K E E P O N T R U C K I N ' R E - V I S I T E D ------------------------------------------------------------------ Volume 1, Issue 6 ISSN 1097-4156 January 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Contents: ** INTRODUCTION & MUSINGS ** FLASH BACK ** CONTRIBUTIONS ++ COOL LINKS ** COOL LISTS ++ FEATURED WORDS & TUNES ** SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, CONTRIBUTE & MISC. INFO ****************************************************************** Introduction & Musings: Welcome to the 24 new subscribers who have joined us over the last month! So, what's it all about man? Keep On Truckin' Re-Visited is a moderated newsletter/list about the time between the mid 60s and mid 70s. It was designed to examine and present a positive nostalgia of a time since past. It is also designed to provide a forum for you to share your feelings, thoughts and experiences from that time frame. Please participate to help this community grow. A new year, a new beginning. I hope that your new year is filled with hope, inspiration, understanding, love, renewal, and peace! What better way to start the new year than with a wonderful account of early days in San Francisco and in particlur the Haight-Ashbury area submitted by Albi Mason to the comments section of the newsletter. Thanks Albi! If you visit the KOTRV sister web site often, (and I hope you do) you might want to use your web browsers refresh option, as I make at least monthly changes to almost every page. ++++++++++++++++++++ So, warm up the lava lamp, flip on the black light, soar with the Eagles, put on your love beads, your headband, bell bottomed pants, get yourself in the proper state of mind, kick back, and experience the newsletter. =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+==+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Flash Back Just a few trips back in time.... Playing Frisbee for hours in the park Skinny Dippin' in a remote canyon pond Spare changin' folks in the park for a wine purchase Hitch Hiking from SE Colorado to Albuquerque with three friends in the middle of the winter Doin' Coors shooters late at night along the local canal ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+==+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= About Revolution: The main object of a revolution is the liberation of man . . . not the interpretation and application of some transcendental ideology. Jean Genet (1910-86), French playwright, novelist. Prisoner of Love, pt. 1 (1986; tr. 1989). We used to think that revolutions are the cause of change. Actually it is the other way around: change prepares the ground for revolution. Eric Hoffer (1902-83), U.S. philosopher. The Temper of Our Time, "A Time of Juveniles" (1967). You cannot make a revolution in white gloves. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924), Russian revolutionary leader. Lenin to Kropotkin, May 1919. Quoted in: Tamara Deutsche, Not By Politics Alone, ch. 2 (1973). =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+==+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= Contributions: From: Jeff Stein To: "'hippy@vipgrafx.com'" Copies to: "'global@escape.ca'" Subject: Re: Ram Dass et al Date sent: Mon, 15 Dec 1997 19:05:33 -0800 Ram Dass is alive and living in Marin County. He recently had a stroke, but my sources assure me that he is making a rapid recovery. Jeff San Francisco, CA jstein@sirius.com +++++ From: Jeff Stein To: "'JKenn10630@aol.com'" Copies to: "'hippy@vipgrafx.com'" Subject: The San Francisco Oracle Date sent: Mon, 15 Dec 1997 19:05:18 -0800 The San Francisco Oracle is now available in a facsimile edition. It is a complete, full-color re-creation in book form of all 12 issues of the legendary Sixties newspaper. There are two versions of the book: a library edition, limited to 1700 copies, and a collector's edition, limited to 200 numbered copies with a signed frontispiece by Rick Griffin. For more information, contact Regent Press/Oracle Project 6020-A Adeline, Oakland, CA 94608 (510) 547-7602 (510) 547-6357 fax regent@sirius.com Hope this helps. Jeff San Francisco, CA jstein@sirius.com ++++++ From: albimason@webtv.net (Albi Mason) Date sent: Wed, 17 Dec 1997 01:13:19 -0500 To: hippy@vipgrafx.com Subject: THE HAIGHT HAPPENING "All across the nation there's a strange vibration, people in motion, people in motion. For all who come to San Francisco, summertime will be a love-in there..." It was a phenomenon that could have occurred only in San Francisco in the 1960s -- the gathering of the tribes. Several intricately woven forces, working in concert, fostered such a happening in that particular place. And it was indeed a happening. While the social climate of that time undoubtedly germinated it, only in San Francisco's fertile atmosphere could such a happening possibly flourish. The Vietnam war was in full swing and so were the opposing forces of the peace movement. People were uniting in a growing protest against the United States government's war policy, and young men were going