All language subtitles for FESTIVAL EXPRESS - The Making - Documentary 1970 (2003) eng

You know, it's interesting

that along with
this wave of festivals

that developed in
the wake of Woodstock

there, you know... the notion
developed quite quickly

that when you're going
to do a special event,

why not flm it? Why not make
a documentary film out of it?

Just about a week before

it was going to happen,

and l learned that the...

the organizers hadn't
organized the film yet.

So l approached them

and l guess, l don't know whether
they thought about it before

but it was obvious, you know

that a three-day festival
like that should be filmed.

So l had lengthy negotiations
with them

and we got a crew in about five days

and everything was there.

Yeah, it's amazing.

Why film the Festival Express?

l think a big part of it,

although of course Ken
Walker could tell you more,

or for that matter,
Willem Pullman,

but l think a big part of filming
Festival Express

has to be this was a unique idea.

lt wasn't just a festival.

lt was a travelling festival.

Originally it was going
to five cities.

You know, it became
truncated to three.

Montreal and
Vancouver got x'ed out.

But you have this idea of
this caravan moving

from Toronto to Winnipeg
to Calgary

it happens to be on a train,
a private train,

and what's going to happen
on that train

and what might
that train produce

in terms of interesting social,
cultural,

musicological situations.

Here we had
a chance of the musicians

really having a party
with each other.

Normally musicians leave
after the show.

Their bus is already waiting
and they go.

ln this case they were staying

and enjoying watching
the other musicians playing

and then going together
on a train for three days.

lt was like a...
a really good chance

to get into the inside of
the musician.

To get... get beyond
the commercial image

that has always been
created for them.

To get their personalities,
you know?

And l think that the film
with Janis Joplin

and some of the others
really shows that.

l remember seeing
the cameras, um,

but l don't remember
knowing, uh,

what was going to happen
with that footage,

or whether we expected
there to be a film.

l think, uh, you know,

the newspaper reports
in the following days,

and as the tour continued
there was still coverage of it.

Uh, you know the word was
out that the protests had,

you know,
fucked the promoters,

and that despite the music
and despite, uh,

the pleasure that the people
who were attending

were having with the music,

uh, it was going to be
a financial disaster.

So l think we assumed that, uh,
you know,

the film was going to go down
with that.

Well l think this is why
the film has actually held up,

because the organizers of
the festival lost a fortune,

and they were really
embarrassed

about us showing
all this fighting with police,

keeping people out.

lt was a ridiculous show,
of course.

And apart from that,
they were trying to

get a bigger share
of the show.

Now suddenly, because they lost
all this money, they thought,

''Well we maybe have
something really big''

so they wanted to try
to get a bigger share.

Anyway l don't want to talk
about all that controversy,

that's a long time.

But that's why it took 30 years
to get this film made.

What happened was, um,
in about '75 or '76

uh, the actual Festival
Express project

kind of collapsed on itself

as a result
of multiple lawsuits

being tossed back and forth.

And, um, the film kind of
went into a limbo.

l never heard about the
footage again until about 1994,

when a friend of mine,
Garth Douglas,

called and said that
somebody he knew named Nick

um, had called to say that he'd
met this lawyer in Rosedale,

who had said he might
be interested

in looking at some film
canisters in his garage.

And we went to
this guy's garage

and we found about
150 big old film cans.

We took it back to our office,
we rented a flatbed,

and discovered that what
we had was a pile

of work-print slash-print,
and bank stock.

And my first question was,
''Where's the neg?

Where are the sound materials?

This looks great, what is it?''

And, you know,
you're looking at

dusty old, you know,
cans of work-print

that say, you know, ''Janis Joplin,
Full-tilt Boogie Band.

Traffic. Grateful Dead.

The Band. Mountain.''

( chuckling ) You just start...

you know, it's like
at this point l'm, what?

ln my... in my late 30s

and l still love the music.

And that, you know, at that point
l'm working professionally,

making documentaries about
music, among other things,

and suddenly there's
this treasure trove.

Turns out, garth calculates
there's 30 hours of this stuff,

which is work-print.

Very little of it is, uh, is in synch.

Um, so the, uh, you know,
the, uh,

the treasure hunt began.

Um, l had some preliminary
meetings then with Garth

and with Ken Walker,
the concert promoter.

And with Willem Poolman,

who was the producer of
the original film shoot.

