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Summer 1970: Tensions over the Vietnam War were high. President Richard Nixon was expected in Portland to speak to a convention of the Amercian Legion. The FBI warned Oregon officials to expect as many as 50,000 anti-war protesters. But the improbable events that unfolded next could hardly have been predicted.
Republican Governor Tom McCall gave his blessing to a counter-culture festival known as Vortex I in rural Clackamas County. The "Biodegradable Festival of Life" was orchestrated to lure protesters away from Nixon and the American Legion in downtown Portland. It worked. An estimated 30 to 100,000 people converged over the course of the week at McIver State Park. They danced, took off their clothes, rolled around in the mud, smoked pot and dropped acid. But as Governor Tom McCall said later, "Nobody was killed."
Not only that, he was re-elected.
Oregon Experience will air a documentary exploring the unique event on Monday, February 8th. We invite you to watch the documentary and join in the discussion with us the next morning.
Were you one of the tens of thousands of people who attended Vortex I? What was your experience? What can we learn from this historical event? What does it tell us about contemporary Oregon? Does learning about this unique event change your perception of Oregon history?
GUESTS:
- Matt Love: Vortex I historian
- Doris Penwell: Assistant to Governor Tom McCall's press secretary
- Lee Meier: Activist and one of the founders of Vortex I
Tagged as: history · music · politics · protest
Photo credit: From Vortex 1 slide show by Matt Love
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Excellent comment for an excellent post! I've just taken a look at that wikipedia link too and it's very resourceful.
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Yes it's true, great link you've provided to that wiki source.
Wholesale Glass Pipes
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Matt - Really enjoyed your book, really evoked Portland in 1970 in all its hairy, hoary splendor. Look fwd to the show tonight. Wonder when the Vortex documentary shows again?
Jelly Helm
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Hay Jelly...if you are on the cable system, you can check repeat dates in the search function, on your remote.
I forgot to also thank Matt for making this evenings event possible.
!!!Thx Pally!!! - RJ
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Ah yes...I was living in Portland OR. (born Grants Pass, OR) at the time of Vortex 1 and even remember the event. I'm sure there are those who can not. They were there...just can't recall being at McIver. It was an end to the outdoor music era, in terms of, the format three dayer. I also made Bull-Frog 1 & 2, Buffalo Convention and at Camus WA, which was my 1st 3 dayer experience....head-liner The Young Bloods, Darkness Darkness, wow...way fun. Weren't those the days or maybe the daze. Licence Plate Photo Taking; by the local police. You could hear drug sellers using bullhorns, from the highway. SHEESH!! Strange Brew! I'll be watching PBS, channel 10, in Corvallis OR.
RJ
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I was at the Vortex festival. A graduate of the University of Oregon and newly married in February of 1970, my husband John Gaiser and I went to the festival in our 1969 Volkswagon Beetle. We were newly weds. It was a gorgeous summer day! We wandered around greeting friends we had not seen since our wedding. I noticed a pregnant woman frolicing in the mud and bathing in the river. Then we saw an old firend of my husband's. As we strolled over to say hi....I suddenly realized he was stark naked, squatting down smoking a joint! What a shock! Lots of great music. It was a fun time. I think I got pregnant that month with my one and only daughter, Angela. Who knows....Vortex may have been the catalyst for a new life wanting to enter this dimension on the planet. Six years later, my husband was killed in a head-on car accident. I treasure those fun times. Good memories. Thank you for reminding me of my youth!
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I volunteered at the medic tent at Portland State during the demonstration, I was 16 years old. I remember being terrified at the aftermath of the demonstration and couldn't wait to head out to McIver Park. Vietnam..Nuclear power..The Weatherman..love those days!
There was a long walk to the park, first time I ever saw that many naked people in one place! I got high, danced, bathed in mud, jumped in the river and joined the people in the sweat lodge. I ate lentil soup (?) and listened to music..a few days of peace. Thanks Gov. McCall<3
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I was 19. I remember that the music schedule was disorganized, but it wasn't a bummer or anything. I mean Brown Sugar, Mixed Blood, Pete Langston and the Portland Zoo - all great bands and fun to watch even if one had to wait. I also remember being nervous for a while about people being overly overtly sexual, and then just letting it go because it really didn't matter. I don't recall anybody being hurt or raped. There were a few bad trips going on, but people killed any bad vibes with simple love and concern.
