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Category Archives: Summer Of Love

Human Be-In:San Francisco- January 14, 1967

14 Monday Jan 2019

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in #WhiteBoyBlues, Booker T. and The MG'S, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Bloomfield, Monterey Pop 67, Otis Redding, Rock music, rock music trivia, Scott McKensie, Summer Of Love, The Byrds, The Great Society, The Who, Uncategorized, Vinyl Records

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One event started what later became the SUMMER OF LOVE. Fifty-one years ago today, it was the celebration entitled “the HUMAN BE-IN” at Golden Gate Park in January of 67, an idea of MICHAEL BOWEN the avant-garde artist and co-founder of THE ORACLE, a premier “underground” newspaper which kicked off everything. This”Be-In”inspired the play HAIR: The American Tribal Love -Rock Musical by Rado and Ragni. Also, TIMOTHY LEARY asked the attendees to “turn on,tune in,drop out”.About 30,000 attended.

The mainstream media picked up the story, highlighting Tim Leary, the drugs (LSD and mushrooms), the clothing and the music. These photos and images were shown on the nightly news. TIME magazine ran a cover story on THE HIPPIES and even CBS NEWS had a special report that August.This influx of “flower children” arrived to the 25 square block area of San Francisco with the cross streets , the intersection of it all HAIGHT-ASHBURY.

With psychedelic music and drugs prevalent, one could only predict that the future of THE HAIGHT would not be so rosy or happy. Homelessness, drug abuse, poverty became rampant. The BEE GEES even wrote a song, MASSACHUSETTS, in response to what was happening in SAN FRANCISCO, a ditty about someone who lost the vision, the hope, and was homesick.

Yet, the SUMMER OF LOVE despite its misgivings gave us a great soundtrack for that time and for years to come: THE WHO, JIMI HENDRIX, BIG BROTHER and THE HOLDING COMPANY, COUNTRY JOE and THE FISH,THE ELECTRIC FLAG,QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE,STEVE MILLER,MOBY GRAPE,HUGH MASEKELA,THE BYRDS,LAURA NYRO,JEFFERSON AIRPLANE,BOOKER T and THE MG’s,OTIS REDDING, THE BLUES PROJECT,BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD and the organizers of Monterey Pop THE MAMAS & THE PAPAS.

Grace.

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD:  CHAPTER 19- THE SUMMER OF LOVE:

11 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in BigBrotherHoldingCo., Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Monterey Pop 67, Otis Redding, Rock music, rock music trivia, Scott McKensie, Steve Cropper, Summer Of Love, Uncategorized, Vinyl Records

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ROCK’S IN MY HEAD:  CHAPTER 19- THE SUMMER OF LOVE:

“If you’re going to San Francisco,be sure to wear some flowers in your hair…If you’re going to San Francisco, Summertime will be a love-in there”

So sang SCOTT McKENZIE, a true one hit wonder himself but what a hit it was. This so called “anthem” arrived on the airwaves May 13, 1967, and was used as an invitation “across the nation” as a way to publicize the upcoming “charity” concerts called THE MONTEREY INTERNATIONAL POP FESTIVAL June 16 to June 18, 1967. This 3 day event was organized by PAPA JOHN PHILLIPS who incidentally wrote the aforementioned tune, LOU ADLER who produced the tune, along with a host of others who planned this weekend showcase as a way to sanctify “rock” music, similar to the way the Monterey Jazz Festivals gave legitimacy to that genre. All proceeds would be given to charity. Artists were expected to play a 40 minute set without a fee, however their flights, accommodations, etc, would all be first class.

The song becomes an instant radio hit ,#4 on the BILLBOARD charts, and while estimates vary, thousands celebrated rock music that weekend in a fair grounds 120 miles south of San Francisco. Yet, the tune transcended its purpose. The imagery of the song provoked and encouraged thousands of listeners to attend “the party”  which would become THE SUMMER OF LOVE in San Francisco.

HOW DO WE GET THERE? Well, not directional or travel arrangements wise but rather how did this LOVE thing happen?

Well, The BEAT poets of NORTH BEACH, SAN FRANCISCO could be considered the fore fathers of the movement with their non-conformist attitudes while rejecting materialistic values.

Then there was the celebration entitled the HUMAN BE-IN at Golden Gate Park in January of 67, an idea of MICHAEL BOWEN the avant-garde artist and co-founder of THE ORACLE, a premier “underground” newspaper which announced the event. This Be-In inspired  the play HAIR: The American Tribal Love -Rock Musical by Rado and Ragni. Also, TIMOTHY LEARY asked the attendees to “turn on,tune in,drop out”.About 30,000 attended.

