So, how does an 18 year old girl, still in Junior College, end up backstage with the Rolling Stones at the Cow Palace tagging along with her friends from Jefferson Airplane? Long story short, I had met a guy from Canada, we became friends, he was friends with Signe Anderson Ettlin, also from Canada, she was the female lead singer before Grace Slick. They had invited me to their recording session in Hollywood and it ran all day, then they had to catch a 5 pm plane back to San Francisco. I offered to drive them to LAX, so as we pull into LAX, Spencer Dryden, drummer and Paul Kantner, lead guitarist, said, “Why don’t you come with us.”
My response was, I’m in a dress, I only have my camera and purse, how can I go to San Francisco? They said, we’ll get you what you need and you can stay with us (they shared a San Francisco flat). My response as I parked in short term parking, “why not?” Once inside the airport, I used a pay phone to call my boss and tell him I was headed to San Francisco and wouldn’t be in for a couple of days. This was never a problem since they encouraged me to “hang” with the rockers. In those days, if there was an empty seat on the plane, you walked onto the plane (zero security), then at some point during the flight they came down the isle with a cart and ran your credit card (or accepted cash), $25 round trip LA to San Fran! That was back in the day.
Once we landed we went to their flat, I had no idea what we’d be doing, except “hanging out.” This was a Tuesday, so after they changed, we were off to the Cow Palace, and it was on the drive there that they told me we were going to the Rolling Stones concert! I’m sure my response was “how groovy!”
They did not have tickets to the concert, but knew the promoter well and it was assumed we’d be hanging out backstage. There were no large laminated backstage passes on lanyards back then either. You were on the list to be admitted or you were a groupie on the outside of the backstage doors. We breezed in. Details of my amazing night in my next post.
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