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Bakersfield - 1966 (Read 2,229 times)
Edith Grove
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Bakersfield - 1966
Jul 22nd, 2016 at 4:34pm
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The Stones rolled into Bakersfield 50 years ago: Our report then


BY JENNIFER SELF [email protected]
FRIDAY, JUL 22, 2016



...


Remember when the Rolling Stones came to the Civic Auditorium in Bakersfield in 1966? The Californian was there.



On their 1966 U.S. tour, the Rolling Stones — the bad-boy British Invasion counterparts to the slightly-cleaner-cut Beatles — stopped in several major cities: Washington, DC, New York City, Baltimore, Chicago, Houston. Sandwiched between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles was a July 24 tour stop in Bakersfield, not a sprawling metropolis 50 years ago, but packed with enough Mick and Keith fans to justify two shows at the Civic Auditorium, now called Rabobank Theater.

We were tipped off to the 50th anniversary of the concerts by Nick Wynne, marketing director for the Rabobank entertainment complex.

“I have nothing from that show, other than the date — no pictures, ticket information, etc., at least that I’ve been able to find yet. I’m hoping maybe you guys have something in your archives. It could make for a neat TBC Archives piece.”

We couldn’t agree more.

I did a little digging and found a rather offbeat write-up by my 1960s predecessor, Beth Henley. The piece was buried, as we say in the newspaper biz, on Page 14 of the July 25, 1966 edition of The Californian. Rather than quote from Henley’s story, I thought I’d give history buffs and Stones fans a little satisfaction by reprinting the whole thing — all the generation-gap double talk, era-appropriate references to President Johnson and do-you-digs? included.



Stones Roll,
Stun Adults,
Thrill Kids


By BETH HENLEY
The nagging began a while back when the phone rang and the coaxing voice of a friend in his tweens said: 

“Which program of the Rolling Stones are you going to hear, the 7 o’clock or the 9?”

Then the conversation continued as follows:

“Who are the Rolling Stones?”

(A gasp of disbelief.)

“Why ... you know. They’ve had more front page publicity than LBJ ...”

“Than LBJ’s stones?”

(It was our time to be incredulous.)

“Well ...”

“Do these rocks roll and roll?”

“Well ... sort uv.”

“Include me out. I boycott rock and roll.”

“What’s boycott?”

“It’s what Rolling Stones and all the other best-tressed guitarists and folk singers do to the barbers.”

“Oh.”



And so on.

The upshot, of course, was that Sunday night we went along with 20 policemen, a clutch of policewomen, 24 ushers and two brimming auditoriumfuls of screeching, yelping, yelling, screaming, snickering kids — plus the two camera-slung, saucer-eyed moppets who were responsible for our presence.

The latter, it may be taken for granted, were as expectant and excited as if they had just landed on the far side of the moon. And they were willing to battle hell and high officers to get near the Stones, and the other entertainers who had by that time included the Grains or Sand, the Standells, the McCoys, the Tradewinds and a few others.

We knew we were flaky to be such a pushover, and began to wonder if we’d been working too hard, or something ... But there we were, in the combination of an Ozark Mountain revival meeting, a witches’ Sabbath, and medicine men’s incantations.

We were in time to hear the Standells belt out “Dirty Water,” and “Sometimes Good Boys Don’t Wear White.”

Our small photographers were unable to battle the swarming waves of rapturous young people to reach any of the Stones but they did manage to photograph a Grain of Sand.

With a GAR look that told more eloquently than words that he belonged back there when “cool” meant not hot and fanny was a girls’ name, my adult companion said manfully, “I suppose this is Thrillville. And I suppose it is SOP (standard operating procedure)? Do you dig?”

And then, seeing what an escape hatch it all was for a bunch of nice kids, we had our moment of truth: It’s more creative to grow up than to grow old. It’s their 20th Century, and they know it.

The Stones came under auspices of Radio Station KAFY.


http://www.bakersfield.com/entertainment/2016/07/22/the-stones-rolled-into-baker...
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“What rap did that was impressive was to show there are so many tone-deaf people out there,” he says. “All they need is a drum beat and somebody yelling over it and they’re happy. There’s an enormous market for people who can’t tell one note from another.” - Keef
 
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Paranoid Android
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Re: Bakersfield - 1966
Reply #1 - Jul 22nd, 2016 at 7:22pm
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Nice little gem there Edith...Thanks
!
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.........
 
