Category: Sixties
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1968
Nostalgia City for this aging Boomer. The prevailing campus spirit at Berkeley in the mid-Sixties had been Camelot-style liberal, venerating the fallen hero JFK, Michael Row the Boat Ashore, fighting world communism and intending to put a man on the moon. Most students were content within the technocratic state and eager to join its ranks. Cal…
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The Tet Offensive Fifty Years Later
It was around the time of Tet that I received a letter from Uncle Sam ordering me to downtown Los Angeles for my pre-induction physical. I went, and flunked. Due to a birth defect I hear only out of my right ear. I was classified 1-Y, and that was later changed to 4-F. In any…
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Summer of Love, Winter of Decline
The down side of the 'sixties. The counter-culture validated styles of living once considered coarse, delinquent, tragic, or mad. It was said to be about Love. Was that eros, or philia, or agape? One cannot be sure, but the gross hypersexualization of entertainment and culture since suggests eros, down and dirty. The point is essentially…
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Do You Remember the ‘Sixties?
According to the old joke, if you do, you weren't there. This is worth a look. Filed under: 'Sixties
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Monterey Pop Festival, June 16-18, 1967
It transpired 50 summers ago, this June, the grand daddy of rock festivals, two years before Woodstock, in what became known as the Summer of Love. Your humble correspondent was on the scene. Some high school friends and I drove up from Los Angeles along Pacific Coast Highway. I can still call up olfactory memories of…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Fred Neil
Remember Fred Neil? One of the luminaries of the '60s folk scene, he didn't do much musically thereafter. Neil is probably best remembered for having penned 'Everybody's Talkin' which was made famous by Harry Nilsson as the theme of Midnight Cowboy. Here is Neil's version. Nilsson's rendition. Another of my Fred Neil favorites is "Other Side of This…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Bob Dylan, Traditionalist
The Left owns Dylan as little as it owns dissent. Every Dylanologist will want to read Christopher Caldwell's Weekly Standard piece, AWOL from the Summer of Love. It begins like this: In the mid-1960s the most celebrated folk musician of his era bought a house for his growing family at the southern edge of the…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Anti-Drug Songs
Sex, drugs, and rock & roll without the drugs. In memory of the recently late Paul Revere of Paul Revere and the Raiders, a '60s outfit with a garage-band sound I never much liked, which had a hit with the anti-drug Kicks with which I shall kick off tonight's offerings. Buffy Sainte-Marie, Cod'ine An equally…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: The Magic ’60s
These tunes go out to Sally Shoaf. It was great to see you again after 50 years, Sally. I'm So Glad to join you, My Best Friend, as we follow Mr. Tambourine Man on an Embryonic Journey to hear the Chimes of Freedom as we Break on Through to the Other Side.
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The Seductive Sophistry of Alan Watts
Here. (An entertaining video clip, not too long, that sums up his main doctrine.) Alan Watts was a significant contributor to the Zeitgeist of the 1960s. Just as many in those days were 'turned on' to philosophy by Ayn Rand, others such as myself were pushed toward philosophy by, among other things, Alan Watts and…
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The Summer of ’69
A lot happened that fabulous and far-off summer of '69, now 45 years past. I won't bore you with any autobiographical tidbits, and of course some of you remember the moon landing; but that was also the summer when Ted Kennedy's car killed Mary Jo Kopechne. His car killed more people than any of my…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Jim Fixx Remembered
It was 30 years ago tomorrow, during a training run. Running pioneer James F. Fixx, author of the wildly successful The Complete Book of Running, keeled over dead of cardiac arrest. He died with his 'boots' on, and not from running but from a bad heart. It's a good bet that his running added years…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: British Invasion, A – C
This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the so-called British Invasion of 1964 – 1966. Here is one reasonably complete list of 'invaders.' Tonight, selections from A through C. Animals, We Gotta Get Out of This Place Animals, Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood Beatles, You Can't Do That Beatles, It Won't Be Long…
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Saturday Night at the Oldies: Some Songs from Inside Llewyn Davis
The Llewyn Davis character in the brilliant Coen Bros. film suggests, I don't say represents, Dave van Ronk. So let's start with some tunes (not necessarily the renditions) from the movie done by the Mayor of MacDougal Street. Hang me, Oh Hang Me Green, Green Rocky Road Dink's Song. Marcus Mumford and Oscar Isaac version. …
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Friday Cat Blogging: Inside Llewyn Davis
To Scottsdale this drizzly dreary dark December morning to see the Coen Bros. latest on its opening hereabouts, Inside Llewyn Davis. A tale of two kitties is a sub-motif that symbolizes the self-destructive folksinger's troubles, but it would take a couple more viewings for me to figure it out. The film gripped me and held…