James and l made
a deal with Willem,

and, uh, l started...
l got on the phone

and spent five and a half months
searching for this stuff,

talking to people
all over North America:

old labs, defunct labs,
old sound guys.

And finally dug this stuff up

in, uh, the National Archives
of Canada,

in the crawley vaults.

Had about one-tenth
of the stuff catalogued.

They had had
an archivist in there

for about eight years, just...

and, uh, the son of Budge Crawley's
old production manager,

Bill O'Farrell, Bill O'Farrell Junior,

was an archivist
and he went in

and dug out stuff
for 3 or 4 months.

We kept getting
boxes of stuff.

Boxes of neg, boxes of print,

boxes of sound materials.

And we finally got what we felt
was the... the entire film.

Yeah, l got a phone call from
a mate of mine up in Toronto.

And he owns a studio up there
called Metalworks.

His name is Gil and he was the
drummer in a band called Triumph.

l used to produce them.

Anyways, he... he...
he called me up and says,

''Listen, l... l've found this bloke.

He's got loads of film on...
it's all up your alley.

lt's vintage stuff, you know.

Do you want to come up
and do a quick mix?''

l said, ''Yeah, all right.''

And so he says,
''l'll send you a ticket.''

And l flew up toToronto,

met Garth Douglas,

who had apparently done all
this investigative work

and found all this film.

And we transferred,

it must have 30 or 40 hours
worth of audio tape...

um, to multi-track,
from 8-track to 24.

And l mixed three sections.

One was the Band, one was
The Grateful Dead,

and, um, the other was
a Janis track.

And we put
a little demo together.

And l thought, ''Well, it would
be nice to do this movie.

There's some wonderful music.''

When l saw the footage
it was like,

you know, it's like such
a jigsaw puzzle

and l was quite intrigued

to try and see the thing
through to fruition.

And l got a call
from Garth Douglas

and he'd been talking
to Eddie Kramer,

who... who was involved
in the project,

mixing the tracks and that.

And l'd done a Hendrix thing,
and Garth said,

''Look,'' you know, ''Will you be
interested in getting involved?''

So l said,
''Yeah, it sounds fantastic.''

When l listened to the tapes
for the first time,

l thought...

''l know what's gonna
go on with this''

because this is 1970,
it's 8-track,

lt's primitive conditions,

and it's very similar to the stuff
l was doing with Jimi Hendrix,

which was the same period,
same kind of problems,

you know, synching
and non-synching

and all that nonsense.

And some of the tapes were
okay, some of them were not.

Generally the quality is not up
to modern-day standards,

so l knew l was in for
a bit of a haul.

Creatively, it's almost like,

you know, a lot of the work's
been done for me.

You know, a lot of it,
it's been really well-shot.

Peter Biziou shot the stuff,
as well as other cameramen

from England and fromToronto,
and probably from the States.

And you know, Frank Sotonovich,
who l knew anyway

was, you know,
the original director,

and l met Frank
a couple of times

when l was like, a young guy
you know, trying to make films

and he had a good sort of spirit
about him,

and l thought, oh, if Frank
was involved,

Peter Biziou was involved,

it's good that l've been,
you know,

one of the people who
have been passed this ball

and been allowed to sort of run
with it

and hopefully get it across the finish
line. And get it done, you know

James and l worked on getting
the project off the ground

for about five years, well,
four or five years.

From the winter of '93,
starting really in '94,

until '98 or '99,
l'm not sure when.

l pretty quickly came
to the decision

that is was, you know,

there was no way l had
the time or resources

to try and put
this thing together

because it was not so much
the film-making part of it

but there seemed
to be no chain of title.

There seemed to be
no continuity of, uh,

you know, who signed
what release for what.

We got to the point, literally,

where we understood that
the whole process

was hampered by rights,

and the only way we were
going to get a film made

is to get the rights done.

l think the difficulties were
mostly the...

obtaining the rights from the
producer... from the musicians.

And l think
until it was financed,

you really...
we couldn't really get that

Because the musicians
wouldn't let us use their name
to do the financing.

We had to have
the financing first.

l just figured, you know,
l'm a storyteller.

l want to tell stories. l don't
want to hang out with lawyers.

So, uh, l, uh, bailed on it.

Um... some point thereafter...

Gavin Poolman came into
the picture for me,

and 'cause l think he and Garth
had been working together,

'cause l left the project.

