Hi hippies, we have made the decision to remove our stereo from the top of this page. This and other modifications we are making should improve the page load time, making it more enjoyable for you to scroll through our pages.
BUT YOU CAN STILL LISTEN TO OUR STEREO. Just click THIS LINK , to open a new window with our player. Let the player load, then *minumise the window to the bottom of your screen. Listen to the tunes while you scroll through our pages (or any other sites). Rock On ! Ol' Hippie

Question from an email : Hey Ol' Hippie, did you guys design Baby-Boomer-Rock-and-Roll.com to work best with Fire Fox ? from : I love hippie music

Answer : Not really. We wanted it to work in any browser. But being the old hippies that we are, and without any formal web design education, we just did the best we could.
Turns out that BBR&R, like thousands of other websites is best viewed with FireFox.

Question from an email : I like Internet Explorer, can I still view baby boomer rock and roll ? from : Another old hippie

Answer : Sure anyone, even Another Old Hippie can view Baby-Boomer-Rock-and_Roll.com with any browser (but we do suggest you try FireFox) SEE , can I make BBR&R look better with another browser ?

IT's FREE ~ Baby-Boomer-Rock-and-Roll.com ~ Going where no Hippie has gone before - and without a leash! ~ IT's FREE

"Like a true Nature's child, we were born, to be wild"

Front Page (this page)

*BTO goes to court
*Marijuana legalized in California ?
*Mick Jagger Fucks Mackenzie Phillips
*2009 Rainbow Family News
*Denmark plans to 'normalise' commune
* Beal Arrested Again
*Living Like Hippies
*Lennon's bloody clothes displayed
*Ozzy Osbourne Seeks New Guitarist
*Oregon Will Grow Pot
*Hippie artifacts discovered
*Woodstock Couple
*Woodstock Nurse
*Kathi McDonald
*Woodstock Festival Facts
*Doors Final NYC Concert Live
*Woodstock Baby

PAGE 2

*Kent State
*Cheney and Rumsfeld pressured CIA
*New swine flu feared to be
weaponized strain
*A Playlist Fit For A Dick
*Pete Seeger for a Nobel Peace Prize!
*Groovy Time at Greynolds Park Love-In
*Mitch Ryder
*The Georgia Straight
*Huaraches
*John Fogerty Still Rocks !

Special Pages

*Ozark Mountain Music
Festival Pictures
*Marc Catone

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marijuana

California already has a significant pot trade

Thanks to a 1997 measure allocating medical use of marijuana, yet full legalization would most likely mean that gardeners could grow limited amounts, and local governments would decide whether to allow pot sales. Think of the possibilities: joints could possibly be sold on liquor store counters and those medical marijuana dispensaries could become drive-through pot shops.

At least one poll shows voters would support lifting the pot prohibition, which would make the state of more than 38 million the first in the nation to legalize marijuana.

Marijuana advocates are gathering signatures to get as many as three pot-legalization measures on the ballot in 2010 in California, setting up what could be a groundbreaking clash with the federal government over U.S. drug policy.

The most conservative of the three ballot measures would only legalize possession of up to one ounce of pot for personal use by adults 21 and older — an amount that already under state law can only result at most in a $100 fine.

The DEA would not speculate on the effects of any decision by California to legalize pot. "Marijuana is illegal under federal law and DEA will continue to attack large-scale drug trafficking organizations at every level," spokeswoman Dawn Dearden said.

The proposal would also allow anyone to grow a plot of marijuana up to 5 feet-by-5 feet on their private property. The size, seems specifically designed to keep the total number of plants grown below 100, the threshold for DEA attention.

"It's only something the feds are going to be concerned about if you're growing tons of pot," For anything less, they don't have the resources to waste on it.

The greatest potential for conflict with the U.S. government would likely come from the provision that would give local governments the power to decide city-by-city whether to allow pot sales.

Hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries across the state already operate openly with only modest federal interference. If recreational marijuana became legal, these businesses could operate without requiring their customers to qualify as patients.

Any business that grew bigger than the already typical storefront shops, however, would probably be too tempting a target for federal prosecution, experts said.

Even if Washington could no longer count on California to keep pot off its own streets, Congress or the Obama administration could try to coerce cooperation by withholding federal funds.

But with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement earlier this year that the Justice Department would defer to state laws on marijuana, the federal response to possible legalization remains unclear.

Doug Richardson, a spokesman for the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the office is in the process of re-evaluating its policies on marijuana and other drugs.

Many are saying the efforts to change California marijuana laws through three Pot Legalization Measures in 2010 may just work this time around. Frankly, there is just too much money to be made both by the people who grow marijuana and the cities and counties that would be able to tax it. For a bankrupt state like California, this is an attractive honey pot, so to speak.

Gov. Schwarzenegger and his cash strapped state could see billions of tax dollars with the full legalization of the weed. California currently recieves millions of dollars a year in medical marijuana taxes.

Medical marijuana patients account for about only 10% of California marijuana users, suggesting that tax revenues from a legal recreational marijuana market would skyrocket into the low billions of dollars each year. The state is currently spending about $160 million a year to arrest, prosecute, and imprison marijuana offenders, and not collecting any tax revenue from recreational sales.

Wanted :
Hippies, Dead Heads & Pot Heads

Dead heads and pot heads take note. While the straight economy goes up in smoke with double digit unemployment, job prospects for hippies are booming -- and not just for boomers.

At the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) they're looking to hire an official Grateful Dead archivist.

And in Denver, where Colorado's medical marijuana industry is legally flourishing, there are these two recent job postings:

The alternative newspaper Westword is advertising for a pot reviewer, asking for a short essay from applicants on "What Marijuana Means to Me".

