Timeout from Baku for Another 40-Year Anniversary

Probably not too many Texans were at Woodstock, but there were tons 2 weeks later at the Lewisville Pop Festival…including this Beancounter…not very Hippiesh, but interested in the Counter-Culture and certainly the music just the same. The link to the DMN article chronicles the 40-year remembrance, complete with video.

Before I even went, I encountered a serious decision time concerning my father. As the DMN article says, there was much media hysteria about the Concert and what would be “going down” there. So, unexpectedly, on the Saturday morning I’m getting ready to go to Lewisville (Reference: I’m 22 years old, 2 months out of UT, working at Arco Oil & Gas…guess some things never change – except the age) when my phone rings and it’s my father of all people. He NEVER calls. I guess I had mentioned I was thinking about going to the Lewisville Pop Festival – how innocuous does that sound today? – and he wanted to tell me he had some inside info. He had a friend who was a Texas Highway Patrolman who told him that “there is going to be trouble there.” So, he was “officially” asking me not to go. Gosh…don’t make me defy you Father, dearest. I had some soul-searching to do. In fairness, he really was looking out for my best interest. But, at the time I figure he just doesn’t want to have to deal with bailing me out of jail. Okay, I rationalized I could take care of myself, I would steer clear of any "Hippie/Police clashes" so off to L’ville I went with a couple of my buddies in tow.

And…what a fantastic experience it was! The music was incredible. There were bands that performed that became very big stars and to think we heard them in their infancy.

As stated in the DMN article, Grand Funk Railroad (later truncated the Railroad) led off the Festival around Noon on Saturday and that was just getting it all started. Canned Heat, fresh off of Woodstock and one of my alltime favorites with their very unique sound, as in “Going up the Country,” Johnny Winter, Freddie King, B.B. King (and Lucille of course), Tony Jo White and Sam and Dave.

Then imagine…Led Zepplin, Chicago Transit Authority (later just Chicago), and Santana. So many of these are still alive and kicking…well, at least partially alive and semi-kicking.

So, for all the “scare” about drugs and nudity…we saw no nudity, some pot smoking, but nothing else. Of course, any drugs other than pot were in pill forms – LSD, Mescaline, etc – and so there could have been folks high on that stuff and you wouldn’t observe them actually taking it.

The closing act was the Queen of Rock N’ Roll herself – Janis Joplin. She was supposed to be on at Midnight according to the schedule, but, of course, these things are always pushed back because of all the acts that preceded her. There was a bare stage for the longest time. Finally they make an announcement…she is actually appearing in Concert in New Orleans that night (double-booked as it were) and she was being flown, helicoptered the final stretch, to Lewisville and would be there soon. Sure enough at 2 a.m. she and her band, Big Brother and the Holding Company comes on stage. And, my god, did we get our money’s worth ($7? a little less than 2 hours wages). They sang/played for two hours.

Now days singers may have a separate stool on stage where they have their bottled water. Not the Queen. She had a fifth of her favorite – Southern Comfort. In between songs she’d go and take a big gulp out of the bottle and step up to the microphone and begin wailing the next song. You can only imagine the crowd reaction. It was electric. You can also only imagine what else she’d consumed that night, not to mention the volume of Southern Comfort, beginning the night in New Orleans and flying to Dallas. I saw her a total of 3 times in Concert and she was as consistent as your deadline for your Tax Returns – she was fantastic each time, never mind she was probably drunk as a skunk and high as a kite.

And when it was over, it was over. We go walking out at 4 a.m. There was a dude selling kilo’s of pot for $50. Bear in mind, that an ounce cost $10. A kilo, buying it at an ounce at a time would bring over $300. But…that really wasn’t my game. So we went merrily to my car and drove home to my apartment.

A good time was had by all and somehow I managed to not get caught up in some Hippie Revolution and get my arse thrown in jail.