Celebration of Life [Archive]

rocnjava

01-17-2005, 03:23 AM

I was there :] I could write a book about the experience. Folks love to hear my stories about sneaking in past the bikers who were carrying brass knuckles and shotguns. The rain, the mud, the heat, the acid.. the ?? We survived!
I've been trolling the net for any kind of memorabelia, esp. pics.
Does anyone have any photos, posters? Pleeze?

Here are some photos: www.whitecloudworkshop.com/ (http://www.whitecloudworkshop.com/mccrea/)mccrea/

Here are some of the bands in the lineup but only a few actually played:

June 21-28, 1971
The Celebration of Life Festival, that continued until day 28, in McCrea, Louisiana, United States, with more than 50 thousand people; sets of ten of small groups had been presented, in its majority composites for blacks; known only John Sebastian, Chuck Barry, War, Jimmy Witherspoon, Stoneground, Bloodrock, The Amboy Dukes.
At the CELEBRATION OF LIFE rock festival in Pointe Coupe Parish,
Louisiana back about 1971 or 72 the whole region was inundated with
rain. But the teeming crowds around the stage got together as the rain
rolled in and chanted with clear intent to have the rain miss them. The
clouds parted overhead and it rained all around but not on the rock
festival. No miracle. Clouds respond very well to intent, that's all.
Life force in general responds to intent.
=====
Time Magazine
07-12-71
The Nation
Mud, Sweat and Tears in Louisiana
Jul. 12, 1971
It was billed as a "celebration of life," but the Louisiana rock festival near the town of McCrea may have marked the end of what began at Woodstock as a beatific American experience and deteriorated into something violent at Altamont and vapid at Powder Ridge. Last week's festival, which lasted only four days instead of the announced eight, was an American nightmare. To begin with, the festival was postponed for three days while the promoters wallowed in legal mire. The kids amused themselves by making human mud pies and bathing in the nude. Two youths drowned in the fast-rushing Atchafalaya River. State undercover narcotics agents circulated in the crowd and made more than 100 busts. One youth died in a hospital tent from a drug overdose. Meanwhile, dazed with blistering heat, and stultifying humidity, the estimated 50,000 youths who gathered to see Country Joe McDonald and John Sebastian were also choked by dust. For the Woodstock Nation, McCrea was a bleak experience of mud, sweat and tears.
=====
1971 - 50,000 attended the Celebration of Life rock concert, in McCrea, Louisana.
=====
28 Giugno 1971
Celebration of Life, Cypress Pointe Plantation, McCrea, vicino a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
Con Amboy Dukes, BB King, Allman Brothers, Canned Heat, Chambers Brothers, Chuck Berry, Country Joe McDonald, Flyng Burrito Brothers, Ike & Tina Turner, It's A Beautiful Day, John Lee Hooker, Richie Havens, Roland Kirk e Taj Mahal

also Black Oak Arkasas, Savoy Brown, Ike and Tina Turner

wazoo

05-24-2005, 07:07 PM

I did not make the festival. But, I had several people crash at the farm on the way to and from the festival. All reports were good, (and muddy) as I recall.
How about some of that music? Is that possible?
Wazoo

hug a bahaii today

08-27-2005, 04:50 AM

small world - funny how you meet people at these things to be reunited....my mother and one of her closest "adult" friends were up late one night talking only to realize that they had met 25 years earlier at a joan baez concert where vince had brought a basket full of homemade bread to pass out to other listeners...my mother remembers him bringing the basket over to her and sharing some with her....funny thing is that they did not exchange names or see eachother until they were both married with kids who happened to grow up together, living in an entirely different part of the country - i hope that i might be able to share in these type of memories throughout my life too, peace

Ajerseygirl

10-29-2005, 07:57 AM

I just googled "Celebration of Life" and was happy to see this forum and hear from others that were at the festival! I also found it funny on how many different takes there were on the same few days.

I was there, with about 11 others - ages 18 to 23 +/-, all from Jersey. What an experience! One I'll never forget and am glad I got to experience!!!

First we stopped in a small town on our way there to get some snacks and everyone came out of their stores to look at the hippies. Then we were told there was a delay, so to stay put. We were sent to a state park, where the locals did not like our arrival, so they road past us all night, giving us a hard time! That was scarey.

Then the next night we made it to the spot for the concert, but it was still delayed, so they lined all our cars along a levy, where we stayed that night. The next day we finally got to set up camp in the festival grounds and then had a blast!! Swam naked in the river, went mud sliding, listened to what bands did decide to stay (most left because of the delay). Had a good time with the love of my life and a lot of good friends. (I have to admit, I was high for most of it, so I don't remember a lot of the 4 or 5 days!)

When we got home we were told the festival made the news and there was suppose to be all kinds of violence there, etc. We didn't experience any of that. We just had a great time getting away, listening to music, and being with friends! I'm glad I went and I'm glad I got to grow up in that type of environment. Does anyone know of any posters or any other memorabilia that can be purchased from that festival?

mimosa

10-30-2005, 02:41 AM

28 Giugno 1971
Celebration of Life, Cypress Pointe Plantation, McCrea, vicino a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
Con Amboy Dukes, BB King, Allman Brothers, Canned Heat, Chambers Brothers, Chuck Berry, Country Joe McDonald, Flyng Burrito Brothers, Ike & Tina Turner, It's A Beautiful Day, John Lee Hooker, Richie Havens, Roland Kirk e Taj Mahal e altri.
I promoters del "Toronto Rock & Roll Revival", dell'Atlanta Pop Festival" e del "New Orleans Pop Festival" unirono le forze per organizzare un ambizioso progetto: un festival di otto giorni (21-28.6.71) su un'appartata penisola del fiume Atchafalaya. Fin dall'inizio ci furono problemi: gli organizzatori non riuscirono a ottenere il permesso per l'apertura del festival fino al 23 giugno; il primo concerto si tenne solo il giorno seguente e la manifestazione chiuse i battenti il 27, dopo una non stop notturna cui pare i Pink Floyd non abbiano partecipato. L'evento terminò un giorno prima a seguito dell'invasione di due bande di motociclisti. Alcuni di loro furono accusati di tentato omicidio, istigazione alla rissa e aggressione a pubblico ufficiale.

from http://www.pinkfloydsound.it/1971.htm

hard to find any links to this fest but I really wanted to see who played.

edit:oops, had only got to page one of this thread before I had to run off and google it. so anyway....

jonifan

01-07-2006, 08:06 AM

Hi Virgin Post here is anyone still listening (I guess I do give it up that easy)? I was there. Does not sound as if Delta"whatever" was there though by this comment "It gave all the artist that were to be there. Most were there.. ei Stones, Eric Clapton, etc.". Clapton or the Stones were not and to the best of my memories were never supposed to be there.

Will be happy to post some memories (bands played, exp etc) if anyone is still paying attention.
I also have searched for a post (used to have one) on eBay for years with no luck. Cheers Peace fred
PS Sorry but I for one do not believe you can have a rock festival in a football stadium.

LaMojo

01-08-2006, 03:04 PM

I was there! I remember that there was a lot of no shows for bands. The only way to get food was to hike about a half of mile to a country store. Only three or four people were allowed in the store at one time. Still have my Celebration of Life T-shirt!

LaMojo

01-08-2006, 03:14 PM

"Delta, legally can you make up some cd's of it and sell them ? I'd love to hear it."

