Rolling Stone issue #31 had a cover date of April 19, 1969. 32 pages. 35 cents. Cover photo of Sun Ra by Baron Wolman.
Features: “Sun Ra” by John Burks; “Earthquake! California Fears Fear Itself” by Jerry Hopkins; “Bunky & Jake” by Paul Nelson; “Cerebrum” by Charles A. Fracchia; “Jethro Tull & His Fabulous Tool” by Ben Fong-Torres.
News: Morrison’s Penis Is Indecent; Censors Muffle Smothers Bros.; Blue Meanies Attack Beatles; “Tim Hardin: Hobnobbin’ With The Superstars” by Tom Nolan; An AFM Ban on the Moog Synthesizer?; Fillmore West vs. 28 Flavors; “When They Were: Mason, Capaldi, Wood & Frog, RIP” by Jonathan Cott; Jazz Takes Gas At Fillmore East; Flatt & Scruggs’ Last Breakdown; Rolling Stars: Sun to Enter Sign of Ram; Mercury’s Rockers In the Boondocks; Hearst Closes Its EYE; Cream Movie Is ‘A Real Bomb’; MC5 Kick Out The What?; LA’s Open City Closed Down; Random Notes on Cass Elliot, James Brown, Jeff Beck, Plaster Casters, Janis Joplin, methamphetamine, CSN, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash, and Aretha Franklin.
Columns: Perspectives by Ralph J. Gleason (“Beating Up on The Expendables”); Books by Michael Lydon (on Outlaw Blues by Paul Nelson and The Poetry of Rock by Richard Goldstein).
Full-page ads: The Great American Eagle Tragedy by Earth Opera on Elektra; The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation on Blue Thumb; Three Dog Night on Dunhill; Sunn amplifiers; Suite For Susan Moore And Damion by Tim Hardin and Mark Spoelstra on Columbia; Uncle Meat by the Mothers of Invention on Reprise; The Gilded Palace Of Sin by the Flying Burrito Bros on A&M; Glad I’m In The Band by Lonnie Mack on Elektra.
More ads: Smell Of Incense by Southwest F.O.B. on HIP; The Black Pearl on Ampex; Ten Years After on Deram/London; Odessey and Oracle by the Zombies on Date; Savoy Brown on London; The Mason Williams Reading Matter on Doubleday; John and Yoko “two-sided many-headed two virgins poster” from Cliff House.
Reviews: God Bless Tiny Tim/Tiny Tim’s Second Album/Fats is Back, Fats Domino/The Holy Mackeral (by Jerry Hopkins); Any Day Now, Joan Baez (by John Grissim, Jr.); James Taylor (by Jon Landau); Les Filles de Kilimanjaro, Miles Davis Quintet (by John Burks); The View from the Dog Tower, Richard Brautigan (by Richard Brautigan); The Progressive Blues Experiment, Johnny Winter (by John Burks); A Bell Ringing in the Empty Sky, Goro Yamaguchi (by Charles Perry); Elvis TV Special, Elvis Presley (by Greil Marcus); Cold Shot, The Johnny Otis Show (by Pete Welding); 20/20, The Beach Boys (by Arthur Schmidt).
Subscription offer: New subscribers could get a free copy of Ike and Tina Turner’s River Deep – Mountain High (with 50 cents for shipping and handling). $6 for 26 issues; $10 for 52.
Previously: Issue 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30.