The mainstream media picked up the story, highlighting Tim Leary, the drugs (LSD and mushrooms), the clothing and the music. These photos and images were shown on the nightly news. TIME magazine ran a cover story on THE HIPPIES and even CBS NEWS had a special report in August.This influx of “flower children” arrived to the 25 square block area of San Francisco with the cross streets , the intersection of it all, HAIGHT-ASHBURY.

With psychedelic music and drugs prevalent, one could only predict that the future of THE HAIGHT would not be so rosy or happy. Homelessness, drug abuse, poverty became rampant. The BEE GEES even wrote a song, MASSACHUSETTS, in response to what was happening in SAN FRANCISCO, a ditty about someone who lost the vision, the hope, and was homesick.

Yet, the SUMMER OF LOVE despite its misgivings gave us a great soundtrack for that time and for years to come: THE WHO, JIMI HENDRIX, BIG BROTHER and THE HOLDING COMPANY, COUNTRY JOE and THE FISH,THE ELECTRIC FLAG,QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE,STEVE MILLER,MOBY GRAPE,HUGH MASEKELA,THE BYRDS,LAURA NYRO,JEFFERSON AIRPLANE,BOOKER T and THE MG’s,OTIS REDDING, THE BLUES PROJECT,BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD and the organizers of Monterey Pop THE MAMAS & THE PAPAS.

See you next time…CHAPTER 20:1968-BE INS and TEACH INS and ASSASSINATIONS

Comments? jazzbus@gmail.com

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD:  CHAPTER 18: AND THE JUKEBOX KEPT ON PLAYING…

10 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in Cream, DYLAN, EdSullivan, ElvisPresley, Golden Age of Radio, James Brown, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, LOVE, Monterey Pop 67, Otis Redding, R&B, Rock music, rock music trivia, Scott McKensie, Summer Of Love, The Beatles, The Beatles on Sullivan, The British Invasion (1964-1966), The Doors, The radio, Uncategorized, Vinyl Records

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ROCK’S IN MY HEAD:  CHAPTER 18: AND THE JUKEBOX KEPT ON PLAYING…

“There’s something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear”, Stephen stills wrote in the 1967 song FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH.

The music of the 60s famously captured the countercultures activism and ethos of those times. Music can inspire, it can galvanize and fuel movements, it can spread the key messages for social causes. However, do we define the music that the artists create or do the songs they sing about the social issues defined us? Sometimes it’s both as its almost impossible to separate the art from the artist.

In my generation’s time the biggest example of music affecting culture had to be the music of the Beatles. Their music created an iconic shift in our culture. Take a look at photos in any high school yearbook before 1964, and you will see the American middle-class males all have really short haircuts. However in just one years time, everyone’s hair was a little longer. The Beatles were influencing culture, as a matter of fact they changed the entire culture. Fortunately during that time the music scene was not as fragmented as it is today. With about only five popular radio stations and/or TV stations( in NY) everyone heard the same songs. It was truly broadcasting in a “broad” sense of the word as opposed to today’s “narrow” casting. Music mobilized people and songs became anthems as music was one of the strongest ways to influence our generation.

By ’67 I was an avid reader of magazines, books, news weeklies, most somewhat politically skewed to the left, well as left as I could get away with in my household. Even my newspaper of choice was the VILLAGE VOICE, a weekly out of Manhattan. My high school’s reading assignments, the general novels assigned, the poems, did little to excite me, but I read what I was asked to read, mostly.  But then, I read Ralph Nader’s UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED which intrigued me. His invitation to the auto makers to produce a safer machine was researched so well, and his requests and suggestions to the industry and to the government made so much sense. Yet no one did anything about it. The CORVAIR car, transmission gear positions on cars, safety to pedestrians, wind shield standards and seat belts.WOW, simple safety. That year Nader was “the man” to me.

THE SUMMER OF LOVE: 1967

A news item came across the screen the other day (2017) declaring that JEFFERSON AIRPLANE’S album SURREALISTIC PILLOW was certified Platinum, I’m talking a few month shy of it’s 50th anniversary of its release. That’s a long haul. The LP went GOLD back in July of 1967, THE SUMMER OF LOVE, finally platinum in 2017.

50 Years ago “it” was all over the press: San Francisco and the “SUMMER OF LOVE”. The SF Chronicle was the first to depict that designation to which I am sure they regretted almost immediately. But, WHAT WAS THAT SUMMER OF LOVE LIKE?

I was 15 and it was no summer of Love for me, summer of Confusion might best describe my circumstances. SURREALISTIC PILLOW was on my turn table yet I actually had to look up and research what the heck “surrealistic” meant and how the hell did it apply to a pillow. This was too far out.

