Monterey Pop Festival

forget woodstock! there was a little event two years before that called the monterey pop festival & it was put together by some well known musicians, promoters, & fat cats at some record labels of the time. none of that really matters once you hear the music; something special happened that weekend that brought big brother's front woman janis joplin, jimi hendrix, & otis redding into the spotlight truly for the first time. by 1970, all 3 musicians were gone & it makes me wonder what would've happened to music if we hadn't lost them.


big brother & the holding company performed with frontwoman Janis Joplin. it was one of the first "big" performances for the band & it brought them into the spotlight; they were signed immediately to columbia records. in the filmed performance, there's a moment where the camera pans into the crowd & you see a stunned mama cass watching janis croon on stage like the worlds coming to an end & you can tell mama cass was just blown away by her. janis is synonymous with the 1960s & the hippie culture because the world hadn't seen anything like her until then ... & they haven't since.




you can't forget the immortalized image of Jimi Hendrix lighting his guitar on fire during his version of the kinks song Wild Thing & then smashing it. no wonder pete townshend (the who) didn't want to go on stage after hendrix: ending a set with the sacrifice of a guitar would've been a hard act to follow....




but what really rocks my socks is Mr. Otis Redding. he was/is soul. every song he sang was infectious. you can't listen to I've Been Loving You Too Long without thinking: "oh otis, who broke your heart?" & you start singing those lyrics & begging right along with him.