August 6th, 2017 was the 50th anniversary of the first Love-In at Griffith Park, Los Angeles with an enactment of 1960s-style peace, love and companionship by those picnicking on the grass. The nearby venerable 1920s Hershell-Spillman carousel proved irresistible to the celebrants, and fun merry-go-round rides, astride, lady-like or otherwise, were immediately on the agenda.
Many baby-boomers from that original era remain in fine enough fettle to really make the most of their fun. Some even confessed to ingesting psychedelics!
Pictured at the very top, left to right: Miss Mercy of Frank Zappa's fabled girl group The GTOs, Cher Torisch, onetime 1960s fashion model who can still pass for a model Georgianna Steele-Waller, and writer Terry Moreland Henderson. Above, Georgianna, Mercy and Terry are also seen on the carousel and picnicking.
Yours truly photographing others, guest photographer Georgianna Steele-Waller.
An oldskool vintage Griffith Park Love-In circa 1967, photographer unknown.
Seen below, your humble photojournalist 50 YEARS AGO in my school uniform, distributing peace, love and flower petals at The Westlake School for Girls.
Songs that one plays, iPod or car deck pick themselves, and mine on the way there most certainly did not reflect unbridled, joyous nostalgia. The '60s to me was an unhappy time of grossly obstructive, mean streak-beset parents plying road block after road block to a teen who had known her life's calling in the arts since she was 3, and who had already veered to center her talents in the entertainment industry coinciding with an innate love of music born of that era's great stock of same. In the 1960s I was known for being adventurous, tastes in music and beyond, but more precisely this represented efforts devoted to escapism, since I had neither the grounding of supportive parents nor of, given most teens' burgeoning hormone supply, the opposite sex. I had picked on an amazing 18 year old ladies' man with Byronic curls, creative as all get out, but it was wholly unrequited, albeit unrequited with a lot of interaction for two years. (see LINK* and LINK**.) I would never want to go back to my youth.
Instead my car deck choice to this occasion was from a later 1971 Jimmy Webb song "All My Love's Laughter" but from the male character version as sung by Jennifer Warnes on her excellent 1972 eponymous album produced (and weirdly! He had the future Grammy winner warbling 1967's "Magdalene My Regal Xonophone" by Procol Harum. I loved it!) by the Velvet Underground's John Cale. It reminded me of the ladies' man Bryonic curls guy.
"Don't lose your heart to
the beautiful sinner...
...he stands in the shade
and the light is there in him
but you'll never know 'til it's night...
Don't try to hold on
To Satan's proud baby
He stands with his flock
All alone on the hill...
...He's winning and you never will."
--fair use © 1971Jimmy Webb
Next on my agenda happily was a weekly dog playdate for the Golden Retriever Sarabelle and Scottish Deerhound Gia with their chums Diego and Quinn the Borzois, and Eroica and Fain, more Scottish Deerhounds. I was still clad in my polychrome retro-60s get up, as seen in the photo directly below, center, © 2017 guest photographer Kurt Ingham.
The human guests were Sherry, Ian and Paul, plus I was coming home to the love of my life and for the last 40 years, Mr. Twister. Trade-offs of aging aside and unmet professional aspirations yet to come, the present is infinitely better. The song I would play would be Pharrell's "Happy." Or even Keith Richards' version... ;-)
Below, Eroica with bunny ears; Sherry feeds the multitudes, and Twister, Ian and Paul laugh
at canine antics...
*http://fastfilm1.blogspot.com/2010/06/charisma-asserts-early-in-hollywood.html
**http://fastfilm1.blogspot.com/2011/01/tales-told-out-of-school-20-in-which-i.html
Heather,
ReplyDeleteYour photography and presence was much appreciated by the reveler's. This article captures the day!