"Outside Lands Festival"

Once the Valhalla for the Woodstock Generation and a bastian for the gifted musicians of the era, San Francisco has a litany of iconic bands and the documented history that mirrors the music and musicians of The Golden Age, i.e., 1967-1977. After nearly four decades the minds that orchestrated the greatest festival since the music and mayhem of Woodstock in 1969 have decided to expand their horizons and bring a festival of given magnitude back to the grassy knolls of Golden Gate Park. Ken Weinstein & Big Hassle Media, in conjuction with Superfly Productions and other Northern California promotions have ventured into the mystery & mystique that is synonymous with San Francisco and The Haight Ashbury and segued the aura of Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee to the ambience that lingers over the twenty-six square miles off The Great Highway and the legacy of Chet Helms and Bill Graham. Although the city has never allocated money for plaques of noted abodes from the era, the Victorians that housed legendary bands like Big Brother & The Holding Company (1090 Page Street ), The Grateful Dead (710 Ashbury), Janis Joplin (224 Lyon Street), Jefferson Airplane (2400 Fulton Street), Country Joe 7 The Fish (642-644 Ashbury), the Hendrix apartment on Haight Street, the first free clinic on Clayon or Jann Wenner (Rolling Stone Magazine) first office on Mission Street.

Many of the iconic bands that played The Fillmore West, the Fillmore Auditorium The Avalon Ballroom, The Matrix or The Ark are still alive and well and the legacy of those who have crossed over their personal River Styx are those of the folklore that has been perpetuated from decade to decade. Most of the noted poster artists of the sixties are still alive and well and inclusive of Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, Victor Moscoso and Wes Wilson, although Wes now lives in Arkansas.

Later day artist with notoriety are Bonnie McLean & Lee Conklin and these priceless artistic "pearls" are being sold for thousands of dollars. These were the glory days of "rock n' roll", a time when dance halls dominated the touring bands and the cult followings of The Grateful Dead and others of that ilk were as integral as the music and subsequent musicians. The days of free performances in Golden Gate Park (Speedway Meadow) and the Panhandle, adjacent to the Haight Ashbury entrance to Golden Gate Park are the great memories of sixties malcontents and the migration to the west coast.

Add those thoughts with the an organized event of this magnitude in August and the glory returns. Kudos to all those who have pondered and brought this festival to fruition.

The ghosts of Avalon will be stalking the premises but we need not live in the past, we do well to remember what once was and grasp what will be. Plaudits to all involved for this Herculean effort and for coming to the once heralded promise land for the youth of America. The footsteps of luminaries in this land of "rock n' roll" are difficult to emulate but if a resurrection from the past can be accomplished, it is wthin the minds of Superfly Productions and Ken Weinstein and Big Hassle Media.......as it should be. The legends of the past hover over the city like the fog over Golden Gate Bridge so we expect the memories of the past will bring the denizens of suburban Haight Ashbury and the pundits of psychedelia to this neoteric three day extravaganza. We now embark on putting new footprints in the sand along The Great Highway adjacent to Golden Gate Park and etch them into mental documentation of things that make you go....hmmmm. The glory of the past comes full circle and to think, it only took forty years of the most sensationalized and romanticized epoch of time and music to find those who could bring communal comaraderie through music back to international acclaim. Those of us who know the power of the music and the surreal esthetics of The Counter Culture embrace all who conceived this event and our respect and undying gratitude will linger all of our lives.

Cheers
Don Aters - Editor
Haight Street Music News - 3/12/08