Saw Peter Green and the Fleetwood Mac there. They were the first act of 3 bands for 1 ticket price. Joe Cocker was a regular there. Grateful Dead much to my surprised played before the Jefferson Airplane. In the summer at the end of the concert they would open the doors and Clark street would be loaded with rock fans. Thought our music would last forever along with our hippie's ways.
I use to work at Kenetic Playgorund. It was also called the Electric Theater. I met Bette Midler, the Who, Beck, Jethro Tull, Santana just to mention a few.
Iron Butterfly, Vanilla Fudge, Steppenwolf, The Youngbloods, Country Joe, Bubble Puppy, the Soft Machine, Deep Purple, Blue Cheer, Canned Heat, Ten Years After, Buddy Miles Express...All were popular and were the beginning of psychedelia...Visual Events such as a four screen quad-projection on the Rotunda screens of The Doors' "The End". Fabulous audio as well during band changes, such as The Chambers Bros. "Time"on a rotating speaker delay. The beginning of the Light-Audio-Visual effects to come with concerts to this day. Old Town had Big John's, Butterfield's venue, Mother Blues for Jazz and Blues, the Fickle Pickle for Folk, Piper's Alley for stuff, Dizzyland for sweets, and its famous Rum Balls. Way to start the nite. And that would be every weekend.
I was in a 3 man group which played the Earl of Old Town in '68. What a great memory and specially to see it in this clip. We played 4 nights on two back to back weekends. The Mutiny 3. Me, Ed Sterbenc and Rex Berg. Where ever you guys are now,
My story about the Kinetic Playground is legendary among my old friends. During a performance by Aum, a young man tried to go up on the stage and was struck down by a guy with those martial arts sticks, apparently that guy was security . ( Security in that place were biker gangs and thugs). I was a lifeguard at Foster Beach at the time and was trained in saving lives. As the music kept on and the lights were very dim, no one was aware that the struck down man was suffering arterial bleeding from the trauma to his neck and head. I had one of my friends run to the washroom and grab all the paper he could while I use my own t shirt and pressure to stop the bleeding. When my friend came back , I had him take over to apply pressure and I immediately jumped on the stage despite the efforts of the security to stop me. I grabbed one of the band's microphones and they stopped playing. I proceeded to make everyone aware of what was happening, the band yelled support as I shouted that that a man was bleeding to death, and urged someone to call an ambulance . The house lights came on and people helped to carry the wounded man to the front door where the ambulance was soon to arrive. I never followed up to the hospital , but it seemed that he would survive his injury despite a lot of bleeding. Aside from this story, I can tell you people did more than meditate in those booths. People were shooting up drugs, having sex, being " rescued" from overdoses by people with good intentions but not medical professionals. If you were a parent, this would be the last place on earth you would want your child to be. I'm just sayin
My mother lupe used to work at the up down tobacco shop Burton and Wells 60 70 80's and we used to live on North avenue and Wells next to Earl old town where Walgreens at.
I was at the Kinetic Playground in July of 1969..only 16, but saw The Spirit open for Alice Cooper, and the following wk. I worked there. Got to see Led Zepplin for free...those were the good old days...47 years ago.
My first concert was at the Aragon Brawlroom in 1973. Went to see T-rex, Kiss and an unknown band by the name of UFO. Kiss cancelled and Sweetwater took their place. UFO blew everyone off stage or maybe it was just because we were extremely high on LSD and I'm not talkin about the street!
6:26 Mention of Bizarre Bazaar, I worked there after my high school day for all of two weeks, selling candles, hot dogs, and hippie stuff. The owner and his girlfriend used to let a vicious dog out into the store each night after lock up. I felt sorry for that dog.
I know my band Conqueror Worm opened at the kinetic theater for Iron Butterfly three or four nights in a row. I remember after hearing In-a-Gadda-da-Vida every night it was ironic when backstage Lee Dorman told me, "your band is good but you need shorter songs" oh well still gives me a laugh..RIP Lee..
I've got a few copies of an old Psych Pscene with a picture of Conquerer Worm. I COULD LET YOU HAVE ONE , IF YOU DON'T HAVE IT. I met Lee Dorman in '96. Good natured guy , very funny.
Glad to. Have you already spoken with my friend , Steve Krakow , who does the "Secret History of Chicago Music" column in the Reader ? I think he did a feature on you , I forget....But , he's interested in Chicago Early 70's Hard Rock bands , and so am I.
First it was named The Electric Theater - then renamed The Kinetic Playground. Both were owned by Arron Russo. Here are the bands I saw & heard: Blue Cheer Fever Tree Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention Canned Heat Rotary Connection It's A Beautiful Day Nils Lofgren & Grin OHM Edgar Winter Group Buddy Miles Express Buddy Rich Orchestra The Litter Michael & The Messengers
all round surround, Playboy did an article on it years later, saw them all best was Led Zepp's 2nd gig in America, we had to wait until Tuesday to buy album
