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Are you feeling lucky? 46 00:01:59.319 --> 00:02:15.520 Notions you are now listening to True Murder, The most 47 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:18.919 shocking killers in true crime history and the authors that 48 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:23.479 have written about them Gasey, Bundy, Dahmer, The. 49 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:25.199 Nightstalker, DTK. 50 00:02:26.120 --> 00:02:29.919 Every week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking 51 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:34.199 and infamous killers in true crime history. True Murder with 52 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:37.680 your host, journalist and author Dan Zufanski. 53 00:02:47.639 --> 00:02:52.520 Good evening. In this breathtaking cultural history filled with exclusive, 54 00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:58.159 never before revealed details, Celebrated rock journalist Joel Selvin tells 55 00:02:58.199 --> 00:03:01.599 the definitive story of the Rolling Stones infamous Altamont Concert 56 00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:05.560 in San Francisco, the disastrous historic event that marked the 57 00:03:05.719 --> 00:03:10.560 end of the idealistic nineteen sixties in the Annals of 58 00:03:10.639 --> 00:03:14.400 rock history. The Altamont Speedway Free Festival on December sixth, 59 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:18.360 nineteen sixty nine has long been seen as a distorted 60 00:03:18.360 --> 00:03:22.280 twin of Woodstock, the day that shattered the sixties promise 61 00:03:22.360 --> 00:03:25.199 of peace and love when a concertgoer was killed by 62 00:03:25.240 --> 00:03:29.080 a member of the Hell's Angels, the notorious biker club 63 00:03:29.560 --> 00:03:32.840 acting as security. While most people know of the events 64 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:35.599 from the film Gimme Shelter, the whole story has remained 65 00:03:35.639 --> 00:03:42.080 buried in various accounts, rumor, and myth until now. Altamont 66 00:03:42.199 --> 00:03:46.159 explores Rock's Darkest Day, a fiasco that began well before 67 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:49.800 the climatic death of Meredith Hunter and continued beyond their 68 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:55.840 infamous December Night. Joel Salvin probes every aspect of the show, 69 00:03:55.879 --> 00:03:59.639 from the stones hastily plan tour preceding the concert, to 70 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:03.439 the bat that swept through the audience, to other deaths 71 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:06.479 that also occurred that evening to capture the full scope 72 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:10.120 of the tragedy and its aftermath. He also provides an 73 00:04:10.120 --> 00:04:12.319 in depth look at the Grateful Dead's role in the 74 00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:18.279 events leading to Altamont, examining the bands behind the scenes 75 00:04:18.360 --> 00:04:20.839 presence in both arranging the show and hiring the Hell's 76 00:04:20.839 --> 00:04:24.480 Angels as security. The product of twenty years of exhaustive 77 00:04:24.519 --> 00:04:27.480 research and dozens of interviews with many key players, including 78 00:04:27.560 --> 00:04:30.879 medical staff, Hell's Angels members, the stage crew, and the 79 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:34.879 musicians who are there. Including sixteen pages of color photos, 80 00:04:34.920 --> 00:04:38.079 Altamont is the ultimate account of the final event in 81 00:04:38.199 --> 00:04:42.519 Rock's formative and most turbulent decade. Book there was examining 82 00:04:42.680 --> 00:04:46.680 this evening is Altamont, The Rolling Stones, The Hell's Angels, 83 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:52.199 and the inside story of Rock's Darkest Day, with my guests, 84 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:55.199 journalist and author Joel Salvin. Welcome to the program, and 85 00:04:55.240 --> 00:04:59.279 thank you for agreeing to this interview. Joel Salvin, Thanks Dan, 86 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:02.839 good to be here. Thank you very much. A little 87 00:05:02.839 --> 00:05:06.920 bit different book to look at today, but an incredible 88 00:05:07.160 --> 00:05:10.680 look back in history and again the darkest day in 89 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:17.000 music's history, definitely. So let's ask I asked this question, 90 00:05:17.560 --> 00:05:21.439 why a book about Altamont? Now, how did you become involved? 