Dave McGowan, dying...

[PufPuf93]

I bought McGowan's Laurel Canyon book several months ago. The only three books I have purchased in the last three years for financial reasons are Dave's book, PKD's Exegesis, and Gravity's Rainbow. I decided to re-read all of Pynchon, had not read GR since new and could not find my copy, and had never read V before (and now stuck on last chapter of copy borrowed from Humboldt county mobile library van).

I was somewhat disappointed as the McGowan read was less on edge than waiting months and even years for a new chapter. I have not read Dave's other books but have read virtually all the website which I found before I found RI (I had n earlier account at RI and did not have internet access for two recent years). McGowan had 9-11 pegged as a false operation within a week of the event. He also caused me pause to re-consider the moon landing.

Also to have included the photography of the online version would have greatly improved the published presentation.

Being as Zappa is one of my very few cultural heroes, I was ready for some mind twisting. Especially as I wonder about how Frank would feel about some of Gail's actions and I did not know Gail's background. I was at boarding school in the Bay Area in late 60s and saw many of the Laurel Canyon bands in the day. It never occurred to me how incestuous the scene was as I was so San Francisco oriented much less that the scene was some sort of social experiment.

I went to 5 rock shows in 1967/1968: the Doors at Winterland, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band/Blue Cheer at original Fillmore, Byrds/Mike Bloomfield and Friends at Fillmore West, Everly Brother/Pacific Gas and Electric at Fillmore West, Mothers of Invention at Eureka Municipal Auditorium, and Cream at Oakland Coliseum. Quicksilver played at a school dance at the boarding school attended in Marin in 1967. Also saw Dead for free in Golden Gate Park and Arlo Guthrie at a demonstration for the Presidio Seven (?) at Marina Green. My roommate "Eric" in 68/69 boarding school had a mother very big in Democratic politics. She actually lost the Democratic primary to Harry Reid when Reid first went to the Senate. I stayed with Eric's family and the McCarthy family when McCarthy campaigned in SF and we stayed in the Clift Hotel. Us kids went to Fillmore West and saw Creedence. Eric's sister was McCarthy's daughter's roommate at Putney school. Eric and his Mom have passed away.

Bands I saw from McGowan's book contemporous included Mothers, Byrds, Love, Doors, and CSNY (officially then only CSN but Young joined them for an anti-war benefit at Winterland). I was a hardcore Winterland and Fillmore West kid 1969 to 1971, 40 or so shows, and later saw much good music as an undergrad at Cal 74-75 and 77-79 and Cal grad student 85-87.

The Byrds show was odd as no Dave Crosby and very centered on Roger McGuinn (I did not know about his name change and other specifics of that time). They basically played two sets of 3 to 5 minute songs that sounded like the records. The audience ended up booing them off the stage during the second set. Mike Bloomfield and Friends was really rocking. The Friends were folks from Electric Flag and Butterfield Blues Band and others. Part of the show was sold on a double album later. I had never even heard of the bands but they were hot. During the second Byrds set, Bloomfield came on stage, plugged his guitar into an amp, and blew the Byrds off the stage while the audience booed and the rest of the Friends came back for a third set.

Also saw Poco that had some of the folks associated with Buffalo Springfield in 1970. Saw Steppenwolf and Paul Revere and the Raiders (Mark Lindsay is in McGowan's book). The Steppenwolf band was John Kay and others. Steppenwolf and Paul Revere and Raiders were at Tahoe casinos later in the 70s.

Saw Zappa on a dozen or so occasions. The first time was at Eureka Municipal (which I have never seen on a Mothers/Zappa show list but he had the audience do the mud shark). Later saw multiple times at Fillmore West, Winterland, and Berkely Community Theatre. Saw single shows at Circle Star Theatre (that was odd) and Rainbow?? Theatre in Portland. Last time saw Zappa was in 85 or 86 at Zellerbach Auditorium where his music was played by symphony with these huge puppets doing ballet. Missed the 1988 tour.

