot of interviews.
39
00:03:05,978 --> 00:03:10,316
He did a few, but not in depth,
and that was a mystery about him,
40
00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:11,984
because the way he carried himself,
41
00:03:12,068 --> 00:03:15,655
the way he smoked his cigarettes,
the way he played his guitar,
42
00:03:15,738 --> 00:03:17,740
and his movements on stage, which...
43
00:03:17,824 --> 00:03:21,494
He had the whole ball of wax
44
00:03:21,577 --> 00:03:25,373
when it came to a unique guitar player.
45
00:03:25,665 --> 00:03:27,792
If you think about the way he dressed,
it was unique,
46
00:03:27,875 --> 00:03:30,920
totally different than his contemporaries.
47
00:03:31,003 --> 00:03:32,338
People in blues and R&B,
48
00:03:32,422 --> 00:03:35,800
like Muddy Waters, James Brown,
Wilson Pickett, etc.,
49
00:03:35,883 --> 00:03:39,095
they all had these very shiny, sharp suits.
50
00:03:39,178 --> 00:03:44,684
Jimi's look was totally his own,
nobody had anything going like that at all.
51
00:03:44,767 --> 00:03:47,603
He was more than familiar with
what we call the norm,
52
00:03:47,729 --> 00:03:51,566
having played with Little Richard,
sat in with Wilson Pickett,
53
00:03:51,649 --> 00:03:55,737
lsley Brothers and so on,
he knew what the convention was.
54
00:03:55,820 --> 00:03:58,114
To me, he almost seemed like a movie star.
55
00:03:58,197 --> 00:04:01,534
He was very charming.
He was very handsome, very good looking.
56
00:04:01,617 --> 00:04:07,331
He had a confidence about him, a certain air.
And you could tell he'd been through it.
57
00:04:07,373 --> 00:04:09,876
He was finally coming in the front door.
58
00:04:09,959 --> 00:04:14,338
I think his stint in England
gave him the confidence.
59
00:04:14,464 --> 00:04:18,760
We were all worshipping him.
How could he not have confidence?
60
00:04:18,843 --> 00:04:22,764
The first awareness
that I had of how big Jimi was becoming,
61
00:04:22,847 --> 00:04:25,308
was the fact that the audiences got larger.
62
00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:28,144
And by the end of that '68 tour,
63
00:04:28,227 --> 00:04:29,771
the places were packed
and it was standing room.
64
00:04:29,854 --> 00:04:33,858
The initial thing in America
of the two shows a night,
65
00:04:34,901 --> 00:04:40,782
49 cities in 52 days,
was just complete burnout territory.
66
00:04:41,157 --> 00:04:46,454
We went from doing the "Fillmore",
or the small clubs, small theaters,
67
00:04:46,537 --> 00:04:49,248
to getting on the kind of stadium thing,
68
00:04:49,373 --> 00:04:54,754
and then the festivals really kind of started,
69
00:04:54,837 --> 00:04:57,840
with loads and loads of acts on it.
70
00:04:57,924 --> 00:05:03,721
It was really only myself, the two roadies,
Jerry Stickies and a truck driver,
71
00:05:03,805 --> 00:05:07,975
and one 19-foot rental van
that carried everything.
72
00:05:08,100 --> 00:05:09,143
Everything we did with Hendrix,
73
00:05:09,227 --> 00:05:12,939
the musical instruments, the sound system,
the guitars,
74
00:05:13,022 --> 00:05:17,652
the merchandising, all fit in a 19-foot truck,
which leads me to my corollary
75
00:05:17,735 --> 00:05:21,197
that the amount of talent you have
is inversely proportional
76
00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:23,991
to the number of trucks it takes
to put your show on the road.
77
00:05:24,075 --> 00:05:26,577
We looked for the biggest buildings
in the biggest cities,
78
00:05:26,661 --> 00:05:30,331
because the demand for Jimi Hendrix,
I guess, was that big.
79
00:05:30,414 --> 00:05:31,707
We needed the biggest facilities.
80
00:05:31,791 --> 00:05:34,293
Yeah, Jimi was the big star.
He was the big kahuna.
81
00:05:34,418 --> 00:05:37,421
He could command a $100,000,
82
00:05:37,713 --> 00:05:40,132
which was a hell of a lot of money
in those days.
83
00:05:40,216 --> 00:05:45,054
Jimi felt each of his concerts was a milieu
as well as a spiritual experience,
84
00:05:45,179 --> 00:05:48,224
and I think he wanted people to feel
that they were either in his living room,
85
00:05:48,307 --> 00:05:50,726
or, later on, as he said, "in a church,"
86
00:05:50,810 --> 00:05:54,146
and that we were experiencing
this event together.
87
00:05:54,230 --> 00:05:56,190
And when he was really on to that,
88
00:05:56,274 --> 00:06:01,654
there was an exciting exchange
between the audience and the trio on stage.
89
00:06:43,696 --> 00:06:46,908
That's what the exciting part
about a Hendrix concert was,
90
00:06:46,991 --> 00:06:50,494
that it was a really give-and-take
between him and the audience,
91
00:06:50,578 --> 00:06:52,705
and I think the audience really felt that.
92
00:06:52,788 --> 00:06:56,584
But I also think that's probably why
the mystique of Hendrix is still here today,
93
00:06:56,667 --> 00:06:59,170
was that those people who
were fortunate enough to have seen him,
94
00:06:59,253 --> 00:07:01,005
still remember the fact that
95
00:07:01,088 --> 00:07:04,759
they were part of a concert,
as well as being in the audience.
96
00:07:04,842 --> 00:07:07,178
That exchange
97
00:07:07,219 --> 00:07:09,972
is as potent as it gets.
98
00:07:10,056 --> 00:07:12,475
I heard you use the expression
"An electric church,"
99
00:07:12,558 --> 00:07:13,935
as an ambition you had.
100
00:07:14,018 --> 00:07:17,480
Was this speaking metaphorically
or poetically, or do you really wanna...
101
00:07:17,563 --> 00:07:22,860
Honestly, I don't know. It's this...
It's just a belief that I have.
102
00:07:22,944 --> 00:07:28,658
And as we do use electric guitars,
everything is electrified nowadays.
103
00:07:28,741 --> 00:07:32,370
So, therefore, the belief comes
through electricity to the people, whatever.
104
00:07:32,495 --> 00:07:33,788
That's why we play so loud,
105
00:07:33,871 --> 00:07:35,790
because it doesn't actually
hit through the ear drums
106
00:07:35,873 --> 00:07:38,960
like most groups do nowadays.
107
00:07:39,043 --> 00:07:41,837
They say, "We're gonna play loud, too,
'cause they're playing loud."
108
00:07:41,921 --> 00:07:44,757
And they got this real shrill sound
and it's really hard.
109
00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:49,136
We plan for our sound to go
inside the soul of the person, actually,
110
00:07:49,220 --> 00:07:51,806
and see if they can awaken
some kind of thing in their minds,
111
00:07:51,931 --> 00:07:55,643
because there's so many sleeping people.
You can call it that, if you want to.
112
00:07:55,893 --> 00:07:57,520
How're you doin'? You feelin' all right?
113
00:07:57,603 --> 00:07:59,313
- Yeah!
- Yeah, right. Here we go.
114
00:07:59,397 --> 00:08:01,899
I think the most important thing
he was concerned about
115
00:08:01,983 --> 00:08:07,530
was people coming together
and being a part of the music.
116
00:08:08,531 --> 00:08:11,993
The sky church was the concept of,
117
00:08:12,076 --> 00:08:15,371
maybe if you couldn't have
the bleachers and etc.,
118
00:08:15,454 --> 00:08:20,126
you can have them comfortably
sitting under this humongous tent,
119
00:08:20,209 --> 00:08:22,795
almost like the tent revival.
120
00:08:41,689 --> 00:08:44,608
I think people connect so strongly with Jimi
121
00:08:44,692 --> 00:08:48,195
because he really, truly loved what he did.
122
00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:50,740
And when you really love something
that much,
123
00:08:50,823 --> 00:08:54,243
and you have a gift and it comes out,
it touches people.
