Some
say we're the largest non-organization of non-members in the world. We
have no leaders, and no organization. To be honest, the Rainbow Family
means different things to different people. I think it's safe to say
we're into intentional community building, non-violence, and
alternative lifestyles. We also believe that Peace and Love are a great
thing, and there isn't enough of that in this world. Many of our
traditions are based on Native American traditions, and we have a
strong orientation to take care of the the Earth. We gather in the
National Forests yearly to pray for peace on this planet.
 The
first gathering beginning July 1, 1972 was to have taken place on 3000
acres of land that they had hoped to purchase between Aspen &
the
Hopi & Navaho lands. The 3000 acres never materialized, and the
first gathering took place partly on private land offered for temporary
use, and partly on National Forest land.
Sometime
around the mid-1980s, folks who felt it was too far or too long to the
annual gathering started coming together for smaller, regional
gatherings. People all over the country developed local and regional
bonds.
In
the past few years, the spiritual focus has been less obvious, due to
the huge influx of people who may not realize the central purpose of
the gatherings. These folks may come to party, to hang out, to find
like-minded people, to gain support for their political causes, or
whatever. There are no membership qualifications, no fees or dues, no
leaders, and virtually no rules other than the one of "peaceful
respect." Each year, individuals take personal responsibility and work
together with others on whatever they are inspired to do, from office
work, to scouting, to building the kitchens at the gatherings, to
hauling in food and first-aid supplies, to peacekeeping, etc.
Each
person is asked to bring their own camping equipment (this all takes
place in remote areas of the National Forest), their own cup, bowl, and
spoon, and whatever they might want to share to help the gathering
happen (tarps, shovels, musical instruments, bulk food, etc.). No one
will be turned away because of lacks in these areas, however. The Magic
Hat is passed at mealtimes and around camp. Donations are used to buy
food in bulk for the kitchens and whatever else may be necessary for
the communal well-being.
Where the Gathering will
be in 2009
CUBA, N.M., June 28 (UPI) -- The Rainbow Family of Living Light, which
gathers every summer to pray for peace, is assembling near a small town
in New Mexico.
This year's location is outside Cuba, a town with a population of 1,200
-- "and that's including school children," Vandora Casados, the village
clerk, told the Santa Fe New Mexican. By July 4, about 10 times that
many people are expected to be occupying a temporary village nearby.
The grocery store and variety store in Cuba have posted "Welcome
Rainbow" banners.
"We haven't caught anyone stealing. No one is panhandling," said Martin
Herrera, manager of Mickey's Save-Way Grocery. "They've been respecting
us real well."
The gatherings attract a diverse group from old hippies to lawyers. The
group, without any central direction, constructs temporary facilities
every year.
Zeke Goodwin, who also uses the name Uncle Sam, told the newspaper he
is a stone mason from Oklahoma and a Vietnam veteran.
"I come here to heal," he said.
Directions
from Albuquerque NM : Take I-25 north to U.S. Highway 550. Go north on
U.S. Highway 550 approximately 65 miles to State Highway 126 (Cuba,
NM). From Cuba, NM take State Road 126 East for 13 + miles to FS Road
103 on left, go 2 miles to FS Road 69 on left then drive 9 miles to
where FS Road 69 meets FS Road 70. Welcome Home!!*. A link to the map
to Parque Venado is here Another map, with some site details, by Henry
the Fiddler is here.
ACLU claims Forest Service
harassed Rainbow Family
A
report by the Wyoming chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union
contends the U.S. Forest Service has engaged in systematic harassment
of people who attend Rainbow Family gatherings on public lands.
The
ACLU opened an investigation after a clash between members of the
Rainbow Family — an informal group of self-styled hippies and peace
activists — and U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officers.
About
7,000 members of the group attended its annual gathering , which was
held on the Bridger-Teton National Forest near Big Sandy in western
Wyoming, about 260 miles northwest of Cheyenne.
Forest
Service law enforcement officers fired "pepper balls" — similar to
paint balls but containing a pepper substance — at Rainbow Family
members during the July 3 incident.
Scores
of witnesses told the ALCU the officers lacked justification, but the
Forest Service said officers fired only after a crowd threw sticks and
rocks at officers and otherwise interfered in the arrest of a man on
drug charges.
officers
took the smallest violation as an excuse to search participants' cars
and campsites for drugs throughout the gathering. "This type of
harassment and general overzealous enforcement appear to have been the
pattern in the USFS relationship with the Rainbow Family," the ACLU
report said. "The USFS has set up roadblocks, safety checkpoints,
rolling gauntlets, and have searched and ticketed people on the
narrowest of pretexts."
Linda
Burt, executive director of the ACLU in Wyoming, said "During the
pepper ball incident, only one of the people the ACLU spoke with
reported they had possibly seen one person throw a stick at law
enforcement. The rest said they saw nothing thrown".
Burt
said the ACLU is not planning to pursue legal action, but she said she
hopes Congress looks hard at the issue. The ACLU sent its report to
members of Wyoming's congressional delegation.
"Certainly
people do have that right to peaceable assembly under the
Constitution," Burt said. "It doesn't state anything in the
Constitution that only the 'right kind' of people can have peaceable
assembly, or only the people who dress like we like to dress can have
peaceable assembly."
John
Twiss, national head of law enforcement for the Forest Service, said it
cost the Forest Service $1 million to patrol the Rainbow gathering in
Wyoming this year.
He said the group didn't share in the costs.
A
New Mexico resident — Garrick Beck, 58, of Santa Fe — was a participant
at the Wyoming gathering. In a telephone interview , he said he's been
attending gatherings since 1972 and has seen increasing harassment from
Forest Service law enforcement in recent years. "I would say that the
conclusion that there has been a consistent pattern of harassment is
absolutely correct, and some of these consistent patterns have been
extremely provocative," he said.
