Poking a Dung Pile

People's Park, April 3, 2021 First, I'd like to express my sincere appreciation to Venus in Style for sharing information about her biological mother, Vivian Cercy, in her comments to the blog.   For me, the stories surrounding the murders of Greg Kniffen and Mary Gioia tell about the various predicaments of those gathered at Rainbow Village on the night of August 15, 1986.  They detail the difficulties associated with homelessness, race, and gender.  For example, the story that Mary's mother tells in her book and the stories told by individuals who knew Mary around the time of her murder, shed light on gender issues associated with being on tour.  The stories Ace Backwords tells about Vincent Johnson shed light on issues related to homelessness and race.  And the two recent comments to this blog, along with some glimpses of her given Patricia Gioia's book, illuminate some of the risks Vivian Cercy endured as a homeless mother of two. In the comments m...

Mount Shasta Over the past few months I've repeatedly put off writing this post because, although I had no problem admitting my ignorance, for some reason I thought I had to give an explanation for it. But I don’t; I just have to use ignorance as a starting point. Prior to a month or so ago, I had no idea who the underground cartoonist and author Ace Backwards (Peter Labriola) was, so when he posted a comment to the blog last summer,  I did not give the comment the level of respect it deserved.  For those unfamiliar with his work, Ace Backwards published Twisted Image in the early 80's.  He's authored two books:   Acid Heroes: The Legends of LSD , and Surviving on the Streets: How to Go DOWN without Going OUT.  He also writes a blog entitled Acid Heroes : The Psychedelic Sixties and Its Aftermath.   According to Wikipedia , he "sleeps rough on the streets of Berkeley, but is not indigent."  Kevin Fagan ,* a long-time reporter at the San Franc...