Yeah, Me too!

bobbyc

01-18-2006, 08:43 PM

I have been searching the internet for others who were at this festival. Finally found this link.

I came out from California with other artists to sell our wares. I know there was a delay and that some bands cancelled, but I mostly remember a great time by the river with some amazing people.

Some memories:
Watching a simultaneous fireworks display and heat lightning show on the opposite horizon. It was hard to know which way to look.
Seeing a French girl pee standing up like a guy.
Camping in the rain. There was a fierce storm one night.

After the festival, my friends and I (along with an unlucky hitchhiker) were arrested in New Orleans (We were stopped for an alleged tail light out, but I think it was just our VW Microbus). We were thrown directly into Parish Prison where we spent 7 days and nights, and only released because one of the guys I was with got off a lucky phone call...but that's another story.

fusion23

01-18-2006, 11:29 PM

I went there in a VW bus also.I remember guys in rental trucks selling drugs out of the back and then throwing free candy to the crowd. Some great Thai and schrooms.The only band I remember was "It's A Beautiful Day". They were coming on at sunrise as I was coming down. We had made several candles to pay for our way from Texas to Florida including our stop at C.O.L. I remember lots of good times there,to bad other people didn't.

fusion23

01-18-2006, 11:47 PM

Another good one:

August 30, 1969 - September 1, 1969 Dallas International Speedway

Peace from poor_old_dad (Aka POD)
I want to thank you for the poster it sure helps my memory and will prove to my son his poor old dad is not crazy. Or maybe not completly.Still alive and well in Texas.

woodenfrog

01-19-2006, 11:28 AM

love your life

urbangal

02-18-2006, 07:50 PM

Awesome memories there folks! My parents stuck out LA with young kids weren't able to attend anything after the 60's ended. I'm sure they would have had responsibilities been put on the back burner and we drifted around but.....

Would be awesome if these old promoters looking to reawaking their love of concerts could put together another Celebration of Life, keep the corporate sponsorship down to a minimum (or just the socially responsible companies) and pull in a few of the more lib artists for a three day festival (mix of old music, electronica, world beats, local talents, etc). Damn that would be so sweet not quite but a taste of the old times.

Eh...just a dream I have.

cpor

04-19-2006, 06:09 PM

Wow- never thought I would find another human that was there. Four of us in the Army traveled in a Shelby Mustang from Ft. Polk to the festival. I still have a newspaper with our tent on the front cover. The only bands I remember were Country Joe and the Chambers Brothers. One of the groups next to us was one of the deaths at the festival.

We never paid to get in to it. Traveled through woods and went over a "snow fence" and we were in. We could hear the sound and smell the pot miles away. Loved swimming in the river- very fast current. What a blast!

aoxo

05-21-2006, 07:42 PM

I was there for six days before the music ever started. Had a great time. First campsite on Atchafalya River outside fence. Worked inside for several days. Was to work backstage secruity. Just stayed outside and partied on the levee, that's where the action was. The little country store was cleaned out. People ran out of food. You could get any drugs you wanted for a can of beans. It rained every day at 4:00 PM. State troopers just said hello to naked people smoking pot. It was originally supposed to last 8 days. It would have dwarfed Woodstock, but the legal injuntions screwed it all up. If anybody remembers the guy that led over a thousand in for free one night before the motorcycle gang arrived, that was me. Seeing all those flashlights coming along the river was my best memory. I have added a couple of photos, sorry for the yellow tint as the film wasn't processed for about three years.
aoxo

GHOSTCRAB

05-22-2006, 02:05 PM

We were at the Head Inn sleeping on the floor in the french quarter.Went with the road crew and helped build the stage.Spent most nights working stage secruity with the folks on the ledge.Diane says the mga broke down in chipley,and they rode there thumbs to the festival.THey had tickets.

karl88

11-03-2006, 08:09 AM

We were at the Head Inn sleeping on the floor in the french quarter.oh my gosh - WE were living at the Head Inn before the festival. I was trying to remember who was there at that time. I was with a girl with red hair named colleen, my name is karl. we had the "apartment" upstairs. do you remember us by chance? Did you play any of the intense RISK cames we used to have? JB would get pissed if he lost. we went back to NOLA over two years later, married with a son. went by 549 1/2 dumaine street, and JB was sitting up on the balconlly reading a newspaper. what a trip.

gentlewarrior

11-07-2006, 02:39 PM

i was there for about 10 days. what a trip! from the time i started hitchkiking there, til the time i finally made it back home, totally surreal. from sneaking in in in the trunk of a 56 chevy, with motorcycle gang members thumping on the trunk, to the guy in the elephant pen who was selling elephant manure, claiming it would get you high(no i made no purchases, but witnessed a few), to the mud people, the endless supply of free drugs.
one experience i will never forget: someone gave me something i thought was acid, i took it. it was definitely psychedelic, whatever it was. i sat on the outer edge of the crowd, and could hear, and follow, every conversation that was taking place in that huge crowd. that was one of the strangest experiences of my life.
then when it was all over, i got a ride. the guy let me off in the bayous, in the middle of nowhere, on a small blacktop road, just as the sun was going down. i will never forget the shadowy shapes of the alligators and watermocassins as they came up to join me on the road. it was soon pitch black and i was totally alone with natures finest, hoping they felt as peaceful as myself.

Rev Van

11-22-2006, 12:28 AM

:jester:

Peace be with yu.
:)
Love one another.

:party:
Peace

j.saxon.2007

12-27-2006, 05:28 AM

[When you want to post a reply, where do you put it?

] :cool: Does anyone remember this fest?

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/4466kudzu_ad_atlantapopfestival669.jpg[/QUOTE]

j.saxon.2007

12-27-2006, 06:13 AM

Atlanta was HOT!!, much hotter than Celebration.

Thank goodness some rain came at Atlanta.

Nightfall. Raining. But then the rain stopped. And just as it did, the Chambers Brothers walked on stage. The place was...... ready. When they went into "Time Has Come Today", that hillside rocked from that second, through the rest of the night and more.

It was one of several "magic moments" at Atlanta. Moments that you only get when EVERYONE is in tune with the feeling, with the music, and, most of all, with the magic.

"Celebration of Life", unfortunately, didn't have the "magic" of an Atlanta or a Woodstock. Some good, but, as an example, I'll never forget Ted Nugent coming on around 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning (think it was the last day. At least, for us it was.) Ted was screaming, cussin' everyone for being asleep. "Get out of those "GOD...." sleeping bags. Your gonna' listen to Ted "F...in" Nugent. GET UP!" Had his amp turned up so loud that the electric lines would hum everytime he hit a chord.

I thought he had gone insane.

But, it was still fun.

J

Deltamusic

01-11-2007, 12:11 PM

Am going to put some of the 2-trk masters on E-Bay. I need to hold on to the 16 trk. Found all 28 reels of tape. We ran them 24/7 as long as there was an artist playing. I found that Ted Nugent master. That was the last day. Remember "It's A Beautiful Day" was the last artist. I fell out just as they came on and blew all the speakers in our truck. That is when the cops cut all the mic lines and the show was over.

