The Groupie Incident at Newport 69

[hyper_hippie]

Sharing what some may not have seen.... The incident captured in a series of photos.

http://www.markwhaley.com/photo.htm

Scroll 3/4 down Mark's page and see his photo archive of this colorful event. As he tell this delightful story, you can click on each of the photos for enlargements.

I love this, and if anyone has large clear pictures, P-L-E-A-S-E post them.

[Olvator]

here are some slightly better resolution pics I have from that date...

[hyper_hippie]

Thank you for those, Olvie.

I also found this one posted earlier by Mourningstar and you, Jimi on top of the groupie and Eric Burden.

This shot flips me out. It is amazing, and I don't know if there has ever been another stage incident like this one. If there is, I'd like to hear about it. If someone knows, please start a thread of stage incidents.

[Roland Stone]

Originally Posted by hyper_hippie

Sharing what some may not have seen.... The incident captured in a series of photos.

http://www.markwhaley.com/photo.htm

I just got this additional info from Mark Whaley:


I believe the photos were taken by an L.A. Free Press Photographer with a telephoto lens out at the sound tower in the middle of the audience. Or they were purchased by the Free Press Newspaper from a freelance. They were still photographs. The dots are because the original proof sheet was screened with velox dots. The fact that I was at the photostat company, hired by the Free Press to screen these film strips 5 yrs aft the death of Jimi, is a miracle and a blessing.

Rock ON! Let your Freak Flag Fly!

Mark Whaley

[stplsd]

This woman known as "Sunshine" (aka Mary Storey - now known to be a hoax identity) appears to be the woman singing lead vocals on the recordings from this jam and is seen singing lead vocal in several photographs. This is the first time I have heard her referred to as a "groupie" and wonder where this tag came from?

[stplsd]

It appears that the tag "groupie" comes solely from the above markwhaley site, where she is described as "screaming" briefly. Whereas on the recording she appears to be an integral part of the jam singing for quite a while, starting with an ad-lib vocal duet with Buddy Miles and later singing a repetative chorus from Train Kept A Rollin' and other ad-lib vocals, she is the only woman photographed singing lead vocal at his jam, the film only shows Tracy Nelson and other woman members of her band singing backing together, but unfortunately doesn't have any footage showing "Sunshine" singing lead

[Milan]

How, oh how I wish that bit was filmed... maybe even more than the Townshend/Hoffman Woodstock incident... GREAT story and GREAT photos; thanx for the link, 'hyper hippie'.

[hyper_hippie]

stplsd, if you know where there is additional information on Mary, I would love to check it out. I have heard her name, but don't know anything about her.

I would venture to say from the photos that she could not possibly be singing the lead vocals you refer to. Although she has a mike, she is on stage a short time, having jumped up in an unauthorized way to be rushed at by Eric Burden and someone else who are seen tussling with her.

I'm not sure that Burden lowered her to the ground as stated. They may have fallen down after the airplane spin. (!!) Anyway, the whole chaotic scene hardly indicates that she was ever authorized to be on stage.

That being said, there is certainly no evidence here that means that she was a groupie.

I think that the female vocals you refer to were probably done by someone else. Could you direct me to the photographs you cite where she is singing lead vocals for these jams?

Whoever the singer was, she sang on at least 3 extended tunes, so she probably couldn't be the woman that appears in the Whaley photos. She doesn't sound anything like Tracy Nelson. On "Power of Soul," she sounds like a professional singer, belting it out like a soul singer. The woman in the Mark Whaley photos may have screamed once or twice during that incident, but the woman who sings on the jams is not screaming, except when she asks the crowd to "clap your hands and stomp your feet."

I think Mark Whaley's description of her is probably accurate. Plus, he probably got some more scoop on things with the benefit of hindsight. Can we get any more info from Mark?

Still looking for the video............................................. !

[stplsd]

Straight Ahead: You were also on the same bill with Jimi at the 1969 Newport Pop Festival. There are some great photos and footage of you and everybody else that showed up to jam that day. What can you tell us about that concert?

Eric Burdon: Jimi had done such a bad show on Friday that he came back and did a second one on Sunday.

Straight Ahead: There are some photos from that show of you and this blond haired lady who went by the name of Sunshine, she may also have been known as Mary Story ...

