T. Fischer says:
I was Buddy's Equipment Manager, advance man, and emcee at the time, and the concert idea was formed by Buddy the previous November when he was living in Novato, California. I was there that afternoon when he called Carlos, who was living fairlly near in southern Marin County. Buddy invited him to a huge Thanksgiving feast at his house, and there the collaborative effort was cemented. Buddy wielded a lot of influence in the recording industry back then, being a favored artist with industry giant Clive Davis.
The festival was held in Diamond Head Crater on the grounds of the old Coast Guard facility. I still have my badge from the event that reads "Sunshine '72". There were three stages set up on the grounds: Folk, Rock, and Country Western if I recall correctly. Warner Brothers footed the bill for transportation and performance gratuities. They brought in a 16-track recording outfit, but power failures resulted in very little useable material other than crowd reaction. You can hear the same reactions rather badly dubbed into the mix of the later studio recreation that was recorded in L.A., California (I'm thinking the old Record Plant near La Cienega Blvd., where Buddy did most of his recording when with the Mercury lable).
The Buddy Miles/Carlos Santana set included Buddy on drums, Greg Errico (drummer for Sly and the Family Stone), Greg Rolie on organ, Carlos and Neal Schon on guitar, and Buddy's three horn players on respective horns, Coke Escovido, Mike Carrabello, and Chepito Areas on timbali and congas, Dave Brown on bass, and a few others whose names and performance credits escape me at the moment. Warner Bros. had planned to house the majority at a "luxury" plantation house on the North Shore near Haliewa which had no phone or electricity. This accomodation didn't hold well with Carlos and many others of the troupe, so they relocated to a high-rise hotel on the beach in Honolulu.
Before leaving, Carlos lit a 10' string of firecrackers and threw it into the rented Ford Station Wagon, which blew out one window and most of the headliner. Guess who had to take it back to the rental car company! I told the astonished desk clerk that it must have been an act of vandalism, and that is how I found it in the morning. Not sure how it all was sorted out, as WB was picking up the tab.
After the concert date I arranged for Buddy and his then-squeeze Denise, organist Bob Hogins and his wife, myself, and co-worker Richie to fly to Maui for a few days where we met up with Barry Hilton (Hilton Hotels) and sailed around the island in his 55', twin-mast schooner. We took over a small club in Lahaina one night where Buddy beat the crap out of the house band's drum kit in an impromptu jam. Very bad vibes afterward from the house band's much-peeved drummer, but otherwise a Great trip!
