The Way Back Experience Project
The Way Back Network WANTS YOUR STORIES
The Way Back Network was created with two purposes in mind, to be a gathering place online for people who share an interest in the culture, music, and events of the sixties and seventies and to provide a time capsule of first-hand experiences from those that lived it.
We are presently looking for the personal stories from the 1960s counterculture. If you or someone you know experienced events such as Woodstock 1969, Vietnam War Protests, Living in the Haight Ashbury District, Summer of Love, Human Be-In, LSD trips, Monterey Pop Festival, Attended concerts at the Fillmore, Avalon Ballroom, The Matrix, or any of the other San Francisco concert halls, Attended any of the concerts during the era of such bands as The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, The 13th Floor Elevators, etcetera.
TO SUBMIT AN EXPERIENCE:
1. You can write it in an email and send it to sound_of_water@yahoo.com
2. Visit and join The Way Back Network and post your story in the Way Back Experience Group.
Your experience, if chosen for posting on The Way Back Network blog can be anonymous or accredited.
” We at the Way Back Network look forward to hearing your experience.”
Far Freakin Out Man! Shit, I thought I was the only one left. Damn do I have story’s. The whole City Transit and Planning departments know me as “That old hippie”. HA! I’m not half as think as they stoned I am… More to come! SHINE ON BROTHERS AND SISTERS! “Brother Bob”
Nice looking blog etc that I found through your Last.fm comments. I just wanted to mention that Bill Graham first used the Fillmore Auditorium for a benefit concert with Big Brother etc when he was working for the SF Mime Troupe. Bill was amazed at the scene and turnout, but mostly the money and soon left the Mimes to promote music exclusively. Chet Helms and his pals (The Family Dog) had also already started using the venue prior to Graham’s involvement…although Bill soon cut a deal with the owner to work exclusively with him. Before the hippie scene took over the room had hosted ballroom dancing & blues acts many times. Helms crew moved on to other venues, including the Avalon, and even spots down by the old Playland at The Beach.
hey im 17 and i live in Wichita, Kansas. Your blog is amazing man and absolutley love the 1960s and 70′s. Music is my life. When i was younger i listened to rap but realized when i started playing guitar that most of it is shit. led zeppelin, blue cheer, velvet underground, and the doors are a huge influence on my life and guitar playing. After high school i want to find a town or somewhere that is like the past. Im starting up a band and came across your site by listening to last.fm psychedelic radio! Thank you very much for putting up this site it was nice seeing Stanley mouses artwork, i met him in las vegas at some art gallery i forgot the name of it but he was doing an art show. Really really cool guy man. Well peace out!
PEACE & LOVE ~JORDAN~
Wow – only 3 comments – we must be fading away. Don’t fade away go out with a ssssshboom!
Way Back when, it was about 1969, it was a drizzly, chilly day. I was out riding in the country, appreciating the scenery, and enjoying some herb. Heading back into town, I spotted a hitch hiker along side the road. The little town I lived in in central Texas was notorious for hassling anyone with hair over their collar. The Gestapo was known to find seeds in tail lights, arrest folk, and send them to the hoosgow for a spell. Anytime we saw anyone thumbing a ride, we’d get them through town.
He was happy to get out of the rain. The vibes were right, and we had a great visit. He was coming from California, heading east. Stopped at the DQ on the outside of town and bought my friend a burger and got back on the road. We caught a good buzz, and about 5 miles out of town, we parted company. He gave me a little match box, as a sign of his appreciation, and said to “enjoy.”
Shortening the story a bit… the matchbox contained 5 small, thin, clear squares about 1/4 inch on a side. I placed them in an aluminum film can… Hmm, there was a dance that night, and as I walked in, a square found it’s way under my tongue.
A bit of background – orange sunshine, purple barrels, and other assorted “enhancers” were good friends. I would revel in the exploration of the new venues they presented. I had no problem heading off to new places under cosmic power. This is also the first time I’ve tried to write about this experience. I have tried to but the words don’t work. I try to come up with the right phrases and concepts, but it doesn’t seem to work. I’ve tried to explain it to some, but I can’t communicate it properly. I feel that I must take care who I reveal these thoughts to lest I wind up in a straight-jacket somewhere.