I slept in a tent about 100' away from a large cluster of teepees. It was quite a ways from the stage. One evening, I was walking towards the stage when an ambulance pulled up beside me. They asked where I was going and I told them "to the music". They told me to jump in, so I did. They turned on the lights and siren and took me right to the stage.
I also recall feeling a bit guilty about wanting people to be there rather than downtown protesting the war. I was right in the middle of the PSU disaster, and wouldn't have had it any other way.
In retrospect, I'd have to say we were lucky to the nth to have such a great governor and such great weather for Vortex.
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Great show! I was there 4 days after my 18th birthday, just a month before starting at the University of Oregon. I had to beg my mother to let me go to Vortex under the guise of working in the Mt. Hood Ski Patrol medical tent for Dr. Cameron Bangs. While I did work my shifts in the tent, the experience outside the tent was even more intense for a conservative kid from Milwaukie. A couple weeks later, my best buddy and I took a van on a trip to San Francisco to expand on our experience at Vortex. What a long strange ride it's been since then.
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I was there but only nine years old. I was a member of the family who they talk about in the show. We had tepees by the river and I remember the governor flying in and coming in to our teepee. I remember going to the medical tent to watch all the people freaking out on acid. I remember the food preparation being amazing - all the big pots and so many local people donated food. We were there for a whole week.
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I was a long haired veteran of Bullfrog 1 and Sky River rock festival but I attended Vortex in a different capacity. The house of Rainbows, a Christian Commune that was on the corner of North Height & Cook Streets, set up a military tent to provide an area of refuge for anyone in need. We were experienced in working the streets and parks of Portland and providing help to veterans, runaways and anyone who needed someone to just care about them. I wasn’t to far removed from the Hippy scene so the festival was quite a test on my resolve.
Craig
(Hey Matt!)
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I was always sad that I did not know about Woodstock until it was over. After getting tear gassed in Eugene then watching friends get beaten in the park blocks Vortex seamed like such a relief and fun also. I drove a shuttle car, actually an old truck, from the fields on the main road down to the park. Met a whole lot of interesting people and got tipped an amazing amount of joints for the rides. Everyone seamed to think that Jefferson Airplane (Starship) was coming, but were not even disappointed when they did not. All kinds of different people were there at different times, and I never even heard a disagreement let alone any kind of conflict. Even the soup was not bad. Tom McCall was a great governor. I do not know of another one with his foresight and leadership skills before or sense.
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If there was one thing I would do over it would be to go to Woodstock. Vortex was Plan B and I wasn't going to miss it. My father was a policeman and feared I would go to the festival and be injured by a drug-crazed hippie. But, he didn't forbid me from going. I would have gone anyway and he told me he knew I was going anyway.So, there was no resistance and his fears were unwarranted.
We started walking into the festival when our ride became one with the traffic herd heading to the festival. It was quite a walk into the festival carrying food. I spent the weekend camping with several friends I had just graduated with from high school. The only musical personality I remember was Charlie Musselwhite.
I wasn't into drugs yet so I stuck to the wine, fruit of the vine.
I didn't lose the clothing except in the mud tent by the river. When we entered the tent it was filled with "mud people" that shown only the whites of their eyes. We sat in the middle of them while they covered us with mud. It all came off in the Clackamas River but not so easily out of the hair. The sauna tent was a bit smoky and hard on the eyes and lungs.
Like Woodstock, it was fun and music.
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Wow how long ago this seems now. I was 16, just married that past February with a 3 month old baby boy. That baby boy turns 40 this May.
I don't remember a lot other than the weather was fantastic, the music was okay, but not the highlight. People were very mellow and friendly. My then husband and I drove to the park in our piece of shit '63 Sport Fury convertible with a top that wouldn't go up, when the festival first started, but didn't go prepared to camp out, so we returned home to Portland that night, or at least I did since I had to take care of the baby. My mother-in-law had volunteered to babysit not knowing exactly what it was that we were going to until much later. I remember when I returned the next day the traffic was so bad they had closed the road. I had to hitchhike a ride to the park and walk for what seemed like miles. We stayed until Sunday, but had to get back to reality. I think I've been there ever since.
I remember swimming in the river. Even in August the Clackamas can be mighty chilly, but it was hot and there wasn't much to do but hang out and walk around. Lots of people in the buff, which was unusual for Portland, but not freaky. We would just stop and talk to people.
