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and Now For Something Completely Different!

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2019/09/global-climate-strike-920-worldwide-eco.html

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https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/03/growing-up-in-los-gatos-california-in.html

Here is a Brief Chapter From My Life...

One peak experience in Los Gatos while I was in High school was attending "The Tower of Power" concert outdoors at the Chateau Liberte... In the Redwoods near Summit Road...  I remember going with my friend Rich Field  ( a trumpet player) to the Concert. We saw how "The Tower" achieved the flute to trumpet blending on the song "Diamonds Sparkling in the Sand". One man walked towards his microphone while the other walked away... both were playing the same note... This amazed Rich as he was a jazz band member at school and this effect was a mystery to him until we saw it done... I also remember that the Hell's Angels and The Gypsy Jokers Motorcycle clubs both arrived at the concert at the same time and I was concerned that there would be violence... so I walked to the other side of the concert as far as possible away from them.... Years later I learned that they OFTEN partied together at the Chateau and my fears were unjustified... and then I rode down the mountain in a convertible sports car... all while I was high on LSD, so every emotion had amplified significance... what a wonderful trip.

and then... 

I remember playing my harmonica at a school play with Barry Hill. It was called "Sneaky Fitch is Dead" and I had a great time performing... Every new scene had a song to listen to while the actors and stagehands got ready for the next scene... A segue...

We also performed "Hippie from Olema" by the Youngbloods at a talent show in the high school gym. Barry Hill, Rich Field and Nancy King and Rachael Ludlum were also in the band. Washtub Bass, Jug, Guitars. harmonica and Washboard...

In 1971, a friend of mine went to San Francisco and went to the Fillmore West and came back to our high school and said... LET"S BUILD OUR OWN using the old mill in the center of town. We formed an organization called "Youth Unlimited" and got the Town to Sponsor Us with $1 per year rent for Forbes Mill. 

That was the beginning of The Forbes Mill Teen Club in Los Gatos California... We had a light show and electric rock music every weekend... On Wednesday nights we performed folk music.  I was the head of security and did advertising posters. I used the mimeograph machine at the High School to print the posters for upcoming shows...

"Youth Unlimited" first held a concert in the Rec Room of the Presbyterian Church next to Old Town on University Ave. There was a live rock band that featured a saxophone player with an electric sax. We also formed a drum circle outside with me playing harmonica and a couple of guitar players. 

Since we had Town sponsorship of our "Teen Club" thru the organization Youth Unlimited, we had to make sure no laws were being broken at Forbes Mill or the police would shut us down. Certainly no drinking or illegal drug use or housing of runaways. My take on law enforcement was to direct potential lawbreakers to the nearby hole in the fence that lead to the wooded area next to the freeway.  I admit that a lot of laws were broken on State of California property, but that was NOT MY CONCERN. I was responsible for making sure that OUR property was crime free.

The light show was created by using four slide projectors and two spinning wheels with variable speed motors that blocked the light from reaching the white wall behind the bandstand. Each cardboard wheel had holes cut into it so that the slides would be projected in a stroboscopic manner.  Some slides were abstract art created by "crystal craze" paint and others were photographs.

We also owned a strobe light and I learned to not point it at the electric organ player because the blinking light made it impossible to see which keys were black and which were white...

"Youth Unlimited" also built a crisis center called Fre-Ba-ZAK House.  It was in an old wooden home on North Santa Cruz Ave. The idea was to have a place for runaways to have a safe location to negotiate with their parents. Kids that had nowhere else to go could go there ... My friend Richard Bergholdt worked there as a counselor. I used to go there because it was a fun place to go talk with other classmates... I remember drinking coffee and discussing weighty subjects late at night. One time I went there because I couldn't go home. I had gone to the Ike and Tina Turner concert at the San Jose Convention Center and took a Large Dose of LSD. I had to wait until my parents went to sleep before going home. It was a great concert and I remember that MANY of the students at LGHS went. I also remember listening to the FM radio there. Talks by Alan Watts about Buddhism... and the story "The Cave" by Plato. There were some totally free radio stations then. They had the freedom of selecting what to play and when to play it. I heard "Space Hymn" by Lothar and the Hand People at Fre-Ba-ZAK House.

In the 1960s I made tie dyed shirts using rubber bands and boiling the dye... one color... RIT brand named dye... Mom sewed a shirt with bell sleeves and a Nehru collar... I wore it with a bell around my neck. Like, totally "mod" like the fashion that was popular with the teenagers in England... 

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https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/03/growing-up-in-los-gatos-california-in.html