Attn: pafalafa-ga
Meredith Hunter was the young black man stabbed and killed by the
Hells Angels at the Altamont concert December 6, 1969. He was from
Oakland I believe. I have almost no biographical information about
him. I recently - within last year and a half - saw an article about
him I believe it was from the London Times or perhaps Sunday Times.
Could have been the Observer. Anyway I can't find it. I'm looking for
anything about him.
Also Mick Jagger gave a depopsition to I believe an Oakland Court. I was
told the transcript was n the internet. I cannot find it. That would
probably have been in 1970.
I'm doing a book on the 1969 Rolling Stones US tour of which I was a member.....
I'm interested in most anything that was about that but I feel that's
too broad a net.... still....
I'm looking for information about Meredith Hunter prior to anything at
Altamont. I know most everything that was written in that article you
linked (Though I'm trying to find the filmmaker Sam Green now re that
little documentary - lot 63 grave c. It wold be great if it was on
some video stream on the internet. I tired youtube and amazon wihtout
success. I'm in the Bay Area. Where are you by the way?)
Back to the article you linked: there's always something interesting,
for example the existence of another film that got stolen. The
problem is there's never any way to verify something like that. And a
lot of people doing the talking have no idea. But I hadn't seen those
Keith quotes about Altamont. Anything you find of either Mick or
Keith talking about Altamont would be helpful. Perhaps you can
explain for me how an expanded request like that fits into a billing
framework. As I said the last question I posted was the first time
I've used Google Answers.
The focus of my book is not Altamont but rather the tour and the lives
of the sixteen people who were on the *whole* tour - not just
Altamont, though of course it ends at Altamont.
But to clarify: again, information about Meredith Hunter outside of
his appearance at Altamont, especially before. (Obviously he died but
there might be something from his family later) The (I think) London
Times article said he was a methedrine dealer (?). I don't mind that
you get me either abstracts or, better, something from the body of an
article. If I have the citation - as with the Washington Post in your
last answer - I can go to a library and get microfilm, so that's fine.
As for the Mick Jagger deposition it was - I'm told - at one point
available on the internet. I do know it took place and was probably
1970 not 1969.
ethanr-ga,
Thanks for sending this my way. I'll see what I can find, but it
would help to know a bit more about what you need, and where you've
looked thus far.
1. Have you checked old newspapers? If not, that's an obvious place
to start...it seems likely that Hunter was profiled, at least to some
degree. I can look for articles for you, but I can't reproduce them,
since they are . Best I can offer would be brief summaries
or excerpts.
2. Local court records from 1969 will be tough to come by, unless
someone's gone through the trouble of digging them up, and posting
them to the internet. I'll take a look to see what comes up.
3. Take a look at this link:
http://pierresetparoles.blogspot.com/2004_11_01_pierresetparoles_archive.html
about 1/3 of the way down the page is a detailed write-up of the
stabbing. Is that sort of thing helpful at all, or do you know all
that already?
I'll dig up what I can, but your feedback on the above would be most welcome.
Thanks,
paf
Ethan,
I wouldn't exactly call the search for info on Mr. Hunter a dead end,
but it's now come down to old-fashioned gumshoe work...pulling out old
court records (that aren't available online), and contacting the
people I identified for further information...these aren't steps I can
or should take through my Google Answers work, though.
As for interview materials regarding the Stones and Altamont, I
haven't seen anything beyond I identified already. I'll keep looking,
though, and let you know if anything new turns up.
Sorry that this wasn't as productive as the James/Jaymes search, but
that's simply the way it goes sometimes.
paf
Hi pafalafa-ga - well your last response was a bit of a surprise. I
would have thought that Meredith Hunter would have been easier to
track than James. Esp. since I knew of the Times. Still, don't know
what to do - if indeed it is a dead end which seems surprising -
except to expand the scope of my interest. I could use anything where
the following are being interviewed regarding Altamont, e.g. Mick
Jagger/Altamont, Keith Richards/Altamont (for example the Keith
material you found was good and I ordered the book as a result),
Charlie Watts/Altamont, Bill Wyman/Altamont, Mick Taylor/Altamont.
