Request from a graduate student researcher (re: June 3, 1977 concert riot)

[Elizabeth Grisham]

I am writing to the members of this forum to let you know that I finished my research paper yesterday and turned it in to my professor. Send me an e-mail if you would like to read it. I will gladly send you a copy.

E-mail: egrisham@masonlive.gmu.edu

Thank you so much for your help with this project.

Elizabeth

[LZ77]

^ awesome! PM sent.

[Walter]

Congrats Elizabeth!!

Hope it all works out well for you!

Peace.

[Elizabeth Grisham]

Here's one last note about my paper. I just got my grade: A-

Here are the comments my professor sent:

Like the earlier draft, this paper does a good job blending awide range of sources: eyewitness accounts of the Tampa riot, information aboutprevious Led Zeppelin concert violence, scholarship on crowd behavior, andnewspaper accounts. I appreciate your resourcefulness in assembling thesematerials.

As I mentioned in earlier comments, and as we discussed in thelast class, this paper’s thesis depends on claims that prior to the band’sdeparture, “the cops and the concert attendees remained on good,openly-communicating terms during this portion of the night.” Though this claimbears a footnote, it is not supported by any evidence in the form of specificquotations or facts. By contrast, Patrick is quite explicit about the lack ofcommunication from the stagehands who were clearly breaking down the concertequipment. She also describes the police as “loaded for bear”; is donningintimidating gear and weapons really the kind of communication advocated by thescholars you cite? Indeed, at the end of the paper you quote Lyons to theeffect that “an awesome show of force” made things worse.

Conversely, you relate that after the band departed, “Pelkingtontold [the fans] that the performers had abandoned them.” This ismore direct cop-to-fan communicationthan you can document for the more peaceful period, yet it seems to havesparked the violence. And in the end, you conclude that “talking” is not “trulycommunicating,” leaving your reader to wonder how a small police force could“truly” communicate with a crowd of thousands.

I see two lessons here.

First, research is unpredictable, and sometimes you don’t getthe results you hoped for. In this case, the two eyewitness accounts did notradically change the standard narrative of the riot, leaving you to stretch theevidence farther than it could really go. For a seminar paper, this is not abig problem, just a reminder that one doesn’t always achieve new findings in agiven amount of time.

The second, related point is that you need to be careful toprovide specific evidence for your claims. Footnotes themselves are notevidence; quotations, facts, and numbers are. See Craft of Research, chapters 9 and 13.

Thank you for your work on this paper and for yourcontributions to the course as a whole.

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Edited December 15, 2011 by Elizabeth Grisham

[emeanie]

Hi,My name is Evert B. I have lived in Sarasota, Fl since 1974. I moved here from Amsterdam when I was 21 years old. I was at this Led Zeppelin show in 1977 and it was truely an experience I will never forget. Before the show my buddies and I bought a quarter pound of reefer that a friend of ours found floating in the Gulf of Mexico. He found an entire bale of pot so we got a really good deal from him. About $50 for the quarter pound. WE twisted up about 50 joints and brought them to the show and started selling them for one dollar each.Of course we kept enough for our own use and sold about 30 of them before the music started. We were on the playing field at about the 20 yard line and the Zep started playing. I wish I could remember which tunes they started with but that was a long time ago. After about the fourth song the sky really cut loose. Lots of lightening and thunder that you can only relate to if you live in the Tampa Bay area (one of the lightening capitals of the world) Everybody's blankets went over their heads and on the field it must have looked like a sea of blankets. Of course this is the seventies so everyone is toking under the blankets. after about 20 minutes or so I had to stick my head out of the blanket I was under to get some fresh air. While I had my head out I know, for certain, I saw what sparked the whole riot. Someone about ten yards directly behind me on about the 30 yard line threw a Jim Beam ( quart size) bottle at the stage and hit a cop who was standing at the left of the stage square in the head. He went down like a sack of potatoes. I saw a couple of his comrads run to his assistance and ducked down to tell my friends. About 2 or 3 minutes later they announced the show was over. People who weren't aware of what had happened were pissed and started shouting "rain or shine!" and carrying on. After about ten minutes of this the cops came out and started busting heads. My friends and I were able t keep right on the fringe ofd the actino and saw a few guys get busted up quite badly by the police. Lots of blood and screaming. We were able to keep at least 10 feet or so away from the cops so we had a good handle on what was happening. We were trying to tell the cops not to bash people in the heads with their batons but when they started going after us we knew it was time to go. On the way out we picked up a bunch of ticket stubs and mailed them in for a refund. We were each allowed to send in 6 tickets for refund so we really made out. The six of us found a total of 8 ticket stubs so we returned 14 tickets(I think the price of a ticket was $12.50) so we made out ok.