And Gavin of course
was Willem's son,

and it seemed like
a logical move to say,

''Here.'' You know?
''God bless you. Good luck.

l'd love to see this done.''

And, uh,
''But l can't spend more...

you know, l've spent five years
on it, that's enough for me.''

And then within like,
a month, Garth said,

''Look, you know, this other guy's
involved, Gavin Poolman.''

And l met Gavin, and you know,
he seemed enthusiastic about it

and told me more of
the history of the thing.

Well l was involved
originally as a little kid

when my dad went of
to produce the film,

and it sort of fell
apart somehow.

l was a kid so l didn't
really know how

And one day he came home with
film cans to put in the garage.

Tonnes and tonnes of film cans,

and of course we moved a lot
for various reasons,

and we always had to carry
these film cans everywhere,

and l was going, ''Come on, Dad.

Why do we have to carry
these cans around?

Can't we just, like,
leave them behind?''

And ultimately the cans of flm
that were in my garage,

turned into the film
we're making now.

He kept the original guys on it.

He kept Kramer, and you...

lt was fun.

Bob went to Dublin and worked
with the editor

who's working on the flm now,
Eamonn Power,

and they cut together
a show reel,

which, l almost cried
when l saw it.

l didn't know it could
possibly be this good.

And, uh, so we took
the show reel around

with my producing partner,
John Trapman,

and showed it to, basically,
some wealthy individuals,

who decided that this was
a risk worth taking.

So we financed
the film completely

on the basis of this show reel
being shown to wealthy people.

You can get an investor who is
interested in rock music

and he has the money,
he will get all very excited.

Like, l think l'm, myself, very
excited the film is being made.

The great thing
about this project is,

the archive, you know,
tells a story.

You know, that's where
the narrative is

rather than if you go out and
interview loads of people

and their long-winded
talking heads,

probably like this,
like what l'm doing now,

you know, so much of the
story comes from the footage,

you know exactly
what's happening.

You know, it's there in the pictures
and the sounds. lt's fantastic.

But it was very important for
the film to tell its own story

rather than us
to be discussing, you know,

the differences in the way
that music has evolved

or some sociological or
anthropological view,

which we felt would alienate
an audience.

We're making a film that will
hopefully show people

the love that the musicians
had at the time for the music

that we as audiences had at
the time, and still feel.

You know, when l look
back on that era...

'67 through '72,

l... l've always thought of that

as the golden age
of rock 'n roll.

And here, these disparate
characters from the music biz,

and they... lt wasn't really
even the music biz then.

These were wonderful
musicians, on a train,

going from one place
to another.

lt's like a... like... you know,

Jimi Hendrix said,

you know, his new band was
going to be the band of gypsies.

This was really like a band
of gypsies.

All sort of gathered together

in one place at one time

and moving through time
to another city

and creating music
at the same time.

lt's kind of bizarre but
it's wonderful

also, because you're looking at
people before they became icons,

they were just, you know,
guys fromAlbuquerque

and a girl from Texas,

and a bunch of folks
from the Gaspe.

They were just folks.

And to see them in that light,

to see them as people,

rather than
North American icons

really gives it a nice flavour.

And l think that's what makes
the Festival Express different.

That's what will make it
different

from all the other rock films
out there and there are a lot.

As someone who was there
as a 16-year-old

and someone now
who's a 48-year-old

who still loves the music
and admires those musicians,

and the film-makers
that are involved,

it almost seems, in an odd way,

that the wait's been worth it

because people are really
going to appreciate it now.

And you know, handled right,
and l think it will be,

it's going to be
an extraordinary document

that, uh, will put
people in touch

with a very rare moment
in music.

Um, and a rare moment
socially and culturally

that... that for 90 minutes,

people will be able to re-live
on the screens.

The film was, l think,
originally conceived

in about june of 1970.

Uh, it's...
it's now December, 2002.

Hopefully it will be finished
in the summer of 2003.

So this... we may make the
Guinness Book of World Records:

33-year film production.

l don't think anyone else
has ever done that

I was promoting concerts
and festivaIs.

And prior to doing
FestivaI Express,

the year before,

I did the first Toronto
Pop FestivaI at Varsity Stadium.

And then, uh,
that was in June,

and then in September we
did the Rock'n RoII RevivaI.

WeII I had done a festivaI
with Kenny WaIker,

he had done one in Toronto
before,

I think it was rock 'n roII...

