Theater is fact/action
“Real education means to inspire people to live more abundantly, to learn to begin with life as they find it and make it better,” ― Carter G. Woodson
I do feel like I completely missed out on one of San Francisco’s greatest eras: the 60s. Yes, I was born in the 60s, but we are talking 69…just a month before The Velvet Underground played The Matrix…just a few months before the Moon Landing…on the day (the hour) that the Black Panthers held their FREE HUEY rally calling Reagan a pig. But yeah, being only months old did not get me to the gig, or the rally. And while I sat on my Mom’s lap as we watched the first small step for mankind (even then, thinking it should be humankind) I obviously have no memory of any of it. I don’t remember the 60s like many others who were there...but for a more understandable reason.
But I do love the 60s…the music and the art and the style. And I have read a hell of a lot about it…even taken notes and noted events. Today is an electric day when it comes to 60s culture. Today (or tomorrow [or the 11th?] as some accounts suggest) in 1965, the fourth Acid Test took place at the Muir Beach Lodge. Appearing at it was a whose who of the cultural revolution: Allen Ginsburg, The Fugs, Neal Cassidy, The Merry Pranksters (Ken Keasy), The Grateful Dead (during my favorite period of the band)….and as a video documenting the scene purely shows: it was a damn good time. 56 years later and hallucinogenic mushrooms are legal in the east bay…but there is probably no duplicating the acid tests.
And the following year…1966…55 years ago from today (or as some reports suggest, yesterday…everything was very blurry in those days)… there was the "Death and Rebirth of the Haight" (aka "Death of Money") parade put on by the Diggers to celebrate….the death of money and rebirth of the Haight-Ashbury (as if you couldn’t guess)…in which “they dressed in animal masks and carried a large coffin full of fake money down Haight Street, singing "Get out my life, why don’t you babe?" to the tune of Chopin’s "Death March." With the Hells Angels adding to the chaos, the parade took over the streets.
Not street-theater, the street is theater.
It was just a year later that the Diggers brought back the coffin for the Death of the Hippie parade that marked the end of the Summer of Love.
That night, Country Joe and the Fish played a benefit for LEMAR, the Legalization of Marijuana, at California Hall. For many, ‘The Fish were the quintessential psych band, whose records are not as well known as those by the Dead or The Jefferson Airplane, but are very much worth a listen. They played with the wonderfully named but strange and forgotten The Only Alternative and His Other Possibilities, featuring Mimi Farina who was also an acid test veteran and Joan Baez’s younger sister.
Yes, it was a horribly turbulent time in our nation’s history (sound familiar?) but there were some incredible silver..and gold and green and purple and paisley…linings.
Shabbes!
After 60 Years on a Shelf, a Trove of Unreleased Son House Recordings Are Finally Coming Out
This is the stuff blues lovers dreams are made of. Never before heard recordings of Son House? I mean….c’mon! Let’s go!!! Looking forward to hearing the batch, but at least on this day we can hear a taste…
LENI SINCLAIR AND THE MOTOR CITY UNDERGROUND
My friends Ethan and Gretchen sent me Motor City Underground, the book of Leni Sinclair’s photos and stories, edited by another Detroit legend, Cary Loren. It is a beautiful object that paints a gritty portrait of underground Detroit when the MC5 walked the Earth. One of my favorite living rock n roll writers Richie Unterberger does a deep dive with Leni, who has even more stories to tell….
Have you ever wondered what Tweedybird, SpongeBob, or Popeye’s fossil would look like? Neither have I…but this cyber artist did, and the results are a good time viewing.
Denis Villeneuve to Direct Film Adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's 'Rendezvous With Rama'
“After his work on the recent box-office hit and critically acclaimed Dune, Denis Villeneuve is once again returning to the director's chair for a sci-fi novel adaptation as Alcon Entertainment has announced that he is set to direct the adaptation of Rendezvous With Rama after Alcon acquired the film rights to Arthur C. Clarke's novel.”
Jasper Johns: Which red is the real red?
This might be the year of Jasper Johns, with the career spanning museum exhibition Mind/Mirror currently making big waves in NYC. Johns: playful, enigmatic, ever-evolving is an artistic philosopher whose work is always intriguing and as scene all together, inspirational in its variance. This article does a great in-depth look at his career.
WEEKEND LISTEN: HUNKY DORY (David Bowie)
Holy crap: Hunky Dory is 50. TODAY. 50 years ago, David Bowie releases one of his greatest records, introducing the world to one of the greatest songs ever: Changes. But the record in no way can be defined by one tune, even such a mighty tune as it is. Every other song in the sequence flashes brilliance as well. Life on Mars? Oh yeah. Oh You Pretty Things? That too. Hunky Dory might just be a perfect thing, featuring for the first time the future Spiders from Mars, guitar sensation (and sound architect) Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Mick Woodmansey.
But the key to the city/Is in the sun that pins/The branches to the sky.
THE DIGGERS ARE HIP TO PROPERTY
The Diggers are hip to property. Everything is free, do your own thing. Human beings are the means of exchange. Food, machines, clothing, materials, shelter and props are simply there. Stuff. A perfect dispenser would be an open Automat on the street. Locks are time-consuming. Combinations are clocks. [Check this: "locks" in the 10/66 edition?]
So a store of goods or clinic or restaurant that is free becomes a social art form. Ticketless theater. Out of money and control.
"First you gotta pin down what's wrong with the West. Distrust of human nature, which means distrust of Nature. Distrust of wildness in oneself literally means distrust of Wilderness." --Gary Snyder
Diggers assume free stores to liberate human nature. First free the space, goods and services. Let theories of economics follow social facts. Once a free store is assumed, human wanting and giving, needing and taking, become wide open to improvisation.
A sign: If Someone Asks to See the Manager Tell Him He's the Manager.
Someone asked how much a book cost. How much did he think it was worth? 75 cents. The money was taken and held out for anyone. "Who wants 75 cents?" A girl who had just walked in came over and took it.
A basket labeled Free Money.
No owner, no Manager, no employees and no cash-register. A salesman in a free store is a life-actor. Anyone who will assume an answer to a question or accept a problem as a turn-on.
Question (whispered): "Who pays the rent?"
Answer (loudly): "May I help you?"
Who's ready for the implications of a free store? Welfare mothers pile bags full of clothes for a few days and come back to hang up dresses. Kids case the joint wondering how to boost.
Fire helmets, riding pants, shower curtains, surgical gowns and World War I Army boots are parts for costumes. Nightsticks, sample cases, water pipes, toy guns and weather balloons are taken for props. When materials are free, imagination becomes currency for spirit.
Where does the stuff come from? People, persons, beings. Isn't it obvious that objects are only transitory subjects of human value? An object released from one person's value may be destroyed, abandoned or made available to other people. The choice is anyone's.
The question of a free store is simply: What would you have?
