<P> Emmett Grogan (founder of the radical community - action group the Diggers), who was intimately involved in the organization of the event (especially at the two earlier - planned venues), confirmed the $500 beer arrangement on that same KSAN forum with Ponek . </P> <P> "Pete" also tells host Ponek that the Angels were hired by Cutler because of some rowdy, anxious on - stage incidents during the Stones' Oakland and Miami concerts weeks earlier . As security guards, Pete said "we ain't into that security", but that they agreed after the beer offer . He also claimed that, other than being told to "just keep people off the stage", Cutler gave the Hells Angels very little specific instructions for stage security: "They didn't say nothing to us about any of that ." And although the Angels are not security guards, "If we say we're going to do something, we do it . If we decide to do it, it's done . No matter what, how far we have to go to do it ." The similar lack of detailed security instructions by the concert's management was also mentioned by Barger during his telephone call - in . </P> <P> Altamont Speedway owner Dick Carter had hired hundreds of professional, plainclothes security guards, ostensibly more for the purpose of protecting his property rather than for the safety and well - being of the concertgoers . Barger mentions these guards, as identified by their wearing of "little white buttons". </P> <P> Political scientist and cultural critic James Miller believes that since Ken Kesey had invited the Hells Angels to one of his outdoor Acid Tests, the hippies had viewed the bikers unrealistically, idealizing them as "noble savages" and thus "outlaw brothers of the counterculture". Miller also maintains that the Rolling Stones may have been misled by their experience with a British contingent of self - described "Hells Angels", a non-outlaw group of admirers of American biker gear who had provided nonviolent security at a free Stones concert earlier that year in Hyde Park, London . Cutler, however, denies ever having had any illusions about the true nature of Californian Hells Angels . "That's another canard foisted on the world by the press", he said, but Rock Scully remembers explaining to the Stones what the "real" Angels were like after watching the Hyde Park concert . </P>

Both the altamont concert and woodstock took place in this year