While most trivia oriented classic rock fans remembered that August 1 would have been Jerry Garcia's 64th birthday, others recalled that it also marked the 35th anniversary of George Harrison and Ravi Shankar's "Concert For Bangladesh." The 1971 benefit took place at New York City's Madison Square Garden; featuring performances by Harrison, Shankar, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Leon Russell, Billy Preston and a reticent Bob Dylan.

One of the first concerts put together to raise money and awareness for a humanitarian cause, The Concert For Bangladesh showed that the platitudes preached by the hippie generation were not simply words; they could be transformed into good deeds. Despite the passing of more than three decades, the concert still generates donations: all artists' royalties from DVD and CD sales related to the show continue to go to UNICEF. Without question, the Concert For Bangladesh set the stage for larger and grander benefit shows like Live Aid.

"When new Bangla Desh was born and hundreds of thousands of refugees started pouring into India, I was so pained at seeing the suffering of these innocent people and my heart went out to them," said sitarist Shankar. "I wanted to help in whatever way I could and do something to raise money for the refugees. I was going to arrange a concert and play myself with perhaps a few friends. Dear George was in Los Angeles at that time and was visiting me. He saw the pain and anguish in me and was very concerned. Seeing my plight, he started to phone everyone. What happened afterwards is history. One day no one knew of Bangla Desh and the next day the whole world was talking about it."

Madison Square Garden marked the anniversary of the historic concert by unveiling a permanent plaque on their "Walk Of Fame."

Labels: Bob Dylan, George Harrison