There’s something happening here

What it is ain’t exactly clear”

Join me now, if you have the time, as we take a stroll down memory lane to a time nearly four-and-a-half decades ago – a time when America last had uniformed ground troops fighting a sustained and bloody battle to impose, uhmm, ‘democracy’ on a sovereign nation.

It is the first week of August, 1964, and U.S. warships under the command of U.S. Navy Admiral George Stephen Morrison have allegedly come under attack while patrolling Vietnam’s Tonkin Gulf. This event, subsequently dubbed the ‘Tonkin Gulf Incident,’ will result in the immediate passing by the U.S. Congress of the obviously pre-drafted Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which will, in turn, quickly lead to America’s deep immersion into the bloody Vietnam quagmire. Before it is over, well over fifty thousand American bodies – along with literally millions of Southeast Asian bodies – will litter the battlefields of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

For the record, the Tonkin Gulf Incident appears to differ somewhat from other alleged provocations that have driven this country to war. This was not, as we have seen so many times before, a ‘false flag’ operation (which is to say, an operation that involves Uncle Sam attacking himself and then pointing an accusatory finger at someone else). It was also not, as we have also seen on more than one occasion, an attack that was quite deliberately provoked. No, what the Tonkin Gulf incident actually was, as it turns out, is an ‘attack’ that never took place at all. The entire incident, as has been all but officially acknowledged, was spun from whole cloth. (It is quite possible, however, that the intent was to provoke a defensive response, which could then be cast as an unprovoked attack on U.S ships. The ships in question were on an intelligence mission and were operating in a decidedly provocative manner. It is quite possible that when Vietnamese forces failed to respond as anticipated, Uncle Sam decided to just pretend as though they had.)

Nevertheless, by early February 1965, the U.S. will – without a declaration of war and with no valid reason to wage one – begin indiscriminately bombing North Vietnam. By March of that same year, the infamous “Operation Rolling Thunder” will have commenced. Over the course of the next three-and-a-half years, millions of tons of bombs, missiles, rockets, incendiary devices and chemical warfare agents will be dumped on the people of Vietnam in what can only be described as one of the worst crimes against humanity ever perpetrated on this planet.

Also in March of 1965, the first uniformed U.S. soldier will officially set foot on Vietnamese soil (although Special Forces units masquerading as ‘advisers’ and ‘trainers’ had been there for at least four years, and likely much longer). By April 1965, fully 25,000 uniformed American kids, most still teenagers barely out of high school, will be slogging through the rice paddies of Vietnam. By the end of the year, U.S. troop strength will have surged to 200,000.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world in those early months of 1965, a new ‘scene’ is just beginning to take shape in the city of Los Angeles. In a geographically and socially isolated community known as Laurel Canyon – a heavily wooded, rustic, serene, yet vaguely ominous slice of LA nestled in the hills that separate the Los Angeles basin from the San Fernando Valley – musicians, singers and songwriters suddenly begin to gather as though summoned there by some unseen Pied Piper. Within months, the ‘hippie/flower child’ movement will be given birth there, along with the new style of music that will provide the soundtrack for the tumultuous second half of the 1960s.

An uncanny number of rock music superstars will emerge from Laurel Canyon beginning in the mid-1960s and carrying through the decade of the 1970s. The first to drop an album will be The Byrds, whose biggest star will prove to be David Crosby. The band’s debut effort, “Mr. Tambourine Man,” will be released on the Summer Solstice of 1965. It will quickly be followed by releases from the John Phillips-led Mamas and the Papas (“If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears,” January 1966), Love with Arthur Lee (“Love,” May 1966), Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention (“Freak Out,” June 1966), Buffalo Springfield, featuring Stephen Stills and Neil Young (“Buffalo Springfield,” October 1966), and The Doors (“The Doors,” January 1967).

One of the earliest on the Laurel Canyon/Sunset Strip scene is Jim Morrison, the enigmatic lead singer of The Doors. Jim will quickly become one of the most iconic, controversial, critically acclaimed, and influential figures to take up residence in Laurel Canyon. Curiously enough though, the self-proclaimed “Lizard King” has another claim to fame as well, albeit one that none of his numerous chroniclers will feel is of much relevance to his career and possible untimely death: he is the son, as it turns out, of the aforementioned Admiral George Stephen Morrison.

And so it is that, even while the father is actively conspiring to fabricate an incident that will be used to massively accelerate an illegal war, the son is positioning himself to become an icon of the ‘hippie’/anti-war crowd. Nothing unusual about that, I suppose. It is, you know, a small world and all that. And it is not as if Jim Morrison’s story is in any way unique.

During the early years of its heyday, Laurel Canyon’s father figure is the rather eccentric personality known as Frank Zappa. Though he and his various Mothers of Invention line-ups will never attain the commercial success of the band headed by the admiral’s son, Frank will be a hugely influential figure among his contemporaries. Ensconced in an abode dubbed the ‘Log Cabin’ – which sat right in the heart of Laurel Canyon, at the crossroads of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Lookout Mountain Avenue – Zappa will play host to virtually every musician who passes through the canyon in the mid- to late-1960s. He will also discover and sign numerous acts to his various Laurel Canyon-based record labels. Many of these acts will be rather bizarre and somewhat obscure characters (think Captain Beefheart and Larry “Wild Man” Fischer), but some of them, such as psychedelic rocker cum shock-rocker Alice Cooper, will go on to superstardom.

Zappa, along with certain members of his sizable entourage (the ‘Log Cabin’ was run as an early commune, with numerous hangers-on occupying various rooms in the main house and the guest house, as well as in the peculiar caves and tunnels lacing the grounds of the home; far from the quaint homestead the name seems to imply, by the way, the ‘Log Cabin’ was a cavernous five-level home that featured a 2,000+ square-foot living room with three massive chandeliers and an enormous floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace), will also be instrumental in introducing the look and attitude that will define the ‘hippie’ counterculture (although the Zappa crew preferred the label ‘Freak’). Nevertheless, Zappa (born, curiously enough, on the Winter Solstice of 1940) never really made a secret of the fact that he had nothing but contempt for the ‘hippie’ culture that he helped create and that he surrounded himself with.

