Altamont Concert 69

A bit risky. Consider the source. Ron Schneider's upcoming book will probably be the definitive account ... And he is no friend of the Booth book.

 

I am reading Selvin's book because of this thread and it is very good. It is rare to see a book on a familiar, sensational subject that is argued: it amasses information and then draws conclusions that seem audacious but are grounded in fact and logic. The book reminds me of the Mark Twain aphorism that leads off the movie "The Big Short" - it's not what you don't know that kills you; it's what you know that's just not true.

Selvin's argument about the Maysles' "Gimme Shelter" strikes me as valid: that it is not a documentary presenting a faithful version of events, but an artistic work, sponsored by the Stones, that inevitably presents a point of view favorable to them. "Gimme Shelter" unwittingly raises the same questions which Haskell Wexler purposely engaged - with the Maysles' help - a year before in "Medium Cool." What is the essential difference between reality and fiction? How does the documentarian shape reality? And how does his presentation of reality obscure truth rather than serve it? Maybe "Gimme Shelter" doesn't have a fictional woman in a yellow dress looking for her son, like "Medium Cool" did. But it is cut from the same cloth.

Finally, in an example of Selvin's deep research, there is an Easter egg for fans of Richard DiLello's "The Longest Cocktail Party," which remains my favorite book about the Beatles. We see how Frankie came to work for Derek Taylor, how Frisco Pete and Billy came to the UK, and what those guys were like in their natural habitat.

-B.

 

My opinion: it's bad to rush the stage holding a gun.

If I'm in a band (or even audience) and someone rushes the stage wielding a gun, I want them taken out as fast as possible.

 

Reportedly......probably....the two most used words in conspiracy theory.

 

It's odd how whenever I watch 'Gimme Shelter' I end up getting obsessed about it for a few days after. I read the write up in the latest MOJO magazine about Joel's new book so ordered a copy. While i waited for it to arrive I watched the film again. Then I went on the internet and found 2 more Altamont bootlegs. The 2nd one being a 3 CD and 1 DVD set which presents the material in the right order(as far as anyone knows), including the 4 support acts and in the best quality. Then the book arrives and I read it in 2 days, while listening to parts of the bootleg on headphones. But the film ends up putting a black cloud over my head for a few days after I watched it. No other film ever does that to me. I am now currently amassing every photo I can find from the event (my rule is that it's not a screen grab from the film) and putting them in order and in the best quality I can find. I currently have about 190+ unique photos.

The book taught me a lot too about the order of events. In the film the 'Flying Burrito Brothers' are on before 'Jefferson Airplane'. In reality the show was opened by 'Santana' and the 'FBBrothers' were on AFTER 'Jefferson AP'. I didn't even realise 'Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young' played as the 4th and final support act. It also becomes apparent that they dubbed on to the soundtrack the studio version of 'Six Days On The Road' by the 'FBB' and when you watch the film that is not what the audience were hearing. The real version they played is on the CD set I found.

 

The funniest part of the movie i thought....(& there weren't many funny parts!) was when a dog casually walks across the stage, while mindless violence goes on elsewhere!
Only in the 60's i 'spose....

 

Bought the book last night, thanks to all of you who are posting reviews.

 

That moment just encapsulated the total chaos of the event for me. It was funny, weird and tragic all at the same time...

 

Any comments from amateur (or professional) astrologers on the events of that day? IIRC there was a strange alignment of celestial bodies or something of that nature?

Even if you don't believe in that kind of thing, there certainly seemed to be a strange energy floating around that day - that can be sensed just from watching the film...

 

This has always been my opinion too. Pulling a gun out in that setting is not gonna end well for somebody.

 

In a later interview, the dog revealed he became disoriented while searching for a porta potty and accidentally wound up on the stage.


His initial quest, of course, proved fruitless.

 

From Selvin's book, as the Stones leave the show:

Sam Cutler couldn’t keep his mind off Meredith Hunter. Who brings a gun to a rock and roll show? he thought. Then he realized—he did. The thought sickened him.
​

-B.

