Can it be true?
The Grateful Dead predict Burning Shorts in 1972?
Introducing the Dead, May 7, 1972, The Bickershaw Festival, UK:
” ‘For all our muddy friends
THE GRATEFUL DEAD.’
Thus spake the announcer as the Dead launched into “Truckin'” – the start of a mammoth 245 minute show . . .” during which, this:
“After RAMBLE ON ROSE, the band comment on the stink from the dozens of fires.
Unknown band member: “What’s on fire”
Weir: “I don’t know what you’re burning out there , but it smells rotten.”
Phil? “It must be my shorts … ”
Below mid-page and just following “After RAMBLE ON ROSE …” http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/dead.html
~~~
So, we embrace this opportunity to honor hippie heroes and true creative visionaries: Timothy Leary, Hunter S. Thompson, Ken Kesey, and Jerry Garcia with Kesey, all as today’s internet can only make possible.
Indeed, there is such a wealth of content that what follows is a mere taste. Humble thanks to Web2.0 for providing us with such wealth.
In a recent Flaming Arrow, we mentioned our encounters personally with Leary, as he was an early, passionate, digital media evangelist: “Turn on, tune in, boot up …” as he said.
The recipients wanted more: You got it! We spent a weekend with Hunter S. Thompson; we interviewed Kesey; and we had a most memorable conversation with Garcia. That was a while ago.
Yet, time only illuminates more brightly just how swashbuckling these creative visionaries were and, as inspirational figures, important to our current mission: to commit heart and soul to advance the Human Adventure unfolding in digital media.
It is therefore a personal pleasure to bring you the following homage:
Timothy Leary: Psychedelics as sacraments; coat and tie era for Tim; black and white television clip; 42 seconds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HclVTYUQV-M. Then, Tim circa 1980 and ambushed by television interviewer. Behold Tim’s commitment to gentleness and remaining open and non-defensive. 10 minutes 18 seconds and worth it. And he tells the interviewer to go “back to Iran”! Close to a hundred K views on this post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT31oB2vspw&feature=related. Nearing death in 1995, Tim provides advice for all of us: “”You have to go out of your mind to use your head.” Part of a series of length, captivating interviews by Paul Krassner. E.g., http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-KAmpXsdUE.
Hunter S. Thompson: Hunter was surely big fun back in the day. Here we have Hunter struggling with intimations of mortality and just perhaps hatching a plan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r31hV_BPFf0&feature=related … For an accurate tribute to Dr. Gonzo, it would require the unique verbal intensity and apparent psychic chaos of another we met … Gary Busey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-rE0dNV5Bo&feature=related.
Ken Kesey [and the Merry Pranksters]: Seeking to visit Leary (they were all connected with each other … just not on this day, but see Garcia and Kesey below). Look for the “Further” sign on the front of Kesey’s bus. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcstOdT1Pe0.
Jerry Garcia with Ken Kesey: Interviewed by the strangest of all, the late Tom Snyder … captured herein (Live, NBC Studios, New York City, May 7th, 1981) is a trace of the infectious joy and silliness that fueled the era: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4ilnADvT2s.
