The smiles on the faces of the musicians reflected just how much fun they were having together, and it was a joy to watch. The promoters hired camera and audio crews to film and record the performances and the action on the train, but due to financial problems and legal disputes the documentary, Festival Express, was not completed for 33 years, emerging like a time capsule in 2003 after 30 hours of video and audio were recovered from a Toronto garage and Canada’s National Archives. I nodded my head or vice versa and you just played.”, “I recall getting into a drinking contest with Janis Joplin and I was seriously out-matched,” recalled Ian Tyson. Auf dieser Reise wurden fünf Städte angefahren, um dort die Konzerte aufzuführen. The recollections of the great time on the train are tinged with a sadness about those losses. She wrote her first song, ‘You Were On My Mind’, in 1962, and three years later it reached #3 on the Billboard chart for a group called We Five, subsequently hitting the British charts as a hit for Crispian St Peter. It took a lot of research, but it was a labour of love. The ad for the Festival Express. Ian played guitar; Sylvia, guitar and autoharp. 146:22. Sylvia Tyson sang, composed and occasionally played piano. Further, if the protesters thought the ticket prices were too high, why didn’t they just not go? It was non-stop. Canadian National Railway), which was a … Clipper (Parthenos sylvia). She wrote her first song, ‘You Were On My Mind’, in 1962, and three years later it reached #3 on the Billboard chart for a group called We Five, subsequently hitting the British charts as a hit for Crispian St Peter. The entertainers were warming up for their last three nights together. It was a radical hybrid. Barbara Stone. Sykes reportedly demanded that “the children of Calgary be allowed into the festival for free.” Walker bluntly refused and Sykes called him “eastern scum” and “an animal who had come to this city to try and make a fast buck.” Walker, who was a large, fit, broad-shouldered man in his late twenties, proudly claims he then dropped Sykes with a roundhouse punch in the mouth, cutting his knuckles on Sykes’ teeth, and then jumped on him, and had to be pulled off the Mayor by a senior RCMP official from Edmonton K Division, who Walker claims said he did well, but he couldn’t punch the Mayor again. The tour was a financial flop, and thanks of a fight between the festival promoters and the film producers, no film was edited or exhibited. Festival Express is a documentary film about three concerts that took place in 1970 during a one week period. They were followed by two polished solo performers playing acoustic guitars. Sylvia Tyson, CM (born Sylvia Fricker, 19 September 1940, Chatham, Ontario, Canada), is a musician, performer, singer-songwriter and broadcaster. The Summer of Love was always a misnomer, but this felt like the Winter of Hate. Dave and I took one look at the list of performers and chorused “let’s do it.”. Ian Tyson and Sylvia Fricker (m Tyson) sang together in Toronto clubs as early as 1959. I have a confession to make. One of the train cars said Festival Express and another said Bar Car, she added “because that’s where the action was.” She then gave the promoters a case of tequila and said “The train is for remembering, the tequila is for continuing”. The people sitting nearby invited the three of us to join them and lit up a joint. A ticket for the 12-hour music marathon was a ridiculously cheap $12, or $10 in advance. The very popular bar car ran out of alcohol on its way through the flatlands of Saskatchewan and the promoters demanded the train stop in Saskatoon, where the musicians passed the hat and emptied a liquor store of everything, including a giant display bottle of Canadian Club, leading to a hilarious drunken party that is well captured in the documentary. See more ideas about Ian and sylvia, Sylvia, Folk music. I noticed that in the documentary Jerry Garcia can be seen smiling and applauding Sha Na Na at the end of their set. Die Geselligkeit der Künstler untereinander, der ständige Austausch und die Tatsache, dass die Musiker alle Freiheiten hatten, führte zu der Aussage von Kenny Gradney:"It was better than Woodstock, as great as Woodstock was." Thanks Larry. Bachman later confessed he was so nervous he misspelled ‘American’ and skipped the rest of the songs he planned to play. The Dead were scheduled to perform at Altamont but after arriving by helicopter they quickly realized things were totally out of control and got back on the chopper, wondering what had gone terribly wrong. No one left the train during that week except to perform in the concerts. We went to the late show, which started just after midnight and we stumbled out into the morning light at around 5:30 a.m., dazzled by the concert, and thumbed our way back 80 kilometres to West Orange, New Jersey. They come across as talented but unpretentious people who share an all-encompassing love of music. “Hey man,” he said with a laugh, “You don’t smoke seeds, you plant them.”