Wattstax

[Jim Eshelman]

August 20, 1972, 2:38 PM PDT, LA Memorial Coliseum, 34N00'51", 118W17'16"
https://www.altaonline.com/books/nonfic ... -wattstax/

Wattstax is often regarded as "the Black Woodstock." It was a benefit concert of Stax Records soul, gospel, R&B, blues, funk, and jazz artists held on the seventh anniversary of the Watts riots, released by Columbia Pictures as film early in 1973. Artists performing included Isaac Hayes, the Staple Singers, Richard Pryor, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, the Bar-Keys, and many more. Jesse Jackson was the master of ceremonies. (The event raised a million and a half dollars from box office alone. I don't know how much was raised from the later film and album.)

LAPD were not allowed inside the Coliseum. Security guards were all Black and all unarmed - no guns were allowed in the Coliseum at all (a point of pride to the concert creators). Tickets were $1 each so everyone in Watts could afford to come. It was the day of a Mars-Neptune square, so emotions were designed to run high and powerfully; Jupiter squared Pluto, so the event was intended to rock the established value system; and Moon opposed Venus (square Uranus) as the concert began (even closer mundanely), for the pure joy of it all.

The time above is for the moment the first song performance began. The study below is for the concert itself as a local event of great psychological and historical impact.

PS, this was scheduled to be on Isaac Hayes' 30th birthday. His SSR had a Moon-Jupiter conjunction in Sagittarius square his Neptune.

Year: Capsolar
(This short shows a severe year - probably not the concert itself.)
Saturn on WP-a 1°04'
Venus more widely foreground
-- Venus-Saturn sq. 1°18'
-- Moon-Mercury co. 2°01' PVP
Moon-Mars sq. 1°07'

Bridge (None.)

Quarter: Cansolar {+2}
(Sun on Zenith is quite descriptive, I think; and remember that Sun angular [plus benefics] is one of the major markers of positive, upbeat events in general, the "good events" category. - And get that rare, highly unusual in the '70s Neptune-Pluto conjunction straddling the prime vertical!)
Sun on Z 0°49'
-- Neptune-Pluto co. 0°25' PVP

Month: Caplunar {0}
(I think Mars exactly angular is inappropriate for a pointedly gunless event, though I suspect it correctly showed the raw energy of the place. Nonetheless, I will underrate it rather than overrate it.)
Mars on EP 0°11'
Mercury on Asc 1°30' stationary

Week: Liblunar
(As above, Sun is a significant marker of the tone and consequences of this event.)
Sun on Asc 2°48'
Mercury more widely angular

Day: Capsolar Quotidian {+1? +2?}
p MC op. s Pluto 1°02', t Pluto 0°22'

Day: Cansolar Quotidian
(I'm not going to rate this one right now. Again, Mars this strong for a pointedly non-violent, non-gun event places the objective observe in a complicated position. I actually think, though, that the raw passion of the music and the emotions of the event make this exactly right, as one of the most positive expressions of Mars-Neptune in mundane astrology that I've ever seen.)
p MC co. t Mars 1°03', sq. s Neptune 0°01', sq. t Neptune 0°11'
-- t Mars-Neptune sq. 0°14'
-- t Mars sq. s Neptune 0°02'
-- t Neptune co. s Neptune 0°12'