Are You Looking at Me???

The incomparable Rick Griffin (1968)

14 Year-Old Boy Interviews John Lennon (1969)

In 1969, teenage Beatle fanatic Jerry Levitan snuck into John Lennon's hotel room to have a chat. He brought a reel-to-reel tape deck, interviewed his Working Class Hero and voila! Instant Karma. 38 years later, director Josh Raskin combines Levitan's audio, the haunting drawings of James Braithwaite and digital illustration by Alex Kurina into an astoundingly prescient package.

This is a very cool video. Trust me on this one...

Psychedelic 60s

The Psychedelic 60s (below):
Featuring: The Byrds, The Grateful Dead, The Beatles, Country Joe & the Fish, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Ravi Shankar, Ken Kesey, The Merry Pranksters.

The Diggers

The Diggers were one of the legendary groups in San Francisco Francisco's Haight-Ashbury, one of the world-wide epicenters of the Sixties Counterculture which fundamentally changed American and world culture. Shrouded in a mystique of anonymity, the Diggers took their name from the original English Diggers (1649-50) who had promulgated a vision of society free from private property, and all forms of buying and selling. The San Francisco Diggers evolved out of two Radical traditions that thrived in the SF Bay Area in the mid-1960s: the bohemian/underground art/theater scene, and the New Left/civil rights/peace movement.

The Diggers combined street theater, anarcho-direct action, and art happenings in their social agenda of creating a Free City. Their most famous activities revolved around distributing Free Food every day in the Park, and distributing "surplus energy" at a series of Free Stores (where everything was free for the taking.) The Diggers coined various slogans that worked their way into the counterculture and even into the larger society — "Do your own thing" and "Today is the first day of the rest of your life" being the most recognizable. The Diggers, at the nexus of the emerging underground, were the progenitors of many new (or newly discovered) ideas such as baking whole wheat bread (made famous through the popular Free Digger Bread that was baked in one- and two-pound coffee cans at the Free Bakery); the first Free Medical Clinic, which inspired the founding of the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic; tye-dyed clothing; and, communal celebrations of natural planetary events, such as the Solstices and Equinoxes.

First and foremost, the Diggers were actors (in Trip Without A Ticket, the term "life actors" was used.) Their stage was the streets and parks of the Haight-Ashbury, and later the whole city of San Francisco. The Diggers had evolved out of the radicalizing maelstrom that was the San Francisco Mime Troupe which R.G. Davis, the actor, writer, director and founder of the Troupe had created over the previous decade. The Diggers represented a natural evolution in the course of the Troupe's history, as they had first moved from an indoor milieu into the parks of the City, giving Free performances on stages thrown up the day of the show. The Digger energy took the action off the constructed platform and jumped right into the most happening stage yet — the streets of the Haight where a new youth culture was recreating itself, at least temporarily, out of the glaring eye of news reporters. The Diggers, as actors, created a series of street events that marked the evolution of the hippie phenomenon from a homegrown face-to-face community to the mass-media circus that splashed its face across the world's front pages and TV screens: the Death of Money Parade, Intersection Game, Invisible Circus, Death of Hippie/Birth of Free.

The Diggers broadcast these events, as well as their editorial comments of the day, pronouncements to the larger Hip Community, manifestos and miscellaneous communications, through broadsides and leaflets distributed by hand on Haight Street. These Web pages are my attempt to present the story of the digger movement as it developed in the mid-to-late sixties and early seventies (and evolved in various directions even to the present). I have been collecting this Archive for thirty years, and see the Web as a way to display the materials and make them available both for researchers and for all diggers past and present who want to preserve and participate in this history.

Link to excellent documentary on The Diggers (Les Diggers de San Francisco):
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OZE72UDI

Timothy Leary

In 1968, Richard Nixon called Leary "the most dangerous man in America." Ya think?

Timothy Leary said:

"Think for yourself and question authority"

"The universe is an intelligence test"

“There are three side effects of acid: enhanced long-term memory, decreased short-term memory, and I forget the third”

Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out - sample from the original 1966 LP (top left)

The Sixties: The Years That Shaped a Generation - 1969

1969: The Rage

Student activism continued through the end of the 60s - this time with the fight centered on identity. At San Francisco State University, students held a 134-day strike in an effort to draw attention to the university's diverse population and the need for ethnic studies departments. In the end, their struggle led to the creation of a black studies department, but at a cost of 700 arrested.

