Summer of 1967

Okay....this is the DVD that I didn't watch last night. I think I left it at Travis' last summer for him to watch. It didn't dawn on me until I put a CD of the Festival in my DVD player that...oops, not the DVD! That's what happens when you become a woman of a 'certain age.' So instead of watching the summer of 1967, I'm listening to it as I write this. Specifically listening to Jimi Hendrix, and even without the visual cues, I remember exactly, precisely, in vivid color his performance and all the others at Monterey. My friend, Christine, and I drove to the coast from Bakersfield where we were working. A year out of nursing school, we thought we were pretty worldly...good jobs, boyfriends, living in an apartment with a pool. But the Monterey Pop Festival was a truly eye-opening experience! We drove into a world filled with hippies and flower children, psychedelic colors and peace signs, long hair and pot. And music--wonderful, wonderful music. We went eager to see Booker T and the MG's, Lou Rawls, and Otis Redding and left enthralled with Janis and Big Brother, Grace and the Airplane, and Eric and the Animals. And Jimi! Oh my! I'd never, ever seen or heard anything quite like Jimi...raw, rhythmic rock and roll with a stage presence that was sexual and overpowering. Chris and I weren't the only ones in the audience that were totally blown away when he set his guitar on fire as the grand finale to his performance. Damn, that was good! It was truly the dawning of the Age of Aquarius that weekend in June. We felt embraced by love and good vibes and peace even in the midst of the huge crowd of really 'out there' people. Or maybe it was just a contact high from all the pot?

We worried a bit as Otis took the stage in the final set Saturday night. Would this crowd of flower children even like him? Not to worry....Otis literally brought down the house. All of us were dancing in the aisles by the time he finished playing. I find myself smiling even now forty years later remembering all those good vibrations from the summer of 1967.