Eric Burdon: Yeah, I think that's the lady that's claiming to be the mother of one of his kids. I thought about that, and everybody has their own taste. She didn't seem to figure as the usual Jimi girl, but she was always around, and a fixture of those times. It's quite possible that the two of them were closer than I knew.

Straight Ahead: Was she a singer?

Eric Burdon: Yeah she was a singer... kind of a Janis, but not really. I never figured her and Jimi being together. I knew the girls first hand that Jimi hung out with, and there definetly was a certain ilk: or breed or standard that had to be met... all they way up to "mmm, can I have twin Chinese girls" or something like that. Until I read in your magazine that there was a closer relationship between the two of them, I didn't know it.

Straight Ahead: I agree. It's a very bizarre story, and one that needed further investigation.

Check out the 8mm Newport video (features some different parts of the jam, but poorer quality than the 16mm, silent with added un-synched sound. The cut I have of this is titled on the film “BUDDY MILES ERIC BURDON SUNSHINE” ). Part of this shows a roadie setting up a mic’ for Tracy Nelson who then sings a very brief duet with Buddy while an [unknown?] black man plays the drums, she then appears to leave the lead singing to Buddy and joins her backing singers, dancing with them. This also has footage of the mysterious “Sunshine” (Mary Story) [now known to be a hoax identity], at ease and singing lead and dancing as part of the jam, at one point Eric picks her up upside down over his shoulders with his head between her legs and spins around with her, he then stands her back on the stage and they embrace each other in a very friendly and familiar manner, she then goes back to singing etc. there are are several cuts in the film here, at some point Eric appears back on stage and they somehow end up lying on the stage with Jimi crouching astride them, after another cut in the film he then jumps off laughing and sticks his tongue out at them, the film is cut here again - for an unknown length of time - and resumes with Eric giving her a piggyback ride off stage.
This film is cut in several places so her appearance was obviously longer, for instance she isn’t seen in the crouching pose singing up close to Jimi’s guitar while he plays - as in the B&W photos (where she is clearly not singing backing vocal). Eric is only seen singing in the video in a couple of very short clips although he sang for quite a while..
Unfortunately peoples memories of events nearly forty years ago are often innaccurate and can become more “colourful” with time. Whaley’s embarrassingly (for him) salacious, juvenile titles and comments say it all: “Super Groupie”; “Super Groupie makes a move for Jimi” “The groupie is screaming and moving closer to Jimi Hendrix” [or maybe just singing in a classic rock singer pose as it would appear from this photo?]; “Groupie Gets Kinky!” “Now the groupie is using the mike to represent her deepest desires of Jimi” [calm down son, she’s only singing!]“Eric Burdon Can't Take Any More” [this shot is clearly out of sequence and belongs after the following three. At the point in the film where this photo was taken “Brian” the roadie - never mind attempting to remove her from the stage - obviously has nothing to do with Eric and Sunshine and is just walking across the stage, and Eric at this point is just placing Sunshine back on her feet after whirling her around draped over his shoulders] “crud Cirque du Soliel” [excuse me?!]” “pile of bodies” [how about Eric & Sunshine]“ “bending the joy stick” [????]

In actual fact there is no drama, nobody is trying to “remove” Sunshine from the stage, it’s just Eric, "Sunshine" (whoever she might be) and Jimi just having some fun, singing, jamming and fooling around

[hyper_hippie]

THANK YOU so much for providing that, stp.

1. Eric Burden infers in the interview that she was a groupie, but then he hedges and says that he isn't sure. He seems to grudgingly admit that she is a singer, but is more intent on trashing her, and says nothing of her involvement at Newport. His dislike of her seems to contradict not only the paragraphs at the end, though, but also the many smiles that he has in the various photos.

2. The paragraphs at the end; where did those come from? Who is speaking and reviewing the videos? Comments are made specifically about Mark Whaley's photos as though they were being made at this moment, and maintains that he is completely wrong about everything he said and concluded about the photos, and it does so with so much credibility that it really does refute all of Mark Whaley's observations, except the ones that he's not paying much attention to what is happening with the performers.

I have to agree that the 3 - Jimi, Eric, and Sunshine - are all comfortable with each other and having fun. She and Burden are all smiles as he starts to pick her up, and just look at the photo of Jimi on top of them; turn it upside down as I have below, and you see the look of incredible fun/joy on Sunshine's face as she lies on the stage with Eric.

I am thinking that Jimi got on top because he knew them and knew that he wouldn't get hurt, not something that he would take a chance on doing with an unknown stage crasher. They are are not too far from the edge of a tall stage, and a fall would not be fun.

