Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

When Roger Hedgecock was a concert promoter

Jefferson Airplane, Ray Charles, the Doors, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Peter, Paul, and Mary

Throughout all the recent commotion about stadium rock concerts, one city politician was tangly silent: Mayor Roger Hedgecock. And that seems a bit ironic, since of all city officials, Hedgecock's background in rock and roll is the strongest.

After graduating from Saint Augustine High School here in 1964. Hedgecock enrolled in San Diego State College to study political science. During that time, eh managed a local band called Marsha and the Esquires and frequently got them bookings at dances through promoter James Pagni, who since 1961 had been San Diego's major concert prat moter. The two men's friendship grew, and when Hedgecock transferred to the University of California at Santa Barbara two years later, Pagni appointed him his campus representative there. In 1967 Hedgecock teamed up with classmate Scott Piering to book concerts on campus as the Hedgecock-Piering Company; with Pagni's help, the duo presented such acts as the Jefferson Airplane, Ray Charles, the Doors, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Peter, Paul, and Mary.

Sponsored
Sponsored

A year later Hedgecock graduated and, with partner Piering, returned to San Diego, where the two set out to challenge their former mentor. "At the time, I took it personally," recalls Pagni, "but now, what the hell — he just did it. It always happens that way in the concert business." Because of his longevity in the business, the well-connected Pagni had a virtual monopoly with more of the established groups of the day, so the Hedgecock-Piering Company decided to concentrate on the newer acid-rock bands then emerging from the Bay Area. In the early spring of 1969 the fledgling company put on their first concert at the gym at San Diego State, featuring Paul Butterfield and the Sons of Champlin.

Throughout that year and part of the next, when Hedgecock left the concert business to study law at the University of California at Hastings College of Law, the team presented more than a dozen similar concerts, all with ticket prices ranging from $2.50 to $5.50, with such acts as the Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Mother Earth, Ten Years After, and the Sons of Champlin. The biggest of these, held on Mother's Day, 1969, was a massive outdoor rock fest at Balboa Stadium featuring the Grateful Dead, the Quicksilver Messenger Service, Lee Michaels, and Canned Heat. In between acts, fans could frequent various booths set up around the stadium field where the concert was held, to see displays set up by local artisans, the Free clinic, and even the Black Panthers.

And whom should the future mayor hire as security that day? Off-duty cops, perhaps, or sheriff's deputies? Not a chance. He hired the local chapter of the Hell's Angels, in return for a case of Jack Daniels whiskey.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Fix it Clinic, Gaslamp Holiday Pet Parade

Events December 14-December 18, 2024
Next Article

Live Five: Andrew Peña, Frankie J, Beat Farmers, Jesse LaMonaca, Puddles Pity Party

Latin, roots rock, and pity parties in Mission Beach, Little Italy, El Cajon

Throughout all the recent commotion about stadium rock concerts, one city politician was tangly silent: Mayor Roger Hedgecock. And that seems a bit ironic, since of all city officials, Hedgecock's background in rock and roll is the strongest.

After graduating from Saint Augustine High School here in 1964. Hedgecock enrolled in San Diego State College to study political science. During that time, eh managed a local band called Marsha and the Esquires and frequently got them bookings at dances through promoter James Pagni, who since 1961 had been San Diego's major concert prat moter. The two men's friendship grew, and when Hedgecock transferred to the University of California at Santa Barbara two years later, Pagni appointed him his campus representative there. In 1967 Hedgecock teamed up with classmate Scott Piering to book concerts on campus as the Hedgecock-Piering Company; with Pagni's help, the duo presented such acts as the Jefferson Airplane, Ray Charles, the Doors, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Peter, Paul, and Mary.

Sponsored
Sponsored

A year later Hedgecock graduated and, with partner Piering, returned to San Diego, where the two set out to challenge their former mentor. "At the time, I took it personally," recalls Pagni, "but now, what the hell — he just did it. It always happens that way in the concert business." Because of his longevity in the business, the well-connected Pagni had a virtual monopoly with more of the established groups of the day, so the Hedgecock-Piering Company decided to concentrate on the newer acid-rock bands then emerging from the Bay Area. In the early spring of 1969 the fledgling company put on their first concert at the gym at San Diego State, featuring Paul Butterfield and the Sons of Champlin.

Throughout that year and part of the next, when Hedgecock left the concert business to study law at the University of California at Hastings College of Law, the team presented more than a dozen similar concerts, all with ticket prices ranging from $2.50 to $5.50, with such acts as the Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Mother Earth, Ten Years After, and the Sons of Champlin. The biggest of these, held on Mother's Day, 1969, was a massive outdoor rock fest at Balboa Stadium featuring the Grateful Dead, the Quicksilver Messenger Service, Lee Michaels, and Canned Heat. In between acts, fans could frequent various booths set up around the stadium field where the concert was held, to see displays set up by local artisans, the Free clinic, and even the Black Panthers.

And whom should the future mayor hire as security that day? Off-duty cops, perhaps, or sheriff's deputies? Not a chance. He hired the local chapter of the Hell's Angels, in return for a case of Jack Daniels whiskey.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Hockey Dad brings UCSD vets and Australians to the Quartyard

Bending the stage barriers in East Village
Next Article

94th Aero Squadron – French farmhouse still works

Try the antinoise –tomatoes with olive oil dressing plus capers, garlic, toasted coriander seeds, basil, spring onions, salted anchovies
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader