Gimme Shelter/Altamont

In December of 1969 the Rollings Stones put on a free concert at Altamont Speedway in Tracy California. Amongst the opening acts were Jefferson Airplane, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Crosby Stills, Nash and Young, and Santana.  The Hell's Angels were in charge of the security for the concert but didn't do a very good job of it.  when Jefferson Airplane took the stage fighting broke out in the crowd, and Marty Balin was knocked out by a Hell's Angel. When the Flying Burrito Brothers were singing Six Days On The Road, Gram Parsons had to tell the crowd to stop fighting. Once the Stones started playing, the mood of the audience didn't change.  Mick couldn't even get through a song without having to stop and tell the audience to cool it. You could tell he was really pissed off.  The Altamont concert just proved to be a disaster especially after an 18 year old in the audience was stabbed to death by a Hell's Angel.  Anyway you can see all of this on the documentary film Gimme Shelter.  I was not much of a Rolling Stones fan before I watched this film. I only heard a couple of their songs, but after watching it, the Rolling Stones became my favorite band and still are.  So if you haven't seen Gimme Shelter I definitely recommend watching it.

 

photos-Robert Altman, William L.Rukeyster, Ethan Russell

And I Love Her

Jane Asher was born April 5th 1946 in Willesden England.  She is an actress and cake decorator, but I know her best as the girlfriend of Paul McCartney.  Her acting career started in 1952 when she starred in the film Mandy.  She also starred in a number of other films and TV appearances.  Jane met all four Beatles backstage after one of their shows. But she was interested in Paul the most.  In 1964 Paul moved into the Asher Family home and lived in their attic. There he would write songs about Jane including, "And I Love Her,"  "Here There And Everywhere,"  "All My Loving,"  "We Can Work It Out" etc.  In 1967 they were engaged and Jane even traveled with Paul to India to meditate in 1968.  But a couple months later they ended their five year relationship.

   

(Photos flickr)