Toronto Rock 'n RoII...
Toronto Rock 'n RoII FestivaI,

( cIearing of throat )
I beIieve it was.

John Lennon was there.

CIapton.

And, uh, from that,
I think they got...

I knew Kenny, and from that
I think they got the idea to...

''Wow. Let's, uh, Iet's do more
festivaIs.''

I decided that
the best way to traveI

and present the festivaI
to as many peopIe as possibIe,

was to use stadiums.

Then the question came up,
how to do it"?

How to move everybody "?

And Kenny's very kind of...

He's kind of an organizationaI
genius.

He came up with the idea of...

This is my guess,
educated guess,

that he came up with the idea
to do it by train.

Everybody said it
sounded great.

And the agents,
having known what I did

with the Rock 'n RoII RevivaI,

um, you know
I puIIed off a coup

by getting Lennon to come,

thought that I was
very capabIe of doing it.

I knew the probIems
he was having,

you know Iike the toiIets,
for exampIe.

to make sure there's enough
toiIets for everybody

And there was
the whoIe big story

about how he printed
the tickets

on Canadian currency,
Iike on the paper.

To avert counterfeiting.

I mean he was thinking of
everything.

One of these peopIe who think
of every singIe contingency

You know, he sort
of thought it aII out.

And he was a wiId guy

He, uh, he wouId occasionaIIy
stop the train

and get out with his .38 magnum,

to hunt bear.

Of course he never got
anything

because he had a IittIe
chemicaI breakfast

and he probabIy couIdn't
distinguish

the bears from the trees,
you know.

The onIy ones that
weren't so sure

they wanted to traveI
on the train was the band.

Um, and, uh, JopIin said,

''Come on. It's gonna be a party.''

And so she got, I think,

Rick Danko to agree to come
on the train.

When we first heard about it,

it sounded Iike a wonderfuI
musicaI event.

You know, we get
to get together

and interact
with aII these musicians,

some of whom we don't see
aII that often.

You know, some of them,

Janis, the new riders of
the purpIe sage,

those guys, we saw them
aII the time.

But the guys from the band,

and DeIaney and Bonnie,
and peopIe Iike that,

this was...
this was new for us

and there were going to be some
reIativeIy fresh interactions,

you know, and the possibiIity
for some new stuff to happen

and... which it sureIy did.

I was just a IittIe bass pIayer
making $115 a week.

$135 a week with DeIaney
and Bonnie.

I don't know. And I had just
gotten in the band.

I was a kid.
I had just turned 20.

I was 19 when I got with
DeIaney and Bonnie.

I turned 20, and they said,

''Oh, we're gonna go.
We're gonna go tour.

And we're going to Canada.''

And our band had
just been formed.

We were just put
together in apriI,

and this was in June.

So, um, we were okay.
We were touring.

We were starting to pIay
the music weII

But we were a new band.

Like, the GratefuI Dead had
been around

for quite a whiIe,
they were estabIished.

So, reaIIy, we were just
IocaI boys from Canada

back... back in Canada,

the onIy time we ever
pIayed Canada,

on the train of aII things.

And we were nobodies.

So to be... rub shouIders
with aII these things,

it reaIIy was speciaI.
It was quite speciaI.

For me, I never had a doubt.

It was an adventure.

And I was gonna enjoy it
to the fuII,

no matter what happened.

But I was absoIuteIy,
in my heart, set

that this was going to be
a great time.

WeII, anybody
who's into trains,

and I was writing songs
about freight trains

and Iove and Iost Iove,
and aII this stuff,

and riding a freight
train, dusty boxcar waIIs,

stuff Iike that, I mean that...

I was not a hard seII.

Yeah... everyone, I think,
just Ieaped at the chance

because it was so bizarre,
the whoIe idea.

And, you know to have
your whoIe worId move on...

CIickety-cIack over the raiIs,
I mean...

I think that...
it had a romantic appeaI.

I was in my mid-20s and writing
for ''RoIIing Stone''.

And, you know this was reaIIy
a chance of a Iifetime

to get invoIved in this.

You know, to be on this train
with aII these amazing peopIe.

And you know
it was a gig that I grasped
with both hands, eagerIy.

It... there was a kind of a...

A thing happened
with Woodstock,

whereby the concert grew
out of aII proportions,

expected proportions,

and there was a point where they
couId not seII any more tickets

or controI the numbers and
the gates came down,

and the fences came down,
and the peopIe came in.