I was surprised with hindsight (hindsight surprise, maybe not right term) that Pacific Gas and Electric and Spirit were never mentioned as both were LA bands from that era that had similar corporate promotion in the Hollywood rock scene. PG&E had singles but a major member joined a freaky Christian cult. I loved Spirit. Saw them at Fillmore West and then Halloween 1970 at Winterland second billed to Ike and Tina Turner Review. The last rock live music I attended was Spirit (California, Cassidy and others) at a bar in Eureka in 1994!!

Another maybe related show I attended on a hs field trip no less was Hendrix with a post Experience Band at Berkeley Community Theatre in 69 or 70. IIRC McGowan mentions Hendrix too. The first time I realized about Jim Morrison's Admiral father was from McGowan. California from Spirit had played with Hendrix before The Experience or Spirit came to be.

About LSD. The first time I experienced LSD was soon after I had been sent to boarding school in Marin from Humboldt county in Fall 1966. The first weekend we could be free another kid and I took a Greyhound from San Rafael to the 7th Street Terminal and a taxi to the Haight. The Haight was prominent in nearly every day's SF Chronicle. Some older kids offered us "love burgers" and dosed us. I was 13 and had just learned of masturbation and had not tried it yet. That "Love Burger" was the first non-meat (except PB&J) and bean sprout loaded sandwich of my life. We had a good time and ended up spending the night under a bush in Golden Gate Park. I had never been drunk nor had I ever smoked tobacco and refused pot that day because I did not smoke and my recollection is that I may not have even heard of marijuana then. Soon thereafter smoked my first joint under the cross in Boyd Park behind Mission San Rafael. Took LSD on purpose at the Doors Winterland show. We were so sweet as Leah was townie (Terra Linda) and I was cadet at San Rafael Military Academy. We took LSD together and were first with each for petting but were saving our virginities (and orgasms in practice) for marriage to each other, we even discussed how many children we would have and other details of our future life together. . I have a posed picture of us together at the Fall 1967 Formal with me in my dress blues and her with heels and corsage. We were children. Rudy my lifelong friend who shared that joint in Boyd Park (RIP from heart attack in 2006) and Nancy Sue were also along in Nancy Sue's mother's station wagon. Nancy Sue at 16 was the only one old enough to drive. We told her Mom we were going to the beach and might be back late because we would go to a movie or something. Her Mom assumed Stinson Beach whereas we were off to the Haight, Playland at the Beach, and the Doors. We didn't get back to Terra Linda until 3 or 4 AM to one unhappy and worried Nancy Sue Mom.

Back to LSD and all the CIA trials and other good stuff we might talk about at RI. The LSD was everywhere and was often free or more often $1 a hit in white lightning or orange sunshine tabs. One knew it was safe because everyone took it and one saw the same sellers week after week plying the rock show lines. I only took it at rock shows or in nature or at Black Bear events with LSD obtained at the rock shows for later or mescaline mentioned below. If one freaked out, there were stations at the shows and the free clinic in the Haight and I never knew anyone that actually needed that attention. With hindsight one has to wonder why Bill Graham or other promoters weren't shut down or people busted?

Also in high school I had a large stash of synthetic pink mescaline which was probably my favorite psychedelic because it was smooth rather than the violence and eeriness of the LSD and provided fine colors, pulses, and trails. One of the kids at the 2nd boarding school I attended had a brother come visit from Newport Beach and 5 of us spent the weekend putting a kilo of the powder in gel caps at a SDS safe house in the Mission District (where another older sibling of a capper was living). We went and saw Procol Harum and Poco at Fillmore West that weekend. I had over 100 caps that I used and gave away for over a year.

