{"id":11196,"date":"2020-02-20T22:32:49","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T22:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=11196"},"modified":"2020-06-16T23:09:30","modified_gmt":"2020-06-16T23:09:30","slug":"milwaukee-rock-and-roll-is-a-time-machine-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=11196","title":{"rendered":"“Milwaukee Rock and Roll” is a time machine, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A poster and an advertisement for the Midwest Rock Festival at Wisconsin State Fair Park, which preceded Woodstock by three weeks.in 1969. Courtesy onmilwaukee.com<\/em><\/p>\n

Part 2<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

Everything was changing, once again. San Francisco’s Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin, and Quicksilver Messenger Service intoxicated the new audiences, as did the British Second Invasion bands, like the Eric Clapton spear-headed British power blues-rock trio Cream, Led Zeppelin, and Traffic, with Stevie Winwood, and progressive-rock groups like Pink Floyd, Genesis and Yes. Meanwhile, Milwaukee DJ Bob Reitman, on his free-form programs, \u201calso educated, with his \u2018Dear Doctor\u2019 segment with a local physician addressing the drug scene in Milwaukee (and its risks).”<\/p>\n

The West Coast musical tsunami rose, and hit Milwaukee with uncommon force, following the wildly successful 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival, with its breakout performances by Hendrix, Joplin, Otis Redding and Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most accomplished Milwaukee band to embrace the psychedelic style and modern jazz was The Corporation, which recorded a self-titled 1969 debut album for Capitol, with a 19-minute take on Coltrane’s “India,” riding an “East-West”-like bass vamp, trippy Blues Project-like flute, and Larry Young-influenced organ. The Milwaukee power trio Ox (see photo below) took off on Cream’s blues-jamming style, with singer-bassist Jon Paris, who followed with a national solo career, which included recording with Johnny Winter and Bob Dylan.\u00a0Another early local psychedelic band was Bloomsbury People, formed by multi-instrumentalist Sigmund Snopek III, which incorporated classical music and literary influences.<\/p>\n

The real explosion occurred at the Midwest Rock Festival at State Fair Park on July 25, 26 and 27, 1969.\u00a0The ambitious event preceded Woodstock by about one month. I attended all three days and recall birdlike fliers floating around, airily trumpeting something called \u201cThree Days of Peace, Love & Music” in Woodstock, New York. Such glowing idealism filled the air those days. The Milwaukee festival had no sprawling countryside to luxuriate in funky au naturale<\/i><\/em>\u00a0digs. No \u201cbreakfast in bed for 300,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the lineup of talent on a flatbed truck on the State Fair racetrack proved extraordinary, and perhaps unprecedented in this city. The biggest name acts didn\u2019t disappoint, including the sexy, blues-drenched Led Zeppelin (with brilliantly imaginative, and resourceful raga-like explorations by guitarist Jimmy Page), and the more exalted supergroup experiment Blind Faith, with former Cream members Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker, and singer-keyboardist Stevie Winwood from Traffic, striving for some spiritual uplift \u201cIn the Presence of the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n