He
said confrontations would escalate more if it weren't for the peaceful
nature of the Rainbow participants.
Beck
said he's been meeting with Forest Service officials in New Mexico to
discuss possible sites for the group's annual gathering, which he said
the group has decided to hold somewhere in the state this year (2009).
For
people looking for the videos of the pepper spraying incident that
occured at Kiddie Village on July 3rd, 2008, go here .
This is the original footage from the gathering, some of which later
was put on YouTube. A Press Release about the incident is here
. While the Forest Service has attempted to portray this as
"a
rainbow riot", you can clearly see in all the videos that at no time
where the LEOs threatened, and they clearly shoot people in the back
that were keeping things peaceful.
CHILDREN,
DOGS AND CAMPERS ATTACKED ON EVE OF DAY OF PRAYER
USFS attempts to incite
another riot
Bridger-Teton
National Forest, Wyo (July 10, 2008) – Federal Law Enforcement Officers
(”LEOs”) of the United States Forest Service (USFS) committed
multiple
acts of violence against campers, their children and their dogs at the
Annual Rainbow Gathering being held in the woods near Big Sandy, which
unofficially ends today. The gatherers’ entire purpose in assembling is
to silently pray for world peace on the Fourth of July. The harassment
included multiple tasering incidents, writing hundreds of tickets,
searching many gatherer’s vehicles, kicking sunbathers awake to search
them for guns and poking into people’s tents. The harassment culminated
in an attack of 50-60 rounds of pepper ball bullets being shot both
indiscriminately and specifically at campers in the Gathering’s Kiddie
Village (KV), a camp where children play gently and joyfully all day.
This incident took place at dinner time while campers were praying
before their meal. Read more ...
Tremendous
expenses on the part of various public agencies
The
attention recently given our festive Rainbow Gatherings has observed
tremendous expenses on the part of various public agencies. This raises
some important questions about the huge budgets the government is
running up on the Rainbow's accounts. Is the Forest Service spending
its way through the roof while it tries to blame the Rainbows for
causing the expense?
The
answer to where the money goes lies in the pockets of the so-called
"Special Agents " of the US Forest Service. These agents are run from a
Washington, D.C. bureaucracy which views itself as another national
level police force and which sees the Rainbow Gatherings as a money
bucket from which to guzzle public funds.
In
1988 after arguing in Federal Court that these same US Forest Service
"Special Agents" had blocked the entrance of a drinking water truck
into the gathering site, and delayed one of the family ambulances from
taking a sick little girl to the hospital, the judge in the case ruled
that "Indeed, there is substantial support for the defendants argument
that the government has acted with hostility to the Rainbow Family." Read
More ...
|
Beal
pleads guilty to marijuana charge
Baby-Boomer-Rock-and-Roll is
published at Mattoon, Illinois where this alleged crime is said to have
taken place. Dana Beal is a permanent fixture on the counterculture
scene and a veteran New York City-based activist perhaps best known for
organizing the annual Global Marijuana Marches and smoke-ins for the
past 30 years. Dana Beal is our country's foremost drug treatment
advocate and proponent of IBOGAINE, which is the only known addiction
antidote? Drug maintainance therapy is a thing of the past. If you
think of addiction as the result of drug poisoning you can see ibogaine
as an antidote that stops the poison and reverses the damage. He was on
his way to fly down to Mexico with money to start a new Ibogaine clinic
and support another one already in operation there when he was ensnared
by the war on drugs and they seized these funds as "drug money?" Cash
is not a crime but stealing cash is. The civil war on drugs is a
corruping influence on law enforcement from the Federal level down to
the city police. Can a cop's wishful thinking be grounds for the theft
of all your money? They think so in Mattoon, IL.
CHARLESTON, ILLINOIS May 19, 2009 — A man who has
reportedly been a
longtime advocate for the legalization of marijuana pleaded guilty to a
Coles County drug charge, which the prosecutor said he approved because
federal authorities are seeking forfeiture of money involved.
Irvin Dale Beal, 62, of New York was allegedly trying to hide bags of
money totaling about $150,000 when he was arrested in Mattoon on
He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge and
felony obstructing justice charges were dismissed. In accepting a plea
agreement, Circuit Judge Teresa Righter ordered Beal to pay fines
totalling $1,300.
National news reports have said Beal is also a veteran of the Youth
International Party, whose members are commonly known as Yippies, a
1960s-era hippie political movement.
Assistant State’s Attorney Mick McAvoy said federal authorities seized
the money and have a pending forfeiture case against Beal, and that
case is why he was willing to let Beal plead guilty to the lesser
charge. Beal’s trial had been scheduled to begin Tuesday before the
agreement was reached, and Charleston attorney Ron Tulin represented
him in the case.
A co-defendant, Jesse J. Balcom, 31, of Silver Spring, Md., pleaded
guilty under an identical agreement in December.
The two men were arrested after police responded to a report of two
women fighting at the Steak N’ Shake restaurant at 1400 Broadway Avenue
East in Mattoon. According to evidence in the case, bystanders asked
officers to question a man later identified as Beal because they saw
him remove two bags from a van and hide them under a nearby car.
The two women involved in the fight were traveling with Beal and Balcom
and they gave differing stories of their reason for being in Mattoon,
according to case documents. Balcom said they were traveling from New
York City to New Mexico, and one of the women said they were going to
Kansas City, but Beal refused to make a statement.
Beal and Balcom were originally charged with the obstructing justice
offenses because they allegedly hid the bags of money from police,
interfering with the officers’ investigation. Each man could have
received a prison term of one to three years had he been convicted of
that offense.