Similarly, a new biotech company, Full Spectrum Laboratories, needs scientists to test the potency of cannabis samples and salesmen to market their quality-control
They don't call it the Mile High City for nothing.

Those doing the hiring say -- not surprisingly -- they are being inundated with applications...MORE

source: ABC NEWS

Dana Beal arrested again

Arrested One

June 3, 2008

Marijuana law reform campaigner Dana Beal was first arrested in Mattoon, Illinois, Coles County, a small town with idiot cops. As "Baby-Boomer-Rock-and-Roll.com" first reported on June 3, 2008, 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 Illinois
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.
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 was 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 Jesse J. Balcom, 31, of Silver Spring, Md 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 ibogaine drug addiction clinic. Beal has also advocated the legal use of marijuana for medical purposes.

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. 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? The cops in Mattoon, IL think so. Ol' Hippie says

NORML sent Beal to the University of Otago, New Zealand

September 5, 2009

Drug law reform campaigner Dana Beal

addressed a public forum at the University of Otago, New Zealand, on the use of ibogaine, a drug which sends people into a dream-like trance for several hours.

Supporters say it reduces craving and leads drug users to confront their drug-taking behaviour after one or two doses, with the help of psychotherapy. Ibogaine has previously been used with heroin addicts and is now being promoted as a weapon against pure methamphetamine.

However the drug is banned in some countries, including the United States and Europe, because of its hallucinogenic properties.

Dr Fraser Todd, a senior lecturer at the National Addiction Centre at Christchurch Medical School, said the main problem with ibogaine was a lack of clinical trials to prove its safety and effectiveness.

It worked in a similar way to ketamine, a drug which had been tested overseas and could be trialled soon in New Zealand.

"If that drug [ibogaine] doesn't have long-lasting side effects from a one-off use and does fix addiction, that's potentially a major addition to our armoury."

But drug education campaigner Mike Sabin said the drug could be especially dangerous for the many methamphetamine users who took other medication for mental illnesses.

"There's a lot of things to be ticked off before you could say this could be safely administered."

Mr Beal, 62, a longtime marijuana legalisation supporter, has been brought to New Zealand by the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws New Zealand.

President Phil Saxby said ibogaine had some side effects on users but so did medicinal marijuana and aspirin.

"If you banned everything because it had side effects you'd never do anything."

Auckland psychotherapist Dr Tony Coates, who would like to use the drug as an addiction treatment, said he had tried it himself and found it was "everything it was cracked up to be" in personal accounts on the internet.

He said most ibogaine users remained fully awake but went into a dreamlike trance for five or six hours.

Addicts confronted vivid memories of the experiences which led to their drug taking and could discuss these afterwards with a counsellor. Ibogaine also removed craving for other drugs.

Dr Coates said ibogaine appeared to have no legal status in New Zealand but Medsafe had told him it would have to be registered as a medicine before he could give it to patients. There had been no large-scale clinical trials of the drug and he had found it difficult to interest anyone in starting one.

Arrest Two

Beal and two others arrested in Nebraska

September 30, 2009

New York marijuana activist Dana Beal has been arrested again in the Midwest, this time with 150 pounds of pot. Nebraska police apprehended Beal and two others in a van on Wednesday in Ashland near Interstate 80 (just West of Omaha) after the vehicle was stopped for driving erratically. Bail was set at $500,000.

Beal was last seen in San Francisco at the NORML Conference. Presumably, he was driving back from California when the bust took place.

The Cures Not Wars founder has had numerous run-ins with the law, the most recent of which came last June when Illinois authorities confiscated a small amount of marijuana and $150,000 from him. This past May, Beal pled guilty to the pot charge and paid a fine, but the cash was not returned.

Beal organizes the annual Global Marijuana March each May.

More about Dana Beal and how
YOU CAN HELP HIM

FreeDanaBeal.org

call 347-962-5024 or 212-677-4899
for any info. or write to freedanabeal@gmail.com

There is another link for the Facebook group
that pulls up the full version of the page with photos,
videos, etc.: HERE

Article with TV news video concerning Dana Beal's arrest on Sept. 30, 2009: HERE

More on Dana Beal, his recent arrest, and his various causes over the years:
Wikipedia
Cannibis Wikia

Latest Dana Beal News on Google News

Dana Beal is the founder of the Global Marijuana March:
cannibis-wiki/marijuana/march

BTO Heads to Court
BTO

VANCOUVER, B.C. — Randy Bachman and Fred Turner fronted one of the hottest rock bands of the 1970's, selling millions of albums under the name Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

Now they're front and centre in a B.C. Supreme Court lawsuit in which Bachman's own brother and another former bandmate are suing the pair for using their own names.

Robin Bachman and Blair Thornton launched the lawsuit claiming Randy Bachman and Fred Turner signed away the rights to the Bachman-Turner Overdrive and BTO names in three separate contracts.

"Much as Coca Cola is synonymous in the world with Coke, so too is Bachman-Turner Overdrive with BTO," says the lawsuit filed last Friday.

The Canadian rock band from Winnipeg was best known for the songs "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" and "Takin' Care of Business."

After the group broke up in 1977, the lawsuit claims Randy Bachman and Turner signed away the rights to the BTO name to their two former bandmates and agreed not to use the Bachman-Turner Overdrive name without the consent of the other parties.

The lawsuit states that Randy Bachman and Turner signed two further deals in 1984 and 2002, saying they wouldn't use the Bachman-Turner Overdrive name in connection to new recordings and live performances.

But in May 2009, the lawsuit claims that Randy Bachman's company, Ranback, registered several names with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office including the names Bachman-Turner, B.T.U., and Bachman Turner Union.

