George Harrison on Haight Asbury
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- Опубликовано: 9 июл 2012
- George Harrison interviewed about what Haight Asbury was REALLY like...
"We went up to San Francisco in a Lear jet. Derek took us to visit a disc jockey, and we went straight from the airport to the radio station in a limo. The DJ gave us some concoction and then we went off to Haight-Ashbury. I went there expecting it to be a brilliant place, with groovy gypsy people making works of art and paintings and carvings in little workshops. But it was full of horrible spotty drop-out kids on drugs, and it turned me right off the whole scene. I could only describe it as being like the Bowery: a lot of bums and drop-outs; many of them very young kids who'd dropped acid and come from all over America to this mecca of LSD.
We walked down the street, and I was being treated like the Messiah. The Beatles were pretty big, and for one of them to be there was a big event. I became really afraid, because the concoction that the DJ had given me was having an effect. I could see all the spotty youths, but I was seeing them from a twisted angle. It was like the manifestation of a scene from an Hieronymus Bosch painting, getting bigger and bigger, fish with heads, faces like vacuum cleaners coming out of shop doorways... They were handing me things - like a big Indian pipe with feathers on it, and books and incense - and trying to give me drugs. I remember saying to one guy: 'No thanks, I don't want it.' And then I heard his whining voice saying, 'Hey, man - you put me down.' It was terrible. We walked quicker and quicker through the park and in the end we jumped in the limo, said, 'Let's get out of here,' and drove back to the airport.
It certainly showed me what was really happening in the drug culture. It wasn't what I'd thought - spiritual awakenings and being artistic - it was like alcoholism, like any addiction. The kids at Haight-Ashbury had left school and dossed out there, and instead of drinking alcohol they were on all kinds of drugs.
That was the turning-point for me - that's when I went right off the whole drug cult and stopped taking the dreaded lysergic acid. I had some in a little bottle (it was liquid). I put it under a microscope, and it looked like bits of old rope. I thought that I couldn't put that into my brain any more.
People were making concoctions that were really wicked - ten times stronger than LSD. STP was one; it took its name from the fuel additive used in Indy car racing. Mama Cass Elliot phoned us up and said, 'Watch out, there's this new one going round called STP.' I never took it. They concocted weird mixtures and the people in Haight-Ashbury got really fucked up. It made me realise: 'This is not it.' And that's when I really went for the meditation." 
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George never lost his Bullshit detector
This is called Paris Syndrome, when a place doesn't measure up to what you imagined it to be. There probably was a period of time, maybe a few weeks in 1966, when things were perfect. But by the time summer 1967 came along, the scene had been ruined by wannabes, con men, and the media trying to commercialize it.
The HaighAshbury had it's own media. There was a center of media publiacists there.
Couldn't that be said regarding any progressive movement? The mad men move in when they smell a product.
Like music and film festivals?
@@nowisthetime12 Grunge music, culture, etc. as well
It was never perfect. It was always hordes of drop outs trying to live a disingenuous and contrived life that altered daily if not hourly.
George just arrived a couple years too late, for what he expected. By that time it WAS just bums, bad drugs, rip-offs and dog doo.
Actually his visit was in August of 1967 - the height of the "Summer Of Love". Every movement, like the now dead "Occupy Wall Street" has its core of true believers, but will eventually draw a lot of deadwood partying sycophants who are just there for the drugs and an excuse to be bums.
Yea speed took over
Sounds like you weren’t listening lol
Imagine you are in the middle of the Beatlemania,and the Beatles mean everything for you,since you were a little kid.
And then,out the blue,George Harrison appears,while you are high,on Lsd.
Man,that would have been the experience of your life.
I had a similar revelation on my first trip to San Francisco. When I got to Haight Ashbury I realized that people there were no more enlightened about utopia or human potential than anyone else. Mostly just a lot of intellectually challenged runaways on the street panhandling and way too many shops selling cheap Indian incense, jade jewelry, Tibetan prayer flags, Jimi Hendrix posters, overpriced plastic toys, etc.