Wow, how a story can turn on a dime! The photos that Whaley has don't show her getting on or off stage, or singing much, but I don't think she grabbed a mike; I think it was provided to her. She could not have climbed up on stage from the audience; the stage is too high. In close examination of the figure named Brian, it seems that he isn't paying any attention to Sunshine.

So anyway, where are these videos, hmmmmmm?

Thanks again, stp. When we discussed this on the ElectricSkyChurch forum, no one refuted it.

[stplsd]

Thanks for your reply. Much as I enjoyed seeing the photos, I really felt that the Whaley article had to be replied to, as it was not what I remembered of the film I had seen. So I searched out my video of this which I found as part of a 3 vdeo disc titled "Playing The Radio" (which also has Singer Bowl and Albert Hall film) and compared it with the photos, which took me a good while. So the review is my observation and my comments.

There is a "composite" Newport video available on this very site, and I would imagine it is a composite of this 8mm with the 16mm footage. If it's not I'll try and upload mine, wouldn't want to duplicate.

It would be interesting to read the original mention of Sunshine in the other Straight Ahead magazine article that Eric refers to, but I haven't seen it

Originally Posted by hyper_hippie

Eric Burden infers in the interview that she was a groupie, but then he hedges and says that he isn't sure. He seems to grudgingly admit that she is a singer, but is more intent on trashing her, and says nothing of her involvement at Newport. His dislike of her seems to contradict not only the paragraphs at the end, though, but also the many smiles that he has in the various photos.

I don't see that he infers she's a groupie, or says that he's not sure about that, and "more intent on trashing her" seems a rather extreme description of what he says

He does say she sang, was "kind of a Janis," (whatever that means?) and then adds, "but not really" (not really what?)

Eric - it should be noted - has great difficulty remembering any real details when it comes to Hendrix, and usually covers this up with nonsense and extreme opinions that have little bearing on reality. Just listen to his rubbish about her not being the kind of girl...blah blah, and about Jimi's taste in women "Chinese twins" etc... blah blah. So, Jimi wasn't into young, attactive, fun loving, blonde singers, apparently?

Originally Posted by hyper_hippie

"She and Burden are all smiles as he starts to pick her up."

In the video you will see that he has actually just stood her back on the stage after whirling her around (as I mentioned in my last letter)

Originally Posted by hyper_hippie

"The photos that Whaley has don't show her ..... singing much"

Most of the (only 11) photos are of the acrobatics going on, which are a photographers dream I would presume. There's only one of Eric singing (well only clapping hands really), and she is certainly singing in four of the shots. Of the other six: there's four from the whirling incident, and only two from the later lying on the stage incident.

[MourningStar]

Originally Posted by stplsd

... He does say she sang, was "kind of a Janis," (whatever that means?) ...

The reference is to Janis Joplin.

I was at this festival and she did sing. Was not for too long and was not my (and others) 'cup-of-tea'.

[hyper_hippie]

Thanks, stp. I am going to look for that composite video. All the vids of Newport that I have do not include this sequence.

As far as others at the jams, including a black drummer other than Buddy, I would like to see that, too. On a brief trip to NYC around '68 or '69 (sorry, time back then is a bit hazy for me) I was told that the black scene there included the Chambers Bros along with Jimi, Buddy, and Sly Stone, and I believe that the Chambers Bros appeared at this festival. (My friends did not hang with them; they mostly fulfilled this group's affinity for white powder from S. America.)

Photos that I see include a number of black musicians, so I would expect to see the Chambers. I wondered whether one of the jams was meant to be a black happening with this group of friends from NYC. If they weren't from the Chambers' band, who were they? I thought Buddy was there with his band, but another black drummer doesn't support that.

It may have been a melting pot happening, too, with Rare Earth and Tracy Nelson's group Mother Earth, who were mostly if not all white, I believe. I recall that Rare Earth was billed, but I don't know if Tracy was with Mother Earth at the time.

Anyway, my point, if there is one, is that Jimi appeared to be moving to his black music phase during that time, and his ideas for that peaked with this festival appearance, because one week later was the Denver gig where Noel left. If Jimi was encouraged by making music with his black musician friends at this event, then it may have been his view that this gig was so artistically satisfying for him that the JHE trio didn't cut it for him anymore.