It said Bachman and Turner have entered into contracts with concert promoters and agents to perform in Canada and Europe without the plaintiffs consent.....more

source : The Canadian Press
BTO website
BTO Vinyl Records - one - two - three - four - five

You can't always get what you want, unless your Mick Jagger

"I'd known Mick since I was a kid, and maybe most people think

their parents' friends are old and gross," Mackenzie Phillips writes in her new bombshell tell-all, book "High on Arrival."
"But this was Mick Jagger. Mick Jagger! He was hot. He had the most perfect ass in history."
   The wild child and "One Day at a Time" actress says she had sex with the Rolling Stones frontman during a raucous, drug-fueled party at the Central Park West home of her dad, folk-rock star John Phillips.
"I've been waiting for this since you were 10 years old," Jagger allegedly told the then-18-year-old Phillips.
   She says that she and Jagger had sneaked away while her dad was at the party, making the Stones singer a tuna-salad sandwich.
   "In the middle of our tumble, my dad came back and started knocking on the door, yelling, 'You've got my daughter in there!' " she writes. "I imagined he was more annoyed at losing the chance to show off his tuna-salad recipe than genuinely concerned about the defiling of his daughter.

The story is just one of many lurid anecdotes from Phillips' wild life of sex, drugs 'n' rock and roll.
   "High on Arrival" has already made jaw-dropping headlines for the 49-year-old's claim that she and her dad -- the former lead singer of the Mamas and the Papas -- had consensual sex on and off for 10 years.

The Purple Pill

One day, Mackenzie found a purple pill in her dad's bedroom.
She instinctively took it. But it turned out not to be just any pill -- it was the last of the LSD pills made by the famous drug cook Owsley Stanley, and it was a collector's item among moneyed celebrity druggies of the time.
"It was as if I'd crashed a normal dad's Porsche," she writes. "He said, 'You took my last hit of Owsley. You're grounded!' "

lesbian experience

Mackenzie also recalls how, as a teen, she went to a party hosted by the Kennedy family, and had a lesbian experience. "One of Andy Warhol's cronies was there with his niece. I got in big, big trouble for seducing the niece," she writes. "Her uncle was very upset, shouting, 'How dare you? She's just a child!' "
Mackenzie also tells about being raped by a man who raped her at knifepoint. Rolling joints for her dad. And about being held hostage for several days in a drug den, she claims. The ordeal ended when her dad sent a guy named "Big Sal," who flashed a gun and rescued her.

Get the book Amazon|| Ecampus || and || Buy.com Accepts PayPal

Cheech & Chong: Get It Legal is the follow-up to their hugely successful reunion tour, Cheech & Chong: Light Up America, where they performed together for the first time in over 25 years. The pop culture duo performed for more than 100 audiences and quickly became one of the most sought after shows of 2008-2009. Additionally, their performance in San Antonio, Texas was filmed by the Weinstein Company and will be released as Cheech and Chong's: Hey Watch This on 4/20 of next year.

"We had an amazing time last year reconnecting with each other and our fans in a way that felt like it was part of our DNA, we were meant to be together," said Cheech Marin. "In 2010 we are looking forward to doing more classic material that people haven't seen for years and years, performing more of our songs and introducing some new bits. We've had material brewing separately for the past 25 years," said Tommy Chong.

Tour Dates

Jan 16, 2010 Boulder CO US Macky Auditorium
Jan 22, 2010 Indianapolis IN US Murat Theatre
Jan 23, 2010 Baltimore MD US Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Jan 30, 2010 Saskatoon SK CA TCU Place
Jan 31, 2010 Regina SK CA US Conexus PAC
Feb 11, 2010 Bellingham WA US Mt. Baker Theatre
Feb 12, 2010 Portland OR US Schnitzer PAC
Mar 05, 2010 Santa Barbara CA US Arlington Theatre
Mar 12, 2010 Tampa FL US Tampa PAC
Mar 26, 2010 Minneapolis MN US State Theatre
Mar 27, 2010 Rockford IL US Coronado PAC
Apr 03, 2010 Ann Arbor MI US Michigan Theatre
Apr 09, 2010 Louisville KY US Palace Theatre
Apr 10, 2010 Washington DC US Warner Theatre
Apr 23, 2010 Bakersfield CA US Fox Theatre
Apr 24, 2010 Phoenix AZ US Dodge Theatre
Apr 30, 2010 Ft. Worth TX US Bass Hall

wf0

Was Jimi Hendrix Murdered
Doctor Says, Very Likely

Dr. John Bannister, the doctor who tended to Jimi Hendrix on the night he died in 1970 says it is "plausible" that the guitarist was murdered.

    The doctor was speaking in relation to claims in a new book written by Hendrix's former roadie, James 'Tappy' Wright, that his manager Mike Jeffery had had the star killed.

    In his book 'Rock Roadie', Wright says that Jeffery admitted having Hendrix murdered shortly before he himself died in an aircraft accident.

    He alleges that Jeffery hired a gang to break into Hendrix's Notting Hill hotel room and force sleeping pills and wine down his throat.

    Bannister, who was the on-call registrar at the now defunct St Mary Abbots Hospital in Kensington on September 18, the day of Hendrix's death, has now backed up the roadie's theory, saying it: "sounded plausible because of the volume of wine" found in Hendrix's lungs and on his body.

    "The amount of wine that was over him was just extraordinary. Not only was it saturated right through his hair and shirt but his lungs and stomach were absolutely full of wine. I have never seen so much wine," The Times reports Bannister as saying.

    "We had a sucker that you put down into his trachea, the entrance to his lungs and to the whole of the back of his throat. We kept sucking him out and it kept surging and surging. He had already vomited up masses of red wine and I would have thought there was half a bottle of wine in his hair. He had really drowned in a massive amount of red wine."

