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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 7, 1976)
r ~ ? 7r Page 8 THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 1976 The third century conies in on a high note Gonzales picnic was good way to celebrate midst Itural lifficull icultu lembi ditior ays a ch an te fl< ■cators } \He ter th Jober, fiiright ■l and ifccntra d on Bsies as Iras do y! lath tl e t'acult e uppoi Ifles as ^vse oi ided. 11 1 July 1 dlege tpulari/ m Hoi d the n Bg a _T[iitv i Bt ind (S sedn 51)t ant ■t oi t ■ in S] •cumstr y c finger Bolone Hnent pi. In < ■type «M far juestec Kelln Iner’s e open I “Oi irived; to wo ■ save s Born i The Citizens for Law, Order and Decency were right: Willie Nelson’s Fourth Annual Fourth of July Picnic did “lead to drunkenness, drug use, nudity and lewd, immoral be havior. ” It was a good picnic. Although the affair was not scheduled to begin until the morn ing of the Fourth of July, people began arriving as early as Thursday. By the time Jerry Jeff Walker offi cially opened the show Sunday morning, more than 80,000 people were encamped on the South Texas |ranch where the event was held. Those who remembered the stag gering lines of people, the huge traf fic jams and the searing heat at last year’s Liberty Hill picnic had a pleasant surprise. There were enough outhouses and latrines, more than enough concession stands and everyone was able to park and ;camp fairly close to the festival site. Even the weather cooperated. Al though it was extremely dusty, it was overcast most of the time and a light shower Sunday afternoon settled the grit and cooled things off a bit. Saturday night was Big Party time. Thousands of people roamed the area, moving from campsite to campsite, ingesting various ineb- riants. Leon Russell went onstage before dawn Sunday and played a set for those still capable of sitting up (and listening. A community shower had been set up and hundreds of people used it in the morning to wash off the grit and grime of the night before. The shower was built without a top, sides or floor and one had to wade through ankle-deep mud to reach it. Advance tickets for the event were $10 apiece, but the few gate atten dants there worked only occasion ally. By mid-morning on the Fourth, all pretense of a paid concert was abandoned. The fence was knocked down and the crowd streamed through. Most of the people roused them selves out of their stupors and went to the concert area early, only to be put back to sleep by a long-winded pastor from Gonzales who gave the morning sermon. Russell then came out to, in his words, “translate the sermon into language y’all can understand. ” Ronald Crosby (alias Jerry Jeff Walker) woke everybody up and got the crowd singing with a loud, rol licking version of “This Land is Your Land. ” With the Lost Gonzo Band as backup. Walker’s show was brilliant. Steve Fromholz, rapidly becom ing more than “A Rumor in His Own Time,” took the stage after Walker. By the time the festival was over, the list of performers included Hoyt Ax- ton, David Allen Coe, Rusty Weir, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Bill Gallery, George Jones, George M. Jones, Bobby Bare, Tracy Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel, Milton Carroll, Doug Sahm, B. W. Stevenson, Billy Joe Shaver, Waylon Jennings and Jessi Coulter, Linda Hargrove, Kris Kris- tofferson and Rita Coolidge, and, of course, Willie and his band. The action, however, was not on the stage as much as it was in the audience. Most of the people that go to music festivals of this sort, as op posed to concerts, go to have a good time rather than to listen to tunes. Most of them succeeded. However, there were bad times also. There were reports of numer ous fights and stabbings, of snake bites and one drowning. Although the bites and drowning, perhaps, could not have been avoided, the fights certainly could have been. Just as there were fights, there was also kindness. People forgot their own affairs as they helped child find his parents. Food an<B {of H were shared freely and, those not fortunate enough cars found hitchhiking easy. For the vast majority, the went on. People wandered ar<)| a kaleidoscope of sights and si enjoying the freedom. The was well staged, with goo There were no undue hassle‘1 the authorities, at least after til court order permitting the I and the townspeople, while nol ticularly friendly, were not i’I hostile. Willie Nelson has sail this will be the last Fourth o| Picnic; if there is a next year,| have a hard act to follow. Richard Chaml