Celebration at Big Sur

Infobox Film
name = Celebration at Big Sur


image_size =
caption =
director = Baird Bryant, Johanna Demetrakas
producer = Ted Mann, Carl Gottlieb
writer =
narrator =
starring =
music =
cinematography = Baird Bryant, Johanna Demetrakas, Gary Weis, Peter Smokler, Joan Churchillcite web
url= http://www.hollywood.com/movie/Celebration_at_Big_Sur/232121
title= Celebration at Big Sur (1970)
accessdate= 2008-04-10
work= Hollywood.com
publisher= Hollywood Media Corp
archiveurl=
archivedate=
quote= ]
editing =
distributor = Twentieth Century-Fox
released = 1971-12-10
runtime = 82:24cite web
url= http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=488765
title= Overview for Celebration at Big Sur (1971)
accessdate= 2008-04-10
work= Turner Classic Movies
quote= Turner Classic Movies lists this run time as 80, 82 or 85 minutes.]
country =
language = English
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:124362~T2
imdb_id = 0154299

"Celebration at Big Sur" (also known simply as "Celebration") is a film of the 1969 Big Sur Folk Festival in California, featuring Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell and others.

Released in 1971, the film was directed by Baird Bryant and Johanna Demetrakas. A young Gary Weis was among the cinematographers;cite web
url= http://imdb.com/name/nm0918660/
title= Gary Weis
accessdate= 2008-04-10
work= The Internet Movie Database
publisher= IMDb.com
archiveurl=
archivedate=
quote= ] other members of the camera and sound crew also went on to become famous in their fields, including Peter Smokler,cite web
url= http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0810545/
title= Peter Smokler
accessdate= 2008-04-25
work= The Internet Movie Database
publisher= IMDb.com
archiveurl=
archivedate=
quote= ] Peter Pilafian,cite web
url= http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0683291/
title= Peter Pilafian
accessdate= 2008-04-25
work= The Internet Movie Database
publisher= IMDb.com
archiveurl=
archivedate=
quote= ] and Joan Churchill.cite web
url= http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0161443/
title= Joan Churchill
accessdate= 2008-04-25
work= The Internet Movie Database
publisher= IMDb.com
archiveurl=
archivedate=
quote= ]

As of 2007, "Celebration" has never been officially released in any home video format (such as DVD or VHS).

The festival, one in an annual series of concerts held on the grounds of the Esalen Institute in Big Sur from 1964 to 1971, was held on the weekend of September 13-14, 1969,cite web
url= http://www.tctv.ne.jp/m-site/johnsebastian/index.html
title= John B. Sebastian
accessdate= 2008-04-10
author= Masaki M.
work= Night Owl Cafe Fan site lists John Sebastian playing Saturday, 13 September. The Rolling Stone "Big Sur" article describes this as a two-day event starting Saturday.] only one month after the famous and considerably larger Woodstock Festival, which is referred to repeatedly. "Celebration at Big Sur" did not receive the same critical acclaim as "Woodstock" film.

Performances

The concert occurs on a low stage by the Pacific Ocean, which the audience faces. Musical performances dominate the film, with footage of surrounding occurrences interspersed and montaged into the music sequences.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

The film includes early footage of Neil Young,cite web
url= http://www.filmreference.com/film/50/Neil-Young.html
title= Neil Young Biography (1945-)
accessdate= 2008-04-10
work= Film Reference
publisher= NetIndustries This is the earliest listed film appearance by Young.] who had recently appeared at Woodstock with Crosby, Stills & Nash, but refused to be filmed. Here, fortified by session drummer Dallas Taylor and Motown bassist Greg Reeves, CSNY perform Young's "Sea of Madness" and "Down By the River". Perhaps the film's most famous scene is an altercation between Stephen Stills and a heckler.cite web
url= http://www.allmusicguide.com/cg/amg.dll?sql=10:h9fqxzrjld0e
title= Big Sur Folk Festival September '69
accessdate= 2008-04-10
last= Unterberger
first= Richie
authorlink= Richie Unterberger
work= Allmusic
publisher= Macrovision Corporation
quote= ]

Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell, who did not appear at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, performs the song "Woodstock" prior to any album release, first attempting to teach the audience to sing the melodically complicated refrain. Ironically, Mitchell would later develop a well-known distaste for festival gigs, but in this performance her enthusiasm is evident. Mitchell talks about having spotted whales off the coast, and is generally seen with then-boyfriend Graham Nash of CSNY. She also sings "Get Together" with members of Crosby, Stills & Nash in a seemingly impromptu jam.

