BR's Classic Rock Photos - Atlantic City Pop Festival

Hello:
I was on your website and thought It would send this along.
Here is a picture from the festival - people showering under a fire hydrant that the staff opened for our use.

I was there, and will never forget it. We were so lucky to have decided on the spur of the moment to go. But two weeks later, we were all tapped out, and couldn't get anyone to go to Woodstock. Allthough I did meet some people coming back Saturday Nite - they couldn't even get close they said.

This was a year we were lucky to be a part of.
Richard

Attached is a copy of the ad that appeared in underground newspaper in Indianapolis.
I drove out in a station wagon with 3 friends. We slept in the wagon. I planned to meet a college mate from Bethesda, MD. It was a great & memorable event.

Phillip

I remember going to the festival with my friend Robby. We were done one year of college and commuted each day from suburban Philly. My most vivid memory was wandering around the infield talking to people and stopping at this big wall. It wasn't until the next act came on that I realized the wall was the speakers. The act was Iron Butterfly, and their whole set was a long Inna Gadda Da Vida. It was so loud, I couldn't hear much for three days. The rest is a blur, I remember Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Creedence, and I thought Jimi Hendrix too. Overall, not much specific but a great weekend and a great memory.
Rick, age 57

Dave in Glenolden Pa. Remembers

How amazing to see this site!
I was only 12 years old in 1969 and did not go to either festival. I didn’t even hear of Woodstock until after it happened but I remember getting the album when it came out though and listening to it over and over for hours at a time, with the album cover unfolded in front of me.
But somehow I do remember the Atlantic City Pop Festival. I remember the ad on your site with the woman’s face painted with the stripes of the flag. I seem to remember that it was actually happening. I must have been hearing about it on the radio. Sometimes these incredible events just seem to be in the air, you can feel them happening even though you are not there.
I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I remember “The American Dream” playing a free concert on a flat bed truck in a parking lot of Sears department store in Wayne, and I still have the album they made.
I have always wondered about the Atlantic City Pop Festival. It was something I knew had happened and have always wondered about. Thanks so much for this site…

What a time! There was never an east coast rock festival like this and, after Woodstock, could never be again. The age of innocence and my own "summer of love". My friend from high school, Pete, and I drove down from CT and slept in the car. We had earlier that summer hitchhiked to the Newport Jazz Festival which for a year or two was really the Newport Rock Festival. That August, we were 19 and I was two months away from entering the Air Force which set my life on another path. We spent Sat and Sun right down in front at the stage. The Airplane, CCR, Santana...I will never forget that weekend. It was another world where you could see all this for a few bucks. Late at night while Little Richard was finishing up his incredible show, we were even up on the stage. Try that nowadays and go to jail! Next morning I held the door for Janis Joplin coming out of a diner there while we were headed in. And correct, as so many have said, I have tried to tell people over the years about one of the high points of the Age and nobody ever heard of it. Woodstock followed and everybody knows about that mudbath...Pete went there and never got within good sight of the stage, but he did get soaked....I passed. Pete died about 20 years ago so it's left to me to remember Atlantic City in 1969.

Mike Callahan

Simsbury, CT

My parents dropped me off at the front gate on Friday with a sleeping bag and $20 for food. I was 14 years old, I guess those were kinder times. My sister was dating the lead singer for the American Dream; we thought they would become become famous - I guess they didn't. I remember that they kept announcing from the stage "Don't take the purple peace pills", I believe they were actually horse tranquilizers. On Saturday morning hippy chicks were handing out big red flowers, they were everywhere. The music was fantastic, but what I remember most was people. Everyone was welcomed, everyone was loved, everyone was safe. My friends were going on to Woodstock, but I just wanted to get a shower and sleep in my own bed. I had eaten, drank and partied for three days but still had the $20 when my parents picked me up on Sunday.

J. Thomas

We drove from Detroit to the festival and I remember mostly the end of the show for the day I think on sat. and the word was there was to be a special appearance by someone and don't leave until the end. Well at the end of the day when we thought the show was over the stage slowly turned around like a large lazy Susan and the chamber brothers appeared, A huge pool of water had collected above the stage from an earlier rain and it rolled on top of one of the guitar players and he never missed a beat, Does anyone remember this?

