September 3, 1982: The Us Competition, an extravagant music and expertise occasion staged by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, kicks off in California. The competition prices $8 million to stage, and boasts appearances from a few of the greatest musical acts of the day.
It’s a wild enterprise for Woz, who’s on hiatus from Apple after surviving a critical airplane crash in 1981.
Us Competition: A change of path for Woz
Fairly than returning to Apple as quickly as he might after the crash, Wozniak pursued quite a lot of different pursuits. He even attended engineering lessons on the College of California, Berkeley, below the identify “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 identify “Us Competition” was not quick for “United States,” however fairly the collective time period for everybody. It was quick for “Unite Us in Music.” It was purported to rejoice the passing of the “Me” Decade that had been the Seventies. Whether or not purposely or not, it additionally referred to Wozniak as a brand new household man. His spouse went into labor the night time earlier than the competition opened.
Us Competition showcases prime bands
To convey his competition to life, Woz enlisted legendary rock promoter Invoice Graham (whose identify is used for San Francisco’s Invoice Graham Auditorium, the place Apple sometimes held occasions through the years). Graham crammed the Us Competition card with rock luminaries starting from The Grateful Useless and The Ramones to The Kinks and Fleetwood Mac.
Due to the size of the competition, many artists charged obscene quantities of cash to carry out.
“I’d see the cash going out — my God, a lot extra money than these bands have ever been paid!” recalled competition controller Carlos Harvey years later.
Woz throws an enormous social gathering
Graham stored Wozniak on a good leash, however he allowed the Apple co-founder to decide on one progressive nation singer for the occasion. Woz went with Jerry Jeff Walker, the singer who scored a Sixties hit with the music “Mr. Bojangles.”
Wozniak insisted that the occasion not happen in a stadium, however fairly occur outside 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 greatest staging areas ever assembled on the time. It additionally allowed attendees to camp throughout the occasion.
Us Competition: Know-how and music collectively
Woz being Woz, expertise was additionally a giant a part of the Us Competition. It was described as a three-day “celebration of up to date music and expertise.”
Robert Moog attended to present an indication of his well-known synthesizer. A “Sensadome” provided a 360-degree multimedia mild present. And jazz legend Herbie Hancock led a dialogue concerning 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 group attended the weekend competition, though Apple co-founder Steve Jobs didn’t.
Recollections gained, cash misplaced
Woz thought-about the occasion an enormous success, regardless that it wound up shedding an enormous 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 referred to as a cease to his concert-promoting days.
“If I do that for an additional 55 years, I’m in bother,” Wozniak stated on the time.
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