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Re: Bakersfield - 1966
Reply #2 - Jul 22nd, 2016 at 11:14pm
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stones roll in bakersfield!!
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sweetcharmedlife
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Re: Bakersfield - 1966
Reply #3 - Jul 23rd, 2016 at 7:54am
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And the setlist hasn't changed since.  Brian's smile War horses couldn't drag me away
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I'll shoot it to you straight and look you in the eye
So gimme just a minute and I'll tell you why
 
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Re: Bakersfield - 1966
Reply #4 - Jul 23rd, 2016 at 8:22am
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sweetcharmedlife wrote on Jul 23rd, 2016 at 7:54am:
And the setlist hasn't changed since.  Brian's smile War horses couldn't drag me away





...
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...&&&&D.J. Jazzy Joe and the Fresh Prince of Boca Raton !™&& *** " VICTORY !!!! " ***...
 
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Kilroy
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Re: Bakersfield - 1966
Reply #5 - Jul 24th, 2016 at 9:02am
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sweetcharmedlife wrote on Jul 23rd, 2016 at 7:54am:
And the setlist hasn't changed since.  Brian's smile War horses couldn't drag me away


oh thats a good one!
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The Core Of The Rolling Stones is Charlie Watts Hi-Hat/The Sunshine Bores The Daylights Out Of Me/And Then We Became Naked/After the Skeet Shoot & Sweet Dreams Mary & #9 11/22/1968 @#500 2/19/2010 @#800 4/09/2011 @#888 10/28/2011 @#1000 2/2/12
 
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Kilroy
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Re: Bakersfield - 1966
Reply #6 - Jul 24th, 2016 at 10:38am
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Thanks Edith, but for some reason I Cant Read newspaper article and want to!
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The Core Of The Rolling Stones is Charlie Watts Hi-Hat/The Sunshine Bores The Daylights Out Of Me/And Then We Became Naked/After the Skeet Shoot & Sweet Dreams Mary & #9 11/22/1968 @#500 2/19/2010 @#800 4/09/2011 @#888 10/28/2011 @#1000 2/2/12
 
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sweetcharmedlife
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Re: Bakersfield - 1966
Reply #7 - Jul 24th, 2016 at 6:14pm
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Kilroy wrote on Jul 24th, 2016 at 10:38am:
Thanks Edith, but for some reason I Cant Read newspaper article and want to!

The link is the same as the text Edith posted. Can you read that?
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I'll shoot it to you straight and look you in the eye
So gimme just a minute and I'll tell you why
 
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Re: Bakersfield - 1966
Reply #8 - Jul 24th, 2016 at 7:57pm
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with the passage of time they have imparted more to current country than the bakersfield sound has
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Kilroy
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Re: Bakersfield - 1966
Reply #9 - Jul 24th, 2016 at 11:37pm
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sweetcharmedlife wrote on Jul 24th, 2016 at 6:14pm:
Kilroy wrote on Jul 24th, 2016 at 10:38am:
Thanks Edith, but for some reason I Cant Read newspaper article and want to!

The link is the same as the text Edith posted. Can you read that?


yes, thanks!
thought i was missing something.
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The Core Of The Rolling Stones is Charlie Watts Hi-Hat/The Sunshine Bores The Daylights Out Of Me/And Then We Became Naked/After the Skeet Shoot & Sweet Dreams Mary & #9 11/22/1968 @#500 2/19/2010 @#800 4/09/2011 @#888 10/28/2011 @#1000 2/2/12
 
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Edith Grove
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Re: Bakersfield - 1966
Reply #10 - Jul 28th, 2016 at 5:57am
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Stones in Bako in '66: It was a gas, gas, gas - and they were there!


By The Bakersfield Californian
WEDNESDAY, JUL 27, 2016


...
Photo courtesy of Jay Corona

Jay Corona served as an usher at the Civic Auditorium for the concerts given by the Rolling Stones in Bakersfield on July 24, 1966. In the center is the set list he found on the floor near the drum set of Stones drummer Charlie Watts. Also pictures are ticket stubs from other shows Corona worked or attended.



They still had a decade or two to go before most fans would anoint them the greatest rock band of all time — or at least the most durable — but when the Rolling Stones gave two performances in Bakersfield on July 24, 1966, they were still a big deal.

