Beat Generation Gallery

FRANK, MICHAEL & GEORGE
San Francisco 1966

Hell's Angel Freewheelin Frank, Michael McClure and George Montana are rehearsing at Michael's place for a local performance. They would put music to McClure's poetry and play and sing their hearts out. It was in sessions like this that McClure's "Oh Lord, please buy me a Mercedes Benz" was developed as a political song, then Janis Joplin turned it into a pop song.

FREEWHEELIN, McCLURE & MONTANA PERFORMING AT MOE'S BOOKS
Berkeley 1966

Michael McClure asked me to photograph this performance at Moe's Books. I had been working with his group shooting practice sessions and it was great to see them now performing live. Hell's Angel Freewheelin Frank, Michael McClure and George Montana singing McClure's song "Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz." Janis Joplin made this song famous later on. The only posters sold out on the wonder wall behind the performance are Allen Ginsberg's and Steve McQueen's. Youth culture with heroes at both extremes.

CLASS ACTS, HAIGHT-ASHBURY
San Francisco 1966

McClure called me one day and said "Can you come over to the Haight and shoot the marquee at the Straight Theater? I am being billed over the Dead." I thought it was a great way to show the transition from the Beats to the hippies. I was so moved by the experience, I wanted to be in the photo too, so I parked my car in the scene to show I was there.