124
00:08:54,326 --> 00:08:58,414
When Jimi Hendrix took the stage,
there was a certain relationship that he had.
125
00:08:58,497 --> 00:08:59,874
It was almost transcendent.
126
00:08:59,957 --> 00:09:02,460
Not only was he a fantastic guitar player,
127
00:09:02,585 --> 00:09:07,423
but it was almost like a spiritual experience
going to one of his concerts.
128
00:09:49,256 --> 00:09:52,176
Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
129
00:09:52,259 --> 00:09:53,552
The people loved him.
130
00:09:53,677 --> 00:10:00,267
They really loved his persona,
the music, the songs,
131
00:10:00,351 --> 00:10:02,103
and he could do nothing wrong.
132
00:10:02,186 --> 00:10:04,438
That purity of intention
133
00:10:04,522 --> 00:10:07,900
that he seemed to use
to approach his music,
134
00:10:07,983 --> 00:10:10,402
his songwriting, his recording,
I mean, everything,
135
00:10:10,486 --> 00:10:11,946
I think that's what translated.
136
00:10:12,029 --> 00:10:14,657
Just 'cause he was such a fine player.
137
00:10:14,698 --> 00:10:18,953
You know, we all played guitar,
we all knew a bit,
138
00:10:19,036 --> 00:10:21,539
but he seemed to know more than us.
139
00:10:21,914 --> 00:10:24,083
In the light of the day, the purity holds up.
140
00:10:24,166 --> 00:10:27,128
The other stuff just does not. It doesn't last.
141
00:10:27,211 --> 00:10:29,171
When something's real, it's gonna last.
142
00:10:29,255 --> 00:10:31,173
It's gonna last
as long as people are listening.
143
00:10:31,423 --> 00:10:35,177
Music has a lot of influence
on a lot of young people today.
144
00:10:35,261 --> 00:10:39,598
Politics are getting... Well, I don't know.
You know, how they're getting.
145
00:10:39,723 --> 00:10:42,560
A cat that talk on TV,
and a cat in Mississippi,
146
00:10:42,685 --> 00:10:44,979
a farmer in Mississippi,
you can't barely understand him,
147
00:10:45,062 --> 00:10:49,275
except when he says, "America,"
so then he's gonna vote for him.
148
00:10:49,358 --> 00:10:53,779
But through music, it's all true,
either true or false.
149
00:10:53,863 --> 00:10:56,157
And, like,
such a large gathering of people with music,
150
00:10:56,240 --> 00:10:58,075
it shows that music must mean something.
151
00:10:58,492 --> 00:11:03,289
Before the times of King, Dr. Luther King,
there's been a whole lot of changes.
152
00:11:03,372 --> 00:11:08,586
But some people after the excitement,
or the backwash of the change slows down,
153
00:11:08,711 --> 00:11:12,423
they say, "Yeah, that was groovy. Let's see,
what else can we feast upon now?"
154
00:11:12,506 --> 00:11:14,466
One of them things.
It's whole lot a changes happening,
155
00:11:14,550 --> 00:11:16,594
but now it's time
for all these changes to connect,
156
00:11:16,719 --> 00:11:19,180
to showing that it's leading up to love,
peace and harmony.
157
00:11:19,263 --> 00:11:21,223
Matter of fact,
what we're trying to stress also is, like,
158
00:11:21,307 --> 00:11:25,102
music should be done outside,
in a festival type of way.
159
00:11:25,227 --> 00:11:27,062
Just like they do it anywhere else.
160
00:11:27,146 --> 00:11:29,607
Because a lot of kids from the "ghetto,"
or whatever you want to call it,
161
00:11:29,732 --> 00:11:32,151
don't have enough money
to travel across the country,
162
00:11:32,234 --> 00:11:34,987
to see these different festivals,
what they call "festivals."
163
00:11:35,112 --> 00:11:36,989
'Cause I'd like for everybody
to see these type of festivals,
164
00:11:37,072 --> 00:11:38,574
have everybody mix together.
165
00:11:38,657 --> 00:11:40,034
You wouldn't believe it, you really wouldn't.
166
00:11:40,117 --> 00:11:44,163
Atlanta was a very isolated city
from the national music scene.
167
00:11:44,246 --> 00:11:45,581
Not in terms of talent,
168
00:11:45,664 --> 00:11:48,459
but in terms of having connections
to the music business.
169
00:11:48,792 --> 00:11:51,295
This festival culture
was beginning to develop.
170
00:11:51,378 --> 00:11:53,881
There was a sense in which,
171
00:11:53,964 --> 00:11:57,301
"Wow, there's a lot of young kids
who like this music."
172
00:11:57,384 --> 00:12:01,972
Alex Cooley was the preeminent promoter
in the southeast.
173
00:12:02,014 --> 00:12:03,599
In Atlanta, he was the man.
174
00:12:03,682 --> 00:12:05,476
We started hearing a radio station
175
00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:09,021
talking about the second
"Miami Pop Festival."
176
00:12:09,104 --> 00:12:12,608
And it was all the groups I wanted to see,
things that never came to Atlanta.
177
00:12:12,691 --> 00:12:15,653
And I decided
that's what I wanted to do with my life.
178
00:12:15,694 --> 00:12:17,279
So, I came back to Atlanta
179
00:12:17,363 --> 00:12:22,117
and I put together
a partnership with 17 guys.
180
00:12:22,201 --> 00:12:26,330
We pooled our money
and did the first "Atlanta Pop Festival."
181
00:12:26,789 --> 00:12:29,250
We didn't make money, but we did okay.
182
00:12:29,333 --> 00:12:31,252
They all dropped away. That was enough.
183
00:12:31,335 --> 00:12:35,506
And I kept doing it, and so,
I did the second "Atlanta Pop Festival."
184
00:12:35,923 --> 00:12:41,720
I think Alex knew that if he wanted to have
a bigger success than the previous year,
185
00:12:41,845 --> 00:12:46,892
he needed a headliner,
not just a popular artist.
186
00:12:46,976 --> 00:12:53,315
Not just an artist popular there in Atlanta,
he needed an international headliner.
187
00:12:53,399 --> 00:12:56,402
There was nobody bigger than Jimi Hendrix
at that point.
188
00:13:05,035 --> 00:13:11,250
Hendrix playing at a festival like that
was a very significant event.
189
00:13:11,333 --> 00:13:16,255
Part of the power
and part of the originality that Jimi had,
190
00:13:16,338 --> 00:13:17,715
had to do with his vision.
191
00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:20,092
He took a very pedestrian type of guitar
192
00:13:20,175 --> 00:13:24,596
that was primarily used by, like,
surf bands and country musicians,
193
00:13:24,680 --> 00:13:27,558
and he turned it into a lethal weapon,
194
00:13:27,641 --> 00:13:29,601
a very, very lethal weapon.
195
00:13:29,685 --> 00:13:35,607
When Alex Cooley put together
the "Pop Festival" in late May and June,
196
00:13:35,691 --> 00:13:40,112
our director of photography,
John Butterworth, went to Alex and said,
197
00:13:40,195 --> 00:13:43,324
"Somebody should shoot this thing.
It's gonna be big."
198
00:13:43,407 --> 00:13:45,242
And Alex said, "There's not much time."
199
00:13:45,326 --> 00:13:48,329
And John said,
"Well, we just happen to be in town,
200
00:13:48,412 --> 00:13:53,334
"and we just happen to be in the business
of shooting rock 'n' roll music, live."
201
00:13:53,417 --> 00:13:56,754
And Alex said, "Okay. Do it."
202
00:13:56,879 --> 00:13:59,256
Counterculture started in the late '60s.
203
00:13:59,298 --> 00:14:01,258
It was all centered around a coffee house
204
00:14:01,300 --> 00:14:04,136
at 14th and Peachtree
called the "Catacombs."
205
00:14:04,219 --> 00:14:07,514
And it was mostly
artists and musicians at first,
206
00:14:07,639 --> 00:14:12,144
and then it started attracting intellectuals
and the hippies and everybody else.