Later while an undergrad at Cal one could still get white lightening or orange sunshine at Bill Graham rock shows. The first two years I lived with my Humboldt county GF in a 6 flat building in Durant and one of the neighbors was a Cal Chemistry grad student who made blotter acid. We would take that acid in lesser amounts to get high because pot would be hard to get. We would go midnights on Saturday to the Metaphysical Film Society with "Dave" the acid chemist and his GF. Prior to 1974 was just the beginning times of Humboldt pot growing with no sinsimilla and no indica yet. I have only grown 7 plants in my life, all since med was legal and have never sold drugs or used heroin, meth, or crack, prior to 1986 I would use cocaine but only ever bought grams twice. In 1975 I took LSD for the last time and it was this red and green Christmas acid obtained but not taken at a Dead show. Four of us guys took it at a George Harrison / Ravi Shankar / Billy Preston concert at the Oakland Coliseum. We way way overdosed and would probably have been fine if the concert was about a day longer. My GF was our babysitter fortunately but she had a hs GF from Indiana visiting who was straight.

Later I took mushrooms 15 or so times. All were grown by a friend who got a kit in the back of a magazine and they were either at Dead shows with that friend or my exe wife backpacking. One exception was a GF after the divorce and my return to Berkeley took me to a Chinese New Years Dead show at SF Civic in 1987 complete with mushrooms for my birthday. That was last time I took a psychedelic. I took ecstasy twice in Berkeley in 1985 and 1986, once legal and once illegal. The same GF had a friend who was a Cal chemistry grad student who made the ecstasy and we took it once at a chemistry student party -- really weird as no drinking or smoking but rooms in this Oakland Victorian were designated for cuddling (all pillows and mattresses or dancing or talking or ...) The illegal time was at a Dead show at Oakland Auditorium. In 1985 psychotherapists were openly advertising ecstasy therapy before the feds classified the drug.

This post seems to have degraded into rock and roll or psychedelic war stories but what is intriguing is reading books like Storming Heaven and Acid Dreams and accounts all over the internet like here at RI or McGowan's site and wondering if one was part of a social experiment by virtue of being present and willing at a given point of time and space. I tend and like to think of the experiences as positive and they are some of my favorite memories but also at the time caused some problems. The problems came to me largely because I was not shy about what I considered positive experiences, totally freaked the parents and was always a ready excuse invalidate me by some family.

I have started the past two days to write something for the "gifted", working back and then working forward and have incomplete drafts so my mind was ripe for this post. Part of those drafts are people I met and who supported me from Cal. I may delete all or part of this post later.

Best to Dave McGowan as cancer is a bitch and I thank him for the pleasure of having him in my life and whether or not his dot connecting is all or in part valid, I salute Dave for his effort and generosity and get the vibe that he is a kind man, the best kind of man.

[jlaw172364]

I must say, that's an excellent analysis. The bit about the hijackers not knowing they were going to die didn't occur to me into a few years after the attack, although I was suspicious right away. Compartmentalization would have been the key there.

[semper occultus]

....wow....some great recollections....a fantastic read...

...I haven't got round to reading Laurel Canyon yet but on the face of it I'd have thought a pretty high proportion of 60's kids would have had fathers involved in the military to some degree for obvious reasons of historical timing...

[divideandconquer]

I have a friend who graduated college in 1969. She was very much a part of the whole 60's "flower child" scene and that included political activism...protesting in Washington DC, etc. She told me, the following year--actually less than 6 months later-- she visited her friend at her alma mater and was shocked to find a completely different campus: absolutely no sign of the 1960s scene that was so prevalent and rampant less than six months before, as if she were visiting an entirely different campus in an entirely different era. She said she felt as if she were in the twilight zone.

Of course, I couldn't tell her what I thought because how do you begin to explain that the 1960s hippie counterculture might have been a top-down creation of the military-industrial complex without sounding like a total loon? But her little anecdote further confirmed my belief that McGowen is definitely onto something. Because if the 60's cultural revolution truly emerged from the passions of a younger generation, how does it totally disappear in less than a year? The only answer I can come up with is that the architects and provocateurs decided to end it.

[82_28]

^^^^^Well, that certainly sounds like a premise for any old PKD book!

[PufPuf93]

To DivideandConquer (for some reason the quote button isn't working for me)

I am just winging this post from my imperfect recollection.

The Summer of Love (in San Francisco and Haight-Ashbury) was 1967.

