26 years ago...hanging with Willie, John Cougar, BB, Johnny and the rest of the Farm Aid Gang

So somewhere just off stage to the left in the picture I was hanging out with a lot of fun people.  It was the very first Farm Aid concert and it was held at Memorial Stadium on September 22, 1985.  I was fresh off the Michael Jackson tour and got assigned to negotiate a sponsorship with the organizers of Farm Aid. 

Most of you weren't born in 1985, so let me give a little historical perspective.  The advent of cable tv brought the possibility of a few international "telethon"/"monster concerts".  Networks had hours of free air time they had to fill and the mega concert was a great way to fill the air and raise money while they were at it.  Live Aid and Farm Aid were the first of the Mega Concerts.  And Farm Aid was truly MEGA. 

I got to thinking about this largely because B.B. King is in town tonight and I got to spend several hours with BB backstage.  More about him later, but just let me say he was one of the most gracious to appear at the event.

As I said I was assigned to negotiate a sponsorship with the Farm Aid organizers.  I was working for Pepsi at the time.  Pepsi owned the pouring rights at Memorial Stadium but wanted to get some visibility at the concert.  Farm Aid was to be broadcast from start to finish on several cable networks and there were evening live feeds scheduled on the major networks.  Pepsico wanted to be "seen". 

At the time, Memorial Stadium was the largest outdoor venue in the country.  The seating configuration allowed for a stage to be set on the north end of the stadium and with the field seating there were more than 80,000 seats to be sold.  So it was an attractive venue and over time many major touring acts, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, The Rolling Stones to name a few, all tried to negotiate concerts there.  Only Farm Aid was successful. 

So in my first meeting with "Farm Aid" I walk into a suite at the old Chancellor's Hotel and sitting at the table were John Tyson of Tyson Foods, Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp.  Talk about star struck!  My goal was to get prominent Pepsi banners on the stage.  I had $30,000 to spend and the amount I gave was contingent on the exposure.  It was an interesting series of negotiations, Mellencamp wanted NO signs; Nelson and Tyson wanted ALL the money.  We came to a happy medium, for $20,000 every performer who brought a drink on stage had to bring it out in a Pepsi Cup.  Whether they were drinking Pepsi or not. 

That done we worked with Tyson Foods to maximize our exposure.  Tyson built a travelling kitchen to feed all the performers and the staff supporting the concert.  I'm guessing there were more than 3000 volunteers the day of the event.  Between feeding the entertainers, volunteers, stage hands, and support staff, it was a major undertaking.  And truthfully the kitchens opened a few days before the event as it took more than a week to set it all up. 

I was set up stage right in a tent loaded with Pepsi and Budweiser products.  My job, enforce the "Pepsi Cup only" policy.  I must say, it was an easy job!  :)  When you are the keeper of 100's of cases of beer at an outdoor festival you gain a certain degree of notoriety.  And the majority of the performers came by "just to say hello" and grab a beer too. 

Our station was set up for the dress rehearsal the night before.  A private event, this was the most fun for me of the whole event.  Performers came by to check their set ups, talk to the sound engineers and just get a feel for the event.  Bob Dylan, Hall and Oates, Nelson, Neil Young, Mellencamp and many others played during the rehearsal.  However, what made it especially fun was the rehearsal for Van Halen.  Sammy Hagar had recently joined Van Halen and this was their first live performance.  They rehearsed for over an hour, playing lots of music they didn't play at the concert.  It was great music in a very casual setting with about 100 on lookers.

The next morning things started early.  At about 8 AM Willie jumped on stage and Arlo Guthrie joined him singing "Good Morning America."  A perfect start.  Jon Bon Jovi, only about 25 at the time, was next and he was about 50 feet off the ground with excitement.  He was mostly unknown at the time and was on fire singing before what he called "more people than he had ever sang to in his life...combined.."

Backstage I stayed the whole day.  Johnny Cash came in and politely asked me for 10 cases of beer to take back to his bus.  Mike Love from the Beach Boys was gracious.  Sissy Spacek and Timothy Hutton hung out a long time.  And virtually everyone you can name, from Tom Petty to George Jones, stopped by and said hello and grabbed something to drink.

Three special memories stand out though.  John Denver was just standing around taking it all in.  He was a joy to talk to and share with.  I was a huge JD fan in high school and college.  So meeting him was everything I would hope.

Ken Kragen and I talked for over an hour.  I'm sure you don't know who he is, but he was Harry Chapin's agent in Harry's last few years.  Ken was Kenny Rogers agent, and was there for Kenny's appearance.  And as you may know Harry had died the summer before.  So we had fun sharing "Harry stories" and while we had only spoken on the phone in the past, we started a great friendship.

Finally BB King was the last of the best memories.  BB even then had a hard time getting around.  BB found a chair in our tent and with all the cold beer at hand, he settled in for a few hours.  Everyone came in to say hello to this legend.  BB is loved by all and he loves them all back.  I totally enjoyed hanging with him a good chunk of the day.  Running for food for him and getting him a golf cart to take him around when he needed to play.  There was a cover photo after the event with BB on the cover surrounded by a lot of celebs they shot next to my tent.  I'm sure the photographer saw the crowd BB was drawing and had the idea for the shoot.

I don't remember many regrets from the event.  I know I wanted to meet Billy Joel as he was one of my favorites, but he snuck by.  And I didn't see a lot from the front, but saw most of what I wanted to see.  I think they were able to raise over $9 million at this event and Willie, Mellencamp, Young and now Dave Mathews have kept it alive all these years.  Here is a list of the performers, most of whom I met, but as I said, not all:

Artists performing at the First Farm Aid concert included: Alabama, Hoyt Axton, The Beach Boys, Jon Bon Jovi, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, David Allan Coe, John Conlee, Charlie Daniels Band, John Denver, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, Foreigner, Vince Gill, Arlo Guthrie, Sammy Hagar, Merle Haggard, Daryl Hall, Emmylou Harris, Don Henley, Waylon Jennings, Billy Joel, George Jones, Rickie Lee Jones, B.B. King, Carole King, Kris Kristofferson, Huey Lewis, Loretta Lynn, John Mellencamp, Roger Miller, Joni Mitchell, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty, Charley Pride, Lou Reed, Kenny Rogers, Brian Setzer, Sissy Spacek, Tanya Tucker, Eddie Van Halen, Debra Winger, Neil Young.