Harvey Kubernik: In 1967 I heard about the event on the local
AM and FM radio stations in Los Angeles. The Monterey festival was 400 miles
from Hollywood.
Elliot Mintz on KPFK-FM was giving
reports all the time as well as DJ's on KRLA-AM. Phil Proctor of the Firesign
Theater was giving news on the airwaves from the gathering.
I was well underage and my mother
said, "When you are age 18 and graduate from high school you can go to any music
festival you want."
I wasn't bummed out, just made me want to see all these
acts in 1968 and '69 when they performed in town. The weekend I graduated high
school I saw The Jimi Hendrix Experience at a local festival in Devonshire Downs
along with Spirit, The Edwin Hawkins Singers, Ike & Tina Turner and Joe
Cocker.
I started organically
collecting items from Monterey and attended the 1969 movie premiere of
Monterey Pop in Beverly Hills at the Fine Arts Theater. I went to
multiple screenings around my after-high school day job. My brother Ken, who
co-authored the book with me checked out the movie a bunch of times, too. The
movie theater was 25 yards up the street from where our father worked on
Wilshire Blvd.
How
significant was the move to nonprofit event?
HK: More
significant than anyone will ever realize, except for maybe producer Lou Adler.
Filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker in the book told me he knew Lou and co-producer John
Phillips were hatching an interesting plan when they took the money off the
table. As far as the ramifications of Monterey staged as a non-profit event,
all I really have to do is point to the ongoing Monterey International Pop
Festival Foundation, a music-themed charity endeavor that is in year 44 of
operation, and has helped so many people.
Sometime in the early 1980s when I
didn't have health insurance and had a real bad sore throat, I went to The Los
Angeles Free Clinic for some antibiotics. I noticed there was a wing of the
building that was made possible from support from The Monterey International Pop
Festival Foundation. This was never lost on me. That place and the San Francisco
Free Clinic in 1967 or early '68, right after the concerts, received some of the
first grants from the proceeds.
Was this the
greatest concert ever?
HK: Possibly.
Probably. Depends on what the music does to you in a live setting. However,
monitor the 32 acts at Monterey over three days that were booked. And then
factor in
the global platform and subsequent
media coverage they received from appearing. Outdoor music festival culture was
never the same. And the records you heard on the FM dial and then bought for
your own record collection were different than the week before.
Please compare and contrast with
Woodstock.
HK: Can't really
compare or contrast. Monterey was a non-profit adventure. Woodstock was
conceived as a way to make a profit. A whole different mindset and karma is
attached to Monterey. One was planned in West Hollywood and executed in Northern
California. The other happened in New York.
And one of the main investors,
producers, of Woodstock saw the movie Monterey Pop and decided to help
bankroll Woodstock. Chip Monck did the lights and was heavily involved in the
stage design at both venues. At least six of the bands who debuted or performed
at Monterey two years later played at Woodstock.
Everything starts in the
West.
Only in 2007, after speaking with a
booking agent who helped package the Newport '69 in Devonshire Downs festival,
two months before Woodstock -- maybe 30,000-40,000 people -- did he tell me he
earlier booked a few of the acts for Monterey in 1967. In an interview he
discussed how so many agents and managers saw what Lou and John did putting on a
non-profit show for an entire weekend, and they all got together and wanted to
put something to make a profit.
What is the quintessential MIPF performance? Did anyone steal
the show?
HK: When I was a
teenager I always thought the Jimi Hendrix Experience was it. Mind blowing.
Then, I sort of started to feel Janis Joplin with Big Brother & The Holding
Company stole the show. Then over a 25 year period I began to vibe the
scene-stealer was Otis Redding with Booker T. & The MGs, and the horn
section. This century Ravi Shankar is now emerging as the quintessential
performance. Maybe because he brought the East to the West that afternoon. Ken
and I just saw him in late-September in L.A. give a recital at age 91.
On the
most recent DVD I encourage anyone to go watch Laura Nyro sing "Poverty
Train."
Would MIPF have made Beach Boys cooler or would they have made
it less cool?
HK: Yes. It
would have been even better and way cooler if they played. They were asked and
initially on all the advertising. Remember, context is king. If they had
gigged, their repertoire would have been pretty much tunes from Pet
Sounds and also including selections from the halted or "landlocked"
SMiLE, it would have really positioned them deeper into the emerging FM
radio world and listenership.
