Discovery, Inc.

Booking agencies have always navigated the often tricky waters of coordinating artists with promoters and venues. In Atlanta's late 1960s and early 70s, there were several operations handling such business. Discovery, Inc., founded by Steve Cole in 1968, within a few years became the busiest and largest of the local agencies, at least in the rock-and-roll marketplace. Cole was part of the Atlanta music scene from which emerged the Southern Rock genre. He played a key role in mobilizing the legendary Piedmont Park free concerts (which propelled the Allman Brothers Band), and supplied clubs, colleges, and other settings throughout the Southeast with talent as required. Big name national tours, when in the region, often turned to the local talent pool for opening acts. Discovery provided.

Steve Cole (left) and promoter Alex Cooley at Piedmont Park, Atlanta GA,
photo by Carter Tomassi

From the outset, Discovery marketed the agency's presence, profile, and mission. They also promoted their bands' appearances, bolstering any advertising that club and concert promoters might provide. By 1974, Discovery handled about 20 acts. The Hampton Grease Band was with them from the beginning and, in 1970, landed a recording contract with CBS/Columbia. Discovery represented Lynyrd Skynyrd early in the band's career, also Mose Jones (formerly Stonehenge). In 1972, those two bands became label-mates for Al Kooper's Sound of the South, the first acts Kooper signed. Hydra likely logged the most road miles of any band in Atlanta back in the day, and signed with Phil Walden's Capricorn Records by early 1973. A point could be reached when range and volume of requests for a band outgrew the size of the agency. As happened with those mentioned, the time came when an agency with larger reach and capability was required. It was a good problem to have, and reflected success for both artists and agency.

Discovery, Inc., 1973 roster sample,
(click to enlarge)

In 1974, Discovery, Inc., merged with Holliday Group, another agency in the city. They retained the Discovery name and secured their standing as largest agency in Atlanta. Search results past the merger return very little information. A posting at thestripproject.com indicates that Steve Cole has since passed. Longtime Atlanta musician Darryl Rhoades wrote that Cole "understood the possibilities of the music scene way before other promoters actually acted on it. He predicted that one day bands would be playing huge venues to packed audiences." Atlanta's musical past owes much to Steve Cole.

Steve Cole, Discovery, Inc.,
photo from Billboard, May 24, 1974

Acts represented by Discovery between 1968 and 1974 include: Albatross, The American Cheese, Applejack, Armon, Atlanta Vibrations [later, Vibration], Avenue of Happiness, Axis, The Bag, Booger Band [later, just Booger], Brick Wall, Brother Bait, Buster Brown, Caliban, The Celestial Voluptuous Banana, Choice, Clear, The Coconut Confetti, The Daze After, Dear John, Dogwood, East Side Blues Band, The Electric Collage Light Show, Fifth Order, Flint, Foxes, Gingerbread, Glass Menagerie, Hampton Grease Band, Heat, Hydra, Interprize, Kudzu, Leviathan, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Micropolis, Milkweed, The Mud Child, The New Explanation, The Night Shadows featuring Little Phil, Orpheum Circuit, Pale Paradox, Papa Doc, The Peppermint Confederacy, Perpetual Motion [later, The Motion], Protrudamus, Radar, Resurrection, Rude-Frye, Russian Butt Broil, St George and the Dragonlite Show, Scald Cats, Smokestack Lightnin', The Soul-Jers, Soul Support, The Spontaneous Generation, Stillbrooke, Stonehenge [later, Mose Jones], Stump Brothers, Sweet Fire, Sweet Younguns [later, just Younguns], Traktor, Warm, and West End.

I promise I did not make up any of these names.

Sources:

"Bookers See Southern Bands Still to Be Recorded, Allman Brothers Success a Continuing Momentum," Billboard, May 24, 1974
"Inside Track," Billboard, October 26, 1974
The Great Speckled Bird, advertisements, 1968-1974

The Hampton Grease Band

While compiling information for these early 70s Atlanta venues and events, a common link recurred throughout: The Hampton Grease Band. Formed in 1967, they were on the Atlanta scene before the Allman Brothers, before Lynyrd Skynyrd, before the pop festivals, before record companies came sniffing around for "Southern Rock." Various incarnations of the Hampton Grease Band [HGB] morphed over time, but its central figure remained the "Colonel," Bruce Hampton.

The Hampton Grease Band
Bruce Hampton, Glenn Phillips, Jerry Fields, Mike Holbrook, Harold Kelling

Founding member, guitarist/composer Glenn Phillips documented the eclectic history of HGB online. It's a great read. You can't make this stuff up. The band's stage performances were unpredictable, at times chaotic, always artistic (albeit Dada and surreal), ultimately entertaining, and they cultivated a dedicated following in Atlanta and beyond. Live performances were the keystone of their fanbase.

According to Phillips:

The stage was frequently filled with friends doing anything from watching TV, doing a duet with the guitar on a chain saw, or sitting at a table eating cereal. Hampton, who at one point sported a crew cut with an H shaved in the back of his head, would tape himself to the microphone stand while talking to the audience about the supposed Portuguese invasion of the U.S. through Canada. At an outdoor show, Bruce slept through our set under a truck, while at another show, he turned around in the middle of a song, jumped in the air, and kicked Mike [Holbrook, bassist] in the chest. Mike flew back into his amp, which he knocked over and short-circuited. Holbrook recalls another time when "we got the idea that we wanted to put mayonnaise all over our friend Eric Hubbler. We got a gallon of mayonnaise and Hubbler came out and sat down in a chair while the band was playing. I stuck my hand down in it and glopped it all over his head."

The Hampton Grease Band adapted to any venue, from the tiny room of the 12th Gate to fields full of hundreds of thousands at the Atlanta International Pop Festivals. They were already playing free concerts in Piedmont Park on Sundays before the Allman Brothers Band started doing the same in May 1969. Columbia Records got wind of HGB's unique act and contacted Capricorn Records chief Phil Walden to try to track them down. Long story short, Walden brokered a record deal for HGB with Columbia (CBS). Music To Eat, a double LP, was released in 1971. It notably became Columbia's 2nd worst-selling record ever. (The very worst was a yoga instructional record. Unsurprisingly, Music To Eat is now a collectors item.)