Although Mitchell had made earlier televised appearances, this may be her earliest filmed performance.cite web
url= http://jonimitchell.com/biography/bio.cfm?id=232
title= Biography: 1968-1970 Emerging Popular Artist
accessdate= 2008-04-10
last= Irvin
first= Les
authorlink=
coauthors= "et al."
work= JoniMitchell.com
archiveurl=
archivedate=
quote= N.B.: fan site.]

Joan Baez

Joan Baez was a Big Sur festival regular whose 1965 folk music workshop at Esalen helped attract pop/rock acts later to the festival.cite web
url= http://www.joanbaez.com/chronology.html
title= Chronology
accessdate= 2008-04-10
work= The Joan Baez Web Pages
publisher= Joan C. Baez/Diamonds & Rust Productions
archiveurl=
archivedate=
quote= ] She is featured prominently throughout the film. "Celebration" begins with Baez opening the festival with Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" and closes with her leading a large crowd in the song "Oh Happy Day" in the event's finale.

Others

In addition to CSNY, Baez and Mitchell , other performers featured in "Celebration" included John Sebastian, Dorothy Morrison and The Combs Sisters, Mimi Farina, Carol Ann Cisneros, Julie Payne , Chris Ethridge, and The Struggle Mountain Resistance Band.cite web
url= http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9807E7D81530E73BBC4852DFB266838A669EDE
title= Celebration at Big Sur (1971)
accessdate= 2008-04-09
last= Greenspun
first= Roger
date= 1971-04-10
work= The New York Times
publisher= The New York Times Company
quote= The movie making ... ranges from the obligatory coy to the needlessly reverent.]

While Ruthann Friedman, Flying Burrito Brothers and The Incredible String Band performed at this event,cite web
url= http://www.richardandmimi.com/bigsur.html
title= The Big Sur Folk Festival, 1964-1971
accessdate= 2008-04-09
last= Cooke
first= Douglas
work= The Richard & Mimi Fariña Fan Site] cite web
url= http://www.suitelorraine.com/suitelorraine/Pages/rncsny69.html
title= Big Sur
accessdate= 2008-04-10
last= Hopkins
first= Jerry
authorlink= Jerry Hopkins
coauthors=
date= 1969-10-18
work= Rolling Stone
publisher=
pages=
language=
doi=
archiveurl=
archivedate=
quote= ] they do not appear in the film.

In the opening scene the film makers attempt to interview local patrol police, but fail to get permission.

ongs performed

#"I Shall Be Released" – Joan Baez
#"Mobile Line" – John Sebastian with Stephen Stills
#*offstage
#"Song for David" – Joan Baez
#*shown rehearsing offstage, with stage performance of same song cut in
#"All of God's Children Got Soul" – Dorothy Morrison and the Combs Sisters
#"Sea of Madness" – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
#"4 + 20" – Stephen Stills solo performance
#*Stills introduces this number discussing his interaction with a heckler in the previous scene
#"Get Together" – Joni Mitchell with Crosby, Stills & Nash and John Sebastian
#"Put a Little Love in Your Heart" – Dorothy Morrison and the Combs Sisters
#*incomplete
#*non-musical footage of nude sauna, audience happenings
#"Swing Down Sweet Chariot" – various
#*offstage, incomplete
#"Rainbows All Over Yours Blues" – John Sebastian
#"Woodstock" – Joni Mitchell
#*non-musical footage of self-identified "freak" with Woodstock-themed bus
#"Red-Eye Express" – John Sebastian with Stephen Stills
#"Changes" – Mimi Farina and Julie Payne with Stephen Stills
#*incomplete
#"Malagueña Salerosa" – Carol Ann Cisneros
#"Rise, Shine, and Give God the Glory" – The Struggle Mountain Resistance Band
#*incomplete
#"Down By the River" – Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
#*incomplete, over 7 minutes
#*folk musician improvising outside the festival
#"Sweet Sir Galahad" – Joan Baez
#"Oh Happy Day" – Dorothy Morrison and the Combs Sisters with Joan Baez
#*opens with Baez rehearsing same number with Dorothy Morrison

Notes

External links

* [http://www.suitelorraine.com/suitelorraine/Pages/bigsurgallery.html "Big Sur" Lobby Cards]
* [http://www.allmusicguide.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:h9fqxzrjld0e "Big Sur Folk Festival September '69"] – AMG review of a bootleg of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's performance