    Wright says that Jeffery told him that Hendrix was "worth more to him dead than alive", and had filed a $2m life insurance policy on the guitarist shortly before his death.

Demand an investigation into Jimi's death. Sign the petition HERE

WOODSTOCK COUPLE, 40 YEARS LATER

Of all the images snapped during the original Woodstock weekend, one stands above all: a young couple huddled together in a blanket, standing Nick and Bobbi Ercoline, both 60 - remain together

Nick and Bobbi Ercoline, both 60 - remain together

alone in a sea of people lying on wet ground.

It's an enduring image of love, care and protection that earned iconic status through its placement on the cover of the original "Woodstock" album in 1970, as well as on the movie poster.

Forty years later, the couple in the photo - Nick and Bobbi Ercoline, both 60 - remain together. They married two summers after the fabled weekend, and they still live less than an hour's drive from the original concert site of Bethel, N.Y., and within spitting distance of where they both grew up.

Nick Ercoline works for the Orange County, N.Y., Department of Housing. Bobbi is a resident nurse at the elementary school in their hometown of Pine Bush.

The 40th anniversary of the ultimate hippie be-in, this Aug. 15-17, has thrown the Ercolines into the spotlight again - something they never expected or sought.

They say they remember nothing of the original shot, taken by Burk Uzzle. "We weren't striking a pose," Nick says. "We were as surprised as everybody to see that photo on the album cover."

They discovered it while at a friend's house listening to the album and passing around the gatefold jacket. First, Nick recognized the famous yellow butterfly staff in the left corner. "It belonged to this guy Herbie," Nick says. "We latched on to him that day because he was having a very bad experience. He was tripping pretty heavily and he had lost his friends. After I saw that staff I said, 'Hey that's our blanket.' Then I said, 'Hey, that's us.'"

Bobbi, then 20, wasn't overly impressed. "Woodstock was over and done with at that time," she says. "It didn't seem like a big deal. The only thing was that then I had to tell my mother I had gone. She didn't know. But by then, she didn't mind."

The two had arrived in the middle of the weekend, a rare feat given that all main roads were closed by then. "We were local kids, so we knew the back roads," Nick says. "About 5 miles away we abandoned this big white 1965 Chevrolet Impala station wagon."

The two didn't realize the impact their photo had until Woodstock's 20th anniversary, when the world's media began seeking them out. In fact, their memories of the original event have more to do with the scene than the music, because they were too far away to hear or see much.

"I remember the rain, the lack of toilets and the body odor," Bobbi says.

"I also remember an orange haze from the glowing lights of the stage. It was everywhere, lighting up the sky."

The pair had met only three months earlier, over Memorial Day weekend, at the bar where Nick worked. "This waiter brought this beautiful blond in one day and said, 'This is my girlfriend; keep an eye on her,'" Nick explains. "Every night she stood in front of me and we got friendlier and friendlier. Then one weekend he made the mistake of leaving her home while he went to the shore with the guys and he never told her. That was the end of that. And the beginning of this."

Despite all the time gone by, Nick says they still get recognized. "We were in Germany, and right when we walked into the hotel they knew who we were."

As to why their photo was chosen, Nick has a theory. "It's peaceful, which is what the event was about," he says. "And it's an honest representation of a generation. When we look at that photo I don't see Bobbi and me. I see our generation."

Woodstock generation grows old differently

WOODSTOCK — Sure, books such as "Road to Woodstock" and "Woodstock Vision" were on display, but they sat next to a guide "to help you prepare for the end of life," and a chronicle of living with Alzheimer's.

And yes, the conference at the studio of rock great Levon Helm featured a doctor talking about drugs at the 1969 Woodstock festival, but this crowd was more into Lipitor than LSD.

This was Tuesday's "Woodstock 40 Years Later: Peace, Love and Aging" conference, sponsored by the Ulster County Office for the Aging.

The crowd in the 68-year-old Woodstock festival veteran's wood-and-bluestone studio may have included a lot more gray hair than long hair — including one woman crocheting instead of sashaying.

But the message to the crowd of some 60 strong rang as clear and true as it did in Bethel 40 years ago this weekend:

"We've always been change agents, and we're not going to age the way our parents did."

But now, instead of counterculture rebels such as Abbie Hoffman exhorting folks, it was the director of New York state's Office for the Aging, Michael Burgess.

"We have to change the way society looks at older people," he stressed.

And how will they do that?

"We need to mobilize," said Burgess on the same cozy stage where stars such as Elvis Costello and the Black Crowes rocked.

Burgess spoke of exposing nursing homes where medications are withheld and emergency call cords are stuck under beds.

He talked of changing sterile old age homes into cozy cottages with hearths, kitchens and fireplaces.

And how do you do that?

"You have to live each day to the fullest," said Randall Rissman, medical director of the Maverick Family Health Center in Woodstock.

The bottom line?

Mount Saint Mary College gerontologist Lawrence Forces cued the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young song "Deja Vu," with the refrain, "We have all been here before." He said:

"We are older, seasoned, deep with experiences, tired, exhilarated ... we are not done yet. We can't afford to be done yet."

source : Times Herald-Record

Woodstock Poster
24 in. x 36 in.
Buy at AllPosters.com

Woodstock Giclee Print
Buy at AllPosters.com

Woodstock Web site unveiled

Woodstock festival co-creator Michael Lang and Sony Music Entertainment on Monday launched a new Web site, Woodstock.com.

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.
source : Times Herald-Record

Woodstock Nurse: From pets to Hippies 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.

