This is the year I turned 12, in the San Francisco Bay Area. During the summer of my 12th year, I ran away from home. The police caught up with me in Berkeley and carted me off to the Contra Costa Juvenile Hall, which turned out to be a pretty nice place. I have a few fond memories of my time there; the food was great, the counselors were kind, and the bedding was clean and warm. I knew I was safe. Becoming a ward of the court was next, and from that time forward, my parents were no longer legally responsible for my well-being, health or safety. It was one of the most significant blessings of my life.
My father's family was from Iowa. He never knew who his father was, a mystery he tried to solve his entire life. His mother may not have known either, judging by the pics of her sitting on various soldiers laps. Dad was raised by my Great-grandmother and had no siblings. There's some solid evidence that indicates his mother (my grandmother) was also illegitimate. (We don't know who the heck her father was either) So what we have here is a couple generations of matriarchal lineage and that's about it.
My great grandmother, Ella, was said to be a very intuitive person. She insisted on moving her family from Sioux City, Iowa to Oakland, California because she had a dream telling her to move there. She had her husband driving up and down the streets until she found the house that was in her dream. It wasn't for sale but she insisted he go to the door and ask anyway; it was about to be listed for sale, and that's the house she bought and lived in the rest of her life.What I remember most about her is that she sang christian songs, played the piano, read bible stories to us. She was a vegetarian and a great cook. Always feeding us, always talking to us. A very loving woman.
On my mother's side, not much history available there either. I didn't know until recent years that her father (my grandfather) was a scientist at JPL in Livermore or that he was in the military. They still don't admit that he was in the military; I only know that because I accidentally saw a photo of him at work in a JPL lab wearing a beige military uniform and hat, standing with some other officers.
As children, we weren't allowed to speak to our mother's parents unless they addressed us first. When they came to visit, we weren't allowed in the same room with them unless summoned. We didn't know much about them and they were always a mystery.. Grandfather Frame invented and manufactured a gadget he sold to the government..something to do with controlling the flow of (fuel?Liquid oxygen?) When I heard this (decades later) I thought oh, ok, while my siblings and I were going without clothes, food, or supervision, he was building his wealth selling space gadgets to NASA. ok Thanks.
The First Frame ancestor to arrive in America was said to be a high degree Mason who came from Wales in the 1700's. But grandfather Frame was said to absolutely despise the freemasons; his whole life, he hated and ranted against them. So I have no idea what went on there. To that mix, my father, who was busy explaining in detail to his children what the pyramid and eye on the dollar bill symbolized and etc. I heard all about the illuminati theories at a young age. Dad was great at lectures.
In recent times, my mother's brother shared what his memory of me as a child was: "you were this strange little quiet kid, but every so often you'd suddenly speak up and out would come some weirdly profound statement that would shock everybody." (Ya, thanks guy, I didn't have enough self-esteem issues. I expected to hear that I was thoughtful, or neat, or helpful, or kind. All of which I was). But to my mother's family, I was just strange. It didn't help that I looked just like my father, either,since they hated him.
Family legend has it that I was a wild child, incorrigible and impossible to control. True, they couldn't control me in the sense that I couldn't be forced to accept being beat or molested or neglected. By time I was 12, I was physically fighting back, and in addition I developed certain manners of speech to go with my defense, all of which resulted in progressively more severe beatings. I finally left, literally, with the clothes on my back. I never felt homesick after leaving, because there was no home.
I didn't break the law or get into any trouble at school. I fought back. That was the original sin that resulted in my mother's family shunning me and my children for more than 4 decades. I don't regret my choice. If I could go back in time, I'd grab a nice heavy lamp.
By the age of 16, I was completely on my own. I worked at a now famous restaurant in Hollywood (Mel's Diner) and lived in a cute studio (still there) down the street below The Magic Castle. I attended night school for a while at Hollywood High, until I saw that it was not real classes, but more of a pass-you-through process. Everyone was nice there, but there was no real instruction. I felt it was a waste of my time so I quit going. I couldn't attend regular high school because I had no parent or guardian to enroll me, but for some reason I could attend the night school, don't remember why that was. I think they may have overlooked the paperwork to allow me to attend.
At 17, I learned to drive on the highway between the San Francisco bay area and China lake, a navy base in the Mohave Desert.. Traveling there with my father's girlfriend, who gave me these driving instructions right before climbing over the back seat and going to sleep for the night: "here's the gas. here's the brakes, here's the turn signals. Stay in between the two white lines."
I fell asleep at the wheel hours later, traveling at about 90 miles per hour. The sound of the tires going over the cattle guard crossings (bump bump bump) woke me and I opened my eyes to see that we were now on an isolated off ramp, traveling maybe 20 miles an hour. Later that morning I stopped in Red Rock Canyon to watch the sun rise. It was particularly beautiful and I stood on the side of the road in the clear morning air watching the world light up. Safe Passage.
Popular Music of 1968 !!
All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix
Voodoo Child - Jimi Hendrix (and don't Be late)
Big Brother and The Holding Company - Piece of My Heart
Dazed & Confused - Led Zepplin
Turn Back The Hands of Time
Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf
White Room - Cream
Revolution - The Beatles
Helter Skelter - The Beatles
Check out Dana Fuchs Band doing Helter Skelter
The Dock of The Bay - Otis Redding
Hey Jude - The Beatles
I Heard it Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye
Polk Salad Annie - Tony Joe White
Slip Away -Clarence Carter
Son of a Preacher man - Dusty Springfield
Hello It's Me
Magic Bus - The Who
Jennifer Jupiter - Donovan
Think - Aretha Franklin
Everyday people - Sly and the Family Stone
People Got To Be Free - The Rascals
With A Little Help From My friends - Joe Cocker
Only The Strong Survive - Jerry Butler
Can I Change My Mind - Tyrone Davis
My father's family was from Iowa. He never knew who his father was, a mystery he tried to solve his entire life. His mother may not have known either, judging by the pics of her sitting on various soldiers laps. Dad was raised by my Great-grandmother and had no siblings. There's some solid evidence that indicates his mother (my grandmother) was also illegitimate. (We don't know who the heck her father was either) So what we have here is a couple generations of matriarchal lineage and that's about it.
