Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for June 16th

How about some actual REAL rock history? It may have been the most significant musical gathering ever! Yup, today's a biggie...

6/16/1967 (50 years ago today) - Today is the first day of the now beyond-legendary Monterey Pop Festival -- The "Summer Of Love" pretty much began here when every artist agreed to perform for free and donate all the money to various charities -- Stats for the show: the fairgrounds enclosed performance area, where the music took place, had an approved capacity of 7,000, but actual showtime numbers were closer to 9,000 -- festival-goers had to have either an 'all-festival' ticket or a separate ticket for the five performances scheduled (Friday night, Saturday afternoon and night, or Sunday afternoon and night) with ticket prices between $3.00 and $6.50 (adjusted for inflation, that's around $22 to $47, unbelievable by 2017 standards) -- The Monterey Pop Fest is best remembered for the first major American appearances of The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Ravi Shankar, as well as introducing Otis Redding and Janis Joplin to the rest of the world, can you even begin to imagine...? -- Okay kids, here's what went down and who you got to see:

On Friday, June 16th, The Association, Lou Rawls, Johnny Rivers, Eric Burdon & The Animals, Simon & Garfunkel...

The line-up for Saturday, June 17th, featured Canned Heat, Big Brother & the Holding Company (with Janis Joplin), Country Joe & The Fish, Al Kooper, The Butterfield Blues Band, The Electric Flag, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Steve Miller Band, Moby Grape, The Byrds, Laura Nyro, Jefferson Airplane, Booker T. & The MG's, Otis Redding...

Sunday, June 18th: Ravi Shankar, The Blues Project, Buffalo Springfield (with David Crosby), The Mamas & The Papas, Grateful Dead, The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience...

Woodstock happened two years later, but as history has played out, it's become crystal clear: The Original Monterey Pop Festival was the {hands down/de-facto} ultimate concert gathering. Good luck to the future...

Share your shoulda/woulda/coulda's with the Calendar here on our web site and on the WBLM Facebook and Twitter pages with the hashtag #TommysCoffeeBreak.

"I do believe it/I do believe it's true...", xoxo!