207
00:14:13,437 --> 00:14:16,815
The Great Speckled Bird
was an underground newspaper,
208
00:14:16,982 --> 00:14:20,778
run basically by
what would be called hippies of the era,
209
00:14:20,903 --> 00:14:23,364
and it was sold on street corners
210
00:14:23,447 --> 00:14:27,534
on Peachtree Street,
other places throughout town, by hippies,
211
00:14:27,659 --> 00:14:30,329
who would make a little money
selling this paper.
212
00:14:30,412 --> 00:14:34,291
And, at the time,
it was the way of spreading the word.
213
00:14:34,416 --> 00:14:38,921
The Great Speckled Bird was not
viewed fondly by the police departments.
214
00:14:39,004 --> 00:14:41,965
It was not viewed fondly
by the established media.
215
00:14:42,049 --> 00:14:45,844
The editorials and
the content of the Great Speckled Bird
216
00:14:45,928 --> 00:14:50,974
pointed to the culture
that was becoming more and stronger daily,
217
00:14:51,058 --> 00:14:52,726
like a little army growing and growing.
218
00:14:52,810 --> 00:14:57,022
The Great Speckled Bird was very important,
politically and culturally.
219
00:14:57,147 --> 00:15:01,068
Although they started off
as a political paper, what happened was,
220
00:15:01,151 --> 00:15:06,490
the cultural aspects of this paper,
being tied in with these political aspects,
221
00:15:06,573 --> 00:15:08,617
moved things forward a great degree.
222
00:15:08,700 --> 00:15:10,869
And Atlanta in '68 and '69,
223
00:15:10,994 --> 00:15:13,497
there were 20,000 people
224
00:15:13,580 --> 00:15:15,999
in Piedmont Park and Peachtree Street,
225
00:15:16,041 --> 00:15:18,877
and they mostly had long hair, or whatever.
226
00:15:20,337 --> 00:15:22,798
The scene in Atlanta was highly charged.
227
00:15:22,881 --> 00:15:26,427
And although civil rights and things
had moved forward a great degree,
228
00:15:26,510 --> 00:15:30,639
it really was a very segregated city.
229
00:15:30,764 --> 00:15:34,351
Lester Maddox was governor,
and there's no other character like him.
230
00:15:34,393 --> 00:15:38,439
Three negroes showed up at The Pickrick
but were not allowed in.
231
00:15:38,522 --> 00:15:40,232
Instead, Maddox accused them
232
00:15:40,315 --> 00:15:44,653
of trying to put him
and his negro employees out of a job.
233
00:15:44,736 --> 00:15:47,781
Do you want these 40 people
to lose their jobs right now?
234
00:15:47,906 --> 00:15:49,700
You're distorting the gospel, number one.
235
00:15:49,783 --> 00:15:52,453
- Yeah, yeah, yeah... Shut your big mouth.
- Number two...
236
00:15:56,123 --> 00:16:02,129
Lester Maddox had an ax handle
that he carried at his restaurant
237
00:16:02,212 --> 00:16:06,884
to keep people that he didn't wanna serve
from coming in.
238
00:16:07,009 --> 00:16:09,720
And it wasn't being sold
as a black and white issue,
239
00:16:09,803 --> 00:16:12,264
although, coincidentally,
these people that he didn't want to come in
240
00:16:12,347 --> 00:16:14,641
just coincidentally all happened to be black.
241
00:16:14,725 --> 00:16:17,352
It was being sold as
"This is about states rights.
242
00:16:17,436 --> 00:16:20,439
"This is about me being able to serve
who I want to serve."
243
00:16:20,522 --> 00:16:22,524
The government gave you a decision.
What do you want to do?
244
00:16:22,608 --> 00:16:25,694
- I'm not gonna integrate.
- Are you gonna abide by the...
245
00:16:28,071 --> 00:16:32,451
I'll use ax handles, I'll use guns,
I'll use paint, I'll use my fists.
246
00:16:32,534 --> 00:16:38,040
I'll use my customers. I'll use my employees.
I'll use anything at my disposal.
247
00:16:38,123 --> 00:16:41,919
This property belongs to me,
my wife and my children.
248
00:16:42,044 --> 00:16:43,504
It doesn't belong to anybody else.
249
00:16:43,587 --> 00:16:46,924
I'll throw out a white one or a black one
or a red-headed one or bald-headed one,
250
00:16:47,049 --> 00:16:48,509
it doesn't make any difference.
251
00:16:48,592 --> 00:16:51,803
No one's open to change,
and it was a forced change.
252
00:16:51,887 --> 00:16:54,515
And, certainly, Jimi, with his music,
253
00:16:54,598 --> 00:16:57,059
there was nothing like that
ever happening before.
254
00:16:57,142 --> 00:17:01,271
When Hendrix first appeared in Atlanta
in 1968,
255
00:17:01,313 --> 00:17:04,608
it was still a very segregated city.
256
00:17:11,865 --> 00:17:17,829
Jimi Hendrix became
the performer that he was
257
00:17:18,163 --> 00:17:20,666
due to the visionary aspects of his art,
258
00:17:20,791 --> 00:17:23,669
sometimes overshadowed
the visionary aspects of him
259
00:17:23,752 --> 00:17:26,338
in moving race relationships forward,
260
00:17:26,505 --> 00:17:32,469
because he was an instrumental figure,
much like Elvis in the '50s.
261
00:17:32,553 --> 00:17:35,722
In combining elements of culture
262
00:17:35,806 --> 00:17:39,434
in a way that was very appealing
and nonthreatening to people.
263
00:17:39,476 --> 00:17:43,981
Hendrix had achieved a level of success
that made him a target,
264
00:17:44,022 --> 00:17:49,486
certainly in parts of the culture that
was pretty much still seriously segregated,
265
00:17:49,570 --> 00:17:51,572
regardless of what laws had passed.
266
00:17:51,655 --> 00:17:53,699
He was interviewed by
the Great Speckled Bird.
267
00:17:53,782 --> 00:17:58,620
And they asked him, "Do you get much
into what's happening with black people
268
00:17:58,704 --> 00:18:00,914
"in regards to civil rights,"
they were asking him.
269
00:18:00,998 --> 00:18:03,333
And he said, "I don't get a chance, man.
270
00:18:03,417 --> 00:18:06,128
"I'm not thinking about
black people or white people,
271
00:18:06,211 --> 00:18:08,797
"I'm thinking about
the obsolete and the new."
272
00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:11,174
And that's what he was doing artistically.
273
00:18:11,300 --> 00:18:13,677
And that carried over with his acceptance
274
00:18:13,969 --> 00:18:18,807
in a very big way
to moving forward race relationships.
275
00:18:18,890 --> 00:18:22,728
Had Hendrix been a politically centric figure,
276
00:18:22,811 --> 00:18:25,856
people would have seen that as threatening,
but he wasn't.
277
00:18:25,939 --> 00:18:27,816
He combined these elements.
278
00:18:27,899 --> 00:18:32,821
He brought them to people in a way
that moved race relations forward.
279
00:18:32,904 --> 00:18:35,490
In 1969 and 1970,
280
00:18:35,574 --> 00:18:39,578
Jimi Hendrix was the
most important touring act in the world.
281
00:18:39,661 --> 00:18:42,539
Keep in mind
the Beatles had stopped touring,
282
00:18:42,623 --> 00:18:45,542
Dylan was in the wake of
his motorcycle accident,
283
00:18:45,626 --> 00:18:49,004
and, really,
if you were gonna put on a major event,
284
00:18:49,087 --> 00:18:50,589
you really had to have Jimi Hendrix.
285
00:18:50,672 --> 00:18:53,634
It was kind of expected,
because he made the difference.
286
00:18:53,717 --> 00:18:55,260
I had to have Jimi Hendrix.
287
00:18:55,344 --> 00:19:00,182
To me, that was
the whole premise of the whole thing.
288
00:19:00,265 --> 00:19:02,643
That's why I was in South Georgia,
for God's sakes.
289
00:19:02,768 --> 00:19:08,398
Byron, back in 1970,
was just a real small country town.
290
00:19:08,482 --> 00:19:10,734
I'm not sure we even had a red light in town.