I also remember all the hype about trying to herd the would-be protesters out of downtown. My dad belonged to the American Legion (a veteran of World War I) and he made it clear he didn't want me involved in any war protests when the Legion was in "our" town, so like a good girl I went to Vortex instead. I had attended the Bullfrog festival the year before. He was more than a little mad when he realized later that it was "a bunch of freaked out hippies smoking dope"!
Definitely a once in a lifetime experience. Woodstock without the mud and great music. I also think McCall was a great govenor. I kind of like the guy we have now too since I used to work for him many years ago.
My 10th high school reunion was held at McIver Park and we've camped there many times since. It's still a beautiful place. I'm a native Oregonian and it's nice to sit and recall those few days of peace and love in the park, or at least the part of it that I can.
Don't you think we could use some of that peace and love now?
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I was at Vortex I, a 20 y/o college kid, very much against the vietnam war but also wanting to get out of portland to the Governor's "party at McIver" that weekend. I remember the long, dusty walk into the park, the aroma of pot everywhere, the 24/7 music and dancing, the amazing oatmeal, and most of all the incredible commraderie, and "good vibes" with everyone, even the police around the perimeter of the park. I don't remember seeing or hearing about any incident of violence or even the threat of violence. It was an innocent, nieve time and I don't think it could ever happen in this day and age, for so many reasons......I think that's so unfortunate.
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Part 1 of 2
Hello Everyone -
The summer of 1970, a good friend of mine and I took a six week trip from Asheville North Carolina. I had just graduated from UNC Chapel Hill and we wanted to tour some state and national parks and I wanted to gain some, ahem, experience. We were in San Francisco when we heard about Vortex 1 and so we made a detour and arrived about six or seven days before the festival actually opened. The day we arrived there were perhaps two thousand people there.
I have several distinct memories of it, which is surprising since I was high on something virtually all of that time.
One memory was that of a black guy we met in San Fran, fresh out of San Quentin who, lacking a car and money, somehow managed to greet us at the gate, a jug of red wine in his hands.
As I remember it, the crowd consisted of migrant farm workers, returning Viet Nam vets, motorcycle gangs, and various younger aged people - some college but dominated by a lot of West Coast anti-establishment types and locals.
The edgy, "we are stardust" vibe seemed about 5 to 10 years ahead of anything I'd seen on the East Coast. I never saw any violence at all, but people seemed to camp with like-minded folk.
I wasn't there very long before a smiling girl about my age popped a microdot into my mouth, the first of many. Pot, hash, mushrooms and acid (Blue Cheer, LSD-25 microdots, pretty pure stuff) were the dominant drugs, but the Vets seems to have a good deal of heroin as well; there was even a little opium around.
There was a great deal of nudity for sure and pot, of course. You'd be walking along the ridge, your eyes would meet someone’s, and the next thing you'd know, you'd be smoking a joint and talking about where you were from, politics and the like. This happened over and over again.
In preparation for my West Coast adventure, I read "Electric Kool Aid Acid Test". While I did not see the Merry Pranksters for sure, I did see a brightly painted school bus with a jet canopy fastened to the roof and heard talk of Wavy Gravy.
I remember watching from afar a gathering of mostly Vets and their girlfriends around a huge bonfire. One guy pulled down his pants to reveal tattoos on each buttock with the words "Twin Screws" etched beneath.
part 1 of 2
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Part 2 of 2
I damned near bought the farm when I went into the Clackamas high on acid the day it turned hot. The water was little more than ankle deep, but the current pulled me off my feet and I went through a set of rapids barefoot with just a pair of jeans on. People on the bank shouted instructions to just relax, face up-river and the like. I finally crawled out of the river it seemed like a mile or more downstream; I was quite exhausted. It was almost dusk and it took me until two in the morning to find my way back to my campsite.
After dark on the way back, I remember climbing a ridge and seeing what looked like teepees and campfires for as far as the eye could see; the feeling was of stumbling upon an Indian encampment hundreds of years ago. I stopped several times to ask for directions and would inevitably smoke more dope or whatever so that my progress was impeded; two steps forward, one step back.
Each day the crowd swelled and I had this great sensation of watching a community organize itself right before my eyes. Signs went up, pathways were established, people would do trash duty and the like. The State of Oregon not only had food kitchens set up, but they would drop off pressed sawdust bricks (not pot - I would have known) for fires so that no one had to disturb the forest.
There was surprisingly little if any organized music, just a lot of individuals playing guitar, drums or the occasional flute. There were no political gatherings or rants either as far as I could tell. Just a lot of mostly stoned younger people spontaneously hooking up for sex, drugs and a simple, almost innocent outdoor experience. That's how I remember it anyway.