Tom Roush roush68@cablespeed.com

I was 16 then I hitch hiked with 2 other friends from Washington DC. We got picked up by someone in a VW bug. I rode all the way to the concert with this freak sitting on my lap. He ended up going to Woodstock and made it in the movie. His name was Turkey and he was the one coming out of the Port a John smoking a joint. The night before the concert my buddies and me got caught jumping the fence. To our surprise the sheriff deputized us asking us only to request anyone else coming in that night to stay off the inner turf so as not to damage it. It didn't work but we did get free admission.Anyone remember the rainstorm? We slept up in the tracks observation tower until the lightning scared us as we were sleeping on a metal floor. Yes Joni Mitchell should have realized that it was too much to ask of a crowd that large to stay quiet from her act. I heard she walked off at the Isle of Wight also. Things are still hazy from there, Orange Sunshine if you know what I mean.

Peace, Alan

Me, my boyfriend (later Husband) and his Brother drove from Maryland to see the show. My Mother said the only way I could go (being 17) was to have a separate room from the guys. We showed up to NJ, turned in the second room reservation for cash value and head on out to the racetrack. My memories are getting as close to the stage as possible everyday. I had a bad cut on my bare foot after stepping on glass and found an incense box and a piece of string which I used as a cardboard bandage. I left the guys to go use the facilities and walked over and around hundreds people and after 45 minutes heard someone calling my name. I had made a complete circle and ended up finding a place ten feet away to drop drawers and wee. It never occurred to me that I would have to find the guys on the return trip (it would have been impossible) so I guess the circling was a blessing. The fire trucks came out on the infield and sprayed water to help everyone cool off and get a drink. Lots of nudity! The bands were unbelievable Janis was shocked after grabbing on the mic and stormed off stage only to come back swigging on a bottle of whisky and singing her ass off. Its a damn shame I can't recall the whole three days, I was there and I was front row, but it was 1969 people! Its an experience I still talk about today and am thankful I made the trip. Oh yeah on the way home the last day everyone was trying to bum a ride to some place in New York called Woodstock........I had to go home Mom was expecting me...
Carolyn

How about you.
If you have any info or good stories about any of the bands on my site, just send them.
I will include them on the site.

Ah.... the Atlantic City Pop Festival, August 1/2/3, 1969...

Four teenage boys from Toronto, Canada drive to the Atlantic City Race Track and what a weekend and what a lineup!! Lots I remember and lots I have forgotten- like lots of times in the 60's! When we arrived there was a naked dirty guy walking around the parking lot which housed cars & tents and on Saturday night he was still there! I remember sitting in the race stands and watching hundreds of kids gathering on the far side of the field and then suddenly all climbing the fence and running across the field to our side- and lots of cops waiting for them and chasing them and dragging them back to the other side. And 15 minutes later- again & again!I

I also remember Joni Mitchell walking off the stage after a few songs and remarking " I can see that you're not into my music". We weren't! I remember both Chicago - at the time- Chicago Transit Authority and Santana, playing early afternoon and at supper time respectively .. as they were both just starting out & had only released their 1st albums. And I remember Dr John at night doing his "Night Tripper '& and Gris-Gris Gumbo" stuff with female witch-like dancers behind him all dressed in black and it was a wierd & super show. But mostly I remember Saturday night, Creedence Clearwater Revival, followed by Jefferson Airplane and then, Iron Butterfly and ending the night with " In-a-Gadda-da-Vida" Wow!

I've never seen a video of this concert and don't know if one exists.

Thanks for the memories

Mike Cooke

Vancouver

Canada

PS Attached is a copy of the original flyer with my additions at the time! Very rare

Thanks Mike but I do not remember Hendrix being there....BR

What a Great Site!

Some friends from Old Dominion College and I went to the festival in a VW mircrobus.

It was incredible.

I remember Joni Michell's exact words "I just sang the last verse twice and no body even noticed...I can't go on....."

While Janis was singing "Piece of My Heart" my future first wife and I were balling in a sleeping bag about 6 rows from the stage.

Santana was introduced as making their first east coast appearance.

Little Richard brought the house down as the closing act on Sunday. " I want to tell all you wimmins to hold on to all your mens, 'cause Little Richard is IN town !!" I think I remember him throwing his silver sequined jacket into the crowd during the final song.

I didn't make it to Woodstock, but considering the great weather, great venue, great people and groups at Atlantic City, I don't feel I missed much but the mud.

