March 24, 1968: Parking Lot near 50 Green Street, San Francisco

STRIKE, THE PARK AND OTHER THINGS

Indigent rock music enthusiasts, barred from the $3 ballrooms, need not be left out in the cold on weekends these days. For the price of bus fare or just the energy consumed making it by foot to Golden Gate Park and other areas, a pleasant Saturday or Sunday afternoon of music is guaranteed at an inexpensive tab. 

The radio KMPX strike, which has sent everything from DJs to janitor to the street with picket signs, has brought both local bands and those from afar to their side with sympathy. As a result the KMPX picketeers have put together some fantastic street scenes to promote their walk-out and bring new campaigners to their feet. 

A week ago Sunday, for instance, it was one surprise after another around the corner from strike headquarters. It was a perfect afternoon: the sun was throbbing, the beer still cold, and the Sons of Champlin were rocking the stage. Their rhythms were sucking in crowds as if luring them with a siren's call. 

The portable generators which supplied the juice for the afternoon were still humming as the Sons of Champlin silenced the Vox amplification and made their way from the two flat-bed trucks that joined rears and acted as a temporary stage. Their big band rock sound was well taken with a befitting applause.

The crowd edged closer and closer to the stage as a small van pierced a layer of the assemblage [and] dragged out a massive hunk of organ caped with a coverlet inscribed "Stevie Winwood."

It wasn't long before Traffic, the outstanding English trio, was on the stage. Heaven Is In Your Mind started the wheel rolling, and by the time Dear Mr. Fantasy poured forth the crowd seemed overtaken by some strange trance. Drummer Jim Capaldi was drenched with sweat and Winwood's versatility was steaming unbelievably from guitar. 

Traffic didn't give much of a chance for the trance to break as the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia climbed the stage, jacked in his guitar (sending Winwood to organ), and an incredible jam session, with as many as eight musicians working out at once, was underway. 

A very short appearance by James Cotton on harmonica and a lengthy and impressive jam featuring guitarist Harvey Mandel with the Indian Head Band concluded one of the most unusual musical experiences this writer has ever witnessed. And it was all for free. 

Lately, each weekend has been graced with free open-air concerts somewhere in the city. Most are in The Park, and as long as the KMPX strike is on, their street scenes will be too. It might be a good idea for enthusiasts to keep eyes pinned to the press and ears to KMPX (but is that in poor taste?) and get in on these things. (The Haight Ashbury Switchboard (387-3575) is usually of reliable assistance.) They can become an experience more unique than the ballrooms themselves.

John Lee Hooker heads the bill at the Carousel this weekend along with Mother Earth and the Loading Zone. Eric Burdon and the Animals, Quicksilver, and the Sons of Champlin are at Winterland, while the Blues Project, Iron Butterfly, and the Nazarra Blues Band play at the Avalon.

(by Martin J. Arbunich, from the Guardsman, April 3, 1968)

See also: 

Lost Live Dead: March 18, 1968: Pier 10, San Francisco-KMPX Strike Rally (also: March 20, 1968 Avalon)

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March 20, 1968: Avalon Ballroom 

FAR OUT KMPX BENEFIT (excerpt)

9 Long Hair Band Groups 

The Fruminous Bandersnatchers blared many a harmonious musical bar last night in Avalon Ballroom, sounding what may have been the reqiuem of old style strikes and labor negotiations. 

The Bandersnatchers were but one of nine long-hair (not in a musical sense), bearded, and sandal-less instrumental groups playing from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. for the benefit of striking staff members of KMPX-FM, a local radio station which yanked itself upward via mod music from a practically no-listener rating to the well-to-do status of the paying voice of hippieland. 

Also electronically pulsating for out-of-work KMPXers were Blue Cheer, Charlie Musselwhite Southside Sound System, and the Grateful Dead.

What makes the four day KMPX strike different from other walkouts is that bread (which is pure Haight-Ashbury for money) is secondary in consideration to "artistic freedom." 

Freedom of the arts, according to KMPXers, is their right to ignore company orders about shaving, hair cutting, wearing shoes on the job, and bathing frequently. 

It also embraces ignoring orders to play those saccharine string melodies adored by the squares.

Because of such real and imagined grievances, KMPXers hit the bricks Monday against station owner Lee Crosby . . . 

The strikers are letting it be known that a bit more bread in the pay envelope could be instrumental in coaxing them back to the microphones. They note the highest paid disc jockey in pre-strike days earned but $125 a week. 

Meanwhile, the station hasn't dropped a broadcast bar with employees of square inclinations. [ . . . ]

(by William O'Brien, from the SF Examiner, March 21, 1968) 

Excerpt from the Berkeley Barb, 3/22/68: 

[On March 18] "at 3 a.m. the walk-out began as more than 500 people gathered outside the station at 50 Green Street and danced to rock music. Wednesday night the idea moved inside the Avalon as the Grateful Dead, Kaleidoscope, and others played a benefit to a packed house." 

"Further support from the bands came when Jerry Garcia of the Dead walked into the station and demanded the return of a tape of their new single and also asked that none of the Dead's other material be played on the air."

Excerpts from Rolling Stone: 

"At 3:00 on the morning of Monday, March 18, the entire staff of the nation's best rock & roll station walked out on strike - and right into the midst of an impromptu block party. [ . . . ] 

"The community turned out in force for a benefit at the Avalon Ballroom on March 20, where music was provided gratis by the Grateful Dead, Charley Musselwhite, Kaleidoscope, and three other bands. The Family Dog made the hall available without charge - even the light show was donated - and the strike fund netted $1800. . . .

"There was also a weekend fair (not to be confused with the first-night party of 500 people dancing in the street) outside the KMPX offices near North Beach, which was highlighted by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead jamming with Traffic. It was supposed to be a street fair, but the San Francisco city fathers refused the strikers a permit, ostensibly because an announcement read over the air before the strike had caused an unauthorized closing of Haight Street two weeks earlier, so the action took place in a nearby parking lot."

[The Grateful Dead and other bands] "requested that KMPX and KPPC do not play their records as long as they are being operated by strikebreakers."

("FM Workers Strike For Rights," Rolling Stone, April 27, 1968)