We had to get back to the East Coast and so we left the day the festival was supposed to start. The crowd had grown to perhaps 40,000. From what Love said about the weather, it seems that turned out to be a great idea.
Just a word about the locals - naturally they were concerned about property damage, but I found them accepting, even curious. And I had never seen nor tasted fruits and vegetables as marvelous as those in town and in the camp.
Dan
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What a creative and original idea to take all of the photos and film that Matt Love has collected over the years and turn them into a documentary for TV. Now that's thinking outside the box.
Terry Musgrove, Director of the original Vortex I documentary
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I think it is important to remember that the violence at Kent State and Portland State was entirely perpetrated by "law enforcement", the National Guard in Ohio and the Portland Police at PSU. As was later admitted by the FBI, they had absolutely NO reliable evidence to claim that the PAJ (People's Army Jamboree) or other groups were planning any violent demonstrations in Portland. Only the American Legion and the Portland Police were promising violence if large demonstrations occurred. The violence-prone cops and Legionnaires should have been sent to McIver to get stoned instead of the State infringing the right of citizens to "peaceably assemble". This was primarily a campaign ploy by McCall who was staunchly pro-Viet Nam War, in a close election campaign, and didn't want a large anti-war demonstration in his state.
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It seems to me that Votex 1 separated the sincere anti-war folks from those who used protest events to party. I was in college at that time, opposed to the war, and I remember how the partyy aspect of the demonstrations hurt perceptions among the vast undecided.
-Mike
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I turned 21 at Vortex I, having hitchhiked out from Portland. There was a solid line of traffic from about where Clackamas Town Center is now all the way to McIver Park. It was our own Oregon Woodstock except that it was free and there was free food (macrobiotic brown rice and vegetables). My brother and I were also members of the Peoples Army Jamboree, and our apartment was registered "crash pad" as were a lot of other houses in Portland. We were later evicted from that apartment. (Some of my friends said I had "sold out" because I went to Vortex rather than confront the American Legion in the streets, which I had been fully prepared to do until I realized that everybody else in the world was at McIver Park.) My parents owned a farm right on Springwater Highway so everybody had to pass by to and from the park. They were amazed at seeing thousands of hippies in our small farming neighborhood. The festival was amazing! Yes there was skinny dipping, and yes there was pot smoking, but everything was so laid back, and everybody shared everything; there was a medical tent; there were announcements from the stage to "not take the brown acid;" the music was phenomenal - it was the first time I had ever heard Charlie Musselwhite and I've never forgotten it. Out of a host of great ideas that Tom McCall had, Vortex I was one of the best.
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I was a reporter covering the American Legion Convention and Vortex I and had many subsequent conversations with Tom McCall, Ed Westerdahl and press aide Ron Schmidt (Doris's boss). Absolutely, the Governor's primary motivation was to keep the image of his beloved state from being sullied. His war views aside, he did not want another Kent State to happen. Not on his watch. Gutsy decision? You bet. But it was totally within his persona to make independent, courageous decisions. Would we reward that kind of leadership today? I wonder.
Jim Swenson
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I'm with Jim. Vortex I separated the hippies (for peace, as Lee might say) from those who truly protested the War (anti-war). My husband was also a CO, working for the council of churches. To a pacifist, Vietnam was an abomination, state sanctioned murder committed in our name. We felt it a moral duty te resist -- there were very few of us who opted to march. We found a babysitter-for-peace to care for our one-year old and marched up Broadway under the watchful eyes (and guns) of snipers posted on building roofs. Vortex showed me, one more time, how few "peace people" were truly willing to risk their comfort for a slim chance at peace for the Vietnam people. The whole experience was a window into the "state viloence" so epitomized at Kent State and , yes, in sweet Portland, under our pragmatic governor. Mufti McNassar
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I was there. I was a draftee at Ft Lewis at the time with that renowned Army short hair but the people at Vortex respected the draftees and were on our side in trying to get that war stopped.
It was fun.
It was a wise move on McCalls part but I get the controversies over betraying our "right to peaceably assemble".
Nixon was one of the worst Lying Crooks ever. I had been to a Nixon campaign speech at Oregon State before his first term and he just flat out lied to all those Conservatives and they lapped it up like kittens at a milk saucer. It was amazing to see how easily people can be manipulated.
