Mellotronists

Hello all,

I just got hold of the DVD of the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival in
England. I had always heard about this concert, but had never seen any of
the footage. The DVD was only two hours long, so they must have left out a
lot, but there were some interesting performances.

There's a good version of the Moodies playing "Nights" (the whole song)
with Pinder at the MKII. This is probably the best concert footage I've seen
of them from that period, when there was just the five of them and the
Mellotron. There were some fine shots of the MKII with its top on backwards,
and Pinder playing both keyboards. There was also some mysterious little box
with three knobs that I noticed sitting on top.

This DVD is worth seeing for some other reasons too, including
performances by Free, Jethro Tull, The Doors, the first concert (so they
said) by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and the last performances by Jimi Hendrix
and Jim Morrison.

Did anyone on the list go to this concert? It seems that there was a
lot of trouble with people trying to get in for free and the promoters trying
to keep them out with huge metal fences and dogs. Looked like there were a
lot of angry hippies there. Joni Mitchell reduced to tears in the middle of
her set, Kris Kristoferson booed off stage during one of his songs. I'm
surprised that I've never seen any of this video before.

Ken M.

> From: kenmerb@...
> Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 16:42:42 EST
>
> I just got hold of the DVD of the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival in
> England.

Note that the nervous guy who ran the Isle of Wight Festival looks
remarkably similiar to Ian Faith, Spinal Tap's manager.

But then again, so does Miles Copland.

-- Don

--
Don Tillman
Palo Alto, California, USA
don@...
http://www.till.com

I've had this concert on VHS for a couple of years now. I agree it's great footage of the Moodies/Pinder/MkII and the Tull/Mitchell portions are great too. I'll have to take a closer look at the 3-knob box on the MkII that Ken M. refers to (external reverb? delay? transmitter for listening to Radio Caroline?)

It was actually ELP's 2nd gig, and having obtained the CD of ELP's full Isle of Wight show, it's a damned shame that more of it wasn't chronicled on film. I recently read in an ELP book that there were no real plans to film them at all, and it wasn't until someone realized how spectacular they were that the cameras were finally turned on.

I could have done without Miles Davis (great musician, but I could never get into his stuff), and certainly less Doors (frankly, Morrison is/was one of rock's worst lyricists, even more than the group America), and please NO Leonard Cohen or Kristofferson! Hearing either of them sing is like listening to geese farts on a muggy day - or Monsieur Dickson at the TRONto workshop.

And kudos to Don for his observation that promoter Ricky Farr does recall Spinal Tap manager Ian.

BTW, I just received a copy of the King Crimson book that has been referenced on the list several times. Have only done a cursory scan of the contents so far so I have no feedback to offer (as if anyone cared!). :-)~

Frank Samagaio
M400 #908

Addendum: On the subject of "debut" performances, is there any footage/pics of KC's Hyde Park concert?

Frank Samagaio
M400 #908

In a message dated 4/4/02 5:37:01 PM Eastern Standard Time, don@... writes:

Note that the nervous guy who ran the Isle of Wight Festival looks
remarkably similar to Ian Faith, Spinal Tap's manager. 

You're right, Don, I knew he reminded me of someone.  He also participated in some Spinal Tap moments of his own making, such as:

  - Let's give all the angry hippies 300 gallons of paint and brushes to paint the fences....you know, give them something to do...wait a minute.....they're painting obscenities and all sorts of nasty things on the fences.

   - Let's let any drugged out person get up on the stage to say whatever they want to into an open mic.  They're be no censorship here!

   - I know.....I'll scream obscenities at the audience at the beginning of the show and basically call them all a bunch of idiots and morons......that'll win them over.  There are only 600,000 of them, and I'll only have to deal with them for three days.

It was a very interesting concert, that's for sure.


Ken M.

Gents,

Can anyone upload a clip from this video of the Moodies playing at
the Isle of Wight? A QuickTime movie would be fine since I don't need
the whole video.....

FS. Weller

A photograph can be seen in my homepage.

http://www.geocities.co.jp/HeartLand-Asagao/7669/honkan.html

Hirofumi Takamiya
Mellotron M400S #552 & #714

> > Note that the nervous guy who ran the Isle of Wight Festival looks
> > remarkably similar to Ian Faith, Spinal Tap's manager.
>
> You're right, Don, I knew he reminded me of someone. He also
> participated in some Spinal Tap moments of his own making, such as:

There was a Channel 4 documentary on the Isle of Wight recently. The
drugged up hippies had *nothing* to match the unmitigated wierdness of
the islanders themselves. To say that they simply sounded and looked
like an inbred shower of snaggle-toothed banjo-playing retards with bad
haircuts and crossed eyes fails to encapsulate the sheer *Royston
Vaseyness* of the place.

[From memory]

One tweed-and-brinylon-wearing middle aged twenty year old organised the
'Decency Campaign' to stop the incoming music fans from the ravages of
drugs and intercourse. Looking as though the only chance of her getting
a shag was as part of a hot date at the Royal College For Investigations
Into Sensory Deprivation, she proudly announced how she had organised a
placard-waving march to dissuade the visitors from pumping chemicals and
foreign body fluids into themselves.

When asked about her own sexual values, she mentioned that 'she didn't
believe in it', thereby reducing her (likely) existence to something
less believable than the tooth fairy. Mind you, one look at her bearded
father and equally bearded mother revealed the source of her confusion.
The thought of these two Making The Beast With Two Backs with each other
was *far* less easy to believe in than Santa Claus and his reindeer.

The local minister was worried about the 'desecration of the island'
with the wild libidinous sounds of 1960s rock music. Mentioning that
there was 'no place for excessive drugs, drink or sexual liberation' on
the island, the interviewer cannily asked if there was any place for the
(relatively) vast amounts of money that would pour into the islands
microeconomy. A tortured, confused look came over his face, not unlike
that look that might overtake the countenance of a minister asked to
account for the literal view of biblical creation; I don't *actually*
believe it but I have to tell everyone that I *do*. His rapier-like
answer was to simply repeat that 'there is no place for excessive drugs,
drink or sexual liberation' on the island. Confusingly, he appended this
statement with 'I'm from Hull, you know'. The interviewer didn't move in
for the kill and ask about 'moderate' sexual liberation. A pity.

Another broadminded, shop-owning 'local' said that he had 'heared about
them hippy types' and how they 'do sex and stuff in doorways'. (I like
the 'and stuff') He further added that if he caught any of them 'at it
in his doorway like they do' then he'd 'let them have it' with his
shotgun. 'There's no place for that sort of thing on this island', he
posited. Sure. Not unless you're doing it with your sister, it appears.

I wish they'd show this again - I was *fucking* *paralysed* with
laughter watching it. Crazy place. Crazy festival.

Mike Dickson (tron@...) M400 #996
The Official Cynic of Streetly Electronics
Streetly Sample Library http://www.blackcat.demon.co.uk/tron/