Chapter 3 of 8 - WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE?
- 16 years ago
Attending an anniversary of the Human Be-In is similar to going to your girlfriend's big family reunion. Everyone is real nice and friendly to you and they all make you feel real welcome, but you're not sure if they even like you being there. All they seem to talk about is what happened the last time they were all together- when they were younger, faster, and better able to stop punks like you from crashing their party. But if you're lucky, like we were on that warm San Francisco day, they make you feel truly special and like you, too, are part of the family. And that's exactly what we had hoped for.
It certainly wasn't the event it was in 1967; there weren't the thousands of people that had been there 40 years prior, nor were there the bands or the crazy antics. But the spirit was unquestionably there. And we met quite a few people that gave us advice that we will hold close our hearts for many years to come.
I should tell you that back then, not everyone was trying to be political. I certainly don't want to create a false impression of the time or of the scene. As one aging stoner put it, "I came to San Francisco in 1967 for the party and stayed around for the protests". But there is little doubt that there were a lot of people that were trying to bring about political change, and that's the spirit we were trying to find.
We settled somewhere in between two of the most beautiful parks in America- Golden Gate Park and Presidio Park. We needed to start working because as it turns out, it's really, really expensive to make a film! So we started doing a lot of free crabbing. Lots and lots of it.
With that it was time to start looking towards the future...
It certainly wasn't the event it was in 1967; there weren't the thousands of people that had been there 40 years prior, nor were there the bands or the crazy antics. But the spirit was unquestionably there. And we met quite a few people that gave us advice that we will hold close our hearts for many years to come.
I should tell you that back then, not everyone was trying to be political. I certainly don't want to create a false impression of the time or of the scene. As one aging stoner put it, "I came to San Francisco in 1967 for the party and stayed around for the protests". But there is little doubt that there were a lot of people that were trying to bring about political change, and that's the spirit we were trying to find.
We settled somewhere in between two of the most beautiful parks in America- Golden Gate Park and Presidio Park. We needed to start working because as it turns out, it's really, really expensive to make a film! So we started doing a lot of free crabbing. Lots and lots of it.
With that it was time to start looking towards the future...