WHAT A FIELD-DAY FOR THE HEAT, A THOUSAND PEOPLE IN THE STREET

When it comes to collecting, my only real passion is for old rock & roll albums, So, in most issues of the New Century Collector I write a column called "For the Record".  Here, I can give my totally unsolicited opinion about music from the 1960's.  The exercise amuses me, and if I can get one or two 20 or 30 somethings to give Pink Floyd a listen, their life will be enriched, there will be slightly more order to a somewhat befuddled universe, and my time will have been better spent than watching game shows. 

For the December issue, I had decided to write about "For what it's worth", a Buffalo Springfield protest song released in 1967.  I thought it might be fun to juxtapose what was going in in the Vietnam war protest movement, with the current occupy wall street bunch.  So, I went down to Pioneer park and snooped around a little, then began looking through the photographic record from the 1960's & early 70's, along with all the newly posted coverage of the occupy movement. The fun soon waned.  As I began obsessing about old thoughts and feelings, I discovered a new found empathy with what has now become an international movement for economic equality. 

Paul Simon was right, "after changes upon changes, we are more or less the same".  As I fumbled through images, the interceding 40 years melted away, and I began to feel a kinship between the two social movements.  I never did get the article started, but I was inspired into a poor mans Robert Rauschenberg impression.  If any of this piques your interest, here is a link to the music:

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH, the Buffalo Springfield

 

and here is the Collage:

AMERICA REAWAKENS: between 1967 and 2011,

little changed in America.  The rich got richer, and the rest of us are still mowing their lawns & fighting their wars.