Monday, May 18, 2015

AUSTRALIAN BANNED FROM ENTERING AMERICA

The  above eye  grabbing  1971  cover of  the leading American underground newspaper , the  Berkeley Barb ,  included   Australian  controversial  journalist, anti Vietnam  War campaigner , editor   Pete Steedman, of  Melbourne , Nigerian  model  Mina Bird , and   young  Dante Hughes , son of   the   art  critic  and author , Robert Hughes.

The  top  trio  had  originally  appeared on  the  cover of  the  iconoclastic  London Oz magazine  in  what  had  been  a  send  up  of what  was  then  regarded as  radical chic .  The Oz  caption  read something  like  he  drives  a Maserati,  she's a model and  the boy  is the  son of  the  Time magazine art critic. In 1971 Steedman  ran  the Oz  office while the principals, Richard Neville, Jim Anderson  and Felix Dennis , were  fighting obscenity charges in  court .
 
The  heading  pointer  on  the  Berkely  Barb   cover  refers  to notorious Harvard  psychologist  Professor Timothy Leary, the  so called guru of psychedelic  , who urged people  to  turn  on , tune  in  and  drop out .

In  Melbourne   university  magazines  during  the   l960s , Steedman  had  been  a leading campaigner  against  Australia's  involvement  in  the  Vietnam War and the  conscription  of youths  based  on  a  lottery  draw, receiving death threats .   At   one   stage  the government  seriously  considered   bringing  in  special  legislation  to charge him  with subversion.

In  Berkeley University, California, there was also strong  opposition  to the  war  and  Steedman  was  contacted  by  activists  there, one  an Australian , the suggestion  being  he  come to America  and  address  students. However, a member of  the United States Information Service,   in  Melbourne , believed   to  be in  the CIA,  informed Steedman , over  a   beer , there  was no way  he would be  allowed  into  the  US.
 

The   Berkeley Barb was  kicked  off   by  Max Scherr, who  wrote  and produced much of  the paper , on August 13,1965 . Wikipedia  states  he relied on  a large, youthful, low paid and politically left staff. The  Barb for a few years in the late 1960s was the popular voice of  counterculture Berkeley, speaking for and  to  a generation intent on change. It mixed radical politics with counter-culture social values, celebrating opposition to the war in Vietnam, and  the  cocktail of “sex, drugs and rock' n' roll.”The civil rights  movement  was  also  supported.

Both irreverent and serious, in 1967 it ran a hoax claiming that bananas contained a psychoactive substance released when the skins were smoked. The cartoonist Joel Beck and ground-breaking sex-advice columnist Eugene “Doctor Hippocrates” Schoenfeld were two  high-profile presences in the paper.

Most sales were made by street vendors who bought the  paper for a  nickel(five cents)  and sold it for  fifteen.   One  of  those who flogged the Barb in the financial district of  San Francisco  from 1967-69   was   none   other  than  Underground   Comix  identity ,  Bucklee  Bell , the  subject of  several recent posts  in  Little Darwin.

"Didn't  really  pay  the bills," commented Bucklee , recalling those  wild  days . He  did not  meet   Leary, described  by  President Nixon as  the  most dangerous man in America , but  saw  him several times  at  happenings  in  the Frisco  Bay area. With an  inimitable  way of expressing  himself, Bucklee  described  the LSD taking  scene  in   those  days  thus:

At the time the West Coast versus East Coast approach to taking acid started out quite different. West was spike their  Kool-Aid  and don't bother to tell them. Ha,Ha,Ha. East was  put some  Ravi  Shankar on the  juke box and  let your guide  lead  you  through  the  labyrinth  of  your  mind.

He went on  to say he had recently read  a  history of  the  hippy-freak-longhair outbreak in  the British Isles, the Oz magazine  and  Steedman. These  guys, he said , were  every bit "balls  and  pussies to the wall" as  their American counterparts.

WARNING : Fleeing  the  annual  ice age in Melbourne , Steedman  plans  to thaw out in North Queensland  in the near future  and  has  indicated he will  be available  to  show  students  at    James  Cook University , Townsville , how to turn  their tame  publication , Bullsheet, into a  ripsnorting  and  powerful  read , unfortunately resulting  in the entire  campus  being  banned from setting foot in the US of A .