The Haight mostly self-destructed from the overwhelming influx of flower children, predators, speed, and commercialization.

In 1967 the politics, music, and drugs were mostly shared values but this soon fractured.

An early favorite band of mine was Country Joe and the Fish. Joe's Mom was actually Mayor of Berkeley while I was an undergrad at Cal in mid/late 70s.

In 1968 non-political but lifestyle peeps began to leave the City for rural life styles.

Except Winterland, the ballroom music scenes were defunct in San Francisco by 1971.

The Haight still had as street scene in the 70s but the neighborhood turned way dark.

The street political protests centered on Vietnam but had four phases.

-- Incubation in the Berkeley Free Speech Movement.
-- The Presidential election in 1968 - I attended a McCarthy rally, a Humphrey rally (where longhairs were "boxed"), and a George Wallace rally at the Cow Palace (where there were certainly more protestors/mockers than supporters and may have been as many Tact Squad as supporters, this was before Wallace was shot.
-- Violence peaked surrounding the Berkeley Peoples Park riots in 1969 - I went on a high school field trip to the University Art Museum in the middle of a riot and some of our group were tear gassed walking from the bus to museum through the crowds.
-- Anti-war protests from 1967 to 1972.

Political people and lifestyle people fractured as a movement in 1968

One could still get LSD easily at Dead shows up to my last Dead show in 1987.

The people who were influenced by the Kesey/Dead nexus were lifestyle rather than political -- Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out

If the scenes were managed by a hidden hand of the MIC, this political disengagement was their goal.

The political radicals (SDS, Weatherman) were angry at the detached "flower children" lifestyle.

People often confuse Berkeley the town versus Cal Berkeley.

I spent 4 stints at Cal but prior to being a student at Cal I was familiar with Berkeley as attended two boarding schools about 400 miles from my parents 8 to 12 grades so very free.

I didn't start university until age 21 and had a two year break. Two years post undergrad spent a quarter as a Fed employee. Then spent 2 years in a grad program.
The students got more conservative over time, largely because the University was so competitive. There is/was a larger proportion of foreign and Asian students that contributed to this as the University population was over time less the middle class California white native.

I have not been to Berkeley (nor San Francisco) since 2003, but the trend from the 1980s to then seemed to be the gentrification to yuppies of former student and counter culture living space. There was still street scene on Telegraph Avenue that began in the 60s but had become commercial and increasingly yucky since the early 70s.

I had long accepted COINTELPRO but also that the very idea of the program had impact. It was not until the internet and McGowan and others had floated the idea that the movement turned movements had the hidden hand of the MIC.

Humans like other animals are territorial by nature. For a very brief time the addition of music and psychedelic drugs freed some people of this territorial instinct. The time has influenced much of popular and political culture of the last 50 years. The also time scared the hell out of the powers that be and the conservatives and there was blowback that continues to this days eg the demonization of liberals. The popular drugs and music today are much more coarse.

McGowan's pointing out that many of the musicians that set the tone of the times came overwhelmingly not from military backgrounds but from military intelligence backgrounds and wealthy families is food for thought and maybe even sobering especially given the existence of Lookout Mountain Lab atop Laurel Canyon. Brainwashing is often subtle grooming. I partook of the lifestyle scene but the time more so determined the trajectory of my politics to present. I was also there because I was obsessed with learning and being effective in my field of study. Alas that time has not bore the fruit of such promise.

[PufPuf93]

82_28

I am a Dickhead and PKD is one of my very limited canon of cultural heroes.

My home is a tiny and remote gold mining era town that is heavy to American Indians. There is only a three room elementary school here now, when I was a child there were two classrooms / 8 grades. The nearest high school is 30 driving miles away (on what most would say is a difficult road and more so then) on the Hupa Reservation.

There was an Episcopal Church here from the 1860s to the early 1970s.

My grandparents had a hunting and fishing resort from 1921 to 1958 and located on the adjacent property was another Episcopal property, a summer seminary.

The Episcopal Church owned San Rafael Military Academy that existed from the 1860s to the early 1970s.

