Flowers In Your Hair

If you see me on the streets of San Francisco, be sure to give me a flower from your hair. As for the clip above, it’s from D.A. Pennebaker’s seminal 1967 documentary, MONTEREY POP, showcasing the concert that gave birth to the Great Pop Music Renaissance of the later decade. Last year, I attended the 40th Anniversary screening of the film at the Mods & Rockers Film Festival, replete with a bevy of musical guest stars. The best moment was when Donovan came out to sing since he had been denied entry to the Monterey Pop Fest because of a pot bust in the UK. And it was amazing to watch the illustrious crowd of music royalty clap and laugh through the trailer for SKIDOO. I thought I’d cut & paste my ohmyblog entry from last year for fun. ‘Cause it was a blast:

The week got even cooler at the 40th Anniversary screening of MONTEREY POP, D.A. Pennebaker’s groundbreaking concert documentary featuring one of the most incredible selections of live acts ever assembled: Janis Joplin, The Who, Simon & Garfunkel, Jefferson Airplane, The Mamas & Papas, The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix burning his guitar and Otis Redding tearing the roof off. That the film ends with the seeming incongruity of Ravi Shankar’s hear-a-pindrop sitar performance sums up the decade’s adventurous music spirit.

Photo by Matt Rabin

But before the film, I spoke with Michelle Phillips; Jerry Miller from Moby Grape and the caustic Grace Slick, who displayed some very cool artwork; Matthew Rabin took great shots for the Cinemateque. After the film, we were fortunate to be in the private after-party clubhouse (Gregory Weinkauf goes into better detail here) with D.A. Pennebaker against the back wall like a watchful film father (who at 81 looks all of 50ish). Matthew, Carol and I sat two feet from Eric Burdon and Donovan, who ripped up the room with a bluesy “Season of the Witch.” After their brilliant duets, Burdon patted my shoulder, then slid back to his booth as Donavan stepped up, swept my glass of red wine off the table and went back to the party. We all did.