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Other provocative Hippie related films by David Hoffman: This scene was videotaped in 1967 in Boston Massachusetts. The interviewer is David Silver, one of my favorite television host directors/producers from that era. This event was called the Camden Common Concerts and was founded in the heart of Harvard Square by J. Robert “Bob” Gordon, a strong proponent of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll as fuel for creative expression. For nearly eight years, Boston’s college population would cross the river to hear everything from the folkie stylings of Chris Smither and James Taylor (who played with his brother and sister, the only time all three played together), to local rock heroes like Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, Beacon Street Union and J. Geils Band, and even out-of-towners like ZZ Top and Chicago; the Cambridge Common Concerts was a three ring circus of unpredictable appreciation of the smell of grass, long braided hairy ladies and rock and roll. The event recorded in this video was called a “Be-In”. The first Human Be-In, also known as “A Gathering of Tribes,“ took place on January 14, 1967 in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. It helped to catalyze the counterculture movement and set the stage for the “Summer of Love“ later that year. A Be-In was intended to unify various elements of the counterculture movement - beatniks, hippies, and anti-war activists - as well as to provide a platform for various spiritual leaders, philosophers, and musicians to share their perspectives. The name “Be-In“ was a play on words, a reference to sit-ins and other peaceful protests of the time, but implying a more passive, peaceful, and individualist intent. Thousands of people attended these events which often included speeches by figures like Timothy Leary who famously uttered his phrase “turn on, tune in, drop out“ at the event. Other speakers at events like this included Richard Alpert (later known as Ram Das), Allen Ginsberg, and Jerry Rubin. Participants shared food, danced, created spontaneous art, and engaged in peaceful protest against the Vietnam War. Human Be-Ins were covered in the media. They set the stage for the large and famous “Summer of Love,“ which took place in San Francisco. The term “Love-In“ described a variety of gatherings that promoted peace, love, and unity against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and other societal pressures. While there were numerous “Love-In“ events across the United States the most significant one took place in Easter 1967, at Central Park in New York City. The Central Park Be-In featured performances by various musicians and bands. Like its counterpart in San Francisco, the Central Park Be-In helped to solidify the hippie movement's ethos of peace and love as a counter to the prevailing societal and political conflicts of the time. It also helped to popularize the notion of large, peaceful gatherings as a form of social and political protest. The New York event, together with other “Be-Ins“ and “Love-Ins,“ played a crucial part in setting the stage for larger gatherings and music festivals to follow, most notably the Woodstock festival in 1969. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health in the United States, about 4% of Americans had tried marijuana by that time. The 1960s and 1970s were key decades in the evolution of public attitudes towards marijuana but it wasn't until the late 1970s that marijuana use peaked. Accurate data for drug use during this period is difficult to establish because nationwide surveys on drug use were not as comprehensive or methodologically rigorous as they are today. It's likely that there was significant underreporting of marijuana use due to its illegal status and associated social stigma. About halfway through this video, I have cut in an scene where David Silver is interviewing a group that included Hippies, Yippies and other countercultural characters. One of them is the infamous Abbie Hoffman. At the time this ran on prime time television..
