Monterey Pop Festival's 40th Anniversary Inspires a Flood of Tributes

Press release
Source: Rogers & Cowan

The Monterey International Pop Festival was a defining moment in rock and roll history.  Thirty-two acts representing nearly every genre of popular music at the time performed on June 16, 17 and 18, 1967 and ushered in the Summer of Love. The unprecedented bill of musically diverse acts showed rock’s power to change the world. Preceding Woodstock by two years, it was the first major rock festival, the first ever rock charity event and spawned the first ever rock concert movie. For one weekend, the harsh realities of the Vietnam War, student unrest, the Cold War, racism, urban riots, poverty and domestic politics were suspended and even transcended.  This unprecedented and wildly ambitious project was co-produced by one of the most successful and well-known music producers of all time Lou Adler and John Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas. Because all of the artists donated their performances to charity, it resulted in the ongoing nonprofit good works of The Monterey International Pop Festival Foundation which continues to make grants on behalf of the artists who performed at the festival.

“There are a lot of parallels between the climate in America and the world in 2007 and 1967,” commented Adler.  “We have an unpopular war, a Republican actor Governor of California, kids have a new way to get and read about their music (then: FM radio; now: iTunes, then: Rolling Stone; now: the Internet )”.

An ever growing series of events and releases are happening this year in celebration of Monterey Pop’s  40th anniversary:

·         The Mamas and the Papas, Al Kooper and posthumously Otis Redding are being inducted into Hollywood’s RockWalk on May 11, 2007 with a noon event that promises to be star-studded. 

Razor & Tie and Starbucks Entertainment will co-release Monterey International Pop, a two-CD retrospective that will benefit the Monterey International Pop Festival Foundation. This unique collection features rare early performances from now music legends including Jefferson Airplane, The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Mamas and the Papas and Big Brother & The Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin, Simon & Garkunkel and Buffalo Springfield.  The set will be available simultaneously at Starbucks company-operated locations in the U. S. and Canada as well as traditional retail.

A special screening of D.A. Pennebaker’s historical “Monterey Pop” documentary will be held on June 5th in New York at the IFC Theater at 323 Sixth Ave. at W. 3rd St. The screening will be open to the public

The “Monterey Pop” documentary will also be screened at the Bonaroo Music Festival in Manchester, TN on June 14th, which will include a Q&A session with D.A. Pennebaker.

VH1 Rock Docs will premiere an original documentary, Monterey 40, on Saturday, June 16 at 9 p.m. on VH1 Classic and VH1.  Monterey 40 will tell the story of the historic event from its conception to event to aftermath to lasting impact from the perspective of the musicians, organizers, audience members and visual documentarians.  The film will include new interviews with Paul McCartney, David Crosby, Michelle Phillips, Pete Townsend, Grace Slick, Bob Weir, Mickey Dolenz, Ravi Shankar, Clive Davis, Jann Wenner, Paul Kantner and Sammy Hagar, among others.

Monterey County Film Commission will hold  a community-wide celebration of the 40th anniversary including a June 16th charity fundraiser featuring a screening of the 1969 documentary, Monterey Pop, an interview discussion with filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker and art show and photo exhibit at Monterey’s historic Golden State Theatre.  Tickets are available at the theater box office and www.goldenstatetheatre.com and proceeds will benefit the Monterey International Pop Festival Foundation and the Monterey County Film Commission.

On Thursday July 19th, the Monterey Pop Festival will be saluted with a special evening at the 8th annual "Mods & Rockers Film Festival,"presented by the American Cinematheque at the historic Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.  The evening will include a presentation of D.A. Pennebaker's historic film "Monterey Pop,"and bonus performances not included in the film.  Performers and others associated with the 1967 festival have been invited to attend.  The screening will be followed by a Q&A with key Monterey Pop Festival participants.  Already confirmed are Michelle Phillips, Eric Burdon and D.A. Pennebaker. 

The Monterey Pop Festival will be saluted throughout the three-week span of the "Mods & Rockers Film Festival."  Video extracts from the three-disc DVD set "The Complete Monterey Pop Festival" (Criterion Collection) will be screened as short subjects during the festival; and audio from the new two-disc CD set "Monterey International Pop Festival"(Razor & Tie) will be played in the theaters before and after film screenings.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum will have a yearlong exhibit opening July 25th.

A Monterey Pop Radio Special is being planned with special programming to be announced.

A newly launched official Internet site: www.montereyinternationalpopfestival.com.

The Criterion Collection DVD: The Complete Monterey Pop Festival.

Rolling Stone Magazine will make Monterey Pop one of the cornerstones of its Summer of Love special double issue.

Jimi Plays Monterey DVD with additional footage chronicling the year leading up to his perfmomance at Monterey (summer ’07).

The artists who appeared at Monterey Pop included: Big Brother & The Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Who, Otis Redding, Eric Burton and the Animals,  Simon & Garfunkel, The Grateful Dead, The Butterfield Blues Band, The Steve Miller Band, The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, Booker T & The MGs, Ravi Shankar, Lou Rawls, The Association, Johnny Rivers, Canned Heat, Country Joe & The Fish, Al Kooper, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Moby Grape, Hugh Masekela, Laura Nyro and Buffalo Springfield.

The festival also yielded the 1968 platinum album, Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding at Monterey and the critically acclaimed 1969 D. A. Pennebaker film Monterey Pop, the Grammy-nominated 25th Anniversary Monterey Pop box set, all of which were produced by Lou Adler and John Phillips.

For more information about the Monterey International Pop Festival and the 40th anniversary, please visit www.montereyinternationalpopfestival.com.

For more information about the “Mod and Rocker’s Film Festival,” please visit the "Mods & Rockers" website:  www.ModsAndRockers.com.

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