A big enough deal, it turns out, to stir some fond memories. The Californian published a spread Sunday noting the 50th anniversary of the concerts, and we received emails from ushers Jay Corona and Will Winn and concert-goer Victoria Kash, who attended with Ed Parks.

Jay Corona: ‘The flood of people began to pour in’

On July 24, 1966, I was one of the 24 ushers who worked the Rolling Stones shows on that day.

I was a young man, 24 years of age and very much into rock ’n’ roll music. The American music scene was changing at a very rapid pace with a flood of new bands from both stateside and overseas. The Beach Boys, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Supremes and other Motown artists were all putting out hit after hit. It was a great time for music.

Having graduated from Bakersfield College three years earlier and working for the Shell Oil Company as a junior draftsman, I happened to be talking with an older fellow employee who sang in a barbershop quartet. His group would often perform at the Civic. I remember that a friend and I would kid him about singing in a barbershop quartet and he, in turn, would tell us that what we listened to was not music but noise.

Out of the blue one day he asked me if I would be interested in serving as an usher at the Civic for the up-coming Rolling Stones concert. I quickly said yes. I was, and still am, a big rock ’n’ roll fan and here this guy offers me a free pass to not one but two Rolling Stones shows!

His last words to me were that I would need to wear a white shirt, black tie and black trousers.

“Yes, sir.”

On the evening of July 24, 1966, I showed up at the Civic and checked in for my usher assignment. I was assigned to the upper level and just as I was looking over my assigned area, the flood of people began to pour in. I began working my area, seating people here, there and everywhere until the first of the opening bands made it to the stage.

To this day I did not know who the opening acts were. After reading the reprint of the event in The Californian, I was very surprised that the Standells and the McCoys were among the opening acts. I must have taken this ushering thing too seriously to not be aware of who the bands were that were playing.

Anyway, the lights went out and the Stones made it on stage. I did my best to take in the show but I was too far from the stage for my liking. The place emptied and we regrouped for the second show.

To the best of my knowledge the Stones played a total of six songs and that ended the first show. If the songs played in the second show were also played in the first show then they were: “Not Fade Away,” “The Last Time,” “Paint It Black,” “Lady Jane,” “Mother’s Little Helper,” “Get Off My Cloud,” “19th Nervous Breakdown,” and “Satisfaction.”

Between shows, I had time to think about what had just happened and I made a plan not to lose out on the second show and that I would somehow need to get closer to the stage.

The second show started pretty much like the first. The opening acts played, people were seated, the lights went out and the Stones went on stage. Now it was time for me to put my plan into action. I made a break for it and found my way to a ringside position at the foot of the stage. I took in the whole show and even collected a playlist that Charlie Watts (the drummer) had left on the floor.

I don’t believe Tina Turner had taught Mick Jagger how to dance yet because his moves were still not as polished. “Lady Jane” is the song that stuck with me from that night.

Will Winn: Mick Jagger’s pants were ‘leotardish’

In the mid- to late ’60s the local barbershop quartet chapter were paid to usher at the then Civic Auditorium. The barbershoppers, dressed in our chorus plaid dinner jackets and tux pants, had no idea what was coming before we were stationed, facing the audience of hundreds of very young people, along the front edge of the stage.

I don't remember much except we were told not to allow anyone on stage and Mick Jagger's (learned his name afterward) pants were “leotardish.”

Several screaming little girls kept coming up to me with programs and pieces of paper begging me to give them to the guitar player (learned later it was Keith Richards) standing behind me.

Most of the barbershoppers fought off PTSD for a while afterwards.

Victoria Kash: No one believes the Stones came to Bakersfield

Ed Parks and I attended, remembered the line of “blue” that stood hand in hand in front of the stage. Ed has saved the ticket stubs, which were $6 each and the actual program handed out — yes, saved since that night.

As young teens we just had to go and over the years no one believes that the Rolling Stones came to Bakersfield.


http://www.bakersfield.com/entertainment/2016/07/27/stones-in-bako-in-66-it-was-...
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“What rap did that was impressive was to show there are so many tone-deaf people out there,” he says. “All they need is a drum beat and somebody yelling over it and they’re happy. There’s an enormous market for people who can’t tell one note from another.” - Keef
 
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