291
00:19:10,817 --> 00:19:12,277
If we did, it was just one.
292
00:19:12,361 --> 00:19:16,823
Byron is named for Lord Byron, the poet.
293
00:19:17,366 --> 00:19:21,995
It's on I-75, 100 miles south of Atlanta.
294
00:19:22,120 --> 00:19:24,289
There was a racetrack there.
295
00:19:24,373 --> 00:19:25,874
Right next to the racetrack,
296
00:19:25,957 --> 00:19:29,670
was one of the most incredible
pecan orchards you've ever seen,
297
00:19:29,753 --> 00:19:31,046
just beautiful.
298
00:19:31,129 --> 00:19:33,715
I was appointed Chief of Police there.
299
00:19:34,091 --> 00:19:36,301
And it was nobody but me.
300
00:19:36,510 --> 00:19:38,053
Alex Cooley came down
301
00:19:38,136 --> 00:19:41,306
a couple of, two or three weeks
before the pop festival.
302
00:19:41,390 --> 00:19:42,391
He was extremely nice.
303
00:19:42,474 --> 00:19:46,687
He came down. It was explained to us that
they were going to go out to the racetrack,
304
00:19:46,770 --> 00:19:48,146
and that's where they were gonna hold it,
305
00:19:48,271 --> 00:19:51,483
and it should not
interfere with the town at all.
306
00:19:51,566 --> 00:19:55,779
The owner of that property,
he was a real character.
307
00:19:55,862 --> 00:19:58,990
He drank scotch and milk all day.
308
00:19:59,783 --> 00:20:03,912
He would have done anything for the money.
I mean, he was desperate at this point.
309
00:20:03,995 --> 00:20:05,956
I mean, he was also a moonshiner.
310
00:20:06,039 --> 00:20:09,042
There was a still under the racetrack
311
00:20:09,126 --> 00:20:11,670
that produced gallons of moonshine a day.
312
00:20:11,753 --> 00:20:14,965
So, he was on our side
and he had some political influence.
313
00:20:15,048 --> 00:20:19,094
And so, he paved the way, partially,
314
00:20:19,177 --> 00:20:23,140
but we almost did it by stealth.
315
00:20:23,181 --> 00:20:26,810
Some visitors from all over the United States
come in here with the idea
316
00:20:26,852 --> 00:20:30,981
that it's gonna be one of these nasty,
filthy, illegal activities,
317
00:20:31,064 --> 00:20:32,691
and to the best of our ability
318
00:20:32,774 --> 00:20:35,527
and with all the adequate police power
that we can man,
319
00:20:35,610 --> 00:20:37,821
we're going to see that the law is enforced
320
00:20:37,904 --> 00:20:39,990
in order to protect the lives
and properties of the people,
321
00:20:40,073 --> 00:20:42,451
knowing fully well
that we'll have to pull in men
322
00:20:42,534 --> 00:20:45,412
that otherwise would be saving lives
on Georgia's highways.
323
00:20:45,537 --> 00:20:49,332
Governor Maddox was not in favor
of having a festival at all.
324
00:20:49,458 --> 00:20:52,377
He didn't like the music,
didn't like the hippies.
325
00:20:52,461 --> 00:20:54,171
He didn't like much of anything.
326
00:20:54,296 --> 00:20:56,465
He was from the old school.
327
00:20:56,548 --> 00:20:59,843
And he didn't want
that kind of clientele in his state.
328
00:20:59,926 --> 00:21:02,763
We understand it could be two
or three thousand people down in there.
329
00:21:02,846 --> 00:21:06,016
We know for a fact
there's been 500 Coca-Colas ordered.
330
00:21:06,099 --> 00:21:10,771
Five hundred thousand Coca-Colas
ordered for this meeting.
331
00:21:10,854 --> 00:21:13,023
We don't think
they'll all be drinking Coca-Colas.
332
00:21:13,106 --> 00:21:15,942
I woke up one morning.
333
00:21:16,026 --> 00:21:19,571
Cars were lined up on the interstate
for miles,
334
00:21:19,654 --> 00:21:21,656
trying to get off in Byron.
335
00:21:21,782 --> 00:21:24,493
And I said, "Oh, my goodness,
this is gonna be something else."
336
00:21:24,618 --> 00:21:26,953
It turned out to be something else.
337
00:21:27,120 --> 00:21:30,373
I guess it hit us all
when everybody started showing up,
338
00:21:30,457 --> 00:21:32,000
'cause we'd heard some things on the news.
339
00:21:32,083 --> 00:21:35,212
It was coming,
and nobody paid a lot of attention to it,
340
00:21:35,337 --> 00:21:37,214
until you go up that way,
341
00:21:37,339 --> 00:21:41,968
and it's just people everywhere
walking down the interstate.
342
00:21:42,052 --> 00:21:45,806
Cars parked on the side of the interstate.
343
00:21:45,889 --> 00:21:50,435
Byron wasn't ready for what was coming
to see us on that week.
344
00:21:50,519 --> 00:21:55,148
The crowd, which probably swelled
somewhere between 350 to 500,000,
345
00:21:55,232 --> 00:21:57,651
in that neighborhood,
346
00:21:57,734 --> 00:22:01,029
had to have come
from all across the United States.
347
00:22:01,154 --> 00:22:02,572
They were here from everywhere.
348
00:22:02,697 --> 00:22:06,117
It wasn't like as if it was just a crowd
from Atlanta came down here,
349
00:22:06,243 --> 00:22:08,870
or a crowd from Alabama or Washington.
350
00:22:08,954 --> 00:22:13,041
I saw people with car tags
from all over the United States.
351
00:22:13,500 --> 00:22:16,920
What makes you come
all the way from Dallas to a pop festival?
352
00:22:17,003 --> 00:22:19,130
'Cause I had a bunch of hassles in Dallas
353
00:22:19,214 --> 00:22:21,508
and I knew that coming here,
the type of people that would be here,
354
00:22:21,591 --> 00:22:22,717
there wouldn't be any hassles.
355
00:22:22,801 --> 00:22:23,844
You just kind of get away with it,
356
00:22:23,927 --> 00:22:26,096
and be with friends and everything,
have a really good time.
357
00:22:26,221 --> 00:22:29,057
$14 ticket for three days.
I mean, you can do the math.
358
00:22:29,140 --> 00:22:33,937
That's a pretty good chunk of change
to pay everybody for their efforts.
359
00:22:34,229 --> 00:22:35,981
There was a fencing put around.
360
00:22:36,064 --> 00:22:41,236
I think it encompassed around 20 acres
all the way round the field.
361
00:22:41,319 --> 00:22:43,697
The perimeter
at where people couldn't see in,
362
00:22:43,780 --> 00:22:45,615
from standing outside and get a free view.
363
00:22:45,699 --> 00:22:49,995
At first, you would see some real hippies.
364
00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:55,667
But I think the thing I noticed most of all
would be a lot of college kids coming in.
365
00:22:56,001 --> 00:22:57,878
And, I mean, when they'd get out of the cars,
366
00:22:57,961 --> 00:23:00,505
they'd just be college kids,
all preppy looking.
367
00:23:00,964 --> 00:23:04,634
And then
they would go through our bathrooms.
368
00:23:04,718 --> 00:23:07,220
And when they came back out,
you would not even recognize them.
369
00:23:07,304 --> 00:23:09,639
A lot of them
370
00:23:09,681 --> 00:23:11,892
would come in the store
and go in the bathrooms,
371
00:23:11,975 --> 00:23:14,144
strip down and put on next to nothing.
372
00:23:15,020 --> 00:23:17,731
And we had never seen anything like that.
373
00:23:18,231 --> 00:23:20,525
But they were there to have a good time.
374
00:23:20,609 --> 00:23:23,153
You got the sense that,
"Well, I think this is gonna be big."
375
00:23:23,236 --> 00:23:27,198
And then,
that Thursday and Friday, you just knew.
376
00:23:27,282 --> 00:23:30,076
You knew it was just gonna be crazy big.
377
00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:35,457
It was just a humongous traffic jam,
but I couldn't do anything about it.