The counter-culture reached its high point with Woodstock, the largest and last rock festival of its kind. But the heavy experimentation of the decade would take its toll, leaving many feeling on the edge of despair and others fleeing to the respite of country life.

With the end of Nixon's first year in office, the American death toll in Vietnam continued to mount. Protests took place in every city around the country, calling for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Vietnam. With over two million present, this became the largest one-day demonstration ever in a Western democracy. Nixon would be forced to rethink his plan for escalating the conflict.

The country was fractured beyond repair. In frustration, some activists turned to more radical methods to make their statements. Vietnam veterans returned from war shattered and disillusioned, with some returning their medals and calling on the Supreme Court to declare the war "unconstitutional."

Barry Melton, guitarist for Country Joe & The Fish, says at the end of THE SIXTIES, "It's important for the youth of a generation to feel that they can change the world because they really can ... that was a time of tremendous change, where youth were tremendously motivated. It would be good to see that happen again."

Janis...

Two of my favorite photos of Janis

<--Click on Janis' passport (I sign my "J's" EXACTLY the same way!)
Check out this tribute to Janis:

Night Flight 60's Hippie Movie Trailer

Taped from an old broadcast of "Night Flight" on the USA Network...
1. "Psych-Out" (1967) -- with Jack Nicholson and Bruce Dern! "C'mon man, Warren's freaking out at the gallery!
2. "Skidoo" (1968).
3. I Love You Alice B. Toklas

Trip out man.

San Francisco - Scott McKenzie (1967)

Scott McKenzie (b. 10 January 1939, Jacksonville, Florida) is a singer best known for his 1967 hit of "San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)." San Francisco was featured in the highly acclaimed movie Forrest Gump. He grew up in North Carolina and Virginia, where he became friends with the son of one of his mother's friends, John Phillips. In the mid 1950s, he sang briefly with Tim Rose in a high school group called The Singing Strings, and later with Phillips, Mike Boran and Bill Cleary formed a doo wop band, The Abstracts. He (Scott) was a crooner in an era which lacked crooners under the age of fifty.

Scott was a natural for the song (San Francisco). What he wasn't a natural for was the result of having a hit record:

"God, Ned, hide me willya?" It's Scott.
He stands on my porch looking wild-eyed and frightened. He looks as if he's been up all night.
"What's wrong, man," I ask.
"Women. They're all over my place. They're swarming up Laurel Canyon."
"Wait, lemme get a few things, a toothbrush ..." I said, heading for the bathroom.
"No, you don't understand. I mean armies. Dozens of girls literally breaking into my house to have sex with me." We stood there looking at each other, he pleading for understanding, me for time.
"Toothbrush and toothpaste," I said, picking up the pace.
"You don't see it, do you? One month ago these chicks wouldn't give me the time of day, and now they can't wait to f*** me. Why? I mean -- it's sick, man. It's perverse. Some of these girls are fourteen, fifteen years old!"
"Toothbrush, toothpaste some gum ..."
"Ned, you're not listening. They come at all times of the night and day, they don't care. They have boyfriends, husbands, it doesn't matter. They're like animals. It's not a turn-on at all, it's -- terrifying." This was subversive talk and it made me uncomfortable. Since when did a man turn down free pussy? It wasn't in the book.
"Get hold of yourself, Scott. This is what we're here for. You're supposed to get all this sex and fame and money. These are the goods for chrissake."
"Then how come it's got me all freaked out?"
"Simple. You're a very sick person, Scott. Now, do you think you could convince some of them, the ones you don't want, that I have a hit coming out, too? Nothing spectacular, I'll just skim off the blowby." Scott stared at me, turned, and fled.

If this little ditty doesn't take you back to the Summer of Love, nothing will.

Go ahead, turn it up and sing along (you know you want to...)

And now, for a psychedelic break from reality...