underground to evade being drafted. Political activists , such as the Weathermen, were going underground to avoid being arrested. Like smoke signals, fomentous vapors arose from this seething underground and came out of the mouths of the Beatles, who sang to the world about revolution. And the Rolling Stones were lyrically telling the world they "can't get no satisfaction." Beat generation poet Allen Ginsberg, who recycled himself for the hippie happening, told America to go f--k itself with the atom bomb in a book of poems entitled "Howl". It was a time of discontentment with the so-called Establish- ment and the discontented went off in every direction in search of a better way to do their own thing -- they went to Mao and Tao, Buddha and Baba, weed and The Way. They wanted political freedom, literary freedom, emotional and sexual freedom. And so, the low rumbling of dissenting voices began in the underground and gathered momentum as they were joined by the chanting of the peace seekers, the slogans of the protesters, the cacaphony of the musicians, the recitations of the poets, and the anger of the discontented. They were a mixture of personalities who erupted with tumultuous force and flowed westward to San Francisco. And I was one of them. Dating back to the days of the Barbary Coast, San Francisco has always been a refuge for immigrants from the world over. Within its fogbound limits are the Mah Jong parlors and opium dens of Chinatown, the Italian restaurants of North Beach, the black people's churches of the Fillmore, the Spanish mercados of the Mission District, and the saloons of the Irish in the outer Mission. San Francisco, a city with a risque past that would think nothing of elevating a former whorehouse madam to the position of councilwoman, would have no problem assimilating the cultural mix that migrated to its hills. So when the first tricklings of the flower children appeared at the Golden Gate, decorated with their flowers, love beads, feathers, and tattered clothing, they were let in without hesitation and given the Haight-Ashbury for their playground. Surrounded by Golden Gate Park and its Panhandle and two equally huge hills standing side-by-side called Twin Peaks, the intersection of Haight and Ashbury Streets was the mid-section of the district. "The Haight", as it was called back in its glory days, ran about 13 city blocks along Haight Street and several shorter blocks on either side of Haight. The buildings in this area are mostly three or four-storied apartment houses built in the Victorian style that is so characteristic of San Francisco's architecture. There are also a large number of single family homes and two story flats here and there among the apartments. Having migrated to the Haight a couple of years before it became the mecca of the world's flower children, I witnessed the nearly overnight transformation of the district as it took on the rag-tag and psychedelic appearance of its immigres. Apartment windows were painted with kaleidoscopic patterns, peace symbols, or the phrase "love they neighbor." Small shops sprung up whose bizarre merchandise could only be peddled in the Haight. There were numerous second-hand clothing shops, many that specialized in Gibson-style dresses, high button shoes and beaded purses, all of which were popular in the 20s and 30s. Also, used furniture and junk shops were everywhere. And tiny restaurants that served a mishmash of natural foods to the tune of Janis Joplin's whiskey tenor voice, or Eastern Indian curried dishes to the ethereal accompaniment of the sitar, secreted their patronage behind curtained or shuttered windows. There was also the infamous "Psychedelic Bookstore" which the police raided at regular intervals to confiscate whatever copies appeared on its shelves of a thin offering entitled "The Love Book" . Written by a young woman of the Haight scene named Lenore Kandel, the authorities (The Establishment) deemed the book too sexually explicit. On the same charge of sexual explicitness, the police arrested a young couple for engaging in the act of "simulation of intercourse on a public street." The grey sidewalks were alive, day and night, with hordes of young people coming and going to who knows where. Runaways as young as 12 were attracted to the Haight like the proverbial moth to flame. Many lost themselves in the maze of psychedelia and were found only when they became stationary in an alleyway, where they had plummeted to the ground from the ultimate high that blew their inexperienced minds. Smells of strawberry incense and marijuana were everywhere in the air and on the clothes of the people who brushed past. Doors and windows were wide open and the mingling sounds of acid rock and sitar music could be heard throughout the neighborhood. Groups of young men and women, some with colorful designs and flowers painted on their faces, sat on the marble apartment house steps or leaned in the mosaic doorways, embracing, singing, or inhaling enormous "doobies". Everyone was stamped with the