12/22/2010 - ::Hippy-rific Humpday:: - Trips Festival of '66

Good morning Cats and Kittens and Happy Hippy-rific Humpday! 


I'm determined to keep you going with at least

the Hippy-rific Humpdays until we get to 2011.  Things have been crazy busy and I have truly missed the Ocho-rific blog more than anything else I've had to minimize my time spent on lately. 



Those of you who follow along know that I found

myself without a "day job" on December 1st - but things are not far from
leveling out now.  (You can go to my blogger.com profile and see my other blogs for details.)


My apologies that things are a wee bit thrown together below - I have to get out the door, for Wednesday is my 'housekeeping day' - I'm cleaning two houses today and after the first of the year I'll have another opening for a Massac County or McCracken County house. :)   


Our blog today is about the Trips Festival of 1966.  This is actually a festival I'd not heard of until I was bopping around in all of the hippy-rific goodness this week looking for our topic.


***


::A Bit from WIKI on the Time Period Leading up to


the Trips Festival of '66::


Some of the earliest San Francisco hippies were former students at San Francisco State College^[36] who became intrigued by the developing psychedelic hippie music scene.^[28] These students joined the bands they loved, living communally in the large, inexpensive Victorian apartments in the Haight-Ashbury.^[37] 


Young Americans around the country began moving to San Francisco, and by June 1966, around 15,000 hippies had moved into the Haight.^[38] The Charlatans, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and the Grateful Dead all moved to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood during this period. Activity centered around the Diggers, a guerrilla street theatre group that combined spontaneous street theatre, anarchistic action, and art happenings in their agenda to create a "free city".

By late 1966, the Diggers opened free stores which simply gave away their stock, provided free food, distributed free drugs, gave away money, organized free music concerts, and performed works of political art.^[39]

On October 6, 1966, the state of California declared LSD a controlled substance, which made the drug illegal.^[40] In response to the criminalization of psychedelics, San Francisco hippies staged a gathering in the Golden Gate Park panhandle, called the Love Pageant Rally,^[40] attracting an estimated 700–800 people.^[41] 

As explained by Allan Cohen, co-founder of the San Francisco Oracle, the purpose of the rally was twofold: to draw attention to the fact that LSD had just been made illegal — and to demonstrate that people who used LSD were not criminals, nor were they mentally ill. The Grateful Dead played, and some sources claim that LSD was consumed at the rally. According to Cohen, those who took LSD "were not guilty of using illegal substances...We were celebrating transcendental consciousness, the beauty of the universe, the beauty of being."^[42]

Early hippies (1960–1966)

During the early 1960s novelist Ken Kesey and The Merry Pranksters lived communally in California. Members included Beat Generation hero Neal Cassady, Ken Babbs, Carolyn Adams (aka Mountain Girl), Wavy Gravy, Paul Krassner, Stewart Brand, Del Close, Paul Foster, George Walker, Sandy Lehmann-Haupt and others. Their early escapades were documented in Tom Wolfe's book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

With Cassady at the wheel of a school bus named Further, the Merry Pranksters traveled across the United States to celebrate the publication of Kesey's novel Sometimes a Great Notion and to visit the 1964 World's Fair in New York City.

The Merry Pranksters were known for using marijuana, amphetamines, and LSD, and during their journey they "turned on" many people to these drugs. The Merry Pranksters filmed and audiotaped their bus trips, creating an immersive multimedia experience that would later be presented to the public in the form of festivals and concerts. Grateful Dead wrote a song about the Merry Pranksters' bus trips called "That's It For The Other One".

In the summer of 1965, Laughlin recruited much of the original talent that led to a unique amalgam of traditional folk music and the developing psychedelic rock scene. He and his cohorts created what became known as "The Red Dog Experience", featuring previously unknown musical acts — Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Charlatans, and others - who played in the completely refurbished, intimate setting of Virginia City's Red Dog Saloon. There was no clear delineation between "performers" and "audience" in "The Red Dog Experience", during which music, psychedelic experimentation, a unique sense of personal style and Bill Ham's first primitive light shows combined to create a new sense of community. 

