A week ago, on Thursday, October 3, I received an unexpected and unintended wonderful birthday present. The Barn was prominently displayed in Bruce Bratton's column. He noted that the Barn was "World Famed". It made me feel especially good since I have never met or spoken with Bruce Bratton. No ulterior motives for him to do that.
If you look closely at the picture you will see that the logo of the Barn in the Good Times was not the same as the one which Joe Lisowsky, our Artist in Residence, created for us. When I bought the Barn, the Community Center was long gone. I don't know of anything that the Barn became widely known for, except for what we did there. I bought it with one purpose in mind,- to provide a launching pad for the onrushing psychedelic revolution in Santa Cruz. A place for pilgrims to warm themselves up in the storms.
I had other wonderful gifts for my birthday on October 6. The City of
Santa Cruz was celebrating its birthday with fireworks on my birthday!
Most of all, the point that I want to make is that the wonderful vibes,
love and hope, were what made the Barn what it was. - I myself also was in awe of Janis' singing. I was flattered when she saw a small mandala on the hood of my Porshe and decided to get a a convertible Porshe just like mine, except that the artist's painting of hers exploded quite a bit beyond the inspiration that she got from us. Yes, she got inspiration from us in more ways than one. Without digressing into tales of the past, the point I want to make is that to me the wonderful experience of the Barn, was in the soul stirring vibes that the Barn Tribers generated there. The fact that budding legendary musicians loved to come to play for us, was a tribute to the inspiration that all of us, including the Gypsy Jokers, nurtured there. I still remember the declaration that we had made in the San Francisco Oracle when it first came out:
The barn tribe moves with creative imaginationSeems like many of us got stuck on the fourth line too long. One spring day about fifteen years ago my son Ari, asked me "But dad, what have you got to show for it?" I told him "Every time I walk somewhere in Santa Cruz, some young person's eyes light up, they are so happy to see me. It revives for them the wonderful spirit that we shared there. At the end of that summer Ari said "Dad, remember what you told me in the spring? It sure was true. Every time we walked through the town, somebody stopped us with joy in their eyes." They never failed to tell us how the Barn had enriched their lives. This is my way of giving thanks where it belongs. Our whole trip was not to become famous, or to make a lot of money. We were there prepared to make sacrifices, to help each other recognize how much we could do, how much fun it was to do it. I wanted to provide a place of warmth, support and appreciation to the brave pilgrims who were thirsting for spiritual growth. We succeeded beyond our dreams. Many of us have been caught up in the storms that the new times, clashing with old powers, generated. How lucky we are to have survived and to see the fruits growing from the seeds that we planted at the Barn. Greetings fellow travellers!
Powered by love and devotion
Guided by inner lights of awareness
Through the darkness of fear and suspicion
Toward beauty and joy beyond the images of life / or death