. ... Ian and Sylvia, and others sometimes performing together. I suspect they were short of good Toronto concert material and cheated a little bit. You would have, too. Janis Joplin-Wikipedia Chatting with Miss Joplin, Rush, Ian and Sylvia, and other entertainers at the bash, I learn they all dig the Vancouver scene and were disappointed Vancouver as a site for the festival was cancelled. Things really started to rock when red-hot blues guitar player and singer Buddy Guy hit the stage and had the crowd on their feet with sizzling versions of Hoochie Cootchie Man and Money, using a ridiculously long power cord that enabled him to walk off the stage right up to the crowd while playing up a storm. “It was a totally unique experience,” Sylvia Tyson said three decades later. Der Festival Express war 1970 eine Konzerttour vom Osten zum Westen Kanadas. I picked up a copy of Rolling Stone magazine two days later and learned about Festival Express. You'll forgive me when you look at Sylvia Tyson's photograph. That was followed by the electric Dead. The acoustic highlight was a terrific version of the traditional song, Don’t Ease Me In, which the film incorrectly suggests was played in Toronto by using cutaway shots to the Toronto stadium and crowds. Janis and Jerry called the promoters on stage and presented them with a huge toy train, signed by all the musicians. The next act was Sha Na Na, which one of my friends accused of  “showing no respect for the Dead.” I liked their energy and thought they were fun. I told him I was a huge fan and Dave and I started a friendly conversation with him. Ian and Sylvia (manchmal auch Ian & Sylvia) war ein kanadisches Folk- und Country-Rock-Duo. I only wish I could have made it to Toronto, but I didn’t think my friend David and I could have gotten to Winnipeg in time for the rest of the tour. Produced by Todd Rundgren, the record failed when Ampex was unable to establish widespread distribution. Backstage, Calgary’s wafer-thin mayor, Rod Sykes, approached the promoter, Ken Walker, who hadn’t slept in four days, and was popping pills to stay awake. As usual she sang like a fireball, while exuding a deep sense of vulnerability, most noticeably on a thunderous rendition of Cry Baby, completing a spectacularly entertaining Canada Day that cost $10. They brought their group Great Speckled Bird to the show to become the house band. It was called Festival Express, but many people dubbed it Woodstock on Wheels because the bands and solo artists barnstormed across the country on a private CN train, which turned into an endless, wild and crazy jam session and party as it churned west from Toronto to Winnipeg and on to Calgary, staging top drawer music festivals at each stop. Festival Express. Next up was The Band, who were really exceptional, the best act at the Winnipeg concert in my opinion, playing a superb version of The Weight, featuring Levon Helm’s soulful singing and Dylanesque lyrics, followed by keyboard specialist Richard Manuel’s soulful rendition of Dylan’s I Shall be Released – for me the best performance of the festival tour. “One way or another, this darkness got to give.”. The Festival Express got underway on June 27 & 28 1970 when the vision of ace promoter Ken Walker to hire acts including Eric Andersen, The Band, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, Robert Charlebois, The Grateful Dead, Ian & Sylvia and The Great Speckled Bird, Janis Joplin, Mashmakan, Mountain and Buddy Guy had come to fruition. Ironically, the cancellation of the concert in Monreal, June 24, opened a date for the Grateful Dead to play that night at the Capitol Theater in Porchester, New York, instead, widely regarded as one of their greatest ever concerts and happily we were there to enjoy it. FOLK MUSIC EPHEMERA, circa 1960s. After his opening song he said to the crowd “First, I’m going to pick you up – and then I’m going to put you down!” Which is exactly what he did. Festival Express is a 2003 documentary film about the 1970 train tour of the same name across Canada taken by some of North America's most popular rock bands, including the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy, Flying Burrito Bros, Ian & Sylvia's Great Speckled Bird, and Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. By the spring, the Festival Express was ready to roll with a dream lineup: Joplin, the Band, the Grateful Dead, Ian and Sylvia (along with their influential country-rock band, the Great Speckled Bird), Buddy Guy, Traffic, Ten Years After, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Tom Rush and Eric Andersen were all … By the way, I’m curious about how you found this post! JERRY GARCIA, SYLVIA TYSON, FESTIVAL EXPRESS, 2003 Surrey, UK, 23 Jan 2018. I was 23 at the time. The entertainers were warming up for their last three nights together. Viele der Musiker blieben in dieser Zeit im Zug, andere erschienen nur bei den Konzerten. Title: Festival Express. Festival Express tells the story of the 1970 cross-Canada train tour of some of the most popular musicians of the day. Joplin is likely the best white female blues singer ever, and she held nothing back that night. Ähnlich wie bei Woodstock weigerten sich viele Jugendliche, den Eintritt (16 US-Dollar) zu bezahlen und versuchten, die Konzerte zu stürmen und gegen die Polizisten vorzugehen. Both songs are available on the film’s Blu-ray/DVD extras. In around 1976-77 my husband and I helped Ken take those films to the bank to put them in a vault. It is the heart and soul moment of Festival Express. Dave and I mentioned the June 24 concert in Port Chester, saying truthfully it was the best rock concert we had ever attended (still true in my case). Festival Express. “I don’t know where you’ve been all week, but we’ve been at a party. The last line of the Dead song, repeated three times, summed up their concerns. They later wrote a song about the train festival called Might as Well. Thanks for your comment, Coleen. Learn how your comment data is processed. Sadly, the three stars of the film, Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia and Rick Danko all died way too young. Getting called 'on the carpet' I got an email from the movie promotion company asking if I'd like to do any 'red carpet interviews' for the premier of Festival Express, the documentary of the famed Canadian train trip and concerts back in 1970. It was in 1961 that Ian and Sylvia headlined at Canada's legendary Mariposa Folk Festival. The performers, who didn’t have swim trunks and hadn’t had a shower during their 2 ½ days on the train, went for a massive skinny dip in the pool, including Janis Joplin, who shocked the pool manager, according to Walker. I had to start with a beauty question. INFO: Source: WEBRip Video compression mode: [MKV,1080p][H.264,AC3] Size MB: 2600 Total Run Time mn. Unlike in standard music festivals where performers came together for a couple of hours or days, the participants in this tour all traveled together on the same train, partying and jamming along the way between concert venues in Toronto, Winnipeg, and Calgary. Festival Express is a 2003 rockumentary film about the 1970 chartered train tour across Canada taken by some of the world's biggest rock bands, … The Band ended their set with a delightfully rowdy version of Little Richard’s Slippin’ & Slidin’. The only place you could go, really, was your room,” recalled Eric Anderson. In addition to participating in the cross-Canada rock-and-roll rail tour Festival Express, they recorded a self-titled album for the short-lived Ampex label. Ian Tyson was born on September 25, 1933. We all sat down together, passing the joint around, toking and talking. The director, Bob Smeaton, recorded interviews in 2003 with many of the surviving musicians who put into words what the experience was like for the performers and how much they loved the train ride and treasured the memories. Later that evening he joined the excellent Delaney & Bonnie & Friends for their whole set. As we where walking from his office to the bank he told us the story of these film. Messages: 32329. We decided to write off the two Toronto shows, but figured that if we started hitchhiking the next day we should be able to make it to Winnipeg in time for the Canada Day concert. I was devastated when Janis died a few months later. Required fields are marked *. “Never had such a good time in my life before/ I’d like to have it one time more/ One good ride from start to end/ I’d like to take that ride again.” – The Grateful Dead, John Till, the lead guitar player in Janis Joplin’s back-up band put it well. Sylvia Tyson started performing professionally in 1959 as one-half of the internationally acclaimed folk duo, Ian and Sylvia. “It was a train full of insane people careening across the Canadian countryside, making music night and day, and then, occasionally, we’d get off the train and go play a concert,” said Grateful Dead bass player Phil Lesh. The music is very good and provides some of the best footage of these vintage bands at their creative peak, but what makes the film truly special is that it gives us a backstage pass to watch the individual musicians interacting musically and personally on the train, something you don’t get in either Monterrey Pop or Woodstock, where the bands just arrived, played, and left. There was a blues car, a rock car, and a folk and country car producing some impressive cross-genre connections, like rock guitarist Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead playing some nasty blues licks while blues ace Buddy Guy wails “I just can’t do it baby.”