I will add, and this is something
D.A. Pennebaker told me although it might not be totally accurate, but he has a
great memory: he believes the sound board mix he employed for his movie
Monterey Pop was mixed by Lou Adler and John Phillips on an eight-track
machine that Brian Wilson owned at the time. So, Brian was involved in some
technical or spiritual aspect of the festival's audio results. I asked Brian but
he could not remember. But he always had the latest sound system around town,
even an eight-track in 1966.
How did LA vs SF play
out?
HK: It's pretty much documented in the book. The
"Hollywood" people, the bands and their commercial reality weirded out a lot of
the closed-minded Bay area folks. Believe me, most of them wanted to have hits
on the AM radio dial. From the bands to the crowd members. If it wasn't for the
production acumen of Adler and Phillips and their attention to detail in advance
of the dates - can you imagine any other team trying to do this sort of event in
a six week period?
Needless to say, all these San
Francisco bands and their managers at the time, right after Monterey signed
with Hollywood and Southern California-based record labels and many of
these anti-Hollywood musicians ended up recording their debut LP's and other
albums on Sunset Blvd. at studios like RCA.
How do you think Jefferson
Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow would sound if not tracked and mixed in
Hollywood?
What are the
significant technical achievements?
HK: Certainly
the sound system Adler and the staff made possible at Monterey helped the
artists and the audience. I'm sure advances were made for outdoor events that
evolved from what was initiated at Monterey in logistics involving sound
delivery, monitors, speakers, travel and food arrangements.
Plus, Chip Monck had to invent so
many things subject specific to the sound and lighting collaboration. And
building a vehicle for sound and light to travel. Until then, many bands and
performers had little amps, or played through a house PA or a sound
system provided by the show promoter.
In 1971, Chip Monck did the lights
for George Harrison & Friends and The Concert For Bangla Desh. Another
non-profit event that still helps out the world today.
Sonically and technically, Monterey
in 1967 changed the game. And we all get to benefit from it. From Newport '69 at
Devonshire Downs in the Northridge area of Southern California held in June
1969, to the yearly Coachella festival in California.
Was MIPF a "moment"? Was it a beginning or an end? What was the
spirit of MIPF?
HK: It was a
moment but that moment continues. From the charity foundation to writers and
music lovers like myself who were and still informed by some of the ideals and
concepts gleaned from Monterey. Adding to the music and recordings millions of
people first experienced as a direct result of what was presented that June 1967
weekend in Monterey.
Al Kooper, who was the assistant
stage manager and also played a set at Monterey, made a couple of musical
connections in and around his Monterey world that helped him when he formed
Blood, Sweat & Tears. Go listen to that debut album.
Things were never the same after
that June festival ended. The recording artists began to get more control of
their artwork and recordings. I'm sure established record label advances went up
for new artists. And concert fees probably were higher in 1968 from 1967,
primarily owing to what Monterey put in motion. Then factor in record label
executives, like Clive Davis and Joe Smith, who inked bands from seeing them for
the first time live.
Things changed quickly. By
1968 all sorts of moments happened that were not what was on display or captured
on film at Monterey. Fashion always moves and the music always moves,
too.Steve Cropper told me he was real
pleased, now looking back, and glad, that Monterey took place in 1967.
Because in April '68 in Memphis, his regional horror was a new reality with the
murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. Then in Los Angeles with the murder of Robert
F. Kennedy.
The thing is, Monterey never ended.
Even Lou mentioned to me since he deals daily with the Monterey Foundation
and licensing of items that aid musicians and people, "It's like managing an
act."
I see the spirit of Monterey
continuing. All the time. This book brings it to a whole new level, augmenting
the existing CD soundtracks and the DVD's culled from the original festival.
With all the CD reissues of many of
the acts that played at Monterey, coupled with new mono versions of the Mamas
and the Papas debut LP in release again, new ears discovering Moby Grape, the
increase in people buying vinyl, and all the constant interest around this book
and the still glowing Summer of Love mentality, I keep believing it still has a
potent spirit. It has become cross-generational. Parents and their kids buying
all the products associated with this cosmic and very real deal era will always
keep going.
http://www.mwe3.com/reviews/APerfectHaze/
A
PERFECT HAZE: The Illustrated History Of the Monterey International Pop
Festival
(Santa Monica Press)
Of all the "turning point" musical events of
the 1960s, perhaps none stands out more than the fabled June, 1967 Monterey Pop
Festival. There's so many great bands, songs and stories to recall from that
zenith in American pop culture history, the best of which is finally put into a
"retrospective" print form by authors Harvey Kubernik and his brother Kenneth
Kubernik in a
beautifully laid out and designed
book entitled "A Perfect Haze - The Illustrated History Of the Monterey
International Pop Festival."