Given that Zappa was, by numerous accounts, a rigidly authoritarian control-freak and a supporter of U.S. military actions in Southeast Asia, it is perhaps not surprising that he would not feel a kinship with the youth movement that he helped nurture. And it is probably safe to say that Frank’s dad also had little regard for the youth culture of the 1960s, given that Francis Zappa was, in case you were wondering, a chemical warfare specialist assigned to – where else? – the Edgewood Arsenal. Edgewood is, of course, the longtime home of America’s chemical warfare program, as well as a facility frequently cited as being deeply enmeshed in MK-ULTRA operations. Curiously enough, Frank Zappa literally grew up at the Edgewood Arsenal, having lived the first seven years of his life in military housing on the grounds of the facility. The family later moved to Lancaster, California, near Edwards Air Force Base, where Francis Zappa continued to busy himself with doing classified work for the military/intelligence complex. His son, meanwhile, prepped himself to become an icon of the peace & love crowd. Again, nothing unusual about that, I suppose.

Zappa’s manager, by the way, is a shadowy character by the name of Herb Cohen, who had come out to L.A. from the Bronx with his brother Mutt just before the music and club scene began heating up. Cohen, a former U.S. Marine, had spent a few years traveling the world before his arrival on the Laurel Canyon scene. Those travels, curiously, had taken him to the Congo in 1961, at the very time that leftist Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba was being tortured and killed by our very own CIA. Not to worry though; according to one of Zappa’s biographers, Cohen wasn’t in the Congo on some kind of nefarious intelligence mission. No, he was there, believe it or not, to supply arms to Lumumba “in defiance of the CIA.” Because, you know, that is the kind of thing that globetrotting ex-Marines did in those days (as we’ll see soon enough when we take a look at another Laurel Canyonluminary).

Making up the other half of Laurel Canyon’s First Family is Frank’s wife, Gail Zappa, known formerly as Adelaide Sloatman. Gail hails from a long line of career Naval officers, including her father, who spent his life working on classified nuclear weapons research for the U.S. Navy. Gail herself had once worked as a secretary for the Office of Naval Research and Development (she also once told an interviewer that she had “heard voices all [her] life”). Many years before their nearly simultaneous arrival in Laurel Canyon, Gail had attended a Naval kindergarten with “Mr. Mojo Risin’” himself, Jim Morrison (it is claimed that, as children, Gail once hit Jim over the head with a hammer). The very same Jim Morrison had later attended the same Alexandria, Virginia high school as two other future Laurel Canyon luminaries – John Phillips and Cass Elliott.

“Papa” John Phillips, more so than probably any of the other illustrious residents of Laurel Canyon, will play a major role in spreading the emerging youth ‘counterculture’ across America. His contribution will be twofold: first, he will co-organize (along with Manson associate Terry Melcher) the famed Monterrey Pop Festival, which, through unprecedented media exposure, will give mainstream America its first real look at the music and fashions of the nascent ‘hippie’ movement. Second, Phillips will pen an insipid song known as “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair),” which will quickly rise to the top of the charts. Along with the Monterrey Pop Festival, the song will be instrumental in luring the disenfranchised (a preponderance of whom are underage runaways) to San Francisco to create the Haight-Asbury phenomenon and the famed 1967 “Summer of Love.”

Before arriving in Laurel Canyon and opening the doors of his home to the soon-to-be famous, the already famous, and the infamous (such as the aforementioned Charlie Manson, whose ‘Family’ also spent time at the Log Cabin and at the Laurel Canyon home of “Mama” Cass Elliot, which, in case you didn’t know, sat right across the street from the Laurel Canyon home of Abigail Folger and Voytek Frykowski, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves here), John Edmund Andrew Phillips was, shockingly enough, yet another child of the military/intelligence complex. The son of U.S. Marine Corp Captain Claude Andrew Phillips and a mother who claimed to have psychic and telekinetic powers, John attended a series of elite military prep schools in the Washington, D.C. area, culminating in an appointment to the prestigious U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis

After leaving Annapolis, John married Susie Adams, a direct descendant of ‘Founding Father’ John Adams. Susie’s father, James Adams, Jr., had been involved in what Susie described as “cloak-and-dagger stuff with the Air Force in Vienna,” or what we like to call covert intelligence operations. Susie herself would later find employment at the Pentagon, alongside John Phillip’s older sister, Rosie, who dutifully reported to work at the complex for nearly thirty years. John’s mother, ‘Dene’ Phillips, also worked for most of her life for the federal government in some unspecified capacity. And John’s older brother, Tommy, was a battle-scarred former U.S. Marine who found work as a cop on the Alexandria police force, albeit one with a disciplinary record for exhibiting a violent streak when dealing with people of color.

John Phillips, of course – though surrounded throughout his life by military/intelligence personnel – did not involve himself in such matters. Or so we are to believe. Before succeeding in his musical career, however, John did seem to find himself, quite innocently of course, in some rather unusual places. One such place was Havana, Cuba, where Phillips arrived at the very height of the Cuban Revolution. For the record, Phillips has claimed that he went to Havana as nothing more than a concerned private citizen, with the intention of – you’re going to love this one – “fighting for Castro.” Because, as I mentioned earlier, a lot of folks in those days traveled abroad to thwart CIA operations before taking up residence in Laurel Canyon and joining the ‘hippie’ generation. During the two weeks or so that the Cuban Missile Crisis played out, a few years after Castro took power, Phillips found himself cooling his heels in Jacksonville, Florida – alongside, coincidentally I’m sure, the Mayport Naval Station.

