My "fondest" musical memory is actually the one that DIDN’T happen:
4 of us 18-year-olds crammed a weekend’s worth of camping gear, food, and (very) basic hygiene supplies in my buddy’s mom’s General. Motors something (I can’t remember but it was definitely not a Corvair) and headed to the Texas International Music Festival. The venue was just outside of Dallas, walking distance from a lake.
Our day begin with basic nutrition,and a high degree of enthusiasm as to what the musical and cultural possibilities were for the day. We rocked out, blues out, and cultured out as well as a group of naive, midwestern hot rods/going fast first, well-proportioned girls second, and music appreciation third guys could be. We briefily reviewed the talent line up on the way down, but it was somewhat vague at the moment. Early into the afternoon, we were getting a bit hungry and fatigued from the long-drice, short night the day before.
On the trek back to the campground, we heard a little ruckus off to our right, and curiousity moved us in that direction. As we got closer, and closer: "Hey, there’s people in the water." "And, HEY, they don’t have any clothes on!!". It was a moment later my eyes were riveted to a young lady who could have graced the cover of Playboy magazine -- right there, in front of me. One word: "Perfect." So, as any competant outdoor music festival participants would do, our clothes became optional as well. We could hear faint music in the backgroup, but too vague to be distrinquishable.
After several minutes of splishiing, and splashing and receiving numerous validations or our manliness, we threw on our clothes and headed back to the tent to dry off and partake in the mid-day food intake bit. Then, it was back to the venue.
We arrived dry, rested, and well-nurished just in time to see the previous group packing up their gear and carting it off the stage. Hours later, we could proudly say we saw some of the most notable bands of the day. Including some newcomers, like Santana.
A couple of days later, gear crammed back into the General Motors something, we were well down the road, reminiscing about the incredible times we had. One of the guys pulled out the line up of bands from the event. It was at that moment, we discovered the band we missed while "distracted" was -- LED ZEPPELIN.
I’m certain we would have been in awe being there in the same space, with 150,000 of our closest friends when Led Zeppelin took the stage. And, maybe, had some 50+ year old memories of the band that still hung around in our aging brains. But, I AM certain that I’ll never forget the skinny dipping.