The tour dates were as follows and anything from the specific cities
either before the stones arrived or reviews after they played there
would be really helpful.
November 7, 1969-Fort Collins, Colorado
November 8, 1969-Los Angeles Coliseum
November 9, 1969-Oakland Coliseum
November 10, 1969-Sports Arena San Diego
November 11, 1969-Coliseum Phoenix
November 13, 1969-Moody Coliseum Dallas
November 14, 1969-Coliseum Auburn Alabama
November 15, 1969-University of Illinois
November 16, 1969-International Amphitheater Chicago
November 20, 1969-Los Angeles Forum
November 24, 1969-Olympic Stadium Detroit
November 25, 1969-Philadelphia Spectrum
November 26, 1969-Baltimore Civic Center
November 27, 1969-Madison Square Garden
November 28, 1969-Madison Square Garden
November 29, 1969-Boston Garden
November 30, 1969-International Raceway Palm Beach
December 6, 1969-Altamont Motor Speedway, California
Hello, ethanr-ga!
I saw this short documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. You might
want to see if you can track it down.
Lot 63 Grave C:
"Golden Gate Award winner for The Weather Underground, returns with
lot 63 grave c (USA), one of four documentary shorts in the
competition. Green?s film explores what happened to Meredith Hunter,
whose fatal stabbing during a Rolling Stones 1969 concert at Altamont
in some ways signaled the end of an era, and how he was ultimately
forgotten as an individual." http://www.sffs.org/press/2006_gga.html
Follow this search string for some more reviews
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2003-47,GGLD:en&q=Lot+63+Grave+C
umiat
Ethan,
Man, CNN and People Magazine and Court TV have changed everything!
They would have been all over the Meredith Hunter story, digging up
family, friends, high school yearbook photos, you name it.
But not back in 1970!
A lot of looking on my part has turned up only a few threads that you
might want to pursue. Meredith Hunter really did disappear after
Altamont, and no one ever seems to have really delved into his story
at all.
Here are the few things I found, in addition to the film about
Hunter's grave that's already been mentioned:
--Hunter's sister is Dixie Ward and lives in Oakland. His mother is
Altha Anderson and lives in Berkeley. Both have given occasional
comments to the press, most recently in 2005.
--Henry K. Lee and Kevin Fagan, both writers for the San Francisco
Chronicle, have covered Hunter's story and have access to his family.
In addition. Lee has cited an unnamed friend of Hunter's (presumably
the woman who was with him at the concert), and wrote that:
=====
Just out of Berkeley High School and living in the poor south end of
town, Hunter was a flashy dresser with a big Afro, long, manicured
fingernails and an eye for the ladies, a "close friend" who was at the
concert with him said last week.
"He was real sweet, always knew just what to say," said the friend,
who asked not to be named. "He had no job but thought he was God's
gift to women."
An autopsy showed that Hunter was high on methamphetamine when he
died, but the friend said that had zip to do with anything.
"He told me he was taking the gun up to the stage for defense. . . .
There was never anything about trying to get Jagger."
=====
--Hunter's mother sued the Rolling Stones in SF Superior Court in 1970
for $500k. The lawyer for Ms. Anderson was Allan Brotsky, who is
still active:
Allan Brotsky
Professor of Law Emeritus
Golden Gate University School of Law
536 Mission Street
San Francisco, California 94105
Telephone: 415-442-6600
415-442-6609
I suspect the case never went to court, but was quietly settled for
cash, but still, Brotsky may be able to offer some insights.
As far as Mick Jagger's deposition, I see no mention of this at all,
and it seems like the type of thing that would have been covered in
the press had it, in fact, occured. I'm doubtful there was such a
deposition, though I see you feel quite sure that there was. Can you
tell me what makes you so certain?
I leave it to you to let me know what other information I can provide
to make for a complete answer to your question. But as far as
Meredith Hunter. there just doesn't appear to be very much out there.
paf
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