Big Brother history, part four, January to June 1968

This is the story of Big Brother and the Holding Company.

January to June 1968

 

Linda McCartney took this photograph when she was Linda Eastman.  Linda and I and quite a few other people became vegetarians at this time, not for our health, as Isaac Bashevis Singer might say, but for the health of the chickens.

Hey, I get to be Kermit the Frog.

5 January 1968   Rainbow Ballroom    Fresno     California

6 January 1968      Sacramento State College       Steve Brown captured this lovely image of Janis.

12 January 1968           Shrine Auditorium      Los Angeles

13 January 1968       Barnes Park Bandshell         Monterey Park          California

16-21 January 1968     Golden Bear Club    Huntington Beach    California

25 January 1968      Fillmore Auditorium     San Francisco

26-27 January 1968  Winterland  San Francisco    John Byrne Cooke, son of Alistair Cooke. John studied Romance Languages at Harvard. He was our estimable road manager and has remained a good friend.

I don’t want to say that John is tall, but here he is hovering over Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Mimi Fariña and Joan Baez.

John writes western novels, he’s a photographer, he sings Louvin Brothers songs and he introduced us to a whole new world.

John is now writing a book about his days with Janis in Big Brother, the Kozmic Blues Band and Full Tilt.

John took this photograph of Debbie Green and Mimi Fariña.

28 January 1968       Avalon Ballroom     San Francisco

We’re playing Oh, Sweet Mary.

Chet and Lori Helms with Bill Graham.   Bill is doing the talking. Imagine that.

2 February 1968     The Cheetah    Los Angeles

3 February 1968     Earl Warren Showgrounds     Santa Barbara

9 February 1968      Santa Clara County Fairgrounds        Santa Clara      California

10 February 1968       Community Concourse Exhibit Hall  San Diego

16 February 1968  Palestra  Philadelphia

A palestra was originally a wrestling school in Greece (palaistra). In Italian, the word now means gymnasium.

17 February 1968   Anderson Theatre  New York City

This restaurant was right next door to where we played so we spent a lot of time there.

Tastes, feelings, colors, smells, enthusiastic people who were personal, direct and kind, the people we encountered were the opposite of the stereotype of New Yorkers.

Ukrainian easter eggs, Afghan coats, secondhand shops, it was like a giant bazaar.

23-24 February 1968   Psychedelic Supermarket Boston     I walked into a store in Boston, asked for yoghurt and the grocer almost spat at me. Yes, folks, there was a time when yoghurt was seen as exotic, something that only a Democrat would eat.

25 February 1968  Rhode Island School of Design  Providence  Rhode Island

I lived in Paris 1962-1964 and a friend there was feeding yoghurt (yaourt) to his baby. First time I tasted it. Delicious. Tastier then… and there. We often had it with meals in the student cafeteria at the Sorbonne.

1-2 March 1968      The Grande Ballroom    Detroit   Michigan

8 March 1968   Fillmore East opens.   Linda Eastman (McCartney) made this poster.

We were living in the Chelsea Hotel.

Jane Fonda lived in the Chelsea at that time. So did Julie Christie.

Combination of the Two

9 March 1968      Wesleyan University     Middletown   Connecticut

15-17 March 1968   Electric Factory   Philadelphia

22-24 March 1968     The Cheetah       Chicago

2-6 April  The Generation  New York City

7 April 1968  Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Richie Havens, Paul Butterfield. B.B. King inspired us that night with his sacred words and music.

10 April 1968             Anaheim Convention Center

11 April 1968       We play Summertime on ABC-TV Hollywood Palace.

11 April 1968             Fillmore Auditorium with Booker T and the MGs and Iron Butterfly

12-13 April 1968     Winterland    San Francisco

14 April 1968             Carousel Ballroom

19 April 1968                   Selland Arena             Fresno

20 April 1968    University of California     Santa Barbara

24 April 1968            Straight Theatre          San Francisco

26 April 1968      Foothill College      Los Altos      California

27 April 1968     San Bernardino    California

1 May 1968   College Field   Chico State College   Chico  California

2 May 1968                 Carousel Ballroom                San Francisco

1968   3-4 May   The Shrine Expo Center      Los Angeles

3-6 May 1968

10 May 1968       Cal-Poly State University     San Luis Obispo     California

Sam Berdofsky drew this poster for our gig in Santa Rosa.

11 May 1968

12 May 1968    San Fernando Valley State College     Northridge    California

15 May 1968

Fairly typical set list at this time.

16 May 1968    That doesn’t look like one of James’ usual guitars.

17 May 1968    Freeborn Hall   University of California at Davis

18 May 1968   Santa Clara County Fairgrounds  Santa Clara   Northern California Folk Rock Festival

This was a special gig, quite memorable.  The weather was beautiful and there was a spirit of togetherness.

19 May 1968      Civic Auditorium  Pasadena   James singing Easy Rider.   “And I will even buy you some cardboard fruit.”

21 May 1968        Bermuda Palms     San Rafael    California   One dollar seemed to be the going rate for these Angels affairs.  Would be about $10 now.

I used to play saxophone in this building with a big band.

Five errors ?   Dave, Janis, Sam, James and Peter.  That was easy.

24-26 May 1968   Carousel Ballroom with the Clara Ward Singers

31 May 1968

9 June 1968   Whisky-A-Go-Go    Hollywood

13 June 1968     Fillmore Auditorium

14-15 June 1968     Winterland      San Francisco

16 June 1968      Fillmore            Matrix Benefit

22-23 June 1968        Carousel Ballroom

Owsley Stanley put us on tape many times. SONY released his recording of this engagement.

24 June 1968      Burlingame Country Club     Burlingame  California

26-29 June 1968                   Denver

Janis Joplin

See you next week?

Sam Andrew

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