Volume 1, Number1 April, 1975
C/O Switchboard, Box 483, Little Rock, Arkansas 72203
"The purpose for the newsletter is to wake the family up from a long deep sleep."
…..from a recent conversation in Arkansas…..
Howdy family! This is Henry the Fiddler, Rainbow Atma and Don Moser in Northwest Arkansas starting to get it together for the 1975 Gathering of the Tribes to be held here July 1-7. We are also preparing for many other new trips the family will be getting into in the near future. Among them are this newsletter, soon to become monthly, a Rainbow Caravan, a Rainbow Farm and the 1976 Gathering to be held in Montana as an alternative World's Faire.
The more one realizes the great amount of work that needs to be done, just to keep sailing, there are many areas that still need working on, our ship is sailing but she is loose and goes hither and thither before the wind, tho' I sense a change in the whither, the how she is to sail, I sense that there are others now that know this truth, that we must turn too and sail our ship together thru the seas that toss us…..this spring would be a nice time to speak about setting up a foundation, if you are going to build a house, you must have a foundation, our home for our family must occur, we must need a place that we may stand and construct a place for our children, we must begin the mightier works that lie before us, this business of always having to get it together is becoming an old song, let us sing a new song, a song of togetherness, it will be some time before I forget the prayer before dinner. Holding hands with head bowed, the Family prayed- for brothers and sisters, for harmony…"
I grew up rich in Fort Worth, TX. My old man was a civil judge and I was suppose to become a lawyer when I grew up.
I got drafted in the '60s and survived by going to Korea instead of Vietnam. The army gave me time to read. I went to the library a lot and read a book about the Kennedy assassination-Heritage of Stone by Jim Garrison-that changed my life.
I got out of the army in '71 and went to graduate school. I did most of my graduate work while living in a log cabin in the woods. One day, I went to an alternative technology fair in Washington D.C. I drove in early with my truck and tools, went down to the middle of the site, helped shuttle people in and set up tents. I set up the first teepee I ever saw. It waws a wonderful introduction to what America could be.
You might call me a Jeffersonian. I visit his memorial every month. Unfortunately, this country no longer has any resemblance to what Mr. Jefferson envisioned. His words are very explicit: we all have responsibility to try to better our government.
The problem is that capitalism has developed a stranglehold over our industrial development. The pretense that we have an energy crisis, the energy discoveries that have been suppressed-all lies. They have created a narrow-minded world for us to live in and pretend that it's reality. America needs to know that we are out here. That we're trying to create this New Jerusalem in just a few days of sharing and caring. They need to step away from government influences. Step away from sexism, racism, and all those bad feelings.
When you are in an environment where 85 to 95% of the people are loving and caring, and there is no money involved, people find themselves more civilized. They relax a bit. There will be problems. Some theft. It's tough. We're so open here. We go on faith. But there are very few predators here. Most people come to be healed.
Shanti Sena started a long time ago. Some brothers and sisters got together and wanted to make sure any negativity was handled appropriately. Our council process allows even the smallest voice to be heard. We want even the shy voices to speak. We give respect to all. Decisions are made in silence, after long, exhaustive hours of council. There is the big council, and there are many smaller councils.
The police are our only impediment. This drug issue is a red herring. The police here have been randomly stopping vehicles heading in this direction. People tell me this has never happened in their area before. There has been a recent Supreme Court decision that supports sobriety checks, but these checks have been safety checks with dogs and video cameras. It's a blight upon the constitution and out legal right to assemble…
I'm from the Upper West Side of Manhattan, born September 17th, 1951. My mother and father were from Puerto Rico. I started out dancing and then music took over my life. I just completed my third album-One Earth. One People.
In the '60s, I used to throw parties in New York that were famous. Barry Plunker came to one at a church on West 4th Street. Barry said "What is this, capitalism? Why are you asking for money?' But he stayed and helped clean up afterwards.
The last party I threw was to raise money for me to go to Incdia. It was called Fantuzzi's Blowout, and the Village Voice wrote about it. I held it at a ballroom on 43rd Street and 1,200 people showed up. There were business people, transvestites, yogis, Lower East Side LSD people. Actually, I lost money, but I didn't care.
I went to Woodstock. I think that was the first real gathering. We were called the Butterfly Family then and we did pageants and shared our heartsongs. In 1971, I joined a group called the Rainbow Gypsies. We traveled the world, singing and dancing. We ran into Rainbow people everywhere we went. We went to India and the group got into a guru. I didn't want that, so I came back and discovered the Rainbow Family. Part of the Living Theatre was also connected with the Rainbow Gypsies. I lived with Ira Cohen, who photographed the Living Theatre and made a movie about them.
Basically, I'm going around the world trying to help the evolution that needs to take place. I just spent five years living on the big island in Hawaii. Now I'm based in Los Angeles. From here I go to the Oregon County Fair, then the Jamaica Sunsplash, then I do an East Coast tour, then I go to Japan for an ecology event…..