Decades later, Julian Cope's headheritage.com declares:

[W]hile the temptation is there to view the Hampton Grease Band as a possible answer to the trivia question "what is the silliest hippy-shit record ever released on a major record label?" in truth it's actually damn near a masterpiece that almost exists outside of history.

Despite their calamitous vinyl debut, HGB maintained a fiercely loyal fanbase, one of whom, Duane Allman, recommended to his friend Bill Graham that he book HGB for the Fillmore in NYC. Graham did exactly that. He perfectly paired the band with Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention the weekend of June 5-6, 1971. HGB performed brilliantly, and Fillmore East manager Kip Cohen sang the band's praises to then-CBS head Clive Davis:

Dear Clive:
As you know, this is the first time I've ever written a letter like this one to you--but even though John Lennon and Yoko Ono guested on our stage last night, my memories of the past weekend will reside exclusively with the Hampton Grease Band.
Aside from their totally delightful, unique brand of humor, and the obvious fact of their being good people, there is a musical intelligence within that band that truly excites me.
I can only hope that they enjoy the total success they deserve. They were one of the most pleasant surprises we have had on our stage in many, many months.

That was likely the high point for the Hampton Grease Band. Unfortunately, the label relationship did not survive, nor did the band. For whatever reason, CBS/Columbia dropped them. Frank Zappa's Bizarre/Straight label stepped in and signed them, but the band crumbled before a record could be completed. It all fell apart in 1973 when Bruce Hampton left for California to audition for a spot in Zappa's band. The audition was unsuccessful, and the rest of the band had gone their separate ways by his return. Years following, various configurations would resurface. Glenn Phillips tells this story best, and I'll refer you back to his site for the rest of the story.

The Grateful Dead at the Sports Arena

Follow-up to December 23, 2014 post:
Here are two promo ads for the Grateful Dead's May 10, 1970 concert at Atlanta's Sports Arena. The Hampton Grease Band opened. As mentioned previously, the Allman Brothers were not on the bill, but lent their equipment to The Dead and joined in for an epic jam that still echoes.

The Great Speckled Bird
Volume 3, Number 18
May 4, 1970

The Great Speckled Bird
Volume 3, Number 19
May 11, 1970

The Sports Arena

• 310 Chester Avenue SE, Atlanta GA
  "Only 8,020 Feet East of State Capitol on Memorial Drive"
• Owners: L.C. "Pop" Warren created the venue in the 1930s; sold to Clyde Darby during WWII; in 1965 bought by wrestling promoter Paul Jones
• Capacity: 3600 

The Sports Arena was designed to host wrestling and boxing matches. It was also home to AAU "semipro" women's basketball team The Atlanta Blues. Musical events were interspersed, wherein the wrestling ring was adapted for performances. Early on, square dances were held several times a week, the main moneymaker of the time. Musical prodigy Brenda Lee performed there when she was just 9 years old. Elvis Presley played the Arena at age 20 on December 2, 1955, as his popularity was beginning to surge. Sports events at the venue were phasing out by the mid-1970s. In the mid-1980s the building was demolished. 

Photo by Steve Deal, staff photographer,
Atlanta Journal, October 28, 1983

"The Arena is a ramshackle building [without air-conditioning] long used for local wrestling, boxing, country music, and square dances. Inside, the atmosphere is one of wood and honest corruption, not steel, concrete, and hydraulic hype. Outside, the feeling is, well, like the industrial part of town, you know, warehouses, steel mesh fences, truck loading docks, cotton mill buildings, and even some plain red dirt road dear to the heart of a country boy."
--The Great Speckled Bird, Vol. 3, No. 5, February 2, 1970, article by Cliff Endres

1970

• Fleetwood Mac, Hampton Grease Band, Radar, River People - January 25
• The Kinks, Osmosis, Booger Band, Brick Wall (Kinks cancelled day before; replaced with Pacific Gas & Electric) - February 22
• Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, The Glass Menagerie - March 8
• Spirit, River People, Ruffin - March 22 (Spirit cancelled less than 24 hrs before show; Hampton Grease Band and What Brothers added)
• John Mayall, Hampton Grease Band, Chakra - April 5
• Johnny Winter, Radar, Georgia Power Kompany - April 12
• Canned Heat, The House - April 19 
• "Rock and Roll Marathon" - Hampton Grease Band, Radar, Stump Brothers, Axis, Perpetual Motion, Brick Wall, Georgia Power Kompany, What Brothers, Ruffin - April 26 (9 hour benefit for The Midtown Alliance and Community Center)
• Grateful Dead, Hampton Grease Band - May 10 (members of the Allman Brothers Band joined Grateful Dead for an extensive jam; The Dead had borrowed the ABB's equipment as theirs was stuck in Boston)

1971

• Captain Beefheart, Ry Cooder, Booger Band - February 4
• Quicksilver Messenger Service, Brewer & Shipley - March 21
• Spirit, Trapeze, Radar - April 18
• John Mayall, Stonehenge, Randals Island - May 9
• Goose Creek Symphony, Chakra - May 23
• Steve Miller Band - June 10
• Buddy Miles and the Buddy Miles Express, Sugarloaf, Florida's Fabulous Tropics - June 20
• BB King, East Side Blues Band - June 27
• Chuck Berry, Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes, Sunday Funnies - October 17
• Fanny, Hydra, Orpheum Circuit, Phat Max - November 14
• The Guess Who, Peace Corps - December 2

1972

• John McLaughlin & The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Hampton Grease Band - May 7
• Edgar Winter, Groundhogs, Eric Quincy Tate - June 11
• Procol Harum, Eagles, Radar - July 13*
• Uriah Heep, John Baldry, White Trash - July 19
• The Byrds, Eric Anderson, New Riders of the Purple Sage - August 2
• T. Rex - August 21
• J. Geils Band - September 1
• Cheech & Chong, Hampton Grease Band - September 28
• John Mayall, Delbert & Glen - November 5

1973

• Mom's Apple Pie, Silverman, Joy - January 28
• Trapeze, Hydra - May 24
• Marshall Tucker Band, Wet Willie, Mose Jones, Eric Quincy Tate, Greg Scott & Eddie Terrill Band - July 1 (benefit for C.A.R.E.)
• Joe Walsh - August 19
• Fleetwood Mac, Jambalaya, Dixie Grease - November 4

*Conflicting tour databases put Procol Harum and Eagles at both Atlanta's Sports Arena and The Warehouse in New Orleans July 14, 1972. Eagles opened several times for Procol Harum on their 1972 tour, promoting the May 1972 release of their debut single "Take it Easy." A couple of online accounts of Sports Arena attendees place both bands in Atlanta on July 14. Promoter Howard Stein advertised only the July 13 concert in The Great Speckled Bird's July 10 and 17, 1972 issues. I will stick with the 13th as evidenced in the display ads. Joe Roman's definitive concert review in the July 24, 1972 issue of The Bird also nails the event to Thursday the 13th.