Mike the Tripper

Joan from Atlantic City

How amazing to have found this site! This incredible festival has somehow vanished out of popular culture, having been overshadowed by Woodstock, which followed closely on its heels. I was a junior in Atlantic City High School at the time, and my friends and I were there for every minute. I remember Joni Mitchell walking off in a huff. I was a big Joni Mitchell fan, but the crowd was much too fired up to sit still for folk music. I then remember Frank Zappa being disgusted with the crowd's reaction to Mitchell, and playing an entire set of only instrumentals. It sticks in my mind because I was disappointed, wanting Zappa to do some of his more well-know stuff.

For most of the festival I sat in the stands, but I remember pushing my way up to the stage for Janis Joplin, who I believe closed the evening. She gave one of her full-blown, wild performances and I still remember it with amazement 39 years later. My brother had an original poster on his wall for years, and I always marveled at the talent that was there in one place. When I tell people that the AC Pop Festival was as good as Woodstock, no one believes me. My boyfriend's sister offered us a ride to Woodstock, and I begged and begged but my parents wouldn't let me go. But I'll always have Atlantic City, which was a once in a lifetime experience!

I remember driving to ac from Kettering, Ohio with a friend. we must have arrived late Friday. it all seems like such a blur. I remember walking around and seeing all these groovy people. I truly felt like I had finally come home and was with my people. it felt like a huge tribe, everyone was so loving. I was walking toward the music, but I was meeting and talking to all these really cool people. I'd just walk into their camps or van or whatever and say hi. people would just welcome you into their space, give you drugs, food, music & just talk about stuff. I swear just being in the tribe was the best part for me. I was just 19 y/o & the scene in Ohio wasn't that advanced. this pop festival was my first and the best one I ever did attend. I only remember a few musicians, even though I was there listening to lot's of them. Joe cocker was just great, such a spastic. bb king was super, too. I remember it was really hot & the tanker truck drove in front of the stadium and sprayed the crowd with water. it felt so good. I loved everyone that was a part of this life changing event. I've tried to tell a few people about it, but gave up because nobody really got it. everyone is so enthralled about Woodstock, but i don't think that had anything on Atlantic city. I went from there to visit my aunt...hmmm, everyone else went on to Woodstock.

Hi, I’m so happy to see this site…in 1969 I was 15 years old and [I still can’t believe my parents let us go] my 17 year old sister and I went to the three days of music…the stand outs in my memory are Janis Joplin, Tim Buckley, the airplane and Hugh Masekela….I’m so glad you listed the acts because I couldn’t remember a lot of them….[hell it was the 60’s] …..one of my favorite memories was seeing the ladies rooms attendants [ the race track bathrooms were huge and luxurious] gaping in shock as dozens of hippie girls stripped naked and lathered up standing in front of the sinks as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do!!! thanks so much, Bella…..still lovin the music……my other favorite concert was 1966 JFK stadium….The Beatle

Just graduated from high school in MD and a few weeks earlier had been to the Laurel Pop Festival just up the road. Buddy Guy, Ten Years After Sly, Tull and Zeppelin. We were begging for more. Drove up to Atlantic City with a bunch of newly freaky cohorts. Literally a motley crew. I was wearing a PG County Police shirt that had been “liberated” from a laundry room at a local apartment complex. We had a tent but it was not really big enough and I recall it rained.

I remember Credence being particularly good. At one point they said “we’d like to dedicate this next song to George Corley Wallace”. It was: Bad Moon Rising.

I’d never heard of Santana at that time but they were amazing.

The Iron Butterfly was a big draw. Looking back they seem somewhat quaint.

In-a-gadda-da-vida, Baby!

I remember a great debate raging in the stands when Joni Mitchell walked off stage due to the lack of attention she was receiving from the crowd. Some claimed she owed it to the faithful music lovers to finish her set and ignore the indifferent reception. Others argued that as an artist, she shouldn’t have to put up with such a lack of respect. I was sorry I didn’t get to hear her. Turns out she survived the Atlantic City debacle. I saw her ten years later in SF, with Pat Metheney, Lyle Mays and Jaco Pastorious; Has to rank as one of the best shows ever.

Perhaps I’m mistaken but I believe The Chambers Brothers were the top billed act on the first night. Everyone was rocking and swaying to Time Has Come Today. Many years later I encountered the Brothers (or some version of them) while I was running the box office at a nightclub in California. They had played some months back and needed to cash a check they’d received for a gig at the University, where payment was not in cash.

