background preloader

Woodstock V. Altamont

Facebook Twitter

KSAN's Post-Altamont Broadcast. Hells Angels plotted to kill Mick Jagger. The Rolling Stones singer was the target of an assassination attempt which only failed because the boat the would-be killers were using was swamped in a storm. Details of the plot have been revealed by an FBI agent as part of a BBC series on the American crime fighting agency. The attempt to kill Sir Mick was made by a group of Hells Angels after the infamous Altamont Speedway Free Concert in 1969, which the Rolling Stones had organised and for which the motorcycle gang reportedly provided security. Meredith Hunter, a black 18-year-old member of the audience, was stabbed and kicked to death by a group of Hells Angels, in an attack captured on film cameras.

As a result, Sir Mick allegedly refused to use their services again. "They planned the attack from the sea so they could enter his property from the garden and avoid security at the front. The boat was hit by a storm and all of the men were thrown overboard. Sir Mick was unavailable for comment in time for our deadline. Jann S. Wenner | Archives | The Rolling Stone Interview: Jagger Remembers.

Being interviewed is one of Mick Jagger’s least favorite pastimes, a necessity that accompanies his career. A typical session with a journalist lasts 20 minutes. His life has been public for so long, he sees little need to explain or justify himself and has everything to be gained by holding on to what privacy he has – such as the privacy of his thinking – as well as the value of a little mystery. Nonetheless, after a 25-year professional and personal friendship, during which Mick and I have often discussed the private affairs of his life and the band, I suggested doing a long interview.

He agreed, and we proceeded on the basis of trust and familiarity. This interview was conducted in three-to four-hour sessions in Palm Beach, Fla.; Montreal; and Cologne, Germany. We entered into this as a collaboration, and despite his reluctance about being interviewed, I think he enjoyed the reminiscing and was happy to get some things on the record. Herewith, the ringmaster. ~ J.S.W. Yeah. Yeah. No. Altamont Concert: 1960s End with Bloodshed and Murder | NewsInHistory.com.

Altamont 1969 Story - Aquarius Wept - Meredith Hunter Altamont Death. Originally published in the August 1970 issue Everybody had heard of The Rolling Stones, but until the day they played a free concert at the drag strip, nobody but hard-core auto-racing fans in Northern California had ever heard of Altamont. Even the press, trying to sort out what happened there that day, was unable to figure out whether Altamont was in Livermore or Tracy, the two nearest suburban towns.

Altamont is just a name on a map, a former flag stop on the Western Pacific Railroad, with a garage (W.J. Armstrong, Summit Garage, Altamont, California) and an abandoned church, and it's miles from the Altamont Raceway where the concert was held. The Raceway is in the crotch of the hills at the southeast end of the Livermore Valley, on the south side of the eight-lane freeway Interstate 580, about fifty miles east of Oakland.

The day The Rolling Stones played there, the name became etched in the minds of millions of people who love pop music and who hate it as well. The Rolling Stones at Altamont: the day the music died. Mick Jagger had no such luck. His realisation came instantly. Stanley Booth, another writer, saw it happen: 'Mick got off the first helicopter with Ronnie [Schneider, the tour manager] when a kid comes running up to Mick and says: “I hate you,” or something, and punches Mick right in the mouth.’ Ronnie recalls: 'I remember Mick screaming: “Don’t hurt him, don’t hurt him!” Me, I wanted to kill the guy right away. Jo Bergman, the Stones’ office manager, saw it too: 'On the day of the show there were these ugly people all around. 'Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas came,’ says Booth, 'bearing tales of how the Angels were fighting with civilians, women, and each other, bouncing full cans of beer off people’s heads.’

During the Jefferson Airplane set, a Hells Angel had beaten Marty Balin, the lead singer, unconscious. Bill Wyman, bassist: 'We could be halfway through a song and suddenly there was some commotion, and the Angels were just beating the s--- out of some guy. Hells Angels. History[edit] Some of the early history of the HAMC is not clear, and accounts differ.

According to Ralph 'Sonny' Barger, founder of the Oakland chapter, early chapters of the club were founded in San Francisco, Gardena, Fontana, as well as his chapter in Oakland, and other places independently of one another, with the members usually being unaware that there were other Hells Angels clubs. One of lesser known clubs existed in North Chino/South Pomona, CA Late 1960s-as late as1970. Other sources claim that the Hells Angels in San Francisco were originally organized in 1953 by Rocky Graves, a Hells Angel member from San Bernardino ("Berdoo") implying that the "Frisco" Hells Angels were very much aware of their forebears.[13] The "Frisco" Hells Angels were reorganized in 1955 with thirteen charter members, Frank Sadilek serving as President, and using the smaller, original logo. Criminal activities and incidents[edit] Insignia[edit] New York Hells Angels patch.

Membership[edit] See also[edit] Richie Havens, Folk Singer Who Opened Woodstock, Has Died : The Record. Hide captionThe crowd at Richie Havens' Woodstock-opening set on Aug. 15, 1969. Paul DeMaria/New York Daily News via Getty Images The crowd at Richie Havens' Woodstock-opening set on Aug. 15, 1969. Richie Havens once told NPR that he believed all music is folk music. Listen to Havens speak about Woodstock, Greenwich Village and why he loved performing in Neda Ulaby's remembrance, broadcast on Morning Edition, at the audio link on this page.

Richie Havens, a Brooklyn-born singer who sang gospel as a teenager, began playing folk music in Greenwich Village clubs in the 1960s and was the opening act at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair in 1969, died Monday of a heart attack at his home in Jersey City, N.J., according to his agent. Havens had a long career as a musician, but if he had done nothing else, his performance at Woodstock would secure his place in American music history. As a black performer, he was a rarity in the folk-dominated Greenwich Village scene.