Friday, February 02, 2007
Viva Chet
On the 30th anniversary of the Summer of Love, Paul and Linda McCartney donated a collection of 1960s photos to support their friend Chet Helms efforts to keep the spirit of hippy counterculture alive. What this press release in 1997 did not contain, though, is an account of the ways in which the now deceased Mr. Helms contributed to the anti-commercial philosophy that shaped so many lives since. Free concerts, free love, and free minds just seemed to go together in Chet's world--one in which he operated an art gallery in San Francisco so far behind in his rent that the landlord had trouble remembering what year it was that Chet last paid rent. Something about Chet and his embrace of his adopted city, though, prevented the property owner from giving him the boot.
In this, the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, perhaps there's a lesson there for us all.
In this, the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, perhaps there's a lesson there for us all.