And it was, what"?
500,000 peopIe or so.

Uh, that began
to trigger this...

This idea of,
''music for the peopIe.

Free music for the peopIe''

Right"? ( ChuckIing )

Which is a great concept
for the peopIe

but they have no idea
of the amount of money

that it takes to put aII
that on and make it happen.

In fact I was approached on
my way in to the grounds

as I carried my guitar,

and someone tried to expIain
to me this is the peopIe's music

and the peopIe shouIdn't have
to pay for that.

And truIy,
my response to him was,

''WeII, gee. What do you do
for a Iiving"?''

He said, ''WeII I work at
my father's cIothing shop.''

I said, ''This is reaIIy good,
you know"?''

I'II be down tomorrow to get
my free suit. The peopIe's suit.''

And he Iooked at me
quizzicaIIy and said,

''What"?'' I said,
''Yeah, the peopIe's suit.

I'II be there to get mine
tomorrow. WiII you be at work"?''

And it stopped him in his tracks

and I guess that's
seIf-expIanatory now isn't it"?

And then there
was a deIegation

that came to our offices
on Dupont Street.

And they crashed
into the office

and demanded to see me.

And they said they were
the M4M;

the May 4th Movement.

And I said, ''I don't know what
the May 4th Movement is.

If it's a cIub,
I don't want to join.''

And so I said, ''I have
no interest in joining any cIubs.''

And they said, ''No, weII
we're here 'cause we want...

Music shouId be free.
Free dope.

No pigs and 10%%% of the profits
are to go to some...''

Daycare something or other.

And I said, ''Where are the profits
going to come from

if we're not charging"?

And who the heII
do you think is going to pay
for putting this thing on"?

I'm not doing it for the good
of my heaIth.

You know, we've got a budget
of haIf a miIIion doIIars.

You got any spare change"?''
( chuckIing )

So the guy said, you know

''You're just ripping us off.''

That's aII that they kept saying.

And it sounded good.

And so I said, you know
''This meeting is over.''

And I got up from behind my desk

and I grabbed him by the back
of the neck and the arm,

and we were on the second fbor,

and I took him to the stairs,

and I pushed him
down the stairs.

And there was raiIings
on either side.

so I had my hands on both raiIs,

and I kicked him down
the stairs.

There was a Iot of taIk,
there was gonna be...

peopIe were going to crash
the gates and disrupt it.

And there were peopIe Iike,
on rooftops,

way at the end
of where the fieId was,

where the concert fieId...
the performing fieId was.

And peopIe yeIIing, screaming,
you know,

''We shouId get to hear
the concert for free.''

There was a great deaI
made of, you know

''The pigs. The pigs.''
AII that stuff.

But, you know,
truIy the mounted...

not the mounties, but the...
the poIice,

the Toronto PoIice that were
on horseback,

they were terrific.

And the horses are very good
with crowds.

That's what they're trained for,
is to not panic, and not doing...

but when you've got kids throwing
pepper in a horse's eyes, I'm sorry.

That truth is that...
( chuckIing )

it can't be free, compIeteIy.

Somebody's gotta pay
for something

to make it happen.

Even if... Even if you don't pay
a ticket,

even if you don't pay money
for tickets,

something's gotta be,
you know...

you gotta rent a truck,
you gotta rent a generator.

You know,
somebody's gotta pay for it.

Some Iong-term friendships
got estabIished there.

That's where I met Kenny Gradney
for instance,

who Iater ended up being
the bass pIayer for IittIe feet,

and aIso in one of my bands,

somewhere aIong
the way there.

Um, but we became friends, uh,

we were both pretty
much the kids,

you know of that entourage,

and we just had
a Iot of fun together

'cause nobody took us seriousIy

And so we met, and somehow
not being taken seriousIy,

we sort of maximized that.

We were aII young kids.

Everybody was reaIIy young.

This was what, 33 years ago"?

Everybody was young.

Everybody was Iike, ''Hey hey!'',
you know"?

And the bass pIayer was, ahh,
and I went, ''Give me that.''

He handed me his bass,
I started pIaying.

You know, someone, ''Anybody
want a drink"?'' You know"?

Passing the joint,
passing whatever,

and just pIaying.

It was just us. We were Iike...

we became a famiIy instantIy.

It was amazing.

And we were just aII boxed in,

pIaying the music the same way

eating the same way,

faIIing off to sIeep Iike this
the same way.

