“Hippiefest 2006” Starring an Array of Renowned Rock Performers of the 1960s
Bushkill, PA. — It’ll be love beads and bell bottoms on Friday, August 11 as the Mountain Laurel Center for the Performing Arts presents the star-packed “Hippiefest 2006,” spotlighting some of the greatest rock songs and performers of the 1960s. Re-live the past for one night only - the show, which begins at 7 p.m. in the Tom Ridge Pavilion, features Mitch Ryder, Rare Earth, County Joe McDonald, Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals, The Lovin’ Spoonful, Mountain with Leslie West and Corky Laing, Badfinger with Joey Molland, Melanie, Canned Heat and Denny Laine, with master of ceremonies Wavy Gravy. Pavilion seats are $35-$55, and lawn seats are just $25. Tickets are on sale now at the MLCPA Box Office or through Ticketmaster.
Bushkill, PA. — It’ll be love beads and bell bottoms on Friday, August 11 as the Mountain Laurel Center for the Performing Arts presents the star-packed “Hippiefest 2006,” spotlighting some of the greatest rock songs and performers of the 1960s. Re-live the past for one night only - the show, which begins at 7 p.m. in the Tom Ridge Pavilion, features Mitch Ryder, Rare Earth, County Joe McDonald, Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals, The Lovin’ Spoonful, Mountain with Leslie West and Corky Laing, Badfinger with Joey Molland, Melanie, Canned Heat and Denny Laine, with master of ceremonies Wavy Gravy. Pavilion seats are $35-$55, and lawn seats are just $25. Tickets are on sale now at the MLCPA Box Office or through Ticketmaster.
Mitch Ryder first fronted a band called Billy Lee & the Rivieras, which had limited success until he met producer-songwriter Bob Crewe. Crewe changed the name of the group to Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels, and they scored several smash-hit recordings in the mid-’60s, including 1966’s “Devil With a Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly.” The influence of Ryder’s gruff, wailing voice is still felt in the styles of such singers as Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seger.
Rare Earth began as an R&B band called the Sunliners in Detroit in 1961. After some years playing the club circuit, the band changed its name to Rare Earth and began recording for Motown. In fact, they were the first act on a new subsidiary record label that Motown subsequently named Rare Earth Records. Their single “Get Ready” (a cover of a Temptations song) rocketed into the Billboard Top Ten, and other mid-’60s hits included “(I Know) I’m Losing You” and “I Just Want to Celebrate.”
County Joe McDonald co-founded and led the psychedelic folk-rock band Country Joe and the Fish, one of the leading counterculture bands of the 1960s. With political lyrics set to a rock beat, the band became extremely popular in the San Francisco Bay area, followed by national stardom starting in 1966 with their signing by a major label. Three years later, Country Joe and the Fish were onstage at the Monterey Pop and Woodstock Festivals, appearing in the films of both. After the band disbanded in 1971, McDonald launched a successful solo career.
Felix Cavaliere was the organist and one of the lead singers of The Young Rascals (later known as The Rascals), who, along with the Righteous Brothers and Mitch Ryder, were the epitome of blue-eyed soul. The band launched such sizzling hits as “Good Lovin’,” “How Can I Be Sure,” “Groovin’” and “People Got to Be Free,” which blended commercial and artistic appeal into an irresistible mix. After the band broke up in 1972, Cavaliere pursued a solo career and has been instrumental in several previous Rascals reunions.
The Lovin’ Spoonful was among the first American groups to challenge the success of the British Invasion. The group scored some hugely successful hits between 1965 and 1967, including “Do You Believe in Magic?,” “Summer in the City,” “Daydream,” “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice,” “Rain on the Roof” and “Six o’Clock.” The group broke up after Sebastian left in 1968, but re-formed to release a new album, “Live from the Hotel Seville,” in 1999.
Mountain, the legendary power-blues-rock band, made its electrifying debut at the Fillmore in 1969 and went on to play at Woodstock in that same famous summer. Thirty-seven years and millions of album sales later, the band still features whiskey-voiced lead singer-guitarist Leslie West and the incomparable Corky Laing on drums.
Badfinger blazed out of Wales in 1965 as part of the British Invasion, releasing their recordings on The Beatles’ label, Apple Records. (The band’s name pays tribute to The Beatles, referencing “Bad Finger Boogie,” the original title of “With a Little Help From My Friends”). Paul McCartney wrote the group’s breakthrough song, “Come and Get It.” Other hits include “No Matter What,” “Day After Day” and “Without You.” Singer-composer-guitarist Joey Molland also performed on the recordings of George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” and John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
Melanie (real name Melanie Ann Safka) got her big break at Woodstock in 1969, and further established her hippie-chic persona with her signature hit “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)” - which was inspired by the Woodstock audience lighting candles during her performance. The recording became a worldwide hit in 1970, but her mega-hit came in 1972 with “Brand New Key” (also known as “The Roller Skate Song”). Three of her compositions also became hits for The New Seekers: “Look What They’ve Done To My Song, Ma,” “Beautiful People” and “The Nickel Song.”
Canned Heat, with its blues-rock sound biting deeply into the roots of the blues, got its start in L.A. in 1965. The band appeared at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and the 1969 Woodstock Festival (and in the movies of both festivals), and they become known to the hippie generation as “the kings of the boogie.” Their chart hits include “Goin’ Up the Country” and “Let’s Work Together.”
Denny Laine was the lead singer on The Moody Blues’ worldwide million-seller “Go Now” and one of the most recognizable voices of the British Invasion. His other hits with the band include “From the Bottom of My Heart” and “Lose Your Money.” He exited The Moody Blues in 1965, joining Ginger Baker’s Air Force and later becoming the solid core, on guitar, bass and vocals, of Paul McCartney’s Wings. He was with Wings through all its successes of the 1970s, helping McCartney write “Mull of Kintyre” and becoming a favorite of a whole new generation of rock fans.
Wavy Gravy (real name Hugh Romney) is known worldwide as the “clown prince of the counterculture,” and his hippie appearance and lifestyle haven’t altered much from the ’60s. He established his Hog Farm Collective — one of the first large hippie communes — in northern California in the mid-1960s. Romney was put in charge of the “Please Force” — the notoriously kind and peace-loving security patrol — at the Woodstock Festival in 1969. Shortly after that, he helped gently keep the peace at the Texas Pop Festival, where, according to legend, B.B. King christened him Wavy Gravy. The Hog Farm Collective still exists today and is involved in many charity ventures (some supported by royalties from sales of Ben & Jerry’s Wavy Gravy ice cream). Wavy Gravy continues to be recognized by fans everywhere as the avatar of hippiedom’s peace, love and joy.
The Mountain Laurel Center is a state-of-the-art nonprofit performing arts venue located in the beautiful Pocono Mountains and is home of the Tom Ridge Pavilion with 2,500 covered seats and room under the stars for up to 6,000 more on its comfortable lawn. The volunteer Board of Directors and CEO Richard T. Bryant are dedicated to serving the region by providing world class artists and entertainers through an ongoing series of performances and educational programming. For tickets or additional information about the Mountain Laurel Center, please call 570-426-2080 or visit www.mountainlaurelcenter.com.
