Peace, brother.

The 1960s are coming back Saturday evening in Lincoln Countywith Brookstock VIII, Brookhaven’s entry into a string of summer’smany outdoor concerts occurring across the state. While somecountry music has been known to sneak into Brookstock before, theconcert is all about rock – Brookhaven’s rock.

Brookstock began when founder Don Jacobs reunited his highschool band, The Brutes, for a Brookhaven High School Class of ’68reunion. The band played again at the reunion the following year,and the framework for Brookstock was born.

While the concert rocks, its evolution was born ofsomberness.

“It started out as a class reunion, and we lost some classmatesalong the way,” Jacobs said. “We all sort of felt like time wasrunning out, and we needed to get together more often. Before that,we only tended to see all these peoples at funerals. We needed amore positive outlet to get together.”

Jacobs said the event really took off when it was decided toopen the concert to bands from other BHS classes. The first guestband to appear at a pre-Brookstock Brookstock was The Brutes’ maincompetition from the high school days, whose members were from theclass of ’69. From there, the restrictions continued to ease.

“A complaint of mine over the years was that it was always funto go to these reunions and see people, but you only saw those fromyour class,” Jacobs said. “Once we opened it up to the class of’69, it seemed like it would be more fun to open it up to anyone -the bigger the party, the better.”

And party, Brookstock is – concert-goers are urged to bring lawnchairs and whatever food or refreshments they may desire to sustainthem throughout the night and into the morning, as it is notuncommon for the Brookstock crowd to linger on until well pastmidnight.

This year’s installment of the concert will feature five bands,with at least three more performers expected to appear, and platelunches will be sold by the Allen Community Fire Department. Onehundred free turkey dogs will be prepared and provided by BoIvy.

Gates open at 5 p.m., and the first act, The Brutes, will goonstage at 6:30 p.m.

The concert is held at Lonny Ray’s camp south of the city onCatalpa Drive, which can be accessed by turning west from Highway51 South. The physical address of the campground is 20 The RaysTrail Southeast.

The Brutes will be followed by local acts Eddie “Cross”Aldridge, The Rainer Brothers, Mike J. Case and Friends andfeatured performers, Bill Guess and the Sensational Sonny Ledouxband. Virgil Drawley of Jackson-based blues band The Juvenators isalso scheduled to appear.

Musicians from each band will take the stage together at 10 p.m.for the Ultimate Jam.

When Brookstock was a young concert, Jacobs said it struggled,with a couple of years bringing in only about 50 people each time.In 2007, however, Brookstock reached its best turnout so far, withmore than 200 in attendance.

With Brookstock now promoted by Debra Nix’s Brookhaven HighAlumni group, Jacobs is expecting to trump that numberSaturday.

“During the last three or four years, word has gotten out andit’s began to grow a little more and more,” he said. “We’reexpecting more than 200 to show up this year.”

Preparing for Brookstock has become quite a chore, Jacobs said.Accommodating several bands and more than 200 people requires agood deal of planning.

“In the beginning it wasn’t difficult – it started out likethrowing a party,” he said. “Now, I have to plan way ahead. Thee-mail list has grown enormously. It’s a lot of work, and there area lot of headaches that come with it, but it’s worth it in theend.”

For Debbie Keene, whom Jacobs calls his “right-hand woman” incarrying out Brookstock, the concert is more than just a highschool reunion, but a reminder of an entire generation – the firstin America to go against the grain. She said Brookstock is as mucha trip back in time as it is a concert.

“The 1960s really had a huge impact on music and culture – itchanged the way we dressed, everything,” she said. “We were theones that said, ‘let’s do something about that.’ We questionedauthority.”

Keene said current times are a vivid reminder of the 1960s – achanging culture, changing politics and involvement in an unpopularwar that not everyone understands.

“Brookstock is pleasant memory of those days,” she said. “Itsets your mood, reminds you of good times, bad times, happytimes…”

The times begin this year with a pre-Brookstock gathering atWestern Sizzlin’ at 11 a.m. Saturday. Brookstock VIII T-shirts canbe picked up at the luncheon – more have been ordered, and can bepurchased by contacting Keene at dkeene@dailyleader.com.

Admission to Brookstock is $5, part of which will go towardscholarship funds in the memory of the late W.L. Roach, a formerBHS principal; and the late Paul Moyer, a former BHS coach. Thescholarships are awarded to exemplary BHS students.