Or, if you had a IittIe sIeep.

I made them get me a IittIe
sIeeping bed.

Then when I went to that,

It was Iike three girIs and
a coupIe of guys,

and then, I'm Iike,
''So how did you get in"?''

''Shh!''
( chuckIing )

That's what was said to me.

''Okay, man. I'm not going
to put you of.

You know, just have fun.''

There were some reaIIy
deIicious moments.

AII these, you know
weII-known musicians

just drooIing, you know

foaming at the mouth,
going absoIuteIy nuts,

crawIing up and down the aisIes.

Oh, you know, absoIuteIy
drunk out of their minds.

And these were peopIe who didn't
drink a Iot, I... I got a feeIing.

AIthough the bIues guys of
course, probabIy aII drank a Iot.

But the guys in my band didn't
drink that much.

For one thing,
many of these bands

were from
the oId Haight-Ashbury:

Janis, the GratefuI Dead,

AIso the rise of
the PurpIe Sage.

And this was a...
reaIIy a wonderfuIIy,

sort of magicaI, sort of
bohemian community

tiII it got overrun
in the summer of Iove.

And in the meantime, everybody
had become hugeIy famous.

I mean the dead were, you know,
huge symboIs of hippie cuIture.

Janis was a huge star.

And I think that everybody
you know,

thought of this as a sort of,
you know,

a kind of, uh...

Haight-Ashbury high schooI
reunion, you know

Like... and it was
very much Iike that.

You can't pIay music
and get rich.

And I mean even the cats
that get a hundred grand
a gig, you know"?

They don't get fuckin' rich.
It goes everywhere.

Because musicians, essentiaIIy,
aren't in a position

where money is what's
happening with them.

Music is what's happening,
and the money goes pIaces.

Every musician that gets
a Iot of bread, man,

spends it on their cuIture,
man, on their scene, man.

They spend it on dope.
They spend it, you know..

They Iay it out, man. To other
peopIe just Iike them, man.

And it stays
in the fucking community

and it moves around reaI fast.

And the reason
there are so many heads

who are abIe to Iive
on the street

is because there's
a fucking Iot of musicians

make a Iot of bread and
spend it though.

Man:
You don't see rich musicians

wearing brooks brothers suits.
WeII, you see...

You know,
that's aII I can say, man,

is we ain't from here.

WeII I wanted
to make sure that if...

anybody was too high
to perform,

or too Iow to perform,

that I had somebody
on board that was abIe
to straighten them out.

And then I thought, uh,
that if, uh... uh...

anybody needed surgery

I wanted somebody capabIe
of doing that.

The doctor was reaIIy busy

because you know, peopIe had
to perform and Iike,

he was Iike, you know,
giving doses of speed,

with, you know B-12 shots.

And everybody got...
everybody was going...

at one point, was going back,
puIIing their pants down.

In the IittIe medicaI section,
you know,

to get some kind of shot of
one thing or the other.

If I've got a performer that's
too high this way

you have what's necessary
to bring them down.

And if they're too far down,

you have what's necessary
to bring them up.

And if they're too far this way

you have what's necessary
to centre them out.

But the show's gotta go on.

That's your job.

When we got to Winnipeg,

I had rented the OIympic
swimming pooI,

and, um, 'cause I figured,
you know,

there's no showers
on a train and, um,

they're gonna want
to wash up.

So we rented the pooI

and I had them cIose it
to the pubIic.

They bus us aII up there, right"?

We're getting off the train,
we're stinky.

We haven't bathed
in two and a haIf days,

and we're stoned and drunk,

and we puII up, and there's
these kids standing there!

''25 cents. You have...
for your trunks,

you have to pay 25 cents
for your trunks.''

We aII Iook at them.

We stand up. We start taking
our cIothes off.

We're there buck naked.

With those IittIe things
Iike they have

in the supermarkets,
you have to...

jump over that.

Everybody just jumps
in the pooI, buck naked.

It's Iike,
''Oh wait! You can't...!''

Think Janis decided that, uh,

she was gonna go starkers
into the pooI.

And so she tore off her cIothes
and jumped in the pooI.

And I got a caII
from the pooI manager

Who said to me,

''There's some crazy woman here
who's taken her cIothes off.

Can't happen.''

He said, ''You're gonna have
to get her to get dressed again.''

So I said, ''You know,
this is, uh... uh...

an unscheduIed thing.

