When Woodstock Came to Texas

Poster for the Texas International Pop Festival,
August 30 - September 1, 1969.
(from Wikipedia)

It may surprise some of my truckbuddies to learn that Texas had its own hippie rock concert on Labor Day weekend, 1969, just a couple of weeks after the famous one in New York state.  I'm surprised, too:  I never heard of it, and neither did M.P.  We were both still in high school, far away from Dallas. And I was too square to care; still am. But as matter of social history in my own lifetime, it was interesting to stumble upon these news videos and reminiscences of the event, which some surviving participants say was life-changing.

First, an official video from the City of Lewisville, a little ways north of Dallas proper, where the festival was held in a large open field next to Interstate 35.  The site has been heavily redeveloped since then (see maps).  The promoter who first appears at 1:36 is a son of the founder of the Six Flags theme parks, Angus Wynn, Jr.

It says a lot about small-town Texas that the upright, God-fearing citizenry at the time were outraged, not by the long hair, rock music, and drugs, but by all the nekkid bodies skinny-dipping in the nearby lake in broad daylight!  The locals knew the kids were naked because they were out there in their motorboats, intently scrutinizing all that indecency through binoculars.

Notice what the newsman in the next clip says about "it's hard to know what to call these young people" - most of them were "weekend hippies" whose hair and clothes were still within the limits of respectability. In the next few years, what was strange and different, even shocking, in 1969 became ordinary:  that's how the fashion industry works. 

Just a couple of years after this event, I was sitting in a goverment class when the instructor posed a discussion question:  "What is a hippie?"  We all looked at each other mutely as we realized that "hippie" had become "normal."  Long-ish hair, flares or bell-bottoms, wide belts, long sideburns, mustaches, beards, and hip-hugging blue jeans - most young men dressed that way, at least for slogging around campus, regardless of their socio-political orientation.  The words "hippie" and "groovy" were already obsolete; but blue jeans - workman's clothing - became the default choice for casual wear, and remain so to this day. 

But 1969 was the starry-eyed Age of Aquarius:  harmony and understanding, sympathy and trust abounding.  It's poignant to hear the earnest young folks in these clips spout all those utopian sentiments of peace, love, and joy: "just be yourself, do what you want to do - people will love you for it." A happy thought, a hopeful thought - but mistaken. Human nature just doesn't work that way. But they surely found that out later on. 

This last video opens with a crotch shot that proves more than words ever could that rock and roll is all about sex, and vice versa.

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What We're Watching: Hauser in Concert at the Royal Albert Hall

Hauser is a great favorite of M.P.'s, and I like him too.  He played this outstanding concert of classical and popular music last May in London with guest artists Caroline Campbell, Aida Garifullina, and Lara Fabian.  As M.P. says, he's a superb cellist and a real showman to boot. Quite a treat for music lovers.

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Party at the Palace, 2022

The Platinum Jubilee festivities continue with a Party at the Palace, curiously featuring only two or three big names, and a long list of unknown youngsters whom nobody ever heard of.  Perhaps it's some sort of jubilee scheme to help disadvantaged children - the Queen is keen on that sort of thing.  And who knew Diana Ross was British?

Update, Midnight in London:  I was away from the computer and could not watch the concert, which is not really my cup of tea, but here is the whole phantasmagoria from the BBC:

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The T.A.M.I. Show

Our gay sister, the lovely Lesley Gore, singing at the T.A.M.I. Show -
when it was still respectable for a girl to sing rock and roll,
while dressed - and acting - like a lady.

My truckbuddy Tim over in sunny rainy Spain is working on another essay, which he's sent me a draft of - and something in it made me go look up some old sixties rock performances on YouTube. And to my amazement, I found that somebody has uploaded the complete film of the legendary T.A.M.I. Show from 1964 - lots of great music and classic performances there, thought the rest of you fellas might want to revisit your memories with this.

Performers include:

• The Beach Boys
• Chuck Berry
• James Brown
• Marvin Gaye
• Gerry & the Pacemakers
• Lesley Gore
• Jan and Dean
• Smokey Robinson and The Miracles
• The Rolling Stones
• The Supremes

Oh my, that was a good time to be young.  Who's your fave?

Rocking the Palace

Loyal crowds pack the length of the Mall, with
Buckingham Palace lit up in red, white, and blue
while a finale of fireworks explodes overhead

Amid a gala evening studded with rock stars, red-coated Guardsmen, fantastic light shows, and splendid fireworks, over half a million people assembled in the Mall and 18,000 in stands erected before the gates of Buckingham Palace to dance to the music, wave the Union Jack, and give an almighty cheer of thanks and jubilation to their Queen. The only dim spot in a colorful evening was the absence of the 90-year-old Duke of Edinburgh, who was rushed to hospital this afternoon with a bladder infection, and who will remain there several days, missing tomorrow's service of thanksgiving at St. Paul's Cathedral.

