Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics Member Submitted Links Take me back to the Sixties

Wasn't Paul McCartney in that band before WINGS?

Morrison's first and last appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on September 17, 1967.

Satisfaction performed by The Rolling Stones on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 13, 1966.

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I was re-reading my posting at the top of page two of this thread, and suddenly wondered if the unstudied expression of my native woodnotes wild might cause some people to think that I am a snob?

Now I know that it is ridiculous that anyone could think me a snob --- but I have known the occasional American who was capable of being so obtuse.

So I just wanted to mention that, although most of my time and energy in the 'sixties in Berkeley was devoted to learned studies and High Culture, I did also engage in healthy, socially constructive activities. For instance, I volunteered as a teaching assistant in an elementary school in Oakland, and I was part of a group that handed out leaflets in front of the Oakland Induction Center, which explained how to avoid induction into the military machine of the time.

I think being in Berkeley in the 'sixties was the only time that I actually enjoyed living in the United States. There was a combination of learning, culture, ferment and earnestness which was very appealing, if unconnected with the real nature of the United States. I, for one, have not given in to the illusion that the counter-culture ended the Vietnam War. The War ended when the war profiteers were no longer making sufficient money, due to the degradation of the economy, and the distortions in it caused by the Military-Industrial Conspiracy.

Still, it was an interesting and pleasingly un-American time. I remember May 4, l967 walking across the campus at noon and hearing the strains of the Red Chinese (as we called them at the time) National Anthem ringing out all over the University from the carillon tower: "Arise, arise, arise! All ye who do not wish to be slaves!"

Later that day, I chanced to meet the elderly lady who played the bells of the carillon and congratulated her on her prank. Apparently, I was the only person who had noticed what she was playing!

In the 'nineties I went back to Berkeley to visit the bookstores on Telegraph Avenue, and was repulsed by how the place had descended into the vacuous abyss of Yuppie-dom. I have no desire to see the place ever again.

So, Numan... you were one of those draft dodging, pot smokin', free lovin', flower children who were screwin' up traffic, livin' in tree houses... and growing poppies. That was probably you that I met in Turners' Falls Mass... Running the Sun Y. Moon Shoppe.
That tie-dye shirt you sold me, "ran" the first time it was washed.

My wife really thought your nose ring looked great, and I had to lock her in the house for a week, 'til the sit-in was over.

Anyway... Speaking of Natalie Wood... "Rebel without a Cause" was on AMC two days ago. I had almost forgotten Natalie... and then I remembered... tiny waist, cute white blouse with sharp points... yeah... yeah... almost forgot...

My generation was more into Betty Grable, and (ahem) Terry Moore (only the older generation would remember the tiny telescopes with special Pics of Terry, sitting on a fence)... ... but... Natalie Wood was a good transition into bigpersonhood.

Sixties... sheesh... by that time I was married with 2 sons.

I am sure that I never once saw a nose-ring in the 60's, or even in the 70's. When I was growing up, a girl who had her ears pierced was considered to be an abandoned soul headed straight to hell. What I remember are girls who were fresh and natural and healthy, liberated from lipstick and cosmetics --- and sundry other restrictions.

If it just weren't for the hideous stench of patchouli oil that permeated every crevice of the 60's, it would have been paradise.


Yes, all these pathetic delusions that people have about the counter-culture of the 'sixties.

Americans do love to tell lies to themselves.

And amid the oceans of lies in which Americans live and swim and have their essential being, what do the little lies about the 'sixties matter?

Then and Now. They discuss the differences between then and now in this interview.

You're not the only starfish in the sea...circa 1966