Chet Helms to be memorialized at concert
Jeff Burkhart
Marin Independant Journal
Joli Valenti describes the late Chet Helms as "like an uncle to me. He didn't teach me to be a gentleman, he taught me how to be a gentle man."
Helms, a pioneering rock impresario, died of a stroke in June at 62. Sunday, Valenti - son of legendary Quicksilver Messenger Service frontman Dino Valenti - and his band Quicksilver Gold will join 20 other rock bands and rock personalities in a free memorial concert/event in Helms' honor at Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park.
Joli Valenti's tribute to Quicksilver also features former Huey Lewis bassist Mario Cipollina (brother of the late John Cipollina, Quicksilver's original guitarist) and former Steve Miller guitarist Greg Douglas.
"We are going to do Quicksilver [songs] and we're also going to do my dad's song 'Get Together' (which was a hit for the Youngbloods)," Valenti says.
The Summer of Love-type show is billed as "A Chet Helms Tribal Stomp" and reads like a who's who of the 1960s hippie movement. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. the show will feature acts such as Country Joe McDonald, Wavy Gravy, the Charlatans, Canned Heat and a reunited Blue Cheer.
Helms is considered one of the founding fathers of the psychedelic movement. From 1962 to 1970 as a promoter for his "Family Dog Productions," Helms developed the concept of the modern rock festival, booking large shows at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco, Family Dog at the Beach (at Ocean Beach) and shows in Golden Gate Park.
Those performances featured psychedelic posters, light shows and music played at sensory overload volume. Much of this was reputed to be inspired by the drug LSD, earning the music the nickname acid or psychedelic rock.
Mill Valley publisher Tom Burke remembers hanging Family Dog posters as a teenager.
"Those first couple of years were really a different thing," he says. "Nobody knew what they were doing ... they just knew they were doing something very cool."
In the late 1990s, Burke's company, Pomegranate, would publish many of the same legendary psychedelic posters that he hung as a kid.
"Chet created an environment where creativity was cool," says Boots Hughston of the original and current Family Dog.
Burke believes that one-time "Dog" partner Bill Graham had a hand in the Family Dog's original decline. "Graham was more of a business man," Burke says. "He had a killer instinct. É When he turned [concert booking] into a competitive environment, the Dog just couldn't really handle it."
After taking almost a decade off, Helms returned to booking shows in 1976. In 1980, he opened Atelier Dore, an art gallery in San Francisco, and focused more on his own photography.
Helms is famous for bringing Janis Joplin together with Big Brother and the Holding Company and aiding in the formations and popularity of bands such as the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane. He was considered integral in the shaping of the "San Francisco sound."
His shows spawned the 1967 Summer of Love, an event that established the careers of San Francisco-based bands that went on to national stardom.
A tireless promoter and peace activist, Helms booked many bands from beyond the San Francisco scene, mixing local talent with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, Peter Tosh and the Clash.
"We are all here only for a hot minute," says producer/artist Narada Michael Walden, who will be closing Sunday's show. "Chet's love is still with us very strong; the thing he told me is one love, one breath, one life. The body goes on but the spirit is still here."
"God sent an angel here by accident," Valenti adds.
Proceeds from the show via the sales from T-shirts, CDs or DVDs will benefit the Helms family.
What: "A Chet Helms Tribal Stomp"
Who: Quicksilver Gold, Paul Kantner and the Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestra, Eric Burdon, Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks, Country Joe McDonald, Wavy Gravy, the Charlatans, Canned Heat, Blue Cheer, Jorge Santana, Greg Errico, Roy Rogers, Ramblin' Jack Elliott and other rock personalities.
Where: Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park
When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday
Information: www.2b1records.com/chetmemorial/
Jeff Burkhart
Marin Independant Journal
Joli Valenti describes the late Chet Helms as "like an uncle to me. He didn't teach me to be a gentleman, he taught me how to be a gentle man."
Helms, a pioneering rock impresario, died of a stroke in June at 62. Sunday, Valenti - son of legendary Quicksilver Messenger Service frontman Dino Valenti - and his band Quicksilver Gold will join 20 other rock bands and rock personalities in a free memorial concert/event in Helms' honor at Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park.
Joli Valenti's tribute to Quicksilver also features former Huey Lewis bassist Mario Cipollina (brother of the late John Cipollina, Quicksilver's original guitarist) and former Steve Miller guitarist Greg Douglas.
"We are going to do Quicksilver [songs] and we're also going to do my dad's song 'Get Together' (which was a hit for the Youngbloods)," Valenti says.
The Summer of Love-type show is billed as "A Chet Helms Tribal Stomp" and reads like a who's who of the 1960s hippie movement. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. the show will feature acts such as Country Joe McDonald, Wavy Gravy, the Charlatans, Canned Heat and a reunited Blue Cheer.
Helms is considered one of the founding fathers of the psychedelic movement. From 1962 to 1970 as a promoter for his "Family Dog Productions," Helms developed the concept of the modern rock festival, booking large shows at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco, Family Dog at the Beach (at Ocean Beach) and shows in Golden Gate Park.
Those performances featured psychedelic posters, light shows and music played at sensory overload volume. Much of this was reputed to be inspired by the drug LSD, earning the music the nickname acid or psychedelic rock.
Mill Valley publisher Tom Burke remembers hanging Family Dog posters as a teenager.
"Those first couple of years were really a different thing," he says. "Nobody knew what they were doing ... they just knew they were doing something very cool."
In the late 1990s, Burke's company, Pomegranate, would publish many of the same legendary psychedelic posters that he hung as a kid.
"Chet created an environment where creativity was cool," says Boots Hughston of the original and current Family Dog.
Burke believes that one-time "Dog" partner Bill Graham had a hand in the Family Dog's original decline. "Graham was more of a business man," Burke says. "He had a killer instinct. É When he turned [concert booking] into a competitive environment, the Dog just couldn't really handle it."
After taking almost a decade off, Helms returned to booking shows in 1976. In 1980, he opened Atelier Dore, an art gallery in San Francisco, and focused more on his own photography.
Helms is famous for bringing Janis Joplin together with Big Brother and the Holding Company and aiding in the formations and popularity of bands such as the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane. He was considered integral in the shaping of the "San Francisco sound."
His shows spawned the 1967 Summer of Love, an event that established the careers of San Francisco-based bands that went on to national stardom.
A tireless promoter and peace activist, Helms booked many bands from beyond the San Francisco scene, mixing local talent with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, Peter Tosh and the Clash.
"We are all here only for a hot minute," says producer/artist Narada Michael Walden, who will be closing Sunday's show. "Chet's love is still with us very strong; the thing he told me is one love, one breath, one life. The body goes on but the spirit is still here."
"God sent an angel here by accident," Valenti adds.
Proceeds from the show via the sales from T-shirts, CDs or DVDs will benefit the Helms family.
What: "A Chet Helms Tribal Stomp"
Who: Quicksilver Gold, Paul Kantner and the Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestra, Eric Burdon, Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks, Country Joe McDonald, Wavy Gravy, the Charlatans, Canned Heat, Blue Cheer, Jorge Santana, Greg Errico, Roy Rogers, Ramblin' Jack Elliott and other rock personalities.
Where: Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park
When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday
Information: www.2b1records.com/chetmemorial/
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