I ended up getting out of the Army as a Conscientious Objector but I had to sue everyone in the Army Chain of Command up through the Department of the Army and then get my case reviewed by the Federal Appeals court which ordered the Army to give me an Honorable Discharge. It was very hard to save ones life in those days and I later met Marines who had been in Vietnam,who said they wished they had my courage.
Pretty amazing times back then.
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I think the politicians were more afraid of what law enforcement might do to the protestors than what the protestors might do to the city
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I thoroughly enjoyed the documentary by Matt Love. Having been one of the tens of thousands of young people who ventured out to McGiver Park that week, it was interesting to revisit that historic "scene." I was 17 years old and made several trips to the park, staying overnight on one occasion, against my parents' wishes. It was at Vortex that I took my first hallucinogenic drug, mescaline, which would prove to be the beginning of a lifetime of drug abuse. Three decades later, almost eleven years ago, I finally got clean and sober. Drugs were quite prevalent at Vortex, as everyone knows. And I mention my drug history not to taint the memory of Vortex, which was really a very beautiful and peaceful moment in time, but so that the dangers of drugs won't get lost in the discussion of brotherly love, rock festivals and peace movements.
I, too, was enthralled by the aura of peace and love that seemed to permeate the air those days (in spite of our government's insane involvement in a war we had no business being in). I was NEVER against the brave young men who went to war -- but I was adamantly opposed to the war itself.
My point is that in addition to the political aspects surrounding Vortex, and the uniqueness of the festival, I think we have a great opportunity (if not a responsibility) here to point out to listeners, or to remind them at least, of the dangers of drugs.
My memoir, Hungry Tigers: A Candid Account of Addiction & Recovery, was published last year. (www.garyswoboda.com) It is my hope that its message can help others who suffer from addiction, as well as the families and friends of addicts. I lost a lifelong friend to a drug overdose (on heroin I bought for us) the day before I checked into rehab. I've also lost two stepsons to addiction-related causes. The oldest was stabbed to death in a park in Los Angeles 14 years ago. The youngest died of a heroin overdose four years ago in our basement. Both times I was the one who had to impart these tragedies to my wife. And both times I thought she would die in my arms.
I'm not trying to be a "downer," just a realist. The gravity of drug abuse is real. If we learn from the past, we can improve the future.
Peace.
Gary Swoboda
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It sounds to me like Vortex was the beginning of the Great Sort in the US, where people quit being challenged by other viewpoints. Today, we live in walled off communities where we no longer seek out alternative opinions.
There is great value in having your beliefs challenged. Separating us into safe little communities is bad for us as a people.
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I was a member of the People's Army Jamboree that summer. As such I only spent one afternoon at Vortex. A group from the PAJ organizing group drove out to see if we could make stage announcements or otherwise encourage people to come back to the city for the main march through downtown. It was clear that the landscape was too vast and the sense of euphoria too great to really move people back to Portland. I had been at the PSU Strike and, frankly, I was pretty scared about violence because I'd seen it up close. There were people who were advocates of violence not just in Portland but regionally. But there were strong and respected voices like Mike McCusker from VietNam Vets Against the War who warned that we, the protestors, would only play into the hands of the opposition if we were violent. The PAJ had an office down on West Burnside in the weeks before the event and one of the regulars 'staffing' the office was (though we didn't know it then) an undercover police officer. When all was said and done, PAJ folks did march and there was no violence.
In those years I went to SkyRiver, Seattle Pops, and many other festivals. But as someone who believed that the 'counter culture' was more about a rejection of materialism and less about getting stoned, Vortex was living proof that the system could buy and co-opt the trappings and that most of the people who looked like 'hippies' were not much different than frat boys and sorority girls trying out a new lifestyle.
This weekend The Who performed at the major cash cow of Twenty First Century media materialism and sang "We won't be fooled again". Rings pretty hollow I gotta say.
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So.......... If you were there what do you remember is a trick question, right...........?
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If you remember Vortex I, then you weren't there?
I wasn't there, and I still don't remember it.
In fact, until this morning, when I heard the discussion (reminisinces) I had never heard of Vortex I and I grew up in Oregon, having been born in Springfield in 1964.
