Professor Digs Up Live Music History At San Diego State

I am Maureen Cavanaugh with KPBS Midday Edition. Which venue and San Diego has posted the most big-name music acts over the years? Is it pargo Park West sleep train amphitheater? The old sports arena? Or maybe the Casbah, if you ask my next guest, the music venue that has drawn the biggest acts to San Diego from last 50 years or so has been San Diego State University. Here's a sample of what has played the campus. ________________________________________ [ Music ] ________________________________________ Bob Marley, romance, Grateful Dead, Donna, The Black Keys, the history of live popular music at San Diego State will be discussed tomorrow on campus by SDSU unofficial campus historian, Seth Mallios. Seth is a professor of anthropology and welcome back to the show. ________________________________________ Thank you. ________________________________________ What got you interested in digging into the history of live music at San Diego State? ________________________________________ When we are finishing up the last book on the history of San Diego State, it was so hard to can find the music chapter. I found myself wanting to put more and more in and it would have completely throw the book for a loop as I said that we need to do a new project just on live music and what I did not know is that it would grow into being a five volume set and it is enormous and we have separated it by the decades because each decade has such a specific signature and more importantly, everyone is so loyal to their decade. ________________________________________ Can you give us an idea of some of the most memorable performances at SDSU? ________________________________________ It is spectacular. In the 60s alone, you have this string of Ella Fitzgerald, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Harry Belafonte, Sammy Davis Junior and the Grateful Dead adjusted not period alone you have this Who's Who list of not only music but of social activism on everything that is going on in the 60s. ________________________________________ I was really surprised to learn that back in 1969, a young Roger Hedgecock, before he was mayor, before he was talk show host, put together a Woodstock like event at SDSU. Tell us a little bit about that. ________________________________________ This is a fantastic story, not only because of the success of the show but because it was three months before Woodstock. We did was start before Woodstock did Woodstock this was a show -- at the Aztec bowl and it was a carnival. There were all sorts of booths, there were crafts, and you had different groups that you never would think would be side-by-side, you had a Black Panther booth next to the macramé booth and then you had a musical lineup featuring some of the biggest up and comers and the biggest names, canned heat was the headliner of the Grateful Dead stole the show and also Santana played San Diego for the first time as part of this festival. It was Mother's Day of 1969, a brilliant, sunny day, thousands of people showed up and there is even video of it online if you search for the Grateful Dead in 1969. ________________________________________ A curious choice for security. ________________________________________ Yeah. Roger Hedgecock that offered the local chapter of the Hells Angels a case of Jack Daniels to secure their abilities and keeping everyone in line. ________________________________________ We are not surprised. ________________________________________ [ Laughter ] spark there are also some festivals that did not go so well like the lollapalooza in 1994. ________________________________________ Yes. This, again, was a spectacular concert in terms of the diversity of the lineup but at the same time, you have all sorts of logistical issues and the thing that befell lollapalooza, a bunch of little problems -- what is the show started before the crowd was let in them one of the main acts told the crowd that if they got hit with anything, they would leave and I believe at the start of the fourth son, one of the band members got hit with the issue and they just walked off stage and this is where George Clinton and they saved the day because the promoters came to him and said, we have no one on stage, would you mind taking the show early? And George Clinton and all of his spectacles that, not a problem at all. He played an extra box set, got them back on track and performed an amazing show. ________________________________________ Y, Seth, why did SDSU attract so many very musical artists and big bands? ________________________________________ Such a great question and this gets at the real heart of what we are looking at and we have had this pulling together this inventory surprising people with all of these up and comers but the question of -- there is a combination of answers to it. One is that we have so many different kinds of venues at San Diego State from small club venues like the backdoor, medium-sized venues, and even bigger at the only team and then huge venues with what was once the Cox Arena but you also need to take into account proximity to Los Angeles, this is the perfect spot for up and comers to hone their craft and it is also a perfect locality for starting or ending in North America tour, the South is one of the United States ends upping this anchor for many tourists. I do not want to overlook some of the special people. People like Lou Curtis, who was the father of folk music in San Diego, single-handedly -- although he had help from others -- was so passionate about an annual folk Festival, the largest of its kind west of the Mississippi, would get dozens of performance out of here every single year and so it is a combination of all of those things. I do not know exactly why San Diego State became what I like to say is brought to you but it did put all of those things came together. ________________________________________ You mentioned the backdoor is one of the smaller venues, the backdoor which no longer exists. You had Patty Smith there government, Tom waits, just to mention a few, tell us about the venue. ________________________________________ It is funny, when I talked to alumni, I always get a little jealous of folks who are San Diego State in the late 70s who got to see shows at the backdoor which had no furniture, 300 people could be let in, sometimes people abroad beanbags and sometimes they just stood and you would have bands that would be trying to make their name, would be playing for $100, $200, would be coming through town, and not only with the have incredibly close proximity to the audience but it was their time to be experimental with their music and the list of acts is just amazing and I believe over 800 acts played at the backdoor, sometimes twice a night, sometimes four and two days and this is where you would get to see the identity of these are desperate one of my favorite shows is Patty Smith in 1977 so the godmother of punk comes and she is an individual who is redefining gender and identity so she plays her first set and comes out in a sweater, reads poetry, sing softly, comes back for her second set an hour and a half later, born of clothing, starts screaming into the microphone, throwing things into the crowd, spitting at the crowd, and it is the same performer but she showing that duality and identity that she can be whatever she wants and this was -- not only stunned the audience but this set the tone for the punk rock movement. ________________________________________ So what kind of an impact would you say that this diversity of musical talent had an the school? I mean the culture of SDSU -- ________________________________________ A great question of one of the things that is worth noting is all of the African American pioneer entertainers that came to state in the 60s was that it Carmen Sandiego was very segregated and the time when there were only a few dozen black students at San Diego State and my favorite anecdote from the 60s concerns of the Ella Fitzgerald show, the Queen of jazz, the biggest name to come to campus, she comes in 1961, and is part of the writer of her contract she specifies that if she sees any segregation at all in the audience, in the bathrooms, in the food, you name it, she will walk -- it will not performance you will keep her $2500 deposit which was a huge sum at the time and this is where the string of African performers just sets the tone for mainstream acceptance of black America. ________________________________________ When is this five volume book of year is going to come out. ________________________________________ It is coming out in the fall. I say very nervously -- no. We have a few events scheduled for the fall that will happen at about the same time and we are going to be unveiling the saved rock 'n roll mural from the backdoor and this five volume set will come out and then our annual award for the school, the Monte, will have a rock 'n roll theme and that will also be the fall. ________________________________________ I want to let people know that rock at state, a lecture -- it is called rocket stick, a history of live popular music at SDSU from 1931 until now is tomorrow afternoon at the Aztec Student Union at SDSU and presenting the lecture will be my Guest Professor Seth Mallios. Thank you so much. ________________________________________ You are very welcome.