On Jan. 26, a gathering of gray-hairs and old hippies attended an introductory showing at the UGA Special Collections Libraries of Alex Cooley Presents: Time Has Come Today, a documentary on the historic Atlanta International Pop Festivals produced by Athens resident David Lee, as well as accompanying footage by Steve Rash.
The late concert promoter Alex Cooley organized the first Atlanta International Pop Festival in July 1969, a month before Woodstock, and bits of that concert are seen in the film. However, the documentaries’ main focus is the second festival, held over the Fourth of July weekend in 1970, in burning 100-degree heat.
The two concerts featured many artists who did not play Woodstock, like The Allman Brothers Band, Grand Funk Railroad, Rare Earth, B.B. King, It’s a Beautiful Day, Poco, Procol Harum, Spirit, Mott the Hoople and The Chambers Brothers, as well as ones who did, like Johnny Winter, Mountain, Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Ten Years After and Jimi Hendrix.
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