Police also said at the time that there was some suspicion of money
laundering, but the two men were never charged with that offense.
A national news report from the time of the arrest said A.J. Weberman,
also involved with the Yippie movement, said Beal told friends he was
traveling with the cash because he intended to finance an addiction
clinic. Beal reportedly advocated the legal use of marijuana for
medical purposes.
June 3 of last year.
THE
DRUMMER FOR AEROSMITH
REVEALS
THE
TRUE AND GRITTY SIDE OF ROCK ‘N’ ROLL FAME
IN A
MOVING STORY OF HITTING ROCK BOTTOM AT THE TOP
Joey
Kramer is the legendary drummer with the most successful band in
American history—Aerosmith. In HIT HARD: A Story of Hitting Rock Bottom
at the Top, Kramer reveals the true and gritty side of rock and roll
fame in a moving and inspiring story.
In
1997, amidst Aerosmith’s sold out world tour and number-one album
release, Joey revealed in an interview his ongoing struggles with
depression. The response from fans and people battling those same
internal demons was overwhelming. Joey—who has been the drummer in
Aerosmith since it was founded in 1970 and the first member of the band
to release his own book—now tells the complete story: the early days of
the band, glamorous drug-addled events leading up to their eventual
sobriety, battles within his family and among bandmates, and the
explosive internal dynamics in Aerosmith that continue to unleash a
fury of endless creativity.
This
is not just another rock and roll memoir. In addition to the
never-before told Aerosmith war stories that abound in the book, HIT
HARD unpacks the history of a rock star who was both fragile and tough,
who after years of insane wildness became willing to accept help and
finally kick a serious alcohol and drug addiction, only to find that
the real terrors and hard work were still ahead. It’s the story of an
average kid from an average American suburb who went through physical
and emotional trauma. It’s about years of depression and the nervous
breakdown at the height of the band’s comeback success. Ultimately, is
about how Joey recognized his confusion between love and abuse,
awakening to the kind of self-acceptance and compassion that makes
healthy relationships possible in the “real world.”
JOEY
KRAMER has been rocking with Aerosmith since the band began in 1970.
Kramer and his partners have sold over 150 million albums, and today
their multigenerational, global audience is bigger than ever. In
addition to the Grammys and the twenty-one multi-platinum albums,
Aerosmith was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. The
band has been the subject of several documentaries, including a film
dedicated to Joey Kramer and his lasting influence called It’s About
Time. Visit the author online at www.joeykramer.com. For Aerosmith
news, visit www.aerosmith.com and www.aeroforceone.com
|
In
Stores June 30th!
“I
love this book; this is an important book, because it’s not bullshit.
Joey had the balls to see what’s underneath the hood, and to fix it.
Being a rock star was easy compared to that.”
—Nikki
Sixx, author of The
Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star , from the
foreword
|
|
|
Lets not forget Farrah
Fawcett
 LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Hundreds of mourners paid
tribute to Farrah Fawcett as the "Charlie's Angels" star was laid to
rest in a private ceremony in Los Angeles.
The
62-year-old actress and pin-up girl died last Thursday after a
three-year battle with anal cancer, news that was quickly overshadowed
by the death of King of Pop Michael Jackson later that day.
Fawcett's
24-year-old son Redmond, her child with longtime
companion Ryan O'Neal, was granted compassionate leave from a prison
cell to attend.
Both Ryan and
Redmond O'Neal served as pallbearers for the service, held at Los
Angeles Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angeles on Tuesday.
Fawcett
emerged as a pop-culture icon in the 1970s and 1980s after her role in
"Charlie's Angels" and appearance in a famous poster wearing a red
swimsuit that would come to be her defining image.
During the
1970s, Fawcett was married to "Six Million Dollar Man" star Lee Majors,
from whom she separated in 1979. In 1982 she began her long romance
with actor O'Neal.
After
splitting from O'Neal in the 1990s, Fawcett faded from public view,
although she appeared in Robert Altman's 2000 comedy " Dr.
T & The Women " in a cast
that
included Richard Gere, Helen Hunt, Laura Dern and
Kate Hudson.
In recent
years Fawcett's health was the subject of intense scrutiny by a
voracious tabloid media.
News of her
cancer fight broke in October 2006, sparking an outpouring of support
from fans and well-wishers.
In 2007 she
declared that months of grueling chemotherapy had seen her beat the
cancer despite "excruciating pain and uncertainty."
"It never
occurred to me to stop fighting -- not ever," she said.
However, in
April this year it emerged that the cancer had returned and the actress
was gravely ill.
RIP FARRAH
|
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Tragedies
Continue
 
In
January 2009 Lynyrd Skynyrd was saddened by the death of keyboardist
Billy Powell. Now they have suffered another tragedy this week. Bassist
Donald "Ean" Evans died on Wednesday May 6th at his Columbus,
Mississippi, home at the age of 48 after a battle with cancer,
according to The Associated Press.
"It
is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of longtime
Lynyrd Skynyrd bassist Ean Evans," the band announced on their Web site
on Wednesday. "Ean put up a valiant battle with an aggressive form of
cancer and he will be sorely missed by family, friends and fans."
Evans
joined the legendary Southern rock band in 2001, following the death of
longtime bassist Leon Wilkeson. In the 1980s, Evans played with another
Southern rock powerhouse, the Outlaws, and later with that band's
original guitarist, the late Hughie Thomasson, who also had a stint in
Skynyrd (1996-2005).
