Laurel Canyon

[RomanyX]

Isn't that the cover to an old Alice Cooper album, behind Frank?

Yeah, the first one, Pretties For You. You knew they were on Zappa's label, right?

Very LARGE image of the cover here:

http://i31.tinypic.com/1zp4ml5.jpg

Encyclopedic entry re the album (including an interview w/ the painter) here:

http://www.sickthingsuk.co.uk/albums/a-pfy.php

[IanEye]

Hot Rock Scene

[url=http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/24604682/page/12]Walking into Jonathan Wilson's Wednesday-night jam session is like being sent back 40 years, to when L.A.'s Laurel Canyon was home to rock royalty like Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne.
Artists such as the Black Crowes' Chris Robinson, the Jayhawks' Gary Louris, Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis and her boyfriend Johnathan Rice, and a fleet of newcomers and old-timers gather at Wilson's to make beautiful music and smell the Nag Champa.
"First time I went and walked through the beaded curtain," says former Crazy Horse keyboardist Barry Goldberg, "I swear I almost had a flashback."[/url]

Laurel Canyon 2008

[Fred Astaire]

The walrus wasn't Paul. It was David Crosby.

[AhabsOtherLeg]

That's got to be one of the longest things, in terms of sheer length, ever, in the whole history of longness.

Interesting, though. Since everyone and everything is in there, all connected up, it is nice to spot a single omission - it would be fun to email Dave and say "how come you mentioned Jerry Brown, but not his early connection to Jim Jones and the People's Temple, eh?! You'll just have to re-write the whole thing!" But I won't. Maybe it'll be in one of the forthcoming pieces.

Nice to see the Son of Sam connection - "their headquarters are on the coast" - and the bit about the Silver Shirts... and all of it, really.

Also, I remember reading that the exact "style" of sex abuse reportedly practised on the little boy Godo was later practised by Susan Atkins on her own son, for the same supposed reasons... maybe that was mentioned in the piece, but there were a few points when my eyes died because of the font size.

[American Dream]

AhabsOtherLeg wrote:

it would be fun to email Dave and say "how come you mentioned Jerry Brown, but not his early connection to Jim Jones and the People's Temple, eh?!

What was the connection?

[AhabsOtherLeg]

Jerry Brown (and many other Californian political figures of the time) thought Jim Jones was great in the early days, when they apparently saw him as nothing more than an activist and a Church Leader who helped poor people and held fund-raisers and above all delivered them block votes. Jim Jones was an aspiring politician in those days too, so it's maybe not that strange that he knew all these people.

Unlike most other figures deemed as cult leaders, Jones was able to gain public support and contact with prominent local and national United States politicians. For example, Jones and Moscone met privately with vice presidential candidate Walter Mondale on his campaign plane days before the 1976 election and Mondale publicly praised the Temple. First Lady Rosalynn Carter also personally met with Jones on multiple occasions, corresponded with him about Cuba, and spoke with him at the grand opening of the San Francisco Democratic Party Headquarters where Jones garnered louder applause than Mrs. Carter.

In September 1976, Willie Brown served as master of ceremonies at a large testimonial dinner for Jones attended by Governor Jerry Brown and Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally and other political figures. At that dinner, while introducing Jones, Willie Brown stated "Let me present to you what you should see every day when you look in the mirror in the early morning hours ... Let me present to you a combination of Martin King, Angela Davis, Albert Einstein ... Chairman Mao."

From Wiki, but it's all verifiable from other sources too.

I don't know how reputable this website is, but it does show just how popular and connected Jim Jones was in the 'Frisco establishment:

http://www.brasscheck.com/jonestown/pics.html#top

http://www.brasscheck.com/jonestown/jbrown.html

And in the Data Dump Hugh has an article more or less stating that Jones was not only CIA, but that his childhood friend, and possible case officer, was none other than Dan Mittrione!

[Code Unknown]

Also, I remember reading that the exact "style" of sex abuse reportedly practised on the little boy Godo was later practised by Susan Atkins on her own son, for the same supposed reasons... maybe that was mentioned in the piece, but there were a few points when my eyes died because of the font size.

Two tips for you: Ctrl-+ and Ctrl-- (Ctrl-Minus). One more: copy-paste.

Jerry Brown (and many other Californian political figures of the time) thought Jim Jones was great in the early days, when they apparently saw him as nothing more than an activist and a Church Leader who helped poor people and held fund-raisers and above all delivered them block votes. Jim Jones was an aspiring politician in those days too, so it's maybe not that strange that he knew all these people.

Unlike most other figures deemed as cult leaders, Jones was able to gain public support and contact with prominent local and national United States politicians. For example, Jones and Moscone met privately with vice presidential candidate Walter Mondale on his campaign plane days before the 1976 election and Mondale publicly praised the Temple. First Lady Rosalynn Carter also personally met with Jones on multiple occasions, corresponded with him about Cuba, and spoke with him at the grand opening of the San Francisco Democratic Party Headquarters where Jones garnered louder applause than Mrs. Carter.

