KFWB – Joe Yocam – Gene Weed – January 11, 1968 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Here’s the deal – 1968 was going to be a big year for you. You decided you weren’t going to be one of life’s great watchers – the world was changing and you were smack in the middle of it. You had a lot to look forward to, and you had a lot to dread. You had to get involved – it was all too serious to do nothing. That was you. Almost overnight it all became very deep and very urgent and you had to be part of it.
1967 really wasn’t your Summer Of Love – it was for some people; not you – it was serious business. Summer 1967 was the year you got involved – it was also the year you discovered billy clubs and teargas and not everybody was against the Vietnam War like you and your friends were. You grew your hair and got whistled at. You got asked to leave a restaurant for the first time because of how you looked and you spent Christmas in your room because you and your parents hadn’t been speaking since July.
1968 was the year you were going to change things. You discovered Herman Hesse and you learned Allen Ginsburg’s Howl by heart. Piper At The Gates Of Dawn by Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix’ Axis: Bold As Love turned your life around, but you also discovered Bach and John Coltrane and Foreign Films. People were turning you on to books and art, and the walls of your bedroom were plastered with Family Dog posters and you took to burning incense a lot.
The world was running hot and cold, all at the same time – and you were 17; right in the middle of it.
1968 was going to be a big year, you could feel it in your bloodstream. You weren’t a kid anymore, no more pretending. This was the real thing.
But you were going to have to lose your beloved Stingray bicycle and get serious transportation. At least get a ten-speed. Some things were just no longer cool, no matter how you were looking at life.