Greg0711

02-16-2007, 06:05 PM

I was at the Celebration of Life Fesitval for 9 days, Our van broke down in Tenn and we were 400 miles off course because we were too stoned to read a map, and then we started hitchhiking. We made it and some guy said he found a back way in that hadn't been closed yet, so I jumped in with two friends and we got in early. There were only about 4 or 5 thousand at that time. We waiting, smoked, swam, smoked, sunned, smoked, swam, smoked, slept, smoked. Down at the river where we were swimming nude boats from the area were giving the locals river tours of us freaks swimming naked. Most had cameras taking pictures. I wish they would post a few pictures. I remember bands starting to play when they sun went down and most of the night. I can't recall who played but we loved it all. At one point we got hungry and the food vendors had the prices so high a mini riot broke out and we tore down the fences and people starting throwing out the vendors food to the crowds, it was great. Finally they opened the gates and people starting flooding in. I guess the police thought it was better to get it over with then to have people waiting for weeks along the roads to get in. I also recall the original location was supposed to be on an island somewhere along the Mississippi river, but the festival was moved a couple times ,I think out of fear and that's how it ended up further south near Baton Rouge. I can recall some really big storms and due to the self medication, things seemed larger then maybe they were. Loved all the topless hard body girls walking around, thanks for memories ladies. I was 17 at the time. When we left at the end we got back to our broken down van which had been fixed while we were away and then went to Washington DC for the first annual smoke in. We ended up tear gased and run off the parks grounds late at night in retaliation for someone throwing a bottle earlier in the day and hitting a cop right on the head. The cops came rushing into the crowd with horses to find the person, but that was impossible. It was later that night that they ran us off while hitting people with their clubs. I finally made my way home to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Later that summer I hitchhiked up to Minnisota and hopped a freight train to Tacoma, Washington to vist a friend wounded in Vietnam. We wrapped our heads in bandages and put on hospital gowns and limped down to the cafateria to eat free. Many of the not so wounded helped us out and of course they were drafted and didn't much care, the hair standards and beards were overlooked in the hospital. After that I hitched down to LA and back to Indiana. What a summer, 38 states before I was 18 years old. It would take a month to write it all down, we were stopped by the police in every state and questioned. They just wanted us to keep moving.

eazzzzzzy

03-04-2007, 06:20 AM

It was mixed up, and if I recall it wasnt 3 days, it was 7-----Lots of 7s. Im not positive but I believe there were 7 babys born and 7 deaths, most were drownings in that stinkin ass river. There was no fresh water for days to drink, then they brought in Tankers.It was sooo fcukin HOT !!!!! Bands played only at night.

It was a Blast

rottenhat

03-09-2007, 02:31 PM

I was there. I hitched with some friends from South Florida to La. in two days. the temps were over 100 degrees, and a lot of mud everywhere. Not to mention acid, cheap grass, etc. I learned how to use chopsticks here. The police tried to stop us about 30 miles from Morganza. When we reached Morganza, the whole town was out partying with the hundreds (thousands?) of sudden campers in their midst. The next morning we got in line in our hitchhiked van on the levee and waited all day to get in. It was good that we had tickets because the Florida Outlaws (biker gang) were out in force selling forcing people to buy phony tickets. After we got inside I took about 5 hits of four way sunshine and don't remember much of the music, but the river was a blast. I was one of the mud people who would sneak up on the unmuddied bathers and attack them with nice hot mudpies. Despite the mud covering me I got the worst sunburn of my life and had to leave a day early. I will never forget this party, even if I don't remember the music. Hey, did anyone out there go to Concert 10 in the Poconos (at the speedway)? Now that was some great music!!

ok_sure

03-14-2007, 09:05 PM

I googled this yesterday and "How cool! You are still out there and it really did happen!
LOL
Thanks to these messages so many memories have come back. It was great fun for me and the folks that I was with. We were married to each other for a short time. ;>

We were sitting on the river and watching a boat, not unlike the pic w/ the flag on the end that someone posted (thanks btw!) That boat had a train of people , rafts? hooked to it and we watched the folks go under and it looked like most drowned. They were running down the center of the river.
Do you remember hearing the loudspeaker saying "We have our first baby born?!"
There were good and bad things... as with everything.

Also some large painted bus (maybe religious folks?) giving away food...Our group had food, water and a tent. Etc…

Took that acid during the stormy night that the person said it seemed like acid.....
He pretty much described the trip I was on...loved it! It was acid. *_*

Wish more bands had showed, but am thrilled to find out I heard John Lee after all!
Did not appreciate the blues like I do now.

Did not get muddy 'cause my husband (for the 3 very strange months we were married) who was just off a ship from Vietnam, said everyone would get a really bad burn because of it.

I still have long hair and still consider myself a freak. I love you guys!!
rOCK N rOLL (was that really Stills that said "go"? we thought he should go!)

also : We were there before the rain and remember being told to move the tents back from the towers at some point?

Later, o k ….from Houston then and now

ok_sure

03-15-2007, 09:57 PM

Found 2 things on the Concert...
1.) Brownsville Station
http://bs.angeltowns.com/1971.html

Celebration of Life Poster
Wish it was for sale.

2.) Vanderbilt Television News Archive
http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/tvncust-login.pl?SID=20070315250762939&RegType=Search

3 nightly news reports on tape for a price. costly...

So many conflicting stories. Such is life ...
http://hipforums.com/forums/images/icons/newicons/peace.gif

terikr

03-21-2007, 08:49 AM

I can't even believe this rock festival really happened, because I was so utterly stoned the whole time! I had taken acid almost daily for about 8 months by the time this event came along, and was so filled with angst that I would never know FOR SURE where or not there life after death, but I stashed as much free drugs as I could from our time out there, and attempted to OD for the purpose of finally finding out. Must've taken equal amounts of uppers to downers, because all I did was sleep 3 days. But the trips to the medic trips were fun--all of us voluptuous young topless gals ogling at the sun-burned penises being treated! :-) ?We were all lined up for the anointing of the medics.

pyramiddj1

04-05-2007, 05:11 AM

Hey Delta,

I knew there had to somebody on here that attended besides me! I'd love to talk to you about the recordings. I remember there were some film crews there too and they were going to make a documentary. I've never been able to track that one though.

PEACE!
flipI WAS AT THAT FESTIVAL! THE CELEBRATION OF LIFE FESTIVAL, JUNE 71 if anyone want to share experiences with me, please email me at: pyramiddj1@aol.com Rich

pyramiddj1

04-05-2007, 05:34 AM

HELLO EVERYONE, I WAS AT THIS FESTIVAL!!! I've been trying very hard, frantically searching for people who attendend this concert in McCrea La in 1971.
I have many stories to tell. I you'd like, email me at:
pyramiddj1@aol.com and put CELEBRATION in the subject line!

Thanks for memories!
Rich

PS NEVER FORGET THE ORANGE SUNSHINE!

posterjunkie

04-12-2007, 11:40 PM

sitareric

04-12-2007, 11:43 PM

that looks like an awesome concert!!

i wish i could have been there.. sweet

Yogi Bhairava

04-14-2007, 06:07 PM

Yeah I was there and scored some good blue mercury acid there too. Lots of mud and not so smart freaks who tried to swim in the Atchafalaya River which anyone down here knows is a no-no. This was the last festival of this size in Louisiana.Y.B.

ok_sure

04-16-2007, 05:24 PM

Hi Yogi,

Have to agree about the River.....I sat there and noticed how you walked out a few feet and it seemed to drop off the map. Wondering who had the idea to have the concert there. Googled the general area to see about a visit ....seems to have changed alot and don't really know the exact location. We just bought/or were given the acid there...Blue M. huh...if it was the same for me, I found it a very easy trip. :)

Do not remember Miles Davis and Pink Floyd being there....
Still, I had fun.

