The Collection
During his tenure as the host of a nationally syndicated weekend program, Howard Smith conducted interviews with well-known musicians and notable cultural figures between 1969 and 1972. These tapes include revealing and personal conversations with Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol, Jim Morrison, Buckminster Fuller, Abbie Hoffman, Jane Fonda, Hugh Hefner, Dr. John, Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin, Pete Townsend, Arlo Guthrie, Bill Graham, and many more. Smith sat down with John Lennon and Yoko Ono no less than five times and dispatched hourly reports live from Woodstock.
Containing over 100 interviews, The Smith Tapes releases themed collections of interviews on iTunes and Amazon MP3
The Limited Edition Box Set
2014 Grammy Award Nominee for special or Limited Edition Box Set Package!
Thanks to our successful Kickstarter campaign, The Smith Tapes will release a limited edition (500), hand numbered box set of more than 12 CD’s of selected conversations from the collection and his live dispatches from Woodstock. Completely custom made, it was meticulously designed by Art Director Masaki Koike (Winner, Grammy Award for Limited Edition Box Set Design 2008). Available in our Shop.
The Interviews
Each interview is a time capsule, transporting you back to that time and place. Smith had an unique knack for meeting artists at seminal moments including Mick Jagger just weeks before The Rolling Stones Concert at Altamont, Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda directly following their the debut of Easy Rider at Cannes, Pete Townshend after The Who’s rock opera Tommy performance at The Metropolitan Opera and the last interview Janis Joplin gave, just 4 days before her death. Smith packed away these original interview reels in boxes, where they sat for more than 40 years in his West Village loft. Upon their discovery, the tapes have been carefully digitized and restored.
About Howard Smith
Howard Smith is an Oscar winning film director, journalist and broadcaster. As a writer for more than thirty years, his articles have appeared in Playboy, The New York Times. He had a weekly column “Scenes” during the formative years of The Village Voice. In 1972, Smith produced and directed the Oscar winning feature-length documentary film “Marjoe” about evangelist Marjoe Gortner.
The Smith Tapes are being released by Ezra Bookstein in conjunction with Cass Calder Smith, Howard’s son.