SRMA would use my grandfather's guide services and the kitchen at the resort at times and cadets as well as seminarians visited for many years.

My parents with good intentions but to my surprise and nothing I would ever do to a child sent me to SRMA in Fall 1966 when I entered 8th grade and I was there for 8th and 9th grade before moving to another boarding school. I would not enjoyed the times described above or be the person I am -- good and bad -- had my parents not made this decision for me.

SRMA was intimidating to start and somewhat schizophrenic. The day was highly structured. The faculty and staff was a strange mixture of retired military, Episcopal lifers, and others. There were two young seminarians in each dorm as dorm masters. I was exposed to physical and sexual abuse and bullying. Fortunately I was not a victim except for group punishments. It was in spots wonderful but overall a creepy and dark place that should not have the right to exist.

The young seminaries and others in the Episcopal Church were anti-Vietnam War activists and also subject to the social upheaval of 1966 to 1968, my time there.

Bishop Pike had recently resigned as Bishop Of California under threat of a heresy trial. He was a hero to the young seminarians; the same seminarians that influenced me against Vietnam. I had no idea of PKD at that time nor that PKD was living in Marin. I moved grade 10 to another more liberal and coed boarding school and the same "Eric" in my 1st post in this thread, my roommate, got "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" from the Science Fiction Book Club and I was hooked. I probably had read PKD short stories prior but without a strong reaction. Edit for non-Dickheads: Bishop Pike was a personal friend of PKD who participated in séances with Pike in attempts to contact Pikes' suicided son. The last novel that PKD wrote and the 3rd book of the VALIS trilogy was The Transmigration of Timothy Archer. Angel Archer, the central character in TTOTA, Bishop Timothy Archer's DIL, was IMO by far the best female character written by PKD. usually his female characters resembled his repetitive female troubles. Bishop Timothy Archer was Bishop Pike and the story is based on Bishop Pike's story. TTOTA is probably the most straightforward narrative of any PKD novel.

When I moved to Berkeley for Cal, I was already a career US Forest Service employee and it was arranged for my to work part time at the Pacific Southwest Research Station that was in Berkeley for many years. Only later was I to learn, upon reading the Sutin PKD bio, that PKD's mother had worked in the same office for many years. One of my obsessions for years was collecting PKD; there are 5 shelves of PKD in my library. I have one version or another of just about everything published by or about him up until 2007.

One of the 100 original slip cased and check tipped PKD signature Collected Stories
Six volumes of Collected Letters
Slip cased HC VALIS and Cosmogony and Cosmology
Nine non scifi novels, all except Confessions of a Crap Artist in 1st Ed HC
Complete set of Philip K Dick Society Newsletters of which was charter member and later spent years on the email lists that ensued.
Original and Director Cut versions of Bladerunner that I have never watched.
HC first edition of Nick and Glimmung.
HC first edition of Ubik screen play
Ann Dick Bio
Zeising's Dark Haired Girl Collection
etc etc etc

I bought the Exegesis but have not even been tempted to crack the volume but did read Selections from the Exegesis.

[Hunter]

Thanks for the cool posts Puff, good stuff...


I am heartbroken by this news, huge loss, like a few others I had a chance to meet him on occasion, SUPER good dude, indeed the very best kind of guy and he had a sharp mind, WAY too fucking young to die like this and we all lose without a guy like him around anymore.

Peace Dave.

[NeonLX]

Fascinating. How izzit that I'd never heard of David McGowan until now?

Thanks for this thread, y'all.

[conniption]

Was glad to find Sott still has Dave's work on their website...

Sott

Inside The LC: The Strange but Mostly True Story of Laurel Canyon and the Birth of the Hippie Generation Part 1

Dave McGowan
The Center for an Informed America
Thu, 08 May 2008

©Unknown

Frank Zappa: Pro-war, authoritarian, and what else?

[Hunter]

Fascinating. How izzit that I'd never heard of David McGowan until now?

Thanks for this thread, y'all.