378
00:23:35,749 --> 00:23:37,918
We had to let them go
where they wanted to go.
379
00:23:38,001 --> 00:23:41,171
You couldn't even depend on
when the artist would arrive.
380
00:23:41,254 --> 00:23:45,592
Not that they were late getting off the plane,
there was no way to get them there.
381
00:23:45,675 --> 00:23:47,093
All the roads were jammed.
382
00:23:47,177 --> 00:23:49,054
Our transportation broke down.
383
00:23:50,055 --> 00:23:53,808
And we could not get out of the grounds.
384
00:23:53,892 --> 00:23:57,312
And we had one helicopter
that we had begged for,
385
00:23:57,395 --> 00:23:59,773
but it was not the kind of helicopter
386
00:23:59,856 --> 00:24:04,069
you would go to the Atlanta Airport
and pick up a performer and bring back.
387
00:24:04,152 --> 00:24:07,530
So, there were some
real adventures of people,
388
00:24:07,614 --> 00:24:09,366
different people getting to the stage.
389
00:24:09,532 --> 00:24:12,035
That stage was so disorganized.
390
00:24:12,118 --> 00:24:17,749
Not disorganized, unorganized,
because everything was out of control.
391
00:24:17,832 --> 00:24:22,045
Not that there wasn't a plan,
it just didn't happen,
392
00:24:22,128 --> 00:24:24,965
because 500,000 people messed it up.
393
00:24:25,048 --> 00:24:26,549
And remember, in those days,
394
00:24:26,591 --> 00:24:30,011
the technology didn't exist
for the wireless headphones
395
00:24:30,095 --> 00:24:34,015
and the walkie-talkies and all of that.
It didn't exist.
396
00:24:34,099 --> 00:24:37,936
And if someone couldn't reach someone
by shouting across the stage,
397
00:24:38,019 --> 00:24:39,062
they didn't hear you.
398
00:24:39,145 --> 00:24:44,567
Well, with 500,000 people next to you,
nobody's gonna hear you 30 feet away.
399
00:24:44,651 --> 00:24:48,780
The people that were walking
were just piling onto the hoods of the cars,
400
00:24:48,863 --> 00:24:52,075
the backs of the cars,
and that was the way people rode out there.
401
00:24:52,158 --> 00:24:57,455
I didn't have any other police officers,
and I had to run the whole thing myself.
402
00:24:57,664 --> 00:25:01,334
And the little jail that we used
was only two cells.
403
00:25:01,459 --> 00:25:05,630
That was the police department
and also the court facilities at that time.
404
00:25:05,755 --> 00:25:08,174
We didn't come in here and harass 'em.
405
00:25:08,258 --> 00:25:10,135
We stayed on the perimeter
406
00:25:10,218 --> 00:25:11,678
and watched them
come and go as they pleased,
407
00:25:11,761 --> 00:25:13,680
but we didn't just come out here
408
00:25:13,763 --> 00:25:18,018
and harass one or catch one smoking dope
and haul them off to jail.
409
00:25:18,101 --> 00:25:20,311
So, we couldn't have done it.
There was too many of 'em.
410
00:25:20,395 --> 00:25:22,272
They were selling tickets at first.
411
00:25:22,355 --> 00:25:25,775
But so many people came,
that they just crashed
412
00:25:25,859 --> 00:25:29,279
- the fence down, the gates.
- What began to happen locally was,
413
00:25:29,362 --> 00:25:32,490
word began to get out
what was going on at the racetrack.
414
00:25:32,615 --> 00:25:36,745
First it was the local kids, of course.
They had to go and they had to see.
415
00:25:36,828 --> 00:25:40,081
But then the word got out
that there were hippies, real hippies,
416
00:25:40,165 --> 00:25:43,460
that there were naked people
running around out there,
417
00:25:43,585 --> 00:25:47,297
that there was all kind of stuff going on
that we knew nothing about.
418
00:25:47,380 --> 00:25:49,049
The traffic became even worse,
419
00:25:49,132 --> 00:25:52,260
because now intermingled with the ones
trying to get to the festival,
420
00:25:52,343 --> 00:25:55,805
were all the locals
who had to go see what was going on.
421
00:25:55,889 --> 00:26:02,604
They just could not believe that such a thing
happened in this sleepy little town of Byron.
422
00:26:02,687 --> 00:26:06,691
People were completely shocked
that people were taking their clothes off,
423
00:26:06,775 --> 00:26:09,319
that people were doing drugs
out in the open.
424
00:26:09,402 --> 00:26:13,031
And, of course, the music was something
they had never heard before.
425
00:26:13,114 --> 00:26:15,283
We were out there
practicing Little League Baseball,
426
00:26:15,366 --> 00:26:18,411
and the preacher lived right there
beside the church,
427
00:26:18,495 --> 00:26:22,332
and he came out and
called everybody to the pitcher's mound,
428
00:26:22,415 --> 00:26:26,294
and told us that
we need to all go home to our families,
429
00:26:26,377 --> 00:26:29,839
because the hippies
had taken over Vinson Valley.
430
00:26:29,964 --> 00:26:33,259
And just all this fear of
what was to come there.
431
00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:38,973
And course, at that time,
I was 16 and just had my driver's license,
432
00:26:39,057 --> 00:26:41,309
and a couple other guys loaded up with me,
433
00:26:41,392 --> 00:26:45,480
and we went straight to Vinson Valley
to see what all the excitement was about.
434
00:26:45,563 --> 00:26:47,565
As long as they weren't outside
breaking the law somewhere,
435
00:26:47,690 --> 00:26:51,444
or breaking into stores or houses,
we didn't bother them.
436
00:26:51,528 --> 00:26:54,447
If you walked in there,
you about got high from the smell of it.
437
00:26:54,531 --> 00:26:56,324
It was very open. It was very open.
438
00:26:56,407 --> 00:27:00,370
Nobody was trying to act like
they weren't selling or using, you know.
439
00:27:00,453 --> 00:27:05,458
And you could see anything in there,
anything, if you catch what I'm saying.
440
00:27:05,792 --> 00:27:10,004
When I was there Friday,
I was separated from the other committee,
441
00:27:11,172 --> 00:27:15,552
I stopped a few minutes and watched
a couple in the full throes of intercourse,
442
00:27:15,677 --> 00:27:18,221
right there on the path.
443
00:27:18,304 --> 00:27:21,182
The girl was smoking a cigarette
the whole time.
444
00:27:21,349 --> 00:27:23,143
At one point,
445
00:27:23,226 --> 00:27:28,606
I contacted one of the guys
who was with the motorcycle gang.
446
00:27:28,731 --> 00:27:32,569
They were called the Galloping Geese
out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
447
00:27:34,028 --> 00:27:36,698
And he agreed to help us
patrol the city of Byron.
448
00:27:37,323 --> 00:27:39,534
The hippies out here
were very scared of them,
449
00:27:39,617 --> 00:27:41,744
the bikers, at that time.
450
00:27:41,828 --> 00:27:45,957
So they helped us patrol the city of Byron
at night on their motorcycles.
451
00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:50,253
We paid 'em with a case of beer
and a meal a day.
452
00:27:50,336 --> 00:27:52,589
And we did not have one break-in
the whole time.
453
00:27:52,714 --> 00:27:55,175
The crowd, remarkably, did very well
454
00:27:55,258 --> 00:27:56,926
with the heat
and the drugs that were consumed.
455
00:27:57,010 --> 00:27:59,721
And you have to admit that they were there
456
00:27:59,804 --> 00:28:02,348
'cause there were a lot of people
walking around screwed up.
457
00:28:02,432 --> 00:28:05,602
It scared the crap out of me.
458
00:28:05,727 --> 00:28:07,729
I mean, I was really, truly frightened.
459
00:28:07,812 --> 00:28:11,191
And I started thinking,
"What the hell have I done here?"
460
00:28:11,274 --> 00:28:13,109
After a day or two, they were hungry.
461
00:28:13,860 --> 00:28:18,031
And they started going into Byron
and going through Dempsey Dumpsters
462
00:28:18,114 --> 00:28:20,575
getting scraps and begging folks for food.
