Lansing, Michigan
September `69
It was back to work time, so Mike, Tom, Roger and I (all
hometown buddies) ended up sharing an apartment in Lansing, the
state capital of Michigan. Roger got a job with the railroad and
eventually became a brakeman. Mike went to work on the assembly line
at the Diamond Rio truck plant and, after a couple of days, quit.
He said, "Truck parts were way heavier than car parts." He decided
to enroll in Lansing Community College instead of looking for work.
I worked at Oldsmobile until I paid off the bank. Working twelve
hours a night, six days a week was killing me, so I quite too. After
that, Thom and I got hired at a gas station. I didn't make much
money, but at least I got my life back.
In the beginning, everybody enjoyed a certain amount of
recreational drug use, but Thom and I took it to the limit. Weekends
were reserved for acid trips while pot was okay anytime. At times,
we found that schedule a bit confining. Roger and Mike spent their
time in less mind-altering states. Roger worked long hours, while
Mike spent most of his time at his girlfriend's parent's house.
Whenever we had free time, you could bet nobody stayed straight for
long, though.
A couple of non-crazy, really positive things happened while I was
living in Lansing too. Thom, Mike and I, along with some other
friends, attended an outdoor rock festival held in an East Lansing
park. Chicago, John Sebastian, and Jefferson Airplane
were the concert headliners. I didn't get to see Grace Slick when I
was in San Francisco, but I was sure gonna get to see her now.
Chicago's performance blew the crowd away; that is, until Jefferson
Airplane took the stage. On stage, the Airplane's lead guitar
player, Jorma Kaukonen, set his vodka bottle down on Hopkin's piano
(Nicky Hopkins was touring with the Airplane). Kaukonen drank the
vodka like water when he wasn't recreating his famous guitar riffs.
Grace, wearing leather pants and a see-through fishnet blouse (the
fishnet made it legal) was the consummate crowd pleaser. Tom and I
ate blotter acid before the concert. The acid was good, but Tom and
I figured we needed more. By the time the Airplane hit the stage,
we were tripping on four hits of acid and my mind had rocketed into
the upper atmosphere. It was Grace who brought me back down to
Earth. I managed to squeeze through the crowd until I was standing
right in front of her. As I stood trance-like, staring at her bare
breasts, her voice sent shivers up my spine. When I made eye contact
with her, I knew instantly that she knew what I knew-- that I was a
hundred percent wasted and totally into the music. She gave me a
great big smile and I went straight to heaven. After the last encore
the band left the stage, but the magic of that day remained.
Aside from the concert, the other really positive thing that
happened while I was in Lansing was getting my head straight on the
Vietnam War. Actually, I can thank Roger for that. Roger was in Nam
when the Viet Cong swarmed across the border. They called it the TET
Offensive. Roger used to joke about being stoned, as the tracers
(bullets) zoomed overhead. He said, "If you really got wasted, it
was like watching a fireworks display." Roger didn't talk much about
the war except to say that if he had it to do over again, he would
not have gone to Vietnam. In fact, when Roger did talk about the
war, the only time he ever got serious was when he told me, "Don't
go." It was probably no more than a coincidence, but my draft notice
came in the mail the day after Roger and I had our little talk.
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