Sunday, December 18, 2016
The famous letter the FBI sent to MLK (trying to push him to suicide)
The letter was deliberately scattered with bad grammar and typos. It is believed to have been composed an mailed to King by William Sullivan with J.Edgar Hoover's specific approval.
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Friday, December 16, 2016
The Grateful Dead play a free show in my neighborhood in 1967
July 16, 1967 — The Grateful Dead performed at Golden Gardens Park in Seattle. Five other local bands perform at the "Be-In." Admission was free.
The Golden Road
Located in Ballard, Golden Gardens was typically a place where the “straights” hung out, far away from the usual hippie hangouts near the University District and Capitol Hill. The crowd of 2,000 people who gathered at the park for the Be-In was a mix of all folks who just wanted to enjoy some rock music in the hot summer sun.
The bands performed on a flatbed truck with electricity provided by a small portable generator. Brick went on first, followed by Karma, The Daily Flash, The Time Machine, and Pappa Bear's Medicine Show. The Grateful Dead came on last.
The Dead were in Seattle for a show that evening at the Eagles Hall, and since they were veterans of many Be-Ins in San Francisco, the band and their manager, Rock Scully, decided to take part in the gathering at Ballard. The Be-In was arranged by Tim Harvey of Overall Cooperative Structure and Jerry Mathews of United Front Productions.
Unlimited Devotion
In an interview with the Helix, a Seattle-based underground newspaper, Grateful Dead lead guitarist Jerry Garcia (1942-1995) talked about the band’s background, noting that he started playing guitar at 15, that vocalist Ron “Pigpen” McKernan was heavily into country blues, and that bass player Phil Lesh was classically trained on the violin and trumpet. He described the band’s music as mostly blues.
Garcia also talked about the influence of psychedelic drugs on their music, noting that these drugs were just another part of their lifestyle. “The thing that happens when you get high and play,” said Garcia, “is like new ideas present themselves, new possibilities ... . If you’re a little stoned, you’re less into yourself, less into demonstrating your ability, less into your own thing and more into the total thing. Playing itself is a high, playing is in fact the best high I know. There’s no comparable experience in drugs. Nothing like it.”
When asked about the kind of people who came to their shows, the interviewer pointed out that not all people in the Golden Gardens audience were hippies. “No, but they’re all people,” responded Garcia. “Like the more straight people that come to these kind of scenes, the easier it’ll be for them to see that the hippies aren’t going to hurt them. The whole scene is ... good natured.”
Poster for The Grateful Dead at the Seattle Eagles Hall, July 16, 1967 later that night (a paying gig):
Sources: “The Cool Brave Heat for 'Gentle Sunday,'" Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 17, 1967, p. 3; Interview with Jerry Garcia, Helix, August 16, 1967, p. 11.
This essay was corrected on July 16, 2015.
Fifty years of the Crisis Clinic (video)
A nice video about the Crisis Clinic, where I work two days a week. Check it out, and if you can, donate. . .or volunteer. /jack
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Thursday, December 15, 2016
Irregular roundup of celebrity and other middle fingers
By Mona Goldwater, Signs and Gestures Ed.
Every few months, we publish the various images of middle fingers our readers have sent to us, along with any choice ones we find along the internet.
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Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Victor Lundy's sketchbooks
By Jack Brummet
Victor Lundy, born in NYC in 1923, was an art and architecture student who later enlisted during World War II. Throughout training and when he was deployed in Europe, he kept a set of sketchbooks of the people and scenes around him. After the war, he became a famous/successful architect. You can find selections from the sketchbooks here, on Retronaut.
Victor Lundy, born in NYC in 1923, was an art and architecture student who later enlisted during World War II. Throughout training and when he was deployed in Europe, he kept a set of sketchbooks of the people and scenes around him. After the war, he became a famous/successful architect. You can find selections from the sketchbooks here, on Retronaut.
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Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Richard Fong's amazing painting of Ronald Reagan (ca. 1984)
by Jack Brummet
In 1984, Richard Fong, a friend, co-worker, and San Francisco artist, gave me this oil painting. We'd spent the election making twisted collages of Ronald Reagan and the Administration (to the chagrin of the owner of the commercial real estate appraiser's office where we worked).
It has hung on the wall everywhere I've lived since. What I love most about this painting is that it captures the soul of Ronald Reagan, but also adds in—somehow!—a touch of Richard Nixon. Other people, unprompted, have noticed this too. It's been an inspiration for some 30 years now, and I've always been grateful for the gift. Every time I look at it I remember Richard.
In 1984, Richard Fong, a friend, co-worker, and San Francisco artist, gave me this oil painting. We'd spent the election making twisted collages of Ronald Reagan and the Administration (to the chagrin of the owner of the commercial real estate appraiser's office where we worked).
It has hung on the wall everywhere I've lived since. What I love most about this painting is that it captures the soul of Ronald Reagan, but also adds in—somehow!—a touch of Richard Nixon. Other people, unprompted, have noticed this too. It's been an inspiration for some 30 years now, and I've always been grateful for the gift. Every time I look at it I remember Richard.
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This image captures how I feel post-election. . .I keep looking behind me
[image from Dawn of the Dead photoshopped into a stock photo of a rear view mirror]
President Elect Trump: Why I don't need briefings
by Jack Brummet
DJT on Fox today, explaining why he doesn't need daily intel briefings:
"I don’t have to be told ― you know, I’m, like, a smart person. I don’t have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day.”
“I don’t need to be told ... the same thing every day, every morning ― same words. ‘Sir, nothing has changed. Let’s go over it again.’
DJT on Fox today, explaining why he doesn't need daily intel briefings:
"I don’t have to be told ― you know, I’m, like, a smart person. I don’t have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day.”
“I don’t need to be told ... the same thing every day, every morning ― same words. ‘Sir, nothing has changed. Let’s go over it again.’
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Monday, December 12, 2016
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