5 decades of concerts at San Diego State

Remember the time Joan Baez spotted a familiar face in the Peterson Gym crowd and promptly called her friend Bobby Dylan to the stage for a duet? That was so groovy. How about the 1969 Spring Fling, the one starring the Grateful Dead and Santana, with promotion provided by our future ex mayor, Roger Hedgecock? So trippy.

Then there was the night Pat Benatar’s band had an on-stage whipped cream fight. And the time the Replacements’ guitar player started the show naked and stayed that way. And the great Jane’s Addiction blackout of 1989. Good times!

These and other indelible rock ‘n’ roll memories are on display in “Let It Rock!,” a new five-volume book set chronicling five decades of live music presented on the campus of San Diego State University. The set kicks off on May 6, 1960, with local folk singer Sam Hinton performing in the school’s Main Quad. It ends on Dec. 2, 2014, with Fleetwood Mac playing for nearly 10,000 fans in the sold-out Viejas Arena.

In between, co-authors Seth Mallios and Jaime Lennox chronicle more than 3,000 concerts featuring more than 5,500 bands. On pages stuffed with ticket stubs, set lists, contract riders and sweat-drenched photos, stars are born (Nice to meet you, Boz Scaggs and R.E.M.) and legends are celebrated (All rise for Sir Elton John!). Dressing rooms are trashed (Thanks for nothing, Go-Gos); myths are busted (No, you did not see U2 at the Backdoor); and many music-loving minds are totally blown. Over and over again.

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Joan Baez, shown here in concert at San Diego State in September, 1971.  (Joe Holley / U-T file photo)

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Patti Smith at San Diego State’s Backdoor in 1976.   (Bob Ivins / U-T file photo)

“One of my favorite things about this project is how strongly we all feel about music,” said Mallios, a professor of anthropology at SDSU and a proud rock ‘n’ roll obsessive. “I love the testimonials we have from people, and I love the arguments everyone has about the shows and the bands. And I was thrilled to see that more people besides Jaime and myself keep ticket stubs.”

They also kept newspaper clippings, backstage passes, hand-drawn posters and the occasional rock-star cigarette. Multiple generations of music fans shared their reviews and memories with Mallios and Lennox, who have delivered them to us for our flashback pleasure.

From the bands you loved to the shows you will never forget (and maybe a gig or two you wish you could remember better), here is a guide to SDSU’s rockin’ archives. Crank it up! And don’t forget your reading glasses.

Total heaviosity

It was supposed to be one chapter in Mallios’ 2012 book, “Hail Montezuma! The Hidden Treasures of San Diego State.” But as Lennox began unearthing treasure after treasure (Thank-you note from Ray Charles! Tommy Tutone crew pass!), adjustments were made.

“When people started giving us photographs, especially from shows at the Backdoor where you could see all of this fan interaction, that is the moment when we said, ‘If we are going to be true to the subject matter, it has to be five books. It’s going to be expensive and we don’t care,’” Mallios said.

Lovingly produced by SDSU’s not-for-profit Montezuma Publishing, the hefty set of five hardcover books sells for $200. It also includes the digital ebook version and a poster of the 1976 Backdoor mural painted by students in Arturo Anselmo Roman’s Chicano Studies art class. The ebook sells for $38.99. Its easy search function will come in handy when you need speedy access to all 17 Oingo Boingo shows.

Both versions are available online at shopaztecs.com and at the Aztec Shops bookstore.

Count Rock-ula

Music nerds love their numbers and their lists, and Mallios and Lennox have compiled a slew of them. Which decade had the most shows? The ’70s, with 926 campus concerts. Who was SDSU’s Most Frequent Player? The late Sam Hinton, who performed 34 times. (Followed by Jimmy Buffet with 28 shows and Kenny Rankin with 21.) Longest set lists? Elton John and Billy Joel, whose joint 2001 concert featured 38 songs. Shortest? Everything But the Girl, who played exactly zero songs in 1986, due to leaving after the soundcheck.

Photographs and memories

You can stop mourning your lost ticket-stub collection now. Also the scrapbook your mom threw out when she turned your room into a home office. In addition to fab posters and faded backstage passes, “Let It Rock” includes the following astounding artifacts:

Ella Fitzgerald’s 1961 concert rider, warning the school that any hint of racial segregation would result in Fitzgerald canceling her show. A diagram showing the proper instrument setup for the Modern Jazz Quartet’s 1964 show at Peterson Gym. A 1977 photo of the Ramones posing with the San Diego Chicken. A flier promoting a 1989 Backdoor show by Bad Radio, fronted by a cherubic-looking Eddie Vedder. And a cigarette from a pack Courtney Love threw into the crowd during a 1999 Hole show at the Open Air Theater.

Then there are the memories, which are so vivid, they might as well be posters. Trash cans full of orange Kool-Aid and the Grateful Dead cranking out a 20-minute version of “Hard to Handle” at the 1969 Spring Fling. Co-author Lennox convincing her dad to take her to the 1998 Spring Thing, conveniently forgetting to tell him it was a nine-hour show. Rubio’s founder Ralph Rubio remembering Steve Martin’s wild-and-crazy 1976 Montezuma Hall show.

And over three stream-of-consciousness pages, an anonymous fan’s altered-states account of seeing Tori Amos at the Open Air Theater in 2003, which includes the phrase, “sending bolts of energy to the backs of their heads.” Also, “It was like I was possessed!”

Maybe you had to be there. Then again, if you were ever possessed by the energy-bolt spirit of a San Diego State concert, you know the feeling. And “Let It Rock” will make sure that you never forget it.

“This brings people together to talk about the music they saw and what it meant to them, whether they are 18 or 80,” Mallios said. “We think that is very powerful.”