The
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members, best known for such landmark tunes
as "Free Bird" and "Sweet Home Alabama," have had a history of tragic
deaths. In 1977, the band's chartered plane crashed in a swamp near
McComb, Mississippi, killing six, including lead singer Ronnie Van
Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backing vocalist Cassie Gaines. One of
the group's founders, guitarist Allen Collins, was paralyzed in a 1986
DUI accident that killed his girlfriend. He died in 1990 from pneumonia.
|
|
Michael Jackson and Farrah
Fawcett:
How They Changed Television
The
not-unexpected passing of Farrah Fawcett and the shocking sudden death
of Michael Jackson on Thursday stir all kinds of emotional responses -
among them wistful nostalgia for those decades in which they both
became pop-culture icons. Those were the days -- when talented people
worked for years to become "overnight" sensations without the instant
celebrity options of the digital era. I think it's fair to say that
many of the young personalities who dominate movies, music and
television today would never have enjoyed such success without benefit
of the Internet. Fawcett and Jackson rose to the top and achieved
legendary success the old-fashioned way. They earned it one performance
at a time. Read More ...
3,500 hours of rescued newsreel, Biggest time capsule ever as 1960s and 1970s return to life
A
'treasure trove' of news footage from the Sixties and Seventies is to
go online after being rescued from a bunker once used as Eisenhower's
London war HQ.
The
film has been stored for almost 40 years in the deep underground bunker
from which General Eisenhower - later U.S. President - directed the
D-Day landings.
After
the war until 1956 the tunnels became an army transit camp but later
they were used for storing the vast archive of 20,000 film cans.
 Among
the highlights is amazing footage of : The Beatles striding on-stage,
hippy festivals and bizarre fashion shoots all underline the huge
upheavals in youth and popular culture during the era.
The
'time capsule' also includes electrifying film from the Vietnam War and
from protests against the conflict - with images of 'Hanoi' Jane Fonda
clapping her hands delightedly among North Vietnamese troops during her
notorious 1972 visit.
Highlights
are being screened tonight for film professionals at Bafta headquarters
in Piccadilly, central London, as restorers from the Associated Press
(AP) get to work on the 3,500 hours of international news.
The
footage belonged to United Press International Television News (UPITN),
a prolific news gatherer which had film crews all over the world,
including both sides of the Iron Curtain and hotspots such as Vietnam
and Cambodia.
The
agency went through multiple changes of ownership before being renamed
World Television News and, in 1998, being bought by AP.
These upheavals had delayed the potentially unprofitable restoration project until now, Mr Lindsey said.
They
are also being transferred onto high-definition videotape for use by
professional producers, hugely increasing their range of choices for
screening images of the era.
Archival
researchers in London have tracked down the catalogues for the film
rolls, which had been scattered around the world over the years since
the footage was shot.
However, the films are now being cleaned up, restored and digitised in Paris so they can be viewed online via its website www.aparchive.com.
The restoration project is expected to take a further 18 months. |
 |
|
Denmark
: Hippies
await their fate as state plans to 'normalise' commune
Published Date: 26 May 2009
By JANE BRADLEY IN DENMARK
IT
WAS a social experiment with an alternative way of life, which has
existed in the heart of Denmark's capital for almost 40 years.
Now
the future of hippie commune Christiania is under threat, as the
government's ambition to "normalise" it moves closer to fruition.
Previous
official attempts to get rid of the commune have always been abandoned,
but now the right-wing gover
nment
believes it should take control of the 85-acre site.
Christiania's
residents have made legal objections to the plan and are now awaiting
the result of the court case to find out if they will be allowed to
continue their way of life or be forced out into the rest of society.
The
government believes an agreement for Christiania's residents to live on
the land ended in 2004.
Housed
in a disused military barracks in Copenhagen's up-market Christianshavn
suburb are around 1,000 "Christianites", many of whom have lived in the
commune since its inception in 1971.
Officials
want to build new flats on the site, which is currently a mix of
18th-century naval barracks and various random structures erected by
Christianites over the years.
 Christiania
has its own moral code, own rules and even its own currency, the lon. A
large wooden sign at the main entrance tells those exiting the
community: "You are now entering the EU."
Police
crackdowns on its main drag, "Pusher Street", have failed to stop open
hash dealing – although hard drugs are severely frowned upon by the
community and anyone found indulging is expelled.
A
German-born carpenter by the name of Thomas, who has lived in the
community for more than 20 years and whose former partner and
13-year-old son both grew up in Christiania, explained the attractions
of living there.
He
said: "We call it a community for losers. People fit in here who do not
fit in mainstream society. If we lose our case with the government and
we are made to live in a normal community, it will be very difficult
for some people."
He
added: "We don't bother people, so I don't know why they won't let us
keep on doing what we are doing."
Christiania
boasts its own concert hall – where singers such as Bob Dylan have
played in the past – as well as a children's theatre, jazz club and
cinema. Residents also run a number of restaurants – including a
vegetarian café and a restaurant that achieved four-star status in
local newspaper reviews.
Although
residents pay taxes, they organise their own pre-school education and
maintenance of infrastructure. They have a huge recycling facility,
where they aim to recycle 90 per cent of all rubbish on the site.
Jens,
who works at Christiania's opera theatre, added: "People have lived
here so long, it is a way of life. I don't know what will happen if
things change."
A
spokesman for the Danish Government Palaces and Properties Agency said:
"The ideal future would be that the objective of the Danish Christiania
Act is met and the area legitimised. This does not mean, however, that
the Christiania area should be standardised with other urban areas.
"The
Danish government's objective for the development of Christiania is
that the area shall continue to be a green, traffic-free area in
Copenhagen; that an alternative lifestyle can still be lived but one
that complies with the general rules of Danish law without a special
act, without the hash trade, with rental payments and open housing
allocation, with maintenance of preservation-worthy buildings and with
maintenance and protection of the fortification as an open and
recreational area for Christianites, Copenhageners and the public in
general."
