🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <4oqcu3$nvc@nadine.teleport.com>, opel@teleport.com (Craig Ford) writes:
|> My friend and I are avid fans of the Northwest music scene of the sixties, and
|> have a great interest in learning more about the bands that existed back then,
|> ie. The New Tweedy Brothers, The Great Pumpkin, etc. Any information on any of 
|> these groups, singles or otherwise, no matter how obscure, would be greatly 
|> appreciated. 
|> We would also like more info on the Vortex, a music celebration that Gov. 
|> McCall orchestrated back in 1970. We know a little about it, but can find no 
|> listings of bands who played the event, or existing footage, audio or 
|> otherwise. Anybody who was there or has any info, please email me. I would 
|> love to hear from you.
|> Thanks.

I could be way off base on this (I was just a kid at the time), but I think 
the Vortex concert took place at McGiver State Park (near Estacada).  Jefferson
Airplane was one of the headline acts, and I remember hearing something about 
them playing from a large raft or platform anchored out in the river.  Then
again, the person I heard that from (who claimed to be there) could have been
stoned.  If I remember, Tom McCall sponsored the Vortex concert to abate a possible 
protest of an American Legion convention that was to occur in Portland on the 
same weekend.  It was a big deal at the time.  Ah, back when tax dollars paid 
for something useful...

Then again, I could be confusing Vortex with Bullfrog I or Bullfrog II.

I lived in Astoria, so my info on the Vortex concert is heresay (I was a little
on the young side to attend but old enough to be interested in the controversy
and TV reports).  I do, however, 
remember the Pypo club in Seaside, which was a magnet for the Portland bands 
in the '60s.  Paul Revere and the Raiders were frequent guests, being originally 
a bunch of Hillsboro farm boys who put together a band and played the local
clubs before landing the "Where the Action Is" gig.  And then there were the
Seaside riots, whose catalyst were a visit by the Hell's Angels.  My parents
wouldn't visit Seaside for at least six months after that.

Hmmmmmm.  My time watching the local bands was more in the mid-70s to late-70s.
Some of the bands that come to mind are Disraeli Gears (late 60's/early 70s),
BlackHawk County (song: "Oregon, I Can't Go Home"), and Wheatfield (a regional 
staple for 10+ years).  From a little later on, there was FireEye and, of 
course, Seafood Mama (who became QuarterFlash).  Late-70's local hot-spots
were the Earth Tavern, Foghorn/Wreck of the Hesperus, Pigeon-Toed Orange Peel,
and some big warehouse on the east side I can't remember the name of right
now.
 

-- 
Walt Tucker