Did you find his site, Center For An Informed America. Some must reading on there, his 9-11 stuff gets high marks, he covered Boston and used to take issue with Crisis Actor Theory but he went all in on that on and said it was staged and they were all crsis actors, he probably lost some fans on that one but I think he did it as respectfully as he could, he was simply telling what the pictures told him, he never over reached, just said this is what the pictures are telling me. It is a touchy subject for sure. He did make me rethink moon landing and his Laurel Canyon stuff is just FUN, true or not (and I think it is MOSTLY true, which is exactly what he titled it, the mostly true story of...).

Give him a read!

[Hunter]

Fascinating. How izzit that I'd never heard of David McGowan until now?

Thanks for this thread, y'all.

Did you find his site, Center For An Informed America. Some must reading on there, his 9-11 stuff gets high marks, he covered Boston and used to take issue with Crisis Actor Theory but he went all in on that on and said it was staged and they were all crsis actors, he probably lost some fans on that one but I think he did it as respectfully as he could, he was simply telling what the pictures told him, he never over reached, just said this is what the pictures are telling me. It is a touchy subject for sure. He did make me rethink moon landing and his Laurel Canyon stuff is just FUN, true or not (and I think it is MOSTLY true, which is exactly what he titled it, the mostly true story of...).


The nice thing about Dave is that he never really over reaches on things like many CTers do, he simply looks VERY closely at the evidence and then tells you what he sees. He doesnt suggest you believe him he just presents the evidence with heavy dose of hilarious sarcasm.
Give him a read!

[Hunter]

I had the day off today and as a tribute to Dave I went and read the whole Boston Marathon series in one sitting. I thought he did a great job, I dont generally believe in crisis actor stuff and I think some of it like at Sandy Hook, is designed to poison the well, but with Dave at least he is genuine about it, it is really what the pictures are telling him, he doesnt really put a lot of spin on it or try to make arguments to support his case, he posts the pictures and points out interesting things, he does however believe very strongly they were crisis actors and I just do not know how to process that. Some people that were most certainly NOT crsis actors were injured or killed in that event so I dont know how one explains that, Bauman the guy in wheelchair with no legs could be a CA, but I am not sure, but lets assume he is, what is the point of it when there is no doubt there were in fact real people hurt in the event. a bomb did go off, I have no problem questioning who may have really been behind it but it does seem that SOME real people were injured and killed but it also seems like MAYBE some were there as part of a drill. I just do not know how to process it and to what end it all means.

[PufPuf93]

Here is a direct link to Dave's The Center for an Informed America with his internet writings: http://davesweb.cnchost.com/index.html

Here is a link to Dave's Facebook for Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: https://www.facebook.com/WeirdScenesIns ... n/timeline

If one goes down the left column to Visitor Posts and clicks on the ">", one gets a number of RI relevant stories in the news (quite active)

[Belligerent Savant]

.
Been following McGowan's writing since his first few online postings in 2000. I initially 'discovered' McGowan from a contribution he made to a book I purchased, disinfo's "You Are Being Lied to", edited by Russ Kick; I believe this was the piece from the book that led me to his site: http://www.davesweb.cnchost.com/littleton.htm

He and I exchanged a few emails tinged with a semblance of whatever remained of our idealism at the time.

I vividly recall seeking out his his website immediately after 9/11 for his commentary on the events surrounding that day (and the subsequent news coverage that followed), his words succinctly and astutely capturing my initially raw presumptions/observations with clarity and precision (and a measure of wit that I largely appreciated... though at times found a bit misplaced in later writings. Regardless of any reservations I may have harbored with any of his later theories, I always immensely enjoyed reading his words.)

I join others in wishing him well and hope he hangs around for many years to come.
He may well be under the palliative care of alternative treatments (cannabis oil, etc), if for nothing else than to dull the pain and/or help ease the pathway towards that place just beyond our mortal field of vision, where we intuitively communicate and intersperse freely with the trees and the sky and the earth -- our Elders -- clear of white noise, obstructions, and the perpetual density of our currently shared experience.