After 37 years, found my old buddy!

When I ran away from home due to the typical 1966 family confict of generations head to head, I hitch-hiked to Philadelphia (55 miles) and took a train to NYC. I had my Martin classical 00-16 -C guitar and maybe two changes of clothes in a paper sack. I had maybe $30, which went some little way then: cigarettes--45 cents, beer--50 cents a quart, rooms at some fucking sailor dive along the Hudson River, $3 a day, no locks on the door.

The first person I met, after I walked 40 blocks down 6th Ave . and hit Greenwich Village, was a pan-handling junkie. I turned him down, and went to a coffee-house I had heard about in SING-OUT!, a folk-singing magazine. There, I met Tom, beat him at chess and that night, left the flophouse and moved in with him. God, did we have the teeny-bopper quim!-- we were both young, split the rent and took advantage of the free-love 60's. (And, both of us visited the free Venereal Clinic).

Jeez! What a time.

I left the city in 1968, made another, more convential life, had kids, yadda,yadda. Years became decades, decades were on the verge of becoming forever-- I missed Tom; he was a friend and a teacher (he was 5 years older and already a veteran of the beatnik scene).

I'm getting drunk, so I shall make this story short: after 15 years of internet-searching, we connected! A mutual friend hooked us up. He's calling me, or I will call him, but this week-end, after 37 years, two old beatnik-hippies who were at ground-zero in 1966-1968 will meet. We both have children and we both have a thousand stories to tell.

I'm so goddamn happy I could shit roses!

 

For me I never look back, nor cared too but as im getting older I wish id kept more friends, So thats great.

 

hey thats awesome!

 

hi thudly
excellent story, i'm so happy you found your friend from the past. sounds like you have alot of catching up to do. i led some pretty exciting adventures too back in the day. i think about them alot those were the days.

"those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance forever and a day, we'd live the life we should, we'd fight and never lose, those were the days oh yes, those were the days, la, la, la, la,la, la"

remember that song?

 

thats a really cool story.

 

That story is very impressive! Congratulations for you and Tom!!! I hope someday I'll have a similar moments with some of my friends who are far away from me.

 

Yeah there is a few people I'm sorry I lost touch with. One was a guy named Ted G. that I met in Alexandria VA and then again in Charlottsville VA. He was a very interesting part of my youth and I've always wondered how life turned out for him and if he kept my journals of art/writing/poetry but I'm betting some woman he hooked up with tossed 'em.

 

shit out a rose for me and a dozen for tom

 

Yeah, Tom and I talked for over an hour on the phone Saturday--turns out he made a small fortune smuggling hash with his sail-boat across the ocean in the early 70's. Now, he's living with his wife on Martha's Vineyard, living from investments. He wants me to travel with him this winter to the Caribbean-- hit a few islands-- all expenses paid! I guess I'll be getting a passport!

 

Way to re-connect Thudly, Island hopping huh, WooHoo, ROAD TRIP!!!.

I have just recently re-connect with someone that was very special to me back in the daze in San Francisco in the earily 70's when we were young and free and full of life and questions, we went through a lot of times together both good and bad. She a drop-out teacher and me a drop-out student, heh heh. Both in a house of insanity, trying to find reality. I have also made connections with Rita from my home town that decided it was time she met insanity in the Haight and came up around the earily 70's too. I went to visit her before I left SoCali to say goodbye, and hitched a ride to the LA airport with my boy and my nephew both toddlers.. When we got to the airport they wouldn't let me on the plane cuz I was barefoot. So I hitched back down to Rita's and told her what had happened she packed up her shit and drove me to SF and ended up on a journey that most just dream about. She is now embarking on a new journey that she re-connected with a good brother of mine and an ole flame of hers and now her and Ranger are starting out on a new adventure together. They will be going to Chet Helms Memorial Service a-la-hippie style in Golden Gate Park on the 30th as Ranger still has his belongings in SF and him and Rita have to go get them. I wish I was free to join them, what a great loss.
sh

 

Too bad you can't go-- but you probably wouldn't care much for SF now-- according to my sister who was there a few years ago, it's totally yuppiefied and expensive as hell. Of course, the parks and the weather never changes.


BTW, when did Chet Helms die?

 

Look here.

 

Bless his wonderful and loving heart. There will never be another and he will be sorely missed. I just wanna cry. It seems that Hepititis C is taking out half the old hippies.
sh
PS
I don't think I wanna go back to the Haight, I think it would break my heart to see what has happened to LOVE ST and the dwellers within.

 

A woman I once loved and carried as a pall-bearer to her grave, died from Hep C. She wasn't content with smoking pot, drinking and dropping pills. She had to shoot up, sharing needles with human debris. At the end of her life, she begged me to fuck her; fat chance!


She died alone, unfucked.

But, I still loved her, and always will.

 

You can get Hep-C from other sources then the needle, Thudly Dear, just bc your needle free does not mean you cannot get it. One of my bro-in-laws died from it a few years ago, and was NOT by anymeans into the needle or drugs at all. Ever. He was the Garland Fire Chief for 40 yrs. He contracted it over seas during WW11. It lay in his liver all those years doing it damage. He was not even a drinker. Bless his soul.
sh

 

Hey there SH,
For sure you are correct~
That goes for TB too~
I was told by my family Dr.
while taking blood from me that I had been
exposed to TB and hep B at some time in my life.
I had to go for the 3 shots for the Hep B
It all just lies in our body~
When it feels like showing itself it does~
Gabba Gabba Hey

 

Hey there SH,
Good luck to them,
and it soooo
sounds like fun~
I love road trips~
Gabba Gabba Hey

 

Hey there Thudly,
Nice story~
Keep us informed and lots and lots of
super cool and good vibes for you both~

 

Hey, Sloth: What the fuck does "Gabba, Gabba, Hey" mean?

Just drunk and curious.

 

Hey there THUDLY~
Gabba Gabba Hey is part of a song of the Ramones~
If you are a Ramones fan,are you?Maybe you are not?
Then you would have known this~
I just love them anyway and wear my ramones tattoo proudly~
it's all good~