Hallowed Ground

Recently we have been coast to coast from NYC to San Francisco. While NYC was great and exciting, I could see how you could go crazy there very quickly. Fast paced, horns always honking, 3 million cabs, theft/muggings like we saw at a drug store, cabbies that did not speak any English and so on. We had the best times with Kevin and Megan eating at a nice Italian restaurant and the most fabulous pizza place in Greenwich Village. I was truly disappointed to see that the Fillmore East had been turned into a bank, hallowed ground destroyed. Not only that, NO one in that area even knew where it was from young kids to old people like me.

So we went to SFC in two weeks for a real vacation not related to work or a bike trip with Mark. We stayed at a quaint motel within walking distance of Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown and the Coit tower where Jack Kerouac and all the people of the original beat generation hung out in the early 50's at North beach. That was all fun and we went to the Haight Ashbury district where the SF music really stared in 1965, saw the house that all the original Grateful Dead lived before they moved from the city to Marin County to get way from everything in the early 70's.

But by far the highlight of the trip for me was a visit to the original Fillmore Auditorium that opened in 1965 under Bill Graham's guidance. At the intersection of Fillmore and Geary, there it stood. We had tickets to see Ozomatli which was really secondary for me, I would have gone to see the place no matter who was playing. I was totally in awe of the poster collection, probably 500 of them on the walls from the very first show there with Bill Graham's Mime Troupe to today shows with bands like Rage, Wilco, Queens of the Stone Age and others. The place was originally a dance hall so the chandeliers were still up and there was a great dance floor and we sat in the side area which had little areas that stuck out over the floor and so you could see the floor, the soundboards, the bars (3 of them) and all the pot smoking rising when the lgiths came down.. While we are watching the band, I slipped off into a dream world of what it would have been like to see the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin with Big Brother until 3-4 in the morning and all the bands that started the real Sf sound of the mid to late 60's. It truly was hallowed ground for me in an earthly sense that all the history that happened in the place from 1965 to 1971 when Bill Graham closed this place and the Fillmore East in NYC. The one time I was in SF before, my friend was home sick by then on top of me making him go see Frank Zappa, The Dead at the Hollywood Palladium in LA and Chick Corea in a small jazz club.

We actually slept in the car up on a hillside in Berkeley until a cop knocked on our window at 3 in the morning and made us leave. The next day Tom was begging me to head for home. Living in Tulsa my entire life I realized how much I had missed in those days when I could have gone there before I went off to college three weeks later. I know those days are long over but it was wonderful for me to at least see and dream about what it would have been like.

So, go to places, travel while you are young and don't miss the events and places that will he historic during your time. Don't let history be created without you being a part of some of it. I have always dreamed of taking my three boys to a Super Bowl, final World Series game or final Stanley Cup game to just do this together for the memory regardless again of who was playing.

Too much life and history and events can pass you by and seeing it on TV doesn't cut it.

One more request, please vote for President next year. This will be the most important race of your generation and your kids, keep that in mind when you decide who to vote for and what effect the next President will have on your life and your kids and their kids.

RickDad.