The year is 68'-Me and my bud go down to San Jose for a weekend outdoor concert with 20 bands or so-The Doors were one of the headliners-Me and Dave got a bunch of copies of the Berkeley Barb and the Oracle cle from someone with a stand-He said he would split the money if we walked around before the concert and sell these papers-Wow-We made a killin-Thousands of people sittin on blankets -drinkin wine in the hot summer sun-People bought all our papers and we had to go back for more a couple times-It was just something for people to do before the show-lay back and read the hip papers-So by the time the show started our pockets were stuffed we didn't have any overhead-pure potfit/profit-Anyway-by the time the Doors came on people were hot and stoned sittin in the heat-The band comes out and starts playing the melody part to When The Musics Over-On and on they play-repeating the same thing waitin for Morrison to come out from backstage-Finally- after about 10 min.-no shit-He comes out grabs the mike and starts the song with the"Yea!!!-then he falls down and dosen't get up-The band stops playin and they drag em off stage-passed out drunk!-Funny-he didn't make it past YEA!-Fortunately there were alot of other groups playin -so people didn't riot or demand money back-It could have gotten ugly-and it was real hot out there-All and all it was a great weekend-as far as I can remember-I think I woke up with a San Jose flower girl in my sleepin bag-or was I dreamin?-Those outdoor shows nearly every weekend around the Bay Area were fantastic-some free and always high times-If I had a new liver I could do it all over again-NAA!-Time to retire-O'Yea-
During the summer of 1967, I paid the rent and supported myself selling the Oracle and the Barb. Every morning, I drove my 50 chevy up Haight St. to some distribution center, bought a pile of newspapers for half-price, drove down to Chinatown or Fisherman's Wharf and in about 2 hours sold them to tourists. I made $6 or$7 a day, easily. Then, I would eat at a cheap Chinese restaurant and return to the Haight. After Labor Day, the tourists slowed down and it took longer, in fact it began to be more like a job. The tourists sometimes asked me to pose for photos and I autographed many a copy. Somewhere in middle-America, I'm still posing in someone's photo-album in someone's attic. Sort of a dubious immortality, don't you think?
Yea-Alot of people selling those papers-I liked the Oracle more cuz it was real colorful and less politics then the Barb-Hey-Whenyou ate in Chinatown was it at Sam Woes?-Thats the place where ya walk right through the kitchen to get to your table-all those cooks and flying ginsu knifes-dangerous-but the food was great! and lots of it-they hauled it up from the kitchen with a rope pulley dumbwaiter-haha-funky but it worked-shit that place was always packed-50 Chevy sounds good-did they have the flathead 8?-I had a 49 Ford pickup with one-fast for their day! made for the Georgia moonshiners!-outrun the law!-Hey-that would make a good video game-!
Robspace-- No! A 50 chevy was a 216 c.i. straight 6. I used to have a 1953 flathead Ford V-8-- Ford made them, basically the same engine, from 1932 to 1954. They were fast, but prone to overheating.But, with a good clutch, I could get rubber in all three gears! I ate in SF Chinatown at the same type of places I ate at in NYC Chinatown: places where I saw no white faces, no tourists. I knew a Chinese girl in NYC who was bi-lingual, and she taught me enough Chinese to order in the real Chinese restaurants-- where the natives ate. Believe me, if you didn't know how to use chopsticks, no forks were given. On the other hand, knowing just a tad of Chinese went a long way if you showed and gave dignity: free refills of black tea-- no sugar, of course. I love the Orientals; I think I was one in a previous life.
Maybe that was a 52' Ford truck I had-I remember that motor-flathead 8-I'd love to have that old truck back-I was livin in Colorado and that thing had to start every morning to get me to work-after sittin outside buried in snow all night ; it always started-had to use a little ether a few times-and the truck got some too!haha-It never left me stranded or failed to start- had a floor button starter-they sure made good vehicles back then-solid and held up real good-and plenty of room under the hood-Yea-your right about the Chinese places-when your in S.F Chinatown -it's like being in China-complete enclosed enviroment-and don't walk around at night-they had a lot of opium dens back then-probably still do-The Chinese pretty much built this country as far as physical labor goes-they did alot out here in the west-railroads--dams-etc.-very hard working people-
I lived in NYC and SF from 66 to 68, and NEVER feared walking around in Chinatown at any hour of night, even with women. Crime against Occidentals (white people) was so rare as to be unknown-- bad for tourism. They (the Orientals) may have killed each other--the Tongs, etc.-- but we were off the target. The same way it was in Little Italy in NYC. The Mafia gangsters hated hippies, but the word was out: Don't shit in your own backyard. Now....Harlem in NYC and the Fillmore District in SF were different-- of course, they weren't tourist attractions.
not enough time left for killing hippies they kill each others plus the other rival gangs = puerto ricans etc etc.
The East Village-- Alphabet City-- Was dangerous. The Spanish-Puerto Ricans hated hippies. I had 3 switch-blades pulled on me on East 10 th, between Ave. B &C in the daylight. Fortunately, I was 20 and could some run. In three years in NYC, I never had any street trouble with blacks or Asians-- only Puerto Ricans. They HATED hippies: thought we weren't "macho". Now, they wear long hair and stupid ear-rings. Times, and people, change.
The Fillmore Auditorium was in a pretty bad area of S.F-We would come out of there around 2 or 3 in the morning stumbling around after having successfully torched our gray matter-hahaha-I used to go into that area to score all the time-got held up a few times but now you can be killed for 20$-Too many uzi's out there
UZIs YOU watch to much TV news most hold ups they use small and easy to hide handguns very few real fullly auto Uzis are found on the streets plus you can see him a mile away. not pratical . and most all of the Uzis stolen or not are only semi autos.
Sorry bud; but your essesment of the situation is completely incorrect-Of course you can't conceal an uzi; but then in a drive by situation it doesn't need to be concealed-sure-there are plenty more handguns out there-I know-I have stared down the barrels of a few-The whole point being that it ain't too hard to be walking down the street and get caught in the crossfire of some idiots killin each other over crack turf!-Happens everyday out here-You must live in a small Nebraska farm town -it;s not tv-it;s the real deal with real people dying on the streets-it's outta control-and innocent victims pay the price-sucks!
