The Dick Cavitt Show: The Day After Woodstock
Dick Cavitt, one of the hippest TV personalities to invite musicians to perform on his program (The Smothers Brothers were the kings), scheduled his program for Monday night, August 18, 1969, to highlight performers at the nearby Woodstock Music & Arts Festival; his studio was in New York City. The plan originally was to have Jimi Hendrix on, but he didn’t finish playing until well into Monday morning as was reportedly a bit spaced out.
So Cavitt put together a program featuring Jefferson Airplane and Joni Mitchell. The entire original broadcast doesn’t seem to be available on the interwebs, but we have pieced together five videos which encapsulate most if not all of the broadcast.
In the first section, after the Cavitt theme and logo, Cavitt is seated with Mitchell. He then introduces Jefferson Airplane. The band includes, from the left, Nicky Hopkins, electric piano; Paul Kantner, guitar, vocals; Spencer Dryden, drums, cigarette; Grace Slick, vocals; Jorma Kaukonen, guitar, the original man bun; Jack Cassidy, bass; and Marty Balin, vocals, tambourine.
The band performs “We Can Be Together” and “Volunteers.” For those of us who [1] didn’t go to Woodstock, and [2] were watching the TV that night, imagine our delight during “We Can Be Together” when they sang:
We are all outlaws in the eyes of America
In order to survive
We steal, cheat, lie, forge, fuck, hide, and deal
We are obscene, lawless, hideous, dangerous, dirty, violent, and young
and then:
Up against the wall
Up against the wall, motherfuckers!
Tear down the wall
Tear down the wall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYsQJIdgApY
In the second clip, Cavitt then introduces Joni Mitchell, who performs “Chelsea Morning.”
When the show returns from commercial, Cavitt, Mitchell, and the JA members are sitting in a circle. Cavitt quips about a couple guys looking for a pay phone as Stephen Stills and David Crosby enter the studio. They all sit down for a great discussion.
Stills then plays “4+20.”
Joni Mitchell is featured next as she sings “Willie” and “For Free.”
It is difficult to tell what may have been cut, if anything, as Mitchell is singing a cappella before Cavitt tells us that JA are here one more time. Crosby joins JA for “Somebody to Love” on vocal and tambourine. This version is less ragged than the one JA played Sunday morning at Woodstock. With that, the show then closes.
Live TV in the golden age. Kudos, Mr. Cavitt!