Episode 16: East of Eden
We start our tale of Paradise Lost in Buena Vista Park, San Francisco, in the fall of 1967. Hippie, the Devoted Son of Mass Media, is dead, and the San Francisco Diggers are conducting the funeral.
From the funky streets of the Haight we head east a couple miles to the Fillmore West, and meet a complicated man, concert promoter Bill Graham. It was during these early years in San Francisco that Bill created the rock concert experience.
Then a brief trip to Texas, where Janis Joplin cleans up and then heads back; to San Francisco to find her family. We get to know Janis a little better, and talk about her early work with Big Brother and the Holding Company--and what happened when Janis left Big Brother.
We’ll spend a little more time on the Big Picture. Politically, culturally, in pretty much every way, 1968 was a pivotal year, in America and around the world.
Then across the Bay, to the lands that lie East of Eden. We’ll meet two very different acts, that interestingly enough, have similar stories: Sly and the Family Stone, and Creedence Clearwater Revival.
We close it out with a short meditation on the aftermath of the Summer of Love. We still dream it and dance to it.
Songs
Grateful Dead: “Ripple” from American Beauty, 1971
Jefferson Airplane: “Embryonic Journey” from Surrealistic Pillow, 1967
Youngbloods: “Get Together” from The Youngbloods, 1967
Jefferson Airplane: “Somebody to Love” from Surrealistic Pillow, 1967
Santana: “Soul Sacrifice” from Santana, 1969
Grateful Dead: “Uncle John’s Band” from Workingman’s Dead, 1970
Quicksilver Messenger Service: “Fresh Air” from Just For Love, 1970
Otis Redding: “Shake!” from Monterey Pop, 1967
Canned Heat: “Going Up The Country” from Living the Blues, 1968
Jimi Hendrix: “Hear My Train A Comin” From Jimi at Winterland, 2016
Bessie Smith: “Baby Won’t You Please Come Home” single released 1923
Roy Orbison: “Only The Lonely” from Lonely and Blue, 1960
Janis Joplin: “Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)” from I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama! 1969
Big Brother and The Holding Company: “Summertime” from Big Brother and The Holding Company, 1967
Big Brother and The Holding Company: “Down On Me,” from Monterey Pop, 1967
Big Brother and The Holding Company: “Ball & Chain” from Monterey Pop, 1967
Big Brother and The Holding Company: “Piece of My Heart” from Cheap Thrills, 1968
Grateful Dead, “The Other One” from Anthem of the Sun, 1968
Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Fortunate Son,” from Willie and the Poor Boys, 1969
Canned Heat, “On The Road Again,” from Canned Heat in Concert, 1970
Creedence Clearwater Revival: “Proud Mary” from Bayou Country, 1969
The Rascals: “People Got To Be Free” from Freedom Suite, 1969
Sly and the Family Stone: “Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” single released 1969
Sly and the Family Stone: “You Can Make It If You Try” from Stand! 1969
Sly and the Family Stone: “Everyday People” from Dance to the Music, 1968
Sly and the Family Stone: “Sing a Simple Song” from Stand! 1969
Creedence Clearwater Revival: “Suzie Q” from Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1967
Creedence Clearwater Revival: “Proud Mary” from Willie and the Poor Boys, 1969
Creedence Clearwater Revival: “Run Through The Jungle,” from Cosmo’s Factory, 1970
Creedence Clearwater Revival: “Down On The Corner” from Willie and the Poor Boys, 1969
Creedence Clearwater Revival: “Travelin’ Band” from Cosmo’s Factory, 1970
Creedence Clearwater Revival: “Who’ll Stop The Rain” from Cosmo’s Factory, 1970
Sly and the Family Stone: “Everybody Is A Star” from Stand! 1969
Books
Diamond, Jared: “Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies”
Echols, Alice: “Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times of Janis Joplin”
Fogerty, John: “Fortunate Son”
Gitlin, Todd: “The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage”
Goldberg, Danny: “In Search of the Lost Chord: 1967 and the Hippie Idea”
Graham, Bill and Greenfield, Robert: “Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock & Out”
Selvin, Joel: “Summer of Love”
Sheehan, Neil: “A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and the American Experience in Vietnam”
Stephens, Jay: “Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream”
Talbot, David: “Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love”
Online Resources
American Songwriter Magazine: http://americansongwriter.com/
Robert Christgau: https://www.robertchristgau.com/
Diggers Online Archive: www.diggers.org
Fillmore West Set Lists: https://www.setlist.fm/venue/fillmore-west-san-francisco-ca-usa-13d71555.html
Dorian Lynskey: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/dorianlynskey
Rolling Stone Online: www.rollingstone.com
Dr Carl Sauer https://www.thoughtco.com/carl-o-sauer-biography-1435008
Joel Selvin: http://www.joelselvin.com/
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum .https://www.ushmm.org/
Films and Documentaries
Monterey Pop, Directed by D.A. Pennebaker
Little Girl Blue, Directed by Amy Berg
Online Videos
Quotes from Jerry Garcia and Ron Thelin, retrieved from YouTube: https://youtu.be/aF6uWimm9Gk?t=99
Bill Graham quotes, retrieved from YouTube: https://youtu.be/NjKIvEeGpKE and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRnllpZ7diM
Summer of Love: The Way it Was, Canadian Television Documentary, retrieved from YouTube: https://youtu.be/pEejp5_UMyQ?list=RD9G8O7mkIjpM
Walter Cronkite, CBS Evening News, retrieved from YouTube: https://youtu.be/tuwBvXYGIQA
Jay Stephens contributed his own voice to the podcast. (Thank You Jay!) All the other author voices were performed by actors.