Above is a picture of Meredith Hunter, about to be stabbed by a Hell's Angel at Altamont in 1969. Click here for the page it came from, which has a precis of the received wisdom about that concert (end of the '60s, blah, blah, blah), which isn't and never has been anything other than spin. Although the blogger is right in saying "Gimme Shelter" is a masterpiece. But it would have been even if Altamont had never happened. Which it might not have, if Jack-Ruby-Defense-Attorney Mel Belli hadn't arranged it at the last minute after the guy who was originally renting the land for the already-announced free show withdrew from the deal at the last moment.
Below, a link to a shitty quality ten-minute clip that ends with the stabbing and the slo-mo roll-back of it described at the above link (and starts in the middle of "Sympathy for the Devil.") In between are a few of the most frightening minutes in movie history, during which the Stones play "Under My Thumb."
Hunter appears briefly in the crowd at about 3:45 in. Right at the end of "Under My Thumb," he reenters from the left-hand side of the frame, and though the blogger whose picture I swiped seems to think it's ambiguous, it looks crystal clear to me that he is perhaps about 0.5 seconds of shooting Mick Jagger when Passaro comes flying out of nowhere in an astonishingly efficient street-fighting maneuver, given how chaotic an environment they're in. Though to be fair, contrary to received wisdom, he is (apparently) acting more or less in the line of duty. Though the knife might not really have been necessary. But whatever. A jury acquitted him based on the footage, and it's easy to see why.
There is practically zero information about Hunter in the public domain. I have a vague notion that he was an inner-city kid from Berkley, no notable record, and hadn't been in, like, Vacaville or anything that conveniently suggestive. However, it was the Bay Area in 1969, and it's not like no one was trying to start a race war in California at around that time.
Also, though I have no fucking idea what I'm talking about when it comes to what's usual or unusual for people shooting other people, Hunter looks to me like an assassin who knows his business. He appears to get into position by spinning to the ground and rolling up into full ready-to-shoot stance. As noted, he is dealt with very quickly. And, as you can see in the picture, somebody is crazy enough to be trying to restrain Passaro, either from stabbing Hunter or from preventing Hunter's shot. I attribute that to...drugs? I don't know. Here's the clip.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQkHndvGR4w
Can I get a witness who knows what trained assassins look like?
I've wondered about this for decades. If Hunter was aiming at Jagger, and had managed to shoot him, that would indeed have put a little extra oomph into the falsiness of the Altamont killed the '60s spin. And maybe someone wanted to create that impression, and didn't feel certain Manson had been enough on that front. To say nothing of his total failure to start a race war with reference to rock icons.
Kept giving me the old invalid_session. grr.