Sources:

"Arena of Memories," by Sam Heys, staff writer, Atlanta Journal, October 28, 1983

www.thestripproject.com/the-sports-arena

Just for Fun: the Story of AAU Women's Basketball, by Robert W. Ikard, published by The University of Arkansas Press, 2005

Atlanta Municipal Auditorium

• 30 Courtland Street SE (at Gilmer Street), Atlanta GA
• Capacity: 5000
• Note: The building, built 1909, was sold to Georgia State University in 1979.

Atlanta Municipal Auditorium
Photo: Special Collections Department,
Pullen Library, Georgia State University

1970 

• Steppenwolf - January 10
• Jerry Lee Lewis - January 17
• "WPLO Shower of Stars" - Merle Haggard, Bonnie Owens, The Strangers - March 14
• James Brown - March 16-17
• Santana, Allman Brothers Band, Insect Trust - March 19
• Allman Brothers Band - March 26
• B.B. King, Judy Clay, Wild Man Steve & His Revue - April 6
• Johnny Winter - April 12
• Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, Norman Greenbaum - April 30 (D&B refused to play, blaming sound system; Norman Greenbaum performed for small crowd, for free)
• Pink Floyd, The Guess Who - May 12
• Van Morrison, Sabudi, Shelly Isaacs - May 14 (partial benefit for Community Center bail fund)
• The Who - June 22
• Steppenwolf, Chakra - August 3
• Fleetwood Mac, Hampton Grease Band - August 20
• Jefferson Airplane, Radar, Glen McKay's Head Lights - August 24
• Mountain, Mylon LeFevre, Joel Osner - October 8
• Ike & Tina Turner Revue, Chakra, David Kennedy & Fire Power - October 22
• Bloodrock, Hydra, Rusha - October 31
• "WPLO Shower of Stars" - Sonny James & his Country Gentlemen, Ray Price & his Cherokee Cowboys, Compton Brothers - November 28
• Ten Years After, Stonehenge - December 1
• The Band - December 10
• The Temptations, Carla Thomas, The Bar-Kays - December 19
• The Amboy Dukes, Bob Seger System, MC-5 - December 29

1971

• Allman Brothers Band, Hampton Grease Band - January 16
• James Taylor, Carole King, Jo Mama - March 2
• Eric Burdon & War - March 11
• "WPLO Shower of Stars" - Conway Twitty, Bill Anderson, Tom T. Hall, Bobby Bare, Jan Howard, Bobby Johnson & The Swinging Gentlemen - March 13
• Blood, Sweat & Tears - March 25
• Small Faces "featuring Rod Stewart," Savoy Brown, The Grease Band - March 30
• Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes, Brownsville Station - April 1
• Jethro Tull, Brethren, Younguns - April 13
• Judy Collins - April 17
• Mountain, Procol Harum, Hydra - April 29
• Johnny Winter, Booger - May 15
• "Super Heavy Blues Express" - Big Mama Thornton, John Lee Hooker, T-Bone Walker, Joe Turner, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Al Hibbler - May 16
• Elton John, Mark-Almond - June 8
• Edgar Winter's White Trash, Mott The Hoople, J. Geils Band - June 17
• "WPLO Shower of Stars" - Conway Twitty & The Twitty Birds, Loretta Lynn & The Nashville Tennesseans, Dave Dudley & The Roadrunners, Anthony Armstrong Jones - June 26
• Melanie, Janey & Dennis - June 30
• Black Sabbath, Blues Project - July 7
• Allman Brothers Band, Cowboy (7:30pm), Hampton Grease Band (2:30pm) - July 17 (2 shows)
• Bloodrock, Savage Grace, Robert Savage Group - July 22
• Mother Earth, Doobie Brothers - August 2
• Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Humble Pie - August 4
• Faces "featuring Rod Stewart," Southern Comfort - August 5
• Ten Years After - August 11
• John Sebastian, Savage Grace - August 12
• James Gang, Mylon, Smoo's Barn Dance - August 17
• Leon Russell, Freddie King - August 18
• Savoy Brown - September 2
• Alice Cooper, Lee Michaels - September 11
• Long John Baldry, Cactus, Savoy Brown - September 23
• It's A Beautiful Day, Boz Scaggs - October 16
• Traffic, Fairport Convention - October 18
• Mountain, J. Geils Band, Stray Dog - October 27
• Cat Stevens, Mimi & Tom - November 10
• Grateful Dead, New Riders of the Purple Sage - November 11
• David Cassidy - November 13
• Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Yes - November 22
• The Who - November 23
• "WPLO Shower of Stars" - Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton, Sonny James & The Country Gentlemen, Freddy Weller - November 27
• Canned Heat, Gary Wright, REO Speedwagon - December 15
• Bloodrock, Spirit, Crabby Appleton - December 20