.....wonder what was really going on?
If you are reading this Rich, maybe you know something about the original plan?

K

As for the poster, Jacob
...why don't you make copies and sell them cheaper?

ok_sure

05-08-2007, 06:29 PM

http://www.stevenfromholz.com/factsfiction.html

Roll
...Festivals!
(or the 1971
"great festive debacle"
in the Louisiana
swamp!)

Fourth in a series of articles
By Steven Fromholz

The Dictionary defines “festival” as a feast or celebration or a series of programmed cultural
events.

My first festival experience was in June, 1971 at “The Festival of Life,” deep in the swamps of
Louisiana – near Baton Rouge. At that time I was employed by Stephen Stills as a guitarist
and vocalist in the rock and roll band he had put together – with which to tour nationwide –
his second solo album for Atlantic records. The band consisted of myself, the great bassist,
Fuzzy Samuels, Paul Harris on keyboards, and Dallas Taylor on drums...and Stills.

We were in Memphis that June, in rehearsals with the Memphis Horns, when Stephen’s
management folks received a request from the promoters of the “Festival of Life” which had
turned into a disastrous Festival of Death – huge amounts of rain and several people dying
there in the mud and the blood and the beer and the drugs of that swampy event. The
promoters wanted us to come down on the final evening to close the show and encourage
the fans to get the hell out of there in some sort of orderly fashion.

Stills accepted the invitation and that afternoon we were in a Lear Jet winging our way,
without the horn section, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. At the airport we were met by a pair of
two passenger, bubble-top, Bell Helicopters, which would – with any kind of luck – fly us to
the festival site. Stephen went out in one and the rest of the band was overloaded with our
instruments – no piano – into the other and off we flew into the deep, dark night that is the
Louisiana swamp lands. The rest of the band and I all thought we would probably crash into
the swamp, there to be eaten by alligators, and go down in history as a great rock and roll
tragedy. We did not crash – as fate would have it, and fate will have it!

We arrived and were escorted to the star’s dressing room where Stills was ensconced,
Pasha-like, awaiting our arrival or news of our untimely deaths. We remained in the dressing
room for an hour or so, getting high enough to hunt ducks with rakes, until it came time for us
to hit the stage and try to close what had become a disastrous event.

I have no idea what time we took the stage but I do remember beginning our set with a
jumpin’ version of Stephen’s hit song “Rock and Roll Woman.” The remainder of the set is
kind of a blur in my memory but I do recall that because of the lights on stage, not being able
to see any of the thousands of people out front – but, I could smell their swampyness with
more than just a hint of pot wafting onto the stage. We played five of the six songs we knew
as a band and then Stills took to the piano and began his peace and love, brother and sister
medley, at which point a loud, male voice at the left front of the stage was heard to exclaim,
“Shut-up and play your f----in’ rock ‘n roll.” – which we did!

We then beat a speedy retreat back to the relative safety of the dressing room. I do not know if
we were successful in our attempt to end this festive debacle but the boys and I were ready to
get the hell out of the swamp and back to our fine hotel rooms and excellent room service of
the Commodore Perry Hotel in downtown Memphis. As you can guess, we did not die in a
helicopter crash in the swamp on the trip back to Baton Rouge – arriving just in time to see
our Lear Jet leave for Memphis without us. We sat in the airport for hours and hours waiting
for the first commercial flight to Memphis. I certainly wouldn’t call that experience “a series of
programmed cultural events,” but...that is how festivals and I began

Deltamusic

05-26-2007, 04:45 AM

Couple (http://couple/) folks were asking about if anyone had any memorabilia for this festival.
Check out:

http://www.concertposterart.com/detailed.aspx?poster=2734

image and line up at the time the ad was released, i've also got a full info sheet that gives lots of great details...I'd never heard of the fest until i found this old ad. Miles Davis and Pink Floyd on the Same bill...WOW...does anyone know if they both played???

anyhow, enjoy the image...

Thanks,
Jacob

Riverwalk Records
Attn: Jacob Grossi
45 State Street, #119
Montpelier, VT 05602That is the poster I have been looking for! This is why we said YES to record the fest. Pink Floyd and Miles did not play due to the court delays in Louisana trying to ban the concert, however a lot of the artist on the poster were in the area and prepared to play.

Deltamusic

05-26-2007, 04:46 PM

Here is some info I found from Brownsville Station site.

The festival was to be eight days long, but was four days late in getting started, with abbreviated line-ups each of the three days that did take place. The first stage collapsed. The police were shooting at attendees and arresting many. The shift river currents took at least two lives. Food and facilities were nil, and the IRS were at the gates collecting what receipts they could from the 100,000 festival-goers who would otherwise have paid to get in. Most paid nothing to get in, however.The weather was ruthless--exceedingly hot and very humid, and when it rained, it came down so hard one could not stand out in it as it actually hurt to be pelted by the downpours! On the third day, Melanie opened and performed a full solo set, and then Stephen Stills and Neil Young played, but the plug was pulled before they had finished their set, and it was officially over at that point.
http://bs.angeltowns.com/1971.html http://bs.angeltowns.com/71Celebration25june.jpg

drb

08-04-2007, 08:35 AM

I was there
On my way to my internship in the USPHS in New Orleans driving from Detroit and stopped for the concert. Was volunteering in the clinic tent while between sleeping under a truck and listeneing to the music. A well know individual stopped in to check out what was going on in the clinic tent --Jerry Rubin. He seemed to be looking there for what was wrong rather then what help that was being given in the free clinic. It was the first time I had done suturing and my hands were quite shakey at first. Met a very nice lady at the concert who let me stay at her commune in New Orleans til I found a place to live. She had a great voice and played acoutic guitar --Dorthy ?

Marvin

amyb

08-09-2007, 02:34 PM

I was there but I can tell you I don't remember much of it. It must have ben really good!Hey Delta,

I knew there had to somebody on here that attended besides me! I'd love to talk to you about the recordings. I remember there were some film crews there too and they were going to make a documentary. I've never been able to track that one though.

PEACE!
flip

amyb

08-09-2007, 02:41 PM

I was there too, honestly, I don't remember much of it. I have tried to find information on the festival and until now the only p;ace I could find anything was a descritption on Wikipedia. Like you, the older I get, the more nostalgic I get about it.

I've done other searches and have found one or two people who attended. I guess I thought this forum might have some members old enough to have been there too.

