The
Late 20th Century
The
quality of photos was reduced for the sake of download
time constrains
In the 1960s I (can't speak
for others) was reading Ralph Waldo Emerson &
Alan Ginsberg and listening to The Fogs, Peter,
Paul and Mary, Donovan, Bob Dylan, The Rolling
Stones, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane,
Hendrix, The Doors, The Cream etc. There were
also the Cold War and Vietnam War, human rights
movements, sexual liberation and a growing
antiwar movement that I participated in. So I
took a stand on many of those issues and was
called a hippie; thus I became one of the 2% of
young Americans between the ages of 15 and 25
that formed the 1960s Hippie Movement.
In 1970s, at about the time when the Vietnam War
was over a gay liberation movement swept across
many American cities. It was a time for
celebration! There were many house parties and
celebration in Chicago and everywhere. By the
1980s things slowed down and changed due to the
spread of the HIV virus. Many babyboomers felt
burned out and the economy also started burning
out. Due to the depressing situation and family
reasons I decided to move to Europe to join my
Mom who decided to relocate there instead of
moving to Arizona or Florida. I never planned to
stay there long but one thing led to another and
I has the rare oppertunity to witness the
Solidarity Movement, the fall of Communism and
the tearring down of the Berlin Wall. After that
came the expansion of the European Union, which I
prefer to call the United States of Europe.
My secret hope is to see the EU and the North
American Union forming an Transatlantic Union one
day because I'm all for peace, love, freedom and
free trade. Yes, we're still on a frontier of a
new age that began with the 1960s freedom
movements. So lets move on in that spirit of
peace, love and freedom to do what makes one
happy and forget past grievances that may still
divide us.
Below are some of my photos from 1960-80s. More
albums are in the photo galleries on top of this
page.
Click
on a thumbnail to enlarge the image
My first guitar. Chicago 1966
I bought my
first guitar in 1966
with money I got for Xmas.
Paul McCartney and his first guitar ("The
Beatles Anthology").
In 2003, I found out that Paul
McCartney's first guitar
was also the Blues & Jazz "F" hole
type like my first guitar.
Later, I also found out that he wanted to become
an English Teacher.
That's another coinsidence because I've been
teaching ESL abroad for years.
By 1969 my guitar looked like this
when I hit the road.
Finally, I sold it in Europe when hard pressed
for cash.
Wisconsin
1976
Chicago's
Lakefront 1979
With
Tantra Yoga Guru friends from India, Planet Earth 1992