91 00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:23.480 Why did you want to become involved? Tell us a 92 00:05:23.480 --> 00:05:24.279 little bit about that. 93 00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:28.319 Well, I worked for most of what we might laughingly 94 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:32.120 refer to as my adult life as the pop music 95 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:34.560 critic of the San Francisco Chronicle. I started there in 96 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:39.879 nineteen seventy and the Duns, the aroma of Altamont was 97 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:44.079 still in the air. So it's been a part of 98 00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:47.439 my lore all along. I came to know the musicians 99 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:50.879 who played their stage hands, people who attended the concert, 100 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:55.120 and I heard these stories all you know, all those years. 101 00:05:56.199 --> 00:06:00.160 Why now, well, let's just say that there's a I 102 00:06:00.199 --> 00:06:04.079 was time for a good story. This is a great story. 103 00:06:04.920 --> 00:06:09.120 I was not so convinced myself at first that it 104 00:06:09.160 --> 00:06:11.120 was a great story, because I was so it was 105 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:15.079 such common material to me, I was so a nerd 106 00:06:15.160 --> 00:06:18.120 to the drama of it. But it was suggested that 107 00:06:18.920 --> 00:06:21.439 I look into this a little bit. Uh, And I 108 00:06:21.480 --> 00:06:26.319 went down to Monterey to visit with Rock Scully, the 109 00:06:26.360 --> 00:06:30.959 manager of The Grateful Dead Roca told me the story 110 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:35.319 of how Altamont started. It was a beautiful day. I 111 00:06:35.319 --> 00:06:38.720 hadn't seen Rock in ages. He looked great. We ate 112 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:41.199 outside and I drove home. It's about two and a 113 00:06:41.240 --> 00:06:43.360 half hour drive to San Francisco, and I drove home 114 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:47.240 just feeling like I had a gold nugget in my pocket. 115 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:51.399 This story, this story was so good, and it's just streamed. 116 00:06:51.439 --> 00:06:54.399 This is how a book opens. And about two months later, 117 00:06:54.480 --> 00:06:58.319 Rock died. He'd been sick that day. I didn't know it. 118 00:06:58.439 --> 00:07:00.319 Like I said, he looked so good. I was taking 119 00:07:00.399 --> 00:07:03.920 photographs of it. But it felt, really at that point 120 00:07:03.959 --> 00:07:09.000 like these stories were evaporating and we had to do 121 00:07:09.079 --> 00:07:11.199 this right now or it was just going to not 122 00:07:11.319 --> 00:07:16.680 be possible. And it's certainly been the case since the 123 00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:20.160 book's been published. I think three or four people that 124 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:22.000 I interviewed for the book have died since it. 125 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:27.240 Wow. Yeah, now, let's as you do in the book, 126 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:33.399 take us back to and you include this fantastic the 127 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:36.920 historical backdrop, But you have to take us back before 128 00:07:37.079 --> 00:07:40.240 nineteen sixty nine to be able to explain the phenomena 129 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:45.800 the free concerts, the status musically and culturally of the 130 00:07:45.879 --> 00:07:48.319 Rolling Stones, and the Grateful Dead in some of the bands, 131 00:07:48.600 --> 00:07:54.639 Woodstock itself, and the sixties counter revolution. So tell us 132 00:07:54.680 --> 00:07:58.639 about jan Winner and the humble beginnings of Rolling Stone, 133 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:02.079 and tell us to start to begin to tell us 134 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:07.279 who were the major players before we talk about the 135 00:08:07.319 --> 00:08:10.040 December nineteen sixty nine Altamont concert. 136 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:14.319 So you're so right, Dan, this was just a huge 137 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:20.120 convergence of social, political, cultural, and musical factors out there, 138 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:24.160 and it was really difficult to lay that stuff out. 139 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:29.160 The underpinnings of all this. That was the most challenging 140 00:08:29.199 --> 00:08:35.799 part of the book for me. And you can't separate 141 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:40.840 what happened on stage and with the Hell's Angels and 142 00:08:40.919 --> 00:08:45.919 Meredith Hunter and all that that day, with the culture 143 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:51.000 of the time. The historical moment wood Sock had been 144 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:54.759 three months before the moon landing, the Manson killings. The 145 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:59.080 Chicago police shot Fred Hampton, the Black Panther in his 146 00:08:59.159 --> 00:09:04.600 apartment that very week. It was just an extraordinary moment 147 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:11.200 in our nation's history. You mentioned Jon Lennard. The Rolling 148 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:14.759 Stone magazine was successful