Anyway, let’s move on to yet another of Laurel Canyon’s earliest and brightest stars, Mr. Stephen Stills. Stills will have the distinction of being a founding member of two of Laurel Canyon’s most acclaimed and beloved bands: Buffalo Springfield, and, needless to say, Crosby, Stills & Nash. In addition, Stills will pen perhaps the first, and certainly one of the most enduring anthems of the 60s generation, “For What It’s Worth,” the opening lines of which appear at the top of this post (Stills’ follow-up single will be entitled “Bluebird,” which, coincidentally or not, happens to be the original codename assigned to the MK-ULTRA program).

Before his arrival in Laurel Canyon, Stephen Stills was (*yawn*) the product of yet another career military family. Raised partly in Texas, young Stephen spent large swaths of his childhood in El Salvador, Costa Rica, the Panama Canal Zone, and various other parts of Central America – alongside his father, who was, we can be fairly certain, helping to spread ‘democracy’ to the unwashed masses in that endearingly American way. As with the rest of our cast of characters, Stills was educated primarily at schools on military bases and at elite military academies. Among his contemporaries in Laurel Canyon, he was widely viewed as having an abrasive, authoritarian personality. Nothing unusual about any of that, of course, as we have already seen with the rest of our cast of characters.

There is, however, an even more curious aspect to the Stephen Stills story: Stephen will later tell anyone who will sit and listen that he had served time for Uncle Sam in the jungles of Vietnam. These tales will be universally dismissed by chroniclers of the era as nothing more than drug-induced delusions. Such a thing couldn’t possibly be true, it will be claimed, since Stills arrived on the Laurel Canyon scene at the very time that the first uniformed troops began shipping out and he remained in the public eye thereafter. And it will of course be quite true that Stephen Stills could not have served with uniformed ground troops in Vietnam, but what will be ignored is the undeniable fact that the U.S. had thousands of ‘advisers’ – which is to say, CIA/Special Forces operatives – operating in the country for a good many years before the arrival of the first official ground troops. What will also be ignored is that, given his background, his age, and the timeline of events, Stephen Stills not only could indeed have seen action in Vietnam, he would seem to have been a prime candidate for such an assignment. After which, of course, he could rather quickly become – stop me if you’ve heard this one before – an icon of the peace generation.

Another of those icons, and one of Laurel Canyon’s most flamboyant residents, is a young man by the name of David Crosby, founding member of the seminal Laurel Canyon band the Byrds, as well as, of course, Crosby, Stills & Nash. Crosby is, not surprisingly, the son of an Annapolis graduate and WWII military intelligence officer, Major Floyd Delafield Crosby. Like others in this story, Floyd Crosby spent much of his post-service time traveling the world. Those travels landed him in places like Haiti, where he paid a visit in 1927, when the country just happened to be, coincidentally of course, under military occupation by the U.S. Marines. One of the Marines doing that occupying was a guy that we met earlier by the name of Captain Claude Andrew Phillips.

But David Crosby is much more than just the son of Major Floyd Delafield Crosby. David Van Cortlandt Crosby, as it turns out, is a scion of the closely intertwined Van Cortlandt, Van Schuyler and Van Rensselaer families. And while you’re probably thinking, “the Van Who families?,” I can assure you that if you plug those names in over at Wikipedia, you can spend a pretty fair amount of time reading up on the power wielded by this clan for the last, oh, two-and-a-quarter centuries or so. Suffice it to say that the Crosby family tree includes a truly dizzying array of US senators and congressmen, state senators and assemblymen, governors, mayors, judges, Supreme Court justices, Revolutionary and Civil War generals, signers of the Declaration of Independence, and members of the Continental Congress. It also includes, I should hasten to add – for those of you with a taste for such things – more than a few high-ranking Masons. Stephen Van Rensselaer III, for example, reportedly served as Grand Master of Masons for New York. And if all that isn’t impressive enough, according to the New England Genealogical Society, David Van Cortlandt Crosby is also a direct descendant of ‘Founding Fathers’ and Federalist Papers’ authors Alexander Hamilton and John Jay.

If there is, as many believe, a network of elite families that has shaped national and world events for a very long time, then it is probably safe to say that David Crosby is a bloodline member of that clan (which may explain, come to think of it, why his semen seems to be in such demand in certain circles – because, if we’re being honest here, it certainly can’t be due to his looks or talent.) If America had royalty, then David Crosby would probably be a Duke, or a Prince, or something similar (I’m not really sure how that shit works). But other than that, he is just a normal, run-of-the-mill kind of guy who just happened to shine as one of Laurel Canyon’s brightest stars. And who, I guess I should add, has a real fondness for guns, especially handguns, which he has maintained a sizable collection of for his entire life. According to those closest to him, it is a rare occasion when Mr. Crosby is not packing heat (John Phillips also owned and sometimes carried handguns). And according to Crosby himself, he has, on at least one occasion, discharged a firearm in anger at another human being. All of which made him, of course, an obvious choice for the Flower Children to rally around.

Another shining star on the Laurel Canyon scene, just a few years later, will be singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, who is – are you getting as bored with this as I am? – the product of a career military family. Browne’s father was assigned to post-war ‘reconstruction’ work in Germany, which very likely means that he was in the employ of the OSS, precursor to the CIA. As readers of my “Understanding the F-Word” may recall, U.S. involvement in post-war reconstruction in Germany largely consisted of maintaining as much of the Nazi infrastructure as possible while shielding war criminals from capture and prosecution. Against that backdrop, Jackson Browne was born in a military hospital in Heidelberg, Germany. Some two decades later, he emerged as … oh, never mind.

Let’s talk instead about three other Laurel Canyon vocalists who will rise to dizzying heights of fame and fortune: Gerry Beckley, Dan Peek and Dewey Bunnell. Individually, these three names are probably unknown to virtually all readers; but collectively, as the band America, the three will score huge hits in the early ‘70s with such songs as “Ventura Highway,” “A Horse With No Name,” and the Wizard of Oz-themed “The Tin Man.” I guess I probably don’t need to add here that all three of these lads were products of the military/intelligence community. Beckley’s dad was the commander of the now-defunct West Ruislip USAF base near London, England, a facility deeply immersed in intelligence operations. Bunnell’s and Peek’s fathers were both career Air Force officers serving under Beckley’s dad at West Ruislip, which is where the three boys first met.

