34 Years Ago: The July 15-16 1975 San Francisco Cow Palace Concerts – MORE Neu Fotos

    Last of the July 15th Fotos (this time in color taken again by Greg Evrigenis), and yes I know they need some editing/color restoration, tho they always did have issues with proper color; note: these were taken on slide film, then printed, then I scanned them just a few days ago ...








    OK, here we go with the JULY 16TH 1975 story and fotos.



    THE FIRST TIME I GOT STONED



    Wednesday, July 16, 1975, second of 2 shows, Cow Palace, San Francisco


    god, there is too much to tell about this EVENT.


    Waited all night in line, passed right next to Bill Graham on my way in outside the place making sure everything was going smoothly


    ran like hell, got into the equivalent of about 4th row right side of stage ("festival seating" = FOS)


    drunken/high woman liked me, holding onto me whilst singing "Short and Curlies" rather loudly


    some hippie passing around small pipe with what was either hash or hash-oil laced pot which I partook in (had smoked pot a few times but nothing had ever happened)


    The Meters open


    after a few songs, the floor starts going uphill and downhill, I'm thinking "what's going on?", then slowly realize "I'm stoned"


    Soon, I cannot understand anything anyone is saying to me, have to tell my friend to watch out for me when the Stones come on


    long break


    lights go down


    wild cheering, fanfare for the common man trumpets, strobe lights


    suddenly, wiry figures start to climb onto stage being hit and framed by the strobe lights, you recognize the rooster haircuts and others and begin to realize these people u have worshipped for years are here


    loud, opening chords of Honky Tonk Women, going on and on, drawn out


    suddenly, white lights hit the far, back right point of the lotus


    a figure in white laying on his side rolls like a log down the uptilted lotus petal


    he jumps up, it's Mick Jagger, and the place explodes


    he sings "I met a gin-soaked bar room queen in Memphis," prances down towards the front of the stage wearing an American Indian upright feather headdress, mocking, preening, teasing, coming right up to us


    can remember a few songs, esp All Down the Line and singing 'wont you be my little ba-by, for a while', great line


    getting worse and worse, sit down on floor, open my eyes -- all is black, I start to panic


    then slowly realize i am on floor as a little light streams down in between peoples legs


    i cant continue this, i must get out, get some fresh air, i stand up


    slowly, ever so slowly, make my way out, must have been stumblin and falling as people were saying "take it easy man"


    get out to the exit doors and breathe in blessed fresh cold Bay Area cool summer night time air, try to calm down in the hallways


    finally, begin to regain my right mind, go back in


    i watch the final i dont know how many songs from the lower stands/tier, one that stands out in my mind is Midnight Rambler and Mick with the belt


    remorse is already setting in, you goddam fool, you waited so long for this and you had to fu*ck it up


    the remorse reaches a crescendo as, during Street Fighting Man, last song i think, Mick throws a bucket of water onto the crowd . . . RIGHT where I had been standing


    for 3 years after this, I had dreams that I would go to a Stones concert and they wouldnt show up, or some other band played, recurrent nightmares of this ilk


    1978 -- Anaheim -- get in with the surge of the crowd being literally lifted off my feet and carried several feet


    to the front row up against the wooden barrier, hot as hell, during the show a woman completely bares her upside to Mick whilst he reaches down to his crotch and makes bug eyes at her


    last song, Mick brings out a water hose this time and sprays us all -- BAPTISM AND REDEMPTION


    no more nightmares


    I ruined my first Stones concert by getting stoned out of my mind, but still remember parts of the show (not all of which are herein recited), one of my old teachers Br. Thomas Dodd, F.S.C. laughed and said "you got stoned at the Stones"


    But at this late date, no more remorse after many years of that, I think now "what a helluva ride and helluva story."



    Tim Bernardis "The Plexiglass"
    January 8, 2008


    (note: subject to further addition, editing, etc.)

    Here we go with the concert fotos, all taken on my little 110 camera (anyone remember those?)


    and here is the first bunch taken by my short crazy Sicilian-American buddy who is all of about 5 feet 6 inches tall, hence some of the results


    i was so out of it i wasnt about to take fotos, so gave him the camera and could only tell him that I could not understand/follow what anyone was saying to me. I think I said something to him about what to do when the band first came on and to watch out for me or something like that ...


    note: I put almost every one of the following first in print quality, then in web quality (as per Edith Grove's suggestion) as the fotos are so small, I thought it would be good first to see the large image, then to see the smaller ones where the details may be sharper


    note 2: all fotos are in their original order as shot on that night (I went by the negative numbers as I still have the negatives)













    what is this?? : you guessed it, the notorious phallus






    the fotos from here on out were taken by me after I went out to get a breath of fresh air as described and so are taken from the "lower tier" area instead right up front in about the 4th row area ...