by that point, was about a 149 00:09:14.840 --> 00:09:17.679 year and a half old. Jon was the publisher and founder, 150 00:09:19.559 --> 00:09:23.399 but it was largely a kind of underground music magazine, 151 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:26.840 sort of a hit parade or a tiger beat for hippies, 152 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:32.200 until the Altamont thing challenged him journalistically and they rose 153 00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:40.080 to the task. Their twenty thousand word article cover headline 154 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:45.320 let It Bleed was really the first authentically accurate journalistic 155 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:49.120 account of that day. The mainstream media just kicked that 156 00:09:49.240 --> 00:09:52.120 bucket down the hill, and I mean the New York 157 00:09:52.159 --> 00:09:57.039 Times noted it is a joyous advanced although one concert 158 00:09:57.159 --> 00:09:59.279 go or had been stabbed to death, but otherwise it 159 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:03.240 was wonderful. The local newspaper radio has pretty much taken 160 00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:07.120 the same thing it took Rolling Stone to really pull 161 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:12.240 the curtain back on what the violence and negligence of 162 00:10:12.279 --> 00:10:16.679 that day, and in doing so they really established themselves 163 00:10:16.759 --> 00:10:20.120 as a legitimate news magazine with that one issue. 164 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:25.480 Let's go back and tell it in the sequence so 165 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:30.080 that we can understand how important Jan Winner and the 166 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:34.679 Rolling Stone Magazine is to this story and is to 167 00:10:36.279 --> 00:10:40.440 history period and this murder case as well as we 168 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:45.639 will see. Let's talk about the bands and San Francisco. Now, 169 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:49.000 San Francisco, you can tell it better than anyone. It 170 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:53.679 was outside what I guess the rock music thought was 171 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:57.559 New York and Los Angeles, and it certainly San Francisco 172 00:10:57.720 --> 00:11:00.679 was not known nationwide as you write. So tell us 173 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:03.600 about what happens with the San Francisco music scene in 174 00:11:03.639 --> 00:11:07.159 some of those bands, those players, and how do they 175 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:11.919 get exposure before we talk about again this planned free 176 00:11:11.960 --> 00:11:14.679 festival here with the Stones and the Dead and some 177 00:11:14.759 --> 00:11:16.399 other bands. 178 00:11:16.759 --> 00:11:21.240 Okay, I can do that. So in nineteen sixty six 179 00:11:21.320 --> 00:11:28.120 in San Francisco there was a tremendous explosion of music 180 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:33.240 based primarily on people who have been experimenting with the 181 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:36.639 psychedelic Doug Lst. There are a couple of dance balls 182 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:39.519 in town, the Fillmore Auditorium and the Avalon Ballroom. They 183 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:41.360 were putting on shows every week, and there was a 184 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:46.799 whole variety of new sounding rock music, rock music they 185 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:49.720 had never sounded like this before, with bands with funny 186 00:11:49.799 --> 00:11:53.919 names like Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big 187 00:11:53.960 --> 00:11:57.639 Brother in the Holding Company. These bands were entirely unheard 188 00:11:57.639 --> 00:12:01.039 of outside of certain neighborhoods in San Cisco in nineteen 189 00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:04.519 sixty six, but by nineteen sixty seven, the national news 190 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:09.480 media had begun to find out about this fifty thing 191 00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:13.279 in San Francisco. In January sixty seven, some hundred thousand 192 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:15.759 people showed up at the Polo Fields and Golden Gate 193 00:12:15.799 --> 00:12:19.039 Park to listen to those dams. They did so without 194 00:12:19.080 --> 00:12:23.120 any violence, any strife, and the gewords, which blew everybody's 195 00:12:23.159 --> 00:12:27.000 mind that that many people could come together without any 196 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:32.080 you know, horrible incidences. They were compared to professional athletics, 197 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:34.759 and the cops just couldn't believe what a different crowd 198 00:12:34.759 --> 00:12:38.320 it was from say, like a football game. So that's 199 00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:41.480 like where the beginning of this whole San Francisco mythology began. 