The older I get, the more nostalgic I am about the late 60's, early 70's. Probably just my mid-life crisis raising it's ugly head. Either that or male menopause ;o)

flip

sharon seoats

08-12-2007, 09:24 AM

I was just out of the eleventh grade. There is an article about it in the TIME mag archives called "Mud, Sweat and Tears in Louisiana".dated July 12, 1971.
I remember Cocaine Alley and a guy wearing nothing but cutoffs, knee boots, and a top hat with a cardboard tag saying New York Smack. I remember Melanie fumbling around in a matchbox and singing like an angel, Brownsville Station, and John Fogerty. I wound up in the trip tent as I lost my "people" and had my picture published in a local newspaper as I was the only one at the river with any clothes on.
I was there and am trying to write a memoir about it. Any details would be helpful! Do you remember which bands played?

sharon seoats

08-12-2007, 10:06 AM

Hi, jonifan. I wonder if anyone is still listening to this. Anyway, I was there, too. I remember Melanie, Amboy Dukes, I think maybe Bloodrock, though I may have another concert confused with those guys. I also remember Brownsville Station distinctly and John Fogerty, I think. Also It's a Beautiful Day. I was only 16 and wound up in the trip tent at some point after taking a challenge on Cocaine Alley. That was a looooong time ago.

Hi Virgin Post here is anyone still listening (I guess I do give it up that easy)? I was there. Does not sound as if Delta"whatever" was there though by this comment "It gave all the artist that were to be there. Most were there.. ei Stones, Eric Clapton, etc.". Clapton or the Stones were not and to the best of my memories were never supposed to be there.

Will be happy to post some memories (bands played, exp etc) if anyone is still paying attention.
I also have searched for a post (used to have one) on eBay for years with no luck. Cheers Peace fred
PS Sorry but I for one do not believe you can have a rock festival in a football stadium.

sharon seoats

08-12-2007, 10:17 AM

Well, I remember good times, too. Just not very clearly. Do you remember if Bloodrock was there? They were the ones that did DOA. I remember It's a Beautiful Day, too. I had fallen asleep, apparently in an ant pile, but was so sunburned I didn't realize that one eye was swelled almost shut as I awoke to them playing as the sun rose. I remember guys selling drugs and throwing free candy, too. I think they were from Chicago. I was only 16 and when I got home my mom didn't recognize me with my swelled shut eye and baked on dirt. But I remember a lot of cool music, myself.

I went there in a VW bus also.I remember guys in rental trucks selling drugs out of the back and then throwing free candy to the crowd. Some great Thai and schrooms.The only band I remember was "It's A Beautiful Day". They were coming on at sunrise as I was coming down. We had made several candles to pay for our way from Texas to Florida including our stop at C.O.L. I remember lots of good times there,to bad other people didn't.

sharon seoats

08-12-2007, 10:42 AM

Hi, yeah, I was there, too. I'm afraid smart, stupid, or local had nthing to do with the river--it was soooooo hot, remember? According to the TIME mag article, it was the "end of what began at Woodstock" (archives July 12, 1971)

Yeah I was there and scored some good blue mercury acid there too. Lots of mud and not so smart freaks who tried to swim in the Atchafalaya River which anyone down here knows is a no-no. This was the last festival of this size in Louisiana.Y.B.

Unregistered

08-31-2007, 02:39 AM

I went to both...fun days

Unregistered

08-31-2007, 02:45 AM

I remember the Bikers with guns and then the police with guns...all trying to break it up and keep us out parked on streets for days.......but it did not work. I saw this one state trooper with a chrome plated tompson. That river was fun to swim in but what current. Was anybody part of the mud people on the river bank. When we were parked outside the night before they let us in ....do you remember the fire works and come crazy guy out in the streat with his fire works....and that one cop that was cool.

Dah Dig

09-15-2007, 04:26 AM

Wow...there so many of you good people still out there. Really tough finding pics or info on this one. Trying to show my kids maybe some photos of my black painted up mail truck like a keystone cop paddie wagon, that said United Freaks of America on the side. Inside was all Phsycidelic posters and colored lights. They got a pic of me from a time/ life anniversiery issue of woodstock but not my wagon. Came back to Cleveland .Ohio from a Pittsburg, Pa. Festival that didn't take place, riot cops came in line and
forced us all off the farm it was gonna take place at cause of legal injunctions...as we we leaving who ever was putting it on convinced another farmer to let us use his place, no concert, but one hellva great live in party for 2 days. They couldn't leagally stop it on the weekend. Anyway just before we got back to Cleveland I stopped for gas, heres this really good lookin girl fillin me up, checkin out my wagon, we got to talkin for awhile and she shows me two tickets for next week for the Celebration of Life Concert in Lo. Would I want to go? Are you kiddin me? Hung out for the week with her and had a ball. Grabbed another bud of mine and off we went. I called her " Lady" and she was! On the way down we got hungry and needed gas real bad so we pull over by Huntsville( Redneck at the time ) Alabama at a 7/11. Out front was sitting this long hair named Star and his girl Sunshine...we come out started talkin and they invite us to there pad for the night, Cool! we get there and their livin we about 14 - 18 others...well since I had a vicks bottle full of pure lsd 25 a chemist buddie made all the time, and a couple hundred bayer asperin tablets we blotted with me..( good way to carry it at the time and not get hassled by the man, In my wagon, the way we dressed, got stopped ALOT ! ) anyway party on all night...next day they decided to go with us...and now there were 5...we got there 2 days early and was about the 400 th vechile on the side of the road from the main gate. By the time we pulled up to that spot there were 20 I picked up along the way. That crazy dude with the fireworks was me... trippin away, me and Star were screwin around with them and a railroad flare and I caught a gross of bottle rockets on fire in my hand and just thru them to the sky...wow...what a trip and the crowd went crazy. We parked for 2 dys and nights there,waitin out the court crap, it was hot...there was a swamp along side the road there...nasty lookin and all those who couldn't wait to get naked went in...anybody remember a dead bloated cow floating out there, didn't matter everybody went in anyway. Next morning woke up and I don't know where everybody came from but it was happenin ! They were there and finally the word came the concert was on !!! Lady and me drove the wagon in with the 2 actual tickets and parked right at the end of Cocaine lane along the path. the rest of the gang got in their own ways and met us inside. The party was on !!! My favorite things I actual remember was the mud slide and swimming out to the boats with Lady and she'd hang her beautiful chest over the boats edge for the caukers. Even had a couple of locals come outta their boat and join us naked on the slide...they even got naked and had the time of their life. The music was awsome...didn't matter who played...balled to the dukes and afew other groups right ontop of the freak wagon...didn't matter, we were free, with all you life loving people there with us. The most outragious there was Ted Nugget...totally blew my butt away...awsome, awsome, awsome.!!! No I don't remember any of the bad stuff they say happened there...met alot good, good people livin and sharin themselves and whatever they had with each other...I think I ate sometime while we were there , but who knows...I miss those days alot..peace love and harmony on a large scale, people being themselves and expressing. We finally ended up leavin after who can remember the days it really was and dropped Star and Sunshine off in Huntsville, Al. my other bud met up with a chick and ran off with her to where everland and that was cool! Me and Lady headed back to Ohio, we made it, but the ol' wagon and I had to part ways, goin thru Kentuctucky she just couldn't make it up a hill and she blew her engine...grabbed a few things outta her and just pushed her over a cliff, stuck out our thumbs and a courious about hippies young straight woman picked us up and gave us a ride the rest of the way. Hung out a few weeks in Ohio, saw Lady once and a while. stopped to see her on a 750 ol' Norton I bought for some gas...what ja doin ? wanna go down and see Star and Sunshine in Al. sure and on the bike she got and off we went. got there and their people said they went to visit Stars uncle in Cocoa Beach Florida, looked at each other and so we went...stayed a couple weeks..ran outta cash so it was time to get jobs, she went to work in a store and I at a Cementary diggin graves. Hence bikes and diggin graves lead to the nickeroo name of Digger and that monicka as always stuck. Never ran into Star all the years I lived there...did catch Sunshine a couple years later there...and thats all I got to say about my last big feastival...concert... whatever you want to call it...I and all those I shared that lifelong experiance with Peace . Love and Joy! may they fill your entire lives as they still fill mine, thanks for all the memories posted here !.
"Don't just settle for a nice day, Have a great Life "
and thats what I'm wishing you who is reading this right now...peace and Love Digger

christinalongago

09-23-2007, 11:46 PM

But I was there! I remember the announcements that for some income tax reason, many bands weren't being allowed to come. I remember being in the river, mud, and all the usual stuff that goes on. Armadillos circling our campfire, wondering what we were...extremely cool for Bostonians! Our van broke down in Georgia, but met some nice people there. Got lots of GLARES when we stopped for gas in the southeren states...scary. Still got my shirt! I remember some of the music, but remember mostly a lot of confusion...but fun. My friend brought his dog with her nursing puppies along...what a trip. Love to you all!