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My father was the State Park ranger in charge of McIver park, and we lived in the park itself. When we were told about this festival, we were told that our family would have to move to a hotel during this time and were led to believe that our home would not be safe. I was very upset as I was only 15 at the time. I called the Governor's office and complained that my fathers safety was at risk along with our home and Governor McCall should do something to stop it. I was a bit of a hippie kid but this was my home and my family. I had not told my parents that I was calling the Governor. Later that day the Governor's office called and asked for me by name and my Mom answsered that is her daughter and what was this all about. Needless to day, I got into trouble with my parents for calling. But the Governor's office wanted to assure me that my home and father would be taken care of and be safe. I was not so sure. We were moved into a hotel for the duration, and our home had all the windows boarded up in case of a riot and there was a 10 foot chain link fence put up all around the home and maintence compound to help protect it. National Guard solders were assigned to guard the fence and property.
My father continued to work there everyday and had no problems at any time with any of the folks attending. So it was a lot of worry for nothing. Governor McCall was very clever to pull this off and provide an outlet for what could have been a bad clash in Portland.
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Demonstrators back then tended to be well informed about history, the war, ideas of social justice and fairness, and The Declaration and The US Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Contrast them with the current "Fox News Tea Party Organization" of people who don't even know that the Boston Tea Party demonstration was against the Kings' Corporation, was against Conservatism.
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Vetnam was a war over "TIN" , late wwII the french were losing control of the mines and eNgland / uNited states started steping in during the early 50s ... the war only ended as the production of tin out / from the mine of the republic of south africa could supply the usEnhlish demands ... Vortex was intended to sidetract the public so that they would be kept bizzzzzy & out of the public eye ... The historical problem of this area is loaded with mis'information and to get to the root you have to start way before the " red white & blue" under the name of england went to war in Afganistsn/ india A'round approx.1800 and early'r ... Ya' really need to dig for the root cause/events rather than symtoms .... This is much as the christian crap of the use of the word christ as a name when it is simply a statement to show that one has comleated the mystery schools an corectly would be said " as : persons name - the christ " ... Kent state was a set up planed killing to make truth look the lie and for the most part worked to this day very well .... Truth of vortex was that it was to sidetract public awareness ... to subdue truth and nothing more ...
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I'm the young man hanging off of the drivers side of the old Vortex pickup truck in the photograph that is on this website and in Matt's book. At the time, I was an anti-war activist who had just returned back home to Portland from the East Coast, and heard about the planned demonstrations and also the festival. As a veteran of demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic Convention, as well as events in NY, Philly, and DC, I had developed a very strong non-violent bent, and also perhaps a altruistic belief that aggressive clashes between opposing parties were not going to effect long lasting change.
I think Vortex was very Oregon. Despite the political machinations that led to the event, the people that attended, taking a cue from the Family from Sunny Valley in So. Oregon who constructed the teepees, the mud hut, and assisted at the festival, really thought it was more than an alternative frat party with wine and pot. Of all of the festivals that I attended during that era, this was the most peaceful, the most loving, the most spiritual, and the most unified of any event I'd experienced. I walked away with the feeling that if we could all interact like that, at least in part, every day, perhaps we really could change the world.
40 years later, I know that it takes a lot more than that to effect change, but I still hang on to the believe that it comes in small steps, and individual, personal effort.... and I think that Oregonians ( and I live in Seattle, btw) culturally, have more of that feeling ingrained in them, as a culture, than people in other regions.
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I was a community college counselor at the time when the governor put out a call for volunteer counselors for Vortex. I had heard of it and my fellow counselors and I felt that Vortex was a good idea. We spent the day helping young people come down from bad drug trips sitting with them in the doctor's tent until we could be sure they would be OK. We walked the park looking for people who looked like they needed help. I have to confess that we also enjoyed the activities at the river and the music was wonderful. We had a great day out in the park. All was relatively peaceful. Law enforcement was helpful and low key. A good memory for me. I received a memory book--I think from the State of Oregon, to thank me for volunteering. aaray.
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My good friend Lee makes an important point that many people miss now, and many missed at the time of Vortex I and the Vietnam war: being anti-war is not the same as being pro-peace.
Fighting is fighting, no matter how righteous the battle, and making love is not making war.
Although there is a difference, there is no need to insist that only one way is correct or even that one is better than the other. Opposing what is wrong and showing what is right are both honorable. To effect profound social/political change, both may be required, but not necessarily of the same person.
Lee knows this. A philospher and artist, he opts not merely to emphasize, but to embody positivism and peace.
I respect his choice and admire his work to make the world a peaceful and more beautiful place. I also see a need to actively oppose wars and, in fact, do so, myself. Note, however, that while some anti-war activists might denigrate Lee for his way, he does not deride us for ours.