200 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:43.600 It was no mythology, you know, these dams lived in 201 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:45.919 the Haye Ashbury and a Golden Gate Park and they 202 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:47.879 were just if the day was sunny and they felt 203 00:12:47.919 --> 00:12:49.720 like they'd take their gear out in the park and 204 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:52.720 just start playing, and they didn't care who came or how, 205 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:55.320 or if they got paid for it or not. And 206 00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:58.440 so this was like a new kind of renaissance of 207 00:12:58.639 --> 00:13:04.639 arts and culture on a lite electric psychedelic level in California, 208 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:07.360 and there was no Internet at those times, so there 209 00:13:07.440 --> 00:13:12.039 was very little information outside of the immediate experience, right, 210 00:13:12.120 --> 00:13:16.720 you know, there were magazines, they weren't newspapers weren't covering it. 211 00:13:17.080 --> 00:13:20.279 The record industry was ignoring it. By the summer of 212 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:23.600 sixty seven, which the media called the Summer of Love, 213 00:13:23.639 --> 00:13:26.240 san Francisco is very much and everybody's focus. One hundred 214 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:29.679 thousand kids descended on San Francisco that summer. The Jefferson 215 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:34.559 Airplanes second album, Cyrialistic Pillow, was the biggest record of 216 00:13:34.600 --> 00:13:38.840 the summer. White Rabbits and Somebody Love all over the airwaves, 217 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:43.159 and the entire record industry sort of looked at San 218 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:46.679 Francisco as like having a new answer. San Francisco in 219 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:49.639 London became the sort of axis on which the rock 220 00:13:49.639 --> 00:13:53.840 scene revolved at that point, and by two years later 221 00:13:53.879 --> 00:13:57.039 in nineteen sixty nine, San Francisco was the center of 222 00:13:57.080 --> 00:13:59.679 the rock music universe, and the Airplane was one of 223 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:03.240 the big bands in the world. There was a big 224 00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:04.919 brother in the Hold Income. They had a number one 225 00:14:04.919 --> 00:14:07.039 album that year. All the great new bands, all the 226 00:14:07.080 --> 00:14:11.879 exciting new bands, Creeden's Clearwater Revival Santana was lie in 227 00:14:11.879 --> 00:14:14.840 the Family Stone. Those were all out of San Francisco, 228 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:17.519 and it seemed like that, you know, there was just 229 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:21.960 something so authentic about the music these hippies made that 230 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:26.639 it had resonated all around the world, and especially in London, 231 00:14:27.080 --> 00:14:29.879 where the music scene had always been very fashion conscious. 232 00:14:29.960 --> 00:14:33.159 You know, understand. I mean they look like they transmografy 233 00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:38.080 music into style in England, and that's a very close 234 00:14:38.120 --> 00:14:43.240 relationship that they didn't quite understand from five thousand miles away. 235 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:47.440 With what little faint hints of it they could get lisps, 236 00:14:47.960 --> 00:14:51.320 you know, LSD was hard to come by in London 237 00:14:51.480 --> 00:14:54.039 and light shows. They were just guessing at what was 238 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:57.799 going on in San Francisco. There was very little back 239 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:02.000 and forth until like sixty eight. So the Rolling Stones 240 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:05.919 in nineteen sixty nine found themselves in a financial bind. 241 00:15:05.960 --> 00:15:08.840 They were broke. They had a manager who had bottlenecked 242 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:11.440 all their royalties and they were advised the only way 243 00:15:11.480 --> 00:15:13.919 they could get new money was to form a separate 244 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:17.399 company that he wasn't involved in toured the United States. 