The dance was great. Good band, great people. Having a super time. Effects of the clear square were great. Extremely controllable. Make geometric shapes out of the grid paper squares of the acoustic tile ceiling – no problem. Melt a wall, no problem, amazingly smooth. Another. Shortly after, things were becoming strange. People were talking backwards, all kinds of auras were showing up and melting together. Certain people were morphing into their animal avatars. I decided that I had better head home for bed.
I walked out to my VW beetle, and fumbled for my keys, opened the car door, and was closing it in front of my house. What??? How did I get here? Too Strange. I turned around and was closing the front door to our house looking at the bug 20 yards away in the street. Uh-oh I closed the door and it kept swinging to open into my room. Sheeeeeat. Being very quiet, I listened to hear if I woke anyone up. No?? Cool. Closed the door, turned around, and looked at myself in bed. I looked back at the door, and I wasn’t there. Too strange, way too strange.
I put on my headphones, tuned in the underground FM radio station coming out of Austin, Texas. The FM station started broadcasting “underground” rock about 10:30 at night. Wow, never heard stuff like they played. Turned the volume up, laid back, closed my eyes, and surfed the music. Roller Coaster by the 13th Floor Elevators, many other unbelievable songs, Hendrix, Ten Years After, and then a “new” group, The Moody Blues. When the Moodys came on, I was looking at the 3 remaining clear squares. The song was “Legend” from In Search of the Lost Chord. There’s part of the song which goes “along the coast you’ll hear them boast about a light that shines so clear, so lift your glass and drink a toast……” Yep, I did it…without thinking, or any consideration of the consequences, I lifted my glass and drank a toast. Oh double sheeeeeat
Immediately, it felt like I had stuck my tongue into a 110 outlet. I felt a rush like I’d never felt before. I closed my eyes and rode the flow. After a very short period of time which seemed like forever, I opened my eyes and I was no-where. My room was gone, the floor was gone, everywhere it was black. I didn’t feel any dis-ease and as I looked inward, I saw a point of light. I found that by staring at the point of light, I would have a sense of movement. I let the movement carry me, and it was like floating on a serene current. Ocassionally, I recall hearing something about an angel coming down from heaven, and telling me it was my time to rise, or someone urging me to break on through to the other side. I had never felt such freedom.
I sensed somethng ominous. Like an unseen waterfall coming. I would feel a blow, hurt, the current became more eratic and I was being thrown around and was unsettled. I began to sense images. I would see shadows of someone speaking to a person, and the words carried hurt. The dark lessened and I saw a face in the shadows. It was me. This seemed to go on for a long time and it seemed that some were very hard and painful, and other times, it was just a dis-ease. The waterfall was coming. I sensed tremendous pain approaching…. I was very afraid. It grew closer and the pain was visceral. Suddenly, there was a cool wave of peace, love. I was somehow shown that it was the pain I had caused being born, but at the same time, it was washed away by the love of my mother.
I felt so different. Burdens that I didn’t know I was carrying had vanished. I felt energy, I was everywhere. Something/someone was in my mind, no, there were several. I was receiving calm soothing vibrations. Thoughts opened like flowers in my mind. Whole concepts became crystal clear. As you are aware of someone walking up on you silently and reading over your shoulder, I was aware of 3 thought entities focused on me. I sensed I should relax and not try. It became easier to communicate. Somehow I was experiencing telepathy. A crude example would be to say, think of a chair. Well, instead of an ambiguous thought picture of a chair, a chair thought would for which encompassed every aspect of the chair… it’s size, shape, structure, feel, smell, sound, in other words, every aspect of the chair.
Volumes of information were available just by thinking about something. One thing would lead to another, which would lead to 3, which would lead to 10, then I’d pop back to my center of reference. I groked amazement, our thoughts flowed together but somehow stayed seperate. I was shown others points of view. It seemed that I was able to think of experiencing something like being a happy dog, and I knew true happiness. I could absorb sorrow and turn it into a joy of being able to feel sorrow. Somehow, it seemed that what was good and what was evil merged into being… just being. Now. There was a flow, a source where all became. It was very intense, but at the same time it became pure and was not threatening. Something of a finality was coalescing. Like getting ready to put the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle in place.
