Your insights about a special era.

I never stopped to think too much about: "what made the sixties so special?" even around the 80's when it's dawining on me finally that the world lost something it may never have again.
I had started to do a lot of reading, something
"other people" did when I was hanging out and turning on in the east village. That reading kept me from looking back and only looking forward.


Around 1974 I'm begginning to notice a fast degradation in the quality of music; yet, Woodstock, the break- up of the Beatles, man landing on the moon; all were big signs that this was the last year, and the wonder decade was over. No one had a hint of how low things would get after that.

I began noticing people dressing up the part, but having absolutely no inner connection at all, but pursuing only the explotation in some way of the
conciousness.

At least the place where I was was peaceful, and in nine years I think I witnessed maybe three fights, or almost- fights.
I lived between seventh and eighth streets, the Hell's angels on third st. between second ave. and first. Two of those would-be fights involved them.

Shrilad Prabhupada could only say the worst about it,(dirty hippies) yet guess who were his first converts ? Who joined an seventy year old man, alone, dancing and singing Harekrishna in Tompkins Square park, who had been refused support by India, and not one single person believing it was possible to enlighten the west withHindhu values,(specially, personal God philosophy, people had embraced impersonalism) except those who had turned-on, tuned-in, and dropped- out?

Later, when it became one of the biggest movements of eastern teachings with one hundred temples... many college and university grads joined it.
I examined it in 1975, and now I have read practically every book published by baktivedanta book trust. For me personally, whatever is missing with western religions the east fulfills it, yet someone had to come with enough patience
and to be in the righ place (Ny's Greenwhich village) right time (mid- sixties) and recruit the right people (total dropouts).

That too was a big part of the general movement, along with Carlos Castaneda's books, Timothy leary with his LSD, and the great poets of the time; not to mention the powerful combination of rock music with folk-song lyrics wich originated with Bob Dylan, and was followed by the Mamas and the papas, the byrds and others.

The Beatles had more to do with this than maybe
few care to acknowldge. I travelled with a friend
who had studied in Canada and she argued with me, cause she did not think or believe that the Beatles had originated the long hair thing.
I thought it was comon knowledge.
Wether or not people want to recognise that, long hair was one main key point, since the Elvis Presley look or teddy boy hair, was almost symbolic of hard machismo, yet, the boyish look and attitudes brought by The Beatles, turned the wholle world upside down. Their music, being such a blend of everything that was good... well that didn't hurt either.

Was an unjust an opressive war a big influence?
When did the people ever protest the goverment for their decisions? except for choosing (?) who would be president?
Yes, I think that right after Kennedy being assasinated, something changed drastically in America, people could not afford to be naive anymore. Enter Milhouse Nixon with his clownish blunders, and America is awake to corruption in politics. Prior to that, presidents were the gods.

Was it simply that instead of alcohol and hanging out in bars, now people were turning on to reffer madness, and Love Service +Devotion? That now sex was not something you did after signing a contract, but an expression of two people who dug each other ?
Or was it a star seed transmition, that began in 1962 and ended in 1969? How about planetary influences and the dawn of the age of Aquarious?

Whatever it was, I don't think it was only one thing; it was many things, good and bad and also mixed. An idea who's time had come .

Those are the ones we remember and are aware of, but I know there's more. What do you think it was, and is there a posiblity of another golden age?

Or maybe now we're experiencing the Golden age of something else.

Discuss.

 

Many will disagree with me but, the Beatles were overrated. There playing skills were limited and think about it. They started off a cover band!!!!
There have and will be bands who are far more superior.

December

 

Liquid nitrogen ice cream tasted better in the 60s.

 

Simply because the main skill of any musician is in songwriting. Groups of the Seventies like Stepenwolf, Ten years after, The doors, and more recent musicians, have very little originality which is the foundation of good songwriting. The best training to become a good musician is to paly covers and lern the best songs of the difernt eras.
The Beatles played motown, old rock tunes and even songs prior to the 50's. When it was time to start creating their own, they were well-rounded enough to have an idea of what was good quality
songs.