We could also, I suppose, discuss Mike Nesmith of the Monkees and Cory Wells of Three Dog Night (two more hugely successful Laurel Canyon bands), who both arrived in LA not long after serving time with the U.S. Air Force. Nesmith also inherited a family fortune estimated at $25 million. Gram Parsons, who would briefly replace David Crosby in The Byrds before fronting The Flying Burrito Brothers, was the son of Major Cecil Ingram “Coon Dog” Connor II, a decorated military officer and bomber pilot who reportedly flew over 50 combat missions. Parsons was also an heir, on his mother’s side, to the formidable Snively family fortune. Said to be the wealthiest family in the exclusive enclave of Winter Haven, Florida, the Snively family was the proud owner of Snively Groves, Inc., which reportedly owned as much as 1/3 of all the citrus groves in the state of Florida.

And so it goes as one scrolls through the roster of Laurel Canyon superstars. What one finds, far more often than not, are the sons and daughters of the military/intelligence complex and the sons and daughters of extreme wealth and privilege – and oftentimes, you’ll find both rolled into one convenient package. Every once in a while, you will also stumble across a former child actor, like the aforementioned Brandon DeWilde, or Monkee Mickey Dolenz, or eccentric prodigy Van Dyke Parks. You might also encounter some former mental patients, such as James Taylor, who spent time in two different mental institutions in Massachusetts before hitting the Laurel Canyon scene, or Larry “Wild Man” Fischer, who was institutionalized repeatedly during his teen years, once for attacking his mother with a knife (an act that was gleefully mocked by Zappa on the cover of Fischer’s first album). Finally, you might find the offspring of an organized crime figure, like Warren Zevon, the son of William “Stumpy” Zevon, a lieutenant for infamous LA crimelord Mickey Cohen.

All these folks gathered nearly simultaneously along the narrow, winding roads of Laurel Canyon. They came from across the country – although the Washington, DC area was noticeably over-represented – as well as from Canada and England. They came even though, at the time, there wasn’t much of a pop music industry in Los Angeles. They came even though, at the time, there was no live pop music scene to speak of. They came even though, in retrospect, there was no discernable reason for them to do so.

It would, of course, make sense these days for an aspiring musician to venture out to Los Angeles. But in those days, the centers of the music universe were Nashville, Detroit and New York. It wasn’t the industry that drew the Laurel Canyon crowd, you see, but rather the Laurel Canyon crowd that transformed Los Angeles into the epicenter of the music industry. To what then do we attribute this unprecedented gathering of future musical superstars in the hills above Los Angeles? What was it that inspired them all to head out west? Perhaps Neil Young said it best when he told an interviewer that he couldn’t really say why he headed out to LA circa 1966; he and others “were just going like Lemmings.”

To Be Continued …

https://centerforaninformedamerica.com/inside-the-lc-the-strange-but-mostly-true-story-of-laurel-canyon-and-the-birth-of-the-hippie-generation-part-i

Post Notes:

This is an incredible YouTube Channel and I wanted to share with you.

Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@ThrowinTheLightness

Laurel Canyon : A Place In Time
Docuseries Episode 1 | 2020

INSIDE THE LC: THE STRANGE BUT MOSTLY TRUE STORY OF LAUREL CANYON AND THE BIRTH OF THE HIPPIE GENERATION: PART I

“There’s something happening here

What it is ain’t exactly clear”

Join me now, if you have the time, as we take a stroll down memory lane to a time nearly four-and-a-half decades ago – a time when America last had uniformed ground troops fighting a sustained and bloody battle to impose, uhmm, ‘democracy’ on a sovereign nation.

It is the first week of August, 1964, and U.S. warships under the command of U.S. Navy Admiral George Stephen Morrison have allegedly come under attack while patrolling Vietnam’s Tonkin Gulf. This event, subsequently dubbed the ‘Tonkin Gulf Incident,’ will result in the immediate passing by the U.S. Congress of the obviously pre-drafted Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which will, in turn, quickly lead to America’s deep immersion into the bloody Vietnam quagmire. Before it is over, well over fifty thousand American bodies – along with literally millions of Southeast Asian bodies – will litter the battlefields of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

For the record, the Tonkin Gulf Incident appears to differ somewhat from other alleged provocations that have driven this country to war. This was not, as we have seen so many times before, a ‘false flag’ operation (which is to say, an operation that involves Uncle Sam attacking himself and then pointing an accusatory finger at someone else). It was also not, as we have also seen on more than one occasion, an attack that was quite deliberately provoked. No, what the Tonkin Gulf incident actually was, as it turns out, is an ‘attack’ that never took place at all. The entire incident, as has been all but officially acknowledged, was spun from whole cloth. (It is quite possible, however, that the intent was to provoke a defensive response, which could then be cast as an unprovoked attack on U.S ships. The ships in question were on an intelligence mission and were operating in a decidedly provocative manner. It is quite possible that when Vietnamese forces failed to respond as anticipated, Uncle Sam decided to just pretend as though they had.)

Nevertheless, by early February 1965, the U.S. will – without a declaration of war and with no valid reason to wage one – begin indiscriminately bombing North Vietnam. By March of that same year, the infamous “Operation Rolling Thunder” will have commenced. Over the course of the next three-and-a-half years, millions of tons of bombs, missiles, rockets, incendiary devices and chemical warfare agents will be dumped on the people of Vietnam in what can only be described as one of the worst crimes against humanity ever perpetrated on this planet.