I felt that a crossover point was approaching. Thoughts formed that very few had arrived at this point without having already passed away. I now had to make the decision to continue my journey and staying in this mental wonderland. I would not be able to return. I would leave my body behind. Many scenarios passed through my mind simultaneously. The people who would be hurt when I was found. My mom. Others who may not follow the trail because I died. But, if the completion was what I saw it could potentially be, it wouldn’t matter because I could erase myself from time, and no one would ever know that I was, but it wasn’t a certainty. Time was long and in relation, my life was short anyway. If there was a chance for later, I would wait. I was told ‘they’ would be there any time, all the time.
I was aware of fire. Orange fire. Sliver, bigger, ball. it was sunrise. It’s unreal, but to this day I can remember Harry Belafonte singing “Circle ‘Round the Sun,” as the sun rose. A cool breeze came in through the window. I was coughing very hard. I couldn’t stop coughing. There was a lot of blood on my pillow. My head was reeling. I turned on a light and looked around. Everything seemed ok. My fingernails were blue. I went to the bathroom and saw red orbs staring at me from the mirror. I was extremely pale and my lips were blue. Blood in my pee.
Something to eat and get back in my room before the family wakes up. Try to figure out what had happened. I smelled muffins being made and juice being stirred. A little more time and I now feel I deserved an Oscar for acting ‘normal.’ I grabbed a couple of muffins and headed outside saying something about early fishing. Jumped on my motorcycle and went up into the hill country to try to sort things out. About noon, I went to a friends house, and tried to explain/describe the experience… he said I had acid indigestion, and harrumphed.
Little did I know that it would not be written down for 40 years. Still, I’m not doing any where near a decent job of it.
Several times since then I’ve been blown away. The first time was when I read some book with accounts of astral projection. Wow – been there, done that, had no idea what it was. A few years later, I learned about “near death experiences”. Yea, been there too. Still trying to figure out some other place/things what had gone on.
Tried to go there a few times since then. Tried to figure it out as a philosophy major in college. Interesting, but not one class looked at Aldous Huxley, Allan Watts, Aleister Crowley John Lilly, and many others including the illustrious Timothy Leary. There seemed/seems to be some enablement, empowering of the mind, can’t really write it right.
That’s about it. So much else has gone on and I’m still being amazed. All I can really say is what a long, strange trip it’s been.
Thank you so much for sharing this Way Back experience with us.
back then man pot was my life…
i have a story to tell. im 19 years old i have dabbled in lsd in the past and had bad trips good trips and have seen it all but the strangest thing happend to me the other day, i was sitting at home ready to start to what seemed to be an uneventful day, when my friend calls me and says “hey man i got some really killer bud do you wanna smoke it with me?” of course without question i said yes and got ready to smoke some of the finest. he same to my house we both were givin each other really good vibes when he asked me somthing. he asked me if i could take a trip with him to home depot to buy him spray paint cause he was not of age to purchase it so i said yes and we headed out to the corporate monster. on the way there we sparked the rediculously fat joint and started inhaling and feeling good.When we finally got to home depot we were both high as could be walken threw the store with smiles on are face enjoying are high when the strangest thing happend. now i dont know how this was triggerd off but, when we got to the spray paint to purchase it i herd this music it started very faint and got louder louder and louder. i then relized that something was happening in my head something overwhelming was taking over. i started to feel as if my soul was leaving my body and at one point i could accually see myself standing there. my face expression was so genuine.then the full on hullucinations came i looked at my friend and said with a very confused tone “what is happening” the music was getting louder and louder and was pounding on my body.ironicly the song was pink floyd wish you were here.the chatter of the people around me started to fade and that song started to just take over.at that second the music stoped and a very erie sound came about. my heart started pounding very hard. the shelving units were getting taller and taller. my friend was very confused wondering what the fuck was wrong with with me. i looked at his face and it started getting bigger and smaller kinda like in fear and loathing when he is checking in the hotel with the attendant. i felt an array of very strong emotions. at this point my friend had all the spray paint and was ready to cash out. i was standing there watching everyone’s face morphing i went into my back pocket and pulled out the money and was very hesitant to give it to for some reason. I came home that day and went rite to bed i was still sort of seeing minor hullusinations when i got home. let me say that the weed we smoked was not laced with anything my friend smoked just as much as i did and he was fine. Was this an lsd flashback? the last trip i had was a very intense trip and i was listening to pink floyd the entire time emotions i felt that day were incredible and breathtaking it was one of the most gorgeous moments i have ever had. and now i sit here a day later still trying to make some sort of sense out of this. can someone please tell me what happend to me that day? what caused this out of no were trip?