Love blooms anew for 1967 - Boomers mark the 40th anniversary of a celebrated summer (BARRRFFF!!!)

Chicago Tribune ^ | May 28, 2007 | Stevenson Swanson

[Chi-townChief]

The flowers that they wore in their hair have long since wilted, but the generation that came of age in the 1960s will spend the coming months recalling a summer four decades ago, when rock music, drugs and sexual liberation fused to create the Summer of Love.

From New York, where Janis Joplin's psychedelic Porsche is on display at the Whitney Museum of Art, to the Bay area, where Joplin's band, Big Brother and the Holding Company, will play at an anniversary tribute to the Monterey Pop music festival, the calendar will be flipped back to an earlier time that, in some ways, foreshadows the present:

*A Texan -- Lyndon Johnson -- was president.

*American troops were fighting an increasingly unpopular war.

*In California, the epicenter of the Summer of Love, an actor -- Ronald Reagan -- had recently been elected governor.

The events for the 40th anniversary -- a mark not usually celebrated as noisily as a 25th or 50th anniversary -- might reflect the fact that the Baby Boomers who were teenagers or young adults in the summer of 1967 are now well into their 50s or 60s, and they don't want to wait another 10 years to bask in the memories of their youth.

"It was a very special moment of optimism and idealism," said Amalie R. Rothschild, a photographer who amassed an archive of 20,000 photos of the era's rock musicians, mainly from their performances at the legendary Fillmore East concert hall in New York's East Village.

But the similarities between 1967 and 2007 could be an equally important factor, said Jason Fine, deputy managing editor of Rolling Stone, which published its first issue in November 1967 and is celebrating its anniversary with three issues, including one devoted to the Summer of Love ...

[ronnie raygun]

It was just a time to refuse a bath, throw up on your feet and dumb down!

[OldEagle]

Thank you for remembering Wanda Jackson.

[AnnaZ]

I was born in 1967.....

Me too.

smooch!

[Chi-townChief]

“I never kissed a bear, I never kissed a goon
but I can shake a chicken in the middle of the room!”

Wanda!!! Ya gotta wonder what that one’s all about.

[Hoodat]

Let's examine what really happened during the Summer of Love. Here is what liberalism wrought:

Detroit Riots

Newark Riots

Plainfield Riots

Milwaukee Riots

Cleveland Riots (1966)

Seattle Riots

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

What's there to live for?
Who needs the peace corps?
Think I'll just DROP OUT
I'll go to Frisco
Buy a wig & sleep
On Owsley's floor

Walked past the wig store
Danced at the Fillmore
I'm completely stoned
I'm hippy & I'm trippy
I'm a gypsy on my own
I'll stay a week & get the crabs &
Take a bus back home
I'm really just a phony
But forgive me
'Cause I'm stoned

Every town must have a place
Where phony hippies meet
Psychedelic dungeons
Popping up on every street
GO TO SAN FRANCISCO . . .

How I love ya, How I love ya
How I love ya, How I love ya Frisco!
How I love ya, How I love ya
How I love ya, How I love ya
Oh, my hair is getting good in the back!

Every town must have a place
Where phony hippies meet
Psychedelic dungeons
Popping up on every street
GO TO SAN FRANCISCO . . .

Hotcha!

First I'll buy some beads
And then perhaps a leather band
To go around my head
Some feathers and bells
And a book of Indian lore
I will ask the Chamber Of Commerce
How to get to Haight Street
And smoke an awful lot of dope
I will wander around barefoot
I will have a psychedelic gleam in my eye at all times
I will love everyone
I will love the police as they kick the sh#t out of me on the street
I will sleep . . .
I will, I will go to a house
That's, that's what I will do
I will go to a house
Where there's a rock & roll band
'Cause the groups all live together
And I will join a rock & roll band
I will be their road manager
And I will stay there with them
And I will get the crabs
But I won't care


Ah, the genius of Frank Zappa!

[upsdriver]

Hey, Wanda Jackson is one of the rockin’est babes of all time! I have an autographed photo of her before she signed with Capitol records. A promo picture from when she was signed to Decca. She did alot of country western records, but her best were her rockin’n roll songs. She could really belt them out! They are available on cd.

[upsdriver]

Easy! Let’s have a party! woooo! lol

[jobim]

Hey, I was a West Side Dooper in 67

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

~~~Back In The Baad Ol'Days~~~

[Othniel]

Little known factoid: During the wonderful Hippie Days in the Bay Area, doctors at free clinics started to see some strange diseases. Turns out they hadn't been trained to spot them because they had been wiped out due to an increase in hygiene during the 1800's! These hippies were getting the human equivalent of mange, and the docs had to consult old medical books to find out what it was. The reason: The hippies had forgone bathing, washing, and general taking-care-of-themselves.

BTW, for the sake of sounding blasphemous, I hate Hendricks, can't stand Joplin, and break out in hysterical laughter when I hear "If you're going to Saaan Fraaan Sisco." That's gotta be one of the dumbest dumbass songs ever written.

[ChocChipCookie]

It’s actually sad that such a large group of people still identify with that era. They really haven’t grown beyond it, which is even sadder. But not so sad that I can’t mock and ridicule them.

[danamco]

, and wouldn't give up my memories of those days for anything.

"GOOD" for you. I lost a dear daughter 6 years ago, never recuperating from that GARBAGE!!!

[MrLee]

Monterey Pop Festival was, imho, far more exciting and had more impact on the music of the times than Woodstock 2 years later. 1967 was fun. 1969 was the funeral.

[Publius]

Funny you should mention that business about diseases. By 1967 syphilis had almost been eradicated — and then that summer it exploded back into life.

[mrmargaritaville]

It looks like that dog is walking away saying to himself something to the effect-”stupid hippies try soap”

[the lastbestlady]

My parents had their first date during the Detroit riots. They had no idea why Belle Isle was so deserted. They didn’t have the radio on and both caught hell when they got home.

[SamAdams76]

It is true that there was a lot of great music produced that year but sadly many of the people making that music messed up their lives on drugs and either came to an early demise or were washed up shortly thereafter.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

THIS AIN’T THE SUMMER OF LOVE
-Blue Oyster Cult

Feeling easy on the outside
But not so funny on the inside
Feel the sound, pray for rain
For this is the night we ride

This ain’t the garden of eden
There ain’t no angels above
And things ain’t like what they used to be
And this ain’t the summer of love

Lock all your doors from the outside
The key will dangle by the inside
You may begin to understand
That this is the night we ride

This ain’t the garden of eden
There ain’t no angels above
And things ain’t like what they used to be
And this ain’t the summer of love

On the night we ride...this ain’t the summer of love.

This ain’t the garden of eden
There ain’t no angels above
And things ain’t like what they used to be
And this ain’t the summer of love
This ain’t the summer, this ain’t, this ain’t
This ain’t the summer of love.

[HitmanLV]

Such a remarkably self absorbed generation. Very overrated.