 

I have to laugh at people who go by radio friendly modern music..Go INdie you will see real musicians. Sorry countless Revelution :::Yawn::: and drug lyrics can grow old really fast.

D

 

E. 1st Street, between 1st Ave. and Ave A... 1970-72 (on and off while traveling coast to coast). Lived many places in CA during the 60's including several places in the Haight and next door to the Airplane on Fulton.

I had a dog I named Taxi. It was a blast to be walking her and the other three dogs to Tompkin's Square at 3 in the morning. "TAXI !!!... TAXI !!!" About the only time it was safe to walk those streets was at 4 in the morning on the coldest night of the year... any other time I was running up 5 flights of stairs to avoid getting stabbed by the PR's. but it was only a short walk to get to the Filmore East.

But the mindset of what the Hippy Generation thinks They started, actually started in the West Village years before... Remember Coffee Houses? Yuppers... it was the Beat Generation, and various other Free Thinkers from Plato on up who really started us thinking about Changes.

For me? I didn't want to be like my parents. I thought about other things like political change, personal freedom and racial equality... not little pink houses made of ticky-tacky, chino's, traditional family values and the Draft. Lost my first husband to that Draft...

Then I lost my mind... Or found it. Whatever floats your boat. DRUGS was what made the 60's special. LSD to be specific. Never did anything less than ten tabs, blotters, what-have-you at a time. A veteran tripper I became. Drove trippers around the Bay for the Leary Corporation, for that is what he really ran in the long run... SDS weren't bad either.

I was 21 in 67... I think I missed out on the Flower Children's trip. They came in after things began to change in SF... I was too old and into Radical, Militant BS.

 

Did Grace ever take a shot at ya?She could be a real bitch.

 

*Laughs* ... No, but my back landing/stairs overlooked their backyard. So I had a perfect place to hang out and listen to rehersals. Did you know that it's a museum now? Funny what 30 some years will bring.

Sam

"I think the people down the hall know who we are."

 

Insights about the era?

Beatles were an influence,

Best musicians ever? no.

Underrated? No way Jose.

They influenced everyone like Bob Dylan did, and in more ways that present generations can understand. I can't even enumerate all of them.

I felt the same (overrated) about Elvis Presley,"what was the big deal?" he didn't sing that great, could hardly play the guitar, and didn't write the songs, his personality was probably his worst part, yet in his decade he influenced and inspired many. It is the job of
every genration to tra to do better than the former. Are people doing better now? Some are doing fantastic...or did. Queen was a group that wrote, performed and recorded far better than the Beatles, but ask any group of the seventies who influenced them and they all will point to the Beatles.

Jazz and blues musicians were not impressed, of course. That music plus motown were the inspiration for all the music(rock) going on in England at the time.

I personally love good songwriting, the rest is
just media hype.

 

Saw them at the park (Golden Gate)once with Garcia and Sons of Chaplin.Free show.One of many Garcia did.
Talk about change they were paving roads in Joshua Tree National Park near here.There was 1 spot on the plans they had to avoid widening.It was where Gram Parsons was cremated by his buddy after O.D.ing in a local hotel.At least the local government can be hip.

 

I agree about Elvis he was the "Madonna" of the 50's. All I am saying is there are some great musicians now but sadly are over shadowed by pop music.

D

 