Ditle
Folmer, who works in a café just outside the Christiania boundary, said
the general feeling towards the community in Christianshavn was
positive.
She
said: "I don't think anybody in this area minds. There are those who
say 'why should they get to live however they want and we have to obey
the rules?', but generally, people are quite happy with them living
there and getting on with doing things their way."
|
Living Like Hippies
"With
Wanna Start A Commune"
In the
60's and 70's, communal living was popular throughout North
America, and while it may not have been long-lasting or particularly
successful back then, it's a reemerging trend today with businesses
like Wanna Start a Commune
that focus on networking for communal living
standards.
One
of Wanna Start a Commune's frequently asked question is "I'm not a
hippie, why would I start a commune?" and the answer according to this
unique networking business; because when economic times are tough,
everyone needs to pool together to share resources. According to Wanna
Start a Commune, communes are for everyone, from
truck drivers, to stay
at home moms, magazine editors, graffiti artists, and yes, of course,
hippies too. Source
: Beth Hodgson, InventorSpot.com
free advertisment
|
 |
Lennon's
bloody clothes
displayed
A
new John Lennon exhibition, due to open in New York later, will feature
a paper bag containing the bloody clothes from the night he was shot
dead.
The Rock
& Roll Hall of Fame Annex display also features the piano from
his apartment and handwritten lyrics.
His
widow Yoko Ono, who has created the display, said the clothes were
"hard to include" and she feared she "might be criticised as well" for
including them.
Lennon was
murdered outside the Dakota apartment building on 8 December 1980.
Rock
& Roll Hall of Fame Annex
Created
by Yoko Ono, this extraordinary exhibit offers a rare opportunity to
experience never-before-seen artifacts, films, & photos that
uniquely commemorate Lennon's life in New York City. |
|
|
|
 |
Kynd Hemp Products
- for cool hip people - The sativa
store has the sweetest hemp products available to mankind
|
| Baby Boomer Rock and
Roll.com is for Hippies every where |
 |
|
35 Years Ago, July 19 - 21 1974
Ozark
Music Festival |
|
|
Wishing
to escape the hassles of the decade, in July 1974, over 150,000 people
flooded into rural Sedalia, Missouri, for the three-day Ozark Music
Festival.
Residents
living near the Missouri State Fairgrounds, where the festival was
held, woke on July 19, 1974, with attendees sleeping in their yards and
a long line of bumper-to -bumper traffic clogging the roads into town.
At the time, no one knew the Ozark Music Festival would become one of
the largest, least remembered music festivals ever held.
Thirty-five
years later, an exhibit entitled “Seventies Flashback: A Look Back at
the July 1974 Ozark Music Festival,” currently on display at the
historic
Katy
Depot in Sedalia, takes a look back
at
the seventies and the music festival.
The exhibit's website has many letters from fans, who where at the
festival, visit the website here www.ozarkmusicfestivalexhibit.com/
See BBR&R's own OMF page ( it has some
photo's) HERE
Acting
as MC at the Ozark Music Festival, was one of the most unique of
"Rock n' Roll" personalities. He was born in Brooklyn on January 21,
1938 as Robert “Bob” Smith. The name did not suit his career as a rock
‘n’ roll disc jockey so he changed it to Wolfman Jack.... MORE HERE brooklyneagle.com
Wolfmanjack.org
"The Online
Museum"
Wolfman CDs
& MP3s
|
Due
to public interest in the Ozark Music Festival exhibit, the decision
has been made to add another component to the exhibit currently on
display at the Katy Depot at 600 East Third Street. On
Saturday, July 18, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. the Katy Depot will be
offering a special viewing of rare video footage from the Ozark Music
Festival weekend thirty-five years ago. Visitors are invited to
dress in 70s attire or bring in photos of yourself from the 70s as we
travel back in time
Ozark
Mountain Daredevil bassist, Michael ‘Supe’ Granda will be on hand to
sign copies of his book, “It Shined – The Saga of the Ozark Mountain
Daredevils.” The book is an expose of the life and times of the
band in and out of the spotlight, on and off of the stage, and from top
of the charts to the bottom of the barrel. Not only will you find
humorous anecdotes about the music (i.e. Jackie Blue’s sex change and
Chicken Train’s acquisition of its chicken squawking solo), you will
learn about the rigors of the road both here and abroad. Follow
the path of the band from its beginnings onstage at the New Bijou
Theater in 1971 to one of their last gigs on the stage of the Shrine
Mosque in 2004. In between those dates you’ll find a cornucopia
of stories - some good, some bad, some ugly, all entertaining.
Though the band went through many personnel changes, the only member to
remain a constant was Supe. While the others came and went, Supe
stood center stage, leading the mayhem with musicianship and humor,
both of which can be found in these pages. Ozark Mountain
Daredevil memorabilia will be available for purchase as well..
 |
Nowadays,
Woodstock is
just a happening at Target
by
Mark Patinkin
I
saw that Target is coming out with some “Summer of Love” items based on
Woodstock. The campaign is keyed off the 40th anniversary of the event.
Specifically, the stores will use the classic image of a white dove
perched on a guitar neck. Many people, no doubt, will think this is a
nice thing for Target to do.
I’m
appalled.
Not
with Target. If they feel they can market products by licensing an
appealing logo, that’s their job.
What
upsets me is that Woodstock is now considered pleasant nostalgia.
For
those of you raised on Lil Wayne instead of Crosby, Stills and Nash,
Woodstock was more than just the original rock mega-festival. It was a
symbol to some of how the counter-culture was undermining society.