HaRumph

10-10-2007, 12:47 AM

I was there. First there was an injunction to keep the festival from happening and we were left in limbo for 3 days camping on a levi outside this giant soybean field where the Festival finally took place. It was advertised in Rolling Stone as 8 days on a beautiful island in a river. Not even close.Security was a biker gang out of New Orleans. One guy had an arm missing and every day he had a different attachment for a hand. We went without fresh water for 3 days once we got in there and the concert started. Music only happened at night because it was 110 during the day. Steve Stills,Eric Burden, War, Bloodrock,Potliquor,Glass Harp, It's a Beautiful Day and Chuck Berry are some of the acts I remember. I bailed early with my tail between my legs after I droped my soap in the river we bathed in, and came up with a turd insted of my soap. My Woodstock wanabe daze were over. Peace and Love

JohnnyCake

10-12-2007, 05:59 AM

Christinalongago, my true love and I went down there from Boston too! Got real tickets at George's Folly before we left. I always felt weird about knowing I had a great time but being unable to remember much about the details. That seems like something most of us have in common. I remember HOT, and the eventual arrival of the tankers, and also the sudden drop off to the river bank. We got there a couple of days late so we heard the stories about it being kinda of rough at the outset, but by the time we got there it was just the heat that was the issue. You could convince me that we stayed 3 days or 3 months. I remember some of the mud people talking about not leaving. I remember Melanie and John Sebastian and Country Joe, and also the Chambers Brothers. I know what you mean, redflip,. I've never run into anyone who had heard of it when I would mention it. Thanx to rocnjava 'n ok_sure for the pics and posters. Looking at the White Cloud picture of the exit, wondering if that's me in the VW Beetle, I see a mail truck in that pic, but it's not painted like a keystone cops paddy wagon, dah dig, so I guess mail trucks (I had one too, but not this trip) and VWs were well represented. It's great to hear from all of you. Glad you are all well. Gotta go see what DeltaMusic put up on eBay. 1971....,huh, that was a while ago....
-JohnnyCake

Edwin

10-30-2007, 09:09 AM

When I arrived there was a lone police car sitting atop the levy. The folks I had hitched a ride with had by chance, somehow found out about and followed a couple of vehicles carrying people who were with the production company that would put on the festival. We stopped within a few hundred yards of the sentry, I got out here within site of a small, brittle looking old store we had passed a short ways back. Satisfied that they had located the site, the people I had ridden with decided they would drive to the nearest town for supplies. As they departed I looked back towards the levy, I saw the cars we had followed drive up and over the levy stopping briefly to speak with the officer standing outside of his car. I threw my pack onto my back and headed in the opposite direction, back toward the store, to my left the levy stretched ahead seemingly without end, fading into the hazy horizon, along the way on my right were a few old houses, not much more than shacks really, sitting on stacks of rocks, placed at each corner and at other strategic points, which served as the foundations. I nodded greetings to a couple of curious residents as I passed by, sharecroppers I imagined, none of us realizing how this dusty, emptiness was about to be transformed. The store was located where the road on which I had come in formed a T with the road that ran parallel along the levy. It was similar in structure to the the neighboring shanties, slightly larger perhaps, an open front faced the road and the levy beyond, double screen doors on which a faded Colonial Bread logo was still faintly visible opened outward. As I entered, and though I doubt if he had seen too many of my sort, the proprietor seemed to take little interest in the longhaired kid, toting the huge orange backpack, that had just come into his somnolent establishment. A small antique oscillating fan hummed and rattled in a weak attempt to mitigate the stifling heat, it sat incongruously atop a large iron potbellied stove, which itself stood upon four clawed feet in the middle of the room, on an unfinished wooden floor. I shopped a bit, choosing from the sparsely stocked shelves a pack of chips and a honey bun along with an RC Cola from the cooler. As I paid for my selections I spoke to the expressionless face behind the hand that gave me my change, asking if he knew what was in the works just across the levy. If he did he certainly didn't seem to care but then of course there is no way he could have envisioned that this was the destination for tens of thousands of hippies who were at that very moment, converging on this very spot from all across the United States. I thanked him and went back out and sat in front to eat my chips and drink my RC. After a moment I noticed he had come and stood just inside the screen door. We spoke again and I offered my thoughts that there might soon be a huge crowd where now there were only a couple of lazy hound dogs laying about. I asked a few questions about the local population whereas he did become somewhat more talkative and I learned of an "old goat man" who, he said, lived in a camp just the other side of the levy, at the edge of the swamp. This, I decided, would be my next stop. Putting the honey bun into the front flap, I shouldered my pack, said my good-bye and began to walk down the road along the levy away from the sheriff who I felt sure must have been eyeing me this whole time, from his far away perch atop the levy. Once I felt safe due to the significant distance between myself and the officer I left the road and climbed up and over the levy, descending quickly into the woods below. Under this cover I doubled back up the inside of the levy and found the camp of the goat man just where I had been told I should expect to find it. Now you might think that the prospect of meeting a "goat man" on the edge of a swamp in the middle of nowhere would leave one a tad uneasy, but as happens while growing up in north Georgia I had become quite well acquainted with another "goat man" who traveled the roads of the state in an old wagon in which he lived and which was pulled along by his "family". They regularly passed through our town and would stop overnight not too far from my boyhood home. He welcomed visitors and whenever we had the chance we would partake of his hospitality. Well this goat man of Louisiana proved no less friendly, if not so worldly due to his stationary existence in this wilderness, than the goat man from back home. We sat together in his camp surrounded by his friends and sustenance. I did most of the talking, relating stories of my travels and of places and things I had seen and done. When I told him of what was soon to come to this place I could see the idea fascinated him which rather suprised me since I had imagined he enjoyed his isolation. I asked if he would mind if I were to leave my pack in his camp while I reconoited the area. I wanted to locate the festival site while avoiding the attention of the gatekeeper. To this end the old man used a stick to trace a map onto the ground, with directions and the path I should take through the swamp, using a huge fallen cypress tree as a bridge, past a stinking bloated dead cow then along the river bank and from there into the open fields where I did indeed find the nexus of what was to become the Celebration of Life.

larry from miami

11-17-2007, 01:02 PM

I rode up from Miami with some friends. I was 17, just graduated high school.
I remember lots of LSD, hanging out naked on the river bank, playing in the mud. It was the best mud i have ever seen in my life.
The first person i ever saved from drowning was in that river. he was calling for help, but i thought he was just joking, cause I had someone do that to me once before and when I swam out to save him he laughed at me. So I waited till this guy went under and didn't come up and I realized he was really drowning. I swam out and found him in that muddy water and pulled him to the surface. Some other people swam out and helped me drag hm to shore. he didn't die
The only bands I remember seeing, (i was quite high on acid most of the time) were The Chambers Brothers, Melanie, Bloodrock, Stephen Stills, Its a Beautiful Day (they were unbelievable) and they kept promising us this special surprise guest. Everyone was speculating who it would be. It turned out to be a band from San Fransisco called Stoneground. never heard of them and i was not impressed.
Didn't they have like the first showing of Jimi Hendrix's Rainbow Bridge also?
maybe it wasn't the best concert ever, but I sure had a great time.
I remember the dead cow that Edwin spoke about and probably used the same fallen tree to cross the bayou. We camped on a small island in the middle of the bayou just out of smelling range to the north of the dead cow. there was a fallen tree that we used as a bridge to get from our island to the festival area.

2rightbrains

11-18-2007, 06:59 PM

I was there. It was the year after the Atlanta International Festival wasn't it? I went to that one too.

Hey here's what I remember from it - First me and my girlfriend got there and they hadn't let anybody in yet and we were spending the night next to some levy or something. Cars parked everywhere. We tried to make love in the back seat but it was too cramped so I got the idea that since it was so dark we could spread a blanket on the hood of car and so that's what we did. Everything was going real good until somebody in a car up on the levy shined their flashlight down on us and shouted something like, "Hey look at them!"

Then some cars started up and rearranged themselves so their headlights shone on us too.

One by one other flashlights and car head lights turned on us. We started with a blanket on top too but I think it had slid off us. Both of us were pretty free so I asked her what she wanted and she said, "Let's just keep on" and so we did. Eventually most of the lights dimmed and left us to complete in more privacy.

It was one moment of love I hope I never forget.

The music was great and I remember being nude for a good part of the three days there.

A few years later I got into music production - about a thousand hours in studios recording and mixing.

You say you still have the masters of Celebration of Life? Wow - I'd love to just hear the mp3.

This is my first post - don't know if it shows my email or not but would love to hear from you or whoever was there and their experiences. This and also Atlanta the year before.

larry from miami

11-18-2007, 11:42 PM

I went to the Atlant festival too. That was the best ever. None of the problems of Woodstock. there was plenty food, even tho it was hot there was a cool stream and a lake. It did rain to the first night. that was the best part. I was tripping heavy and the rain was refreshing and the lightning spectacular.
The acid was good, the music, the best. I was only 16 at the tiime. I wish i had a time machine. This is one of the times I would love to revisit.
Amazing thing is that only people from the south even heard about this festival. I bet it was bigger than Woodstock, and the lineup was amazing. Jimi Hendrix was like a god. I was about twenty feet from the stage for his performance. Chambers Brothers were amazing.

luvione

11-19-2007, 01:00 AM

This is an enjoyable thread,,,,,

wavingmonkey

12-02-2007, 03:53 AM

Was there at celebration of life down in the delta. Its funny i was looking for
info for my blog. could also use details.
I worked as a stage hand and was under the sound tower scaffoldling when that front blow in and badly hurt those four stagehands in the stacks.
One of my fondest and harshest memory's.
wavinmonkey

treakle

01-12-2008, 06:21 PM

I was there, too! Forgot about the levee until I saw someone mentioned it. I thought the levee camp was the most fun. Melanie landed in her helicopter right at my camp site; I said to her "You look just like Melanie!" She graciously responded, "I AM Melanie." Can't remember the music; way too stoned out. I remember being HUNGRY. A guy was selling baloney sandwiches. There was a watermelon truck. Were there cows around there somewhere? I came in a truckload of people I didn't know, from the St. Petersburg, Florida, area, where I was visiting.

chiphishawn

05-02-2008, 09:20 PM

I was there. Hitched down from Omaha. It was a unique experience. Lots of drugs and nudity plus good people. It was hot limited food, water, no shelter, and yet did not see one act of violence the whole time. I attended several classes while there on yoga, level of getting high, and lectures on lifestyles. I still have the paperwork from it. I also have a Tshirt. Looks very small noe but I wore it a lot once upon a time. I remember only half of the music happened and all of it happened very late at night.

jws1270

05-12-2008, 07:06 PM

This is a real time warp here. I can't wait to tell my buddy, Lil John, who was my traveling friend to this concert. If anyone here remembers us, I was Big John and Lil John and I were in a blue and white VW bus that was parked off the road about 4 cars from the medic tent and the levee. We were the ones that were selling the ELECTRIC YO-YO'S, in 4 different colors. we sold 400 of them in one night. Better explained would be that I sold 400 in one night 'cause lil john was stoned on "pick one" and trying to sell them for $400 each and I was selling them for $2. Lil john said if he sold just one he could take the rest of the night off. He didn't sell any!!

What an experience!! I'll tell you my version and hopefully entertain one or two of you that can remember what I think I remember.

We were also heading to the island in the river...had a still have the brochure which prompts this whole thing here. My son saw it and suggested you tube or google...alas. We were in MS. and it was canceled and to be moved or?? and those stories and had just stopped in a small bar , I think was the pink kitten or something like that and a liitle tension with us two being white and about 5 blacks including the owner. Things got great when lil john put a nickle in the juke box and played a Sly tune as he played with an electric yo-yo on the dance floor. had a great time there and actually gave one of the guys a ride to the concert and a couple of free yo-yo's to the patrons.

We luckily ended up right near the heartbeat of this mess, maybe by accident. Problem was we had 400 yo-yo's and no batteries. we needed 800 aaa batteries, so we pulled out the bus, had a few cars and friends we made there move the cars to insure a spot for us upon our return. We hauled ass into Baton Rouge and bought every battery that town had at about 3 or 4 electrical suppliers warehouses. But, on the way out the traffic was a mess and the cops had 2 roadblocks set up stopping anyone from coming in. we got some food and drinks and headed back. lil john was in the back putting together yo-yo's as i drove...but we had a plan. we took cardboard and marked big red medic crosses on it and stuck it in our window as we approched the first roadblock. I had boxes of batteries in the front and I told the cop that we were returning with batteries for the medics walkie talkies, and with some suspicions he let us through...remember paranoia...had it big time. Went through the same thing at the second roadblock, but this cop wanted to give me red lights and sirens back to the HQ, but i told him thanks but no thanks. The plan was near perfect, cars moved back, we squeezed in and the party began. WOW, what a trip as the saying goes.

I remember so many things and this blog jogged many others. I too recall the truck of watermelons and the guy with the machete slicing them in two. Dirt floor cropsharer's houses with kinder than expected people living in them, so poor...killing their chickens and making chicken salad sandwiches sold for 35 cents, while whitie brought in uhauls selling a can of beans for a dollar or more. It all became more thought provoking for me after I left, and many things still have an affect today. No water...no food...Hot! So much good and so much bad. Then it was tough to figure out.

