(4/5/2012) - Bill Wyman
In June of 1967, I was living with Gene Van Scoy and an MPC friend in an apartment in New Monterey. None of us had tickets to the Pop Festival. I found out that Tom Gifford had a ticket for Friday night. There were five of us who wanted to go to the concert and we thought we would try to get all of us in on one ticket. This idea was fueled by alcohol.
Anyway, it was Tom, Greg Dorman, myself and a couple of friends. Tom went through the main entrance. The rest of us gathered about 100 fee away next to the wire fence. Tom walked over and passed the ticket through to the next person. This was repeated 5 times and we all get into the fairgrounds.
We then walked over to the horse arena where we were met by a wooden fence that was about 8 feet high. Here Tom went through again and when he got on the other side he put the ticket on a rock and wrapped it in paper and threw it over the fence. He picked a spot that was a little ways away from the front entrance. This was repeated until we all got in.
Now we faced our biggest problem. We had to get past the usher that checked all tickets. We decided that when we got to him, Tom would give him the ticket and the rest of us would run left and right. Greg and I went right and fortunately security had run left. We ran and turned right and ran to the top of the bleacher seats. The two guys that ran left were caught and escorted out.
Greg and I got to see all of Friday night's activities. When it was over, we met back at Tom's Hearst and drove around the fair grounds. We met a group of young ladies who followed us back to my apartment and we had a little party; which we continued on Saturday and Sunday night.
All this time, Gene Van Scoy stayed at the festival and camped out at the MPC football field. Each night he and hundreds of others were entertained by impromptu performances by the headliners. I don't think he got much sleep.
Anyway, late Sunday night Tom talked me into going with him to pick up his congas and banjo drums and take them out to the fair grounds. So we got into the hearse, went to his house, got the drums and headed to the fair grounds. We were also, at this time, "under the influence".
We got to the fairgrounds and the side entrance was open. We hauled the drums in and set up camp and began pounding away. Tom is a fabulous drummer and so I just followed his lead. We could hear the music coming from the Horse Arena as the festival was winding down. Tom and I were having a ball. He was standing and playing his congas while I sat and did my thing on the bongos.
Finally the Pop Festival ended and people were exiting the arena and many came our way as they exited the fairgrounds. As they got to us they began to surround us and began dancing and gyrating. It became a large group and Tom and I kept pounding in an inspired way. We were having a lot of fun.
Eventually, a couple of sheriff deputies made their way through the crowd and very politely asked us if we could stop so that everyone could exit the fairgrounds. Many in the crowd yelled insults at the deputies but Tom and I decided it would be best to pack it up and avoid trouble.
So in a funny way, I would say that Tom and I were the closing act of the festival.
Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Many blessings and lots of love to us all.
-Bill Wyman