463
00:28:20,658 --> 00:28:23,286
And of course,
a lot of the local folks in Byron
464
00:28:23,369 --> 00:28:27,665
were cooking tubs of hot dog and stuff
and bringing 'em up here and selling 'em,
465
00:28:27,790 --> 00:28:29,626
you know, Coca-Colas and what have you.
466
00:28:29,751 --> 00:28:32,629
Our local farmers took peaches
and watermelons
467
00:28:32,754 --> 00:28:35,798
and things like that out there
and just gave 'em away,
468
00:28:35,882 --> 00:28:38,259
because they were hungry,
there were too many people out there,
469
00:28:38,343 --> 00:28:39,427
they couldn't feed everybody.
470
00:28:39,510 --> 00:28:43,306
We're deeply concerned
because this comes on a holiday weekend,
471
00:28:43,389 --> 00:28:46,809
probably the most popular holiday weekend
of the entire year.
472
00:28:46,893 --> 00:28:50,146
One hundred and four degrees
on July the fourth.
473
00:28:50,438 --> 00:28:52,565
That's how hot it was
on the day of the festival.
474
00:28:52,649 --> 00:28:54,901
It was so freaking hot.
475
00:28:54,984 --> 00:28:57,362
I had everything I could do
just to concentrate.
476
00:28:58,071 --> 00:29:03,284
The sweat was pouring off my hands,
the guitar was getting sticky in my hands.
477
00:29:03,368 --> 00:29:06,496
The Byron Fire Department
actually brought fire trucks up here.
478
00:29:07,622 --> 00:29:11,584
They were spraying them down
with the hoses to keep 'em cool.
479
00:29:11,668 --> 00:29:14,087
A lot of them had heat strokes
and fell out with the heat.
480
00:29:14,170 --> 00:29:16,005
We were wetting them down
with the fire trucks.
481
00:29:16,089 --> 00:29:18,967
They were down there swimming
in the nude, they were out here in the nude,
482
00:29:19,968 --> 00:29:21,302
just trying to stay cool.
483
00:29:21,386 --> 00:29:23,638
I'd never seen anything like it.
484
00:29:23,721 --> 00:29:26,432
People don't just walk around
naked up here.
485
00:29:26,516 --> 00:29:28,476
And to see all of that, it was amazing.
486
00:29:28,559 --> 00:29:31,729
And they didn't care.
It didn't even bother them.
487
00:29:31,854 --> 00:29:35,525
They'd wave at you, "How you doing?"
They wouldn't care.
488
00:29:35,608 --> 00:29:39,070
- People that were so against it...
- ...were down there looking, okay?
489
00:29:39,153 --> 00:29:42,031
My Lord, they were down there
with binoculars and everything else.
490
00:29:42,156 --> 00:29:44,242
They wanted to be on the site.
491
00:29:44,325 --> 00:29:47,120
But they were the ones that,
"Oh, it won't happen again."
492
00:29:47,203 --> 00:29:48,288
"it can never happen again."
493
00:29:48,371 --> 00:29:50,748
They wanted to be able to talk about it
for the rest of their lives.
494
00:29:50,873 --> 00:29:54,085
I like festivals and I like to have fun.
495
00:29:54,168 --> 00:29:57,839
But we want the people visiting down there
to know
496
00:29:57,964 --> 00:30:00,383
that we expect them
to abide by Georgia law.
497
00:30:00,508 --> 00:30:04,053
Maddox flew over the area
and declared it a disaster area.
498
00:30:04,137 --> 00:30:07,307
He put out, I don't know, APBs,
or whatever you call them,
499
00:30:07,390 --> 00:30:09,517
to tell people, "Don't go to Byron."
500
00:30:09,684 --> 00:30:13,271
"it's a total disaster area.
Parents, keep your kids home."
501
00:30:13,438 --> 00:30:16,232
He was extremely upset
that this was going on.
502
00:30:16,357 --> 00:30:21,404
July of 1970, we were just a couple of
months past the murders at Kent State
503
00:30:21,487 --> 00:30:24,782
where protesting college students
were shot to death on campus,
504
00:30:24,907 --> 00:30:27,618
and in Jackson State, in Mississippi as well.
505
00:30:27,702 --> 00:30:32,040
People forget
that there was a draft going on in 1970,
506
00:30:32,123 --> 00:30:36,627
and so, people who were over 18,
and were male,
507
00:30:36,711 --> 00:30:38,963
they were pretty much sitting
in the crosshairs.
508
00:30:39,047 --> 00:30:43,092
I was 16 and getting to where
I had started thinking about the draft,
509
00:30:43,176 --> 00:30:46,637
and I do think that is part of the lifestyle
we were going through,
510
00:30:46,721 --> 00:30:51,517
that Vietnam was so deadly that this was
part of the mindset of these young people.
511
00:30:51,601 --> 00:30:53,519
You know,
"I'm not part of the establishment.
512
00:30:53,603 --> 00:30:57,315
"I'm gonna make up my own rules
and do what I wanna do."
513
00:30:57,398 --> 00:31:00,401
it was a very trying time,
with us being in the war.
514
00:31:00,485 --> 00:31:04,489
Jimi and I went into the military
just prior to Vietnam,
515
00:31:04,572 --> 00:31:06,616
and that war was the real deal.
516
00:31:06,699 --> 00:31:09,160
Larry Lee was our friend
and Larry Lee was wounded.
517
00:31:09,243 --> 00:31:15,333
He had a plate in his head, he got shot,
right on the verge of going into his brain,
518
00:31:15,416 --> 00:31:17,668
and they mended that up.
So, he got wounded there.
519
00:31:17,752 --> 00:31:23,800
And so, he was very fortunate
that he didn't die, but it was a reality for us,
520
00:31:23,925 --> 00:31:27,762
and it affected him, and it affected us
because he was our friend.
521
00:31:27,845 --> 00:31:31,641
The "Atlanta Pop Festival" was
the largest US audience he ever played to.
522
00:31:31,724 --> 00:31:34,602
The backstage scene was very confused.
523
00:31:34,685 --> 00:31:38,398
You didn't know who was gonna
actually be there at what time.
524
00:31:38,481 --> 00:31:41,567
"Hendrix is here. Thank God.
525
00:31:41,651 --> 00:31:44,112
"You know, it's July fourth,
there's gotta be Hendrix."
526
00:31:44,195 --> 00:31:47,865
Jimi Hendrix landed at the "Pop Festival"
at 10:00 in a helicopter,
527
00:31:47,990 --> 00:31:50,410
and there were no lights there to see.
528
00:31:50,493 --> 00:31:53,704
And I think he got on stage about 12:30.
529
00:31:53,788 --> 00:31:55,581
When Jimi came on stage,
530
00:31:55,665 --> 00:32:00,545
only the people immediately
in front of the stage could see him.
531
00:32:00,628 --> 00:32:02,422
Power was the big issue
532
00:32:02,505 --> 00:32:07,176
because Georgia Rural Power only had
a certain amount of generating capability
533
00:32:07,260 --> 00:32:08,594
in middle Georgia,
534
00:32:08,678 --> 00:32:11,139
and they couldn't provide enough lights
535
00:32:11,222 --> 00:32:16,144
to light the stage, the audience,
and provide the backstage facilities as well.
536
00:32:16,227 --> 00:32:17,770
So, we had to pick and choose.
537
00:32:17,854 --> 00:32:21,190
Someone made the choice
in the lighting crew,
538
00:32:21,274 --> 00:32:25,736
that they didn't want the audience
to watch the bands set up.
539
00:32:25,820 --> 00:32:28,823
They wanted to have a visual entrance.
540
00:32:28,906 --> 00:32:32,452
In the dark, you really couldn't tell
how many there were,
541
00:32:32,535 --> 00:32:36,456
but you could see the cigarette lighters
going to the horizon.
542
00:32:36,539 --> 00:32:41,002
We knew that there were a lot of people.
There was no way to count them.
543
00:32:42,128 --> 00:32:43,546
Jimi Hendrix!
544
00:32:46,132 --> 00:32:49,135
This is Billy Cox on bass.