same indelible smile. Anyone who walked by was welcome to join the conversations and revelry -- they were all brothers and sisters and the whole scene was "far out". Young men with flowing hair, longer beards and Zapata mustaches, their eyes glowing from sunken sockets, walked along on mescaline-powered feet through their respective degrees of purple haze. Some flew naked out of their third story windows on acid-powered wings and died on the pavement below in the arms of a loving stranger. Small circles of young women sat in the middle of the sidewalk stringing beaded necklaces to give to the passersby. They were a decoupage of headbands, feathers, braids, blowing hair, fringes, embroidered gauzecloth, long skirts, and unshaved legs. Probably, the Haight could best be described as a commune of 20th century braves and squaws from the middle class American reservations, united by the bond of voluntary poverty. No one wore anything new. Newness and wealth belonged to the contemptible Establishment from which they had escaped. So, perhaps in search of old time values, they dressed in second-hand clothes -- conjuring garish and esoteric costumes built on patched or torn denims. They talked constantly of love and shared their shelter, food, drugs and bodies. It was both the age of Aquarius and Levi Strauss. There were love-ins, be-ins and sit-ins as the flower children reeled from one trip to the next with the eagerness and resilience of youth in rebellion. Heading home along Haight Street one rainy night, a fellow member of the Tribe passed me. I noticed that he was holding a umbrella over his head but there was no fabric on the spokes. Such antics were not unusual sights. Only the usual was unusual in the Haight. On another occasion I was hanging out in front of the Haight-Straight Theater when a VW bus pulled up and out jumped three young women. Within moments they had set up a soup kitchen, using an old wooden ironing board as their serving table, and began dishing out homemade Mulligan stew from a huge battered pot. Feeding as many of their fellow communees as the contents of the pot would allow, they then dismantled their traveling buffet and were gone as swiftly as they had appeared. There was, of course, no charge for the meal and such generosity and sharing was but a typical example of the spirit of tribal unity which prevailed in the Haight. And after the feast came the entertainment. Dancing barefooted down the sidewalk a woman of perhaps 18, looking like a beautiful gypsy with her flowing hair, dangling earrings, puffly-sleeved blouse and ankle length skirt, twirled past like a rainbow run amok. The faint tinkling of her finger cymbals delicately floated on the air in her wake, along with the aroma of patchouli. Following behind her strode a minstrel playing his flute. Out of this carnival atmosphere came such rock groups as Quicksliver Messenger Service, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Big Brother and the Holding Company. None of these musicians were motivated by money. They played for the love of it and shared their gift of music. When they gave free concerts in the park, their brothers and sisters of the Haight brought them food, beads, handcrafted leather accessories and drugs. Sadly enough, the message these tribal spokesmen were trying to send to the world through the beat of their music -- that of caring and sharing -- went over the heads of most people. Sychophants such as west coast promoter Bill Graham made a fortune from their music at his Fillmore West Auditorium. As some of these young rock groups were ignorant to the ways of the music industry, they were easily plucked by the slick, fast-talking promoters and royally ripped off. Even the Grey Line of tourist bus fame, in a feat of capitalism at its lowest, made money off the spectacle of the Haight by running scheduled tours through the area . The bus occupants gawked at the flower children as though they were freaks in a side show. As it was with the Biblical garden of Eden, evil forces were quick to get wind of the vulnerability of the Haight tribe. Organized crime began to muscle in on the drug scene. It was reputed that the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club began to muscle in on organized crime. The atmosphere of love thy neighbor soon disintegrated. As they trickled in, the flower children, now disheartened by the turn of events, trickled out of the Haight. Some went back to their middle class reservations. Others went in search of a new Edens. Many went to jail for possession of drugs. Some died from the excesses of the freedom that they sought. Then there were those of us who stayed because it was our home. I lived and worked there. Upon the "death" of the Haight, which occurred around 1969/1970 (if my memory serves me correctly), the hippy tribe held a righteous funeral for the Haight to symbolize its demise. A huge procession of mourners wound its way down Haight Street bearing a coffin which presumably contained the soul or spirit of the Haight. It