Dionne & Monterey Pop

[grooverider]

I was reading the booklet that comes with the "Monterey Pop" DVD (a wonderful, stunning look at that music festival) and was really surprised to read that Dionne Warwick, who was scheduled to appear, was a last minute cancellation. I can only imagine what that appearance would have been like, would Burt Bacharach have accompanied her? How would she have felt, appearing between Canned Heat and Jimi Hendrix, for example?! What would have been the reaction of the crowd to her? Yes, Lou Rawls appeared, but the focus of the music seemed to be more of the "Summer of Love" kinds of bands. I understand Laura Nyro left the stage in tears, after her performance, feeling the audience did not like her performance.
Can anyone shed any more light on this extraordinary "what might have been?" Thank you.

[BachtoBacharach]

Going to be a long answer!! I was fortunate to grow up in that era. Dionne was scheduled to appear but was under contract at the Fairmont Hotel during that time. Burt was not scheduled to appear. She did contemplate sneaking away for her appearance, but decided to play it safe. Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas phoned her from the stage at the festival and Dionne expressed her sorrow to the crowd that she couldn't appear. In the context of the times, Dionne was very popular across the board with everyone from teeny-boppers to hippies to gowned and tuxed symphony hall goers. Alfie was already hitting big and her popularity was greater than ever. Dionne had the kind of appeal. She was not pop, rock, r & b etc. Dionne was not a straight pop interpreter and that I think is what separated her from many others who sang and covered Bachrach's songs. Her sound was just totally different and when coupled with Bacharach and David, the three just took music in the sixties to another level that has been unmatched. Their influence on music in the sixties was so much more than those who weren't old enough to remember can grasp. It was really that influential. Almost every female singer from Great Britian and many from America during that era was covering Bacharach and David and emulating Dionne. I found this on Dibotis You Tube Channel. It explains far better than I can the kind of appeal Dionne had. Here is what Nick Toches says (thanks to Dibotis): Writes Nick Tosches, the renowned writer, rock music journalist, novelist, biographer and poet in the January 7, 1972 issue of the rock magazine FUSION; "...getting into Dionne Warwick is like finding buried treasure. It's pure emotion. There is a whole lot more to emotion than some rock punk bursting his dexedrine-staved blood vessels by screaming "Baby I need you baby" into a microphone. Dionne Warwick is not a rock and roll singer. She's not a jazz singer either. Rhythm and blues? Nope. A pop singer? No way. Did you ever tongue-kiss with someone who barfed a Singapore Sling bolus into your mouth, and then four years later you're with someone else and you feel good and you realize how beautiful it all was and then it's all melancholy/happiness, sort of? That's the kind of singer Dionne Warwick is. She's beautiful. If you've never gotten into her, you ought to. Get hep to Dionne Warwick. For your own sake."

[BachtoBacharach]

As far as appearing between Canned Heat and Jimi Hendrix, Canned Heat's first label was Dionne's home label Scepter and they knew each other well. Dionne actually worked with Jimi Hendrix in 1964. While still in New York in early 1964, Jimi met future girl friend Fayne Pridgon who was Sam Cooke's ex-girl friend. She got him back stage at the Apollo to meet Sam with the hopes of getting him a job with the band. He didn't get it, but the word spread that Jimi could play some mean guitar. It was perfect timing because The Isley Brothers were looking for a new guitarist. They bought him new strings for his guitar (He only had four of the six strings left), and began touring with them in the South, East, and Midwest. Later they recorded "Move Over And Let Me Dance", "Have You Ever Been Disappointed", "Looking for a Love" and "The Last Girl" with Dionne Warwick on backup vocals.

[steveo_1965]

The prevailing attitude at the time for concert happenings, love-ins, or whatnot, was to have groups who were thought to be relevant to the love generation concept, or thought to be "hip" by the young folk. These groups were invited to perform at such functions. This would have been groups like the Buffalo Springfield who had a very "hip"
physical image and also had a record riding high on the charts about the police harrasing the youth on the streets in Hollywood(For What It's Worth)
The Jefferson Airplane also had a song describing an acid trip(White Rabbit).Groups that represented or made statements through their lyrics, and/or "psycheldelic sound" and image sort of "led" the love generation and were felt to be appropo..
Other music was around that eveyone istened to, (a broad spectrum of the public demographically) that was considered mainstream...These people usually were not thought of as a choice for such concerts.
The Beach Boys, who had been so relevent to youth just 3 or 4 years earlier with their car and surfing spmgs had a tough time being thought of by the public as fitting into the then 1967-68 love/peace genre, and thus the group had its doubts as to their reception at the Monterey Pop Festival. They had shifted their lyrical content to love, and grew their hair long, but the upand coming generation felt their image was passe.There were a lot of middle of the road artists, whose music was a soundtrack of our lives at the time, yet nevertheless were not thought of as fitting into this hippie music genre. Dionne Warwick was one of them.
Now, I don't know the story of how or why she did not perform, and glancing over the previous posts, there seems to be some explainations.
Im sure my afore stated explaination of the then current teen to twenties
attitutes kind of barred a lot of middle of the road-less lyric/image relevant
perceived people or groups from performing. People like Andy Williams, or even
our hero Burt.(I doubt if Burt would have performed there at the time, if asked)

