Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Gimme Shelter, George Lucas, 'Cycle-Delic Sounds', etc etc
So I guess the definitive Death Of The Sixties text has gotta be the Maysles Brother's 1969 Rolling Stones tour documentary Gimme Shelter, which I caught last night for the first time (courtesy of a ropey video copy my Dad taped off the telly a couple of weeks back) and I'm mighty pleased to report that it's pretty much everything one might hope for...fer the record, the movie features a ton of footage from the New York gig that was recorded and released as (maybe my fave Stones LP...no, not Fave live LP, Fave Stones LP period) Get Yer Ya Yas Out, (Jagger: "Aww, I think I just bust a button on my trousers...you don't want my trousers to fall down, now, do you?), the Stones mooching about looking imperiously cool, and of course the grim finale of Altamont, the free concert held on a cold San Fransico night at the Altamont Speedway which ended with the Hells Angels (acting as 'security') stabbing to death black teenager Meredith Hunter meters away from the stage as the Stones played on...it is a mighty depressing film, a bummer, and the final images - Hunter's girlfriend weeping as his body is wheeled into a helicopter, Jagger staring in stoned, numb incomprehension at the footage of the murder - tell you everything you need to know the about the true darkness of the Nixon, Nam and post-Woodstock era.
While there are plenty of places you can read about Altamont, I figured I'd put my two cents in. It's an event I've been fascinated by for years, and Gimme Shelter has given me much to mull over. Here are a few thoughts on the film...
.1. The sense of doom and violence which hangs over the Altamont Speedway is palpable from the moment we are introduced to the site...certainly there are many people present who have since reported things 'not feeling right' from the beginning. It is a cold, dull day, no 'West Coast Woodstock' as the promoters and organisers naively hoped it would be. As the Stones get out of their helicopter, Jagger has barely walked a dozen yards before some kid slugs him in his face, setting the tone for the rest of the day.
.2. The rumble of the Hells Angels Harleys as they first appear over the horizen is a trully terrifying, foreboding sound, like a squadren of Meshersmits emerging from the clouds...the counter-culture's (Grateful Dead, Ginsberg, Ken Kesey & The Merry Pranksters etc) infatuation with the Angels is easy to understand - they represented a real, hardcore, blue collar outlaw culture middle class hippies could only dream about , they rode kick ass bikes, the cops hated 'em just like they hated drop out kids with long hair yadda yadda yadda - but it is difficult to comprehend why - even in a haze of drugs & brotherly love - more hippy figureheads didn't recognise them for the unreconstructed violent thugs they so patently were, and see something like Altamont coming a mile off. The Angels are simply out of control in Gimme Shelter; they are seen clubbing dazed hippies with pool cues, dragging people from the stage who then disapeer under a barrage of kicks and fists and - in one of the most infamous scenes (in a film full of 'em) - knocking Jefferson Airplane guitarist Marty Balin unconcious mid-performance...
.3. Which brings me to my favourite scene in the film, a tragi-comic cameo by The Grateful Dead. Of all the West Coast groups, it was the Grateful Dead who were most closely affiliated with the Angels, and their relationship with the outlaw bikers was central to the counterculture's acceptance of them. Consequently The Dead must accept some responsibility, however small, for the Rolling Stone's decision to 'hire' the Angels as 'security' at Altamont...which didn't stop them from splitting the moment they learnt of the Marty Balin incident. The Dead were meant to play Altamont, but, spooked by bad vibes and reports of Angels violence, helicopter-ed off the site without leaving the backstage area. I'm a big fan of The Grateful Dead, and their cameo - which lasts less than a minute - is highly entertaining in it's dazed & confused comic Grateful Dead-ness.
Guitarist Bob Weir returns with tales of Hells Angels On Jefferson Airplane violence...the conversation, such as it is, is monotoned, stoned and blank throughout
Jerry Garcia "So that's the scene, huh?"
Bob Weir: "Yeah, they beat up Marty Balin."
Jerry Garcia: "Oh, bummer."
Bob Weir: "Beating musicians up like that...it doesn't seem right somehow."
(a) Describing events as 'the scene'. (b) Use of 'Bummer,' the most pathetic, inevitable hippy cliche one could possibly hope for. (c) Weir's laughable conclusion. Would it seem 'right' if the Angels were beating up punters? Or is it just musicians it isn't 'right' to beat up? And it isn't right 'somehow'? Like, somewhere in the back of your dope addled fogged up skull you have some niggling sense that it's wrong for liquored up scumbags to smash people about for kicks but you can't quite remember why it's wrong? Jeez. It's funny, because people playing to type is funny, but it's also shockingly lame.
Anyway, the Godfather is on Film Four now (the announcer lady said 'Now on Film Four, The Godfather - it's free!,' like she was just as excited about Film Four being free as I am), and I've been sat writing this for too long, so I'm gonna leave it there. One thing I will mention before I split is that I read today that one of the cameramen the Maysles Brothers hired to film at Altamont was...GEORGE LUCAS! Which is pretty crazy.