545
00:32:50,470 --> 00:32:52,138
And Mitch Mitchell on drums.
546
00:32:53,514 --> 00:32:55,850
And yours truly, covering the saxophone.
547
00:32:56,476 --> 00:32:59,729
Jimi would pretty much walk out on stage,
548
00:32:59,770 --> 00:33:02,190
tune their guitar,
549
00:33:02,273 --> 00:33:08,112
they'd chat among themselves and then,
"Okay, hit the chords for the first tune."
550
00:33:08,821 --> 00:33:11,657
And that was how the show started.
551
00:33:12,700 --> 00:33:17,497
It was very primitive.
But everything was very personal.
552
00:33:17,580 --> 00:33:19,749
You just had a guy with a guitar
553
00:33:19,832 --> 00:33:22,793
and he had to get people going.
554
00:33:22,877 --> 00:33:24,962
And Jimi was one of the guys
who could do it.
555
00:33:25,087 --> 00:33:29,509
The cheers, the claps,
the noise that they made was incredible.
556
00:33:29,592 --> 00:33:32,595
And it kind of gave us an edge.
557
00:37:01,053 --> 00:37:02,096
Thank you.
558
00:37:10,604 --> 00:37:12,648
I really hope it isn't too loud for you.
559
00:37:13,607 --> 00:37:15,276
Let's see if you know this tune now.
560
00:42:28,297 --> 00:42:31,925
Okay, we'd like to slow it down a little bit
and quiet it down
561
00:42:32,092 --> 00:42:36,055
and do a slow blues for the evening,
a thing called Red House.
562
00:59:07,003 --> 00:59:09,630
Thank you very much for the last four years.
563
00:59:09,714 --> 00:59:12,592
And also thank you to the girl over there
with the purple underwear on.
564
01:03:28,806 --> 01:03:32,893
All right, everybody stand up and
give up your thing and stand on your feet.
565
01:03:32,977 --> 01:03:35,896
We'd like to do a Happy Birthday song
to America.
566
01:03:37,315 --> 01:03:39,066
The thing they used to brainwash us
into singing at school.
567
01:03:39,108 --> 01:03:41,652
Let's all, everybody stand up
and sing it together.
568
01:03:41,736 --> 01:03:43,237
With feeling.
569
01:07:34,969 --> 01:07:37,471
Thank you very much.
570
01:07:37,555 --> 01:07:39,848
Honestly, thank you very much for staying.
571
01:07:40,641 --> 01:07:42,643
All right, next time,
I'd like to see you again soon.
572
01:12:12,287 --> 01:12:15,290
I hope everyone has
many more of these kind of birthdays.
573
01:12:16,416 --> 01:12:20,462
And concerts and so forth, and everyone,
574
01:12:20,587 --> 01:12:22,422
thank you very much and goodnight.
575
01:19:25,136 --> 01:19:28,348
Thank you very much for staying with us.
Thank you.
576
01:20:06,886 --> 01:20:08,555
Thank you very much, all of you.
577
01:20:13,560 --> 01:20:16,396
You know, if I could see you, it'd be good,
but that light is blinding, man.
578
01:20:16,521 --> 01:20:19,733
It's hard to play
when you can't see nobody, you know.
579
01:20:19,774 --> 01:20:21,776
Now, I can see you, yeah, all right.
580
01:20:22,902 --> 01:20:26,072
I'd like to do a thing
called Stone Free for you.
581
01:33:00,826 --> 01:33:02,828
Thank you very much and good night.
582
01:33:17,510 --> 01:33:23,099
At the end of Jimi's performance,
the audience started cheering, of course,
583
01:33:23,182 --> 01:33:28,354
and chanting, "We want Jimi, we want Jimi,"
and then, they wouldn't stop.
584
01:33:28,437 --> 01:33:31,232
They had endured a long,
hot day on July fourth,
585
01:33:31,315 --> 01:33:35,861
and it was the most uplifting thing I've seen
in show business in many, many years.
586
01:33:36,070 --> 01:33:38,572
They were there and
the love was there for Jimi Hendrix.
587
01:33:38,697 --> 01:33:40,282
I mean, there's no doubt about it.
588
01:33:40,366 --> 01:33:43,244
Jimi got a lot of energy
from that particular gig.
589
01:33:43,369 --> 01:33:46,872
He played All Along The Watchtower,
it was in the wrong key.
590
01:33:46,956 --> 01:33:48,958
And so, he started out...
591
01:33:49,917 --> 01:33:51,210
Then in the middle, he said...
592
01:33:51,252 --> 01:33:54,213
Well, not in the middle, maybe about,
two bars, he says, "As I was saying..."
593
01:33:54,755 --> 01:33:56,215
And when I heard, "As I was saying,"
594
01:33:56,257 --> 01:33:59,969
I said, "I know he's in the wrong key,
so he's got to be going to the right key."
595
01:34:00,052 --> 01:34:02,221
Then he went... Then we were all...
596
01:34:02,304 --> 01:34:05,224
So, after the gig was over, he says,
"Man, you were on me like white on rice."
597
01:34:05,307 --> 01:34:07,935
I said, "No, I was on you
like a rat on cheese."
598
01:34:08,060 --> 01:34:10,437
So, he laughed at that. That was very funny.
599
01:34:10,563 --> 01:34:13,399
He actually put on a real show,
600
01:34:13,440 --> 01:34:15,734
and the people that were here,
they loved it, you know.
601
01:34:15,818 --> 01:34:19,488
After the gig, he came up to me and said,
"You know, these songs are gonna be okay
602
01:34:19,572 --> 01:34:22,408
"because these people never heard them.
Man, they clapping and jumping around."
603
01:34:22,491 --> 01:34:23,909
I said, "Yeah, that's great," you know.
604
01:34:23,993 --> 01:34:25,578
Maybe, we're producing...
605
01:34:25,661 --> 01:34:27,413
Trying to produce
some good stuff, you know.
606
01:34:27,454 --> 01:34:29,498
So, that was incredible.
607
01:34:29,582 --> 01:34:31,584
Jimi Hendrix played what he felt.
608
01:34:31,625 --> 01:34:33,210
And right before he went on,
609
01:34:33,252 --> 01:34:36,130
there were 10 people interviewing him
for the Great Speckled Bird.
610
01:34:36,255 --> 01:34:39,341
He said, "it's great to play for these people.
They want to hear me."
611
01:34:39,425 --> 01:34:43,345
it was something. When you really
get next to it like that, it was something.
612
01:34:43,429 --> 01:34:46,432
And I've been next to a lot of 'em, you know.
613
01:34:46,515 --> 01:34:51,270
I mean, I saw Coltrane play before he died,
you know, all kinds of things.
614
01:34:51,312 --> 01:34:53,022
I mean, Jimi was...
615
01:34:54,773 --> 01:34:56,525
Hey, man, come on, he was Jimi Hendrix.
616
01:34:56,609 --> 01:34:58,569
I mean, there is...
617
01:34:58,611 --> 01:35:01,572
There is this stage show,
there is this persona that's coming out,
618
01:35:01,614 --> 01:35:03,991
but there's really no smoke and mirrors.
619
01:35:04,116 --> 01:35:06,702
I mean, nobody is BS-ing anybody.
620
01:35:06,785 --> 01:35:10,456
Like, this is people
that know what they're doing
621
01:35:10,497 --> 01:35:12,458
at the highest level and getting it done.
622
01:35:12,791 --> 01:35:18,005
And the music was incredibly emotive,
and also drew emotion from people.
623
01:35:18,088 --> 01:35:21,258
For me,
there really hasn't been anyone since
624
01:35:21,300 --> 01:35:25,262
that's had the impact
that Jimi Hendrix has had on music.
625
01:35:25,304 --> 01:35:29,308
It was honest music.
He wasn't trying to fool anyone.
626
01:35:31,060 --> 01:35:34,313
It was from the heart
and it was what he believed.
627
01:35:34,438 --> 01:35:37,816
Fourth of July,
Jimi Hendrix's Star-Spangled Banner,
628
01:35:37,983 --> 01:35:40,778
"it knocked people's socks off," as they say.