was a rousing tribute to an incredible spiritual manifestation. I know this is a rather long account but I believe that what actually occurred in the Haight was nothing short of a truly mystical happening. I feel that it is important to record what I saw so that those who missed the experience can hopefully visualize the sights, sounds, and even the smells. I just wanted to share a special moment in time. Love & Light, Albi May you always walk in the light of Spirit with Peace and Love - Aho ++++++ From: K To: Subject: an idea Date sent: Tue, 30 Dec 1997 16:51:03 -0500 Hi, I just subscribed and received the December newsletter today. I would like to contribute some material, but it is hard for me to know where to begin. I was thinking, what if you were to throw out some discussion questions or topics at us and then we write in with our responses? You could probably gather some interesting material this way. Just some sample ideas off the top of my head: Why did the student political movements disintegrate? Was free love a raw deal for women? Your most interesting/best/worst experiences on a commune Interracial relations and the hippie scene What are the most important legacies of the sixties in our society? Did the sixties change you forever? How? What did you do when the era ended? Was reentry difficult? What ways do you see to carry on the spirit of those times? Like I said, these are just very quick ideas off the top of my head, I'm sure you could think of better ones. Anyway, I enjoyed your newsletter. K +++ Editors Comment +++ If you can, follow K's lead and jump in. She has brought up several good topics to respond to. It was a great time to be alive and I know we all have a story or an experience to share. ++++++ Date sent: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 18:16:52 -0700 (MST) To: hippy@vipgrafx.com From: mage777@usa.net (Bungalow Bill) Subject: comments area: General Comment comment: I wish people would quit confining the spirit that was born in the sixties to just a few years in time. years are man made and have no reality. That spirit is still very much alive, in terms of world history 1969 was not long ago, the sixties and the nineties are very closely related. i was born in 1969 and many of the idols from that era are mine as well, (leary, lennon, watts etc. their message is for all humanity not just one generation. ~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~ COOL LINKS JAPANESE HIPPIEDOM They're everywhere - people across the world share the same global consciousness. Check out THE MANIFESTO OF THE TRIBES link on the main home page to get an idea of their way of thinking. Drop In: ++++++ Colin's Haight-Ashbury Archives In his own words... "The contents of my archives have been collected over the years, starting with that fateful trip to San Francisco, August, 1967. While I was in the Haight-Ashbury, I bought a San Francisco Oracle from a Hippie for a quarter, and also bought two Haight-Ashbury Tribunes from two other Hippies. I also got a poster called "Light my Fire" and another one of the Grateful Dead. The two other items I got were two Hippie buttons. Of all the loot I brought back, only the San Francisco Oracle and one of the Haight-Ashbury Tribunes survived. Anyway, here's all the neat stuff I accumulated over the years, much to my parents' disgust. Drop In: Check out the great collection of slang of the times while you are there. ++++++ Intrepid Trips The ZyberHome of Ken Kesey Learn about the adventures of Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters. Follow along with them on their memorable trip in the fantasy bus "Further". Check out this month's featured book about these guys below. Drop In: ++++++ The Sixties Trading Post for the Nineties Though the calendar tells us the sixties are gone, its Spirit survives in those of us who remember and those of us who've learned. There's a bitter wind blowing across our world. Many of the Flowers have wilted. But the Spirit of the Sixties is perennial. It is our goal to stir the soil, till the garden and watch the flowers bloom. These fine folks have a nice selection of 60's memorabilia including posters, T's, bumberstickers, incense and more. Download their catalog and see if there is anything you need. Drop In: ++++++ ARTROCK Online The Art of Rock from the rarest original memorabilia to attractively priced reissues. For you collectors out there - this site has some really nice posters and other great rock art. Drop In: ++++++ NURWIBSCO, INC. The Nutty Rightwing Anti-Hippy Bumper Sticker Co. Accidently fell in this hole of a site while researching sites for the newsletter. I have added this one just so we can remember why... There are some really strange things that come out of Boulder Colorado. See if you agree. Here is some text from the site that after you check it out will really make you wonder. "NURWIBSCO, INC. is dedicated to the defense, support, and visibility of people who are free-thinking, open-minded, progressive, persecuted, and who have radical