Hundreds
of thousands of mostly unkempt hippies gathered at an upstate New York
farm for a three days to hear rock bands sing rebellious ballads. It
was viewed by the establishment with alarm. Mainstream America
continued to regard it that way for years, and that was fine with me.
Now
Target, whose annual sales were over $60 billion last year, has come to
embrace Woodstock as a marketing tool. What makes this disturbing is
that Target appeals to the very middle class demographic that was most
appalled by Woodstock in 1969. This seems almost as unexpected as Iran
opening souvenir shops with “USA” T-shirts.
Comrades,
what happened to the revolution?
I
didn’t go to Woodstock, but had a friend who went there in a beat-up VW
bus, which is a fine cliche. More to the point, if you listened to
Hendrix and Joplin, went to protest marches and had long hair, you felt
part of the Woodstock culture.
I
dressed in ways my parents disapproved of, and was glad they did. There
was a pride in being looked upon askance as you walked down sidewalks
in sandals, torn bell-bottoms and tie-dyed shirts. It was fun to alarm
society.
Today,
I have short hair, which some friends say is gray. I wear sports
jackets to work. I worry about my mortgage, and my own children’s
choices. But somewhere deep, I like the idea of still being seen as
culturally disreputable. This will be harder to do now that Target
thinks my unruly past is a charming basis for advertising towels.
In
one sense, the music of Woodstock is tame compared to today’s
standards. The festival included songs like White Rabbit by Jefferson
Airplane and Pinball Wizard by The Who. More recently, hit songs have
included Big Booty Hos, and Birthday Sex.
Still,
in its time, Woodstock was seen with distress. Younger folks, of
course, saw it as proof that hippies weren’t a threat — that hundreds
of thousands could have a peaceful weekend despite mud, chaos and rock
music.
But
the country’s Silent Majority felt those same folks were the Huns ––
the end of society as we knew it.
Target’s
campaign reminds me of the time a few years ago when I saw a Fidelity
commercial featuring the song, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, by Iron Butterfly. I
was stunned. That song was a drug anthem. In the late 1960s, it’s what
people often listened to while smoking grass. Now it was being used to
pitch investment products, and for all I know, it still is. Don’t ask
me how one of the edgiest songs of that era became a marketing tool for
401k’s.
Or
how Woodstock ended up as a way to sell towels.
To
me, it’s the rough equivalent of Lil Wayne and 50 Cent, both
gangsta-rappers, being hired as spokesmen for Bank of America.
Frankly,
that will probably happen in 20 years, and I guarantee that their fans
today will be let down at seeing their anthems turned into mainstream
marketing vehicles.
Just
as I’m let down.
I
felt a lot better about myself when society saw me as a barbarian. I
never expected to become the establishment.
But
in one way, I suppose it comes at a good time.
I
can use some new towels.
|
40
Years Ago
August
15 - 18 1969
Woodstock
Music and Arts Fair
The
Woodstock Music and Art Fair in 1969 drew more than 450,000 people to a
pasture in Sullivan County. For four days, the site became a
countercultural mini-nation in which minds were open, drugs were all
but legal and love was "free". The music began Friday afternoon at
5:07pm August 15 and continued until mid-morning Monday August 18. The
festival closed the New York State Thruway and created one of the
nation's worst traffic jams. It also inspired a slew of local and state
laws to ensure that nothing like it would ever happen again.
Woodstock Web site unveiled
Festival's co-creator teams with
Sony
The
site features comprehensive concert listings, information on the three
Woodstock festivals (1969, 1994 and 1999) and green-living news and
information. Lang said it took about three months to create the site.
"We
had the idea for quite a while, and we were looking for a partner to do
it with. And a friend of mine, Peter Berkowitz, suggested Sony, and
we've been talking with them for a year and a half now," Lang said. "We
finally decided let's go do it."
Shane Daley, a Web developer
for Decorative Product Source, Inc. — a leading home-decor retailer
based in Goshen — said the site looks impressive.
"Solid layout
and design, with nice mix of media. I think it will be a useful
resource for anyone interested in the Woodstock music scene," Daley
said. "There's plenty of content. The embedded videos in the artist's
pages work well."
Lang says the Web site's success is partially due to the amount of
manpower Sony is contributing.
"A
lot of bodies, physical time and what Sony Legacy has access to. Things
like music and photography and things that they have in their
archives," Lang said. "It's mostly the personnel and the great people
that they have."
Lang added that feedback has been positive.
"Everyone seems to think it's terrific, and that's gratifying," he said.
WOODSTOCK
FANS & FACEBOOK FRIENDS WANTED
 This
request comes from our sister , Joanne Hague,
at Google
Groups "1960s" group
TELL
YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS !
We want 500,000 Facebook
friends on
our
own Yasgur's farm in cyberspace by
August 15, 2009 to celebrate
the
40th anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock Festival.
This
is an unofficial Facebook group for the events planned to
celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts
Fair in White Lake, New York. This group will serve to provide up to
the minute news, announcements and rumors associated with "official"
Woodstock events from Woodstock Ventures Inc. and sanctioned
celebrations. You will also find news on recent media associated with
Woodstock and its 40th anniversary.
Brad Littleproud and Joanne Hague were lead preservationists in the
pursuit of the historic preservation of the original Woodstock
festival site in Bethel New York.
www.woodstockpreservation.org
We invite Facebook friends to post their questions and quandaries
about Woodstock, and use this group to seek information about the
events that will be talked out in the months to come.