My great grandmother, Ella, was said to be a very intuitive person. She insisted on moving her family from Sioux City, Iowa to Oakland, California because she had a dream telling her to move there. She had her husband driving up and down the streets until she found the house that was in her dream. It wasn't for sale but she insisted he go to the door and ask anyway; it was about to be listed for sale, and that's the house she bought and lived in the rest of her life.What I remember most about her is that she sang christian songs, played the piano, read bible stories to us. She was a vegetarian and a great cook. Always feeding us, always talking to us. A very loving woman.
On my mother's side, not much history available there either. I didn't know until recent years that her father (my grandfather) was a scientist at JPL in Livermore or that he was in the military. They still don't admit that he was in the military; I only know that because I accidentally saw a photo of him at work in a JPL lab wearing a beige military uniform and hat, standing with some other officers.
As children, we weren't allowed to speak to our mother's parents unless they addressed us first. When they came to visit, we weren't allowed in the same room with them unless summoned. We didn't know much about them and they were always a mystery.. Grandfather Frame invented and manufactured a gadget he sold to the government..something to do with controlling the flow of (fuel?Liquid oxygen?) When I heard this (decades later) I thought oh, ok, while my siblings and I were going without clothes, food, or supervision, he was building his wealth selling space gadgets to NASA. ok Thanks.
The First Frame ancestor to arrive in America was said to be a high degree Mason who came from Wales in the 1700's. But grandfather Frame was said to absolutely despise the freemasons; his whole life, he hated and ranted against them. So I have no idea what went on there. To that mix, my father, who was busy explaining in detail to his children what the pyramid and eye on the dollar bill symbolized and etc. I heard all about the illuminati theories at a young age. Dad was great at lectures.
In recent times, my mother's brother shared what his memory of me as a child was: "you were this strange little quiet kid, but every so often you'd suddenly speak up and out would come some weirdly profound statement that would shock everybody." (Ya, thanks guy, I didn't have enough self-esteem issues. I expected to hear that I was thoughtful, or neat, or helpful, or kind. All of which I was). But to my mother's family, I was just strange. It didn't help that I looked just like my father, either,since they hated him.
Family legend has it that I was a wild child, incorrigible and impossible to control. True, they couldn't control me in the sense that I couldn't be forced to accept being beat or molested or neglected. By time I was 12, I was physically fighting back, and in addition I developed certain manners of speech to go with my defense, all of which resulted in progressively more severe beatings. I finally left, literally, with the clothes on my back. I never felt homesick after leaving, because there was no home.
I didn't break the law or get into any trouble at school. I fought back. That was the original sin that resulted in my mother's family shunning me and my children for more than 4 decades. I don't regret my choice. If I could go back in time, I'd grab a nice heavy lamp.
By the age of 16, I was completely on my own. I worked at a now famous restaurant in Hollywood (Mel's Diner) and lived in a cute studio (still there) down the street below The Magic Castle. I attended night school for a while at Hollywood High, until I saw that it was not real classes, but more of a pass-you-through process. Everyone was nice there, but there was no real instruction. I felt it was a waste of my time so I quit going. I couldn't attend regular high school because I had no parent or guardian to enroll me, but for some reason I could attend the night school, don't remember why that was. I think they may have overlooked the paperwork to allow me to attend.
At 17, I learned to drive on the highway between the San Francisco bay area and China lake, a navy base in the Mohave Desert.. Traveling there with my father's girlfriend, who gave me these driving instructions right before climbing over the back seat and going to sleep for the night: "here's the gas. here's the brakes, here's the turn signals. Stay in between the two white lines."
I fell asleep at the wheel hours later, traveling at about 90 miles per hour. The sound of the tires going over the cattle guard crossings (bump bump bump) woke me and I opened my eyes to see that we were now on an isolated off ramp, traveling maybe 20 miles an hour. Later that morning I stopped in Red Rock Canyon to watch the sun rise. It was particularly beautiful and I stood on the side of the road in the clear morning air watching the world light up. Safe Passage.
Popular Music of 1968 !!
All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix
Voodoo Child - Jimi Hendrix (and don't Be late)
Big Brother and The Holding Company - Piece of My Heart
Dazed & Confused - Led Zepplin
Turn Back The Hands of Time
Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf
White Room - Cream
Revolution - The Beatles
Helter Skelter - The Beatles
Check out Dana Fuchs Band doing Helter Skelter
The Dock of The Bay - Otis Redding
Hey Jude - The Beatles
I Heard it Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye
Polk Salad Annie - Tony Joe White
Slip Away -Clarence Carter
Son of a Preacher man - Dusty Springfield
Hello It's Me
Magic Bus - The Who
Jennifer Jupiter - Donovan
Think - Aretha Franklin
Everyday people - Sly and the Family Stone
People Got To Be Free - The Rascals
With A Little Help From My friends - Joe Cocker
Only The Strong Survive - Jerry Butler
Can I Change My Mind - Tyrone Davis
