Poco returns to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Mississippi River Festival
Sarah Jacobsen
Issue date: 9/17/09 Section: A&E
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The band Poco will return to the SIUE campus for the fourth time in 40 years to play a concert as part of the Arts & Issues series on Sept. 26 at 7:30 p.m. in the Morris University Center's Meridian Ballroom. The band's return to SIUE coincides with the 40th anniversary of the inaugural season of the Mississippi River Festival. Not only did Poco play at the MRF pre-season festival in 1972, they also played in 1975 and 1979. Now they are returning to play at the MRF's descendent, the Arts & Issues series.
"It's great to come back," band leader Rusty Young said.
Young remembers playing at the MRF with many bands and many fans.
"It brings back fond memories," Young said. "We always had great crowds and a lot of fun."
Poco was founded in 1968 and has been creating country rock music for more than 40 years. Today Poco includes band leaders Young and Paul Cotton, bassist Jack Sundrud and drummer George Lawrence. During the past 40 years, Poco has had a number one hit, "Crazy Love," a Grammy nomination, both gold and platinum albums, and has played all over the world. They have sold millions of albums with classic hits including: "You'd Better Think Twice," "Good Feelin' To Know" and "Call it Love." Moreover, Poco has influenced many of country rock's greatest artists.
"The band did kick off the wave of country rock bands," Young said. "I think it's a real accomplishment."
Young said the band has been a part of people's lives for 40 years. He said the most rewarding part of his career is all the band's friends and fans.
"There are great stories of how the band has affected people's lives," he said. "Poco's affected generations of music fans."
At the upcoming concert, "Poconuts" and those hoping to relive some part of the legendary Mississippi River Festival can expect to hear the recognizable Poco songs they may have heard growing up as well as all the big radio hits.
For more information on Poco, visit www.poconut.org
An SIUE legend
Weeks before the renowned summer 1969 Woodstock performances of Janis Joplin, Arlo Guthrie, the Band, Richie Havens and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, these distinguished artists each graced another legendary stage with their musical talent.
While Woodstock is celebrated for its three-day festival featuring 32 acts performed for 500,000 concert-goers, SIUE's Mississippi River Festival's inaugural season predated Woodstock in the summer of 1969 and included performances by several of the same artists.
Furthermore, the 12-season festival presented a total of 353 concerts to more than 1.5 million guests. Later seasons brought countless additional celebrated performers including Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys, Blood, Sweat, and Tears, Chicago, John Denver, the Eagles, the Grateful Dead, Bette Midler, Poco, REO Speedwagon, Kenny Rogers, Rod Stewert, James Taylor, Ike and Tina Turner and many more.
The Mississippi River Festival, a performing arts festival, which took place annually from 1969 to 1980, is the best known of SIUE's extra-curricular activities. University archivist Stephen Kerber said he receives more questions about the MRF than anything else to do with the university. The necessity of knowing about the festival in order to answer these questions combined with his own personal interest encouraged Kerber to begin thoroughly researching the MRF in 2001. He published a book in 2006 with Amanda Bahr-Evola titled, "Images of America, The Mississippi River Festival." He also wrote a detailed article about the festival in the "Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society."
The Mississippi River Festival began in 1969 as a partnership between SIUE and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. According to Kerber's article, the festival came together through the negotiations of Southern Illinois University President Delyte Morris, Vice President for Business Affairs John Rendleman and St. Louis Symphony Business Manager Peter Pastreich.
The agreement signed by these three men to establish a festival at SIUE indicated three core objectives. The St. Louis Symphony essentially wanted to make more money. It needed to extend its season and pay its artists more. Meanwhile, the university desired a cultural facility that would attract St. Louis residents and visitors as well as students from local universities. It also hoped to earn national recognition in the music and performing arts field.
"The university was interested because they wanted to be perceived as part of the metropolitan area," Kerber said.
Kerber said there was a psychological barrier existing at the time, which resulted in the Edwardsville area being separated from the rest of the Metro-East. People did not want to cross the river. Both the symphony and the university agreed that by holding important activities on both sides of the river residents would be motivated to cross the river as a common part of metropolitan life. The newly completed interstates I-270 and I-55/70 would provide easy access to SIUE and further incentive to visit.
The agreement was signed at the end of 1968 and planning began immediately. The festival would be held on the northern part of the campus at a natural amphitheater that had been serving as the location of commencement activities.