Also in March of 1965, the first uniformed U.S. soldier will officially set foot on Vietnamese soil (although Special Forces units masquerading as ‘advisers’ and ‘trainers’ had been there for at least four years, and likely much longer). By April 1965, fully 25,000 uniformed American kids, most still teenagers barely out of high school, will be slogging through the rice paddies of Vietnam. By the end of the year, U.S. troop strength will have surged to 200,000.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world in those early months of 1965, a new ‘scene’ is just beginning to take shape in the city of Los Angeles. In a geographically and socially isolated community known as Laurel Canyon – a heavily wooded, rustic, serene, yet vaguely ominous slice of LA nestled in the hills that separate the Los Angeles basin from the San Fernando Valley – musicians, singers and songwriters suddenly begin to gather as though summoned there by some unseen Pied Piper. Within months, the ‘hippie/flower child’ movement will be given birth there, along with the new style of music that will provide the soundtrack for the tumultuous second half of the 1960s.

An uncanny number of rock music superstars will emerge from Laurel Canyon beginning in the mid-1960s and carrying through the decade of the 1970s. The first to drop an album will be The Byrds, whose biggest star will prove to be David Crosby. The band’s debut effort, “Mr. Tambourine Man,” will be released on the Summer Solstice of 1965. It will quickly be followed by releases from the John Phillips-led Mamas and the Papas (“If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears,” January 1966), Love with Arthur Lee (“Love,” May 1966), Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention (“Freak Out,” June 1966), Buffalo Springfield, featuring Stephen Stills and Neil Young (“Buffalo Springfield,” October 1966), and The Doors (“The Doors,” January 1967).

Read more here:

https://centerforaninformedamerica.com/inside-the-lc-the-strange-but-mostly-true-story-of-laurel-canyon-and-the-birth-of-the-hippie-generation-part-i/

Love you all.

Deep Breath, Let’s Keep Going!

Here is the YouTube Channel Where I Found This Video:

https://www.youtube.com/@logicaldating101

This short video is a great overview of who Gloria Swanson was and the role she played in Hollywood.

This was fascinating to me. Have a great day.

Post Notes:

Here is the channel where I found this video and I would suggest you subscribe if you have interest in learning about old Hollywood.

https://www.youtube.com/@CinemaCities1978

“Stories about classic hollywood, film noir, horror, and obscure and overlooked films. I explore the lives of the stars and the system that brought these films to life and examine the social and cultural landscape that shaped them”

Before Jim Carrey had to be “reprogrammed” to go along with the New World Order agenda, this is how he looked and sounded inspiring millions with his humor, presence, and love.

Post Notes:

Here is the YouTube Channel where I found this video:

https://www.youtube.com/@TheTruthIS

Post Notes

This is a great YouTube Channel and here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/@Maggieloveslife

Well, if there is anyone that is on the “cutting edge,” of where Hollywood is going in 2026, it would have to be CovertFilm, a YouTube Channel I just discovered.

Every time I wanted to click off this documentary, the editing, the commentary, the insights, and perspective were so good, I couldn’t turn it off.

So yeah, give this a watch and let me know your thoughts. A real mind blower. Love movies, love those who make them, love the changes in me after I see a filmmaker’s perspective.

Here’s the channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@CovertFilm

Post notes:

https://www.thelist.com/1966652/biggest-old-hollywood-scandals/

https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahmarder/old-hollywood-scandals

https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/hollywoods-10-biggest-cover-ups-scandals-hidden-from-the-public-eye/ar-AA1SXcZM

Watching the transition of Jim Carrey has been really hard for me because so much of what he does reminds me of so many others who came before him.

Thanks RR, for sending me this YouTube video; it was awesome, bro!

Post Notes:

Here is the YouTube Channel where RR sent me the video:

https://www.youtube.com/@ECHOtvNews

Copyright © 2026. Mitch Santell. All rights reserved.

P.S.

Happy Wednesday dear Subscribers and Followers!

PS We are the ones we have been waiting for. Here is the YouTube channel where I found this video. This guy is so much fun and a natural born comedian!

https://www.youtube.com/@cameraconspiracies

Post Notes:

Here is the channel I found this video on:

https://www.youtube.com/@ShawneeUnion

The 4th of July is a bittersweet day for me as I am sure it is for so many Americans.

Why?

Well, for me, it is reflecting on all the friends, relatives, and business partners who have all passed away and are no longer here.

When?

Those people I loved and adored were here 50 years ago and now are gone.

Next?

There are so many people I used to follow, believe in and hang on each word they spoke or wrote.

Now?

The best part of all is the silence. No, I don’t play the victim card and I refuse to play the game, “My Life Is Your Fault.”

End Result?

Once something is over, let it go.

Next Chapter?

Once something is over, I take a deep breath and move on because at the end of the day, who knows if it even happened.

There is a life we learn with and a life we live with.

The more I let go and let God, the more I forgive myself as I forgive others; I see light at the end of the tunnel and guess what? It’s not a train.

PS There is a new feeling of freedom that comes from the need to be right, the need to impress others, and the assumption that they know who you are. Happy Sunday America. I’m grateful that after 250 years, that we are still standing.***

***What is your next chapter? I’d love to know.

“Philadelphia Freedom”

I used to be a rollin’ stone, you know
If a cause was right
I’d leave to find the answer on the road
I used to be a heart beatin’ for someone
But the times have changed
The less I say, the more my work gets done

‘Cause I live and breathe this Philadelphia freedom
From the day that I was born, I’ve waved the flag
Philadelphia freedom took me knee-high to a man, yeah
Gave me peace of mind my daddy never had

Oh, Philadelphia freedom, shine on me, I love ya
Shine the light through the eyes of the ones left behind
Shine the light, shine the light
Shine the light, won’t you shine the light?
Philadelphia freedom, I lo-o-ove ya
Yes, I do

If you choose to, you can live your life alone
Some people choose the city (Some people choose the city)
Some others choose the good old family home
(Some others choose the good old family home)
I like livin’ easy without family ties (Livin’ easy)
‘Til the whippoorwill of freedom zapped me
Right between the eyes

‘Cause I live and breathe this Philadelphia freedom
From the day that I was born, I’ve waved the flag
Philadelphia freedom took me knee-high to a man
Gave me peace of mind my daddy never had

Oh, Philadelphia freedom, shine on me, I love ya
Shine the light through the eyes of the ones left behind
Shine the light, shine the light
Shine the light, won’t you shine the light?
Philadelphia freedom, I lo-o-ove ya, yes I do

Oh, Philadelphia freedom, shine on me
I love ya
Shine the light through the eyes of the ones left behind
Shine the light, shine the light
Shine the light, won’t you shine the light?
Philadelphia freedom, I lo-o-ove ya
You know I lo-o-ove ya, yeah
You know I lo-o-ove you, yes I do!