Summer of ’67 nearly 100,000 kids head to San Francisco’s HAIGHT ASBURY  with “flowers in their hair, flowers everywhere”. It is time to “turn on, tune in, drop out”. This coincides with young adults declaring rock and roll was here to stay, it was not some phase we would grow out of. Rock was to be our music, an essential part of our being, the way we expressed ourselves. I’m in, I ready to volunteer. Frank Sinatra, not for me. Even the sounds recorded at that moment in time changed. Listen to JORMA KAUKONEN’s feedback on PILLOW. It was new, unique, and different.We took this music, our music seriously, and so did the musicians who made it . Singles were fading fast as bands/musicians sought to make a statement or two. Albums became the rage. Musicians experimented and so did we.

Our radio changed. AM stuck to the hit parade format. Recent legislation stated that AM stations could no longer simulcast on FM, so the clearer sounding FM was free to experiment and experiment they did. The AM dj’s catch phrases, their gift of gab would not survive the coolness of the FM disk jockey playing THE DOORS Light My Fire (extended version).And in June of 67 The BEATLES released Sgt. Pepper’s which had no singles on it. Truly the listening teens were FM bound.

Reporting on the “happenings” changed also. The cigar smoking, shirt and tie wearing newsman suddenly had long bushy sideburns, bell bottom jeans, smoked a joint and wrote from the heart. Journalism,the reporting of the news was way different from what it was only a few months before. Slanted as it might have been, these new writers helped me develop a better understanding of culture and politics. An example would be RAMPARTS magazine, which started as a Catholic Quarterly, but now in ‘67 it was a full blown anti-establishment rag. It’s articles raised the hair on the back of my neck; Vietnam, the CIA, The Black Panthers. And then the NewYork Times Best Sellers List had names like Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe and other non-traditional authors topping the charts. Hail, hail to THE CLASS OF ’67.These “New Journalists” led me to read authors who influenced the new generation: Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell, and many other so called “muckrackers” as Teddy Roosevelt named their genre.

So what was 1967 through the eyes and ears of a fifteen year old boy? Well, January 15 the very first SUPER BOWL was held with a television audience of 60 million folks.The Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10. Interesting to note that according to all research this singular event catapulted the NFL in viewership which in turn drew advertising money to football. The cost of a 30 second SUPER BOWL ad in 67 was a mere $37,500.

By February my neighbor, a guy I tried to get to take me to see the Lovin Spoonful told me about a new group he saw at Stony Brook, a local university. The band was Jefferson Airplane, yes, same group I read about in NEWSWEEK. Now, I was more than interested in that band.

The 25th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in February 1967 thereby establishing the “succession” to the Presidency which was vitally important as our Vice-Presidency had been vacant at least 16 times through our short history. This Amendment gave us a clear path to what steps were needed to take place, especially after the death of JFK when we had a void. This would prove to be politically significant in subsequent years.

In April Muhammed Ali, aka CASSIUS CLAY the Heavy Weight Champ who became a CO, was stripped of his heavyweight boxing title for refusing induction in to the US Army.

THE SIX DAY WAR (June 5-10) occurred just as we were finishing our school year. The  Arab Forces were defeated and Israel took possession of additional territories.  This news item intrigued me as I knew little if anything about the Middle East which we had studied this past year history class, but not like this.This was for real. My knowledge or lack thereof about the Middle East would soon change.

Thurgood Marshall became the first black Supreme Court Justice in October. These events made ’67 an interesting year. Monterey Pop was held (June), Otis Redding died, and SGT.PEPPERS was released. We listed to Sgt. Peppers almost every afternoon that June at my girlfriend’s house,with the music blasting through the speakers from her brother’s stereo which she placed in the front window while a group of us were playing whiffle ball in the street. Life and relationships were simple then.

My 45’s record collection seemed to grow by the end of each week: The Letter by the Box Tops with Alex Chilton on vocals is still a gem today, Light My Fire by The Doors (the edited radio version of course), The Rascals lovely Groovin’, Little Bit Of Soul, Kind Of A Drag, Expressway to Your Heart, Soul Man, Incense And Peppermints, Somebody To Love,and Whiter Shade of Pale just to name a few. However, I used more of my limited cash on albums: The Doors(first), the aforementioned Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow,  Moby Grape’s first, The Beatles Sgt. Peppers, Jimi Hendrix Experience, The KinKs Something Else,The Doors Strange Days (which my dad bought for me),Cream’s Disraeli Gears, The Who Sell Out, The Rascal’s Collections and The Soul Survivors, which I was led to believe by the guy behind the counter at the local RECORD RACK sounds “exactly” like the Rascals.This proclamation was not necessarily true and another story all together. By years end I included the newly established ROLLING STONE magazine to my mandatory reading list .