My friend Allan and I hitched to the festival from Long Island. We got there in time for the Butterfield set and it was magnificent. He had his full band with him and really gave it his all. We also heard Credence and the Airplane. It was a wildly supportive and good natured crowd. The estimate was 125K people at the track.....mostly young people. Packed to the walls with everyone looking for a good time.

We stayed overnight at the track and in the morning, a big water truck made its way around the infield spraying all of us who wanted or needed a shower. People rushed to the rail to get hosed down. I especially remember an ice cream vender passing through the stands and the demand was so great that he finally gave up, opened the hatch and threw the ice cream to the cheering crowd free of charge.I had never heard Joe Cocker before and he was fantastic. We had the good fortune to catch him and lots of the same artists at Woodstock a few weekslater.Atlantic City was probably a routing date to the East waiting for the big event. However, in many ways this was better for the fans since there was seating and you could get reasonably close to the stage.
Janis blew everyone away with her moving nighttime concert. Wow! I just saw her in the newly released "Festival Express" movie released here in Los Angeles last week, which is the name of the special train cars for her, The Dead, Band, etc. traveling across Canada in 1970.The toilet paper throwing that was mentioned by another fan.....I only remember it during Sir Douglas Quintet's set. A great acid experience except that in general we got too close to the speakers and probably wrecked our hearing.When we left to head back to Long Island, we knew our lives were changed dramatically forever and that we would never forget this incredible emotional experience.
I too hope that Larry Magid, owner of Electric Factory Concerts, has word as to whether there is a tape of this wonderful event.

I graduated from high school the summer of 69 and spent the summer hitch hiking around dc, ocean city Maryland and back to Pittsburgh. tom, Dave and myself, three 17 year olds, hitch-hiked from Pittsburgh to Atlantic city. it was very, very hot on July 31st and humid as hell. we stopped to eat new jersey peaches along the way from some farmers orchard. we were dying and contemplating hijacking someone's car just to stop walking and get there. we swore the next car that stopped, we would do it. it happened to be two black brothers, two very big black brothers, who bothered to stop and pick up 3 white guys. they were great. they were going to ac as well. we all got stoned along the way. our friends Rick and Gary were hitch hiking as well and would meet us there. it was a miracle that Gary went. his parents never let this 16 year old do anything because Gary had a bad heart condition. he had been coddled all his life. the doctors said he would never graduate high school. he wasabout to go into his senior year. taking Gary to ac was the event of his life. we camped out, outside of the race track where the concert was. we tripped most of the 3 days. I remember tickets being $20 for 3 days. is that right? people eventually crashed the gates and after awhile, it was a free concert. that seemed to be the case at most rock festivals. for three days it never rained and it was hot as hell. there were concession stands with food and souvenirs, bathrooms, seats (if you were in the club house), a medical tent for the bad acid, it was all there, basically a successful event. that's why no one ever heard of the ac pop festival. if it had been a disaster like Woodstock two weeks later, it would have gotten recognition. I remember Joni Mitchell stopping
her second song to tell people to be quiet. what did she expect. there were ¼ million people there sweltering in the hot sun. we wanted to rock, not snooze to Joni. she walked off stage during her 3rd song. she had no business being booked there. I remember the chambers brothers tearing the place apart, musically speaking. that was a great moment. how about Janis? she was wild. and Zappa and the mothers? I never heard such incredible musicianship like that. cta's 1st gig. they were great. I saw them 3 more times before the year
was out and then they sold out to pop radio. Creedence, the airplane. id never seen anything like Dr john before. ill never forget ac pop. the 5 of us hitched home back to Pittsburgh and we slept under trees in the rain, on park benches, in the woods, peoples back yards (where we were woken up the next morning by the police because some guy got up at dawn and saw 5 bodies in his back yard. then he came out with coffee for us all, even the cops), under the roof of a hojos. man it was brutal. I got home with crotch rot. the entire way home, Gary thanked us for giving him the gift of life, love, music, friendship, acceptance, basically everything he had been wanting but was denied because we never really accepted him. Rick was the closest to him. he couldn't stop talking about the experience of ac pop and how much he appreciated being included. he was inspired and thanking god all the way home for that weekend. we turned around for Woodstock the next week but when it started to rain, we had had enough hitch hiking in the rain and turned back. the next night, we were all playing touch football in the school parking lot. Gary couldn't do anything that strenuous so he watched with the girls like he always did. on the way home, Gary died of a heart attack, one week before starting his senior year in high school. whenever I think of ac pop I think of Gary and always will. I relive the music and the moments of ac pop every week on my radio show, the underground, which airs on wrct radio (Carnegie Mellon university) in Pittsburgh every Wednesday from 2-4pm (the day and time change every semester). you can get the live audio stream at wrct.org.