San Francisco 1967 - 1968

The Hippie Temptation - CBS News Report (1967)

Harry Reasoner visits The Haight Ashbury District and presents to us the truth about the "Hippie Movement." If you were, are, or would like to be a Hippie, this video is must viewing. Learn the scientific truth about LSD, the hazards of LSD Flashbacks, scientific conclusions such as chromosome damage and destruction caused by "trips." An interview with the Grateful Dead. Canned Heat plays a ballroom. The Dead plays a concert in the park "Dancing In The Street." Our country in degeneration. CBS News 1967, reddish and white color. 50 min.

Link to full broadcast: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BWAAKEBB

KFRC Fantasy Faire and Magic Mountain Festival (6-10-67)

On June 10th and 11th in 1967 radio station KFRC put on the "Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Festival" on Mount Tamalpais just north of San Francisco. The Festival was held at the 4,000 seat Sidney B. Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre high on the South face of Mount Tamalpais. According to Wikipedia, over 15,000 people attended. This was the first of several cultural events that came to be known as "The Summer of Love." Admission to the festival was $2 and all proceeds were donated to nearby Hunter's Point Child Care Center in San Francisco. The Festival was originally scheduled for June 3rd and 4th but was rescheduled due to inclement weather. After enjoying a scenic ride up the mountain from points such as the Marin Civic Center and Mill Valley, a giant Buddha balloon greeted attendees when they arrived. Transportation was provided by "Trans Love Bus Lines."

Official Program:

http://mildequator.com/performancehistory/memorabilia/tamalpaisinside1.html

The copy reads: ...A Benefit for the Hunters Point Child Care Centers ....A gathering of beautiful things, created and collected by the artisians and craftsmen of Northern California, and represented by the exhibitors listed on the Fantasy Fair Map...a variety of "happenings." When you arrive at the Fantasy Fair, you will immediately surrounded by color and motion, the good vibrations of thousands of people flowing with the natural beauty of Mt. Tamalpais. The major happening is you, your feeling of good will, and your knowledge that the Fair and the Mountain are a part of you, therefore yours to enjoy. The woods and meadows are an open invitation to wander and enjoy yourself to the limits of your imagination. And because they are yours to enjoy, we hope that you will grove with the surroundings, doing everything you can to keep them in their natural state.... For your enjoyment, The Fantasy Fair staff has prepared the Geodesic Dome Light Chamber. The Dome can accomadate 150 people per 8 minute show. We invite your participation in the wonders of the Dome, and ask that at the end of each show, you move out to make room for others waiting on line. You are also invited to enloy the giant slide, the tree swings (on the way to the valley of dancing), the vast assortment of strolling or sitting musicians (find many of them under trees or rocks), and other suprises prepared by Fantasy Fair volunteers for your pleasure and participation.... Music will be performed hourly in the Amphitheatre from 8am until 6pm. We ask that after each performance the seats be cleared to make way for people that may be waiting for the next performance... The Fantasy Fair wishes to express extreme gratitude to the artists in the performing groups, who have graciously donated their valuable time and exceptional talents, and all the bands performing in the Valley of Dancing.

Performers at the show were:
P.F.Sloan
The Grass Roots
Moby Grape
The 13th Floor Elevator
Spanky and Our Gang
Rodger Collins
Blackburn and Snow
Every Mother's Son
The Sons of Champlain
Jefferson Airplane
The Mojo Men
The Merry Go Round

The Performers for Sunday were:
The Byrds
The Loading Zone
Tim Buckley
The Doors
Every Mother's Son
Wilson Pickett
Hugh Maskela
The Steve Miller Blues Band
The Seeds
Country Joe and the Fish
Smokey Robinson and The Miracles

The Doors - Video Mount Tamalpais Outdoor Theater 6-10-1967:

Photos from the show:
http://www.bcx.org/photos/events/concerts/ffair/?file=KFRCFantasyFair19670603_7587SBCX.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenbove/sets/72157603860560629/
http://www.radioismoaning.com/Photographs/main.php?g2_itemId=1935
http://www.sanfranciscoaudio.com/MtTamalpaisMagicMountain.html

The San Francisco Trips Festival (1966)