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.

source : Times Herald-Record

1968 was a year of extraordinary tragedy, triumph, and transformation. The assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy failed to halt the juggernaut of the Civil Rights Movement. Richard Nixon was elected President following riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. As rockets rained down on fighting men in Vietnam, a NASA rocket carried men into lunar orbit. From music to politics to issues of feminism, race, and war, 1968 left almost no facet of American life unchanged.

Now, legendary award-winning journalist and best-selling author Tom Brokaw commemorates the revolutionary events of this pivotal year in a feature-length special, inspired by his book, Boom!: Voices of the Sixties Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today . Drawing upon his decades of experience, Brokaw revisits the scenes of these iconic events, pairing provocative voices from the past and present to explore how these 40-year-old moments still impact our lives today.

Woodstock
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

2009 Rainbow Family News

What is the Rainbow Family ?
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. For another viewpoint, Try Carla's much better explanation.

Rainbow Family gathering results in citations

CUBA, N.M. (AP) - Law enforcement officers have recorded more than 370 incidents and handed out 120 violation notices over the past week as people flock to the Santa Fe National Forest for the Rainbow Family of Living Light's annual gathering.

Forest officials said Monday that 1,500 participants are camped in the Parque Venado area east of Cuba. In all, between 10,000 and 12,000 people are expected to attend the gathering from July 1-7.

Forest Service spokesman Lawrence Lujan says most of the violation notices handed out since June 14 are related to alcohol, and drug and traffic violations.

Some of the people who were issued notices were required to appear Monday in federal court in Albuquerque. Lujan says officers will continue to monitor the event.

3-year-old boy was found dead in a creek Sunday afternoon by rescue crews after the boy had wandered away from his family's Rainbow Gathering campsite

TENNANT -- A 3-year-old boy was found dead in a creek Sunday afternoon by rescue crews after the boy had wandered away from his family's Rainbow Gathering campsite, officials said.

About 30 members of the nomadic Rainbow Gathering group had gathered over the weekend off of Highway 97 on Antelope Creek in rural Siskiyou County, said Siskiyou County sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp.

Around 11 a.m., Gabriel Jaden Coates, 3, and his 9-year old brother had gone for a walk away from the campsite, Gravenkamp said.

The older brother returned to camp to get some candy and told his father, Loren David O’Connor, 32, of McKinleyville that another person at the camp was watching the boy, Gravenkamp said.

Gabriel never returned, and O’Connor went to check on him.

"The person watching Gabriel said the little boy was just there just a few minutes earlier," Gravenkamp said.

The campers searched for Gabriel for about two hours and then one of them drove to a residence in Tennant and called for help, she said.

A few hours later, a firefighter found the boy dead, under the water entangled in the limbs of a tree that had fallen across the creek about 50 feet downstream from the camp site, Gravenkamp said.

An autopsy will be performed to determine the boy's exact cause of death.

Rainbow Family hippies caught sleeping on library

BOULDER, Colo. — Seven self-proclaimed members of the Rainbow Family — and one Boulder resident who’s not part of the traveling hippies — face municipal fines after police found them sleeping on the roof of the Boulder Public Library.
A custodian spotted the inventive campers on top of the 1001 Arapahoe Ave. library — on the north side of the building by Canyon Boulevard — about 6:10 a.m. Wednesday and called police. Officers found eight people passed out in sleeping bags with their belongings scattered around and with two small dogs, said Boulder police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley.
“There is no easy access onto the roof, so they would have had to climb up the side of the building and use landscaping,” Huntley said.
Initially, police calls to the campers went unanswered, and they asked the Boulder Fire Department to help them get the campers down. Three police officers climbed fire truck ladders to get on the roof, where Huntley said they immediately saw a man and woman sleeping next to each other in sleeping bags.
Nearby they found more campers “sound asleep” among their belongings, along with the small dogs, Huntley said.
“(The officers) had to announce themselves several times to wake the parties,” she said. “Everyone was escorted off the roof and placed under arrest at 7:05 a.m.”
Seven of the suspects told officers they belong to the Rainbow Family — a band of hippies that preaches love, tolerance and peace and holds gatherings every July — and said they’re just passing through Boulder after the annual event in New Mexico.
They told police they had taken some illegal psychedelic drugs before climbing on the library roof, Huntley said.
Christine Hodge, 22, Joshua Cole, 21, Aaron Waldeck, 19, Kirstin Humason, 21, Eli Dworkin, 19, Thaddeus O’Hail, 18, and Salvatore Gelosos, 22, were arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor trespassing and camping. K. Wheeler, whose full name and age weren’t immediately released by police, also was issued a summons and released.
Huntley said the seven Rainbow Family members were booked into the Boulder County Jail because “they have no local ties.” Wheeler wasn’t jailed because he lives in Boulder.
“Wheeler just saw the others getting on the roof and followed them at about 10 p.m.,” Huntley said. “Wheeler is not part of the Rainbow group.”
Most of the Rainbow Family members were released from jail hours after they were booked on personal-recognizance bonds. Waldeck was still being held on two separate bonds — $250 for the trespassing charge and $100 for the camping charge — on Thursday. He’s due in Boulder County Court on Friday.
The campers’ two dogs were taken to the Humane Society of Boulder Valley.
This year’s Rainbow gathering was held in Cuba, N.M., during the first week of July. About 10,500 people and their pets gathered for the weeklong party in the Jemez Mountains in the Sante Fe National Forest, according to The Sante Fe New Mexican.
Leading up to the gathering, law enforcement officers in Cuba recorded more than 370 incidents involving the Rainbow Family and issued about 120 violation notices, according to the New Mexican. Most of the notices related to alcohol, drugs and traffic violations.
Huntley said Boulder police haven’t had much contact with Rainbow Family members this summer. In previous years, especially when the gathering was in Colorado, family members would infiltrate the town in the weeks before and after the event.
“So far it has been pretty quiet,” Huntley said.
The Rainbow Family started hosting annual gatherings in 1972 when thousands of people convened near Colorado’s Strawberry Lake in Roosevelt National Forest. The gathering since has visited numerous states from coast to coast, and they returned to Colorado again in 1992 and again in 2006.
A member of the Rainbow Family, who’s staying in Boulder and knows the people arrested for sleeping on the library Wednesday, said they’ve recently been spending time on the Pearl Street Mall and playing music near the corner of Pearl and 11th streets.
“I don’t know what they were thinking to climb on a public building with seven dirty hippies and two dogs,” said the man, who would only give his hippie name, Crystal Biscuit
Joshua Cole