But as so many commentators and members of the public have said, for the Queen duty comes first, and the famous phrase might as well be her personal motto: "Keep Calm and Carry On." Tonight was no exception to that rule, as Her Majesty attended the concert - albeit arriving and hour and a half late - and afterwards lit the last of a world-spanning chain of more than four thousand beacons, to the cheers of her loyal subjects and an epic finale of fireworks and patriotic anthems.

A brief clip of the evening's highlights:



And here is the Prince of Wales's touching tribute to "Your Majesty - Mummy," followed by a great cheer from the crowds for his ailing father, and three cheers for the Queen:



Somewhat fuller clips are at the BBC website, not embeddable here:

Highlights from the Diamond Jubilee Concert

Prince Charles Pays Tribute to the Queen

Telegraph columnist Rowan Pelling shares her thoughts on the upwelling of renewed appreciation for the redoubtable Queen and for the monarchy:

Much has changed over the years, yet the presiding spirit remains the same. It is here, in front of the solid white edifice of Buckingham Palace, that the slumbering behemoth of our island nation is suddenly roused to patriotic fervour – much to the surprise, nowadays, of everyone involved. . . .

I bumped into many people of my generation, who were royal event novices. They gripped their flags with the anxious air of feminists gifted pink fairy wands. These were parents in their late thirties and forties, clutching the hands of sticky princesses, with face-painted infants riding high on their shoulders – all of whom had awoken one day and found that, far from being anarchists, republicans, socialist workers and punks (as they had once avowed back in the Eighties), they were middle-class pillars of the establishment, who now appreciated the benefits of a stable, affable monarchy. . . .

It’s these moments of sudden camaraderie that I find hardest to explain to the cynics and naysayers: the peculiar sense that you really are one big British and Commonwealth family, headed by an extraordinarily admirable matriarch and united by a common heritage. Individuals and insular families are lifted from self-centred lives behind closed front doors and made to feel the unaccustomed glory of nationhood. Complete strangers become neighbours because they are festooned in finery made of Union flags.

My eight-year-old son experienced something of this big-hearted, patriotic zeal on Sunday, as we walked through the streets of London towards the Thames. Dressed in a red, white and blue pirate ship T-shirt accessorised with gem-encrusted Union flag tattoos and carrying a large flag purchased at the Co-op, he drew smiles and comments from passers-by. “Everyone’s talking to each other today,” he said in wonder. “That’s why we have come,” I told him.

I want my boys to know the joyful, yet humbling sensation of being a tiny, atom-like part of an epic historical occasion. I would like them to recognise how fortunate they are to have a non-political head of state who reigns, but does not rule. I want them to know there’s nothing wrong with cheering and waving flags and indulging in occasional bouts of rousing patriotism.

The throngs who will cheer the Queen on her balcony today are justly proud of their monarch and of the 60 years of prosperity and stability most have enjoyed during her reign. Being there to thank her in person is the best way they can demonstrate that pride.

Wanda is Coming to Texas!

Comedienne Wanda Sykes outed herself during last November's

anti-Prop 8 demonstrations

Cyndia Lauper in last year's True Colors Tour

This just in from the Human Rights Campaign:

True Colors 2009! This summer, HRC has joined forces with Wanda Sykes and the True Colors Tour to bring you two incredible evenings of comedy in support of LGBT equality. The shows will take place Saturday, July 11, at the Austin Music Hall in Austin, TX, and Sunday, July 12 at the Nokia Theatre in Dallas, TX. Get your tickets today using the code "HRC"—the pre-sale ends Thursday, May 14 at 5 p.m.

Live Blogging the Inaugural Concert

I don't have satellite, but just discovered you can see it online at http://www.hbo.com/weareone/webcast/index.html.

Texas Time - CST

3:55 - Joe.My.God. is reporting that gay bishop Gene Robinson's invocation was not televised by HBO. (I didn't catch the first part of the concert, so I wouldn't have known.) Also that the guys in the red ties were indeed the DC Gay Men's Chorus, but were not announced on stage nor were they identified on screen. Right. Well, we have our work still to do here in America, don't we boys?

3:35 - In case you missed it, HBO will replay tonight at 7 Eastern and again at 11:30 EST. Go to http://www.hbo.com/weareone/ for details.

3:30 - End titles rolling on the screen, the Obamas start working through the people on stage, handshakes and hugs. A long shot: a big crowd on stage, all colors bunched together. Like America. Lincoln Memorial looks dark in the gathering dusk, wonder why they don't have it lit up brightly, that would have been my inclination. Well, a very nice concert and the beginning of what will culminate, to our great joy and relief, at noon on Tuesday. God bless America, what a long dark and gloomy time we have waited for this CHANGE to get here.

