>It's been a while since I've seen the "Message To Love" concert film,
>now I'm eager to see it again.
>Any other reflections you have would be most welcome.
>RR
Randy,
I've never seen Murray Lerner's 1995 film "Message to Love", so I'm eager to
see it too. I've only just started surfing the net to find out what info. is
out there re. the Isle of Wight Festivals. Until now, I've only had my
personal memories to go on. The best site I've discovered so far is the
IOWRock site. This, in turn, led me to discover that Isle of Wight resident,
rock historian and Joni Mitchell biographer, Brian Hinton has published a
couple of histories of the Isle of Wight festivals: "Nights in Wight Satin -
An illustrated History of the Isle of Wight Festivals" and "Message to
Love", the companion book to the film. Right now, I'm overseas, but
eventually I'm going to buy these books, as well as the video. Whether
they're any good or not, I cannot say, but I see at amazon that his
biography of Joni gets terrible reviews, one reviewer even describing it as
"a complete disaster", so, if they're anything like as bad, I'm probably
going to be disappointed.
This account of Saturday, August 29, 1970, the day Joni played, from someone
I've been communicating with on a messageboard, gives some indication of the
mood of the "angry mob" on the hill. It sounds pretty much in tune with the
impression I got of the mood of the crowd inside the arena: "I was a fresh
faced 12 year old lad when my mum and dad decided to take me and my sister
to see 'those strange hippies' over at Freshwater. It was a hot summer's
afternoon as we carefully picked our way over the writhing sea of humanity
that had spread for miles over the downs above the arena. I had gone on some
way ahead of the others so decided to wait while they caught up with me.
Eventually my mum arrived, hot, bothered and more than a little flustered.
She told me that whatever I did, I must NOT look down. Naturally, I
immediately looked down and was greeted by the sight of a naked
couple -----ing away like a couple of steam hammers to the strains of Tiny
Tim's 'Tiptoe Through the Tulips'! Now, there were no tulips and that couple
were certainly not tiptoeing but every time I hear that song, (which, thank
God, isn't often), I recall that incident and remember the day that I learnt
about 'flower power'!"
I, personally, spent my 17th and 18th birthdays at the 1969 and 1970 Isle
of Wight festivals, and they were two of the most wonderful birthdays in my
life. In 1970, we pitched our tent in a surprisingly empty spot just outside
the arena. When we woke up in the morning, we found out why it was empty: it
was in the middle of the Hell's Angels' encampment! But even the Angels were
no trouble at that festival: they just seemed to spend all of their time
throwing each other in the cess pit, the presence of which was probably
another reason why that place was empty!. But, I could only smell roses that
weekend, or was it tulips?
Randy, I could write pages more about those festivals, but I think, in
future I'd better do it off-list, as I fear that fellow-listees may be
beginning to think that I have hi-jacked the Joni list and started turning
it into the Isle of Wight Festival list! Sorry, everybody.
Ian