It is longstanding Rainbow Family consensus that nobody has ever, or ever will represent the Rainbow Family. This is an unofficial collection of information on the Rainbow Family and the Rainbow Gatherings, and in no way should anyone who works on these web sites be considered to be representing the Rainbow Family

The unofficial Rainbow Family Web Site

Rainbow Family - Wikipedia

Rainbow Gathering Ethnography

Online Home of Our Rainbow Guide

US Forest Service-2009 Rainbow Family Gathering ~ Cuba, Ranger District, Santa Fe NF

US Forest Service-1997 Rainbow Family National Gathering Final Report

Forest Service Regulations

Rainbow Family in Court

Government Views

Northeast Rainbow Family (NERF)

Illinois Rainbow Family

French Rainbow Family

Southern California Rainbow Family

Ohio Rainbow Family

Interview with Michael Niman - Niman has been observing and participating in Rainbow Gatherings since 1984

Ozzy Osbourne
Seeks New Guitarist

Ozzy Osbourne has revealed to Classic Rock magazine that he is currently searching for a new guitarist for his solo band.

Classic Rock caught up with Osbourne last week at the Slash & Friends gig in Norway, where the whispers backstage had guitarist John 5 (ROB ZOMBIE, ex-MARILYN MANSON) lined up as a possible replacement for Zakk Wylde…

"Well, I'm getting a new guitar player as we speak," Ozzy told Classic Rock, "and everyone has been saying to me for a long time, 'Get Johnny 5!' And I tried him at one time and I didn't really give him a chance. We'll see, I don't know. I haven't fallen out with Zakk, but Zakk's got his own band, and I felt like my stuff was beginning to sound like BLACK LABEL SOCIETY. I just felt like I wanted a change, y'know?

"I've got a guy from Greece coming in — not the musical, the country of Greece — but I'm not going to say too much about it, 'cos I don't know myself at this point. I've got a new album, I'm working on it as we speak. I've got a studio at my house and I've got a guy called Kevin Churko, the guy that did the last album [Churko also worked on Ozzy's 'Under Cover' album, produced CHEAP TRICK's highly rated 2006 album 'Rockford', and has credits on releases by BRITNEY SPEARS, CELINE DION and SHANIA TWAIN] — he's great to work with.

"And it's great to have your own studio. On one hand it's great and on the other it's not, 'cos when you're at the studio you can go, 'Sorry darling, I can't get home for dinner, I'm stuck at the studio…' But she can fucking come down stairs now! But I'm just enjoying my life now…"

Classic Rock: So you're taking it easy recording this album?

Ozzy: "Oh yeah. Zakk came down and did a bunch of stuff and I don't know if I want to use it but I've got it there if I do. And this Kevin Churko is a bit of an all-rounder so I'm getting back to basics in some respects. One thing about a guy who can't do all the finger-tapping stuff is that he plays better on the riffs 'cos it's not all [hums riff for 'Iron Man' followed by over-the-top widdling]."

Classic Rock: Does HEAVEN & HELL having a new album out make you more competitive?

Ozzy: "No. Not in the slightest. I really wish them well. I mean I've been out of that band three times longer than I was ever in them. But people say, 'What do you think about Dio?' He's great singer. I've grown up since the days when I used to get pissed and slag him off. For whatever it's worth, good luck to them. I don't want to make enemies — I made enough when I was drinking, I try to make friends with people these days!"
Read more of Classic Rock's interview with Ozzy — including Osbourne's thoughts on Michael Jackson's passing —HERE

Classic Rock focuses on the biggest names in rock music--past, present and future
--with in-depth features, exclusive interviews, a substantial reviews section, and music news.

Classic Rock Magazine

BLACK BOX and more Black Sabbath albums (vinyl & CD's) at Insound

Original Black Sabbath vinyl records (mint condition) can be found at RecordsByMail.com

PLAY

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Black Sabbath-Iron Man at Beat Club 1972

Kathi McDonald solidifies her legacy as rock 'n' roll survivor

Singer Kathi McDonald, set to make a rare appearance in Marin next

week, is a little-known but fascinating figure in rock 'n' roll history. After decades of denial, she's learned to accept that she will forever be inextricably linked to one of rock's most tragic characters - Janis Joplin.

The 60-year-old singer makes her home near Seattle now, but during the '70s and '80s, she was among the extraordinary collection of rock musicians who settled in Marin.

"I lived in every single town in Marin," she said in a husky, lived-in voice. "Mill Valley, San Rafael, San Anselmo, Lagunitas, Forest Knolls. You name it, I lived there."

The way she tells her story, San Francisco promoter Chet Helms invited her to audition for Big Brother and the

Holding Company at the same time in 1966 that he'd recruited Joplin. Joplin was in Austin, Texas, 18-year-old McDonald in Seattle.

"Chet Helms called me and I hitch-

hiked down, but I got there a little later than Janis did," McDonald told me the other day, speaking by cell phone from the Skagit Valley in Washington, where she was visiting a childhood friend. "She beat me to the punch."

