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GRUNGE-A-PALOOZA
The hippies had Woodstock, the posers had Lollapalooza, now the kids have Grunge-A-Palooza. How it all came
together I will never know. The logistics alone are overpowering: six stages, web sites, piercing, scarring, tattoos,
internet power alleys, skateboarding, steamboarding, Pearl Jam, 5,000 steroid-enhanced security "associates,"
3,700 port-o-potties, 3,617 miles of cyclone fence, cyber chat rooms to talk to dead rockers (Hendrix, Janis and
Jerry), 24 of the most "alternative" acts ever assembled, free mind "alterers"
and one insane reporter (moi) assigned by my fuddyduddy editor to get the dope.
As a member of the press, I had to get my credentials from the Pentagon (the government creates its own
brand of mind control); it came in the shape of a green construction helmet. Along with the lid were my sealed
instructions. I was to be at a deserted air strip north of Flagstaff, Arizona, at midnight, Thursday, January 25, for
the briefing and subsequent airlift. My debriefer was code-named Hondo. He ran down what would happen
next. I listened quietly as I understood the size of this event and its ramifications on the country's placation of
the "youth mass." I'm forty years old and, to be honest, I'd never heard of "Pearl Chains" or "Alice Jam,"
but I knew there were going to be heaps of sin and debauchery and god-
damnit, I was ready to get dirty!
DAWN, FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1996
The chopper blades were the only sound going
through my mind as we crept along the ridge of
mountains surrounding the site. After a final good luck
from Hondo, he yelled, "We're going in!" The sight I will
never forget: 2,950,000 camped out, stoned, crusty hip-
pies all arising to Hondo playing reveile over the chop-
The skateboarding part of the show was one of the best sessions
in recent memory. Mike Frazier (above) cannonballs a 540' in the
midday sun. The inside stage had the largest crowds ever assem
bled in history. The mosh pit (spread) was so huge that 27 people
died in the mayhem. It is sod that people can't all just get along.