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 KidsBy 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...