Kerber's article describes how Morris planned to have a temporary site built at this amphitheater as well as a permanent facility on the southern part of campus. However, the rush to prepare for a season that summer resulted in the postponement of the permanent structure in order to ensure completion of the amphitheater. The area was landscaped and a stage, giant tent and acoustic shell constructed. Restrooms, dressing rooms, food service structures, a box office, parking areas, roads and lighting were added as well. The site was completed in eight weeks.
The opening concert, performed by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, was held June 20, 1969. The rest of the season was an equal balance of classical symphony music and popular artists as agreed upon by the symphony and university. The Mississippi River Festival was an enormous success. The university's goals were accomplished, Kerber's article said. Audiences from both sides of the Mississippi River and beyond came to SIUE that summer, and the following seasons, to enjoy the incredible music of the grand festival. The first year, 87,984 people attended the festival.
Too big to survive: The death of the MRF
According to Kerber's article, the content of the MRF seasons was continually shifting. St. Louis Symphony Orchestra's participation declined as the group realized it was not making as much money as they had hoped. In an attempt to increase popularity of its performances, the symphony also began playing pop music as part of its concerts. Classical concerts overall declined, and the festival began to focus on popular music rather than a balance of the two (partially because of financial concerns). As the contemporary concerts increased, the total number of concerts in each season increased also. Finally, the MRF broadened its content in later years to include dance, comedy, theatre and chamber music. Between 1969 and 1980, the MRF was constantly evolving, allowing audience members to gain a wide variety of cultural and musical experiences.
While the MRF was able to continue to entertain audiences with performances for 12 years, internal problems were continually threatening to destroy the event. From the beginning, the festival was a financial failure, costing more than it brought in. Finding funding for the event was a constant challenge. Morris's successor, John Rendleman worked hard to solicit private funding for the MRF. The board eventually decided to allocate a small fund to support the festival if a matching fund could be raised from private sources.
With the 1976 death of Rendleman, SIUE lost the festival's most passionate advocate, as Kerber said in his article. The MRF immediately came under critical review by university executives. Management of the MRF was outsourced as part of a three-year experimental period to try new approaches to the festival. The bad relationship between the managing company and SIUE combined with the failure to fund a permanent structure lead to the end of the MRF in 1981.
"There were a lot of people who were sad to see it go," Kerber said. "The MRF exposed a lot of people in Illinois and the Midwest to a kind of music they would not have had access to without it."
For 12 seasons, the variety and quality of the performances and the amphitheater experience of the MRF formed fond memories in the minds of hundreds of thousands of audience members, Kerber's article concludes. These memories ensure that the Mississippi River Festival will remain a legendary university pastime.
"It's really amazing to talk to people who were here then," Kerber said.
Director of Alumni Affairs Steve Jankowski said he remembers the MRF fondly. He said it was a phenomenal experience.
"It was a joy to be there with friends and listen to great music," Jankowski said. "The dynamics of the crowd and setting was magical. It was a magical time and a magical place."
Bringing the festival back to life: A plan for preservation
SIUE students will never be able to fully experience the Mississippi River Festival. Kerber said that bringing the festival back would be impossible, mainly because "the economics of the music industry are so totally different nowadays." In addition, SIUE would never be able to build a permanent facility for such an event.
"To bring it back, you'd have to build something like Riverport," Kerber said, referring to the giant outdoor amphitheater in Maryland Heights, Mo. SIUE chooses to spend its money on education, not entertainment, he added.
Though students cannot partake in the MRF itself, the entire experience is not completely out of reach. Alumni Affairs has joined with members of the SIUE Foundation to create a Mississippi River Festival Commemoration Committee. In June, the group dedicated a historical marker at the site of the original festival. As a second phase of the project, Jankowski said the committee also hopes to clear part of the site, as much of the original amphitheater as possible, and turn it into a green space. The area would possibly include flowers and picnic benches. The group is not trying to resurrect the festival, but rather trying to preserve the site so people can enjoy it, Jankowski said.
A third phase of the plan envisioned by the commemoration committee involves linking the site with Madison County bike trails. Nothing is firm about this idea yet, but some preliminary discussion has taken
place. Jankowski said both the Alumni Association and the SIUE Foundation acknowledge the importance of the MRF in SIUE's history and want to see it recognized.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Jorge'
posted 9/27/09 @ 11:57 PM CST
Poco really rocked last nite at S.I.U.E...Took us all back to the 70's & the MRF...brought alot of old friends out to enjoy & remember some good times. (Continued…)
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