THE FAMILY DOGS PRESENTS
Like starlight, ages old as we see it, rapping with Chet Helms of the Family Dog recalls the scene half a decade old, before the Haight flowered and the Avalon bloomed. The Dog was one of the original “families” or tribes in the city, formed if nothing else to throw killer parties and get off the street.
THE FAMILY DOGS PRESENTS
Like starlight, ages old as we see it, rapping with Chet Helms of the Family Dog recalls the scene half a decade old, before the Haight flowered and the Avalon bloomed. The Dog was one of the original “families” or tribes in the city, formed if nothing else to throw killer parties and get off the street.
Until then, about Oct. ‘65, there hadn’t been any real group gatherings, and Chet and Ellen Castelli of the Family wanted to do something for entertainment and economic sustenance. So they did environmental light shows in California Hall. But Ellen split and the hall gig died.
The scene has come a long way--from Gary Snyder’s Zen and Gracie Slick’s Grate Society amid pre-aware plastic to the gaudy, very hip psychedelic dungeons of L.A. to the whining speed & spare change laments of Haight St. ‘68. And vet it rebirths ready aged, a resolutely visionary phoenix.