Thursday, July 19, 2007

It was 40 years ago this summer


I was a small child when the Summer of Love, 1967 took off San Francisco. So do I even have a right to mention it here? I wasn't really there? Well, of course I can mention it, because we all know this little old hippie movement had a huge impact on American culture. Rolling Stone Magazine this month covers the 1967 Summer of Love with a sweet collection of articles of not just San Francisco, but also London and New York and Los Angeles, other cities hosting highly creative musical and artistic movements. Detroit is profiled also, the Motor City, Motown, but it was also a major American city that erupted in racial violence and symbolized a darker reality of relations between black and white people in America.


So why not? How about a few Youtube videos of great cultural moments from 1967. It'll be a tribute to my upcoming trip to San Francisco, where I might experience some of the spirit of this age. By the way the mp3 Sample of the Day to your right should be digested. Within months of the eruption of the Summer of Love, Frank Zappa came out with a devastating musical critique of the youth movement of the late sixties. He voiced private concerns of the Sixties leaders themselves, and also public concerns and thoughts of the government leaders of the day. They mostly dismissed Flower Power as a wasteful youth movement that encouraged . . . . .brb

Jimi at Monterey




Detroit Race Riots





Frank Zappa at the Garrick Theatre, New York


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