Vortex I or why there was no Vortex II
Apr 29th, 2007 by ramvort
Signs along the way
We walked along the road, cars lining it on both sides, and stopped, filling both lanes, thousands of people moving along.. you could see across the valley from the high vantage point of the highway, and it was a beautiful day. We were hearing that traffic was stopped from the gates of McIver park to 82nd Street in Portland, 40 miles away, and it was easy to believe from the flowing river of people and cars. As we turned east, Mt. Hood before us, the road swept down and into the Valley to Milo McIver state park, and the number of people shot into the thousands as we wound down the hill and saw the meadow where a stage had been constructed. We didn’t know what we were going to see, there had been nothing but rumors of a free rock festival, sponsored by the governor and funded by Portland business men, who wanted to avoid problems during a convention in town..
We could see the Clackamas River to our left through the trees, running down to meet the Willamette.. Sun bright, sky blue, the greens of the trees and the yellow of the grass in the meadow with the makeshift (but substantial) stage.. an amazing kaleidoscope of colors and of course, of people.
We sat down on the edge of the access road which ran to the stage, under a tree with too many others to really be in the shade, it was August after all, and in northern Oregon, thats really summer, as good as it gets, and as hot as it gets. A few cars went by, bringing, we assumed musicians and technicians.. We had heard rumors of great bands set to play at this state sponsored event, but we didn’t care if Santana (who seemed to be everywhere at the time), the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, or the Youngbloods showed. We were there for whatever happened and were ready to ‘groove’ as the governor had said in his letter to the leaders of the “People’s Army Jamboree”, on the beauty of Oregon and rock and roll. As we watched the people walking by I felt a bit manipulated, thinking that this was a strange confluence of events…. though the details wouldn’t be known by most of us until years later.
The theme of the annual convention of the American Legion, to be held in Portland in august of 1970 was “Victory in Viet Nam”, and its keynote speaker was to be President Richard M. Nixon.
This took place against the backdrop of the massacre at Kent State, which Portland State students had protested in May by shutting down the park blocks, ending when the police riot squad swept through leaving 32 protesters and bystanders bruised, bleeding or both. Anti-war groups planned to be in Portland in August, in a little get together called the ” People’s Army Jamboree”, hoping to draw 50,000 and shut down the city as a welcoming party for RMN.. Much as had been done by a quarter of a million in shutting down Washington DC earlier in the year.
Tom McCall (sic): “Our commitment to law and order has not tempted us to infringe upon the constitutional rights of Americans to peaceful assembly, to freedom of movement, to nonviolent dissent. While we’re prepared to deal with violence, keep it clear that our first priority is to avoid violence. It is within this framework–avoiding violence–that Vortex One emerged.”
He wrote to the organizers of the “People’s Army Jamboree”: “I am flattered that so many people believe Oregon to be a beautiful state. Everyone is entitled to groove on its beauty. However, the City of Portland has limited facilities for the holding of conventions, and I am informed that these facilities cannot accommodate two major conventions being held simultaneously.”
The governor said after approving the event, “I’ve committed political suicide”.. but he was wrong and the American Legion Convention went on, the “People’s Army Jamboree” took place, but the violence predicted by the FBI didn’t take place.. Tom McCall was easily re-elected.. we had a rock festival, a legend was born. And Nixon didn’t show…
As a band started to play, we moved toward the stage area, with thousands of others.. great local bands played until late into the night… then as we set up an area to sleep amongst the trees a bus nearby fired up a generator and started playing electric guitar and bass, sounding much like a ‘Fish’ jam, which I had heard many times in the panhandle in Golden Gate Park.. I went to sleep listening and as the governor had said, grooving on the beauty..
Walking down the road to the stage the next afternoon, a yellow Cadillac with dark tinted windows pulled up next to me, the window rolled down..the smoke poured out and the driver handed me a hash pipe.. saying.. “wow man, what a scene huh?” I looked inside and seemed to recognize a couple of the passengers.. thinking to myself..” the Grateful Dead?”, but said, yeah.. a great scene..as I handed the pipe back..