That night after we or I sold all the yo-yo's and had a cardboard box of torn wet dollars, people that bought them or people who were trying to buy one kept me awake all night knocking on the bus windows. I finally got out and slept under the bus. Anyone remember the guys selling weed out of their van? $5 a handful or something like that. It was midwest wild grown HEMP that had no HIGH value. Things change and so have I. Could go on with this nonsense but I need to go call Lil John and have hime come to this site. He'll probably have a totally different story but I'll tell you now that He is full of shit and this is exactly how it happened.

rocnjava

06-03-2008, 02:57 AM

some Celeb of Life color pics:

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/1133153288041025963CDlDHJ

rocnjava

06-03-2008, 03:36 AM

and s'more pics, map, article

http://www.geocities.com/southern_rides/Katrina_Ride_5.html

http://www.southernfineprints.com/3.html

http://www.novapalooza.com/contributions-alex.htm

http://www.superseventies.com/sdmc_18_Jun_71.html

Bambooden

06-11-2008, 10:19 PM

I was there. I took a bath in a stream and as I was finnishing up I saw a dead cow floating next to me. I still have the advertisement that came with my ticket to Celebration of Life.

thereaderlf

07-08-2008, 07:34 PM

wow, i found this site by accident and here are all these people that went to the same festival back in 71. I went with two girls and we hitched from st. louis. the bikers watching the gates were from st. louis too, so we came and went through with no problem, we camped in the woods next door. sometimes we would just push a log into the river and float in that way as well. I saw some crazy folks there, and it was a blast being one of the naked mud people for a day. my kids just got back from rothbury fest in michigan. what a difference when you compare the two. thereaderlf

thereaderlf

07-08-2008, 07:40 PM

any folks that went to the festival live in the nashville tn area?

sharsu

07-29-2008, 03:09 PM

Gosh, I've been looking for a site like this forever! I was at the Celebration and can remember it being sooooo hot. Was with really good friends, drove down from Illinois in an old ice cream truck. Needing to make money for the return home, we went in to town and bought ice blocks, we wrapped them in tarps and sold ice during the festival.

stixnstones

07-30-2008, 02:44 AM

I live near Chatanooga now, but way back then, lived in Orlando, fl. My brother and i rode out to the celebration with a friend in his vw bug. As did others, we were stopped by the law, but found a way in and wound up on the levee camp, and then we were lead on a trail along the river into the main site. Spent the nite in the stage feild partying with poeple from all over. truly was a magic moment. Reality soon set in though as the heat was miserable and trying to find sustenance was a daily ordeal. Heading back to orlando, we stopped all along the way picking up coke bottles for deposit $$ to buy gas. Those were the days! Remember spending one nite in an old church, also remeber the little country store and the hermit guy, or "goat man" as some have called him. Wonder if these poeple had a clue what was going on?lol

NebrCalif_TGDLB

08-09-2008, 03:08 PM

I was there, a naive 20 yr old - took a bus from Nebraska to Baton Rouge, then hitchhiked to the festival. I do remember the rain, the heat, the delays - sleeping in a soaking wet sleeping bag - little food. Saw John Sebastian, Bloodrock, and, I think, War (with or without Eric Burdon?) - many groups as advertised never appeared. Was the closest I ever got to a Woodstock type event, though this one was poorly organized. And, I found out about it through their ad in Rolling Stone, and sent away for my ticket. Wow, as the joke goes - "the 60's (Seventies), if you remember, you weren't there!" ...

Greg0711

09-20-2008, 09:15 PM

That was the name of a three day rock festival held in Louisiana back in the summer of 1971. I was wondering if there was anyone else here who attended.
flip

I was there and it lasted 9 days not 3. I was 17 years old at the time and it was held up for several days by the police. Several thousand of us got in long before the gates were let open and musci was playing the entire time prior to the offical opening. It was a blast if you could stand the heat and the rain. The music played from sun down to sun up and we spent the rest of the day swimming in the river nude and getting buzzed.

The location was moved from an island in the Mississippi to several other locations before it was finally held in Baton Rouge Louisiana.

Greg P.

hip_tenn_poppy

11-17-2008, 05:35 PM

We got there a couple days before the gates opened and camped along the road. That was a big party. The day they let people in, we floated down the river on a log to get past the bikers, because who had tickets. There was a big group of us from Knoxville, TN. We had two VW buses parked side by side with about 25 feet between them and a big tarp strung up. It provided shade from the hot sun. Tourists would drive through daily and we would jump on the fenders for a ride. I burned my naked ass. It was a good trip for us. No bummers. I've been looking for a copy of the magazine with the picture of us in the mud pit. I stayed in the mud alot.:cheers2:

Tigerhead

11-21-2008, 07:53 PM

This is too cool. What a great memory! I was just out of high school and made the trip with my gf Debbie and her best friend Kay. We later became a party of five when we linked up with some homies at the ferry landing.

I remember the ticket for the event was supposed to be a multi part ticket. One section was supposed to get you a ferry ride across the Atchafalaya River, another section gained you entry into the campground, another to make entry into the stage area. This is what I was told. The ticket cost $28 bucks, as I remember, more money than I ever had at any one time. So like most, we managed to sneak in. More accurately we gained access by bribing a member of the motorcycle gang, aka concert guards. We thought we were going to get in scott free, based on some insider info from an old local we met at the ferry landing, but not so. His directions were good, we found the "secret" trail through the woods, but were soon confronted by a Manson look alike, I mean guard, who popped out of a trailside pup tent with a bolt action rifle. We retreated back to the road, but after some discussion, we managed to scrape up 20 bucks between us and I was elected to approach Charlie with the bribe money. He didn't argue much, but did warn me that if his supervisor (?) showed up before we cleared the scene, he would open fire. After closing the deal, I motioned to the others, standing off at a safe distance, to get their butts in gear. We had just cleared his checkpoint when a white cruiser with a side mounted searchlight appeared on the levee road. The next thing I know, Charlie hollers RUN, and the race was on. We ran, fully expecting to hear the crack of a rifle shot any second. But fortunately it never came. Doubtful Charlie actually had bullets for that thing. Right?

By now it's getting dark and we have no idea where we are. So we put our ears to the wind and picked up the unmistakable lyrics of the song DOA. How appropriate! We locked on to the signal and slowly picked our way through the swampy woods, only to arrive on the wrong side of a solid plywood wall. The wall was too high to see over, and disappeared into the darkness in both directions. So we take a vote and decide to follow it to our right, fully expecting to be greeted by Charlie's cousin at any second. But our luck continued and we soon reached the edge of the wall, which was nothing more than a huge stage wrap around. The next sight was one I'll never forget. A literal sea of people. You couldn't tell exactly how large the sea was, because you could only see as far as the stage lights could penetrate the contiguous layer of pot smoke that hung over the crowd. Well, we're standing there contemplating our next move, when it dawns on us that this is the peace and love generation we're looking at. So we start tip toeing through the masses, constantly apologizing as we go, until we get dead center with the stage. And, as we suspected, everyone made room for us, welcomed us, shared herb with us....God I miss the hippies!

We stayed for a couple of days, most of which is a blur. Most of the bands were obscure, at best, but the electric wine made it interesting. I also remember a small high wire act that tried to perform on stage through a barrage of fireworks that were launched at them by some of the crowd. And I recall being awakened from my stupor one night by the sounds of Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes, a group this southerner had not yet been turned on to. That was a treat. But most of all I remember the people. Good people! ----- Peace everyone.