Page 4/The Battalion/Thursday, June 2, 1983
Concert promotes spirit of togetherness
US Festival a success despite problems
vi •
Editor’s note: Scott Griffin
traveled to California to cover
the US Festival for the Battalion.
by Scott Griffin
Battalion Staff
The end of a great cultural
event has approached, and with
it marks the ending of the almost
assured decline of brotherhood
among the youth of this country.
The event I’m talking about is
the 1983 US Festival — a three-
day rock concert/computer expo
which attracted over 600,000
music fans who ate, drank, slept,
sweated, cheered and did other
things (some not exactly legal)
together in a spirit of camar
aderie much like Woodstock.
While I didn’t go to Wood-
stock, I talked to several people
who did. And all of them agreed
that the US Festival was diffe
rent than the rock fests of the
70s in that both the participants
and concert officials promoted a
sense of togetherness — some
thing not found in the last de
cade.
The 70s was the “ME” decade.
so concert officials decided it
was time to unite the young peo
ple in song by using a theme of
cooperation and friendship,
thus the use of the term “US Fes
tival".
It worked.
Young people from all
around the world were united
this weekend for one purpose —
to listen to good music. They
were also forced to live together
for three days. They had to
share bath facilities, living space
and breathing room in a camp
ground more suited to 6,000 in
habitants than 600,000.
I was one of the lucky ones
who spent Memorial Day
weekend at the US camp
ground. Granted, it was sizzling
hot in the day and bone-chilling
cold at night, it was crowded and
the portable bathrooms were
perpetually occupied. But this
group had a spirit not found in
the last 10 years among large
rock audiences.
Everywhere I looked I saw
people helping each other —
building tents, spraying each
other with water to help keep
cool during the Southern Cali
fornia days, building fires in the
cold nights, sharing food and
water — anything to keep each
other going.
It was almost Woodstock re
born.
The Vietnam War was a
catalyst for much of the music of
the time, and many came to
Woodstock to protest — to show
everyone that they could get
along for several days without
total chaos and to send a musical
message to everyone to stop the
war.
While those of us in the 80s
have no war to denounce, we
have a similar political goal — to
end the nuclear arms buildup
and the potential for nuclear
war. And we still have to show
the older generations that we
too can assemble in large num
bers without bedlam.
We did it, and that’s one simi
larity to Woodstock. (Before
everyone starts pointing to the
80-plus arrests and one killing,
let me remind you that we were a
group of over 600,000 in a com-
f >act area and in sweltering heat
or three days during a holiday
weekend. Go to the police file
for a city of over 600,000 on
Memorial Day weekend and
look at their number of arrests
and then try to tell me we were
rowdy.)
We had the spirit and energy
of the Woodstock generation in
us, and it was a good feeling to
see all those people getting
along with one another.
And as part of our peacekeep
ing, togetherness theme, a seg
ment of the Men At Work show
was beamed live via satellite to
Moscow. In exchange, Russia
beamed us their finest — a
group called Arsenal, which was
quite impressive.
Another similarity to Wood-
stock was the fact that the US
festival was a financial flop. Con
cert officials said a crowd of
800,000 would be required just
to break even. And even though
they knew it wouldn’t happen,
they still put on a show for us.
And what a show it was.
Twenty-five groups played over
the three days, and while some
were not exactly in top form,
none failed to totally disappoint
the crowd.
Day one consisted of the Di-
Father questions
shooting of son
United Press International
HOUSTON — The father of
a man killed by a policeman for
driving a backhoe in a reckless
manner, smashing other vehi
cles and allegedly threatening
the policeman, is questioning
the necessity of the killing.
Carl Kent said Kenneth Kent,
32, was not armed when he was
blown off the backhoe tractor by
a shotgun blast fired by Officer
William Knox about 3 p.m.
Monday.
One policeman was hit by the
rear wheel of the backhoe. Knox
was slightly injured dodging the
machine.
Kent said police should have
tried some non-fatal way to stop
his son, a former firefighter who
Kent said had not been the same
since a nervous breakdown in
1974.
Kent said he asked police why
officers could not have used a
stick to knock his son off the
tractor. He said he was told it
was against the law for police to
use a stick on suspects.
“Then why a shotgun?” Kent
asked. “Why couldn’t he have
gotten pistol and shot him in the
ieg.”
Kent said his son had called
him from his Liberty home Sun
day saying he “just needed
help.”
“He was scared. He was trying
to come back to me. That was the
only way he could get back to my
house was on that tractor,” Kent
said. “I went to look for him, and
when I found him he was dead.”
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vinyls, INXS, Wall of Voodoo,
Oingo Boingo, The Beat, Flock
of Seagulls, Stray Cats, Men At
Work and the Clash. Notable
performances from this day in
cluded the eight-member, Los
Angeles based Oingo Boingo,
The Beat — an English-based,
reggae-tinged group, and the
folks from Down Under, Men
At Work.