By end of 1967 heading into ’68, listening to FM radio and watching television rock was not enough for me. Like every other red blooded discophile I was drawn to the fire of live music. Having no true curfew I started to attend The Hullabaloo, a local teen club in the neighboring town of Lindenhurst. A true TEEN SCENE club serving 15-20 year olds  with an affordable  $2.00 cover. Their stage hosted a few bands each weekend (Friday and Saturday nights), many were local garage style combos, with a few noted National acts tossed in…The Vagrants, The Hassels, and Vanilla Fudge just to name a few.

During this period I saw The Critters (Younger Girl; My Dyingly Sad) at the local Roll N Ice, followed by Every Mothers Son (Come On Down To My Boat, Baby) at my 10th grade dance, The Good Rats (pre-TASTY) at a high school art show(1968), and a WMCA (NY Radio station-THE GOOD GUYS)sponsored “Sock Hop Show” featuring The Left Banke (1967).  And of course Long Island’s own The Vagrants (Leslie West), and The Hassels (Billy Joel) regularly played at the aforementioned Hullabloo.

At home I played Rubber Soul and Revolver over and over again. Two of my favorite albums at that time and probably my two favorite Beatles albums of all times.

See you next time….Chapter19:THE SUMMER OF LOVE. Comments? jazzbus@gmail.com

SUMMER OF LOVE @ 50

14 Wednesday Jun 2017

Posted by MICHAEL C. HODGKISS in Jefferson Airplane, Monterey Pop 67, Rock music, Scott McKensie, Summer Of Love

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“If you’re going to San Francisco,be sure to wear some flowers in your hair…If you’re going to San Francisco, Summertime will be a love-in there”

So sang SCOTT McKENZIE, a true one hit wonder but what a hit it was. This so called “anthem” arrived on the airwaves May 13, 1967, and was used as an invitation “across the nation” to publicize the upcoming “charity” concerts baptized as THE MONTEREY INTERNATIONAL POP FESTIVAL June 16 to June 18, 1967. This 3 day event was organized by PAPA JOHN PHILLIPS who incidentally wrote the aforementioned tune, LOU ADLER who produced the tune, along with a host of others who planned this weekend showcase as a way to sanctify “rock” music, similar to the way the Monterey Jazz Festivals gave legitimacy to that genre.All proceeds would be given to charity. Artists were expected to play a 40 minute set without a fee, however their flights, accommodations, etc, would all be first class.

The song becomes an instant radio hit ,#4 on the BILLBOARD charts, and while estimates vary, thousands celebrate rock music that weekend in a fair grounds 120 miles south of San Francisco. Yet, the tune transcended its purpose. The imagery of the song encouraged thousands of listeners to attend the party which would become THE SUMMER OF LOVE in San Francisco.

HOW DO WE GET THERE? Well, not directional or travel arrangements wise but rather how did this LOVE thing happen?

The BEAT poets of NORTH BEACH, SAN FRANCISCO could be considered the fore fathers of the movement with their non-conformist attitudes while rejecting materialistic values.

Then there was the celebration entitled the HUMAN BE-IN at Golden Gate Park in January of 67, an idea of MICHAEL BOWEN the avant-garde artist and co-founder of THE ORACLE, a premier “underground” newspaper which announced the event. This Be-In inspired  the play HAIR: The American Tribal Love -Rock Musical by Rado and Ragni. Also, TIMOTHY LEARY asked the 30,000 attendees to “turn on,tune in,drop out”. 

The mainstream media picked up the story, highlighting Tim Leary, the drugs (LSD and mushrooms), the clothing and the music. These photos and images were shown on the nightly news. TIME magazine ran a cover story on THE HIPPIES and even CBS NEWS had a special report. This influx of “flower children” arrived to the 25 square block area of San Francisco with the cross streets , the intersection of it all HAIGHT-ASHBURY.

With psychedelic music and drugs prevalent, one could only predict that the future of THE HAIGHT would not be so rosy or happy. Homelessness, drug abuse, poverty became rampant. The BEE GEES even wrote a song, MASSACHUSETTS, in response to what was happening in SAN FRANCISCO, a ditty about someone who lost the vision, the hope, and was homesick.

Yet, the SUMMER OF LOVE despite its misgivings gave us a great soundtrack for that time and for years to come: THE WHO, JIMI HENDRIX, BIG BROTHER and THE HOLDING COMPANY, COUNTRY JOE and THE FISH,THE ELECTRIC FLAG,QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE,STEVE MILLER,MOBY GRAPE,HUGH MASEKELA,THE BYRDS,LAURA NYRO,JEFFERSON AIRPLANE,BOOKER T and THE MG’s,OTIS REDDING, THE BLUES PROJECT,BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD and the organizers of Monterey Pop THE MAMAS & THE PAPAS.

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