(Philadelphia freedom)
I lo-o-ove you, yes I do, Philadelphia freedom
You know that I lo-o-ove you, yes I do!
(Philadelphia freedom)
Oh, don’t you know that I lo-o-ove you, yes I do!
(Philadelphia freedom)
Don’t you know that I lo-o-ove you, yes I do!
(Philadelphia freedom)
Don’t you know that I lo-o-ove you, yes I do!

Copyright © 1975 • All Rights Reserved. • Elton John •Rocket Records

Post notes:

https://mudita.com/community/blog/be-here-now-what-it-means-to-live-in-the-present-moment/

https://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-let-go-of-the-past-8600268

https://www.reddit.com/r/DecidingToBeBetter/comments/15ekm1w/how_do_you_let_go_of_the_past/

https://www.exceptionalfutures.com/how-to-let-go-of-the-past/

https://psychcentral.com/blog/how-to-let-go-of-the-past-and-hurt#prioritize-yourself

❤️❤️❤️

I don’t have much time to write because my Mrs. has her 5th round of chemotherapy for her breast, bone, and lung cancer, so I’m on duty. It is what we husbands do for our wife’s. How should I know? Just celebrated my 40th Wedding Anniversary.

Fell in love with Laurie at first sight on August 11, 1984.

Started dating in January of 1985.

We dated for 6 months.

Then, I asked her to marry me.

She said “Yes,” and we had a 12 month engagement.

Of course my Dad (RIP) met my Mrs. 5 years before I did.

Why would I post this kind of audio with a nicely worded love letter to my Mrs. on Substack?

The answer is that at 69 years of age, Married 40 years, this is not the world I thought I would be living in.

Love you all, here’s a link below! I’m sure we will be texting, talking, or linking soon.

https://gangstalkingmindcontrolcults.com/the-nanotech-technocratic-takeover-nanotech-and-the-rise-of-the-digital-thought-clones/

Now in 2026?

It feels like something is off.

Let me know your insights and experience on this.

By nature, I’m a happy, upbeat person, and I’m noticing something shifting.

Are we in multiple timelines?

Does your future feel like slow motion?

All comments, observations, and personal experiences are welcome.

Peace.

Onward.

Happy Friday Dear Readers!

If you are like me and you may be, this is a time to either ignore the news or dig in.

The world YOU live in was Happily Manufactured for You during the Golden Era of old Hollywood, and now you are living like me in a world you don’t understand.

Yeah, we all look at a.i. and some of us freak out.

Why?

This was shown to you back in the day in Hollywood.

Want to see the trailer?

Here you go:

Let us fast forward to 2026, shall we?

Here is one analysis of the film:

Here is the YouTube Channel where I found this video:

https://www.youtube.com/@ScreamFactoryTV/videos

Post Notes (Thanks RR):

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thomasjcob

What was that?

That most people really don’t want to know the truth.

That most people think there is nothing they can do when they can.

We are the ones we are waiting for.

We are living in a post Covid 19 World.

We are living in a post 9/11 World.

God bless you and thank you for being here.

Peace and Love to all here.

https://www.youtube.com/@VideoAdvice

Post Notes:

https://www.educate-yourself.org/nwo/

https://educate-yourself.org/cn/fundamentalistbrainwashing06jun05.shtml

https://www.educate-yourself.org/cn/billcoopernwostructure21oct14.shtml

https://www.educate-yourself.org/lte/globalwarming13sep06.shtml

https://www.educate-yourself.org/mc/

KJV Revelation 13

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty andtwo months.

6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.

10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Each day can be its own universe.

For me?

Family has been my life.

Love has been my life.

Music has been my life.

In 2026, we are once again witnessing a huge transition for humanity.

What do I mean?

Humanity stands at the crossroads of how it will move forward and we all have our own “lens” of how we see things.

Take a deep breath, look around and if you need to say to yourself “WTF,” you have every right to do so.

There is a life we learn with and a life we live with.

Recently I started working with a new songwriter who unfortunately lost her daughter in the hospital because of the medical protocols.

Throughout the 48 years that my Parents (RIP) were married, my Dad used to say to me all the time “if it’s not your wife and it’s not your life, everything else will work out fine.”

The past 10 days have been horrific.

I’ve been to the emergency room not once but twice with my wife.

Sometimes my friends ask me how long the honeymoon period of my marriage lasted for…

…and my answer is always the same: 20 years.*

*The honeymoon period of my parents’ marriage was 20 days as my Dad (RIP) fell in the kitchen of his apartment

Now, I’ve been married for 40 years, so you might think to yourself, WTF.

We married in 1986, lived in an apartment for one year, 15 minutes from my wife’s mother, bought our first home in Covina, California in 1986, and had our first child, Michael James Santell in 1987.

The music business may suck in 2026, here is why:

I fell in love with my wife at first sight on August 11, 1984.

We started dating in 1985 because I was renting a room in Redondo Beach with 3 other guys and I remember climbing out of the window, running down the street to ask my wife if she would go out on a date with me.