My buddy Dean and I drove down from NY State in Dean's white jalopy
with a half pound of Long Island weed crammed under his dashboard. I
know we had a blast at the festival, but I can remember only Biff Rose,
the shocking, spazmodic air-guitar gyrations of Joe Cocker and the
awesome appearance of CCR - the booming beat of drums (Born on the
Bayou?) and bathed in what looked like brilliant orange light. Whew!
was I ripped! Was there something happening about men in derby hats in
that jam-packed crowd or was I hallucinating?

Soon after the festival, Dean and I got busted, back in NY state,
driving home from the movies, after seeing 2001, A Space Oddysey.
The cops held us in the police station most of the night and around
2AM, found the grass under the dashboard. Then they called our parents.
My parents wouldn't let me see Dean anymore. I made it to Woodstock but
without any weed and that's another story...

Fun to read about Atlantic City here. For years, I've been telling
folks about how fantastic it was. No one had ever heard of it.

Dave

DSJernise,
I was there with 6-8 friends from Baltimore. Some high lights that stick in my mind- Bob Heit? the lead singer for Canned Heat was backed up by The Mothers of Invention cause the band was not there?, unable to play?. who knows? Joe Cocker a relative unknown at the time was being distracted at the time by people throwing rolls of toilet paper in the air. He mentioned while singing that he came all the way from England and did not want things thrown at him. The crowd picked up on it, got behind him and gave him a hell of an ovation. Little Richard brought the house down! Janis Joplin put on one hell of a show. When you thought things could not get any higher Little Richard turned it up a notch or two. Years later I read his book and it turns out this was one of his first concerts after laying out of the music scene for several years. Backstage after Joplin's performance the promoters told him that that they would understand if he didn't want to go on. He definitely went on and brought a whole new generation's appreciation to his contribution to rock and roll. I do remember Joni Mitchel leaving the stage in the middle of her performance. Great music, great times, great memories. Thanks, Jerry from Baltimore. PS. I was also at the Hendrix show at Columbia. The lightning and thunder when he started playing was like some cosmic natural effects that were pre-planned.

3 of us piled into my VW for the ride to the Atlantic City Festival: me , Mike, and my buddy Richie (wonder if YOU're still alive, bro?). We headed out of Jersey City late afternoon, and made it to the track before dark. We each had a couple of Tshirts, and each had a bag of assorted substances to snack on. The VW had no radio, so I rigged a 15 inch speaker to a mono cassette recorder. We got to the track, parked and set up a base, meaning I threw my army blankets on the ground. No tent, no sleeping bags. Mike decided to drop acid, and ended up groveling on the ground and eating dirt. After Richie's Dexedrine's wore off, he locked himself in the VW and crashed. I chainsmoked joints and babbled with everybody that would listen. Slept about an hour. I remember a shitload of Pagans arriving on their Harleys in the middle of the night, sounding like Armageddon. In the AM we went into the track and the music was going. I remember making a tape live on the cassette that I had for YEARS, but is lost now. Tim Buckley, the Byrds, Hugh Masekela, Booker T & the MGS ("play it Steve"), Butterfield, BB, Creedence, and the Airplane. Mike & I were in a blues band at the time so we were digging it to hell. Amazingly, we met up with friends from Jersey City there who had even MORE drugs. The sights were unreal: people tripping their brains out all over, zillions of hippie chicks, colors galore. I remember seeing one of the Pagans on a chromed Sportster chopper that had obviously fallen in a drunken stupor, as his back and arms looked like somebody skinned him. I saw what became "the legendary guy with the rag on his head" stick his entire head into a massive PA horn speaker for about an hour (I'm sure he can no longer hear). We laughed so hard we hurt till Wednesday. Went back and crashed Saturday night a our friends motel (no sleep that night, laying on the floor, wishing I was sleeping with my buddy's wife.....). Sunday we got up and drove back to JC as we had to work the next day. I gave Mike the wheel and crashed out, only to wake up about 10 miles from home in front of Newark Airport after Mike burned out the Bug's clutch. Had to call the old man to come get us. Probably one of the best weekends of my life. Finally quit the drugs a while back. Still play guitar, ride Harleys, and listen to music. And oh, yeah........ about that buddy's wife...............

