P.O. Box 101560

Cape Coral, FL 33910

Tel. 239.542.7003

Way Back When

 

November 1969.

I was working at an advertising agency on Madison Ave. in NYC. It was a creative shop that occupied two of 39 floors in

a high-end office building at 437 Madison Avenue. It was built in 1967 by the William Kaufman Organization, and designed

in the Modernist style by the renowned architectural firm Emery Roth & Sons. For a young and aspiring copywriter, I

couldn’t have dreamed of a better environment to stimulate my creativity.

New York in the late 1960’s and 70’s was an amazing place; Broadway shows, Greenwich Village nightlife, Concerts at

Lincoln Center, parties in the lofts of coworkers; we lived every minute of every day to the max.

I saw Janis Joplin onAugust 26, 1970 at an outdoor concert at the Garden State Arts Center on New Jersey’s Garden State

Parkway; for her it was an upscale venue, 5300 seats and lawn seating for another 5000 or so. Her backup band was

Full Tilt Boogie. Joplin wasn’t known for her beauty; but when she sang, her pockmarked face disappeared, and a goddess

took control of every nerve in your body. Sadly, she died six weeks later on October 4, 1970.

I saw Blood Sweat and Tears and Jethro Tull at the old Fillmore East in April of 1969. In those days rock stars knocked

themselves out onstage to try and give you the best that they could, and they even thanked you for your applause at the end

of the performance. Those were indeed wonderful days.

 

Bill Tremper