Released in late 2011, as a
fantastic, prominent coffee table edition by Santa Monica Press, the 256 page
book is perhaps the ultimate exposé on the Monterey Pop event. With this first
ever officially endorsed illustrated history of the Monterey Pop festival, the
Kubernik brothers put the event into context through a myriad of color pictures
of the festival as well as keen
editorial insights and detailed interviews
with some of the key surviving artists who appeared at the festival. For
example, the part of the book chronicling the set by The Byrds is quite graphic
in its remembrances, including discussing the rift that was ironically tearing
the band apart at the time.
Interviews in the book with both
Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman clearly depict that rift between them and soon
to be departing Byrd David Crosby, who clearly had other things planned for his
future outside the Byrds. A shame and a real loss for music fans at the time,
but with Crosby Stills & Nash just a couple years off, and The Byrds still
releasing brilliant studio albums who, at the time, was going to complain? It's
just that cool with the book
exquisitely laid out in print form, featuring a
myriad of key pictures detailing the great and extensive list of bands and
artists who brought their now fabled music to the Monterey Pop stage that
weekend-including The Mama's And The Papa's, The Who, The Association, Jimi
Hendrix, Buffalo Springfield, The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Jefferson
Airplane and much, much more.
Harvey Kubernik is one of the key
music history authors in America today and his, and his brother Ken's, insights
into this amazing, once in a lifetime event is brought into sharp focus within A
Perfect Haze, which also features a foreword by festival organizer Lou Adler and
an
afterword by the Mama's And Papa's Michelle Phillips.
Pop culture enthusiasts-don't miss
A Perfect Haze.
mwe3.com presents an interview with HARVEY
KUBERNIK, co-author of A Perfect Haze
Interview written by Robert
Silverstein for mwe3.com
mwe3: Why Monterey Pop and why
now?
HARVEY KUBERNIK: Why not? It is a landmark event that
changed the world we inhabit. I've always felt it was somewhat neglected for all
the acts and concepts introduced that then enabled musical pop culture to
advance in so many directions. There is a distinct line that can be drawn from
this Monterey festival to Coachella. Let alone the music and subsequent
recording artists first exposed in a national showcase that have invaded your LP
and CD
collection for 44 years.
As for why now? As Dennis Dragon
says, "We don't define it. We just do it."
I'm a writer. The producer of the
Coachella festival emailed me and told me that when he
started producing his
first shows they were done at Lou Adler's Roxy Theater years ago. He also
volunteered that he really learned and appreciated from producers Lou Adler and
John Phillips at the time of Monterey, was the idea of a multi-stacked lineup of
rock bands for three days and nights.
mwe3: What
inspired the title A Perfect Haze and what were the key factors involved in the
book coming together in 2011?
HK: The title
emerged after a discussion with my younger brother Kenneth, the co-author. It's
a nod to "Purple Haze," the Jim Hendrix tune. And, the festival went off
perfectly. So the title is a variation on this and the publisher
dug it.
mwe3: How challenging was it to assemble all the new
interviews with the key surviving artists from the Monterey
festival?
HK: It is always a challenge. However, there were
enough characters still around who wanted to participate. I had interviewed Ravi
Shankar in 1997 for "HITS" Magazine about that Monterey event. And, in 2004, I
conducted the first in a series of interviews with filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker,
who directed Monterey Pop, the festival film, after he shot Don't Look Back,
his
black and white celluloid portrait of Bob Dylan's 1965 UK tour.
In 2007 I then interviewed a lot of musicians who performed at
Monterey, and producer Lou Adler for a couple of UK and US music magazines. Al
Kooper is really a yenta and had tremendous recall on every aspect. He was
the assistant stage manager and also played a short set. It's now on
the DVD.
I had some potent archive and never published or unedited catalog
material waiting for a larger print home. I then added many new voices for the
book who were on the bill, the never
included or overlooked acts with a plethora of concert-goers,
booking agents, photographers and technical people. Everyone I asked was happy
to go down memory lane, except for a couple of people whose PR person could
not deliver.
mwe3: How did you become involved in the A Perfect Haze
book and how did you get involved with Santa Monica Press?
HK: I was always planning and researching a book about
Monterey for this entire decade. It was something I first discussed with Ravi
Shankar in his home in Encinatas, California, in my 1997 encounter with
him.
