Gimme Shelter (Video)

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Apr 4, 2000

Having been born in 1964 I don't understand the 60s. I guess I see the need for rebellion against the fake perfection of the 50s. What I don't comprehend is how they really expected to do what no other human culture has ever been able to do: come together.

Watching Gimme Shelter is painful. Not only because of the violence but also because of the desperation. The fans were desperate to have a good time. The Stones were desperate to make it work. Other people were desperate for the publicity. The video chronicles the concert from the beginning of negotiations for Altamont Speedway to the Stones watching the footage later. What they don't show is very interesting.

You get to hear how Dick Carter wanted the publicity so bad he wanted all the press releases to say "Dick Carter's Altamont Speedway". Mr. Carter was careful to make sure the Stones knew he didn't want the concert to cost him a penny. He was "sure" he could get surrounding landowners to let them park cars on their land if he didn't have enough. Nobody was expecting the 300,000 who eventually showed up and parked their cars wherever they wanted.

You also get to hear about moving the speedway, moving the gear and getting washrooms (obviously they didn't get enough). You hear about affidavits and this and that. What you don't get to hear is any mention of security. The video bills itself as "uncensored and uncut". Right. It's blatantly obvious that something's been left out: how and why the Hell's Angels ended up at Altamont.

To get information on the behind the scene action, read "Altamont: End of the Sixties or Big Mix-Up in the Middle of Nowhere" by David Dalton . Dalton was a writer with Rolling Stone magazine that was with the band during their American tour. He seems to think that it all could have been avoided if Mick Jagger hadn't done two things. At first the concert was supposed to be played in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The deal was that no publicity would be done until 24 hours before the concert.

Mick let the cat out of the bag and that ended the deal. Now they had publicly announced a free concert and had no where to put it on. Things became desperate. In came Dick Carter with his racetrack on private property. One problem down. The second thing Mick did was insisting on

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