When it comes to Family, we emigrated from Poland in 1899. My Great Uncle Alfred Santell was born in 1895. My Grandfather, Martin James Santell was born in 1900. After moving to San Francisco, our Family was in the 1906 earthquake and lived in Golden Gate Park for many months while our Family in Southern California, had to pick them up by horse and carriage.

If you want to know more about Alfred Santell, you will find him on the IMDB database:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0763453/?ref_=fn_t_1

My Grandfather Martin James Santell, was born in 1900.

When he moved with his brother Alfred Santell to Santa Monica California in 1906, years later my Grandfather (RIP) was the first assistant director on dozens and dozens of films that Alfred Santell directed. Unfortunately, all of the scripts, budgets, photos, daily reels and so on, were destroyed in a fire back in the day so our family no longer has a record of them.

Post notes: I write here on Substack and treat it like a big notepad. Why? Substack changed their algorithm and I have already lost over 100+ free subscribers. Going forward, I will start writing more on WordPress. It is simply that I love the interface here at Substack, and if they had not changed their algorithm, I’d have over 10K to 15K+ Subscribers, so it is what it is.

As a.i. (artificial intelligence) continues to “dominate our technology,” a lot like the dot com boom in 1999, you can’t make this stuff up!

By the way, I attempted to become a “founding paid subscriber” to another Substack but Substack would not let me.

Why? Because the NWO took over post WW2, and I don’t know which algorithm is running this platform.

A commentary on the a.i. shift happening now:

For those that want to know what is happening in the music business, this is the big shift. Why? Shift Happens!!

More post notes:

https://time.com/7338205/rage-against-ai-generated-music/

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/17/ai-generated-music-is-going-viral-should-the-music-industry-worry.html

https://sites.psu.edu/leonacivic/2025/02/21/the-future-of-music-will-ai-replace-human-artists/

https://www.elevarmagazine.com/industry/ai-is-quietly-taking-over-the-music-industry-are-musicians-paying-attention

https://blog.musicstar.ai/2022/05/will-ai-take-over-music.html

https://aimusicmaker.ai/blog/will-ai-take-over-music

This is a video off of his channel that I am reposting it here to help my family and friends on the east coast.

Where did I find this video?

Here is the channel on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@jailbreakoverlander

Find Richie from Boston on Rumble at:

https://rumble.com/user/RichieFromBoston

Richie’s other channel on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@RFBII

May Richie’s insights and experience be of help to you in challenging times.

Love you all.

PS Here is a link to all the products that Richie from Boston discussed in the video. Please know that I do not make a commission on any of this, I am only sharing what Richie from Boston placed online.

https://www.amazon.com/shop/jailbreakoverlander?ccs_id=471d19e7-d3d5-40a8-b360-1f43b4c78173

This is how the sky looks here in South Orange County, California. The spraying never stops here.

It is so strange when young people are now on their iPhone for 7 plus hours a day; they are put down and made wrong.

Our young people, especially the “teenagers,” are doing the best that they can.

The world Post Covid 19 is now gone and their actual reality is determined by their “identity” on Instagram, X, Instagram, Threads, Facebook, and YouTube just to mention a few.

Back when MTV launched I was happily living in Redondo Beach, California.

Yeah man, I lived on Avenue A literally one block from the beach where I could easily walk down there with a fresh brewed cup of coffee and welcome the new day.

This was back in 1982 where I lived with 3 other people who rented rooms in a really cool house that was built back in the 1940s.

My rent?

$275.00 dollars a month including my utilities.

One of the most interesting experiences I had living in that house were my roomates who all had “Cable TV.” I did not have Cable TV.

What did I do?

Since I was a bit of a Movie Addict and still am because it’s in my DNA and through my Family background, I rented movies.

What I wanted to share and what I noticed was other members in the house would easily watch MTV for 5 to 8 hours a day!

Sort of reminds me of the young people who get social stimulation by being on Instagram.

So for those of you who want a “glimpse” into what that time was like, here is a little documentary showcasing the original MTV-Video DJ’s!

Post Notes: (Thanks RR)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_MTV

https://www.showbiz411.com/2024/06/25/paramount-shuts-down-mtv-website-wipes-history-after-20-plus-years

https://www.backthenhistory.com/articles/the-history-of-mtv

https://theconversation.com/40-years-of-mtv-the-channel-that-shaped-popular-culture-as-we-know-it-165365

https://westportlibrary.libguides.com/MTV

https://www.everything80spodcast.com/the-history-of-mtv/

https://www.npr.org/2011/11/06/141991877/the-golden-age-of-mtv-and-yes-there-was-one

Now for the ultimate. Ready? Since Paramount Fucked things up and erased all of the original MTV videos, I thought you might want to see the first two hours of live MTV broadcasting from “back in the day.” Love you, gotta go!

❤️❤️❤️

No, I don’t agree 100% with everything the man says and I’m grateful that he is out there.

Here is the description from the video above:

Since 1619, white America has survived by repeating one lie: “It doesn’t affect me.”
While Black Americans endured slavery, lynching, Jim Crow, redlining, mass incarceration, police violence, and voter suppression, white people stayed comfortable — silent — protected.

Now that authoritarianism, state violence, and loss of rights are creeping into white spaces, people are panicking.

Let’s be clear: this is still a watered-down version of what Black Americans have lived through for centuries.

Most white Americans are still insulated — still in picket-fence denial — still pretending none of this matters. That silence isn’t neutral. It’s complicity.

If you’re uncomfortable, good. Discomfort is overdue.
The question is simple: will white America finally act, or keep hiding behind privilege until it’s too late?

This is from his channel…

Paul Lance

DescriptionExposing white supremacy, Christian nationalism, and political corruption — no sugar-coating. Republicans embrace fascism, Democrats have no backbone, bought and paid for by AIPAC. This isn’t commentary — it’s a call to action for the working class to rise up, shut it down, and take back our country.