It may have been these jams that moved him to terminate the JHE. I know that Noel left voluntarily, but I think Jimi was glad that he did.

[MourningStar]

Originally Posted by hyper_hippie

It may have been these jams that moved him to terminate the JHE.

Hmmm, an intersesting thought, 'may' being the operative word. I don't think so. If I recall correctly, Jimi had long before this event, gone on record to 'expand' the band and even alluding to the fact that the trio concept had long since run it's course. And as to the 'black' associative theory, not much there since the short-term follow-up, G,S & R was a 'mixed bag (black, white, latin). Granted, this was followed by the the all-black BOG, but from my take of all the literature I've come across, Jimi never gave us the impression that this was a going to be long-term situation. Time would bear this out as a reasonable assumption. My observation of Jimi's much too short career path is one of an artist in 'perpetual transition'. Jimi was definitely aware of his own musical evolution and was always struggling with the best way to realize his progression. For me, it's totally awsome that in spite of 'all this', he managed to give us the treasures (and memories) we are enjoying to this day.


my $0.02,

[stplsd]

Originally Posted by MourningStar

The reference is to Janis Joplin.


I was at this festival and she did sing. Was not for too long and was not my (and others) 'cup-of-tea'.

When I questioned what he meant by "like Janis" I was meaning in what way was she like Janis, not who she was, as I naturally took for granted that everyone would assume he was referring to Joplin

I have never seen any evidence that she sang here. Possibly a mistake for the above "Sunshine" [identity unknown, looks very like some photos of Bonnie Bramlett] who Eric says was like Janis [Joplin]. Given it was forty years ago and an awful lot of those attending were obviously spaced it just sounds like one of those stories. Surely some reliable info - news report (music press) or other would have mentioned this, I mean Janis and Jimi biggest hippie stars of the time - no news?

[MourningStar]

Originally Posted by stplsd

...I have never seen any evidence that she sang here...

I know where I was and what I saw. If you choose that it is not enough for you to believe it, whatEVER dude. For me, it was (in '69) and is a non-issue. Hope you find your 'evidence'.


peace,

[stplsd]

Sorry, but you just claiming something doesn't make it a fact. She was after all at the peak of her fame at this time, why is there hardly any mention of her, it's not as if most of the other acts were huge names.

[Olvator]

Originally Posted by MourningStar

I know where I was and what I saw. If you choose that it is not enough for you to believe it, whatEVER dude. For me, it was (in '69) and is a non-issue. Hope you find your 'evidence'.


peace,

Marcos, i think what he meant was whether Janis sang during the jam with Jimi. And I have to add that to my knowledge also neither Big Brother nor Kozmik Blues Band were billed for Newport 69. But while they were also not billed in 1968, it seems that Big Brother did indeed perform at Newport in 1968. Could it be that you mixed this up maybe? were you at both festivals?

[Olvator]

hmmmm....ok then. the official Janis site says she did in fact appear at Newport in 1969....guess Marcos is right then.

http://janisjoplin.net/chronology/#1969


strange though that neither Wikipedia nor any other sources (except for Mourning Star :-) ever stated that....

[stplsd]

A quote from the Newport festival on wikipedia:

"There were two separate events staged in the late 1960s that are commonly referred to as the "Newport Pop Festival." The first was called the Newport Pop Festival, held at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California, the weekend of August 3-4, 1968. The second event was originally billed as "Newport 69," and was held over the three-day weekend of June 20-22, 1969 in Northridge, California at Devonshire Downs. In published writings over the last 40 years, this latter event has been referred to as the "Newport 69 Pop Festival," the "Newport Pop Festival 1969" and simply the "Newport Pop Festival." Subsequently, much confusion has been created over the years between the 1968 and 1969 events. Some of this confusion was generated by the participating musicians themselves who, later, in their interviews, kept getting the two events mixed up."

Big Brother (feat.JJ) weren't billed for either festival mentioned above and the only evidence they did appear at the earlier 68 one is word of mouth.

I can add a third - Big Brother (feat. JJ) played the Newport Folk festival at Rhode Island in 1968, there are also photos and advertising to prove it.

The Kozmic Blues Band only became known by this name posthumously, titled after the LP, at the time they were known as Janis Joplin and her revue or Janis Joplin and band or some such
I've written to the JJ web site to see if I can get more info

On the official website of the Janis Joplin estate the only entry between the dates June 16- 26 is recording Kozmic blues in LA