(OH! In other Late Sixties Oultlaw Biker Culture Related News: I was in Barcelona the other week and I picked up a copy of Davie Allen And The Arrows' late 60s 'Cycle-Delic Sounds' LP, which is an instrumental biker-sploitation fuzz-garage / acid rock freak out monster, the killer tracks being the very trippy 'Mind Transferral' & the very evil 'Grog's Hog.' It's got a really hip sleeve, with a blonde hippy chick reflected in the mirror of a motorcycle on the front and a picture of The Arrows posing like bad ass punks on the back. Some of the LP is pretty shlocky, infact it's all shlocky as hell, which is part of it's appeal, but some of it is just sorta cheesy with it...the stuff that's good is very good. Go dig.) ¶ 10:58 AM
While there are plenty of places you can read about Altamont, I figured I'd put my two cents in. It's an event I've been fascinated by for years, and Gimme Shelter has given me much to mull over. Here are a few thoughts on the film...
.1. The sense of doom and violence which hangs over the Altamont Speedway is palpable from the moment we are introduced to the site...certainly there are many people present who have since reported things 'not feeling right' from the beginning. It is a cold, dull day, no 'West Coast Woodstock' as the promoters and organisers naively hoped it would be. As the Stones get out of their helicopter, Jagger has barely walked a dozen yards before some kid slugs him in his face, setting the tone for the rest of the day.
.2. The rumble of the Hells Angels Harleys as they first appear over the horizen is a trully terrifying, foreboding sound, like a squadren of Meshersmits emerging from the clouds...the counter-culture's (Grateful Dead, Ginsberg, Ken Kesey & The Merry Pranksters etc) infatuation with the Angels is easy to understand - they represented a real, hardcore, blue collar outlaw culture middle class hippies could only dream about , they rode kick ass bikes, the cops hated 'em just like they hated drop out kids with long hair yadda yadda yadda - but it is difficult to comprehend why - even in a haze of drugs & brotherly love - more hippy figureheads didn't recognise them for the unreconstructed violent thugs they so patently were, and see something like Altamont coming a mile off. The Angels are simply out of control in Gimme Shelter; they are seen clubbing dazed hippies with pool cues, dragging people from the stage who then disapeer under a barrage of kicks and fists and - in one of the most infamous scenes (in a film full of 'em) - knocking Jefferson Airplane guitarist Marty Balin unconcious mid-performance...
.3. Which brings me to my favourite scene in the film, a tragi-comic cameo by The Grateful Dead. Of all the West Coast groups, it was the Grateful Dead who were most closely affiliated with the Angels, and their relationship with the outlaw bikers was central to the counterculture's acceptance of them. Consequently The Dead must accept some responsibility, however small, for the Rolling Stone's decision to 'hire' the Angels as 'security' at Altamont...which didn't stop them from splitting the moment they learnt of the Marty Balin incident. The Dead were meant to play Altamont, but, spooked by bad vibes and reports of Angels violence, helicopter-ed off the site without leaving the backstage area. I'm a big fan of The Grateful Dead, and their cameo - which lasts less than a minute - is highly entertaining in it's dazed & confused comic Grateful Dead-ness.
Guitarist Bob Weir returns with tales of Hells Angels On Jefferson Airplane violence...the conversation, such as it is, is monotoned, stoned and blank throughout
Jerry Garcia "So that's the scene, huh?"
Bob Weir: "Yeah, they beat up Marty Balin."
Jerry Garcia: "Oh, bummer."
Bob Weir: "Beating musicians up like that...it doesn't seem right somehow."
(a) Describing events as 'the scene'. (b) Use of 'Bummer,' the most pathetic, inevitable hippy cliche one could possibly hope for. (c) Weir's laughable conclusion. Would it seem 'right' if the Angels were beating up punters? Or is it just musicians it isn't 'right' to beat up? And it isn't right 'somehow'? Like, somewhere in the back of your dope addled fogged up skull you have some niggling sense that it's wrong for liquored up scumbags to smash people about for kicks but you can't quite remember why it's wrong? Jeez. It's funny, because people playing to type is funny, but it's also shockingly lame.
Anyway, the Godfather is on Film Four now (the announcer lady said 'Now on Film Four, The Godfather - it's free!,' like she was just as excited about Film Four being free as I am), and I've been sat writing this for too long, so I'm gonna leave it there. One thing I will mention before I split is that I read today that one of the cameramen the Maysles Brothers hired to film at Altamont was...GEORGE LUCAS! Which is pretty crazy.
(OH! In other Late Sixties Oultlaw Biker Culture Related News: I was in Barcelona the other week and I picked up a copy of Davie Allen And The Arrows' late 60s 'Cycle-Delic Sounds' LP, which is an instrumental biker-sploitation fuzz-garage / acid rock freak out monster, the killer tracks being the very trippy 'Mind Transferral' & the very evil 'Grog's Hog.' It's got a really hip sleeve, with a blonde hippy chick reflected in the mirror of a motorcycle on the front and a picture of The Arrows posing like bad ass punks on the back. Some of the LP is pretty shlocky, infact it's all shlocky as hell, which is part of it's appeal, but some of it is just sorta cheesy with it...the stuff that's good is very good. Go dig.) ¶ 10:58 AM