I graduated from high school that summer and the trip to the festival was my graduation present. If my Mother only knew. We made some 8mm movies of the trip, but I think they're lost. We drove from San Antonio Texas straight through to Atlantic City in my green Chevelle SS 396. I might add that we smoked the entire way. Even when I was hitting about 100 on the highway in Tennessee. We got to the festival grounds Friday morning and met some freaky guy who was selling LSD. We loaded up on goods and then went to the show. I thought the show started on Friday, but my memory is a little flawed when it comes to that time. I remember that nutty guy from AUM jumping off the stage. Dr. John was doing his Night Tripper stuff and really freaked out one of my high flying buddies. Miles Davis was totally weird. I was unfamiliar with his music and this was around Bitches Brew. There was a couple standing in front of us and the guy was weeping loudly. Bawling. This guy was obviously having a bad trip and Davis' music was putting him over the edge. His girlfriend had to take him out of the park. Procol Harum began with the theme fro 2001. Tim Buckley was fantastic. I remember him just wailing away. Frank Zappa kept shooting the finger at the crowd and really get them riled up. I was standing next to a group of bikers who kept tossing their beer bottles at the stage. I think the high point was Creedence Clearwater Revival. What a fantastic show. I don't remember the Sir Douglas Quintet playing. I am from San Antonio so I though I might have remembered seeing them. After the show we were going to go to Woodstock, but my mother wouldn't send me anymore money. Oh well.

Thanks for giving me a place to remember one of the greatest times of my life.   Many things about that weekend are pretty fuzzy, for obvious reasons, but other people's recollections brought back memories for me that were buried deep and presumed lost.   It was summer at home in Richmond and all my college friends were scattered about the states, so I hitchhiked to Atlantic City by myself on Friday. A guy I met and palled around with at the festival gave me a ride back to his parents house in Philly Sunday night.   We were so "tired" we had to hang our heads out the car window to stay awake.   Needless to say, I didn't make it back to work on Monday, since I spent the day hitchhiking home to Richmond.   The next week, when I asked my boss if I could have off on Friday again to go to Woodstock, he said, "HELL NO, last week you took Friday off and missed Monday." I should have called in sick from the road, but I wasn't exactly thinking straight at that point.   After that weekend of music and mayhem, I wasn't sure I wanted to go back to my life, much less my summer job.

I missed seeing Janis Joplin throwing her boots because I had heard enough of her SCREAMING and had gone inside the concession area that was pretty sound proofed (probably because the festival was at a car race track). I loved her recordings, but she was like a drunk cat wailing that Sunday night.   While in the concession area, I saw the first girl I ever dated in junior high school.   She was tripping her brains out and didn't make much sense, but she sure did look great.   I saw her again twenty years later and asked her what she was on that night and she looked surprised and said, "I wasn't on drugs. I was just really sick." Yeah, must have been a bad hotdog.

Santana was fantastic.   So were the Airplane, Credence, the Chambers Brothers, Canned Heat and BS&T. I am now a big jazz fan, but don't remember Miles Davis playing. If he did, I sure wish I had paid attention. I'd love to hear of other people's adventures in Atlantic City in the Summer of '69. Maybe it will bring back some more memories long forgotten.

More Atlantic City Pop Info from Del

There we were near the front of the stage. It must have been Sunday night, about eight. We had seen Santana, Canned Heat, Joe Cocker and a bunch of other groups I can’t recall at the moment and now it was Janis Joplin’s turn to take the stage. Big Brother or whoever was now backing her came out and started setting up and finally all was ready and Janis appeared. The crowd roared and pressed forward. She started her set, swigging from what looked like a bottle of Southern Comfort at opportune moments between verses, which were frequent. The crowd was loving her. I found her unappealing and her music depressing, but what did I know, unsophisticated and mired in middle class tastes as I still was? Anyway about halfway through her set as she was singing

C’mon, TAKE IT! Take another little piece ‘o my heart now baby!

she started disrobing, tearing off her outerwear and throwing it into the crowd. I hadn’t been paying close attention to her and had been looking away from the stage for a moment. I returned my attention to the stage just in time to see a white go-go boot come flying through the air directly toward my head. My somewhat altered mind found this slowly spiraling object most fascinating in the half second before it impacted, glancing off my cranium into the crowd behind me where it was quickly grabbed at by many hands and disappeared. I dimly noted the useless observation that it appeared to have been a left boot and had rinestones. Stunned, I looked up at the stage and she was looking right me wailing

You know you got, if it makes you feel good! Oh, yeah!