1972

• Alice Cooper, Redbone, White Witch - January 8
• Smokey Robinson, Georgia Prophets - January 20
• Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother & The Holding Company, Malo featuring David Santana - January 24
• Allman Brothers Band, Alex Taylor - January 25
• Traffic, J.J. Cale - January 31
• Melanie - February 16
• Ike & Tina Turner Revue, Wet Willie - February 19
• "WPLO Shower of Stars" - Waylon Jennings & The Waylors, Freddie Hart, Jim Ed Brown & The Gems, Stonewall Jackson & The Minutemen, Barbara Mandrell & The Mandrells - March 11
• Joe Cocker - March 21
• Emerson, Lake & Palmer - March 28
• The Guess Who - April 5
• Humble Pie, Alexis Corner, Edgar Winter - April 6
• Jethro Tull, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - April 27
• Jackson 5 - May 8
• Chicago - May 15
• Black Sabbath - June 19
• The Staple Singers, Joe Simon, Stylistics- July 13
• "Rock & Roll Revival" - Bill Haley & The Comets, The Coasters, Chubby Checker, Gary U.S. Bonds, Freddie Cannon, Bobby Comstock & The Comstock Ltd - July 15
• Rare Earth - July 18
• Leon Russell - July 20
• Black Sabbath - July 22
• Badfinger, Bloodrock, Kindred - August 3
• Jackson 5 - August 7
• James Gang, Captain Beyond - August 14
• Deep Purple, Fleetwood Mac, Silverhead - August 28-29
• Allman Brothers Band, Wet Willie (8/30), Eric Quincy Tate (8/31) - August 30-31
• The Al Green Review, The Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose, Herb Jubrit - September 16
• T. Rex, Doobie Brothers - September 23
• Yes, Eagles - September 30
• Brother Bait, performing "Tommy" - October 10
• Ten Years After - October 12
• B.B. King, Bobby Womack with Peace, Eric Quincy Tate - November 6
• The Hollies, Raspberries, Danny O'Keefe - November 8
• New Riders of The Purple Sage, Eric Quincy Tate - November 14
• "Bluegrass Music Spectacular" - Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Osborne Brothers, Jim & Jesse, Ralph Stanley, Lewis Family, Jimmy Martin, Mac Wiseman, Reno-Harrell, James Monroe, Clyde Moody, Curly Seckler - November 18 (12 hours!)
• The Supremes, Jackson 5 - December 1
• Humble Pie - December 14
• Edgar Winter, Wild Turkey - December 16

1973

• Rare Earth - January 20
• Charley Pride, Freddie Hart - January 27
• The Delfonics - February 10
• Traffic, John Martyn, Free - February 14
• Johnny Rivers, Brewer & Shipley - February 15
• Stephen Stills & Manassas - February 17
• Uriah Heep, Silverhead, Spooky Tooth - February 22
• Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention, Dr Hook & The Medicine Show - February 26
• "WPLO Shower of Stars" - George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Waylon Jennings - March 10
• Pink Floyd - March 24
• Loggins & Messina, Doobie Brothers - March 29
• Stephen Stills & Manassas - April 2
• Wishbone Ash, Vinegar Joe, Dr Hook & The Medicine Show - April 26
• Chi-Lites, The O-Jays, The Main Ingredient, Detroit Emeralds, Moments, Millie Jackson - May 2
• David Gates & Bread - May 3
• Waylon Jennings - May 12
• Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge - May 28
• George Carlin - June 21
• Ike & Tina Turner - July 12
• Black Oak Arkansas, Jo Jo Gunne - July 14
• Beck, Bogert & Appice; Dr John - July 16
• Curtis Mayfield - July 19
• "CTI Summer Festival" - Esther Phillips, Milt Jackson, Hubert Laws, Hank Crawford, Johnny Hammond, Eric Gale, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, Bob James, Ralph McDonald, CTI Strings, Frankie Crocker MC - July 21
• Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton, Speck Rhodes & The Wagonmasters - July 28
• Cactus - August 3
• Kool and The Gang, Ebony - August 5
• Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - August 11
• Roger McGuinn - August 22
• Sha Na Na, Wet Willie - August 23
• Roy Buchanan - September 6
• Al Green, Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose - September
• ZZ Top, Albert King - September 29
• Yes, Eagles - September 30
• Mott The Hoople, Aerosmith, New York Dolls - October 4
• Pat Boone - October 9
• Ten Years After - October 10
• Joe Walsh, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, REO Speedwagon - October 11
• Steve Miller Band - October 17
• Arlo Guthrie - October 21
• John Denver - October 25
• Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn - October 27
• John Mayall, Ballin' Jack - November 1
• Freddie King, Tower of Power, Sylvester & The Hot Band - November 14
• John McLaughlin & The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Argent, Papa John Creech - November 21
• "Shower of Stars" - Hank Williams, Barbara Mandrell, Tom T. Hall, Johnny Rodriguez - November 24
• David Crosby & Graham Nash, David Blue - November 28

1974

• Slade, Brownsville Station - January 16
• Emerson, Lake & Palmer - January 24
• Billy Preston - February 14
• Dave Mason, James Gang - February 21
• B.B. King, Bobby Blue Bland, Ann Peebles - February 25
• Foghat, Maggie Bell, Frampton's Camel - March 27 
• Beach Boys - April 11
• King Crimson, Grin - April 13
• Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Climax Blues Band - May 6
• Procol Harum, Renaissance - May 8
• Slade, 10cc, Brownsville Station - June 5
• "Guitar Battle of the Century" - Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes, Cactus featuring Mike Pinera - July 26
• Foghat, Brownsville Station - August 5
• Choice, Stories, Brother Louie - August 19
• Mountain - August 21
• New York Dolls, White Witch - September 7
• Joe Cocker - September 9
• Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt - October 31
• Lou Reed - November 7
• Dave Mason, Poco - November 16

Al Kooper & Duane Allman on Free Concerts: Point/Counterpoint

On June 24, 1969, Don Speicher of The Great Speckled Bird interviewed musician/producer Al Kooper prior to the first Atlanta International Pop Festival. Kooper was one of the performers booked for the July 4th weekend event. 

Their conversation included discussion of ticket pricing, corporate sponsorship, and their divergent attitudes regarding free concerts.

DS: There's some talk of sometime during that weekend trying to do a free thing in the park, with some local people and anyone else who might be interested.

AK: No one will do it. No one will do it just because they can't. I mean really. If I'm in a big group and I'm sitting in New York and someone wants us to do a free gig in Atlanta in the park and you're gonna reach about a hundred thousand people I'd say groovy, how are we gonna get there? Where are we gonna stay? Who's doing the sound? How are we gonna transport the equipment? You can't just go up.

...

DS: ...to me, free things in the park, with local bands, are much more of the whole total experience and a lot more overwhelming a lot of times than like a rock festival.

AK: Yeah, but you don't understand that we can get Coca Cola to foot the bill for Blood, Sweat & Tears to come to town. And they got to be groovier than any local band you got. And they're paying the bill for you to lie in the grass and get high and have a good time. Now if that's wrong, then you're wrong.