Laughlin and George Hunter of the Charlatans were true "proto-hippies", with their long hair, boots and outrageous clothing of nineteenth-century American (and Native American) heritage. LSD manufacturer Owsley Stanley lived in Berkeley during 1965 and provided much of the LSD that became a seminal part of the "Red Dog Experience", the early evolution of psychedelic rock and budding hippie culture. At the Red Dog Saloon, The Charlatans were the first psychedelic rock band to play live (albeit unintentionally) loaded on LSD.

When they returned to San Francisco, Red Dog participants Luria Castell, Ellen Harman and Alton Kelley created a collective called "The Family Dog." Modeled on their Red Dog experiences, on October 16, 1965, the Family Dog hosted "A Tribute to Dr. Strange" at Longshoreman's Hall. Attended by approximately 1,000 of the Bay Area's original "hippies", this was San Francisco's first psychedelic rock performance, costumed dance and light show, featuring Jefferson Airplane, The Great Society and The Marbles.

Two other events followed before year's end, one at California Hall and one at the Matrix. After the first three Family Dog events, a much larger psychedelic event occurred at San Francisco's Longshoreman's Hall. Called "The Trips Festival", it took place on January 21–January 23, 1966, and was organized by Stewart Brand, Ken Kesey, Owsley Stanley and others. Ten thousand people attended this sold-out event, with a thousand more turned away each night. On Saturday January 22, the Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company came on stage, and 6,000 people arrived to imbibe punch spiked with LSD and to witness one of the first fully developed light shows of the era.

Some of the earliest San Francisco hippies were former students at San Francisco State College who became intrigued by the developing psychedelic hippie music scene. These students joined the bands they loved, living communally in the large, inexpensive Victorian apartments in the Haight-Ashbury. Young Americans around the country began moving to San Francisco, and by June 1966, around 15,000 hippies had moved into the Haight. The Charlatans, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and the Grateful Dead all moved to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood during this period. Activity centered around the Diggers, a guerrilla street theatre group that combined spontaneous street theatre, anarchistic action, and art happenings in their agenda to create a "free city". By late 1966, the Diggers opened free stores which simply gave away their stock, provided free food, distributed free drugs, gave away money, organized free music concerts, and performed works of political art.

On October 6, 1966, the state of California declared LSD a controlled substance, which made the drug illegal. In response to the criminalization of psychedelics, San Francisco hippies staged a gathering in the Golden Gate Park panhandle, called the Love Pageant Rally, attracting an estimated 700–800 people. As explained by Allan Cohen, co-founder of the San Francisco Oracle, the purpose of the rally was twofold: to draw attention to the fact that LSD had just been made illegal — and to demonstrate that people who used LSD were not criminals, nor were they mentally ill. The Grateful Dead played, and some sources claim that LSD was consumed at the rally. According to Cohen, those who took LSD "were not guilty of using illegal substances...We were celebrating transcendental consciousness, the beauty of the universe, the beauty of being."

***

One of psychedelic artist Wes Wilson's first poster images.

***

Trips Festival

"The Trips Festival," took place on January 21-January 23, 1966 at Longshoreman's Hall, organized byStewart Brand, Ken Kesey, Owsley Stanley, Zach Stewart and others.

 Ten thousand people attended this sold-out event, with a thousand more turned away each night. ^[12]

On Saturday January 22, the Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company came on stage, and 6,000 people arrived to imbibe punch spiked with LSD and to witness one of

the first fully-developed light shows of the era. ^[13]

***

::If You're Looking for MORE -
Poke Around at the Links Below!::


For the links below, you'll be better off to "open in new tab" - 
I didn't have time to make them pop up in a new window.  


http://www.thetripsfestival.com/

http://www.pranksterweb.org/trips.htm

http://www.skypilotclub.com/tripsfest.html

http://www.jambands.com/reviews/dvds/2008/03/27/the-trips-festival-movie

http://www.dead.net/features/news/next-tales-golden-road-trips-festival-encore-presentation

More Hippie on WIKI!

See More Wes Wilson @ Wolfgang's Vault!

http://www.wes-wilson.com/

Until next time...
If You're a Nice Person, Inform Your Face...
Don't Horse Around at the Top of the Stairs...
and DON'T Text and Drive!

Have a Grand and Groovy Day!! 
Click Here to Read More of 
the Ochorific Song o' the Day! 
If you liked it, share it!!

Please and Thanks!!

Want MORE of the Ochorific Song of the Day?  May I suggest the "New? Start Here!" page!