I had gone to the premiere of Monterey Pop in 1969 at a Beverly
Hills movie theater. I just heard from the girl Lesley I took as my date that
night. I saw another couple of showings as well. I've been connected with
the enduring and endearing 1967 world of Monterey for over 40 years.
My brother saw it as well at the same theater.
Anytime there was a CD or DVD, like the 2007 Jimi Hendrix DVD from
the event, I wrote about it and did deeper research and interviews. As
you know, I write for myself. Even when there's no book, magazine or
online assignment.
Then I joined forces with my brother Ken, who is an excellent
writer, who loves the lore and the lure of the ongoing Monterey legacy. A book
company I had worked with previously did offer a contract but their requirements
were just not acceptable. And I kept collecting items and making connections
'cause I knew a book would happen.
Plus, I was always encouraged by record producer and author, Andrew
Loog Oldham, who was part of the production team that created the
Monterey festival in the first place. "Man, just keep going."
Then, the owner of Santa Monica Press called me up after the
publication of my "Canyon of Dreams: The Magic And The Music Of Laurel Canyon"
book, congratulating me on the work, the writing and the photos
and memorabilia displayed. I had known him for over 25 years since he was a
student at UCLA and wrote for "The Daily Bruin." Fellow Pisces. He had politely
passed on my previous four books and manuscript ideas over the last 10 years. He
said, "When you
have something again, bring it to me with a proposal." So, I
called him up and it developed from there.
mwe3: Also what's going on these days wit h Monterey Pop
producer Lou Adler and what part did Lou play in the A Perfect Haze book?
HK: The roles Lou Adler and Howard Frank from his office
played in the book were plentiful. Not just Lou making himself accessible for my
interviews and information, but way beyond by also providing his own
'Monterey' archives for usage and exhibition.
In addition, suggesting some
specific people to track down and interview like lighting and stage designer
Chip Monck and the initial contact for Michelle Phillips, who assisted in the
event planning in West Hollywood around her Mama's and the Papa's gig.
Both Ken and I learned a lot about how Lou has been shaping and
guiding the Monterey International Pop Festival Fund for the last 44 years. Some
of that specific charity work is acknowledged in our book.
Lou is still very active in the music business. He has a slew of CD
and DVD reissues out. From Carole King's Deluxe Edition of Tapestry, an album
he originally produced for his Ode Records label, to four Spirit
expanded re-releases. There's also a blu-ray DVD of his The Rocky Horror
Picture Show movie. A few years back he reissued several Merry Clayton albums
in Japan.
mwe3: How would you compare festivals: Monterey to
Woodstock?
HK: There really should be no comparison.
Monterey was a nonprofit venture. Woodstock, by initial design, was produced
for profit. But the influence of Monterey on Woodstock is obvious. From some of
the bands that were introduced nationally in 1967 to their Woodstock booking in
1969: Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Paul Butterfield, Canned Heat,
Country Joe and the Fish, Janis Joplin, though not a member of Big Brother &
The Holding Company at that time. And, cats like Chip Monck, who initiated some
of the technology of lighting and sound at Monterey later did that same function
at Woodstock and handled the stage announcements. His technical acumen still
benefits contemporary arena and festival concert lighting and sound
endeavors.
Monterey was some sort of model for the birth of the Woodstock
festival. Only in the sense that their outdoor festival was a direct result
of what John Phillips and Lou Adler accomplished at Monterey. In fact, one
of the producers of Woodstock saw the movie Monterey Pop just before he
became one of the major investors in Woodstock to put it in motion.
I also
think the girls were cuter at Monterey.
mwe3: How about your other favorite reflections /
revelations of Monterey Pop?
HK: In the Monterey Pop movie, the original print and
film, Ravi Shankar, Otis Redding and his band, Jefferson Airplane and the
seamless direction Pennebaker wove around the gathering. No interviews in the
documentary. The movie shows the crowd and the artists who played as one in
some sort of sonic and mind collaboration. In the more recent The Complete
Monterey Pop Festival, out in DVD and blue-ray, a few new highlights have
emerged with these retail items.
Just finally seeing some film of The
Association that afternoon. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Country Joe and the
Fish and The Electric Flag with Michael Bloomfield documented. Very groovy.
When pressed, my fave rave moment is the appearance of Laura Nyro singing
"Poverty Train." Just stunning.
Thanks to Harvey Kubernik and Jeff Goldman @ www.SantaMonicaPress.com
All photos copyright ©
Henry Diltz