...

DS: Yeah, but there's this really big hangup about hitting Coca Cola to give us some music because Coca Cola....

AK: You already got the wrong approach. 

DS: I'm not so sure. Coca Cola is like all the evil there is, sitting on Atlanta, Georgia.

AK: You got to trick them. Now, what you're saying is that you want Coca Cola to bring you some music. 

DS: No. No, we don't. I dig that, but it's whether you want to play that game at all.

AK: That's not a game, man, that's a means to an end.

Atlanta disproved Al Kooper's theory on the Monday after the pop festival, when the festival's promoters staged a free concert in Piedmont Park. The Grateful Dead, Chicago Transit Authority, Spirit, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, Allman Brothers Band, and Hampton Grease Band played for free for a huge crowd of fans. [The park by that time had become a popular venue for local and regional musicians. The Allman Brothers were major forerunners.] Duane Allman gets the last word on the subject:

"Playing the park's such a good thing because people don't even expect you to be there. About the nicest way you can play is just for nothing, you know. And it's not really for nothing. It's for your own personal satisfaction–and other people's–rather than for any kind of financial thing."

Sources: 
The Great Speckled Bird, Vol. 2 Nos. 10, 17
Skydog, The Duane Allman Story, by Randy Poe, published by Backbeat Books, 2006, 2008.

Piedmont Music Festival

Piedmont Music Festival ad/poster
Piedmont Park, Atlanta, October 17-19, 1969
The Great Speckled Bird, Vol. 2, No. 32, October 20, 1969

Piedmont Park Free Concerts

By Spring 1969 midtown Atlanta's Piedmont Park had become the primary setting for free concerts, usually on Sundays, from the afternoon into the evening. The central location drew local and regional talent, most memorably the Allman Brothers Band, who had recently relocated from Jacksonville FL to Macon GA. Atlanta had yet to open any substantial rock clubs, therefore the park became a key venue for musicians to showcase material to a large audience. 

Piedmont Park, Atlanta, 1969
Photo by Carter Tomassi

Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks recalled:

"After several weeks of work learning this new material we were busting to get out of that [Macon] warehouse and play it for people. So... we loaded ourselves and our equipment into our Econoline and what other rides we could glom and headed to Atlanta (later to be renamed Hotlanta, I believe we coined this term but can't prove it). We went straight to Piedmont Park and found a perfect spot to set up. It was a rather large flat space at the top of some stairs with some electrical outlets within reach. We didn't ask permission, we just set up and started pouring out all of this music we had only played for ourselves up to that time.... When we finished some people were so transfixed they simply laid down and spent the night there. Others made sure that the place was cleaned up. Of course the next Sunday we went back and there was a shit load more folks than were there the week before as well as a couple of other Atlanta bands that wanted to play. This grew into a weekly event that went from that little place to a big flatbed stage set up on the end of a very large field that someone provided complete with a massive generator. Plus many more bands. The crowd grew to the level of around 10,000 after a few weeks and I don't recall a single incident of violence in all the months that this magical thing continued."

Duane Allman, Piedmont Park, Atlanta, May 11, 1969
The Great Speckled Bird, Vol. 2, No. 10, May 19, 1969
Cover photo by Bill Fibben

According to Duane Allman:

"Playing the park's such a good thing because people don't even expect you to be there. About the nicest way you can play is just for nothing, you know. And it's not really for nothing. It's for your own personal satisfaction–and other people's–rather than for any kind of financial thing."

UPDATE, APRIL 2018: Glenn Phillips (guitarist, composer, co-founder of the Hampton Grease Band) left a comment 4/4/18 on my 1/19/15 Discovery, Inc. post. Here's an excerpt in which he pinpoints the essential birth of the Piedmont Park free concerts. (For full context, click the Discovery label in the right column, then read the comments section.):

"The [Hampton] Grease Band's spontaneous Piedmont Park shows started [...] in the spring of '68 when I discovered there was a live outlet in the pavilion [...]. We started playing there pretty much every week and did shows there by ourselves on the grass by the pavilion, in the pavilion, in the tall brick gazebo off to the side of the pavilion (which also had a live outlet at the time, but was a pain in the ass to carry our equipment up to), and on the stone steps (which is where the Allman Brothers first appeared with us on May 11, 1969, when Phil Walden called the Grease Band personally to see if it was okay if the Allman Brothers played with us that day)."  

1969

• Hampton Grease Band, Crust, Smoke, Nail, Little Phil & The Night Shadows, Toni Ganim, Anne Romaine - March 29 (The Great Speckled Bird first birthday celebration)
• "BE-IN. Atlantis Rising festivities in the park. Music, food, etc." - April 20
• "BE-IN. Atlantis Rising festivities in Piedmont Park, all afternoon, music, rapping etc." - April 27
  
• "ROCK CONCERT/BE-IN. Celebrate opening of Atlantis Rising community trade fair, six rock groups" - May 3
• Allman Brothers Band, Hampton Grease Band - May 11
• Allman Brothers Band - May 18
• Booger Band - May 25 (during Atlanta Arts Festival)
• "BE-IN. Nexus House sponsors a be-in with bands, 2 pm, community supper, 5 pm" - June 22 
• Brick Wall, The Bag, Jim Cross, Semore, Barry Bailey, John Ivy - June 28 ("Grand Opening Be-In" for Atlantis Rising)
• Grateful Dead, Chicago Transit Authority, Spirit, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, It's A Beautiful Day, Allman Brothers Band, Hampton Grease Band - July 7 (Monday concert following July 4th weekend's Atlanta International Pop Festival in Hampton GA, arranged by festival promoters)
• The Unpolished Brass - August 10
• Solid Blues - August 24 ("Socialist politics, folksingers, rock music, and guerrilla theatre... Jenness for Mayor rally")
• "Free Grease Job - Labor of Love" - Hampton Grease Band, Robin - August 31
• Allman Brothers Band - September 14
• "Mini-Pop Festival" - Allman Brothers Band, Hampton Grease Band, Brick Wall, Sweet Younguns, Booger Band, Radar, Hand Band - September 21 (rally for firebombed Atlantis Rising trade mart; 23 arrests made, initiated by disclosure of undercover narcotics officers; police used tear gas and batons on crowd, some of whom threw rocks; GSB photographer Bill Fibben arrested for taking pictures of police action, "interfering with arrest")
• Allman Brothers Band - September 27
• "Piedmont Music Festival" - Allman Brothers Band, Mother Earth with Tracy Nelson, Billy Joe Royal, Joe South, Boz Scaggs, Second Coming, Royal Blues, Hand Band, Boogie Chillun, Lee Moses - October 17-19
• Community Council of the Atlanta Area, Inc., meeting in the park with free music - November 2

