Saturday, July 22, was a beautiful day to spend sitting on the ground listening to live music, browsing arts and crafts booths, or playing frisbee with the kids; and the Homefront benefit concert was a perfect place to do so.
Along the tree-lined edge of a huge sloping green lawn on one side of the drive were booths featuring Griley Pottery, tie-dyed clothing and jewelry by El Manash, hand-painted clothing by Umar Aki Williams, and the talented face painting of Gerry Ferguson.
The other side of the drive provided a nice mostly-shaded hillside which was just right for relaxing upon while facing the stage where the entertainment was. And what entertainment!
The show opened with the Homefront Living Room Orchestra performing "Drugstore Truck-driving Man." Then Ed Jackson took control of the stage and ran through a repertoire of John Sebastian and The Lovin' Spoonful, including "Darlin', Be Home Soon" and "Wild About My Lovin'" before playing The Byrds' version of "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "I Come and Stand At Every Door." He concluded with "Naked, If I Want To," one of my Moby Grape favorites.
Bill Ede utilized his time to showcase the works of P. F. Sloan, including "Sins Of the Family," "Let Me Be," "New Design" and "Eve of Destruction," which was a big hit for Barry McGuire.
I have to admit right here that (as is normal for me at a Homefront function) I was running "hither, thither and yon" and only got a chance to really pay attention to the music in snatches.
Turley Richards gave his usual stellar performance, even after breaking a string and popping a guitar peg, and the Jim Masterson Band played a really nice set of Santana, excelling on Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va."
Jack Twombley (making one of his rare public appearances) was joined by Danny Boone (who also played with Jim Masterson) for a half-acoustic, half-electric set.
Acoustically, the duo performed Steven Still's "Love the One You're With" and "That's the Way" by Led Zeppelin.
Picking up his Telecaster, Twombly rocked the airwaves with Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away," the Blue Cheer version of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues," as well as his (Cochran's) "Somethin' Else," along with Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower," featuring Boone aka Ramone (the other half of the Hardly Able Blues Band).
Susanne Wood dazzled the crowd with her Janis Joplin songs, as well as her own and Canadian songwriter Ferron's tunes.
Tom Browning performed an exemplary set of his own material, displaying the excellence of his guitar technique, before joining McHenry, Miller and Young for a rock 'n' roll finale featuring tunes by The Grateful Dead, Hendrix and others.
Many people came dressed in era clothing and everyone had a good time whether dancing, playing, selling their wares, working their derrieres off, or just grooving on the atmosphere.
Special thanks to: Marvin Maxwell of Mom's Musicians General Store for the donation of stage equipment, Jim Welch for the donation of stages, Ken Pyle of the Rudyard Kipling and Mark Smalley of Uncle Pleasant's for their assistance and support, Bojangles for the chicken, Jim Griley, Wayne and Docrates for their help in publicizing the event, Churchill Downs for the loan of the pennants, and the volunteers for their time and energy.
If I forgot anyone, I sincerely apologize because without you it would not have been possible to pull Woodstock Revisited off.