or unpopular ideas in our modern world, and to the promulgation of those ideas." Fall In: Sorry folks, I will try not to make a habit of this. ****************************************************************** From one of those funny little desk calendars. James McSheehy, San Francisco supervisor, when shown a new hydroelectric plant: "Do you mean to tell me that the people of San Francisco are drinking water after all the electricity has been taken out of it?" ****************************************************************** COOL LISTS Alternative Energy (AE) Contact: AE-Request@SJSUVM1.SJSU.EDU Purpose: The AE Alternative Energy Discussion Mailing List is intended to provide a forum to discuss the current state of the art and future direction of alternative energy sources that are renewable and sustainable. An alternative energy source is taken to include solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, electro-chemical, hydro-electric, or any renewable and sustainable energy source. To subscribe, send email to LISTSERV@SJSUVM1.SJSU.EDU and in the body of the message, put SUBSCRIBE AE Your Name List owner: cvisser@ucrmath.ucr.edu (Clyde R. Visser, KD6GWN) +++++ Better World 'Zine (BWZ) "The Better World Zine (BWZ) is an online "green 'zine" for readers interested in environmental and social responsibility. Includes activist opportunities and in-depth educational information. Promotes individual action, environmentally sound products and socially responsible businesses." Format: HTML Frequency: bi-monthly Access WWW: http://www.betterworld.com/ Contact: Editor(s): Chris Nelder Phone: +1 206 367 7301 Fax: +1 206 361 0472 Postal: 12046 38th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98125-5710, USA Submissions: submissions@betterworld.com ****************************************************************** The Past The Past-the dark unfathom'd retrospect! The teeming gulf-the sleepers and the shadows! The past! the infinite greatness of the past! For what is the present after all but a growth out of the past? Walt Whitman (1819-92), U.S. poet. Passage to India, verse 1. ****************************************************************** FEATURED WORDS & TUNES FEATURED BOOK On the Bus : The Complete Guide to the Legendary Trip of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters and the Birth of the Counterculture By Perry, Paul / Babbs, Ken - The setting is the 1960s with the Psychedelic Revolution as the backdrop. Twenty youths crossed America in a psychedelically painted school bus for an entire month. This legendary trip's 25th anniversary is a rare document of a nation in transition. 16 color, 75 black-and-white photos. To learn more, follow this link - Follow the link below to hook up with this book at Book Stacks. *+*+*+*+*+* FEATURED ALBUM GREEN RIVER by Creedence Clearwater Revival The title song is one of my favorites. I used to date a girl who is kind of mentioned in the song Green River. Goes something like, "barefoot girls dancing in the moonlight" Album Notes: Creedence Clearwater Revival: John Fogerty (vocals, guitar), Tom Fogerty (guitar), Stu Cook (bass), Doug Clifford (drums). Digitally remastered by George Horn (Fantasy Studios, Berkeley). All songs written by John Fogerty except "The Night Time Is The Right Time" (Cadena/Herman). Track Listing: Track Song Title ----------------------------------------- 1 Green River 2 Commotion 3 Tombstone Shadow 4 Wrote A Song For Everyone 5 Bad Moon Rising 6 Lodi 7 Cross-Tie Walker 8 Sinister Purpose 9 Night Time Is The Right Time, The Kind of a long link, but it should take you to the right place. If that doesn't work, try - *+*+*+*+*+* Check out the Words & Tunes page on the sister web site for KOTRV at for a bunch of other books & CDs that relate somehow to the 60's and 70s. If you visit this page often, you might want to use the REFRESH option as I am adding new books & groups often. If you are looking for a certain classic album or book to finish out your collection, this might be just the place to start. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Hey, don't Bogart this newsletter - please forward this copy to all your friends. Thanks! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, CONTRIBUTE & MISC. INFO List Owner/Editor - Vincent P. Gearhart KEEP ON TRUCKIN' RE-VISITED E-mail Address - Subscribe/Unsubscribe & Misc. Information: To SUBSCRIBE, send e-mail To UNSUBSCRIBE, send e-mail (Drop me a note and let me know why, if you would.) To POST to the newsletter, send e-mail For an updated FAQ on this newsletter visit: The sister web site for KOTRV is located at Please stop by and see the changes and additions. From the web site you can also post your comments, suggestions, and submissions. Please drop in and put in your 2 cents worth at . KOTRV has an archive of past issues available on-line at =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Copyright 1997, VIP Graphics & Video. All rights reserved. ISSN 1097-4156 Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.