1970

• "Free Music In The Park" - February 28-March 1 (sponsored by Universal Life Church)
• "Free Music In The Park" - March 7-8 (sponsored by Universal Life Church)
• Axis, Handle, Chakra, Paul Hanson & Pat Alger - March 20
• Screaming Yellow, Shayde - April 19
• "Spring Peace Festival" - Stump Brothers, Axis, Ether, Celestial Voluptuous Banana, Country Pye, Eric Quincy Tate, Light Brigade, Eros, Robyn, Perpetual Motion, Ruffin, What Brothers, Stuff, White Lie, Stonehenge, Last Era, Bremrod, Booger Jam, Total Electric, Corn Cobb Jam, Pegasus Lantern Light Show - June 6-7
• Allman Brothers Band, Majester Ludi, Chakra, Ether - June 14
• "Peace Festival" - Stump Brothers, Axis, Celestial Voluptuous Banana, Eric Quincy Tate, Nancy Harmon & The Victory Voices, Robyn, Twelve Eyes, What Brothers, White Lie, Pegasus Lantern Light Show - June 21 
• Hampton Grease Jam, Chakra, Milan, Flint - June 28
• Brewer & Shipley - July 19
• "Free Music" - July 26
• 15 Minutes, Joel, Buckwheat, What Brothers, Malford Mann, Babylon - August 9
• Duckbutter, Axis, Hydra, Flint, Joel, Ewing Street Times - August 16
• Younguns, Perpetual Motion, Hydra, Plymouth Rock, Interprize - August 30
• Sunrise, Horizon, Milkweed, Chakra, Street Explosion - September 13
• Radar, Younguns, Booger, Perpetual Motion, Chair - September 20
• Allman Brothers Band, Hampton Grease Band, Eric Quincy Tate, Avenue of Happiness, Stump Brothers, Chakra - September 27
• Stonehenge, Jelly Roll, Crossover, What Brothers, August, Underground Balloon Corporation, Kaleidoscopic Light Show - October 4
• "Women's Festival" - Anne Romaine, Ruthie Gordon, Carol & Barbara, Esther LeFevre, The Ribs - October 10
• Sweetwater; Warm; Looney Tunes; Red, White & Blue(grass); Chair - October 18
• Hydra; Red, White & Blue(grass); Younguns - October 25
• Joe South, Glass - October 30
• Avenue of Happiness - December 23

1971

• Stonehenge, Chakra - March 28
• Stump Brothers, East Side Blues Band, Horse Roscoe - April 3
• Wet Willie; Alex Taylor, Friends & Neighbors - April 4
• Thunder, What Brothers, Smooth's Barn Dance, Perpetual Motion, John Flynt, Flood - April 11
• Hydra, Flint, Foxes - May 23
• Goose Creek Symphony, Sunrise, Kudzu, Signal, Gladstone, David Harris (speaker) - May 30
• Allman Brothers Band - May 31
• What Brothers, Kudzu, Howling Bull - June 13
• Milkweed, Hansen & Alger, Fox Watson, Doris Abrahams, Vince Quinn, Jeff Espina - June 20
• Hydra, Duckbutter, A Man Called Joad, Glass Menagerie, Perpetual Motion - July 4 (12th Gate benefit)

Sources:
thebutchtrucks.blogspot.com/2011/08/piedmont-park.html
The Great Speckled Bird, Vol. 2 Nos. 6, 7, 11, 15, 16, 24
The Great Speckled Bird, Vol. 3 Nos. 9, 25, 29
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_International_Pop_Festival_(1969)
www.allmanbrothersband.com
www.hittinthenote.com/first_mountain.asp
Midnight Riders, by Scott Freeman, published by Little, Brown and Company, 1995
Skydog, The Duane Allman Story, by Randy Poe, published by Backbeat Books, 2006, 2008.

Note: Entries in quotes are from The Great Speckled Bird calendar pages.

The Headrest

• 114 Ponce de Leon Avenue (at Juniper), Atlanta GA
• Opened: August 1972
• Closed: February 1973
• Note: The Headrest opened under the management of Gary Rothman, who had previously been running Funochio's nearby on Peachtree Street. In summer of 1972 Georgia's drinking age was lowered to 18, the first change since being set at age 21 post-Prohibition. In this context, still a teenager, I worked at Funochio's for a couple of weeks before being tapped to be part of the team to open The Headrest. An artist, I was enlisted to paint a series of large murals for the club, particularly the floor-to-ceiling portraits of rock musicians which lined the front entrance hall. When I went to collect payment for the work I had done, the huge thug of an assistant manager (I believe called "Doodles") pulled a gun out and laid it on top of his desk. I stood there speechless, then turned and left the office. Needless to say, I was never paid for the work. Few were surprised the club closed only six months after opening.  