⚡ Topics We Rip Open:
• Fascism rising in America (yes, it’s happening NOW)
• How MAGA weaponizes faith & white nationalism
• The Democrats’ spineless inaction and corporate loyalty to AIPAC

💥 This isn’t “political commentary.” It’s a call to arms for the working class, for people of faith sick of the hypocrisy, and for anyone who refuses to watch democracy die in silence.

Here is his website: https://www.paulandrewlance.com

Post notes:

everyone is entitled to my own opinion

this week in stupid: January 10 edition

as another stupid week comes to a close here in America, let’s look back at the dumbest fucking shit that happened…

Read more

8 months ago · 2890 likes · 458 comments · Jeff Tiedrich

The Alchemist's Dream

Rehab From the Matrix

What if the problem isn’t that we’re sick, but that we’re trained? What if anxiety, depression, chronic inflammation, autoimmune disease, burnout, addiction, dissociation, brain fog, numbness, and ex…

Read more

8 months ago · 34 likes · 8 comments · The Alchemist's Dream

PLR

💦 I am so willing to LISTEN

Dear Friends…

Read more

8 months ago · 1 like · PLR

❤️❤️❤️

From the time I started writing here at Substack, I always had strong views about things like:

1). We are the ones we have been waiting for.

2). We can’t change our past, we can’t predict the future, we have to be here now.

3). We get to leave behind all of those people in our life who don’t get us and never did.

The reason I believe that 2026 is already an amazing year is that so many people “don’t know what to believe anymore,” that it now comes down to us to take action.

You know, I watched my Substack shift from 5,600+ Subscribers all the way up to 5,904 Subscribers as of last night.

Then this morning? It shows I have 5,856 subscribers.

Wow, since announcing I am here writing, I’ve lost over 40 Subscribers and I must confess I am so happy.

Why?

If there is any year that you are going to have to step away from all of those in your life that say “Not you, can’t happen, won’t work,” this is the year to leave all of them behind.

What is your point, Mitch?

My point is this:

Things are changing so quickly that you have got to be true to yourself.

You have to know what makes you tick because guess what?

We can’t go back to once was.

We can’t go “senile” on each other.

This is a time to build something new, make something happen, shift the energy.

What was the biggest lesson that I learned when I was blocked from Substack from November 4, 2025 to January 10, 2026?

That in the end it is up to each one of us.

Throughout my own life, my view has always been:

Team Work Makes The Dream Work!

What do I think about 2026?

There is a life we learn with and a life we live with.

As a guy who spent the last 25 years of my life producing talk radio, producing music, raising money for start-up companies, along with raising 4 children, I realize that at this moment, none of that history means anything; those chapters of my life are over, so I have to move on.

Think about this for a moment:

Once something is over, did it really ever happen?

Be Kind To Yourself.

Let go of what other people think.

If Substack, WordPress, Facebook, X, or some other platform takes you offline, maybe it is your time to not be there anymore.

A lot of people talk about “stepping into process,” I always say that if you step into action the process will take care of itself.

Parting Shot

At the end of the day, most people don’t care and as Les Brown always says, “80% don’t care and 20% are glad it’s you.

What am I doing this year?

I am not overthinking anything. I am just going to take action.

Want an example? What you are reading is off the top of my head, without any forethought or any assumption of how this commentary turned out.

Forget a.i., Forget what other people think. Forget how you will be “judged.”

As long as you are not hurting anymore, just go out of and do it.

Love you all.

Wow, just happy to be alive in 2026.

Grateful for the gifts I have been given and willing to let go of it all because, as Clif High always says, our universe is collapsing and rebuilding itself all the time!

The world in its current form is collapsing.

Some are scared.

Others say bring it on.

Everyone is shifting.

Want an example, here you go…

Post notes.

Here is the YouTube Channel where you can find the above video:

https://www.youtube.com/@GooMonsterStudio

Here is the home page of GooMonster Studio:

https://goomonsterstudio.com

Research:

https://www.creativebloq.com/art/animation/9-movies-and-series-that-will-make-2026-a-big-year-for-animation

https://www.pix-videos.com/tips-advice/best-scientific-animation-companies-2026-guide/

https://medium.com/@ken_mok/we-are-witnessing-the-real-time-collapse-of-the-film-and-tv-industry-as-we-know-it-4dad235887b2

https://disneyparksblog.com/wdw/disney-animation-inspired-experience-coming-to-disneys-hollywood-studios/

https://www.imdb.com/news/ni64783602/

https://medium.com/swlh/prepare-for-the-death-rebirth-of-hollywood-f3853aacbee0

❤️❤️❤️

It has always been my view that the glass is half full.

By nature, I prefer to go to the positive, and yet we all know we are living in very challenging and transitional times.

It was a really strange day.

A time of reflection, a time of looking back at all the family, friends, lovers, partners, enemies, and all those who crossed my path.

That strange day was November 4th, back in 2025.

On that day, this is what I wrote:

At the end of that day, I was literally locked out of my Substack account. I love this platform because I understand the “interface,” and as most of us know, the APP simply works.

Yes, I have several dozen friends on this very platform who are simply “shadow banned.” My view? They may or may not be shadow banned; I can tell you I was locked out.

Now back on Substack, I’ll continue to share my insights and experience with all of you, and at the same time, I’m pushing forward and writing more on WordPress.

So why did Substack lock me out?

This is wild so hold on: Substack had no record of my email address.

That’s right, no record.

Now how this happened, I still don’t know but what I can tell you is that since things are getting “better” and getting “worse,” at the same time, it could be anything.

Some don’t like Substack because it has no SEO, and yet, I have had no problems finding any of my postings on multiple search engines including:

Google, Brave, Vivendi, Yahoo, Kagi, Dogpile, and many more.

Final Comments

If for some reason you do get locked out of your own account, don’t be afraid to reach out to Substack, they will help you out.

Love and Peace to all here.*

*Happy 2026. It is going to be another wild ride. My view? We are all supposed to be here.

Post Notes: