In the
summer of 1970, Manitoba had turned 100
years old and I had turned 23. As
luck would have it, that made me just
about the same age as one of the great
phenomena of the 20th century — rock ’n’
roll.
It was a great time to be involved in
rock. The local music scene was
developing nicely. Local musicians,
agents and promoters could actually make a
living. Media coverage was in its
infancy and big stadium productions were
almost unheard of.
I was managing a band called Next.
We had recently landed a recording
contract and the band had recorded and
released Dusty Shoes on Warner
Brothers. I was also in the final
months of a two-and-a-half-year stint
writing a column — Popular Music by Bones
— for the Winnipeg Tribune. I tried
to keep the column controversial, even
deliberately antagonistic at times, taking
shots at local announcers and
celebs. I used the alias "Bones" to
avoid being discovered and it worked well
for some time. Peter Warren, later
of CJOB Action Line fame, was at the
Tribune and my editor at that time.
The weekly column gave me my first taste
of public recognition and a lot of
contacts.
Which was why, I guess, that I got tapped
for a role in the biggest show Manitoba
had seen, a festival called Man-Pop.
That’s what I want to tell you
about. It was a day that looked like
disaster but ended in triumph and I’ll bet
nobody who was there will ever forget it,
though the memories may be befogged.
I want to tell you about the promoters
Frank Wiener and Jerry Shore, about the
band Led Zeppelin, about a pounding
rainstorm that made it all wetter than
Woodstock and mostly about a 58-year-old
man, a stranger to rock n’ roll, who made
it happen.
 His name was Maitland
Steinkopf.
He had been a cabinet minister in Duff
Roblin’s Conservative government — he was
the province’s first Jewish cabinet
minister. So he was establishment
and not quite establishment.
Though Steinkopf did not run for
re-election in 1963, he held one of the
most important posts in the Roblin
government, heading up the preparations
for Manitoba’s centennial celebration in
1970.
There were many centennial projects and
events, including the construction of the
Centennial Concert Hall, Man-Pop, and the
Mom & Pop Festival at the CPR’s Royal
Alexander Hotel. And, perhaps
because there were teenagers in the
Steinkopf household, there was to be
something for young Manitobans. It
was to be the very first outdoor
festival-style event at the Winnipeg
Stadium.
Some heavy contemporary names were being
tossed around. John and Yoko Lennon,
The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Iron
Butterfly, the Youngbloods and Canadian
acts like Chilliwack were among those
being considered. There was talk
originally of the tickets being free
although eventually it was decided that
would create problems and tickets were
eventually priced at $6.50.
It was a bold plan that was not well
received in all quarters. Some
politicians and others publicly criticized
the very thought of public monies
sponsoring a rock concert. There was
also much banter in the government caucus
room about the inappropriateness of
inviting John Lennon and his wife Yoko to
attend the event. They considered it
inappropriate for the Centennial
Corporation to sponsor such an event, as
they felt it promoted an objectionable
lifestyle. It was typical
conservative BS and it could not derail
Maitland Steinkopf. He remained
adamant that the youth of the province
were entitled to have a celebration.
It was going to happen and would be called
Man-Pop. It was a wonderfully bold
idea from a sometimes crusty, but sincere,
driven, dedicated father and Manitoban.
 Frank, Jerry
and I promoted shows together for years
including the first Aerosmith show in
Western Canada. It’s long story but
it took three tries to pull that show off
but when Aerosmith finally performed, for
us here, they were traveling with a
skyrocketing young support act called
AC-DC. Aerosmith/AC-DC was the
largest arena show ever at that time.
Maitland retained Frank to book all the
talent for Man-Pop.
Jerry was responsible for all
entertainment for the Centennial
Celebrations for the province, so he, too,
was very involved in Man-Pop right from
the start.
Jerry eventually recommended that I be
hired to assist with the event and so I
was, soon after planning started.
The show would be an all-day event, on
Aug. 29.
Frank was a notorious night owl. He
was usually up late and not in the office
until early afternoon. Maitland, on
the other hand, was an early riser, and
started his day before dawn.
It was hilarious to hear Frank rant and
rave about how he had to stay up all night
to meet with Maitland at one of his
routine early morning meetings, and then
go home to sleep.
"I’m not kidding you, I have to stay up
all (bad word) night or I won’t wake up.
"I’m serious, I stay up all night and
Maitland comes in the room and starts on
me right away. ‘Why don’t we have an
answer on this? Did we hear back
about that? Why is this taking so
long? Why do they want so much
money?’
"He doesn't understand how hard it is to
talk these bands into coming up here for a
one-off outdoor date.
"I can’t take it any more, I swear he’s
going to drive me (bad word) crazy.
Why seven in the morning? I can’t
even think straight and he starts grinding
me."
I would have given anything to be a fly on
the wall at their early morning
get-togethers. It was always
hilarious to listen to Frank complaining
about Maitland and Maitland never missed
an opportunity to publicly berate Frank
about how much money he was trying to
charge. Jerry used to love to stir
that pot.
Maitland was insisting on the most popular
bands of the time and had the kids at home
to coach him. In all fairness to
Frank, it was no small chore in 1970
trying to lure major acts to such an
obscure market in Canada. The acts
also had concerns about the production
side of the event, things like the stage,
sound and lights. The performers
were concerned and wanted assurances that
the production would be up to snuff.
They needed to hear the name of an
American with production credentials.
There was of course, the matter of cutting
the deals. The other concerns were
logistics that could be resolved, but what
really makes show-biz go-round is
money. Acts were available but at
what price. On-again-off-again,
negotiations were taking time.
 In spite of the
fact that the talent budget was enormous,
for some it is not a matter of
money. John and Yoko, as it ended
up, were either not interested, or not
available, at any price. Led
Zeppelin and Premier Talent were at least
taking calls. They had the date open
but turned down $35,000.00 US, an enormous
fee for the times. They finally
settled on $50,000.
To ease artists’ concerns it was decided,
much to my personal chagrin, that an
American professional be brought in to
supervise the production of the
event. The bands wanted to know
there would be an experienced hand.
Frank recommended a guy named Joel.
According to associates of Frank’s he came
with the right credentials. Joel was
retained to supervise all aspects of
production. He was an American
citizen from San Francisco.
Joel was a regular looking guy, average
height, with shortish brown hair and was
rather soft spoken. He hid,
perpetually, behind a pair of dark
shades. He checked into the City
Center Hotel on Ellice Avenue on the cuff
of the Centennial Corporation and would
now be a player in this mega-rock event in
Winnipeg history.
For a young guy in the biz from ‘Frisco,
he looked pretty straight. In fact I
cautioned the guys in Next to keep all
weed-smoking out of his sight.
That didn't last long.
He and some of the guys got into it almost
immediately. A week prior to the
event, one band member even got busted and
eventually fined $10 for possession of
grass he was getting for Joel.
Joel wasn't in the ‘Peg long before a
pretty, rather spaced-out, slightly
scruffy, lady friend arrived on a plane
from San Francisco and moved into his
hotel room, with her bag of goodies, I
presume. As time passed. Joel
would spend more and more time in his
pitch-black hotel room with his lady
friend. But soon, they weren't in
Winnipeg or anywhere else on earth — they
were on another planet!
Joel had Maitland’s blessing from the
start and Maitland accepted what Joel told
him without question. All production
decisions were clearly to be in Joel’s
apparently very experienced, and capable
hands.
Jerry and I knew better than to criticize
Joel around Maitland.
In the meantime, at Joel’s direction I was
contracting forklifts, trailers,
scaffolding and other essentials using
local contacts as much as possible.
I was also plugging the show and releasing
information through the column. I
also secured a spot on the show for
Next. They were very popular and
yes, Frank was our agent, and yes we paid
him a commission.
Tickets went on sale before the final
lineup was announced but the event was
selling well in spite of the fact that not
all the talent had been confirmed.
Finally, contract negotiations were
completed and the shows’ talent line-up
was confirmed. Frank really pulled
though. Drum roll please …
 It
was an impressive roster for sure.
Led Zeppelin, Iron Butterfly, the
Youngbloods, Chilliwack, the Ides Of
March, Dianne Heatherington and the
Merry-Go-Round, the Mongrels, Next, Justin
Tyme, Chopping Block, Sugar & Spice,
Haymarket Riot and Euphoria. This
was a huge show anywhere in North America,
never mind Winnipeg, Manitoba. The
buzz on the street was incredible.
The minute the lineup was announced, Frank
started grinding Maitland for immediate
payment. However, now that the acts
were all confirmed, Maitland was in no
hurry to pay Frank. In fact, he
seemed to delight in antagonizing
him. He was not alone. Jerry
took great delight in telling him that
Maitland planned to reduce his fee.
He would go ballistic every time.
Jerry recalls Frank saying, "If he doesn't
pay me what I’m supposed to get, I’m going
to get carried into his bloody office on a
stretcher, and I’m going to stay there on
the stretcher until he pays me."
As the event got closer, Joel started to
get downright weird. One time I
called the hotel room and after about 15
rings his girlfriend answered the
telephone and barely whispered
"Hello". I asked for Joel and heard
the telephone slowly tap the desk. I
could barely hear her speaking in the
background. It seemed forever and it
must have been at least five minutes
before he came on the phone.
"Hello? (pause)
Who’s this?"
It’s me.
"Uh ha"
It’s me.
Bones. Are you OK?
(Silence).
Joel?
"OK then."
Joel?
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The
line went silent. He had hung
up. They were both on something,
but nobody ever figured out what.
It was more than pot though.
It was now the day before the
event. Our temporary production
office was in the arena. We had
motor homes set up on the parking lot for
the acts and some dressing rooms inside
the arena.
I checked the forecast the day before and
spoke to Joel. The earlier forecasts
were rather nebulous. Now there was
a possibility of rain in the
forecast. We all mused about how it
would be a bummer to have the fans get wet
after all this sincere effort. It
won’t rain, we said. Well, not much,
anyway.
Some acts were starting to arrive and do
interviews on the radio and with the
press. I was also interviewing for
my column between festival duties.
The official hotel was the International
Inn Hotel near the airport. Jerry
was busy with that end of things making
sure the acts got checked in OK and taking
care of "special requests."
Joel seemed to be pulling it off.
The stage, sound, lights were all in town
and being unloaded. The stage was
late going up and backstage power was a
chronic problem, but Joel remained
nonchalant. Eventually we came into
stride and all was ready.
I called the hotel the night before late
in the evening to talk to Joel about what
we would do in case of rain. Joel
was right out of it and I could hear his
girlfriend carrying on, mumbling to him in
the background. After a few minutes
I realized that it was pointless to
continue and said good-bye. It was
going to be interesting in the morning.
Morning meant 5 a.m.
The morning forecast was gruesome.
Maitland was worried. Joel was back
on scene and frantic. I don’t think
he had slept at all. Power to the
stage and outdoor dressing rooms remained
a problem and the crowd was arriving
early, camping outside the stadium fence.
We had a meeting at 6 a.m. and decided to
open the doors as soon as we could to
relieve some of the pressure outside.
 By mid-morning the skies
were overcast, but it was warm, with a
gentle breeze, The weather office however,
was telling us rain, lots of it, was a now
certainty. There was a huge cell
with a lot of moisture in it going to hit
us by mid-afternoon. With rain now a
certainty we decided to get started right
away and sacrifice some of the local
bands. Next said they were willing
to go on early, at 11 a.m.-ish, and did
so. The schedule was changed as it
became more overcast. Dianne
Heatherington and the Merry-Go-Round would
go on next, followed by Chilliwack.
You could feel the dampness in the air,
but spirits were high with music finally
playing. I think momentarily we were
all lulled into thinking things were going
to be OK. By the time Chilliwack hit
the stage, it was about 2 p.m. The
black clouds were moving in and it started
to sprinkle off and on just as they
started Rain-O. As they progressed
the real rain started and eventually
poured. Chilliwack played a stellar
performance. They made many fans
that day.
The stage had been hastily covered but not
the sound power amps, and by time we got
to them, they had shorted out and were
useless. The sound company, Kelly
Deyong, were furious at Joel and refused
to let us use any of their speakers or
equipment that had survived. All the
speakers used in the final arena system
were guitar amps!
Nobody, including Joel, had planned for
torrential rain. No precautions or
preparations were made to protect the
sound and lighting equipment power amps,
which is automatic these days. The
sound equipment wasn't going to provide
another note of music and Joel lost his
mind.
As the wind blew cold, the crowd began to
seethe. Raincoats and sweaters were
donned, makeshift tents erected and the
young fans moved around restlessly.
But few — maybe 1,000 –of the 15,000 went
home, even when the skies opened up at 5
p.m. They held tight, dancing and
singing in the rain, some of the males
peeling off wet clothes.
Maitland came out about 7 p.m. to announce
that everything was being adjourned to the
arena. The rain was coming down in
torrents and the crowd ran for the arena
doors.
The whole thing was screwed, and I had no
idea what could be done to straighten it
out. Besides, neither Maitland nor
Joel ever listened to me anyway. I
decided I needed a drink.
I ended up in the Youngbloods’ motor home
drinking wine with them. They were
great guys and we were having a fine time
relaxing, getting stoned and speculating
in the midst of the pandemonium all around
us in the backstage compound. I
thought the event was dead. I
figured we could not possibly reschedule
and the arena was far too small — this was
before the upper decks went in, and it sat
only 10,000. I was having a great
time till the knock on the door.
Lorne Saifer, the manager of the Mongrels,
was at the Youngbloods’ motor-home
door. Once inside he looked right at
me and said "Maitland wants to see you
right away."
Maitland got right to the point.
"Bruce, Joel is sick."
(Sick? He was stoned out of his
mind).
"He cannot continue. He needs to be taken
care of. I am negotiating with the
Enterprises to move the show indoors." As
Jerry recalls it, Maitland used his
"unique" style of persuasion on everyone
from the fire marshal to the arena manager
to the police. He told them what he
was doing, he didn't ask.
"We will not have room to accommodate
everyone and I’m not sure how we will deal
with that. My understanding is that
the sound company is refusing to
co-operate. I want to try continuing
and I want you to take over for
Joel. Do you think a sound system
can be arranged? Can we continue if
the bands will agree to play?"
It was the first time I ever felt Maitland
cared what I thought.
 I said I thought we could
but needed to go meet with some
people. I said that if I did agree I
didn't want any interference from anyone
(meaning him). He grudgingly agreed
and I went to find Joel.
I found him literally hiding behind a desk
in the production office. Joel was
so destroyed he couldn't
communicate. He didn't know where
his hotel was or what it was called.
In the midst of the massive confusion I
flagged a cab over and gave the cabby
instructions to take him to the lobby of
the City Centre.
I paid the driver and off they went into
the maze of buses and cars, police
vehicles, and parents frantic to find
their kids in the rain.
It was then that it hit me. What the
hell did I just get myself into? I
couldn't afford to screw up.
Maitland would eat me alive. Well,
here goes. I gotta get some wine.
I got together with Herman Frühm, the
Garnet brothers, and some of the band
production people among others in the
backstage area. After a lively
discussion and a lot of blind faith they
decided they were simply going to
"black-tape it". They would use a
combination of Garnet guitar amps, and
local band amplifiers and equipment, and
we could have a usable system — they
hoped. But it was going to take time
and the kids were wet and getting restless
outside. And there was the matter of
convincing the major acts to play on it.
I found Maitland with Jerry. They
were asking Frank what the status was with
the bands. Frank says, "The bands
are concerned about the sound
system. They don’t think they can
play on it."
Maitland asked how my meeting went.
"Can it be done? Can we announce the
move?"
He loved to make announcements and did so
constantly until I stopped him. You
know, the "would little Johnny so-and so
call his mother" stuff. He was
trying to be helpful, but I finally told
him to relax. They would all be
fine, and would all live without him
re-uniting every individual in the
place. Only a few real emergency
announcements were allowed after that.
I said, "We need some time. We can
do it, but we’ll need to hold the doors
while we section off the stage and start
to build it and the system. We won’t
have any lights, but we will fire as many
spotlights as we can. We are picking
up some equipment from Garnet’s warehouse
now."
I told Frank to tell the bands that we
were putting a system together that the
Guess Who use on tour. Dropping the
Guess Who’s name really helped. The
Guess Who used Garnet equipment
exclusively. Otherwise, Garnet was
certainly not well known in the States,
and we had a lot of their gear in the
system.
Maitland told Frank. "Tell the bands
we expect them to play or they won’t get
paid." Frank was exasperated.
He couldn't do that in his position as an
agent. He told Maitland that it
wasn't that easy. The storm was an
"act of God". They had a right to
cancel.
Maitland had no patience for that.
"I’ll speak to them myself in a bit."
I added that if we could win their
individual sound men over, the bands would
likely play. And some of the sound
men were already pitching in.
Cords and connectors were custom-made on
the spot. You could have wrapped the
arena with the gaffer and electrical tape
used that day. It was non-stop
crisis after crisis. We’d just get
one problem solved and another would pop
up.
At the time I was a pretty good social
drinker and as I said, I started drinking
with the Youngbloods before I first talked
to Maitland. I had dispatched a
runner to get more wine at Polo
Park. It was sitting in some water
under the loading dock, to keep it
cool. But when I went for a drink it
was gone. I wanted that wine.
I felt it would keep me going if I drank
it slowly.
We found out that the police had
discovered my stash and confiscated
it. I said if I didn't get my wine
back right away I was going to "stop the
whole (bad word) process" and "you can
deal with 14,000 pissed-off kids".
It was a bluff of course, but it worked,
and the Mateus was put back in the water
at the loading dock. Rock 'n'
roll. Ya gotta love it.
My wine aside, the police were absolutely
fantastic that day. They kept their
composure through some pretty tense
moments.
 The doors were opened about
7 p.m. The pressure buildup against
the arena doors was getting
dangerous. There was no way to let
all the ticket-holders in. According
to all accounts when the doors were
finally shut, about 14,000 squeezed in
leaving about 800 outside very wet, and
very angry. They would all receive
refunds later but it was a drag.