1972

• Chambers Brothers, Hampton Grease Band - club opening, mid-August 
• Roadapple, Mother's Son - August 17-19
• Boot, Lynyrd Skynyrd - August 31-September 2
• Smokerise, Cotton - September 4-9
• Bacchus - September 11-13
• Keys, Bacchus - September 14-16
• Keys, Bandit - September 18-23
• Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes - September 25
• "reopened - mASSell loses a round" (The Great Speckled Bird, Vol. 5, No. 40, October 23, 1972, referring to Atlanta Mayor Sam Massell)
• Keys, Joshua - October 19-21
• Keys, Boot - October 23-28
• Lynyrd Skynyrd, Keys - November 2-4
• Chambers Brothers, Bandit - November 6-8
• Albatross, Bandit - November 9-11
• Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes, Blackfoot - November 13-15
• Eric Quincy Tate, Blackfoot -November 16-18
• Mose Jones, Applejack - November 20-25
• Kudzu, Clouds - November 27-December 1
• Kudzu, Eric Quincy Tate - December 2
• Squeeze, New Days Ahead - December 4-9
• Shayde - December 9
• Papa Doc - December 11-13
• Eric Quincy Tate, Papa Doc - December 14
• Lynyrd Skynyrd, Papa Doc - December 15-16
• Mose Jones, Micropolis - December 18-23
• Hydra, Brother Bait - December 26-27
• Kudzu, Brother Bait - December 28
• Hydra, Brother Bait - December 29-30 

1973

• Bob Seger System, Lynyrd Skynyrd - January 1-3
• Blackfoot, Lynyrd Skynyrd - January 4-6
• White Trash, Kudzu - January 8-10
• Brother Bait, Kudzu - January 11-13
• Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes, Keys - January 15-17
• Micropolis, Keys - January 18-20

The 12th Gate

• 36 10th Street NW, Atlanta GA
• Founder: Robin Feld, in conjunction with Methodist church (non-profit)
• Capacity: 150
• Opened: 1968
• Closed: January 1974 

1971

• Eric Quincy Tate - January 1
• Radar - January 2
• Avenue of Happiness - January 3
• Eric Quincy Tate - January 7-8
• Younguns - January 9-10
• Little Feat, Stump Brothers - January 11-13
• Fox Watson, Stump Brothers - January 15
• Fox Watson, Jim Rhyne - January 16
• Shayde - January 17
• Stillbrooke - January 21
• Shayde - January 22-23
• Doc Fields & Friends - January 24
• Radar - January 28-29
• Eastside Blues Band - January 30-31
• Captain Beefheart, Ry Cooder, Booger (12th Gate benefit at Sports Arena) - February 4
• Avenue of Happiness - February 5
• Wet Willie - February 6-7
• Younguns - February 11-12
• Booger - February 13-14
• Rev. Pearly Brown, Anne Romaine - February 17
• What Brothers - February 18-19
• Wet Willie - February 20
• Stump Brothers - February 21
• Hampton Grease Band - February 25-27
• Henley Walton's John - February 28
• East Side Blues Band - March 4-5
• Scald Cats - March 6
• Leonda - March 7
• Robin Conant - March 11
• Radar - March 12-13
• Fox Watson - March 14
• Scald Cats - March 18
• Wet Willie - March 19-21
• South - March 25
• Booger - March 26
• Milkweed - March 27-28
• Sylvia & Bart, Deborah Emerson, Foxes, Jim Rhyne - April 2
• David & Judy Doke, Dan English, Pan Handle - April 3
• Buddy Moss, Jimmy Hartz - April 4
• David & Judy Doke - April8
• Radar - April 9-10
• Uncle Lumpy - April 15
• Booger - April 16-17
• Foxes - April 18 
• Dan English - April 22
• East Side Blues Band - April 23
• Hansen & Alger - April 24
• Avenue of Happiness - April 25
• Hampton Grease Band - April 29-May 2
• Goose Creek Symphony - May 6
• Hansen & Alger - May 7
• Fox Watson - May 8
• Vince Quinn - May 9
• Little Feat - May 11-13
• Ever Wind - May 14
• Buddy Moss - May 15
• Frank Luther - May 16
• Archie; Michael & Kevin - May 20
• Scald Cats - May 21-22
• Doris Abrahams - May 23
• Steve Dempsey - May 27
• Booger - May 28-29
• David & Judy Doke - May 30
• Henley Walton's John - June 3
• Wet Willie - June 4-6
• Milkweed - June 10-12
• Avenue of Happiness - June 13
• East Side Blues Band [J Geils dropped in & played a set June 18] - June 17-18
• Buddy Moss - June 19
• Frank Luther - June 20
• David & Judy Doke - June 24
• Doris Abrahams, Vince Quinn - June 25-27
• Jeff Espina - July 1-3
• Bull - July 4
• Binoogah - July 8
• Foxes, Legal Tender - July 9-11
• Milkweed - July 15-17
• Bull - July 18
• Hampton Grease Band - July 22-25
• Legal Tender - July 29
• East Side Blues Band - July 30-31
• Bull - August 1
• Salmon & Dale - August 5
• Vince Quinn - August 6-7
• Rhino Country - August 8
• Perpetual Motion - August 12-13
• Foxes - August 14
• Bull - August 15
• Wet Willie - August 19-21
• Sunday Morning - August 22
• Jeff Espina - August 26-28
• Bull - August 29
• Sundance - September 2-3
• Scald Cats - September 4
• Doke - September 5
• East Side Blues Band - September 9-11
• Dan English - September 12
• Hampton Grease Band - September 16-18
• Dawn Workshop - September 19
• Radar - September 23-26
• Bull - October 3
• Prometheus Unbound - October 7
• East Side Blues Band - October 8
• Hampton Grease Band - October 9-10
• Sundance - October 14
• Gershon Freidlin, Pat Alger - October 15-16
• Gershon Freidlin, John Young - October 17
• Doris Abrahams - October 21-23
• Vince Quinn - October 24
• Milkweed - October 28-31
• Lawton Singh, Iskon - November 1
• Radar - November 4-6
• Bull, Frank Luther - November 7
• East Side Blues Band - November 12-13
• Foxes - November 14
• Salmon & Dale, Summerwhisk - November 18-19
• Robin Conant - November 20
• Bull - November 21
• Hampton Grease Band - November 25-27
• Buddy Moss - November 28
• Jeff Espina - December 2-4
• Bull - December 3
• Milkweed - December 9-11
• Suggins County String Band - December 12
• Salmon & Dale - December 16-17
• Doke - December 18-19
• Eric Quincy Tate - December 21
• Radar - December 22-24
• East Side Blues Band - December 25-26
• Silverman - December 28-29
• The Avenue of Happiness - December 30
• Robin Conant & Pat Alger - December 31

