On SeptemTransLove Airways produced it’s final music event with an incredible all day, into the night event at the Del Mar Fairgrounds racetrack with an incredible lineup that included The Grateful Dead, Buddy Miles, Taj Majal, Sons of Champlin, Pacific Gas and Electric several bands sponsored by Ken Kesey, (including the Merry Pranksters, The Youngbloods, Phoenix, Ace of Cups) and a host of others that rocked the stand for hour after hour.Īnd guess what, all the bands played for FREE!!! Their performance at the Hippodrome highlighted some of their of long musical improvisations – a hallmark of the band. We all know what an incredible band they were as it has gone on and on and on. The house band, Maya, and The Frumious Bandersnatch also played.Īugust 2 and 3,week 8 – the final performance of the summer featured San Francisco’s Grateful Dead. July 19 and 20, the rock and roll legend Bo Diddley was one of Kip Winsett’s favorites. They brought to the late ‘60s music scene a soulful sound built around a horn section, and sophisticated arrangements. John the Night Tripper and his Louisiana Voodoo Show but he had to cancel at the last minute so The Sons of Champlin from Mill Valley in the Bay area played. Now how cool was that - West Coast and East coast bands on the same night! That same night they had The Velvet Underground. July 5 and 6 they brought in the Quicksilver Messenger Service - one of the bands they had initially sought to book simply as a single gig. June 28 and 29 the headliner was an LA band called Kaleidoscope while 2 San Diego bands, Baptized by Fire and Maya opened the show. Clover and Maya (local bands) opened for them.Īt a party in Rancho Santa Fe after the the Saturday night gig Buddy played 2 electric egg beaters – it was an amazing display of rhythm virtuosity! June 14 and 15, they featured the Velvet Underground, one of the premier bands in New York City at the time. The Hippodrome Ballroom had an all-star line up just about every week.
However, you could probably get in for free if you couldn’t afford to buy one.
Now check this out, tickets to all the concerts were $2.50. Steve Miller Band, Alexanders Rag Time Band and Baptized by Fire opened the Hippodrome Ballroom June 7 and 8, 1968. They had, by far, the best light show in the country from Mirkwood Lights, put together and run by Reggie Hager. They had an incredible gifted graphics artist, Becky Galdeano, who created super psychedelic posters and handbills that her sister Super Viv and others distributed all over the city of San Diego and some areas of the county. As any stage manager will tell you, its the most exciting place to be. Kip Winsett was the stage manager for all the shows.
They rented a huge sound system, with a pro mixing board, 5 ft tall speakers, stage monitors for the bands and hired a professional sound guy to run the whole system for every performance. So many people volunteered so much of their time cleaning the place up, and setting up a stage at one end. How bitch’en was that? Then the name, Hippodrome Ballroom and Trans-Love Airways Productions was in business! There was even a genuine ticket booth at the entrance. It had oak floors, sprayed acoustical ceilings and half walls which meant the sound from the stage just blasted straight out with no echo or bounce muddying things up. It first started when one found this huge roller skating rink downtown San Diego at Front and G and somehow they were able to get it. The next thing they knew, Trans-Love Airways Productions was born.īut it did not come easy, some sleazy “establishment” guy had all of the concert venues in San Diego sewn up for over a year and they just about abandoned the idea. If you La Jollans’ remember they had already put on a couple of “loveins” at the recently opened UCSD campus and the Cove Park in La Jolla. He more they talked the more they got excited. Becky Galdeano, created these super psychedelic posters
What were nine San Francisco bands doing playing an all-day festival in San Diego County in September of 1968? How did this come about? Well it all started in the spring of 1968 in La Jolla California with a bunch of guys Ron “Anchovy” Barca, Kip Winsett, Don Collins, George Driver and a few others were sitting around in their pad on Playa Del Sur talking when they had the idea of doing a rock concert in San Diego.