Worlds Collide

I have to drop back a little in time to 1968.


I was in high school, and my boyfriend said that Jimi Hendrix was going to be performing in Tuscaloosa at the University of Alabama. I had seen a photo and story about Hendrix in Teen Magazine. The photo showed him burning his guitar on stage and it made an impression on me. Of course I wanted to go.



I went to the show in my best Villager outfit. When I walked in, I discovered that I was perhaps the only person there with a Villager outfit on, whereas at my high school, if someone did not have a Villager outfit on they would have stood out as if in bas relief, as I must have in Tuscaloosa. But since the event was so surreal I paid it no mind and was instead awestruck. I liked it, I really REALLY liked it.


At 16 most of what I was listening to was not on the radio with the exception of the local WAQY show that my friend James Enright was DJ-ing. I had some really fantastic and creative friends that listened to great music. I was lucky that way.


The culmination of my induction into the "new world order" was the release of Woodstock, the movie in 1970. I went to see it 8 times at the old Ritz Theatre.

Byron (2nd Atlanta) Pop Festival

I left for the Byron Pop Festival Friday night July 3, 1970 from Southside. I had actually bought a ticket for $14 and talked a friend into going so I could catch a ride. All my friends had already left but I had to work Friday evening. We planned to meet at the festival, but I never saw them. There were about 500,000 people there- the site was a racetrack surrounded by peanut fields and it was totally the coolest thing ever.

We arrived early Saturday morning on the 4th of July and it was soon about 104 degrees. We slept in the shade of some pecan trees. It was like a gigantic living carnival, full of characters, sounds and vibes that seemed to come from another dimension. I set out on my own to procure some things needed for the evening, and then found the person I came with again- miraculously. We got situated near the stage and stayed put. I remember hearing the Chambers Brothers sing "Time". Mostly I remember Hendrix. Yeah, I was there. The whole thing. The Star Spangled Banner AND fireworks and the real Jimi. Something in my 18 year old soul told me to be there. I have trusted my instincts ever since.