The events I have described are as clear in my memory as if it had happened yesterday and I know for certain that that cop getting hit in the head with theJim Beam bottle sparked the whole riot. Feel free to contact me at emeanie@gmailo.com. Good luck withyour thesis.

[cmcbelynda]

Hi, It's too bad that I'm just reading this now. A few years too late. It was my 17th birthday present. I waited in line for about 5 hours for the tickets and they cost $10, before any fees. Boy, those were the days. I think that we were about 8th or 10th in line. I'll never forget the trip to Tampa from West Palm Beach. I even did a speech about it in the beginning of 12th grade in my Speech class, when we had to give a written and verbal report/speech about something that we did over the summer. I was the coolest girl in the class after that! I remember praying they would hurry and start the show, because we saw that horrible ring of clouds headed right for the stadium. It was as if it were a deliberate storm with the worst timing of all time. First the sprinkles and then the massive down pour of rain and lightening. We waited it out under a plastic sheet that my friend fortunately thought to bring. It started out with the 6 of us that traveled together, under the sheet. Then ended up with about 20 huddled underneath. Looked down and saw the bag of pot my (now ex-husband) had hid in his sock, floating down the stairs as we were in the nose bleed seats in the stands. He grabbed it quick and of course the chick with the halter top on behind us decided it would be a good thing to rub her bare boobs on his back. From where we were, we must have somehow missed the worst of all the commotion. It was an hour before we could even back out of our parking spot, and another hour to get out of the parking lot. We heard the horrifying (yes thats right!) announcement on the news from our hotel room, that the Mayor of Tampa would never allow Led Zeppelin back. I was devastated! My ex (boyfriend at the time) said that we had to send our tickets stubs back to get the money back (yeah, I should have known haha). However, my sister still has hers as she found one on the ground and sent that one in for her refund and got to keep her original! Years later my brother in law (who I didn't know at the time), told about his experience there as well.He has a few, very blurry pictures of the band on stage. He has maybe 10 pics, but one thing I remember him saying is that he saw all the cops rushing in the stadium with billy clubs raised and hitting people. He actually had to take a dive on his camera, to keep from getting hit! I wonder who the a..hole is that threw that JB bottle on stage and ruined it for everyone? I never had the opportunity to see them together again. I have seen Jimmy Page and Robert Plant in the '80's. And then again a few years ago I saw Robert Plant when he was with his Band Of Joy. I was in heaven and even jumped up and down just like I was a 17 year old kid again! And now some 36 years later, we can only hope and pray they will join together with Jason Bonham (of course) and come back to Florida! But how about come to Miami or Orlando, forget Tampa LOL. And come in sometime like December - March or some other time when there's no chance of a storm like that or a hurricane! We're not getting any younger and it would be a highlight of my (and other fans) lives. My 15 yr old son would be in heaven! He tells everyone that he taught me all he knows about Zeppelin. Haha. So funny, that kid. I took him to see the Led Zeppelin Experience with Jason Bonham, this year when they toured with Heart here in WPB! This kid knows all the songs, well almost as much as I know. Cute emoticons! LOL

Edited November 16, 2013 by cmcbelynda