In September 1976, Willie Brown served as master of ceremonies at a large testimonial dinner for Jones attended by Governor Jerry Brown and Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally and other political figures. At that dinner, while introducing Jones, Willie Brown stated "Let me present to you what you should see every day when you look in the mirror in the early morning hours ... Let me present to you a combination of Martin King, Angela Davis, Albert Einstein ... Chairman Mao."

From Wiki, but it's all verifiable from other sources too.

The Life and Death of Peoples Temple documentary [Google Video] covers some of this too.

[justdrew]

He wasn't originally a cult or dangerous at all seems plausible... so, anyone aware of new people around him in the weeks/months before he went loco and started plans to leave the country?

[AhabsOtherLeg]

Also, I remember reading that the exact "style" of sex abuse reportedly practised on the little boy Godo was later practised by Susan Atkins on her own son, for the same supposed reasons... maybe that was mentioned in the piece, but there were a few points when my eyes died because of the font size.

Two tips for you: Ctrl-+ and Ctrl-- (Ctrl-Minus). One more: copy-paste.

The Ctrl+ is brilliant! I'm supposed to know that kind of stuff, if only from spending ages on the computer. Just enlarged this very page three times, and I don't have to press my face up against the screen anymore.

Did you mean copy-paste the Atkins reference? I read it in a book years ago, probably either the Bugliosi or Ed Sanders books on Manson... the bit about what she did to her son was only mentioned in passing as an illustration of how fucked up the more aberrant versions of "free love" became, but it stuck in my mind because, well, I was a teenager.

If you mean copy-paste from MacGowan's epic Mahabharat of Madness, I would seriously recommend reading it all - probably best to set aside a month, though!

Ach, since I'm here anyway. On Godo:

The details of the incident that can be ascertained are, to put it mildly, rather disturbing. We know, for example, that a musician and writer named Raphael told writer Michael Walker that, before the child’s death, he had been present one evening at Vito’s place when Godo was brought out: “They passed that little boy around, naked, in a circle with their mouths. That was their thing about ‘introducing him to sensuality.’"

On Jerry Brown:

That gentleman, of course, was Ronald Wilson Reagan, who would govern the state through 1975, when he handed the reins over to Jerry, who, like his dad, had decided that he was a liberal Democrat. In fact, according to the media, Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown, Jr. was an ultraliberal extremist whose politics fell somewhere to the left of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.

During Laurel Canyon’s glory years, Jerry Brown resided in a home on Wonderland Avenue, not too many doors down from the Wonderland death house (and from the homes of numerous singers, songwriters and musicians). His circle of friends in those days, as some may recall, included the elite of Laurel Canyon’s country-rock stars, including Linda Ronstadt (with whom he was long rumored to be romantically involved), Jackson Browne and the Eagles.

On the Silver Shirts:

Thirteen years later, in September 2005, Cecelia Rasmussen of the Los Angeles Times added a few details to the story (“Rustic Canyon Ruin May Be a Former Nazi Compound,” September 4, 2005): “Southern California has been the cradle to many odd cults, credos, utopias and dystopias. Among the most mysterious are the ruins of a Rustic Canyon enclave once known as Murphy Ranch … on [Rustic Canyon’s] secluded and woodsy floor stand the eerily burned-out and graffiti-scarred remains of concrete and steel structures, underground tunnels and stairways leading from the top of the canyon to the bottom … Behind the locked and rusted wrought iron entrance gates and flagstone wall stand the traces of a small community that had the capacity to grow its own food, generate its own electricity and dam its own water … The hillsides were terraced with 3,000 nut, citrus, fruit and olive trees, and fitted with water pipes, sprinklers and an elaborate greenhouse. A high barbed-wire fence discouraged intruders … research indicates that it could have been home to up to 40 local Nazis from about 1933 to 1945 … armed guards patrolled the canyon dressed in the uniform worn by Silver Shirts, a paramilitary group modeled after Hitler’s brownshirts … A man known through oral histories only as ‘Herr Schmidt’ supposedly ruled the place and claimed to possess metaphysical powers.”

On Son of Sam :

“Van Cortlandt and Untermyer functioned as outdoor meeting sites for the cult.”

Maury Terry, referring to the cult behind the ‘Son of Sam’ murders (from The Ultimate Evil)

Just to the west of Laurel Canyon, and slightly to the east of Coldwater Canyon, lies a large estate known as Greystone Park, home of the long-vacant Greystone Mansion. The home, and the grounds it sits on, is said to be, to this day, the most expensive private residence ever built in the city of Los Angeles... Strangely enough, New York City once had a large estate known as Greystone as well. That Greystone was donated to the city as parkland, and it thereafter became known as Untermyer Park – the same Untermyer Park identified by Maury Terry as one of the two principal ritual sites used by the Process Church faction behind the ‘Son of Sam’ murders. The other site used by the cult was Van Cortlandt Park, named for Jacobus Van Cortlandt, a former Mayor of New York and one of David Van Cortlandt Crosby’s forefathers. Another of Crosby’s forefathers lent his name to Schuyler Road, which happens to run along the western boundary of the Greystone Park in the Hollywood Hills.