Click on the Program and Lineup signed by Wavy Gravy-->

The Trips Festival was held at the Longshoreman's Hall in San Francisco over three days in January of 1966. The festival was the brainchild of Stewart Brand, a Prankster and later publisher of the Whole Earth Catalog. Brand and Ramon Sender did most of the early organizing. The festival roughly followed the format of the earlier Acid Tests and, by all accounts, it was equally chaotic and off the wall (despite the best efforts of Bill Graham and his clipboard).
The Pranksters were involved early on, and on Saturday night they provided their usual homemade inter-active technology and wacked-out craziness. The Dead played -- well, sort of -- as did Big Brother and the Holding Company, along with lots of other musicians and artists. Kesey offered the crowds a running commentary of the craziness on an overhead projector. The audience were encouraged to be more than just spectators and many wore "Ecstatic Dress" and danced the night away as the fliers had requested. A bag of LSD circulated around the hall courtesy of Owsley himself.

Ben Van Meter - S.F. Trips Festival, An Opening (1966):

Rockin' at the Red Dog Saloon (1965)

Opening in June 1965, the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City, Nevada, was the prototype for the hippie dance halls of San Francisco, the proving ground for new groups like the Grateful Dead and the Great Society, and the outlaw enclave where Bill Ham invented the psychedelic light show. Melding raucous vintage footage with recent interviews, this brilliant documentary is essential for anyone interested in
the kinetic rise of Sixties rock.

Quicksilver Messenger Service - Dino's Song (1968)

Must be one of the earliest ever music videos. The scene is the houseboat docks in Sausalito, home to generations of Bay Area bohemians including Alan Watts and the Whole Earth Catalog editors. The subject, Dino Valente, composer of the hippie anthem "Let's Get Together."

Keep on Truckin' - R. Crumb (1967)

From Zap Comix #1 - 1967

Remember this guy?

Acid Test - Muir Beach (1965)

Acid Test Diploma-->

Dec 17, 1965 Acid Test.

The third Acid Test took place at Muir Beach Lodge near Mt. Tamalpais (after being advertized for Stinson Beach). This was the largest one to date in terms of attendence. The Warlocks aka Grateful Dead perform.

Joel Selvin: Third public Acid Test. Last minute it was moved to lodge near Muir Beach. Augustus Owsley Stanley III arrived and tripped out on LSD. Screeched chair across the floor, left log cabin screaming and crashed his car on the side of the road.

Human Be-In (1967)

The 'Human Be-In' was a happening in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, the afternoon and evening of January 14, 1967. It was a prelude to San Francisco's Summer of Love, which made the Haight-Ashbury district a household word as the center of an American counterculture and introduced the word 'psychedelic' to suburbia.

Berkeley Barb (1969)

Berkeley Barb 3-21-69 (front page)

Click to enlarge and "read."

The Berkeley Rebels (1965)

The Berkeley Rebels (1965)

Narrator: Harry Reasoner (CBS). Mario Savio, Clark Kerr, Sallie Learey, Ron Anastasi, Kate Coleman, Michael Rossman. A unique documentary film presenting the 1964 Free Speech Movement demonstrations and sit-in at the University of California, Berkeley through first person accounts by four students involved in the protests. Includes debates between students withdiffering viewpoints of the movement, debates between faculty and students and an overview of the impersonalacademic experience at the University which fueled the unrest.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BJ292LO7

Riot On Sunset Strip (1967)

Riot On Sunset Strip (1967)

A police captain (Aldo Ray) is caught between businesses operating on the Los Angeles Sunset Strip who don't like the punks hanging out, and his belief in allowing the kids their rights. But when his daughter (Mimsy Farmer) gets involved with an unruly bunch, his attitude starts to change.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0DYG1JWL

Alice In Acidland (1968)

Alice in Acidland (1968)

Cute and perky college student Alice and her cute and perky friend Kathy are invited to a "pool party" by Freida, a female teacher who is actually a lesbian and has designs on Alice. At the party Alice gets drunk, takes acid and immediately becomes a lesbian, taking a bath with Freida. Later Alice gets mixed up with LSD-addicted hippies, rape, more lesbians, more LSD, orgies, suicide, and having sex with guys who keep their boxer shorts on while doing it.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=S6MS2YG0