Comments on: The Day a Beatle Came to Town

By: larry mason

larry mason — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:55:10 +0000

I used to deliver mail to 1520 Hill St. arriving at the door to put mal in the box was always a hoot. You never knew what you would find or see. I talked to David and Leni many times. They were always friendly and usually funny. While I didn’t subscribe to their lifestyle at that timke Ann arbor had many lifestyles. The 60 & 70s were wild and funny times.

By: anna ercoli schnitzer

anna ercoli schnitzer — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:38:44 +0000

Mark Hodesh, who now owns the Downtown Home and Garden Store on South Ashley St., owned the nearby Fleetwood Diner at that time.

He reports: “I was working building banquet seats for the Fleetwood that night. After he got out of prison John Sinclair was an occasional customer, his brother David was a regular.”

By: Hiawatha Bailey

Hiawatha Bailey — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:59:00 +0000

Alan what a wonderful piece of work. The thing that I most enjoy is how it has set-up a framework for others to express as they recall!
Onward through the fog!
All power to the People,
Hiawatha and The Cult Heroes

By: Liz Hodgins

Liz Hodgins — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:06:53 +0000

Hey, just want to shout out to Hiawatha that there’s no doubt in my mind that your memory is amazing. Thanks to you I remembered long forgotten episodes from the late ’60s when we hooked up in A2 in 2002. Thanks man, and peace, love & light to you in 2010.

By: Roadsidedinerlover

Roadsidedinerlover — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 01:02:33 +0000

Stevie Wonder, aged 21, came on at 2:30 AM and said, “This is to any undercover agents in the crowd” and played “Somebody’s Watching You.” Later a FOIA investigation revealed FBI agents were taking down every word. Lennon came out, announced, “The Pope smokes dope” and performed his composition “The Ballad of John Sinclair” and three other original songs with Yoko. Two days later, an appellate court freed Sinclair on bail.

Afterwards, Phil Ochs was wiretapped and followed, and the INS initiated proceedings to deport Lennon because of old pot bust in England. The protracted fight soured him from performing for political causes [but he was planning to do so when he was shot dead in 1980].

Source: Stand and Be Counted by David Crosby and David Bender

http://www.veryimportantpotheads.com/site/lennon.htm

By: Roadsidedinerlover

Roadsidedinerlover — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:35:57 +0000

There is a 16mm or 8mm homestyle film of this concert somewhere in Ann Arbor. Yoko Ono will not allow its release. Shame on her! Maybe after she is gone, we will get to see it. Funny thing about that chair at Herb David.The first time I saw it, I was told by a clerk that the chair is not the ORIGINAL chair that Lennon sat in.The owner has it at his home supposedly. The second time I wanted to see it with my English friends. The clerk shooed us away and could not be bothered. The other two stories I heard about Lennon and his Ann Arbor visit….he went to the basement of the Blind Pig. (now the 8 Ball)Supposedly he met with some of Ann Arbor’s radical element.Also, stevie wonder was interviewed about this gig, and he commented about the FBI have a large presence at this show.

By: glenn

glenn — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:47:14 +0000

this was a fun article to read!
miss the ann arbor & all the great organizations that were;
read poetry with donald hall, john, ed sanders and a lot of other poets at hill aud. shortly after john’s release
so many tragedies, highs and hardships later – remember LB’s limo green bentley of sinclair/lennon fame, too -

By: anna ercoli schnitzer

anna ercoli schnitzer — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:27:38 +0000

Reminiscing about those days when the White Panthers maintained their big old house on Hill Street: I once took part in a protest rally with a group of White Panthers, including some of their little children, to try to prevent McDonald’s Corp. from tearing down a historic home on Maynard and establishing a franchise there. The historic house was destroyed, the McDonald’s was built, but it was a pretty little building (Hobbs and Black were the architects, I think) although it did not last long at that location–it caused lots of controversy at the time.

By: Jim Rees

Jim Rees — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:39:06 +0000

I’ll vouch for Hiawatha being more familiar with the Stooges than the Beatles, both personally and musically.

I stupidly got in line many hours before the doors opened, thinking I’d get a good seat. Chrysler has many doors, and the one I was standing at was one of the last to be unlocked. I was nearly crushed to death and didn’t even get a very good seat.

The highlights for me were Stevie Wonder and Commander Cody. I was a huge Beatles fan so John’s performance was a bit of a let down although it was great to get to see him.

I’ve still got my souvenir 45 with the Up’s “Free John Now” on one side and Alan Ginsberg’s “Prayer For John Sinclair” on the other. The parking lot was littered with them after the show.

By: Dan Madaj

Dan Madaj — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:18:24 +0000

I remember the concert as about 1/10th music and 9/10ths speeches, set-up, and “in-between-time,” but my perspective should be suspect; after all, I did once fall asleep during a Springsteen concert.

The Rainbow People did more than take drugs and grow their hair, by the way. College friends and I subscribed to the People’s weekly neighborhood grocery program: two bags of Eastern Market vegetables for a few bucks. Between the group of us, we usually figured out what was what, but we were all stumped by kohlrabi. We thought it was from off-world. I called the Rainbow People number once to check on the vegetable schedule, and was greeting by a sing-song-y “Free John Now!” , in a cadence that seemed more appropriate to “Tip Top Bakery!” I’m not knocking the sloganizing; directly or indirectly, it worked.