Haight/Ashbury scene died in 1968. So if you went recently to check out the scene, you were waaaaaaay behind schedule.
@@Indienads This was over 20 years ago. I was not expecting the 1968 scene. I knew the place was like a stage set maintained to SELL souvenirs to tourists. But the sidewalks still had runaways who sat on the pavement asking for money. Little tribes of unwashed kids with one or two dogs.
@@rr7firefly Haight: It's like an over-processed dim memory of what was.
@@Indienads The merchants keep the myth going = $$$
@@rr7firefly I still dont understand what your point is. That a huge modern metropolis has a homelessness problem...?
Derek Taylor ( 1:12 ) said they really started to worry as word spread that a Beatle was around, the crowd kept growing and it started to get out of hand. They had no security, so they very carefully as to not offend anyone got out of there.
I think from his vantage point, expecting to find a sort of Renaissance Faire of creative energy only to discover the myth was far grander than the reality of assorted drop-outs with enlarged pupils, he actually saw the forest for the trees which led him ultimately to seek a deeper spiritual quest. Being from that era, and looking back now, it is clear it was only a glitch in time without cohesion or really any coherency and ultimately meaningless. Harrison just saw it for what it was as a visitor looking in at the moment of its occurrence.
nahnni
he expected it because he peddled the message in his band's songs? He admits his peeps called him a messiah.
Speak for yourself.I became an artist because of that era and played music with Robert Lansing's son 3,000 miles away in Blacksburg,Va.1997-2000.
One fan who was living in Haight Asbury at the time of George's visit...Charles Manson. Charlie would go on his own Magical Mystery Tour the following spring in a stolen school bus with his merry band, ending up in Los Angeles.
They had The Diggers. That alone is pretty magical and would make a great movie.
“Your revolution is over, Mr. Lebowski. Condolences. The bums lost. My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose.”
How was your meeting Mr. Lebowski?
Sounds like how I thought new york city would be and how I found out it was actually just a buncha bums and bullshiters saying nothing worthwhile. lol I love George's un'rosied and sincere memories. :)
I concur :)
yeah if you spend all your time hanging out in Midtown lol. NYC has fewer bums per capita than just about any other major city in America. The ones they do have all go to Midtown, like a big beautiful magnet keeping the rest of the city clean!
Juliana Brown that's exactly what I found...mean hateful people
I an a huge George Harrison fan, but I have only just over the past few years been reading about the extent of his cocaine use in the early 70s. I know everyone was doing it then, but I would have loved to hear him talk about how and why and when he left that behind.
Don't believe everything you read.
I don't think LSD and other psychedelics are the problem. It's the combination of LSD, living in a city, and living in a society built on greed. Firstly, psychedelic substances come from nature originally, and so the best way for people to have proper trips is to be close to nature, not in the middle of a city. Secondly, with the system we live in, many people are just trying to make as much money as possible, so the entire culture becomes commercialized and alot of people sell fake versions of the drug, as well as other, more harmful drugs.
A small community of people living in a commune near nature, with pure uncut psychedelic substances, cannabis, and away from money, factories, vehicles, police, etc would have a much easier time reaching enlightenment and increasing their artistic/musical creativity and ideas.
Probably the craziness of all of the factors ive mentioned may have caused some people, who may have already been previously mentally unstable, such as members of the Manson family to form violent cults.
Psychedelics themselves are not a bad thing, they are by nature, completely neutral. Both positive and evil demons can possess a person's mind, which is why they must be taken properly, with proper research, drug testing, and guidance (could be from music, books, teachers, etc). The reason the hippie movement failed is because people just rushed to take any drugs they heard of, many being fake, and without proper preparation, research, guidance, etc.
The other problem with the old drug culture is that too many different kinds of drugs were taken. People need to understand the difference between Psychedelics and Junkie drugs. Psychedelics are compounds found in nature, and pure psychedelic substances like Peyote cactus Mescaline, psilocybin mushrooms, and uncut LSD are non lethal. Ofcourse they can have negative effects on the psyche if not used properly, but physically they are safe as long as they are pure. Also psychedelics are non-addictive, and in fact they have such a high tolerance that one has to wait several days before taking it again.