Steveo

[BachtoBacharach]

The Monterey Pop Festival was held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. The festival was planned by record producer Lou Adler, singers Michelle Phillips and John Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas, producer Alan Pariser, and publicist Derek Taylor. The festival board included members of The Beatles and The Beach Boys. The artists performed for free, with all revenue donated to charity, with the exception of Ravi Shankar, who was paid $3,000 for his afternoon-long performance on the sitar. More than 200,000 people attended the festival, which had a nominal $1 entrance fee. The festival is generally regarded (along with the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band released two weeks earlier) as the apex of the so-called "Summer of Love". The festival became legendary for the first major American appearance by Jimi Hendrix, who was booked on the insistence of board member Paul McCartney, and The Who. It was also the first major public performance for Janis Joplin, who appeared as a member of Big Brother and The Holding Company, and Otis Redding, backed by Booker T. & The MG's. Redding would die only a few months later. Many record company executives were in attendance, and a number of the performers won recording contracts based on their appearance at the festival. Several acts were also notable for their non-appearance. A variety of reasons were given for The Beach Boys' cancellation, which was interpreted as an admission that they could not compete alongside hipper acts or that the boys had yet to recover from the rift between Brian Wilson and the rest of the band over their failure to complete Smile, the follow up to Pet Sounds or because of Carl Wilson having problems with the draft board. Musician Donovan was refused a visa to enter the United States because of a 1966 drug bust. Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band was also invited to appear but according to the liner notes for the CD reissue of their album Safe As Milk, the band reportedly turned the offer down at the insistence of guitarist Ry Cooder, who felt the group was not ready. Although The Rolling Stones did not play, guitarist Brian Jones attended and appeared on stage to introduce Hendrix (hailing him "king of the festival"). Also conspicuous by their absence were acts featuring artists of color. In fact, Dionne Warwick and the Impressions were advertised on some of the early posters for the event. Warwick dropped out due to a conflict in booking that weekend. She was booked at the Fairmont Hotel and it was thought that if she canceled that appearance it would negatively affect her career. However, she thought about sneaking off between shows to perform at the festival, but she decided against it. Also conspicuous by their absence were artists associated with the Motown label. Ironically, Smokey Robinson was on the festival board and an afternoon slot was promised for the label's acts. This would have increased the number of African-American acts at the festival. Eric Burdon and The Animals later that same year sang a song about the festival entitled "Monterey", which quoted a line from the Byrds song "Renaissance Faire" ("I think that maybe I'm dreamin"). In the song, Burdon mentions Monterey performers The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, Ravi Shankar, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Hugh Masekela, The Grateful Dead, and a guest who did not perform, The Rolling Stones' Brian Jones ("His Majesty, Prince Jones, smiled as he moved among the crowd"). The instruments used in the song imitate the styles of these performers. A number of other artists performed, including blues singer Lou Rawls, singer-songwriter Laura Nyro, and the South African jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela. Many rock bands made appearances as well, including The Association, Buffalo Springfield, Country Joe and The Fish, Moby Grape, and Quicksilver Messenger Service. Blues-rock bands were well-represented, among them Canned Heat, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Steve Miller Band, and The Blues Project. The Mamas and the Papas, who helped organized the event (which prevented them from doing any rehearsals), were the closing act of the festival.

[steveo_1965]

Did Ritchie Havens or ther Chambers Bros. perform? Or was this the later Woodstock?

Steveo

[BachtoBacharach]

Richie Havens appeared at both Monteray and Woodstock 69. The Chambes Brothers are not on the Monteray set listing. The appeared at the Woodstock Reunion Concert held in 1989.

[An Enormous BB Fan]

My feeling is that Dionne would have gotten quite an ovation from that crowd. I believe that everyone-regardless of what kind of music they were into at the time-respected Dionne's enormous talent and unique voice -- as well as those great Bacharach/David songs she sang. I wish she had been able to perform there.

[grooverider]

Many thanks to all who replied, esp. BachtoBacharach, for your insights, thoughts and memories to what must have been a truly special event. And then having Dionne Warwick sing at Monterey Pop would have made for a memorable occasion.

[bossaroo]

interesting stuff.

i think the festival was very broad in scope, and all types of music were being represented and appreciated.

the Association were a little closer to someone like Burt or Brian Wilson, with more emphasis on arrangement and harmonies. it's a real shame that the Beach Boys pulled out. the sound system at Monterey was theirs after all...

Dionne would have been such a wonderful addition to the day I'm sure. That's great about Michelle Phillips calling her from the stage...!