629
01:35:41,612 --> 01:35:44,990
They're shooting out fireworks,
630
01:35:45,074 --> 01:35:48,452
and he's playing to the fireworks.
631
01:35:48,494 --> 01:35:51,997
It was gorgeous, man. It was unbelievable.
632
01:35:52,122 --> 01:35:55,459
It was beautiful. You know, it was Jimi.
633
01:35:55,501 --> 01:35:58,170
Until the Olympics happened,
this was the largest crowd
634
01:35:58,254 --> 01:36:00,839
for anything that had ever happened
in the state of Georgia.
635
01:36:01,006 --> 01:36:03,592
It's noteworthy that the "Atlanta
Pop Festival" was in the deep South
636
01:36:03,676 --> 01:36:06,762
at a time when it was thought
that the south was hostile
637
01:36:06,845 --> 01:36:10,641
to rock 'n' roll, to hippies,
people who looked like that.
638
01:36:10,683 --> 01:36:13,477
But the reality was,
that the world had changed by that time.
639
01:36:13,519 --> 01:36:17,273
The long hair ethos was embraced
by kids in the south
640
01:36:17,356 --> 01:36:19,858
as much,
or if not more so than kids in the north.
641
01:36:19,942 --> 01:36:22,027
When the festival was over,
642
01:36:22,111 --> 01:36:26,532
we all knew that
we had something important on film.
643
01:36:26,615 --> 01:36:32,037
We didn't know whether or not
it would be accepted as important.
644
01:36:32,162 --> 01:36:34,540
You have to remember, in 1970,
645
01:36:34,623 --> 01:36:41,380
the authorities were really cracking down
on festivals in general and us hippies,
646
01:36:41,463 --> 01:36:47,886
and it was becoming
a difficult thing to sustain.
647
01:36:48,053 --> 01:36:52,558
We all knew instinctively
that this innocence was over.
648
01:36:52,641 --> 01:36:56,812
We didn't know what was to come,
but we knew that it was over.
649
01:36:56,895 --> 01:37:01,191
And I guess we all felt that,
"This is probably the last one."
650
01:37:01,233 --> 01:37:02,693
Turned out it really was.
651
01:37:02,735 --> 01:37:04,737
When the festival was over,
652
01:37:04,862 --> 01:37:09,533
it was the worst trashed-out place
you've ever seen in your life.
653
01:37:09,575 --> 01:37:12,745
I mean, there was trash all the way
from Vinson Valley lake,
654
01:37:12,828 --> 01:37:15,664
down where they were swimming,
all the way to Byron.
655
01:37:15,748 --> 01:37:18,208
All this field out here was just solid trash.
656
01:37:18,250 --> 01:37:20,878
The race track itself, that whole area,
657
01:37:20,919 --> 01:37:26,842
it was totally, totally just the biggest mess
you've ever seen in your life.
658
01:37:26,925 --> 01:37:29,678
Even though,
at some points in time during the festival,
659
01:37:29,762 --> 01:37:34,099
they had tried to clean up, you know,
it still, by the time everybody left...
660
01:37:34,183 --> 01:37:35,267
it was such a mess.
661
01:37:35,392 --> 01:37:37,102
Just too many people,
not enough restrooms,
662
01:37:37,186 --> 01:37:38,937
not enough places for them to eat.
663
01:37:39,104 --> 01:37:42,274
So, yeah, that area was totally trashed.
664
01:37:42,358 --> 01:37:46,570
I remember the trash 'cause everywhere,
when we'd go up through there,
665
01:37:46,612 --> 01:37:50,324
everywhere there was people,
it seems like now there was
666
01:37:50,407 --> 01:37:55,788
trash bags and clothes, and
just stuff that they had discarded and left.
667
01:37:55,871 --> 01:37:59,792
And it took several weeks
to get all that cleaned up.
668
01:37:59,875 --> 01:38:05,297
I was disappointed in the disregard that
the counterculture had for the environment.
669
01:38:05,381 --> 01:38:07,132
I mean, I thought that that was part of
670
01:38:07,257 --> 01:38:09,593
what the counterculture
would've done a better job at.
671
01:38:09,635 --> 01:38:13,972
And it showed me
that when you get into certain situations,
672
01:38:14,056 --> 01:38:16,266
you don't always act responsibly.
673
01:38:16,308 --> 01:38:17,810
But it wasn't the first time I had seen that.
674
01:38:17,935 --> 01:38:21,271
I mean, "Woodstock" wasn't left
a sea of green grass
675
01:38:21,313 --> 01:38:23,148
when they left there, either.
676
01:38:23,232 --> 01:38:27,820
I will say that I had a feeling about...
677
01:38:27,903 --> 01:38:31,156
That this might be, sort of,
the beginning of the end.
678
01:38:31,281 --> 01:38:35,994
Things were getting a little darker
in terms of drug use,
679
01:38:37,454 --> 01:38:39,998
prevalence of drug use, harder drugs.
680
01:38:40,082 --> 01:38:42,251
You could see things were going
in another direction.
681
01:38:42,334 --> 01:38:43,961
And of course,
all of this has been documented,
682
01:38:44,002 --> 01:38:46,171
what happened at "Altamont"
and all these things.
683
01:38:46,296 --> 01:38:49,842
So, you could see
the culture changing a little bit.
684
01:38:49,925 --> 01:38:55,431
So, in terms of Atlanta
and this gigantic festival, this was...
685
01:38:55,514 --> 01:39:00,185
And certainly, in retrospect, sort of,
the end of an era. And a great end to an era.
686
01:39:00,269 --> 01:39:03,522
I mean, it was a powerful moment,
687
01:39:03,605 --> 01:39:07,025
and I felt really lucky to be there
and be taking part in it.
688
01:39:07,109 --> 01:39:10,112
And as they grew
and became bigger and bigger,
689
01:39:10,195 --> 01:39:13,782
it became inevitable that they
would become more and more regulated,
690
01:39:13,866 --> 01:39:16,618
and that did change them.
691
01:39:16,702 --> 01:39:18,537
"Atlanta Pop" was a moment in time.
692
01:39:18,662 --> 01:39:23,208
These giant festivals became so unwieldy,
they could never happen again.
693
01:39:23,333 --> 01:39:26,378
I think pop festivals in general took on
694
01:39:26,503 --> 01:39:30,048
a risk factor far greater
695
01:39:30,215 --> 01:39:34,136
than investors or backers or organizers
who wanted to move forward with
696
01:39:34,219 --> 01:39:35,888
after the "Atlanta Pop Festival."
697
01:39:35,971 --> 01:39:39,349
Maybe the time had come and gone,
and maybe it was frozen, if you will,
698
01:39:39,391 --> 01:39:43,520
or not meant to happen again.
699
01:39:43,562 --> 01:39:47,816
In 1970,
there were no other ancillary markets.
700
01:39:47,900 --> 01:39:52,488
Video tape, video cassette, DVDs,
none of that had been invented.
701
01:39:52,571 --> 01:39:57,075
If you didn't make that first summer's
marketing window, you were dead.
702
01:39:57,242 --> 01:40:02,080
So, no one was interested
in releasing the film the next year.
703
01:40:02,247 --> 01:40:07,419
So, the film sat for 30 some odd years
704
01:40:07,503 --> 01:40:10,047
in my barn, undeveloped.
705
01:40:10,088 --> 01:40:14,843
If you think about the time at which
Jimi performed at the "Atlanta Pop Festival,"
706
01:40:14,927 --> 01:40:18,263
it was the apogee of his professional career.
707
01:40:18,347 --> 01:40:20,891
He was working on a new album,
just finishing it.
708
01:40:20,933 --> 01:40:24,019
He had opened his studio in New York,
Electric Lady.
709
01:40:24,102 --> 01:40:26,605
And he was on top of the world,
710
01:40:26,688 --> 01:40:29,858
in terms of being
the most dominant force in popular music.
711
01:40:29,942 --> 01:40:31,777
And who would ever have imagined
712
01:40:31,860 --> 01:40:34,446
that the world would lose him
a short time after that?
64631
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.