Lead singer Danny Elfman
and Oingo Boingo delighted the
crowd with sizzling versions of
“Grey Matter”, “Violent Love,”
and a new tune appropriately
entitled “Heat.”
Following Oingo Boingo was
The Beat with some hot reggae
dance numbers, English style.
“Save it for Later,” their latest
hit, was a hot one on stage.
And Men At Work sounded
just like they do on record.
Sweet and clean — nothing fan
cy, nothing overemphasized.
Day two was slightly different
— lots of heavy metal. While I
found myself struggling to pay
attention to some of the acts,
(Quiet Riot, Motley Crue,
Triumph, Van Halen) other
performers proved to be of
some value.
While his voice couldn’t hit
some of the higher notes as it
does in the studio, Ozzy
Osbourne did come on strong
with Black Sabbath classics like
“Iron Man” and “Paranoid.”
(And he didn’t bite the head off
of some helpless bird or any of
that stuff.)
Judas Priest put on a good
show with a multiple of metal
classics such as “Living After
Midnight” and “Green Mala-
lishi.”
And the German-based group
called Scorpions was really
crankin’ with some of their older
songs — “Lovedrive” and “Lov
ing You Sunday Morning.”
Day three was perhaps the best
overall. All of the groups gave
performances that, on a scale of
one-to-10, were fives or better.
Little Steven and the Disciples
of Soul sounded like their fore
fathers, the E Street Band, but
came through with a solid per
formance.
Berlin followed Little Steven
and were in top form — yes, they
did play “Sex.”
Oregon-based Quarterflash
was next and vocal/saxophonist
Rindy Ross was a crowd pleaser,
especially on their hit “Find
Another Fool.”
U2 was next. An incredible
performance ensued with
rough, sincere versions of “Sun
day Bloody Sunday,” “New
Year’s Day,” “Gloria” and their
first American hit, “I Will Fol
low.” Lead singer Bono Vox en
ticed participation with a jaunt
out into the audience and by
climbing a 30-foot ladder to
place a white flag, symbolizing
peace, atop the lighting deck.
The L.A. group Missing Per
sons was enjoyable, with drum
mer Terry Bozzio keeping the
crowd hoppin’ with some incre
dible solo work on “Noticeable
Ones.” “Words” and “Walkin’ in
L.A.” were two of the more
popular performances of their
set.
The US festival was also hon
ored with the return of the Pre
tenders. And while lead singer
Chrissie Hynde and her crew
weren’t dazzling, theydid
age some respectable twl!
“Back on the Chain Gi
“Message of Love” andi
from the first album,“1
Joe Walsh came outthii!;
away with the hits at tin
“Life’s Been GoocT’andH
Mountain Way,” even fc
overplayed on radio,wertj
hot live, and on the
Walsh proved thatheistni
king of the slide guitar
nique.
The first-lady of rod
roll, Stevie Nicks, was go
as usual. So was her
“Edge of Seventeen” nan
got the best reception
And the main-man ol
rock, David Bowie,
fans with an uninspired
smooth performance
Tom,” “Fame” and thelats
“Let’s Dance,” wereundi
great, undeniably Bowie
Musically, the USfestk
a success, but financially
devastating. Finander
Wozniak reportedly lost 1:
lion last year, and hemai
that much this year. Hedel
ly didn’t make any money
And earlier in the year,
niak said that he wouldnl
tinue to produce USfestr
he lost that much monevrj
Unfortunately, it loot
the end of an era—achan
young people to gettogetk
a rock show and toproveii
care about the generatt
the future.
But our generation,fit
of the 60’s, got toshowthe
we could do it — were
generation.
Grand jury to investigate
Dallas sherriff s car wreck
United Press International
DALLAS — A grand jury is
investigating whether Sheriff
Don Byrd should be indicted for
drunken driving in an accident
in which he smashed his car into
a traffic light.
District Attorney Henry
Wade said Tuesday he referred
the case to the Dallas County
grand jury after University Park
Police Chief David Beidelman
gave him evidence concerning
the wreck.
“There is some possibility
that he (Byrd) was intoxicated,
and they had some statements —
from some people, at least —
that indicates that there was
some drinking. How much, we
don’t know at this time,” Wade
said.
The accident occurred April
17 in University Park, a posh
Dallas suburb. The grand jury
subpoenaed 13 people, includ
ing paramedics who treated
Byrd after the accident
nesses.
Byrd was hospitalizedfc
eral days after the acdden
hid 1 rom reporters for
than a week. Four witnes
the wreck contradictedikt
cial explanation oftheact
and said Byrd ignored
fight.
Byrd has said he ra
drunk but did not rememk
accident. University Parlf
filed no charges against id
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