FESTIVAL FOR PEACE - FIFTY YEARS AGO TODAY

On the 25th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing there was one of the first charity festivals in the Shea Stadium, Queens, N.Y. on August 6, 1970.

They said it was not a success, in spite of performers Janis Joplin,Paul Simon, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Steppenwolf, The James Gang, Miles Davis, Johnny Winter, Herbie Hancock, Dionne Warwick, John Sebastian, The Rascals, the cast of "Hair," Pacific Gas & Electric, Ten Wheel Drive. They said we were only 15.000 anyway.

See it with your own eyes. I felt lucky to be there. They say there are not to many photos available about this concert, so I add some of mine. You may even spot the other, professional photographer on some of them.

It was a peaceful and friendly occasion from the morning to the night. At a certain point people in the crowd started to throw frisbees to each other, and some of them inevitably ended up on the pitch. So we started to ask the cops to go and fetch them, but they were unwilling for quite a time.  Then the crowd became louder and louder, clapping with a bit of a boo. So after awhile a policeman left his group and started to walk casually towards a frisbee on the ground. Loud cheers. He walked there slowly, bent down, and threw it back. The crowd went crazy - and soon frisbees were thrown to the cops on purposely, and they threw them back to us.

This was a peace concert, and the US was still at war in Vietnam. Look at the arrangement of the upper circle seats. I am sorry I can not share the music with you - but most of them are available on the net. Listen to some of them and remember those days 75 and 50 years ago.

Peace to all of you!