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I was there briefly, thought there was something sort of contrived about the whole thing but had no idea of the nature of it all. Political genius I must say. Hitch hiked home. I wondered why a Hippie lookin Volkswagen van not full didn't stop but the car behind them did. It was a Christian evangelist. We came around a corner and the van had been hit head on by a heavy old Chevy and there were bodies all over the place. I picked a guy up to get him out of the car and noticed his foot was amputated at the ankle and not even bleeding. The guy who was driving the other car was lying in the road, blue, smelling of alcohol and gasping for air. His wife was kneeling over him and said, "It serves you right you bastard." We did what we could to help a guy who was hanging upside down with blood gushing from his nose. We didn't talk much on the way home. I always wondered who those folks were and now I wonder if that was one of the vans I saw in the film.
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wow, just wow. I can't imagine this experience. thanks for sharing it though. I remember there being some confrontational christian evangelical types there, was that correct or is that a flashback from a dead show?
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I was there on sunday. I was a child, just about to turn five years old. the spectacle before me opened my eyes to things that set me on a course of life that people have not been able to understand or comprehend. what a mind trip that was for my child brain to experience.
I witnessed the bands, the nudity, the mud people, I remember telling mom I wanted to go swimming but she wouldn't let me go down with all the naked people. I told her I don't care, I want to go swimming with them.
I was there because my mother's friend took us there. she was an undercover cop. she wanted to check it out because the cops weren't supposed to be there so I got to tag along. what a strange perspective to have taken that in. It has always stayed with me and of course the sights were unexpected and as I grew up I remembered but my mother never mentioned it.
I would bring this memory up from time to time growing up and mom would kind of mumble and dismiss it.
Then the universe brought Matt Love on the scene and brought it all together for me. And now I can see that it really happened and those memories were not just something my child mind had concocted on its own.
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WOW 1970
Me and my,at the time, "girlfriend" ,later wife, ex wife and now good friend, had been together about 6 months or so. We had manned a barricade in the Park Blocks that spring protesting the War, Kent State and the Jackson State 7(?). We celebrated her 21st birthday in one of the barricades,birthday cake and all! Then a few days later Frank Ivancie turned the cops out and the fight started. Ah memories!
I was living in Goose Hollow on Clay St, that's before the infamous, mysterious fire,and she was living over by the Safeway off Jefferson. One of my neighbors' and friends was Sammy McCall,Tom's son.
One day during the earlier part of that summer a few of us were sitting on the front porch probably getting stoned, since that was the thing to do in those days, when Sammy comes over to tell us about what Tom was going to do. I thought cool we can get out of Portland and not have to put up with the Legion and the potential for "trouble". You see I had it with getting my head busted. I was in Chicago in 68, got brained and got hit at the Park Blocks. I thought I'd let this one go.
Fast forward to Aug. Mel and I went to McIver a few days early. Set up camp and helped build the stage and started the party early. We were primed by opening day. Later, on the opening day we were walking around the grounds near the entrance when I looked down and saw a baggie which I thought was someones garbage. So I picked it up to throw in a can but took a look before I did. SURPRISE! It was a bag of 'shrooms and 80 some hits of some REAL good acid! WHEW! The rest of Vortex is a blur but I KNOW I had a good time! We did give most of it away. I hope you got some!
After Vortex Mel and I went to McIver many times. It was a special place in our venture together. Something I'll cherish till the end of my run. We felt like we were "plugged in" when we went there. I can't explain it any more than that.
We had a big raft we used to put in at the park and float the Clackamas to the rocks in Gladstone. Those were some of the most peaceful days I ever had. And the best times with Mel.
I'm 63 now, still crazy, and still love Mel.
Thanks for letting me reminisce.
From Lake Chickamauga TN
Bill P
PS I miss Oregon big time!
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Wow Bill that was a great story. I totally get the connection with the river. I grew up on the Willamette and have taken that same trip many times from McIver to Gladstone! I can honestly say its some of the best times in my life. I've lived around the country, even the South a little and I don't blame you! I would be missing Oregon too. I had to come back.
In 1970 I had just graduated from West Linn High and was very naive. I didnt smoke there but I'm sure we drank. It was so surreal, so different than anything I'd ever seen before. And being naive, I was like the lady in the video. I remember being quietly shocked at all the naked bodies especially my high school friends! The only way I was allowed to go at 17 was that I had a girlfriend who lived down the street from the entrance and we were allowed to stay at her home at night and walk down that long road again. It was really fun!
