40th Anniversary of the Summer of Love!

I've just returned from San Francisco where I particpated in the 40th Anniversary of the Summer of Love with 40,000 other very high people!

Among the many highlights of this event were The Jefferson Starship, who played several hits in their set, with Somebody to Love, White Rabbit and closing with Volunteers (of America). These were all Jefferson Airplane songs of course!

What a great event! I've got lots more pix and videos I'll load up over the next few days, so check back for more!

Image #1 - Marty Balin singing Volunteers with the Jefferson Starship in front of a Peter Max backdrop!



Image #2 - Taj Mahal

 

Michael McClure (Beat Poet) recited some powerful poetry while Ray Manzarek (The Doors) accompanied with his fantastic keyboard skills. Reading poetry along with live music was very popular from the cafes of Greenwich Village to the salons of Paris in the 1960s.

That's basically what happened when Ray and a dude named Jim Morrison got together in L.A. back in the sixties.

My good friend, Lee Bridges, the Cannabis Poet, (R.I.P.) produced just such events in Paris around the time of the Student Revolution there, 1968...

Doesn't Ray look totally blissed out?

 

I don't know how many of you can remember this band, The Charlatans. They were the first band to perform live on LSD, and a very influential group of musicians back in SF in the 60s.

From left to right, Mike Wilhelm, Richard Olsen and Dan Hicks.

This was their final performance ever as a group!

 

And of course, Dan Hicks is more famous for his group, Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks who also performed at the event.

 

It was great to see the New Riders of the Purple Sage perform, albeit with just a few old members present.

That's Bill Laymon on the left and David Nelson on the right. Here they're performing their hit "Panama Red".

 

The Chambers Brothers had a few big hits in the 60s. Here's Lester Chambers with his band performing "Time Has Come Today", just like it was 1967 again!

 

There were many speakers during the event. Here's David E. Smith, the founder of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic. The clinic was such an important part of the Summer of Love, helping young people with their medical problems, like drug overdoses and STDs, FOR FREE (yes, see it IS possible!).

Today the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic consists of 22 separate clinics serving 34,000 people a year! What a success story from that summer!

 

Of course this Anniversary celebration wouldn't have been complete without Country Joe McDonald's band. Country Joe got the entire crowd singing along with him.

Joe kept repeating the refrain "What does it spell?", while the audience yelled "FUCK!", 32 times for a new record!

Here's Bruce Barthol (also from the Mime Troupe) with Joe singing the "I-Feel-like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag".

 

Then there's the ubiquitous Wavy Gravy, one of the founders of the Hog Farm that served food at the original Woodstock.

Yes, the vibe of this event was soooo different from any I've been to in the last 35 years or so... Full of OLD HIPPIES, just doin' their thing, like it was still 1967! Amazing!

There were even ppl giving out free acid, too!

As Ben Fong Torres, one of the founding editors of Rolling Stone Magazine said, "It's never too late to have another Summer of Love."

 

I have to mention the incredible backstage party going on during the concert. It was like one big reunion of so many incredible souls, high on life, once again sharing their talents with the world!

Too bad it was such a mob scene around the celebrities. It was impossible to conduct an interview if you didn't have a film crew to keep the crowd at bay.

The local media gave the event good coverage, but the national media, including Reuters, chose only to dwell on the problems with the original Summer of Love, rather than the wonderful message of that summer. They barely even mentioned the anniversary event, only wanting to PROPAGANDIZE against hippies. Reuters could only manage two shit photos of the crowd, so enjoy these images!

But the Reuters interview with Ray Manzarek was great! He had some gems in there!

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSN0228161820070904

Part of that interview:
Q: Did you come to a point where you renounced drugs?

A: "No, moderation, it's the golden pathway of moderation. You can do anything, you can do any substance you want if you can do it in moderation and you're the master."

Q: So the problem wasn't the drugs, just knowing when to stop?

A: "You can open the doors of perception with psychedelics, LSD and other psychedelics. You will open the doors of perception and see life for what it is - infinite."

Q: Do you still...

A: "No, no, no. You only do that in your 20s or early 30s. Beyond your early 30s it's kind of a perversion. Once you open the doors of perception they stay open."


That's exactly the way I feel about psychedelics like LSD since the 70s. Well put, Ray!

Some of the 50,000 beautiful people who attended the 40th Anniversary of the Summer of Love!

 

Jack Hirshman is another Beat poet who delivered some powerful political points in his reading.

 

Yes the producers of the event are coming out with a DVD. In addition there's a GREAT collection of posters from the event - most of them recreating the art typical of the 1960s like these:





They require that you buy a whole set of posters. They're not selling them one by one. There's like 26 designs in all! Guess this event inspired a LOT of great artists!

 

More Pix!

Here's Paul Kantner of the Jefferson Starship/Airplane playing guitar while Diana Mangano sings.



Here's more of the Jefferson Starship. Anyone recognize the woman in the hat and the guy with the grey curly hair (at first I thought he looked like Randy Newman)?



Also I never figured out who this guy is either. Here he's being interviewed by NBC, backstage... He got up and sang with the Starship on Volunteers.



Then there's Mr. Patches at the backstage party...

 

Of course my buddy Eddy Lepp showed up...



One more dude all dressed up like it was 1967...