*This group is brought to you by the authors
of
Woodstock-Peace
Music
and
Memories, a new publication from Krause Publications
(Goldmine
Magazine) that brings to life the 3 days of peace and music through
the stories and personal photos of those who were there....Buy
It Now
Festival Facts
Barbara
Hahn wasn’t the only one at Woodstock who didn’t recognize Abbie
Hoffman. When the publicity-hungry Yippie jumped on stage to rap about
politics during the Who’s set, Pete Townsend didn’t recognize the
wild-looking guy with the American flag shorts. So he whacked Hoffman
on the head with his guitar.
♫
Michael
Lang may have smoked a
joint or two before Woodstock, but during the festival, the promoter
stayed stone-cold sober. He stayed away from anything going around.
Many drinks – and even watermelon – were laced with LSD. “I didn’t
drink anything that didn’t come from a bottle I didn’t open myself,” he
said.
♫
The
Beatles were reportedly invited to play at Woodstock. They obviously
did not. Why? Surely this would have been a great performance. But at
this point in time, mid-to-late 1969, The Beatles were collapsing. They
had spent most of the summer out of the collaboration that they all
were accustomed to. Not to mention that they had not played a real live
show together since 1966. So needless to say, The Beatles turned down
their offer. John Lennon thought that his side project, the Plastic Ono
Band, would be a suitable replacement. The Woodstock organizers
declined.
♫
Led
Zeppelin were also reportedly offered an invitation. Why did they not
play? Well, their manager, Peter Grant, turned it down for them. He
didn't just want them to be "another band" performing at the
festival. Zeppelin was a fairly new band on the scene,
forming in
1968. Although they were fairly inexperienced, it would have added a
whole new dimension to an already amazing concert.
♫
The
Doors were originally scheduled to perform at the festival. So why
didn't they perform? They canceled. There have been many rumors as to
why they canceled. One of the rumors is that Jim Morrison was having
legal altercations at the time due to his arrest for indecent exposure.
This was not why they canceled, however. They stated that they disliked
outdoor venues. This may connect with another rumor that Morrison was
afraid that someone would take a shot at him. This has not been
confirmed as one of the reasons they did not play Woodstock.
♫
Bob
Dylan planned on making the show. However, his son had medical
problems, and this caused him to cancel his suspected performance.
♫
Jethro
Tull refused to perform. They said that Woodstock wasn't a big deal,
and they likely thought it would have been a waste of time.
♫
The
Jeff Beck Group was invited, and they intended on performing. That is
until they disbanded one week before the event. Ouch, bad timing.
♫
Iron
Butterfly were fully intending on showing up and performing.
Unfortunately, they were stuck at an airport and they never arrived in
time to play.
♫
Joni
Mitchell wanted to play, but her agent insisted that she did not.
Instead, he wanted her to play on The Dick Cavett Show. Ironically, the
two other bands that performed on the show with her did play at
Woodstock.Joni Mitchell's agent said that there would only be 500
people.
this
information was obtained from Great 60's Music blog
|
Buy
It Now 
Woodstock
t-shirt features the original poster art from the 1969 music festival
Check out
this groovy Woodstock shirt. Adult unisex red tee features the original
poster artwork from the 1969 Woodstock 'Music and Art Fair', with the
classic image of a white dove perched on a guitar neck. The concert
dates are printed on the right, with 'An Aquarian Exposition in White
Lake NY' (the nearby town where the festival was actually held). Below
is the familiar tag line, '3 Days of Peace and Music'.
Although
attempts have been made over the years to recreate the festival, the
original event has proven to be unique and legendary. Regarded as one
of the greatest moments in popular music history and 'Rolling Stone's
50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll'. It defined a
generation, and a musical era. Performers included the Who, the
Grateful Dead, Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Santana and CCR. Refused
invitations included the Doors, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, and the
promoters turned down John Lennon and his Plastic Ono Band, when their
request for The Beatles was not available. Super-soft fine jersey
fabric is lightweight 100% cotton. Great shirt if you were there, or
wish you were, or think you were but can't remember, and anyone who
wants to spread the message of peace and love.
Celebrate
Woodstocks 40th anniversary with this T-Shirt, only $19.45 at Amazon
|
Woodstock
nurse: From pets to
peace in a blink
Barbara
and George Hahn of Jeffersonville at the original Woodstock site in
Bethel. Barbara flew into the site in August 1969 to care for many of
the hundreds of thousands of concertgoers.
Times Herald-Record/MICHELE HASKELL
She
gets the call at the Jeffersonville Ambulance Corps. Medical personnel
are needed at the Woodstock festival. Fast. So Barbara Hahn, a
registered nurse for humans who works in her husband’s veterinarian
office, grabs a supply of human antibiotics and drives to Grossinger’s
resort in Liberty, where she would be flown by helicopter to Bethel.
The woman who had grown up in Jeffersonville and had mostly seen
hippies on TV boards a doorless copter with a doctor, her nurse cousin
and Janis Joplin’s drummer.
When
she lands among the “tremendous sea of people,” she’s greeted by a
curly-haired guy in a fringe jacket and tie-dyed shirt.
“Hello,”
he says. “I’m Abbie Hoffman.”
Barbara
Hahn has no clue he’s a counterculture star, a Yippie who’d led
demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic National Convention and written
“Steal This Book.”
“I
didn’t know who he was until I read the paper the next day,” says Hahn
today in her Jeffersonville home. “I didn’t really follow the
counterculture.”
“Although
we did have a dog or two in the office who’d swallowed some stashes (of
marijuana),” adds her husband, George.
This
was Barbara Hahn’s backstage introduction to Woodstock (though the
couple had stopped by the festival Friday night to see Joan Baez, who
appeared after they left). She went from treating dogs, cats and cows
to bringing hippies down from bad trips. She spoke about her
experiences in what came to be called “the trips tent” for the Times
Herald-Record’s series leading up to the 40-year anniversary of the
most famous rock concert.
