The Summer of ’69

26Jun09

Prelude to Aquarius – ‘68: The devastation of the Spring and Summer of ’68 when we lost MLK and Bobby, and then got screwed in Chicago led to a Winter of Discontent, with many of us wondering if the pain that started in ’63 would ever stop. One thing did start in ’68 that would be a precursor to our Dawning in ’69: In my first week long session as a Summer Orientation Advisor at UT Austin, I fell in with a group of incredible characters in the form of Media ’70 and the UT Summer Orientation Program.

Summer ’69: Let The Sun Shine. Those events of 40 years ago, in the Forty Acres (as UT was known) were deep down, mind blowing, and soul stamping times for me. Roy, Kindly Kay, Pete, Hunk, Milo, and our own (Benefit of) Mr. K, Jack Kaplan (Asst. Dean of Students) and a few dozen others – the characters sound like figures from some down home Wizard of Oz story, and so they were. That Summer of ’69 was so packed with world events and personal epiphanies that it sometimes does not seem real, and I have to check my 60 year old memories to be sure I don’t exaggerate or mis-speak.

Sixty-Nine Film Festival: To do it real justice, go out and rent (borrow, download, etc.) the following:

Across the Universe
Mamma Mia!
The Buddy Holly Story
Apollo 13
Woodstock
2001
Z
Billy Jack
Laugh-In and the Smothers Brothers
Summer of 42
Johnny Got His Gun
Easy Rider
Alice’s Restaurant
Dr. Zhivago
Zabriski Point
Medium Cool

and others that my friends will add to, and gather some few who remember,
lock yourselves in a lake house (somewhere around Hippie Hollow)
or on some slow moving river, with no frats, rednecks or radicals,
with plenty of ice, liquids, munchie foods, and loose clothes and
crank up the 40” Samsung LCDs in several rooms for about a week.

“….wandering form room to room ,speaking of Michelangelo…”

Lake Travis: When you finally stumble out into the sharp, mind-piercing sun of central Texas and dive into the cool, dark water of Lake Travis, and surface for a sweet deep breath of fresh air, look around you and in that instant, you may just have a clue about what I’m writing.

Food and Sunset: Then pile into the ’65 red Fairlane and drive to town, for some of the best Tex-Mex ever, and stop by Mount Bonell to bid adieu to the sun, Hill Country, and Lake Austin, before you have to catch your plane back to Hell, NY. Ha! Technology and memories are wasted on the kids today.

As pasted, posted but with no stamps on UT Summer Orientation (http://media70.ning.com/), The Green Hills of Earth (http://catahoula.wordpress.com/) and FaceBook ()

Barry Everett
UT ’67-‘71
Media 70
Austin Saturday Morning Fun Club
& Co-Founder of the New 60’s Generation

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