I left off telling this story (six years ago) just as we were ‘discovered’ by the local newspaper. The Salem area had two newspapers in the 1960’s - a morning paper call the Oregon Statesman and an afternoon/evening paper called ‘The Capitol Journal’. The Journal was a little more left leaning of the two, but they merged into one daily in 1973, called ‘The Statesman-Journal’. The person who interviewed me appeared on the Tuesday morning following Thanksgiving wearing a sports jacket and a tie. I don't think he was thrilled with the assignment. It was hard to get the story his editor wanted about how this younger generation was different and worthy of you buying the paper to find out more. The article made the front page the following day with a picture of Bill’s door with the “Psychedelics come to Salem” banner. My memories of the interview and the article are fuzzy but I clearly remember remarking on his tie (I wasn't wearing one, as opposed to every other business owner in town) being a symbol of one of our differences. In those times, a tie was a strong symbol of the established masculine culture. The article brought a lot of attention to the store, both good and bad. Mainly good.
I'd really like to read that article again and probably could find it at the Statesman’s archives. I can't find it online now and in fact very few references appear online about the Eidectic Fugue. It really happened though and regardless of its existence in hyperspace, it was a strong reality for many people. There became more and more places to gather as a young person in Salem and the store was not made as a social center, although it became one sometimes. More on those occasions in another part of this story. Little did we know that our next public appearance would be on local TV and I would meet the most special person in my life and a no school snow day would happen AND so much more.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Salem, oregon
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