Hard to believe the Monterey Pop Festival happened 50 years ago this weekend. Though I was a mere 40 miles from there, I didn't attend it. I was just 16 at the time and wasn't much of a music fan. I would rather have been a 30's movie star than a hippie rock musician. I didn't have a record player and never even owned a record album until I was out of high school.

But historically it was a cultural turning point for sure. It really kicked off the 'Summer of Love' and put hippies into the public consciousness. It also proved there was big bucks to be made in rock festivals and they could make careers overnight, like with Hendrix, the Who, and Janis Joplin because of the film 'Monterey Pop".

I always thought of it as kind of Monterey Pop was the beginning and Woodstock and Altamont was the end. After that is was Lava Lamps, mood rings, Days on the Green, Journey and the Eagles. Commerce found the sweet spot and rode it out. It also started the huge influx of hippies into Santa Cruz in the 70's from LA and all over the country. I read they are going to have a 50-year anniversary Monterey Pop Festival. You can be sure the tickets won't be $3 for festival seating and $6.50 for VIP seating. What a sad, depressing piece of shit that event will be.

I remember a stagehand at the Civic, Bobby, who actually ran the spotlight on Hendrix during his famous guitar burning performance and the Who smashing everything up. When I asked him about what it was like he just said, " Just a bunch of assholes breaking the fire and stage safety codes." Can't sum it up better than that.