Free Speech: themusicalrevolution.com

So we're cruizin' along, gettin so high and feelin so mellow - driving slow like you do when you're stoned. Up ahead there's two more dudes hitchin' a ride. We stop and I say, "where to boys?" They hop in and introduce themselves. They are Billy and Joe, two brothers from Seattle. Not only are they brothers, but they are brotha's (two black dudes). Just so happens these dudes are musicians trying to get to San Francisco. They want to go to Haight Ashbury and hang out. So I say, "Dudes, got any money for gas?" Billy gives me a $20 bill and says, "You guys like to smoke hashish?" Man, this trip was gettin better every minute. So we decide to keep the hashish for later, I am feelin' cool already.

We all decide to get to Santa Cruz first to see War, spend the night on the beach and then go onto San Francisco the next morning and hang at Haight Ashbury. It's getting around noon and we are all having the munchies from the pot. So we decide to go into a Dairy Queen and munch out. We are one ragged looking, but cool group, Now we are in a little cowboy, redneck town called Lincoln. We aren't thinkin' straight or we never would have stopped in this ole hick town (People back then hated hippies as much as they hated blacks). So we trip on into Dairy Queen just being hungry and wanting to get on the feed bag. Man, everyone in Dairy Queen stops and stares and gives us looks like they got rope in their eyes. (wanta string us up). The girl at the counter acts like we have some kinda disease. She copps attitude with us - doesn't want to wait on us. So I take over and say, "Hey chick, just give us our order and we'll do ya a favor and split and go somewhere else to eat." We get a sack load of hamburgers, fries and drinks and stumble outta there. As we get in the car, I look back and everyone is staring at us outta the windows of Dairy Queen. We all flash the peace sign to them and split just laughin' like crazy.

So we're just about into Santa Cruz and we see two chicks hitchin', and the dudes in my car start yellin at me to stop and pick 'em up. So being the kind taxi driver that I am, I oblige. These two chicks are so cool, Cindy and Dawn. Believe or not, they are on their way to see War too. So now I have myself, my sister, two chicks and three dudes in my car. Man, it's good that my old station wagon will seat about 10 peeps in it. We have 7, almost full.

The chicks have some tyrolia with them, (good ass cheap wine that was a hippie favorite) and some righteous homemade peanut butter cookies. Man, we muched out.

We pull into Santa Cruz just about 4pm. None of us had stopped to think about staying warm on the beach that night. So we make a fast trip to the nearest thrift store, buy some pillows and blankets
and some cool clothes to wear to the concert. The show starts at 7pm. We see a fruit stand near the beach so we load up on some delicious pears, apples, plums, bananans and apple juice. We still have a 1/2 tank of gas, so we knew we have enough to get to San Francisco the next morning.

Man, we are at the concert and War is kickin' butt. Those dudes can play. There's so much pot at the concert, (those days everyone shared). War's singin', "All my friends are low riders; Cisco kid was a friend of mine; and Why can't we be friends?" We be feelin' good and have no pain at all. We all sleep on the beach that night. The stars are spectacular, we party all night long. Drinkin' Tyrolia and eating luscious fruit. We are so damned happy. We are just flying by the seat of our pants, no worries, we know we'll make it back to Chico, no prob.!!

Haight Asbury is so cool, hippies all over the place. We are truly fucked up and decide we are gonna find where the Grateful Dead live, we just knew they'd invite us in and party with us. Well, we get sidetracked by some cool peeps we meet and they invite us over to their crib. We party all day with them, they feed us homemade burrittos and sangria. Kathy and I have to get back to Chico cause we both work Monday morning. So we get ready to split. Jimmy Walker decides he loves Sis so he comes back with us. We're not sure if we have enough gas to get back and one of the cool hippie chicks at this pad says " Here, you can have this". She hands me this big ass jar with about 3,000 pennies in it. We all start laughin' so hard I fall to the ground. I give her a hug and say, "Thanks my sister". We take the jar with us. You should have seen the bank teller when we walked into the bank early Monday morning to cash in the pennies. I'll never forget that. Man, we had enough to fill the tank plus stop by Dairy Queen on the way home. It was one righteous trip. Kathy and Jimmy set up house and had a great time together for about 6 months and then he went back to Chattanoga Tennessee. Hey, I have alot more of these stories of my wild and stoned days of the 70's goin to rock concerts. Check in for the next edition.