How
did you get there?
Barbara:
It was a very frightening experience taking off in a helicopter with no
doors. I was seated next to Janis Joplin’s drummer. “Where’s Janis?”
someone asked. “Who the hell knows,” says the drummer. But I saw her
backstage all the time. She was totally amazed by it all.
What’s
your top memory?
Barbara:
Besides Abbie Hoffman, I guess it was when we left the tent and got to
the corner of West Shore and Hurd Road (near the monument). It was like
Times Square, there were so many people. And the cavalry from Dutchess
County was there. It was just so totally different than anything I
would have expected.
What
did Woodstock mean to you?
Barbara:
Being a mother of young children (ages 11 and 9), the use of drugs all
the time by so many kids ... and they just seemed to have no concern.
Everybody who came into the tent had some kind of drug problem, mainly
bad trips. I’d never seen anything like it, but it didn’t take long to
learn to handle it. You had to convince people to move their tongues to
get them some sanity.
Any
lessons from Woodstock?
Barbara:
I had totally different notions about the hippies. Most were kids
having a good time.
George:
They were just human beings, but the hardcore ones were just living off
society.
Barbara:
Max’s (Yasgur) vision was that the kids who came were going to
appreciate the land and come back and settle here and make it home. I
guess that never really happened.
Did
it change you?
Barbara:
It certainly opened my eyes.
George:
To my sister and brother-in-law in North Carolina, the hippies were an
isolated thing. To us they were a movement.
Barbara:
They were unaware it was a culture change. When you saw it, you
believed it.
|
|
Classic
Rock Sounds
"Modern
Bands with classic rock vibes"
Fab Faux
Forget every
notion you may have ever had about tribute bands
They
just might be the most authentic live interpreters of the music of the
Beatles on the planet, other than Paul McCartney when he takes his own
band on the road.
But
forget every notion you may have ever had about tribute bands. The Fab
Faux don't weary wigs, they don't get decked out in phony Sgt. Pepper's
uniforms and they don't talk between songs with bogus British accents.
Boasting
the high visibility of TV star/musicians Will Lee from The Late Show
with David Letterman and Jimmy Vivino from Late Night with Conan
O'Brien; five strong lead vocalists (including Rich Pagano, Frank
Agnello, Jack Petruzzelli) and a commitment to the accurate
reproduction of The Beatles' repertoire; this is the band to see if you
want to know what it might have been like if The Beatles toured behind
their later albums (with a healthy portion of the early guitar-based
stuff that most tribute bands play.) Imagine hearing complex material
like "Strawberry Fields Forever", "I Am the Walrus", and "Being for the
Benefit of Mr. Kite", performed in complete part-perfect renditions; or
such harmony-driven songs as "Because", "Nowhere Man", and "Paperback
Writer", reproduced not only note-for-note, but with extra vocalists
available to achieve a double-tracked effect!
Lee,
whose musical resume reads like a who's who of rock 'n' roll history,
spoke recently from his home in New York about the group's background
and its goals. He's particularly the right guy for his role in the
Faux, in part because he has played with three Beatles (McCartney,
Ringo Starr and the late George Harrison) and even played on a track
with the late John Lennon as well, (He recorded "Cookin' (In The
Kitchen of Love)" with Starr on the latter's "Rotogravure" album in
1976. Lennon wrote the song and played piano on it but Lee was not in
the studio with him at the same time, "so technically we're on the same
track but I never actually had the chance to play with John," he said).
He was talking to McCartney about the Fab Faux before the star-studded
9/11 benefit "Concert for New York" in 2001.
"At
the rehearsal I said 'I know you hate Beatle bands, but I have to tell
you that I have a band that honors the music that you, John, George and
Ringo gave us all...We're trying to bring the records to the stage,
that's our goal. We focus more on the latter, heretofore
impossible-to-do-live material note-for-note.' And he instantly asked
me, 'Do you do "Tomorrow Never Knows?"' And I said, 'Of course, it's
one of the first ones we assembled.' (laughs) I was so happy to say
that."
Lee first got the band together years back when he was playing in a
group with drummer-singer Rich Pagano. He then approached Vivino about
the idea.
"I
knew we had to get five players," Lee said. "So that we could get the
doubled harmonies and the extra percussion and keyboard parts that made
the Beatles' records so great. I had seen a lot of these four-piece
piece bands that Paul McCartney has a disdain for and I had no interest
in that at all. I had no interest in pretending to be anybody else, but
I loved the music so much and was looking for like-minded hearts."
Together
with Pagano and Vivino he found those qualities in guitarist-vocalist
Frank Agnello and singer-keyboardist-guitarist Jack Petruzzelli.
Frequently - like during its extraordinary 10th anniversary show before
a full house at Radio City Music Hall last year - the group is
augmented by the Hogshead Horns and Creme Tangerine Strings.
|
Better
and safer Web experience for everybody! Switching is easy and painless
-- Firefox will import your bookmarks from your old browser. Down Load FireFox NOW, its FREE
Will
Lee | Jimmy Vivino | turn off our
stereo to listen
Then,
in
1966, the estate was rented by the Grateful Dead, who in
turn entertained Janis Joplin and Grace Slick at Olompali, and featured
the land on one of their album covers.
thousands of photos of the
band, most of which have never been 
Over 78,009
distributed
so far!
|
Vintage Peace Signs 
Facts
REDNECKS
exit
to RedneckEnuff.com
♫ 
from Amazon
Special double 180gsm vinyl in
spectacular gatefold
package and special autograph etched fourth side