None of them brought
bathing suits,

and the pooI's supposed
to be cIosed to the pubIic.

What the heII
are you worried about"?

Nobody's going
to see it except you.

And if you teII me you're
standing there and watching,

then you're teIIing me what
kind of a pervert you are.''

( Iaughing )

Word got out that I had just
punched out the mayor

and that's when JopIin and
some of them

decided to make that
modeI train that I have,

and present it to me.

They were just fIipped out,

and the mayor...
I had him on the ground.

And, uh, I mean I was weighing
in at about 230 pounds,

and he was maybe 110 pounds
soaking wet.

So when I hit him, he went...

I Iifted him right off his feet.

And then I jumped down
and I was gonna...

I had a hand, my hand...
had a handfuI of his throat,

and I was drawing back
to deIiver another one.

I wouId have kiIIed him.

And, uh... ( ChuckIing )

There was some guy
hoIding my arm.

And someone... You know,
''Let go of me!''

And I'm trying to swing
this way,

and I kept saying, ''I'm gonna
kiII this son of a bitch!''

And...
so this guy flashed his badge.

He was chief honcho
from the R.C.M.P. in Edmonton,

and said that, ''You did good,
but don't hit him again.''

You know there was Ken
chasing him down the haIIway

the mayor taking
a swing at him,

and the doctor saying to him,

''Ken, I've aIready given you
5 tranquiIIisers

I hadn't sIept in four days.

So, and then after that scene
with the mayor,

my bIood pressure was right
through the roof.

And so he had what was
necessary to stabiIize me,

'cause when he said,
''I'm gonna hospitaIise you'',

I said, ''Like heII you are.
I'm not going.

There's nobody eIse
to run the show.

And the show's gotta go on.''

So I said, ''I'm not going
to any bIoody hospitaI.

Now you've been hired
to do a job, do it.''

So he gave me, I don't know,
something to caIm me down.

And, uh, but I know that the
capiIIaries on my forehead

Were so cIose to the surface

that if I wiped my hand,

there'd be bIood on my fingers.

You wanted
to stay on that train

And go to the bar
car one more time,

and...

go to the restaurant car
and dine,

reIax with your friends

and it wouId have been nice
if we had to traveI

maybe 100,000 miIes that way.
it wouId have been great.

( chuckIing ) You know, 'cause
I was having so much fun

I didn't want the train to stop.

Just make a u-turn
and go back.

It... It was bittersweet.

We were aII parting company
the next day

and we were sad about that

'cause, you know, we were
good friends,

good buddies at this point.

But at the same time,
young as we were,

we knew our bodies weren't going
to take much more of this.

So the prospect of getting
a IittIe sIeep,

of maybe Iaying of the hooch
for a few nights

and aII that kind of stuff,

that seemed...

that seemed Iike a better
and better idea

as the hours went on.

We aII were staying at
the Banff Springs hoteI

which is a big...

It's Iike the hoteI
in ''The Shining''

and it kind of overIooks
this big Iake.

And we went... that...

That night,
we aII sort of gathered

in one of these big, oId rooms
in the hoteI,

and, you know, everybody kind
of created this sort of iIIusion

that we were stiII on the train

because nobody
reaIIy wanted it to end.

And peopIe were saying,

''I can hear the fan bIowing
in my room, and I can...''

I mean peopIe got
very sentimentaI

and nostaIgic about this

because it was a reprise,
as I said,

of the Haight-Ashbury.

And aIso it was Iike this...
this wonderfuI, uh,

you know communaI feeIing
that suddenIy was ended,

and it was over.

Everybody was crying.

Nobody wanted to go home.

I was sitting in a windowsiII
with Janis,

and she had a bottIe and
we were smoking a fatty,

and she goes,

''Lemme pIay you this song
Kris wrote for me.''

And she starts
singing Bobby McGee.

And I just start bawIing.

I mean I'm sitting there, Janis
JopIin's on acoustic guitar

Singing Bobby McGee to me.

I'm 20 years oId. I was Iike,
freaking out.

It was unbeIievabIe.

When I think back on it,

it makes me smiIe, mostIy.

And when that happens,
you know,

then it's not such a bad thing,
you know.

You may have forgotten
a Iot of the detaiIs,

but I can... when I...
when I think of it,

aII I can do is... is crack up.

It was reaIIy a Iot of fun.

And it was
a growing experience.