Reddon: Were you an active participant and devotee of the popular music scene in 1968? Who were some of your favourite musicians at the time?

Fitzpatrick: I was a disc jockey, first at KGU-AM (the Gonzaga campus Top 40) radio station and later at KJRB-AM in Spokane (a Top 40 commercial radio station).

My interest in music was as a fan. Promoting concerts also gave me the opportunity to feel the intensity of performing, live and on-stage - even though I was not a musician. My favourite bands at the time were, of course, The Beatles, The Moody Blues, Buffalo Springfield, The Doors, Eric Burdon and The Animals, Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith...

Reddon: How did you manage to book and promote Led Zeppelin at Gonzaga University?

Fitzpatrick: I was second Vice President of the student body, the ASGU (Associated Students of Gonzaga University). I was aware that there was a loophole, of sorts, in regard to the Kennedy Pavilion at GU. The student government could rent the facility for $500, versus renting the Spokane Coliseum for $15,000 a night.

I contacted the folks at Concerts West in Seattle (also Northwest Releasing in Seattle) and suggested that if they brought their larger acts to Spokane, I would act as their representative in Eastern Washington and provide the Kennedy Pavilion as their stage. In return, they would give Gonzaga students a discount on the price of tickets.

Additionally, I would handle the mechanics of producing the concert for them: I distributed the tickets to the various locations, hung posters publicizing the concert, hired ticket takers and other concert-night personnel and hired off-duty Spokane police officers for security.

In the early days, I saved Concerts West thousands of dollars in security costs because the Spokane Coliseum required one police officer per door (and there were many). They also required police officers around the stage, in the dressing room area and outside the Coliseum. I provided many students free of charge who handled most of those duties. The university only required three police officers (instead of the 25 or 30 the Coliseum did).