245 00:15:17.559 --> 00:15:19.600 They hadn't been on tour in the United States for 246 00:15:19.639 --> 00:15:22.120 three years. The previous time, you know, they were like 247 00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:24.919 do a half hour set at the end of an 248 00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:28.000 entire card of like one or two hit wonders, doing 249 00:15:28.039 --> 00:15:29.919 three or four songs a piece, and then get the 250 00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:33.639 hell out of Dodge. Right. But in the ensuing three years, 251 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:36.320 the rock scene has just changed so totally. In the 252 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:38.559 United States. I mean, like Leed Zeppelin was the big 253 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:42.399 act that year that fall in October, touring behind their 254 00:15:42.440 --> 00:15:44.480 second album, and you know, they had a two and 255 00:15:44.519 --> 00:15:47.240 a half hour show with like a half hour drum solo. 256 00:15:47.960 --> 00:15:51.240 So the Rolling Stones seeing the United States as a 257 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:54.559 financial opportunity to show up here to do this tour, 258 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.360 and they and it gets complicated by many issues now 259 00:15:59.399 --> 00:16:03.679 because they're trying to get into this world of this 260 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:08.000 new world of woodstock rock, and there's so many public 261 00:16:08.120 --> 00:16:10.200 pronouncements that must be made. You know, you have to 262 00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:12.559 be in favor of free music, and you can't be 263 00:16:12.600 --> 00:16:15.879 seen as gouging your fans, even if you're asking seven 264 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:19.600 dollars and fifty cents about twice what everybody else gets 265 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:23.279 for concert tickets. Right. So the Stones are trying to 266 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:26.559 brush up against this San Francisco thing, and they start 267 00:16:26.600 --> 00:16:31.480 talking about this free concert right from the start. It's 268 00:16:31.559 --> 00:16:36.120 a thing at the time free concerts, and Jager mentions 269 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:39.960 it in a press conference in Los Angeles beginning the tour. 270 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:44.320 Once the tour starts and they find out how much 271 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:48.519 impact they are really having, what size of opportunity this 272 00:16:48.600 --> 00:16:53.639 American tour really represents, then you know they start over 273 00:16:53.720 --> 00:16:57.080 time on this idea of well, let's do a concert movie, 274 00:16:57.159 --> 00:17:00.519 and let's let's have a free concert kind of our 275 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:05.680 own Woodstock at the end to frame the movie. Now, 276 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:08.160 they don't even really get this in gear until the 277 00:17:08.279 --> 00:17:10.799 end of the tour in New York when they finally 278 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:14.440 meet with Albert and David Masels, the documentary filmmakers who 279 00:17:14.440 --> 00:17:17.519 would shoot the Madison Square Garden shows. But that's just 280 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:20.160 the next to the last show on the tour. There's 281 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:23.079 some footage, but they don't have a movie. The only 282 00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:25.079 way they're gonna have a movie is if the Stones 283 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:27.839 go through with this giant Woodstock the in free concert 284 00:17:27.880 --> 00:17:31.519 in San Francisco. Well, behind the scenes, there's then a 285 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:35.039 power struggle between the Stone's front office and the Grateful Dead, 286 00:17:35.079 --> 00:17:38.480 and the Stone's front office has taken control of the 287 00:17:38.519 --> 00:17:41.839 permit process with the Parks because It was Rock Scully's 288 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:44.319 original idea to get a permit in the name of 289 00:17:44.359 --> 00:17:47.039 the Jeffson Airplane and Grateful Dead and bring the Stones on. 290 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:50.119 It's like a surprise special guest announced like the day 291 00:17:50.200 --> 00:17:53.400 before the concert, sort of pull one over on the city. 292 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:57.200 But the Stones insisted are their guys insisted on you 293 00:17:57.480 --> 00:17:59.960 taking up the permit process themselves, And that ended any 294 00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:02.720 prospect of ever playing in San Francisco, because, believe me, 295 00:18:03.079 --> 00:18:05.400 the mayor of San Francisco is not interested in hifty 296 00:18:05.480 --> 00:18:09.319 smoothing of the park. So Jagger goes ahead the next 297 00:18:09.400 --> 00:18:11.720 day and announces at a New York press conference that 298 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:14.160 they're going to have this free concert on December sixth, 299 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:17.119 somewhere near San Francisco. We don't know where. As late 300 00:18:17.160 --> 00:18:20.240 as Tuesday, before the Saturday of the scheduled concert, they 301 00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:23.400 did not have a location. Then they stumble across this 302 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:27.640 racetrack about sixty miles north of San Francisco called Serious Point, 303 00:18:28.200 --> 00:18:30.720 strike a deal with the guys that are running the track, 304 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:33.599 and start building the stage and sound system. The next day, 305 00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:36.200 the corporate owners of the racetrack find out about this 306 00:18:36.359 --> 00:18:38.920 deal and they call up the Stones lawyer and they 307 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:41.400 do not believe that the Stones are doing this movie 308 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:43.839 for charity, and they don't happen to be in the 309 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:46.720 film business themselves. They want a piece of the film 310 00:18:46.839 --> 00:18:50.519 and they want a rental. And now the Stones refused 311 00:18:50.519 --> 00:18:52.759 to budge. This is all about money. They don't get 312 00:18:52.759 --> 00:18:55.680 to spend any money. They scale me it for twenty 313 00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:57.920 four hours. The stage is going up. At serious point, 314 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:00.440 the sheriff is calling and telling them if they throw there, 315 00:19:00.440 --> 00:19:03.119 they're all going to be arrested. And that's when this guy, 316 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:06.799 Dick Carter shows up, calls him to the Stone's lawyer's office. 317 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:10.640 He's got a rundown speedway sixty miles east of San Francisco, 318 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:15.880 and I mean nowhere, past the suburbs, past Exurbia, past 319 00:19:16.119 --> 00:19:19.279 hundreds of acres of cowell passer over a hill and 320 00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:21.799 in a valley on the edge of nowhere. The biggest 321 00:19:21.799 --> 00:19:25.839 crowd he's ever had, six thousand for demolition. Jersey's almost 322 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:28.440 out of business, but he says the show's can have 323 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:33.119 his raceraft Altamont speedway for free. He just wants to publicity. 324 00:19:33.880 --> 00:19:37.640 It's Thursday afternoon. The show's supposed to start on Saturday 325 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:40.880 at noon. Rock Scullia the Grateful Dead, gets in a 326 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:44.240 helicopter with Michael Lang, the producer of Woodstock, not really 327 00:19:44.279 --> 00:19:47.200 sure what he's doing with and they fly out over 328 00:19:47.319 --> 00:19:50.400 the Livermore Valley where Altamont is to take a look 329 00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:53.640 at it. As they dip down over this racetrackt Rock 330 00:19:53.720 --> 00:19:56.599 looks out there and he sees all these broken glass 331 00:19:56.960 --> 00:19:59.920 and these oil stains and these wrecked cars from the 332 00:20:00.039 --> 00:20:03.160 demolition derby sitting there thinking what the what the and 333 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:06.000 he hears Michael Lang say, oh, this is perfect. We 334 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:10.039 can do it right here. Fst Thursday afternoon, they start 335 00:20:10.119 --> 00:20:13.279 moving the gear over from serious points sixty miles away 336 00:20:13.640 --> 00:20:18.920 by helicopter. Five trucks that are driven by volunteers raised 337 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:24.559 from the radio come helpless homes concert. They put the 338 00:20:24.599 --> 00:20:28.480 stage together fighting night in the dark, without many flashlights, 339 00:20:28.759 --> 00:20:32.279 and they're still plugging in equipment and wrapping tables. When 340 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:35.279 the band starts the next day at noon, there's three 341 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:38.759 hundred thousand people there in the middle of nowhere. No 342 00:20:38.920 --> 00:20:43.960 running water, no food, concessions, no parking, no nothing. Just oooh, 343 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:47.200 all these people shut up. The cops had no idea 344 00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:52.240 they were coming. There's a very bad setup for what happened, 345 00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:56.160 and what happened was what you know, you would expect 346 00:20:56.200 --> 00:20:57.039 from something like that. 347 00:20:58.359 --> 00:21:01.960 Let's go back a little bit to the relationship that 348 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:07.240 the Rolling Stones had with the UK Hell's Angels and 349 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:10.359 the difference as you point out, between the UK Hell's 350 00:21:10.359 --> 00:21:14.599 