SAM> I think you and I have crossed paths in one life or another, your insights into the past spark many memories for me, like stiring embers of a sleeping fire. The fall of the hippie empire began in 69' and steadly got worse untill the city came in and rentovated upper Haight much later. I would leave the Haight when things got to hot in the neighberhood and come back when things cooled down. Things got way to political for me, living with a commun that turn to white panthers and the the black panthers were taking over the neighberhood and fight were breaking out n people were getting hurt..I was a free spirit and "war" of any kind was not my way of thinking. I know it was the drugs, not the LSD or weed/hash, or buttons but the HARD drugs like Heroin and Crank the IV drugs is what brought the Haight to it's knees. All the bands had left the haight except for the airplane and a few others and they were all getting strung out. The pigs were starting to get nasty to the neighberhood people, like blowing them out of their houses with fire bombs. Like the house on page st in 74 that some of the Good Earth Commune used for housing. Burnt them out ..and the pigs were at the wrong house looking for a chick they said stole a bicycle. Mama Kitten and her little girls were almost fried over a bicycle !!! she lost everything she had of hers and her girls in the fire. The pigs made the fire department wait 20 minits before they let them put out the fire. It was getting to where you couldn't smoke a doobie in the park without the pigs hasslin' ya. If you dared to go in the park at all.. and if you did you stayed close to the entrance in case you had to run. When I had to start carrying a switchblade I figured it was time to take a vacation from the Haight for good, you can take the girl out of the haight but you can't take the haight out of the girl. I don't want to disillusion any one about how it ended, these are only my experiences, others may have seen it differently.. I think each of us that was there took a little something different and some the same and each has their own story to tell. in their own way.. I didn't go to SF to protest.. I was driven by a higher force. I had no idea what I was doing at 16, 500 miles from home on a doorstep in a low rent district with hords of unwashed grinning hippies alone. I didn't care, I HAD to go or ? I had no clue. I suppose I learned what I need to pass on to the next ones. Everything under the sun has a good side and a bad side or darkness and lightness, positive and negitive side.
I hope no one minds these long posts, but when I get to writing I never know where or when to stop.
Peace Love and Hippie Beads <shameless>

 

My first time in Frisco was in 75, for a short time, then I returned in the 80's. In both cases it did appear dead and bad vibes from store owners, I ran into friends on the street, first time (Haight) and also second time....It seems that if anyone was there, they'd be on Haight.

I was more used to the Village in NY, where it stretched from past sixth ave(west) to past ave D,(east) there, it would be very hard to run into even your local friends. Less intimate for sure,but we felt very free. Cops were to busy with a large city to worry about a hippy on LSD.

In frisco, I could not take it too long ,In the late eighties I came back with a girl named Shelly, and we hanged more around town, then to Berkley and Oakland. As I hear after Reagan made it to governor in 66, he went out after the hippies, and wheras before many could live free in flats, after the Beast, people were treated like a pest, and the flats would be off limits.
So, when the students with long hair protested for people's park in Berkley it's no surprised that they were treated like and invasion from Russia.... I saw a video of the wholle thing
recently and it did look surreal,,,the students wanted to have some use for a park that was not used, and that caused a literal war, yet only the goverment was doing the firing and the threatening.

 

*sig showin off*

 

It does seem Surreal now... those few, short years spent bloodying my sword in the war protest arena. I held a Helium filled balloon by Wire... to foil the helicopters that were flying overhead in the People's Park fiasco.

I'm finding that these memories of exuberant, youthful rage against the machine are fading now. Replaced by the chirruping of crickets, the hooting of owls, the soft maa-ing of my goats, and the occaisional whinnying of my horses.

The stream is still flowing well this autumn... and the musical chime of the waterfalls lulls me towards peace.

Sam

 

Shameless... Yup. Heroin is why I bugged out of the Haight for good. I had to roll the body of a good friend down the stairs to get him and the evidence out of our apartment... Smack OD. Once you've seen the face of a friend turn vivid blue, his eyes cloud over, and the needle left hanging in a dead arm... it's Time to bug out.

Sam

 

I like that very much old woman...

peace &joy

 

but the HARD drugs like Heroin and Crank the IV drugs is what brought the Haight to it's knees.


no shit.all the windows had bars over them.I sometimes wonder if the goverment brought in the hard drugs to kill off the hippie.Remember the Contras...That was Reagen also.I should have never watched Death Valley Days...


Peoples park,I hear it's a B of A now or a parking lot?I remember in I.V.when they tried to build a B of A in their peoples park it burned down.They used to grow pot there.Santa Babarbra was such a quite place until the strikes.There used to be an old lady there who would come out and bless the ones passing thru.

 

Elvis had class. Madonna was a slut.

 

Elvis was a druggie!