When Joplin left Big Brother to form the Kosmic Blues Band, McDonald replaced her, recording three albums: "Can't Go Home Again," "How Hard It Is" and "Be a Brother." In 1974, she also released a solo album, "Insane Asylum."

"I used to hate it when people would say, 'You sound like Janis Joplin,'" she recalled. "I'd say, 'No, she sounds like me" ... READ MORE

Long John Baldry Band, featuring Kathi McDonald
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Kathi McDonald at CDUNIVERSE.COM || at AMAZON.COM

Happy 40th, Woodstock babies ... if you exist

BETHEL, N.Y. - Welcome to middle age, Woodstock Baby - if you're really out there.

    The babies reportedly born at the Woodstock festival 40 years ago remain the most enduring mystery from that chaotic weekend that defined a generation.

    Depending on the source, there was one birth on that patch of upstate New York farmland between Aug. 15-17, 1969. Or two. Or three. Or none.

    There is some tantalizing evidence. Singer John Sebastian is captured on film announcing that some cat's old lady just had a baby, a kid destined to be far out. A couple of surviving eyewitnesses say there were births.

    The concert's medical director told reporters at the scene there were two births: one at a local hospital after the mother was flown out by helicopter; the other in a car caught in the epic traffic jam outside the site crowded with more than 400,000 people.

    But no one has come forward with a credible public claim of giving birth to a Woodstock baby or being born there. No one has produced proof that it happened. If babies were born at Woodstock, they have lived their lives ignoring - or unaware of - the fact that reporters and researchers have been on their trail for decades.

    "I've searched, I've spoken to the doctors and nurses from the main hospitals that were there," said Myron Gittell, who wrote the new medical history, "Woodstock '69: Three Days of Peace, Music, and Medicine."...Read MORE

Elliot Tiber is the best witness to Woodstock birth

A woman in the throes of labor rode up to the motel on the back of a motorcycle. She lifted her skirt and screamed that she was having a baby. Thus, one of the enduring legends ....as well as the biggest mystery of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was born.

Elliot Tiber, owner of the El Monaco Motel, found himself assuming the role of doctor. "She fell at my feet shrieking," he recalled. "I got down on the ground and starting pulling on the baby. I guess somehow I knew what had to be done. I don't remember if it was a boy or a girl because I became hysterical and she was screaming as well. Finally, about a hour later, a helicopter with medics landed. They cut the cord and whisked her away."
Mr. Tiber said the man driving the motorcycle seemed to be the father, but he couldn't be sure. His best recollections were of the mother. "She had olive skin and big, black eyes. I can still remember those eyes. Her English was kind of broken and she had a French accent. When it was over, I was trembling too much to remember a lot of details." Mr. Tiber said the mother returned a few days later and wrote her name and the baby's on a matchbook. A matchbook that Mr. Tiber lost in the Woodstock aftermath. "Who knew that it would prove to be important," he said...Read MORE

doors

The Doors played their final four New York shows with Jim Morrison on Jan. 17 and 18, 1970 at the city's Felt Forum. The songs played at those shows will be released as a six-CD set dubbed Live In New York on Nov. 10.

Many of the live tracks on the CDs are previously unreleased, and the set sees the band playing material just before the release of 1970's Morrison Hotel, their second last album with Morrison, who passed away from heart failure in Paris, France in 1971 at age 27.

"[The gigs were] more intimate, and you could feel the audience more," drummer John Densmore said in a statement.

(The Felt Forum is an adjunct auditorium of Madison Square Garden that's now known as the WaMU Theatre.)

"There was more interaction, and the acoustics were much better because [the Felt Forum] was designed for music."

All the albums The Doors released with Morrison, from their 1967 self-titled debut to 1971's L.A. Woman, will be reissued on 180-gram vinyl through Rhino on Sept. 15.

Disc One — Jan. 17, 1970 (First show):

Start of show
"Roadhouse Blues"
"Ship Of Fools"
"Break On Through (To The Other Side)"
Tuning
"Peace Frog"
"Blue Sunday"
"Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)"
"Back Door Man"
"Love Hides"
"Five To One"
Tuning/Breather
"Who Do You Love"
"Little Red Rooster"
"Money"
Tuning
"Light My Fire"
More, More More
"Soul Kitchen"
End of show

Disc Two — Jan. 17, 1970 (Second show):
Start of show
Jim: "How Ya Doing?"
"Roadhouse Blues"
"Break On Through (To The Other Side)"
"Ship Of Fools"
"Crawling King Snake"
"Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)"
"Back Door Man"
"Five To One"
Pretty Neat, Pretty Good
"Build Me A Woman"
Tuning/Breather
"Who Do You Love"
Tuning/Breather
"Wild Child"
Cheering/Tuning
"When The Music's Over"

Disc Three — Jan. 17, 1970 (second show continued)
Tuning/Breather
"Light My Fire"
Hey, Mr. Light Man!
"Soul Kitchen"
Jim's Fish Joke
"The End"
End of show

Disc Four — Jan. 18, 1970 (Third show)
Start of show
"Roadhouse Blues"
"Ship Of Fools"
"Break On Through (To The Other Side)"
Tuning/Breather
"Universal Mind"
"Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)" (false start)
"Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)"
"Back Door Man"
"Five To One"
Tuning/Breather
"Moonlight Drive"
"Who Do You Love"
Calling Our For Songs
"Money"
Tuning/Breather
"Light My Fire"
More, More More
"When The Music's Over"
End of show

Disc Five — Jan. 18, 1970 (fourth show)
Start of show
"Roadhouse Blues"
"Peace Frog"
"Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)"
"Back Door Man"
"Five To One"
We Have A Special Treat
"Celebration Of The Lizard"
Alright, Let's Boogie
"Build Me A Woman"
"When The Music's Over"
More, More More

