I missed a legendary rock band's epic performance in 1969. Yes, I was there, at the venue that day. But, I missed the performance. The "when" and "why" I missed the performance may be more interesting than the performance itself.
It was Labor Day Weekend, 1969. One of my buddies borrowed his parent's car and crammed in 4 blue collar community college midwestern 18-year-olds, food, tent, sleeping bags, beer and cooler and pointed it towards Dallas/Ft Worth to attend the Texas International Pop Festival. A 'little" 150,000 attended concert that nobody knew about that took place 2 weeks after the concert that everybody knew about -- Woodstock.
Day One gave us Janis Joplin, Grand Funk, BB King, Chicago, Canned Heat and more. We tried prove that 4 dudes from Missouri could party just as hard (and, live to tell about it) as any of those other states. Day Two looked promising with a star-studded line up. About half way thru BB King, we decided it was time for nutrition and a break from the action. As we wandered back to the campground we noticed a little commotion on the shore of the lake. And, some boats anchored on the lake in pretty close proximity. We strolled over for a closer look. It appeared that some guys and gals were swimming in the lake -- and, left their clothes on the bank. Of particular interest was a blond girl wading about waste high who could have easily graced the cover of Playboy magazine. This was all the motivation we needed to sprint back to the car, lock our valuables in the trunk, and take the plunge, sans clothing. We're not sure just how much time transpired, but it was "quality time" by any standard.
Dry bodies and proper attire later, we returned to the concert. A band had just finished and was toting their equipment off the stage. The on-deck group set up and moments later, the lively sound of percussion instruments filled the venue -- Santana.
It wasn't until we got back home that we discovered the group we missed while we were skinny dipping was -- LED ZEPPELIN!!
My AARP brain may have forgotten the experience of the Zeppelin performance. But, I'll never forget the skinny dipping.
If I could time travel, we would have timed our skinny dipping to sync with a less formidable band.
It was Labor Day Weekend, 1969. One of my buddies borrowed his parent's car and crammed in 4 blue collar community college midwestern 18-year-olds, food, tent, sleeping bags, beer and cooler and pointed it towards Dallas/Ft Worth to attend the Texas International Pop Festival. A 'little" 150,000 attended concert that nobody knew about that took place 2 weeks after the concert that everybody knew about -- Woodstock.
Day One gave us Janis Joplin, Grand Funk, BB King, Chicago, Canned Heat and more. We tried prove that 4 dudes from Missouri could party just as hard (and, live to tell about it) as any of those other states. Day Two looked promising with a star-studded line up. About half way thru BB King, we decided it was time for nutrition and a break from the action. As we wandered back to the campground we noticed a little commotion on the shore of the lake. And, some boats anchored on the lake in pretty close proximity. We strolled over for a closer look. It appeared that some guys and gals were swimming in the lake -- and, left their clothes on the bank. Of particular interest was a blond girl wading about waste high who could have easily graced the cover of Playboy magazine. This was all the motivation we needed to sprint back to the car, lock our valuables in the trunk, and take the plunge, sans clothing. We're not sure just how much time transpired, but it was "quality time" by any standard.
Dry bodies and proper attire later, we returned to the concert. A band had just finished and was toting their equipment off the stage. The on-deck group set up and moments later, the lively sound of percussion instruments filled the venue -- Santana.
It wasn't until we got back home that we discovered the group we missed while we were skinny dipping was -- LED ZEPPELIN!!
My AARP brain may have forgotten the experience of the Zeppelin performance. But, I'll never forget the skinny dipping.
If I could time travel, we would have timed our skinny dipping to sync with a less formidable band.