Page 54 Sept. 13, 1968 Los Angeles Free Press .O ing Grace" with Baez's voice February. Only the festival parti­ soaring high above the rest in an cipants and the FREE PRESS obligatto. The crowd was visi­ were permitted to attend. A future bly moved and quietly left until article will cover this heated dis­ DAVE BAUMGARTEN a cross between early Dyl Mitchell to the general public and Sunday morning. cuss ion. It is hard to believe that Big Sur rhubarb. their poetry and music have One very conspicious absence Sunday's festivities got under is in the same world with Chicago, Rita Gatti, a local singer, fol­ greatly influenced another com­ during the entire festival was that way informally in the morning much less the same country; yet lowed Guthrie with a strong alto poser that is joining them as an of the Monterey Fuzz Department. with a bong and fluge session up the two are bound by nationality country style, and then composer- equal, Judy Collins herself. Her Oh, there were two or three cops in the artists area which gradual­ and it is my duty to report on a singer - instrumentalist John songs "Albatross," "Since YouVe seen sipping some wine in the ly grew into a two-hour freakout. convention that illustrated love Hartford, an unexpected perfor- Asked," and the newly composed Esalen dining room and one was ' The mood spread to the gathering "My Father Promised Me," were seen asleep in a patrol car late crowds below on the grass and the high points of her performance at night, but there was aboslute- even though the sun was blazing at the Festival, and she brought an ly no interference with the Festi­ hot many danced into a frenzy. ability to involve her audience that val. Even a small unpeaceful in­ Sunday's concert featured two is shared by few singers in our cident that occured during the new performers, a young girl time. Her voice was hushed, Sunday session was quieted quick­ from New York named Susan breathy and remarkably easy in ly by the Esalen staff and no clubs Hoover, who's nervousness and these songs, and they seemed tru­ or red lights were seen in the faulty pitch may one day make her ly a personal expression, as did area. Whoever arranged this must the Florence Foster Jenkins of her renditions ofMitchell's"Both have worked a miracle, and the folk music, and Mark Spolestra Sides Now" andCohen's"Suzanne" crowds and performers respond­ who is a co-founder of the festi­ both sung very differently from ed gratefully. val and an able performer. PHOTOS BY STAN SEARLES The entire afternoon seemed her recordings. She still retains more relaxed with the perform­ all the versatility of the past, but ers achieving a real communi­ rather than Democracy in Action. mer, held forth with "Gentle On there is a new Judy emerging and The Sixth Annual Big Sur Folk My Mind," and a very funny ditty cation with each other. Joan and it was a unique and more sensi­ Judy joined together in many num­ Festival was held over the past about the impending Southern Cal­ tive artist that left the audience week-end at the Esalen Institute ifornia earthquake. The first half bers as did Mimi and the Charles crying and finally cheering. Mi­ River Valley Boys. Mimi really in Big Sur and featured Joan Ba- of the afternoon was closed by a chael Saul heads up a back-up ez (co-founder of the event with long and rewarding set by Judy became involved here and showed group which is completely in un­ a genuine affinity for country mu­ producer Nancy Carlen), Judy Collins. ity with her purposes. Collins, Arlo Guthrie, The Judy Collins is a singer in sic. Van Dyke Parks aided a num­ Charles River Valley Boys and transition. She started her ca­ The performers for the rest of ber of singers from the piano and the afternoon included: Penny Ni- Steve Stills did the same on bass. surprise appearances by a host reer with plaintive songs which chols, whose material seemed too of other top-line performers. constantly brought her compar­ Joni Mitchell had the crowd on its The Festival was set in one of isons with Joan Baez in which light in comparison to the others, feet chaering three times and she the most beautiful spots in the she usually came off second. but who. is an interesting perfor­ was clearly the sensation of the world and was completely un- She went through a period sing­ mer; a surprise visit by Jim Hen- festival as she sang "Both Sides marred by commercial trap­ ing dramatically effective ma­ drix who's "Going Back to the Now" and an a cappella song pings, unruly crowds or the fuzz. terial, but often the effect di­ Colorado Mountains" was me­ called "The Fiddle and the drum" Overlooking the ocean the Esalen minished after several hearings. morable; the newly-wed Mimi which asks America why it has Institute, famous for it's human She began using a back-up group Melvin who only sang two songs replaced music with distruction encounter sessions, has a large in her concerts and recordings the first afternoon and seemed and weapons. The performers grass area and a pool on the ocean with some good effect but it still understandably distracted; an un­ mingled freely with the people end. A wooden floor was laid next wasnt a total expression of Judy expected running entrance down in the audience. Children were to the pool and served as a stage. as an artist. She had always been the hillside by "Mom" Cass El­ constantly at Joan Baez's side Large batiks with soaring doves an extraordinary performer in liot who joined the others in some and Cass Elliot h«ld a baby (not painted on them and the distant front of an audience, but she was group songs; Dave Crosby of the her own) through most of the con­ Byrds and Steve Stills of the Buf­ cert. Cass, noting the dominance ocean below served as the back­ never quite as effective on recor- falo Springfield joined for several drop. of female performers, retitled The Festival began unofficially exceptional songs; numerous oth­ One other absence that was felt the event the "BigSur Ovary Fes­ Saturday morning with the wed­ er combinations, including Baez, was Bob Dylan's. Still in some tival." After Joan Baez's final set ding of Mimi Farina, JoanBaez's Collins, Melvin and others; and sort of seclusion, he is sorely the entire company closed singing sister and widow of poet Richard finally Joan Baez by herself. missed by everyone in the folk "I See My Light Come Shining," Farina, to Mylan Melvin, a San Almost everything has been field, and although many of his which sent the crowd away in a Francisco head and record pro­ said before about this unique ar­ songs were sung during the Fes­ completely satisfied but somber ducer. All the participants in the tist. The beautiful landscape that tival, both Joan Baez and Judy mood, linking the performer and Festival attended theweddingand is Big Sur is surely her element Collins mentioned how much he listener together in some un­ and she seemed truly a part of it. was missed as a performer. spoken cause. later dedicated the entire event Her voice seems stronger and to the young couple. Saturday night featured a re­ It is difficult to communicate Immediately after the wedding more steady (if that it possible), ception for Mimi and Mylan, the total effect of the Festival to the crowd of four thousand people her technique never getting in the followed by an extended rap ses­ the reader, for it was not really a was let down the hillside onto the way of the pure joy that is her sion with Joan and her husband performance, but rather a total grounds where they ate lunch, singing. No one will ever forget David Harris who is facing a involving experience with lessons sang, played and danced on the the sound of her unaccompanied three year prison sentence for for the outsidt world in brother- voice ringing off the sides of the draft card burning, beginning in hood and peace. grass until the official festival mountains in Dylan's "Tears of got under way. The number of tic­ Rage." Much of her material these kets sold was limited to the com­ days is related to her peace and fortable capacity of the grounds resistance activities, and since it and everyone had a good view and is so much a part of her fiber could hear well due to the natural she makes it into an artistic ex­ acoustics and an almost perfect perience instead of a preachment. sound system. One particularly moving song was The Festival got underway "Anyday Now, 111 Be Released." promptly at two o'clock and what a session it was. The country and She had composeda sensitive and Blue Grass sounds of the Charles moving song about her sister Mi- River Valley Boys got it off to a mi called "Sir Galahad" and she stomping and picking start and sang it in honor of the wedding. was followed immediately by the It told of sadness of the past first surprise performer, (she herself in her latest work, a place three years since Richard Far­ even surprised the Festival of­ that seems to be more related in ina's death and the final joy of ficials when she showed), Joni material and performance to the building a new relationship.