 

Yeah, you can. As you just did "make stuff up",

 

I enjoyed reading the Selwin book, a great depth of detail and I definitely learned some details I was unaware of.
(I'd didn't know the Dead had actually run for it)
His editorial conclusions and analysis of what it meant to the Stones - not so much.

"The band’s work after Altamont would take on a self-conscious shadow never present in their work before. Even on Sticky Fingers, as they appropriate the Santana sound for “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking,” the band sounds like they are trying to make a Rolling Stones record, something that previously came almost instinctually."

"Some essential, invincible flame that burned deep in the band’s engine room had been extinguished."

"Yet as a unique and driving force in rock music, the band would no longer truly matter."

He should have added IMHO.

 

Yeah! They made their best stuff after this concert! IMHO of course...

 

I'll definitely have to keep an eye out for that. I'd love to hear Schneider's account of the '67 tour of Europe (I believe he travelled with the band on that tour?) and the 1969 tour also, along with his thoughts on Altamont. Who is publishing it?

Stanley Booth has had an eventful, sometimes tumultuous life, for certain. But I haven't found much to take issue with in his presentation of facts... Is there something I'm missing?

 

This is when I always burst out laughing when I watch the film:


And this person, for me anyway, is by far the scariest looking man in the film:

 

I often wonder about the audience members you see in the film too. Some of them you see more than once. Did they know they were even in it? Who were they? Is their identities known? Did they have any stories to tell?







This fella is also visible in one of the black and white photos taken.


Did these two really have a 'nice time'?

 

I wonder what their mother's thought when they saw their daughters obviously tripping on something!


Who's this lady? Did she get much for her 'Panther Defence Fund' that day?


You see this lady 2 or 3 times in the film. Later on she doesn't look as happy as she does here.


In the book there's some info on a big fat naked man getting really badly beaten up and got all his teeth knocked out during the Jefferson Airplane set. I presume this is him.


His dancing is crazy! But he's loving the music and fair play to him.

 

Was this chap even aware he was being filmed?


I saw some review of an Altamont bootleg on line and they said it was obvious this lady was 'obviously off her head on drugs'. She looks perfectly well and calm to me.




This fella just looks so cool.


I think this chap, who looks like he's having a great time at this point, was involved in the Jefferson Airplane brouhaha as you see him crawling out of a melee minus his shirt during that segment.

 

Right at the front of the Stones set and she looks like she's having a good time. Sometimes I just think, knowing what we know, if you were there you'd be out of there as fast as you could. Were these people unaware of what was going on around them?


Is this fellow a Hells Angel? He just looks too friendly.




I love this fellow. You just wanna take his hand and tell him it's all gonna be alright!



I wonder how they are now and what sort of of lives they've led since Dec 6th 1969.

 

Would be great, however unlikely, if any of the folks in these screencaps could add their memories to this discussion.

 

Great thread. I've not read the book but love the film - one of the greatest rock films ever made, no question.

Hard to deny that it's very much a 'Stones (or Jagger)-eye view' of events, though. That final footage of a sober and polite Mick watching the footage with regretful eyes is as good as adding 'this had nothing to do with us' as a tagline to the film.

This was the first of the 'bummer' rock festivals, where great sets were played but those who were there felt a sour aftertaste; and I don't think it was necessarily all to do with the violence. There was also a feeling of a divide opening up between the punters and the 'rich hippy rock stars' who had started to seem like some strange, rarefied other species (Stephen Stills made some outrageous and non-ironic comments to a heckler at the Big Sur festival a couple of years later). And in 1970, the Isle of Wight Festival became the ultimate 'bummer' gig, with counter-cultural insurgents literally tearing down walls to hear the music 'for free' (and forcing a stage confrontation with Joni Mitchell who had recently written a song about this very subject).

 

Man, there are some wacky conspiracy theories being posited in this thread. I really wonder what's going on in some peoples' noggins here.

 

Billy Jack?