1972

• Suggins County String Band - January 1
• Bull - January 2
• Salmon & Dale - January 6
• Milkweed - January 7-8
• Prometheus Unbound - January 9
• Suggins County String Band - January 1
• Bull - January 2
• Hampton Grease Band - January 13
• East Side Blues Band - January 20-22
• Jazz with Bull - January 23
• Suggins County String Band - January 27-28
• Radar - January 29-30
• Doke Family - February 3
• Salmon & Dale - February 4
• Jeff Espina - February 5-6
• Silverman - February 10-11
• Milkweed - February 12-13
• Hampton Grease Band - February 24-26
• Rick Anderson - February 27
• Wet Willie - March 2-4
• Stonehenge - March 5
• David Olney - March 9-11
• The Motion - March 11
• Forty Fingers - March 16
• Radar - March 17-19
• New Avenue of Happiness - March 23
• Hampton Grease Band - March 24-25
• Sherry King & The American Beauty Rose Band - March 26
• Forty Fingers - March 30
• David Olney - March 31-April 1
• Solid Senders - April 6-7
• Rev. Pearly Brown - April 8
• Buddy Moss - April 9
• Gershon Freidlin & Matty O'Hare - April 13-16
• Jeff Espina - April 20-22
• The Starving Braineaters - April 23
• Flood - April 27
• Suggins County String Band - April 28-30
• Vince Quinn - May 4
• Milkweed - May 5-6
• American Beauty Rose Band - May 11-13
• Bull - May 14
• The Starving Braineaters - May 18-19
• Radar - May 20-21
• Wet Willie - May 25
• Hampton Grease Band - May 26-27
• Leon Bass & John D. Young - May 28
• Solid Senders  June 1-2
• Forty Fingers - June 3-4
• The Atlanta Electric Farm Band - June 8
• Robin Conant, David Olney - June 9
• Stump Brothers - June 10
• Bull - June 11
• The Starving Braineaters - June 15-16
• Jeff Espina - June 17-18
• Millard Archibald - June 22
• Zoot Cooter - June 23-25
• Faith Illusion - June 27
• Radar - June 29-July 1
• Bull - July 2
• Pat Alger - July 6
• Pat Alger, Robin Conant - July 7
• Silverman - July 8-9
• Hampton Grease Band - July 14-15
• Bull - July 16
• Chappaqua - July 20-22
• Albert & Newman - July 23
• Shuffling Hungarians - July 27
• Susan Miller - July 28-29
• The Dokes, Geiger Rock - July 30
• David Olney - August 3-4
• Suggins County String Band - August 5-6
• Forty Fingers - August 10-11
• East Side Blues Band - August 12
• Hampton Grease Band - August 18-20
• Starving Braineaters - August 24-26
• Bull - August 27
• Pat Alger - August 31-September 1
• Buddy Moss - September 2-3
• Stump Brothers - September 7-8
• Jeff Espina - September 9-10
• Stillwood - September 14-15
• Suggins County String Band - September 16-17
• Larry Coryell - September 26-October 1
• Hampton Grease Band - October 6-7
• Bull - October 8
• Zoot Cooter - October 12-15
• Fletcher & The Piedmonts - October 19
• Buddy Moss - October 20-21
• Starving Braineaters - October 22
• Fred Cale - October 26
• Jeff Espina - October 27-29
• Leg Of Otis, Snat Brothers - November 3-4
• Bull - November 5
• Arc - November 9
• Pat Alger - November 10-12
• Suggins County String Band - November 16-17
• Joe da Roach - November 18-19
• Hampton Grease Band - November 24-25
• Doris Abrahams - November 26, November 30-December 2
• Element - December 3
• David Ezell - December 7
• Leg Of Otis - December 8-9
• David Olney - December 10
• Nancy & Jeremiah - December 14
• David Olney - December 15-16
• Leg of Otis - December 21
• Starving Braineaters - December 22-23
• Weather Report - December 26-28

1973

• Hampton Grease Band - January 4-6
• Bull - January 7
• Forty Fingers - January 11-12
• Flood - January 13-14
• East Side Blues Band - January 25-28
• Weather Report - January 29-31
• Ellen McIlwaine, Bill Sheffield - February 1-2
• Ellen McIlwaine, Pat Alger - February 3-4
• Stump Brothers - February 8
• Buddy Moss - February 9-10
• Bull - January 11
• Jim Ryne - February 15
• Jeff Espina - February 16-18
• Leg of Otis - February 22-24
• Bull - February 25
• Breakfast Special - March 1-4
• Smith & Scrapper - March 8-9
• Starving Braineaters - March 10-11
• East Side Blues Band - March 15-18
• The Cummings Brothers - March 22-24
• Bull - March 25
• Big Mama Thornton, George "Harmonica" Smith, East Side Blues Band - March 27-April 21
• (closed for remodeling) 
• McCoy Tyner Quartet ("Grand Reopening") - May 1-5
• John Herald & The Honkies - May 7-12
• Bill Evans Trio - May 14-19
• The Elvin Jones Ensemble - May 21-26
• Pat Alger, Will Boulware, Mike Holbrook, Al Nicholson - May 28
• Buddy Moss, Sparky Rucker - May 29-June 2
• East Side Blues Band - June 4-9
• Pat Alger, Jeff Espina - June 12-16
• Townes Van Zandt - June 18-23
• Bill Braynon & The Soundsationals, Wahoo - June 25-30
• Silverman - July 2-7
• Rahsaan Roland Kirk & The Vibration Society - July 9-12
• Time - July 13-14, 16-21
• Keith Sykes, Pritchard Avenue Band - July 23-28
• Gary Bartz, NTU Troop - July 30-August 4
• Pat Alger, Robin Conant - August 7-11
• Lifeforce - August 13-18
• Silverman - August 20-23, 25
• Friends & Neighbors - August 24
• Elements - August 27
• Mose Allison - August 28-September 1
• Big Mama Thornton, George "Harmonica" Smith - September 3-9
• Breakfast Special - September 15-18
• Oregon - October 4-7
• Taylor & Francisco - October 8-13
• Pharoah Sanders - October 16-21
• Silverman - October 22-27
• Mad Mountain Mime Troupe - October 30, November 1-3
• Protrudamus - November 6-11
• John Hammond - November 12-18
• McCoy Tyner Quartet - November 20-25
• Malombo - November 26-December 1
• Ellen McIlwaine - December 4-9
• Oregon - December 11-16
• Gary Bartz, NTU Troop - December 18-23
• Mike Greene Band - December 27-30