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Saturday, August 15, 2009

Woodstock 40th Anniversary (1969-2009)

Ahh yes, Woodstock.

Even though it was established as a township in upstate New York in 1787, for the past 40 years the name has been synonimous with one of the most widely known cultural events of our lifetime, the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, held on Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, New York from Friday, August 15th to Monday, August 18th, 1969.

Unfortunately, my parents forbade me to go to the event, and said if I did go, to not bother coming back home.

So instead, I waited a year for the movie and the soundtrack album to come out, to experience what 300,000 attendees heard and saw that wonderful summer weekend.

It is my pleasure to re-create the awesome musical performances at Woodstock by compiling some of the songs from each performers set, in chronological order, into a playlist of 142 songs.

Enjoy!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock_Festival

http://www.woodstock.com/

Woodstock
http://www.playlist.com/playlist/17572539659

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Les Paul (June 9, 1915 – August 13, 2009)

Today the world lost one of the great innovators in music, guitar legend Les Paul, who passed away today at the age of 94 from complications from severe pneumonia.

Countless guitarists over the last 50 years have played and revered their Gibson Les Paul guitars, including myself, having owned my 1958 Les Paul Jr. since 1975.

Les's contributions to the world of guitar music can never be overstated.

I hope you enjoy the songs by Les Paul & his wife Mary Ford on this tribute playlist.

Les Paul, you will truly be missed, and your legacy will live on in the music of many of the great guitarits of our time.



Cheers to you, Les!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/13/obit.les.paul/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Paul

Les Paul

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Phish @ Shoreline Amphitheater Mountain View, CA Wed. 08-05-09

For those of you who were in attendance at the Phish concert held at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View CA. on Thursday night August 5, 2009 under a full moon, this will bring back some vivid and not-so-vivid memories.

For those of you, like myself, who were not there, this is what you missed!

Enjoy this semi-recreation of the show!

Cheers,

Mick

Phish
http://www.playlist.com/playlist/17460679691

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Funk on the Green #1 - Oakland Stadium - Sat. 08-04-79

Hello Readers,

Today is the 30th anniversary of the Funk on the Green #1 afternoon outdoor concert, held at the Oakland Stadium on Saturday, August 4th, 1979.

Not only was I there, but it was my first show working as a "Bluecoat", who were the security personnel for the concert's promoter, Bill Graham Presents.

I had expressed an interest in being a Bluecoat a month earlier while working as an employee of BASS Tickets, after helping the Bluecoats, with assistance from the Oakland Police Department, to break up a counterfeit ticket ring working out of L.A. that had scalpers selling counterfeit concert tickets printed on Bass ticket stock, at a freeway exit on highway 880, just outside of the Oakland Coliseum complex.

So there I was, working my first BGP show as a Bluecoat, and what a show it was!

This was an amazing lineup comprised of the top funk and soul acts at that time, during a period in music history that saw a radical mixture of genres on the radio that included punk, metal, pop, country, disco and funk.

The groups performing that funky day were as follows;

Parliament-Funkadelic


Bootsy's (Collins) Rubber Band

Brides of Funkenstein

The Barkays

Sister Sledge

Confunkshun

Parlet

And as if that wasn't enough for one day, they needed Bluecoats to volunteer to go over and work the Grateful Dead show at the Oakland Auditorium by Lake Merritt that night.

Of course I said yes, which started an amazing 13 year run of working Dead shows, all the way up until 1992, when I retired as a Bluecoat after that year's Bammies at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.


Grateful Dead

"What a long strange trip it's been!"

Here is a playlist featuring some of the artists that played at the Funk on the Green #1, on Saturday August 4, 1979.

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Mick

Funk on the Green #1 - Aug. 4, 1979