The Untermyer Park bit probably won;t mean much unless you've read The Ultimate Evil, but I thought it was interesting.

[AhabsOtherLeg]

He wasn't originally a cult or dangerous at all seems plausible... so, anyone aware of new people around him in the weeks/months before he went loco and started plans to leave the country?

I think he was mad all along (there were stories of non-sexual child abuse and his "unique" methods of drug rehabilitation - ie. making folk go cold turkey while they fixed up his properties for no wage - since the very start of his Temple) but it suited some people not to notice, and some even seem to have helped cover it up.

After Jonestown, they covered up their earlier accquaintance with him.

[justdrew]

He wasn't originally a cult or dangerous at all seems plausible... so, anyone aware of new people around him in the weeks/months before he went loco and started plans to leave the country?

I think he was mad all along (there were stories of non-sexual child abuse and his "unique" methods of drug rehabilitation - ie. making folk go cold turkey while they fixed up his properties for no wage - since the very start of his Temple) but it suited some people not to notice, and some even seem to have helped cover it up.

After Jonestown, they covered up their earlier accquaintance with him.

just looking at his wiki bio... fate or something worse seem to have had him in mind from an early age. His KKK father did a number on him, then his mother post separation seems to have provided a civilizing influence, then in with the American Communist Party, the help getting started in the methodist church... he at least would have drawn the wrong kind of attention early on...

[Code Unknown]

Also, I remember reading that the exact "style" of sex abuse reportedly practised on the little boy Godo was later practised by Susan Atkins on her own son, for the same supposed reasons... maybe that was mentioned in the piece, but there were a few points when my eyes died because of the font size.

Two tips for you: Ctrl-+ and Ctrl-- (Ctrl-Minus). One more: copy-paste.

The Ctrl+ is brilliant! I'm supposed to know that kind of stuff, if only from spending ages on the computer. Just enlarged this very page three times, and I don't have to press my face up against the screen anymore.

Happy to be of help.

Did you mean copy-paste the Atkins reference? I read it in a book years ago, probably either the Bugliosi or Ed Sanders books on Manson... the bit about what she did to her son was only mentioned in passing as an illustration of how fucked up the more aberrant versions of "free love" became, but it stuck in my mind because, well, I was a teenager.

I actually meant copy-paste re making long online texts easier to read - i.e. copying them from your web browser and pasting them into MS Word or your preferred easier-on-the-eyes text viewer.

If you mean copy-paste from MacGowan's epic Mahabharat of Madness, I would seriously recommend reading it all - probably best to set aside a month, though!

I have done and I agree (although it didn't really seem that long to me).

[AhabsOtherLeg]

For what at times seemed to be a single unbroken paragraph, it was pretty long! Who does he think he is... Faulkner?!

@ Justdrew, Hugh has a great piece on Jim Jones' possible intel links in the Data Dump. It's a great read.

http://www.rigorousintuition.ca/board/v ... =jonestown

I hear V.S. Naipaul did a great little book on Jonestown too, not a conspiracy book as such, but I'd love to get a hold of it. If anyone ever comes across a .PDF or a site with extracts, please let me know.

[Avalon]

Also, I remember reading that the exact "style" of sex abuse reportedly practised on the little boy Godo was later practised by Susan Atkins on her own son, for the same supposed reasons... maybe that was mentioned in the piece, but there were a few points when my eyes died because of the font size.

Jesus.

I had the picture of Godo/Godot Paulekas from the 1966 Life magazine on my bulletin board for a few years. May still have it in a box somewhere in the attic. He was the most beautiful child I'd ever seen. Breathtakingly beautiful.

http://www.illuminati-news.com/articles2/00215.html

[AhabsOtherLeg]

Also, I remember reading that the exact "style" of sex abuse reportedly practised on the little boy Godo was later practised by Susan Atkins on her own son, for the same supposed reasons... maybe that was mentioned in the piece, but there were a few points when my eyes died because of the font size.

Jesus.

I had the picture of Godo/Godot Paulekas from the 1966 Life magazine on my bulletin board for a few years. May still have it in a box somewhere in the attic. He was the most beautiful child I'd ever seen. Breathtakingly beautiful.

http://www.illuminati-news.com/articles2/00215.html

He was beautiful, no doubt about it. I didn't know much about him before reading the MacGowan articles, though - but I can see why Kenneth Anger wanted to put him in a film, even without the sinister motives hinted at in the piece.

I can even see why he would be cast as Lucifer - who was, after all "the most beautiful of all God's creations."

Bearing in mind the reported manner of Godo's death, and what MacGowan insinuates about a diabolist (ie. semi-christian) cult angle, the words about Lucifer's "fall" are hard to take.

"Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee."

No one could ever be dumb or stoned enough to attempt a literal reenactment of Lucifer's fall, thinking it was cool and groovy, could they?

Sadly, stranger things have happened.