1968: August

5:28 PM GMT 21/02/2008

4 – Future prog goliaths, Yes, perform for the first time… at a summer camp.

8 - Richard Nixon wins the Republican party's nomination for President. During his acceptance speech, the White House-hopeful states that he wishes "to bring an honorable end to the war in Vietnam."

10 – The annual National Jazz and Blues festival: Nice, Ten Years After, Joe Cocker, The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, Jeff Beck, Deep Purple, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Traffic and the Spencer Davis Group are among the bands on the bill.

13 – Fire by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown hits the UK No.1 spot. Smokin’!

22 – Ringo Starr walks out of The Beatles’ recording sessions, citing continued inter-band bickering and a lack of self-confidence in his playing. He will return on September 3. Meanwhile, Cynthia Lennon files for divorce.

24 – As they prepare for the Democratic Convention, musicians Country Joe MacDonald, Barry Melton and David Cohen are attacked in the lobby of Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive hotel. Vietnam veterans are blamed for incident. Behind the scenes, 6,000 National Guardsman and several police groups practice riot-control drills.

24 – In London John and Yoko are interviewed live on Frost On Sunday. The Beatles are barely mentioned, as the pair begin to deliver a psychedelic diatribe that pays particular attention to their views on “vibrations”.

25/26 – Police enforce an 11pm curfew in Chicago. The Yippies’ Festival of Life begins in Lincoln Park, opening with the thunderous sounds of the MC5. As the curfew approaches the crowd of 2,000 are ushered out of the park by the police and begin to congregate on street corners around the city. As the police line hits the demonstrators, violence erupts. Several journalists and photographers are caught in the fracas and by the next morning over a 100 people remain in hospital. Rolling Stone's Hunter S. Thompson wrote of his experiences in his 2003 memoir Kingdom Of Fear: “Total disbelief and panic – with no escape. The first wave of cops came down Balboa and hit the crowd in the form of a flying wedge, scattering people in all directions like a fire on an anthill… I could see people getting brutalised within six feet of me on both sides. It was only a matter of seconds before I went under… These pigs didn’t care what was Right. All they knew was what they wanted, and they were powerful enough to break anybody who even thought about getting in their way.”

28 – The Beatles new single, Hey Jude, is released on the Apple label. John Lennon’s Revolution appears on the B-side.

29 – The Chicago convention is officially adjourned. The total arrest count stands at 668. 192 police officers remain injured. Throughout the week, 308 Americans lose their life in Vietnam.

31 – 10,000 people attend the Great South Coast Bank Holiday on the tiny Isle Of Wight off the English coast. Brothers Ray and Ron Faulk organise the event in order to raise funds to build a swimming pool. Radio 1 DJ John Peel comperes and Jefferson Airplane, The Move, Fairport Convention, The Pretty Things, T.Rex, Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, Plastic Penny, Smile, Orange Bicycle, Hunter’s Muskett, Mirage, Halcyon Order, Harsh Reality and Arthur Brown all play.

...SEPTEMBER

Posted by Ross_Bennett at 5:28 PM GMT 21/02/2008

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