The Altamont Free Festival, December 6, 1969, was intended as a west coast Woodstock in miniature. It turned into a day of substance abuse, violence, death, and murder. Many factors led to this disaster: inadequate parking, food and water, sanitation, and medical care; a literally last-minute venue change; all around poor and rushed planning; monumental Read more

1: What do Van Morrison, Jimmy Page, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr all have in common? Obviously, they all became massively famous and influential musicians. Aside from that, however, all these guys began their performing lives with skiffle bands. But what was skiffle?  I’m Dr. Mountain and that is the question Read more

So, stop me if you’ve heard this one; Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry lee Lewis walk into a recording studio… Does kinda sound like a set up for a joke, doesn’t it? Well, this was no joke, it was in fact what came to be known as the “Million Dollar Quartet.” But Read more

Music cue 1 – Intro music Memphis, 1955. Johnny Cash is at Sun Records working with Sam Phillips selecting the two songs for his second 45 release. His first two singles, Hey Porter and Cry! Cry! Cry! hadn’t even been released yet, but Phillips was confident and wanted to have two more singles ready. Cash Read more