Guest speaker: Carolyn “Mountain Girl” Garcia
PROGRAM NOTES:
In this podcast we hear a talk given at the World Psychedelic Forum in Basel, Switzerland in March of 2008. The speaker is the one and only Carolyn “Mountain Girl” Garcia, who has been a legendary figure in the psychedelic world since the early 1960s. Here is part of what Wikipedia has to say about Mountain Girl:
Carolyn Adams, (born May 6, 1946),[1] later known as Mountain Girl and Carolyn Garcia, was a Merry Prankster and the wife of Jerry Garcia. After growing up near Poughkeepsie, New York, Adams met Neal Cassady in 1964; who introduced her to Kesey and his friends, one of whom gave her the name “Mountain Girl”. Cassady took her to La Honda, Ken Kesey’s base of operations, where she quickly joined the inner circle of Pranksters and was romantically involved with Kesey, having a daughter by him named Sunshine.[2] The Grateful Dead song “Here Comes Sunshine” may or may not be an allusion to Adams’ and Kesey’s daughter (the Dead were fond of lyrics having double, often personal meanings).
Before actually marrying in 1981, Jerry Garcia and Adams had two daughters.[1] Garcia and Mountain Girl ultimately divorced in 1994,[1] however, they remained personal friends right up until Garcia’s death a few months later.
In her talk, Mountain Girl told many stories linking her time with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters to the evolution of the Grateful Dead and her life with Gerry Garcia and the rest of the band. This is perhaps one of the best encapsulations of The Sixties you will hear.
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Comments from original blog page: http://www.matrixmasters.net/blogs/?p=274
Felix
What an inspiring talk. She really is a bodhisattva, Lorenzo is right.
Did anyone make out what she said her favorite song was, near the end? I would like to know…
spidermiranda
Hey Felix–It was hard to hear but I believe the song Mountain Girl mentioned was “Attics of my Life”. A great song choice and a really moving talk. Interesting too the question from Kat Harrison McKenna about how powerful culture-changing women relate to the powerful culture-changing men in their lives. This may be the hardest nut of all to crack in the shift. I know in my own life the balance between two psychedelic partners can be challenging/maddening. When you begin again, the male/female dance seems to be at the core of every move, and perhaps our oldest most fundamental “habit”. Who leads, who follows, when do we switch, what is written in the bone, and what is subject to reinterpretation and evolution? The depths of the self and the transpersonal and even trans-transpersonal that psychedelics reveal seem to push partners to truly strive for that elusive alchemical marriage of being “alone together.”
I haven’t given up yet, but boy is it a challenge…
Warlocks
Recently, a whole collection of previous unseen and extremely rare Acid Test posters and handbills has been discovered, including a couple pieces of original artwork by Jerry Garcia. Included in this collection was an original hand-colored handbill for the Palo Alto Big Beat Acid Test, as well as a Poster for Mother McCree’s at the Tangent in 1964, a Poster for the Warlocks first paid gig at Magoo’s on May 5, 1965, a poster for the Warlocks fourth performance at Frenchy’s on June 18, 1965, Phil Lesh’s first gig. A set of tickets for the In Room in Belmont on Sept. 1, 1965 and a poster for the first Acid Test at the Spread in Santa Cruz on Nov. 27, 1965 as well as a Fillmore Acid Test handbill and a handbill for Carthay studios in Los Angeles on March 19, 1966. It also appears that Jerry Garcia designed several of these items himself.
The site that features all of this and more is here: http://www.postertrip.com/public/department37.cfm
There are 33 pages altogether, which can be accessed from the main page.
The whole collection can be viewed here : http://www.postertrip.com/public/5591.cfm
Further details like the Jerry Garcia original artwork can be viewed here:
http://www.postertrip.com/5584.cfm