Well, promoter Boots Houston put out an email summarizing his West Fest event:
“West Fest, Woodstock 40th Anniversary this Sunday October 25th, 72 acts, 4 stages, 26 poster artists- FREE-9 a.m. to 6 p.m.Golden Gate Park. Let the magic begin.”
But I like to think of the event as full of Mel Belli’s friends and coming in a direct line from the famous Human Be-In of l967 and the Summer 0f Love and the Summer of Love anniversaries and other such events in Golden Gate Park.
Let me explain the story as told to me by the late Michael Bowen, a promoter with Allen Cohen of the Be-In. Bowen called me from Sweden, where he was living, on the eve of the 40th Summer of Love event in 2007. He said the story, a closeted San Francisco classic, had never before been told and he wanted it out. Mel Belli was the famous San Francisco attorney and King of Torts, as he liked to call himself. He’s been dead for many years, but to me his spirit will live on in Sunday’s Woodstock event.
Bowen said he and Cohen were in desperate need of a permit for their event because, as hippie activists, they were persona non grata at City Hall. So Bowen went to the downtown office of his friend Mel Belli and asked for help.
Belli sent his secretary down to City Hall and she returned later that afternoon with a permit.
It read, “A permit for Mel Belli and his friends.” And so Mel Belii and his friends showed up by the tens of thousands and turned the Human Be-In into a world famous cultural event and the precursor to the Summer of Love and anti-war events that followed. The event drove the tac squad crazy and police and City Hall officials scurried about trying to find out how this huge event blossomed almost over night. Bowen loved retelling the story and swore up and down to me that it was true. I believed him.
There will once again be tens of thousands at the Woodstock event. And they will all be in an Oraclean sense Mel Belli’s friends. Mel would like that. B3
Poster by Carolyn Ferris
Poster by Mike Dolgushkin
To view more West Fest posters click here, here, and here.
Click here to read Johnny Ray Huston’s preview of West Fest, Park life — and 3,000 guitars.