Angels and American California Hell's Angels with Sunny Barger and crew. 351 00:21:15.400 --> 00:21:18.799 Tell us about the relationship the Dead had with the 352 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:22.680 Great Pardoner, with the Hell's Angels and their own guy 353 00:21:23.079 --> 00:21:26.480 that were former I guess former angels, So tell us 354 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:27.200 a little bit about that. 355 00:21:28.200 --> 00:21:30.960 Yeah, well, the Angels were very much a part of 356 00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:35.119 the San Francisco rock scene. There were presents at all 357 00:21:35.160 --> 00:21:39.000 the outdoor concerts and in fact at the Human Being 358 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:43.400 they guarded the electrical cord and the handle of the 359 00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:46.079 Lost Children. That was one of the big things that 360 00:21:46.279 --> 00:21:49.000 you know, everybody was like, oh my god. The Hell's Angels, well, 361 00:21:49.240 --> 00:21:52.599 you know they partied with Ken Casey, and Ken Causey 362 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:57.160 was the acid evangelist who provided the environment where the 363 00:21:57.160 --> 00:22:00.519 Gatful Dead started, so they all kind of knew each other, 364 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:05.240 and especially the San Francisco chapter. So when the concert 365 00:22:05.279 --> 00:22:09.880 was originally planned, Rock Scully said, we got to invite 366 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:13.000 the Angels. They're coming anyway, so we met whom we 367 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:15.640 should invite them. So he took Sam Cutler, who was 368 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:18.720 the Storms tour director, over to meet with some of 369 00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:22.920 the officers of the San Francisco Chapter. And the first 370 00:22:22.920 --> 00:22:25.359 thing Pete Nell said was, we're not cops. We're not 371 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:28.720 gonna do security. Oh, you know, we just want you 372 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:30.519 to help out in any way you can. And you know, 373 00:22:30.519 --> 00:22:32.680 we want you to feel welcome, and you know, we 374 00:22:32.680 --> 00:22:35.279 want to make you feel welcome. And teachers, well, we 375 00:22:35.400 --> 00:22:38.519 like beer. The Samson says, well, we'll buy you some beer. 376 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:40.359 So he buys five hundred dollars with a beer for 377 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:43.519 the Hell's Angels and they come over. Keep in mind, 378 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:48.279 if that concert had been held in San Francisco, which 379 00:22:48.319 --> 00:22:51.720 at that time was planned for, then the San Francisco 380 00:22:51.799 --> 00:22:55.960 Chapter would have had jurisdiction, and that's a different thing altogether. 381 00:22:56.039 --> 00:22:58.000 Those guys were well known to the dance. They hung 382 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:02.279 out backstage, they rode bikes together, they took business together. 383 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:05.839 They were all together, more civilized bunch of Hell's Angels. 384 00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:11.039 And once it moved out of San Francisco and the 385 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:15.039 San Francisco Chapter lost jurisdiction. Then it said a different ballgame, 386 00:23:15.079 --> 00:23:17.920 and in fact most of the problems of Altamont were 387 00:23:18.599 --> 00:23:22.039 causing the front stage by the San Jose Chapter, which 388 00:23:22.119 --> 00:23:24.279 is a brand new chapter, had been formed just that 389 00:23:24.440 --> 00:23:27.920 summer after a violent, vicious turf war with a group 390 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:30.960 called the Gypsy Jokers. They've wiped out the Gypsy Jokers 391 00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:33.400 and took like a few of the Gypsy Jokers and 392 00:23:33.480 --> 00:23:35.880 some of the South San Francisco Angels and formed this 393 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:39.960 new San Jose chapter. And the Santase Chapter showed up, 394 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:43.039 and they were strung their bikes across the front of 395 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:47.200 the stage because well they were gonna buy tall stage 396 00:23:47.480 --> 00:23:50.880 from three hundred thousand people a mile away, and they 397 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:56.200 knew that nobody would touch a Hell's Angels fight. Well 398 00:23:56.200 --> 00:24:00.160 that didn't prove to be the case. But the San 399 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:03.039 Francisco Angels showed up. They were backstage, they were on stage. 400 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:04.759 They went out in front with the pool cues. That 401 00:24:04.839 --> 00:24:07.759