. I couldn’t have thrown a better party. “I’ve never had one like it, before or since.”, That sense of community continued as Janis Joplin and Jerry Garcia took the stage and Janis told the crowd on behalf of all the performers. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, The Band, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, Ian & Sylvia, Great Speckled Bird ‎– Festival Express Label: Magna Pacific ‎– 11467 Ian Tyson, Soundtrack: Road to Nowhere. “Things like that only happen once in a lifetime.”. The ad for the Festival Express. We made great time and got to Winnipeg in the afternoon of the day before the concert, just like the musicians, for whom the promoter Ken Walker rented the Pan Am Pool on Grant Avenue. A few seconds later Joplin launched into an inspired set, beginning with a knock-your-socks-off passionate rendition of Tell Mama. You'll forgive me when you look at Sylvia Tyson's photograph. Great memories, thanks for sharing this story. I know I had an overwhelming feeling that I had just experienced something very special but had no idea that this was the rare experience where the performers had even more fun than their audience. Während der Tour kam es zu mehreren Zwischenfällen. And even more grateful I had gone to the concert. Tom Rush memorably sang Murray McLauchlan’s beautiful Child’s Song, and was followed by Eric Anderson’s set, highlighted by his best known tune, Thirsty Boots. Ian And Sylvia. Ian Tyson was born on September 25, 1933. I was also impressed by Ian and Sylvia and the Great Speckled Bird, who featured ace pedal steel guitar player Buddy Cage. Format: DVD. I always enjoy Canada Day because I love this country the way every immigrant does. No rights are granted or implied. They demanded that the promoters, who lost a small fortune on the festival because of the protesters, should hand over most of the money from ticket sales to those protesters and the bands should play for free, despite their significant expenses – which sounds as spectacularly stupid now as it did then. Those excellent sets by the Dead and The Band had the crowd rocking and reeling and Janis Joplin followed at about 1 a.m., backed by the Full Tilt Boogie Band, mostly Canadian musicians. It was great to have an opportunity to hang with some people you liked but normally didn’t get to spend much time with.”, “You could walk in and you wouldn’t ask me what I was playing,” recalled Buddy Guy. Anderson acknowledged it was very tough doing an acoustic set in front of a festival crowd, but I was impressed by him. The next number was sung by Bonnie Bramlett and various other artists joined in through the course of the set. Ian And Sylvia. ... Ian & Sylvia & The Great Speckled Bird appear courtesy of Bearsville Records Jerry Garcia appears courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc. I loved the Dead in those days, when they were at their peak, and it was heartbreaking to see the way heavy drug use, especially Jerry’s later heroin addiction, de-railed the band and paved the way to his early death. Festival Express They brought their group Great Speckled Bird to the show to become the house band. “It seemed like time was sort of suspended. Those who did come to Winnipeg Stadium had a fantastic time. Your email address will not be published. Festival Express Movie Premier, Galaxy Theatre, San Francisco July 12, 2004. No thanks. The party was finally over but many of the musicians didn’t want it to end. That day is part of a larger narrative – the greatest rock festival in our country’s history – which Winnipeg was a central part of. Even after that discovery it took many years to complete the film because some of the raw material was lost or unusable. The crowd could not have asked for more. Deadheads of the world, unite at a theater playing “Festival Express.” There is also The Band, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Mashmahkhan and Ian and Sylvia Tyson (doing a … She is 63. On July 4th our group of about 10 friends from Edmonton got to McMahon Stadium early and grabbed some good space to the right of the stage. One of the people sitting with us said his life was complete now that he had met Jerry Garcia, which earned him a lecture from Garcia, who told him meeting a rock musician was no big deal and he should aspire to accomplish much more important things in his life. DVDs. For me, he was the biggest discovery of the festival. Festival Express was well worth waiting for. 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