My friends, after a moment of incredulous silence, broke up laughing hysterically.

Oh, wow, man! Did you see that? He got hit in the head with with her fucking boot! Fucking Janis Joplin hit him in the head with her boot!

Somewhat dazed I said,

yeah, never mind that shit, is she gonna throw the other one? She’s got that one off now, too, look out, she’s gonna launch… there it goes!

She threw that one elsewhere into the crowd so probably she wasn’t aiming at me after all. Somehow, all of this seemed perfectly normal

And such Is my claim To rock and roll Fame.

More Atlantic City Pop Info from Winnie

Some of my most vivid memories were the camping outside the track. We camped near what seemed to be the "entertainment center" of the campsites. There was a large bonfire each night. There was the "Ripple Lady" who would chug bottles of Ripple being encouraged by everyone. It was actually kinda gross. She would end up passed out. I recall one evening when large plastic bags full of pot were passed around the gathered crowd. Where they came from... I couldn't tell you, but it was very generous. Yeeha!! Back to home to Rochester NY and then off to Woodstock. What a summer!!!! A friends parents were in France for a month and our large group of friends hung out there.
WHAT A SUMMER!!! It made me the person I am today!!!!
Winnie Olmer

More Atlantic City Pop Info from Gary

_{I WAS THERE IN THE FRONT RIGHT ON THE TARMAC WITH FOUR
CHICKS FROM TORONTO...WHAT A CONCERT! BIFF ROSE WAS THE M. C. FOR THE
EVENT. IT STARTED ON AUGUST 1ST....JONI MITCHELL STOPPED IN THE MIDDLE
OF HER FIRST SONG...FOUND OUT YEARS LATER THAT SHE HAD BROKEN UP WITH HER
BOYFRIEND AT THE TIME AND WAS EMOTIONALLY UPSET.}

^GARY

More Atlantic City Pop Info from Don in Virginia Beach

I was doing some research tonight after I had been trying to explain to my kids, now
twenty-something, about the "Atlantic City Pop Festival," and I welcomed your
"verification" that it actually existed! In fact, I recently located an original
"mimeographed" artist schedule for the event (hence our discussion).

I remember each of the groups so well, and added at the bottom Iron Butterfly,
Chambers Bros., Procol Harem and Joni Mitchell, because they didn't appear
on the original list, which announced the following:

I'm sure there were some substitutions, but I don't remember any no-shows; I think the
significance of the event got around in advance, and the "extras" wanted to be a part of it. Pretty great stuff, eh? Iron Butterfly was my favorite, although that may have been a
function of some of that acid that was going around, which wasn't so bad after all . . .

I'll never forget it; what memories!

Don
Virginia Beach

More Atlantic City Pop Info from Dennis Fenlon

I was there and saw the whole show. I watched John Fogerty from CCR kick a guy in the
head who was trying to get on stage. He drew a lot of blood on the guys nose and all over Fogerty's fringe suede jacket. Janis Joplin played twice on Sunday, Santana was billed as the Santa Ana blues band and Carlos corrected this saying ' we are not Santa Ana blues band we are SANTANA then they started with Black Magic woman. Zappa came out and told us that in this time slot he is supposed to prepare us for the heavy groups that would follow ;i.e. lighthouse he then played WILLIE THE PIMP //and then KING KONG well you will have to hear it : I guess you know that lighthouse were ok however frank was fantastic and Chicago were great. Procal Harem gave everybody goose bumps with a whiter shade of pale, the Byrd's were 8 miles high, little Richard stunk. Joni Mitchell quit in the middle of her set :due to the inattentiveness of the large crowd. Ask anybody who was there about the swimming hole in the middle of the racetrack. I met 3 girls from Philly all named Debbie hanging together I wonder where they are now. You forgot Iron Butterfly.

Thanks to Donna and Joanna for taking Papa Joes camper for the ride. We all loved him and miss him.

I got home from Atlantic City, a week later we took off for WOODSTOCK.
BR

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AC Pop Links

Check out
Atlantic City Pop Festival HOME PAGE
Lots of good info and photos from the show.

If you have any info or stories about any shows on my site just send them to me.
I will include them on the site.

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