[Editor's note: Before the Cult comes to California for three shows -- two at Coachella, and one in S.F. at the Regency Ballroom this Thursday, April 3 -- frontman Ian Astbury offered to write us a few thoughts about his love for San Francisco and the time he's spent here. We certainly weren't going to turn him down.]
By IAN ASTBURY
"Hate Astbury" was the headline in the U.K. music media back in the day. I was chastened for spouting off an earnest youthful philosophy -- it was not cool to recite my interpretation of the Left Coast visionaries, musicians, poets, and mystics who where bleeding into my skull and opening my heart and mind. San Francisco was ground zero for me in many ways, my Varanasi my gateway to the East. India, Tibet, and Nepal where already in my DNA, and the opportunity to make the pilgrimage to the holy ground of City Lights bookstore when The Cult reopened Bill Graham's Fillmore West in December 1985 was a transcendent moment. The Cult had traveled to Japan earlier in '85, and that was the consummation of my love affair with the East. But I was already absorbing the wisdom of Allen Ginsberg, Joseph Campbell, Alan Watts, Jack Keroauc, Michael McClure, et. al, and City Lights was a place they where all connected with, a place I romanticized and still do.
Meeting Bill Graham was a profound event. I was spirited to say the least, and was taken aside by a concerned Bill who told me he "didn't want to see me go the same way as Jimi, Janice, and Jim." This connection with Bill was a vital influence on me. He became a mentor, always giving advice when we crossed paths in San Francisco and later helping to birth the Gathering of the Tribes festival in 1990.
Through Bill we were introduced to legendary photographer Jim Marshall. We invited Jim on the the road with us to document our tour with San Francisco's very own Metallica. It was on that tour we played Rapid City South Dakota, and I was to have an enlightening meeting with a Lakota Sioux gentleman who gave me the inspiration I needed to act on a vision: a vision for an event that became A Gathering of the Tribes festival, as much influenced by my aforementioned gurus as the Monterey Pop, Woodstock, and Human Be-In festivals. I felt we needed an event to define our generation moving towards the 21st century and not leave it to the media, who where attempting to define who we where and were we where heading. The intention behind the festival was an altruistic action. The audience and musicians came first. Again, there was my mentor, Bill Graham, to facilitate the vision, the vision of a place for all musical genres and cultures to intersect. Tribes was the first festival of its time to include hip-hop, rock, postmodern, traditional Native American and folk music, no ageism, sexism, racism, no genre discrimination. The event included social, political, and environmental groups to reflect where we where in our evolution. $10 for 14 acts, indigenous Americans included, celebrated and embraced. The first appearance of Rock the Vote. This was to become the blueprint for so many 21st Century festivals.
Now we have come full circle, coming back to San Francisco to perform at the Regency Ballroom and the Coachella festival for the first time. The Cult and I find ourselves in A New Wilderness in the age of hashtag oblivion. Coming back to San Francisco is always a revitalization of my spirit, as long as the City Lights doors remain open.
-- @ASTBURY
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