Venue Address: Santa Clara County Fairgrounds - 344 Tully Rd. - San Jose, CA
Promotion: Bob Blodgett
Event: Northern California Folk Rock Festival
Also Performing:
Country Joe & The Fish
Electric Flag
The Youngbloods
Ravi Shankar
(Various Performers - See Memorabilia Below)
Setlist:
Break On Through
Back Door Man >
Alabama Song
When The Music's Over
Moonlight Drive
Light My Fire
The Unknown Soldier
The End
(Incomplete)
Recordings / Film:
Lost Amateur/Audience Recording (See Below)
16mm Professional Film - Feast of Friends (See Below)
8mm Amateur/Audience Film (See Below)
Lost 8mm Amateur/Audience Film #1 (See Below)
Lost 8mm Amateur/Audience Film #2 (See Below)
Photographers:
Jeff Blankfort
Ed Caraeff
Ed Huntsman
Grant Jacobs
Chris Maddox (Audience Member)
Jim Marshall
Peter Martin (Pop/Rock Music Magazine)
Jim McKellips
Bill Quarry
Paula Rao (Audience Member)
Paul Ryan
Bruce Steinberg
Michael Zagaris
Frank Zinn
Unidentified (Amateur)
Reviews / Info:
-The Doors headline the second day of this two day festival in San Jose.
-4:30pm scheduled start time.
-Outdoor performance.
-Promotional artwork by Carson-Morris Studios (Poster); Linda Segul (Program; Handbill #1).
-Many photographers are present during this festival, including Jim Marshall, Paul Ryan, and more.
-Backstage and performance footage is shot for Feast of Friends. (See Below)
-Babe Hill records audio with a Nagra for Feast of Friends.
-Harrison Ford is present with the Feast of Friends crew during this performance.
-Paul Rothchild films a portion of this show from the stage on an 8mm camera.
FIRST-HAND REVIEWS:
"I was standing right next to the left side PA stacks by Manzarek for the entire Doors performance that Sunday afternoon, with a back stage pass due to my job as the photographer assistant on assignment for the Oakland Tribune. We sat on the stage on the right side for an earlier set by the Youngbloods, & moved around out front during sets by the Electric Flag, as well as Country Joe & the Fish.
I was awestruck, taking it all in. One of the Tribune reporter / photographers tapped me to carry his lenses on the spur of the moment earlier that Sunday morning, when I was working as a copyboy at the City Editor desk up in Oakland. He knew I would be thrilled to work the assignment. He had enough of the loud music after shooting sets by the Youngbloods, Electric Flag, & Country Joe & the Fish, & decided to split back to Oakland. I elected to stay behind for the final set from the Doors, & security booted everyone off the stage for the headliners. That's how I ended up standing by the PA stacks right next to Manzarek. Since my ride had already left, I ended up having to hitch hike back up to my flat in Berkeley once the concert ended. It took me about 5 or 6 hours to finally make it back home from San Jose late that Sunday night. It was worth it!
I recall Morrison getting weirder as the set progressed, & flopping around on the floor of the stage with a lot of cat-calls & yelling from the crowd. After maybe 5 or 6 songs, the grey skies started to drizzle a very light rain, & I distinctly remember being directly in line of sight between Densmore & Manzarek. John gave Ray an 'oh no...not again' look (likely due to Morrison's antics)...& then Densmore broke his snare drum head with an extra hard hit...maybe on purpose...& the Doors suddenly shut down the entire performance as if someone had pulled the plug amid jeers, booing, shouting, as well as applause from the stunned audience. And suddenly, the concert was over."
Harry Clay
Championsgate, FL
Copyright © 2022 Harry Clay
A Special Thanks to Harry Clay for providing his review of the concert to MildEquator.com!
Photographs Published In The Oakland Tribune, May 22nd 1968 © Prentice Brooks
"I grew up in a small university town outside of Sacramento, California. As much as I wanted to go to Cal ("Berkeley in the Sixties") located 75 miles away, my parents insisted I remain in Davis and attend the UC located there (back then, we were minors until 21, so the parenting continued well into our college years). Fortunately, freshmen students were required to live on campus in university housing. Yay! I finally got away from my parents' oversight.
An older high school friend (like my big brother) was in a local band as its singer, along with three other former classmates. Gary asked me if I wanted to go with him to this festival in the Bay Area where several local groups were playing. I was an enamored fan of Country Joe and the Fish, who were playing at the festival. Of course, I was all in and looked forward to "sneaking out" of my dorm to hear live Bay Area music for the first time.
We (Gary and several of his friends) left very early and arrived on Sunday, May 19, the second and last day of the festival. Since it was held outside, the various band members from the groups milled about. (Back then, rock groups were very accessible.) I met Paul Kantner and Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane (Surrealistic Pillow album came out in early 1967 which I had worn out from constant playing) and Jerry Garcia and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan from Grateful Dead (they played often at Freeborn Hall on the Davis campus). Later on in the day, before they played their set in the late afternoon, Gary introduced me to Jim Morrison (Robby, Ray and John were elsewhere). We were standing next to him and a couple of other people. Frankly, I had no idea who the individual members of The Doors were and was only familiar with "Light My Fire" that played often on the radio (my friends and I had a guessing game whether the long or short version was going to play). I vividly recall how nice and well-spoken Jim was, even a little shy. I caught him rolling his eyes when I raved about "Light My Fire" (how pedestrian of me). Jim asked me questions about myself and, like a 16-year-old naive teen, I stumbled over my words. He had that rare skill of really listening (my comment in retrospect). He told me about his parents when I mentioned how strict mine were and that they would "kill me" if they knew where I was. He told me he had a sister named Ann. Jim was seven years older than I, a "much older man." I wasn't attracted to him; my teen-aged crush was on Joe McDonald (whom I briefly met earlier in the day).
That's an overview of my meet-up of 50 years ago. Over the years I became a huge Doors fan, mostly because of their music and dark lyrics. I admired Jim from afar because he seemed down-to-earth and didn't care about the rock star trappings. When I read about Jim in "No One Here Gets Out Alive," I couldn't reconcile that this was the same person I had met 15 years before."
Ann McKercher
Sunnyvale, CA
Copyright © 2018 Ann McKercher
A Special Thanks to Ann McKercher for providing her review of the concert to MildEquator.com!
AUDIENCE 8MM FILM:
Info:
Silent 8mm color footage. This film was originally released on YouTube by its owners. Actor Harrison Ford can be spotted during the Country Joe & The Fish performance, preparing a camera for Paul Ferrara. Besides the existing footage of this concert captured by the Feast of Friends crew (See Below), Paul Rothchild can be spotted in photographs (See Below) filming The Doors with his own 8mm camera.
LOST FILM:
Info:
Paul Rothchild can be seen in numerous photographs operating an 8mm camera onstage while The Doors perform at the Northern California Folk Rock Fest in San Jose, 1968. This footage has never surfaced and its whereabouts are unknown.
Info:
An unknown audience member is spotted in a photograph filming with an 8mm camera at the Northern California Folk Rock Fest. This footage has never surfaced and its whereabouts are unknown.
LOST RECORDING:
Info:
A photograph taken from the audience during The Doors 1968 performance at the Northern California Folk Festival reveals an unidentified taper standing on stage with a microphone and what appears to be a tape recorder strapped over his shoulder. The taper's presence is not consistent throughout the photographs, indicating that the intention of the taper may not have been to make an amateur recording of the whole show, but perhaps a partial segment for a news broadcast or other independent production. There identity of the taper and the whereabouts of the tape are currently unknown.
FEAST OF FRIENDS:
Info:
Color footage of The Doors arrival at the Northern California Folk Rock Festival on May 19th, 1968. The band's limousines are escorted to the festival grounds by Hell's Angel's. Prior to the festival, Jim Morrison cuts his hair as short as it will ever be for the remainder of his life. Backstage at this festival, Babe Hill can be spotted operating the Nagra recorder. Babe is said to begin his role as sound engineer at this performance, however he can be spotted one month previously at the Westbury Music Fair with the Nagra in hand.
Color performance footage shot at the Northern California Folk Rock Festival on May 19th, 1968. Paul Ferrara's compilation video Those Were The Days features a clip of Babe Hill recording with the Nagra at this festival, however no performance audio of The Doors is known to exist. This mid-day scheduling allows for quality footage to be shot due to brighter lighting. An 8mm film shot by an audience member briefly captures a young Harrison Ford preparing a camera while Country Joe & The Fish perform on-stage. Two minutes of footage taken of the festival audience and Hell's Angel's appear in original edits of Feast Of Friends.
ARCHIVE/MEMORABILIA:
REVIEW:
Newspaper: The San Francisco ExaminerAuthor: Philip Elwood
Publish Date: May 20th - 1968
Copyright © Philip Elwood
Contributed By: jim4371
ARTICLE #1:
Newspaper: Palo Alto TimesAuthor: Unknown
Publish Date: May 10th - 1968
Copyright © Palo Alto Times
Contributed By: MildEquator.com
ARTICLE #2:
Newspaper: The San Francisco ExaminerAuthor: Ralph J. Gleason
Publish Date: May 12th - 1968
Copyright © San Francisco Examiner
Contributed By: jim4371
ARTICLE #3:
Newspaper: Santa Cruz SentinelAuthor: Unknown
Publish Date: May 14th - 1968
Copyright © Santa Cruz Sentinel
Contributed By: jim4371
ARTICLE #4:
Newspaper: The San Francisco ExaminerAuthor: Unknown
Publish Date: May 17th - 1968
Copyright © San Francisco Examiner
Contributed By: jim4371
PRINT AD #1:
Contributed By: MildEquator.com
PRINT AD #2:
Contributed By: MildEquator.com
PRINT AD #3:
Contributed By: ElBupperto
PRINT AD #4:
Contributed By: ElBupperto
PRINT AD #5:
Contributed By: jim4371
OFFICIAL PROGRAM:
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INSIDE:
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HANDBILL #1:
Contributed By: BallroomDays67
HANDBILL #2:
Contributed by: BallroomDays67
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HANDBILL #3:
Contributed By: FireHeart2021
POSTER #1:
Artist: Carson-Morris StudiosDimensions: 21 5/8" X 14 3/16"
Contributed By: Art Gallery Of Ontario - http://www.ago.ca
POSTER #2:
Contributed By: RTurcino
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