SUMMER OF LOVE

Much has been made in the media about this being the 40th anniversary of the so-called “summer of love” in San Francisco in 1967. This is my recollection of that time.

First, a little background: I was 24 years old. My first marriage had ended in 1965. I returned to my home town of Lansing, Michigan and got a job at Oldsmobile division of General Motors. (Lansing was also the home town of Oldsmobile, which has now gone the way of Packard and Studebaker and Nash. But I digresss….)

After working on an assembly line for a year and a half, I was not fulfilled. This was not the career path I wanted. (In those days, one could easily quit a job and get another one). A friend had moved to San Francisco and was writing me letters, telling me how cool it was out there and inviting me to come and join the fun. I quit my job and packed my Triumph Spitfire, tying an ancient 9x9 canvas umbrella tent on the luggage rack, and drove west to find my future. It was May 1, 1967.

The trip took eight days, with stops at the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Yellowstone and the meteor crater in Arizona. I moved in with my friend and her friend – the only one with a job. I had arrived.

I stayed in San Francisco for three months, looking for work. I didn’t find any. There were so many people pouring into the city and so few unskilled jobs. There wasn’t much call for an ex-autoworker. We lived on welfare peanut butter and cheese.

I spent quite a bit of time on Haight Street that summer. It was a zoo. Tourist busses were driving down the street with people taking pictures of the freaks. (“Freaks” was a positive term in those days). There were free concerts in Golden Gate Park. I saw Jimi Hendrix there one day, right after the Monterey Pop festival. There were lots of local bands that played free concerts. I saw Janis Joplin with Big Brother – the worst band I ever heard. Country Joe and the Fish played everywhere. Pot and acid were passed around like candy. It was a lot of fun.

All good things must come to an end however. I ran out of money. I couldn’t get a job. I had worn out my welcome with my roommates. I was homesick. The scene on Haight Street was turning ugly. Fights were breaking out. Hell’s Angels were showing up. The real hippies took to the hills. And – oh yes, they tried to draft me into the army! That was not the career path I wanted either and I managed to convince them they didn’t really want me either. (There was this place called Viet Nam…..).

Right when I was running out of options, I received a registered letter. I thought one of my creditors had finally found me. When I opened the envelope, there was a check from my mother and a note that said to use it for whatever I wanted. It paid for gas for the drive back to Michigan and to my career path as an autoworker for the next 30 years.

FILM FEST ‘07

The giant inflatable screen down at the Open Space has been deflated and put back in the truck. The Traverse City Film Festival is done for another year – its third. I worked the warehouse last year and only got to see one movie, so I took this year off so I could join the crowds at the screenings. I managed to see 5 movies at three of the five venues. Here’s a short synopsis of what I saw and my opinion on each.

SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE:

Kurt Vonnegut’s time-shifting novel comes to life in the 1972 production. I have seen this movie on TV, but never on the big screen. Vonnegut was in Dresden, Germany as a prisoner of war during the allied firebombing and the event becomes a central issue in the film. Some people find the non-linear timelines confusing, but I had no trouble following along. An anti-war black comedy, this film is a classic but not everyone’s cup of tea.

NO END IN SIGHT:

A searing indictment of the Bush administration’s bungling of the occupation of Iraq with interviews with former pentagon and state department personnel who were there during the planning stages. Many disagreed with the Bush/Chaney/Rumsfeld positions but were ignored or derided. A primer on how not to wage a war.

IN A LONELY PLACE:

A 1950 film noir starring Humphrey Bogart as a hard-bitten screen writer in Hollywood . A bit too melodramatic for my taste, nonetheless it’s always fun to watch Bogie work his magic and he’s true to form here.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON:

A British documentary about the American Apollo space program. Most of the men who went to the moon were interviewed and they had fascinating things to say, especially Collins, who was the only member of Apollo 11 who did not walk on the moon. These men are in their 70s and 80s now and their insights are very interesting. These are the very few people who have ever seen earth from another celestial body. Pretty special stuff…….

MIKE’S SURPRISE:

On the final night of the festival, founder Michael Moore always presents something special and nobody knows what it is until he shows it. This year it was some scenes that had to be removed from “Sicko” because of time restraints. (Michael believes that no movie should be over two hours). The clips he showed were entertaining and uplifting and his rapport with the audience was remarkable. He basically had a conversation with the crowd for three hours and showed some of his “home movies”.. He held 600 people in rapt attention with many bursts of enthusiastic applause and laughter. An unforgettable evening with a master storyteller.