BOB WEIR REFLECTS ON MONTEREY POP 40 YEARS LATER

The legendary Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead looks back on America’s first Rock Festival, Monterey Pop which occured 40 years ago this summer.

In what many regard as the true beginning of the Summer of Love, Monterey Pop Festival certainly was the first Rock N Roll Festival in the world and that magical experience which launched the careers of many bands is now celebrating it’s 40 year anniversary. Monterey Pop, which brought more than 200,000 music enthusiasts, was planned by music producer Lou Adler, singers Michelle Phillips and John Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas, producer Alan Pariser, and publicist Derek Taylor and the festival board included members of The Beatles and The Beach Boys, although neither band did actually perform at the festival. It’s no secret that Monterey Pop was the legendary platform for artists Jimi Hendrix, who made his first major American appearance, and Janis Joplin, who also made her vocal presence known, but it also was the first benefit show as all aritsts performed for free and the festival costs fans just $1. Some of the bands who performed during that ground breaking weekend were The Who, The Grateful Dead, Simon & Garfunkel, Jefferson Airplane, Steve Miller, Otis Redding, Booker T and The MG’s, Canned Heat, Buffalo Springfield and The Bryds.

We caught up with Bob Weir, who has been apart of all the great festivals from Monterey Pop and Woodstock all the way to Bonnaroo, to get his thoughts on Monterey Pop forty years later.

“It was the first Rock and Roll Festival and it was wonderful fun. Especially so far as the San Francisco rock n roll culture and the London rock n roll culture got a chance to get together and mix it up a bit.”

Like all great festivals there’s a lot of special musical moments happening not just on the stages but also behind the scenes as well. Weir also remembered the back stage jams that were going on at Monterey Pop.

“Aside from that the party back stage was pretty damn wonderful. I remember at one point I got involved in a jam with myself and some other pretty good folks playing and this guy that I had recently met, Paul Simon, he comes up and he wants to play and he’s got an acoustic guitar and we’re all playing electric. I had an extra jack where you could plug in and I said ‘Paul grab one of those electric guitars.’ and he said ‘I’ll just play my acoustic and you’ll feel my vibe. I guess I did. It was a fun jam and I had a lot of fun playing with him even though I didn’t hear a damn thing he did.”

More so than any other artist performing at Monterey Pop, it was Jimi Hendrix, who was booked on the insistence of Paul McCartney and The Who, that left an impression on the festival goers as his performance has since grown to legendary status. We also talked with Weir about forging a friendship with Jimi Hendrix upon his first meeting, at Monterey Pop.

“And then this other kid came in and he was black and he had a head band on and there was no place else to plug in and I had this one extra slot and he plugged into that slot. Anyway, he plugs in and we start playing together and it clicked immediately and we had a great time and we were hanging off this big tall Standelle (Amp) like a couple of crazed monkeys. It took out the hearing in my left ear but it was worth it. We developed a really cool little friendship and that was Jimi Hendrix and every time we were in the neighborhood we’d see each other and hang and all that kind of stuff. It was a great way to meet a guy like that.”

Monterey Pop will also be celebrating their 40th Anniversary on July 28th and July 29th, 2007 as they have announced The Summer of Love Festival. Held on the same hallowed grounds as Monterey Pop, the 2007 edition will feature five of the original acts who performed at the ‘67 Monterey Pop Festival including Jefferson Starship, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Electric Flag and the Grateful Dead’s Tom Constanten have been confirmed. Headlining the event is Riders on the Storm, featuring Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek of The Doors along with new front man Brett Scallions formerly of Fuel.