Three big windows at the front eventually
got smashed. No charges were laid.
Meanwhile, the sound system was being
tested and by now the roadies and sound
men from the major bands had become
believers. The system was not pretty
but it seemed to work and actually kicked
ass during testing.
Meanwhile at the International Inn, Led
Zeppelin were being difficult.
The band was already partying, the whole
"sound system thing" concerned them and we
had no lights except for the follow
spots. Maitland had arranged for
Government of Manitoba cheques for the
balances due. They had all received
a 50 per cent deposit. However,
Peter Grant, Zeppelin’s manager, was now
demanding U.S. cash instead of a cheque or
they would not perform.
There was also the matter of the naked man
in the hallway outside one of their hotel
rooms. He was knocking on one of
their doors begging for his clothes
back. Nobody cared. Too much
going on.
It was now around 8 p.m. The arena
was bursting at the seams. It was
hot and humid from all the wet
clothing. You could actually see the
steam coming off the crowd. It took
a long time to get patched in and ready
but the Youngbloods were going to be the
first to try the system. They were
about to take the stage, but at the last
minute decided they too wanted to get paid
before they went on, in U.S. cash.
They were finally convinced to start and
that payment was coming. They went
on to thunderous applause.
At the hotel the other major acts were now
also concerned that if they didn't get to
play they wouldn't get paid or the cheques
would bounce when they got back
home. They were all demanding U.S.
cash and Frank was frantic.
Just after that Maitland went to the hotel
to talk to Peter Grant. The very
heavy-set manager was getting a bit
drunk. As Jerry recalled it,
Maitland plunked $25,000 US cash in mixed
bills on the table in big stacks.
Jerry didn't know where he got it, on a
Saturday night in Winnipeg in 1970, but
there it was.
Grant said, in a slurred thick British
accent, "Mr. Steinkopf, you are a
gentleman. We are ready to give the
best goddam show we've ever played.
We will play anytime you’re ready for us
and as long as you’ll have us!" And
that was that.
The only problem was, it was so late by
the time the band took the stage, they
were all hammered.
Meanwhile back at the arena the
Youngbloods, who at first wouldn't take
the stage without being paid, now wouldn't
stop playing until they got their
money. They went on and on but
Youngbloods fans, oblivious to what was
really going on, thought it was
great. It was quite some time before
their road manager was satisfied but he
finally gave the signal and they left the
stage.
Next up, the Ides of March, who from all
accounts performed beyond expectations and
were very well received. George
Belanger of Harlequin fame noted, "They
weren't really a favorite band of mine but
I thought they stole the show musically;
them and Iron Butterfly."
It was after 11 p.m. when Iron Butterfly
got on stage. According to Dennis
Lind, "They easily had the largest stage
set-up. The drummer was so loud he
was behind Plexiglas, un-miked, and was
still loud!! They were smokin' right from
the start with David "El Rhino" Reinhardt
and Mike Pinera, the singer from Blues
Image, on guitars. Their version of
Easy Rider was phenomenal. Their
show was unbelievable. They got
standing ovations. They were the
best act there."
Then, finally, what everyone was waiting
for. With spotlights swirling, Led
Zeppelin took the stage to deafening
applause. It was obvious they were
really enjoying themselves, and they
played forever. You could tell they
were all loaded, but who wasn't? I
remember Jimmy Page’s guitar solos being
incredible. After many standing
ovations they finally closed the show and
left the stage. It was 3 a.m.
Everyone including the audience was
exhilarated, exhausted and a little numb
from the experience.
It was surreal as the crowd slowly left
the building. Outside, buses had
been kept on to take fans home and were
even instructed to pick stragglers up
along the way. Hundreds of concerned
parents came to pick up their kids.
I had been awake for 24 hours, with little
sleep the night before. Like
everyone, I was exhausted, but still high
from the sheer excitement and energy of
the whole thing. More cold beer and
wine surfaced and we had a few.
While fans went home there was much to do
dismantling the equipment and wrapping
up. It was daylight when we finally
left the arena.
Man-Pop was a reflection of the wonderful
innocence, innovation, experimentation,
excitement, and livin' for the moment,
rock 'n' roll of the '70s.
The show did go on. It was an
experience that all of us who were there,
will treasure forever.
Thank you Maitland. You pulled
through for us and we remember.
STEINKOPF
ROCKED
The rain poured, but Maitland made the
show go on
By: Bruce Rathbone
As published in the Winnipeg Free
Press August 21, 2010
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