September 3, 1982: The Us Competition, an extravagant music and know-how occasion staged by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, kicks off in California. The pageant prices $8 million to stage, and boasts appearances from a number of the largest musical acts of the day.
It’s a wild enterprise for Woz, who’s on hiatus from Apple after surviving a severe aircraft crash in 1981.
Us Competition: A change of route for Woz
Reasonably than returning to Apple as quickly as he may after the crash, Wozniak pursued quite a lot of different pursuits. He even attended engineering courses on the College of California, Berkeley, beneath the title “Rocky Raccoon Clarke,” apparently to keep away from drawing consideration to himself.
With a private fortune of $116 million, Apple’s lovable geek put collectively a far bolder enterprise with the Us Competition. It was an try to stage Woz’s personal model of Woodstock.
The title “Us Competition” was not brief for “United States,” however quite the collective time period for everybody. It was brief for “Unite Us in Tune.” It was presupposed to have a good time the passing of the “Me” Decade that had been the Nineteen Seventies. Whether or not purposely or not, it additionally referred to Wozniak as a brand new household man. His spouse went into labor the evening earlier than the pageant opened.
Us Competition showcases high bands
To deliver his pageant to life, Woz enlisted legendary rock promoter Invoice Graham (whose title is used for San Francisco’s Invoice Graham Auditorium, the place Apple often held occasions over time). Graham crammed the Us Competition card with rock luminaries starting from The Grateful Lifeless and The Ramones to The Kinks and Fleetwood Mac.
Due to the size of the pageant, many artists charged obscene quantities of cash to carry out.
“I might see the cash going out — my God, a lot more cash than these bands have ever been paid!” recalled Us Competition controller Carlos Harvey years later.
Woz throws a large social gathering
Graham saved Wozniak on a good leash, however allowed him to decide on one progressive nation singer for the occasion. Woz went with Jerry Jeff Walker, the singer who scored a Nineteen Sixties hit with the music “Mr. Bojangles.”
Wozniak insisted that the occasion not happen in a stadium, however quite occur open air like Woodstock. The location, the 500-acre Glen Helen Regional Park in Devore, California, was chosen for that reason.
It was an unlimited enviornment — with 1,800 porta-potties, a few helipads and one of many largest staging areas ever assembled on the time. It additionally allowed attendees to camp in the course of the occasion.
Us Competition: Know-how and music collectively
Woz being Woz, know-how was additionally an enormous a part of the Us Competition. It was described as a three-day “celebration of up to date music and know-how.”
Robert Moog attended to offer an illustration of his well-known synthesizer. A “Sensadome” supplied a 360-degree multimedia mild present. And jazz legend Herbie Hancock led a dialogue in regards to the Apple II/Alpha Syntauri music system.
Woz’s standing as Apple co-founder was signified by a big hot-air balloon, emblazoned with the Apple emblem, which floated by the primary staging space. A number of members of the unique Macintosh staff attended the weekend pageant, though Steve Jobs didn’t.
Recollections gained, cash misplaced
Steve Wozniak thought-about the Us Competition a hit, despite the fact that the occasion misplaced a large amount of cash. Though the viewers for all three days proved spectacular, a big share of people that turned up by no means paid. They both used counterfeit tickets or just climbed over the perimeter fences.
That didn’t cease Woz from staging a follow-up Us Competition the subsequent 12 months. This time, his losses got here to $13 million. At that time, he known as a cease to his concert-promoting days.
“If I do that for an additional 55 years, I’m in hassle,” Wozniak stated on the time.
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