The thing is, the hippies in the 60s were often not just doing Acid and Weed, but also more messed up stuff like pills, cocaine, ecstasy, booze, etc. These are drugs that are both highly addictive and also physically harmful. Some like cocaine and alcohol can cause terrible mood swings.
The combination of taking psychedelics (which amplifies all current emotions, physical feeling, and accelerates and confuses thought) with taking what I call ''junkie drugs'' (non-natural drugs with are addictive and harmful like ecstasy/coke) could cause some sort of insanity. Addiction is a cycle which is extremely hard to break, and being on psychedelics while also being heavily addicted to another substance could make a person realize theyre in an unbreakable cycle. Additionally, the harmful effects on the body combined with psychedelics will make a person no longer feel human anymore. This could be the reason for such cults.
The problem with much of drug culture is that it categorizes all drugs into the same category. In reality, substances such as Cannabis, LSD, Psilocybin, Mescaline, DMT, on their own will not necessarily cause negative outcomes, and could in fact improve many peoples lives. But with all the f***d up drugs and natural drugs put together its just a world of confusion and insanity with no outcome.
@@eduardhsia5337 agreed
I think it's largely due to the way the media portrayed the place as a sort of utopia with love and flower power. I don't think there were as many reports on the dark side of it all.. had there been, George may have been better prepared on what to expect. Funny enough, the Stones doc. from Altamont is a more gritty version of what was going on.. Hells Angels, violence, over crowding, etc.
This is exactly how I felt when I moved to the Bay Area some years ago. I understand what George Harrison was thinking. When doing my research online I though it was this sort of utopia with love and social equity for all...then come to find out it was even just as, or even more narrow minded and racist as most other places in America. My great hope \ dream was destroyed...However there was no limo and plan waiting to take me out of there.
Ditto with kids going to Seattle in the early 90s. No Utopia there, either.
You were years late George ..... by the time you arrived most of the original tribe had gone North to the mountains and the forest
What Harrison is describing is the observation of conformity where he didn’t expect to see it, among people he didn’t expect to exhibit it. But this is the reality of conformity: it’s predicated on the existence of a GROUP, ANY group. It doesn’t matter what you purport to believe, what you supposedly stand for. These hippies - the ones Harrison encountered - thought they were nonconformists when they really simply changed the style and expectations of conformity. They thought the only conformists wore gray flannel suits. It’s important to understand this because modern American politics is built on the illusion they WERE nonconformists, that revolution is the answer and that we can identify those who support revolution simply by virtue of their appearance, and that - most prominently to this day - a person’s physical appearance and style are what make them interesting.
Just another wise man pointing out the failed generation. For people who claim to be so spiritually developed, they sure do seem to have strong egos. Also very unfortunate that they were willing to commit violent acts on such a peaceful man. No matter, soon enough things will be good for everyone. The actual creative revolution is happening now and the selfish have no part in it. Maybe the whole "summer of love" and 60's counterculture wasn't like this but a lot of it was, just a bunch of self entitled copycats (from my point of view) looking for a leg up, and this is exemplified in the consumer culture born by these same people in the 80's. More I read into it, sure, much of the 60's was genuine (look at George and the rest of the Beatles), yet most of it was bullshit. I still love this generation as they have brought us to this exact point, but they are addicted to themselves and their wealth. It's coming to the point in time where they will have to decide whether to help society or keep serving their own selfish goals. Boomers, Be here now. Be content with what you have presently, realize you are fine with or without. Treat others with respect. Relax, because everything is ok, and realize real wealth isn't in numbers, rather in friends and in having fun and creating fun for others in life! Peace.