3:27 - Beyonce singing "America the Beautiful." Crowd singing along. All the performers coming back on stage, all the choirs, a color guard. "America, we are one" she closes it with.

3:23 - Some really old guy I should recognize but don't, singing "This Land Is Your Land" flanked by Springsteen - that other guy was somebody else, this is The Boss - and some really woofy guitarist with dark hair and stache. Red and blue sweatered choir singing behind them, crowd all singing along. The Obamas are singing too. Nobody is minding the cold. OMG just realized - the guy I first thought was Springsteen must have been John Mellenkamp. Jeeezus.

3:20 - "Asking you to come together as one people so we can carry forward the legacy of our founding fathers." Obama returns to his seat, crowd thunders their applause. Chant: O-BA-MA, O-BA-MA, O-BA-MA.

3:18 - Talking about bringing everbody together, black white native American Latino Asian, straight and GAY. Boys, that's really something for these old ears to hear.

3:11 - An honor guard from the five services marches to center stage. Some park-ranger looking guy brings out a bald eagle named Challenger, perched on his arm. Another ranger, another eagle, named Mr. Lincoln. All these folks leave, and Obama walks to the podium. Crowd goes wild. Your Head Trucker chokes up a little.

3:07 - U2 segues into another song I've never heard. Got a good beat though, you could dance to it. Sort of. Great camera cut to Obama, looking happy, confident, approving - and cold. Hope the secret service thought to fit him out with those little chemical heat packs in his gloves and boots that the hunters wear in cold weather. A few shots of the crowd, all bundled up but happily bouncing to the music, making the peace sign with their fingers.

3:03 - Now U2 is performing "In the Name of Love" which I've never heard. Guess they are doing okay with it, good crowd response. I'm just old enough to still feel a slight, small shock way in the back of my mind at the idea of a rock band performing at an important national event. And I waited all through that long, long campaign season to hear somebody play "Happy Days Are Here Again" - but nobody did. I'm amazed.

2:54 - Another Lincoln quote by a Somebody, and then another Somebody quoting Faulkner's Nobel speech: "the poet's voice helps man endure and prevail." Now two people named Usher and Shakira are singing an old Stevie Wonder song. Nice that they let some young unknown singers have a part in the festivities, probly will help their careers. Wait. OMG there at the organ - it's Stevie Wonder himself! God he's looking old . . . . Great to see him here though. Jeez, lookit them long, long dreadlocks, looks great on him, very cool.

2:48 - Now he's segued again into "We Shall Be Free" which I blogged about last week. Lyrics are very appropriate to the day, in this pro-tolerance anthem. God he's looking old. And he's younger than me!

2:46 - Now, just as inexplicably, Garth has segued into "Shout!" backed by a big chorus in red and blue sweaters. Garth has written and sung some good songs in his career, but I can't stand to watch him on stage; he always seems so gimmicky somehow - the guy from the feed store who somehow found his way on stage and is hamming it up.

2:44 - Garth Brooks just came out, singing "American Pie." I like the song, but seems a strange choice. The only thing particularly "American" about it is the title. Go figure. But the crowd seems to love it, waving and cheering.

2:38 - Tiger Woods talked about growing up in a military family and the sacrifices made by those who dedicate their lives to serving their country; introduced the USNA Glee Club, backing Renee Fleming singing "You'll Never Walk Alone," a lovely, lovely song.

2:33 - Will.i.am and Sheryl Crow are singing "Let's Get Together." Okay, but not a tune I recognize. God it looks cold up there - a gray, overcast day. Brrr. The Inaugural party with the Obamas and Bidens seems to be sitting in a glassed-around area at the foot of the steps of the Memorial; jeez, hope they got some heaters blowing down there.

2:25 - Queen Latifah (she's gay, right?) introduced a clip of Marian Anderson singing "My Country 'Tis of Thee"; now Josh Groban has come on stage to finish the song. Joined by Heather Headley, whoever that is. Nice arrangement and singing with feeling. Backed by a huge all-male chorus in black suits, white shirts, red ties. There's a couple of woofy-looking guys in there. A gay men's chorus?

2:20 - Some old anonymous looking guy is singing "Little Pink Houses." Wait. No. OMG, that can't be Springsteen!?!?!????? Jeezus, are we all really that damn old?

2:16 - James Taylor sang "Shower the people you love with love/Show them the way that you feel/Things are gonna work out fine if you only will . . . " Means a lot to someone of my generation to see James Taylor up there. He's got 4 backup singers, probably all Somebody to the younger generation, but I don't recognize them.

2:12 - Tom Hanks (God he looks old - and he's my age) just delivered a series of Lincoln quotes to Aaron Copeland's "Portrait of Lincoln" by the Marine Band. My favorite:

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.