Playing real good for free

Mood: celebratory
Now Playing: "Fresh air" by Quicksilver Messenger Service
The scene at the Food Not Bombs free food distro in Monroe Park 4 p.m. every Sunday reminds me of the Diggers in San Francisco circa 1966-1968. Great vegetarian food, plenty of it, and propaganda of the deed, not the word. Multi-racial, multi-groovy, everyone from the homeless to the working poor to the poorly working to the freeloading. A youthful idealism, ignorance, and exuberance coupled with a unique fashion sense. All that's missing is the music. I'll never forget stumbling across the Flamin' Groovies, one of the original, if not the original roots rock band in a San Francisco park in 1968. They turned in a stomping, killer version of "Poison Ivy." As Joni Mitchell sang, they were playing real good for free. My sister once backed a candidate for Berkeley City Council and they shared the same election night space with another candidate, one Wavy Gravy by name. She said it was pretty pathetic, with all these old hippies trying to recapture the spark of their youth. When you think of it, how good a job would you expect of running an organization from a guy who couldn't even keep his own teeth? Still, everything old is made new again, every era builds on the previous eras, just as the hippies built on the beatniks. The spirit moves upon the waters whenever and wherever it wishes. The time and place, no one knows.