You nailed it. The vast majority of Baby Boomers participating in the Summer of Love were the losers who couldn't hack it back from wherever they came. They showed up in California looking to get high, get laid and then "find themselves." They were not really about changing society so much as trying to get society to pay for their fun and BS. The great majority of them eventually went on to find jobs. A small number even became wealthy, or at least upper middle class. But that meant all these dreamers "sold out" and ditched the stupid rhetoric and belief system while pretending how great it was that they got high for a summer or two while living off parents, selling their ass, or dealing in drugs. Another rather large contingent stayed hooked on drugs and became a blight on the city. SF still deals with a ridiculously large homeless problem to this day, in large part because the city's politics became radicalized on the surface without any substantive changes to avert the social ills the politicians decry.
spartan876 and now we are stuck with their snowflake and fascist offspring
I never bought into that bullshit. Some of us baby boomers actually didn't participate in that stuff. My kids, grandkids and I are all Conservatives. None of that liberal craziness in my family. 🌝
@bigAssGooseberrydich LMAO 😂
@bigAssGooseberrydich didn't say he didn't speak the (partial) truth. All I was saying is that most boomers are not the way he described. All didn't go on the lovefest. Must were working and didn't buy into the media lie. If you weren't there, you can't know the entire truth. Is this one of those cases where anyone who disagrees, or tries to clarify, is vilified and called names? Sure seems to be.
Lol if he thought SF was bad then I wonder what he would think of it now smh
It wasn't all bad; I was conceived on a beaded quilt in a fog of juniper, sage and musk, in the middle of that very park in '67.
Gross.
Did you ever find out who your dad is?
@@chadborklund2171 That depends. Are you my father?
is he saying he hullucinated about the plane stalling?
How about Americans and other non-British who listened to "Strawberry Fields" and "Penny Lane" and thought of England as a very peculiar magical place, and then found out it to be just like any commercial business-based region.
I'd say they were consiberably more naive (and thick) than George. Did they also think Lucy in the sky was about a princess in Buckingham palace?
this is from Beatles Anthology?
Omar Preciado no, it's from George Harrison: Living In The Material World
the interview was recorded for the anthology doc and also features in that
shite floats to the top do not be deceived cream does also
George is right it wasn't what we had imagined....I mean if your idea of what was happening was some kind of utopian drug artist scene then you'd be wrong...what it actually looked like was a whino convention with mixed in dirty,scruffy trouble makers...yeah some kids seemed to be havin a time with it but they looked like weekend hippies just in for a good time then afterwards out the back door back home, but for the most part the local regular cats looked to be livin on the corner or brown baggin it in the back alley, it was way over played but yeah I'm sure that the kids got a kick out of runnin away for a bit and kickin up their heals thinkin it all meant somethin...it was just a street party...absolutely nothing more. You have to remember what made it popular was the media attention it got with the kids and freaks made it a so called counter culture meeting place with its party scene and drug use in the open...but it was never any more than that...it wasn't a doorway to some utopia...I mean you see this place on television every night with its party atmosphere..what started out as the media was trying to say to the world, hey look at all these bums we have here out of control....well the kids took it another way and created the party atmosphere...it's well overplayed...didn't take long to figure it out
Haight-Ashbury is basically a myth.
xoxo The Clarences
He should have gone in 1967
Well, he did go in 1967. Maybe he should have gone in '66.
He went on Aug 1967.
Should’ve gone in ‘65
Definitely suring the Rubber Soul/Revolver era. It wasnt until the Human Be-In on January 1967 where the haight really changed. It is what blew the scene into the mainstream.
Because then it was special right? You romanticize complete dog brained losers.
I don't think he gave it much of a chance... it seems like those heart-shaped sunglasses let in the wrong Vibe. I wonder if he was tripping when he went there... had a bad experience..?
Well, San Francisco sucked back then and still does for that matter. Really weird place where people try to convince each other how cool the place is but no one really seem to think it for real and they just say just because you can't say otherwise in that city. Everything has to be "awesome" all the time, like they say. Just so fake at all levels. People in their fair mind like Harrison obviously could see that, despite of all the hype and stories surrounding the city. All bullshit really.
The city itself is awesome. It's the people that live there that are generally horrible. It would be nice if we could swap out it's citizens for new better ones. The same goes for NYC.
He probably had totally unrealistic expectations. He probably expected to see beautiful looking people, but of course saw average looking people