Disc Six — Jan. 18, 1970 (fourth show continued)
"Soul Kitchen"
For Fear Of Getting Too Patriotic
Petition The Lord With Prayer
"Light My Fire"
Only When The Moon Comes Out
"Close To You"
The Encore Begins
"Rock Me"
What To Do Next?
"Going To N.Y. Blues"
Tuning/Breather
"Maggic M'Gill"
Tuning/Breather
"Gloria"/End of show

Click here for The Doors Collectors Magazine

Tom Simon's Links To Rock and Roll Sites
Ozark Mountain Festival - MannMadePhotos.com
sixties.startpagina.nl
Boomer Trax Online

Oregon to Grow, Distribute,
Tax Medical Marijuana

The Oregon Legislature's latest idea for a tax? Medical marijuana.
The state would take over growing and distributing marijuana to patients in the medical-marijuana program under a bill introduced Wednesday. Sponsored by Rep. Ron Maurer, a Republican from Grants Pass, the bill imposes a $98-per-ounce tax, which would cover the state's cost of operating and securing the production center. "I'm not a pot guy, but the water's under the bridge. That's not the issue," Maurer told The Oregonian newspaper. "Let's not even discuss that. Let's discuss is the program working? The answer is unequivocally no, that the program is not working." Democrat Rep. Chris Harker, told the Statesman Journal newspaper that the measure "takes medical marijuana off the streets and into a safer and more secure environment."
More...

Hippie artifacts discovered in the remains of ex-HIPPIE commune and former home of the Grateful Dead

In 1843 Camilo Ynitia built a small adobe home. In 1852, Ynitia sold most of his land for $5,000 to James Black, the county assessor and land speculator. Black, in turn, gave the land in 1863 as a wedding present to his daughter Mary, who married an early San Francisco dentist, Galen Burdell.

The land remained in the Burdell family for 80 years,with a 26-room mansion built in 1911 . Oddly enough, the mansion was built around the core of Ynitia's adobe. The Burdell ranch featured pillars and brickwork, gazebos, exotic plants and trees, a lily pond, and an immense stone fountain, fed by water running down from the 1500-foot Mt. Burdell.

In 1943 Court Harrington bought the Burdell ranch for use as a beef cattle ranch, but after five years Harrington sold out to the University of San Francisco in 1948, which initially used the land as a Jesuit retreat. This plan was not successful, and throughout the 1960s USF tried to sell or lease the property, The year 1964 saw the construction of a swimming pool for the short-lived Olompali Swim Club.
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.
Finally, in 1967, Donald Crawford McCoy leased the property. McCoy was the developer of the first modern houseboat marina. McCoy "dropped out" after his 1966 divorce and founded a hippie commune at Olompali, named "the Chosen Family," with dozens of participants at one time or another. The children attended a "Not School" run by a pot-smoking nun. Two of the students, were the sons of Richard (Sgt. Sunshine) Bergess, a San Francisco police sergeant convicted of smoking pot on the Hall of Justice steps. The mansion earned the nickname, "the White House of hippiedom."

The commune supplied bread baked in large cans and shaped like mushrooms to residents of Haight-Ashbury.

McCoy, with his long, dark beard and flowing locks, was labeled the "hippie benefactor," the "bearded patriarch" and the "rich guru."

There were two renowned drug busts in 1969. In one of them, narcotics agents demanded to know who owned all the pot they found. McCoy responded famously, "It belongs to God. I just smoke it."

Then things took a turn for the worse. Two children drowned when they fell into the swimming pool. The driver of a big-rig truck was killed in a grisly accident after one of the rancho's 40 horses escaped and ran onto Highway 101.

the remainsThe coup de grâce came when the historic two-story mansion burned down on Feb. 2, 1969, the victim, apparently, of an electrical problem. But some good came out of it. The fire exposed an adobe structure. It was the home of Camillo Ynitia.

The Chosen Family is long gone, but the remains of their lives sat until 1997 on the floor of the gutted mansion. The debris was placed in sealed barrels after asbestos was discovered. Crews in hazmat suits began cleaning the debris the 2nd week of January 2009 so that archaeologists could sort through it.

The artifacts from the Age of Aquarius were laid out on a plastic sheet in an old barn in Marin County's Olompali State Historic Park. Senior State Archaeologist E. Breck Parkman and representatives of the California Department of Parks and Recreation began sorting through the artifacts left 40 years ago by the infamous hippie commune .

There, stiff and rumpled from being in storage so long, was a leather jacket with a rainbow colored flower motif, some old boots, dozens of melted records, burned-out speakers, charred beads, monopoly pieces, soot-covered reel-to-reel tapes (the Grateful Dead's ?), pieces of a porcelain toilet. No bongs have been found, but one thing is certainly clear from the Chosen Family artifacts, they liked beer. And lots of beer. Budweiser, Coors, Olympia and Busch beer cans have been found.

The idea of going through the stuff, said Victor Bjelajac, the park maintenance supervisor who is assisting Parkman, is not only to find items from the 1960s but also to search for artifacts from the pioneers. He said pearl doorknobs and other decorative artifacts found amid the debris probably date back a century or more.

Parkman said most of the sorting should be completed by the 40th anniversary of the Burdell Mansion fire. Once he is done with the hippies, he said, he would like to get permission to excavate the ruins of the adobe, under which lie the remains of Coast Miwok settlements dating back 8,000 years.

sources: The San Francisco Chronicle and bobandelsa.com

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 government 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."

source : News.Scotsman.com

click here for a guide Written, photographed, edited and published by Christianites.

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 standardss.

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

Lennon's bloody clothes displayed

Lennon was murdered in New York on 8 December 1980

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.

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