I knew Dr Bangs and thats a whole other story. My mom worked at Willamette Falls and he was our family doctor. I remember that because of his experience at Vortex he became the expert in Oregon for dealing with people on drugs. It had a lasting effect on his medical career. And he did a fantastic service.
We were so lucky to have people like him support it, and especially Gov McCall and his staff. It was a brilliant move and I'm sure it saved lives. We could all use a little "Tom common sense" today.
Marge
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I was there!! Can't believe it was so many years ago! (How in the world did I get THIS old THIS fast???? Any plans for a 40 year reunion at McIver? Just a day picnic to share memories and photos?
Lady Ru of Clan Talon
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I was there from the start to the finish.. dont remember how many days it was .... dont remember who played ...it was a very forgetable experience... I was 18 .. and stoned the whole time
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I alternated between Vortex and downtown Portland. I was a 24 year old Washington County employee that was 'comandeered' by the State of Oregon to hang around a Vortex to make sure no one there was planning a mass march to downtown Portland to confront the American Legion. One of the state police drove me into the park every day and much later picked me up. Someone offered me a "toke" and I, not wanting to be inhospitable, but incredibly naive, took a swig from the offered jug of wine. Later that evening, as I was driving up the Sunset highway on my way home, I began having hallucinations. I pulled the car over to the side and sat it out. A few hours later I was able to drive home.
The crowd during the People's Army Jamboree parade was infiltrated by hundreds of 'People for Portland.' These were local citizens who had been trained at high school gymnasiums by psychiatrists from OHSU (think it was called something else back then) on how to diffuse conflict. At one point were it the march broke down and a yelling match was starting between American Legionnaires on the sidewalk and Jamboree folk in the street a Marylhurst (Holy Names) sister started the chant, 1, 2, 3, 4, we don't want you're f...ing war. She turned red but the crowd took up the chant and the parade started moving and violence didn't happen.
At the end of the parade were a group of Weathermen. I chose to infiltrate that group, and in retrospect was quite scared. Some of those people had embedded razer blades in the soles of their boots and were carrying sticks and bats also embedded with razor blades. Following us were a group of National Guard buses in a v formation to haul people off to jail if necessary. We crossed the freeway at the south end of town and ended up at Duniway park and I was very relieved there was no violence.
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It seems comic that former government officials think of VORTEX I as their power trip. It was my friend Lee Meier who came up with the idea for humanitarian reasons. I was involved in the Portland State Student Strike and Lee was bringing food around to us strikers at the barricades. My opinion of the “Peoples Army Jamboree,” was that they had been infiltrated by police provocateurs and that is what Lee had seen. The rank and file of the “ Legionnaires “ were made up mostly of WW II Vets who were in Portland to visit with their old buddies.
I was in the second vehicle " green pickup truck “ to arrive at VORTEX I. I had learned about VORTEX I from Lee months earlier and planned on going. At Wilsonville we found out that “ Bullfrog” had been canceled. My recollection was of what decorum took place between the Mayor, Police of Wilsonville and us in order to solve a problem. We agreed to go to McIver Park early; we were not kidnaped. You did not have to go if you did not want to. Once in the caravan while riding in the back of the pickup we opened a jug of wine and lit a joint just a few feet from several policemen and were unmolested. ( We had come to an understanding with them ). Many cars joined the caravan as seen by their headlights at dusk. Once we got to McIver because our pickup truck was loaded with firewood, we had the first campfire going at VORTEX I and that is where the party began.
When interviewed I was under the impression that O.P.B. was also covering the PSU Student Strike. Prior to the student strike, ( April 30, 1970 ), two hundred of us marched through the streets of Portland demanding an end to the Viet Nam War. After the strike, ( May 12 ), five thousand of us surrounded City Hall and the Police Station. Let “ Oregon Public Broadcasting “ tell that story.
David Dumas
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This comment has been removed by the TOL staff.
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Vortex 1 was Soma to appease the unruly and unwashed. Tom McCall was wise, clever, and insightful, even for a Republican. (Totally uncalled for shot - I respect Governor McCall as a great Oregonian, but the thoughtless consumption of Soma by Republican sheep is strongly in vogue at the tea parties and requires a gentle jab.)
"All members of society are conditioned in childhood to hold the values that the World State idealizes, which improves societal stability and quality of life. Constant consumption is the bedrock of stability for the World State. Children are conditioned from birth to value consumption with such platitudes as "ending is better than mending," i.e., buy a new one instead of fixing the old one. Everyone is encouraged to consume the ubiquitous drug soma."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_New_World