Gong Dreaming 1/2

If there is anything, available right now, it would be at https://planetgong.co.uk/

It has a search function and you can type "gong dreaming" and after a few pages there are three comments about GD1 and 2 (2002/2009/2008) ... unfortunately it is just a "news blurb" it looks like. I don't know if Johnny Green is still around, but if he was, he would be the one that knows it all and would have some information available ... but to my knowledge, both books were not reprinted. AND, if  you search for the books on the net, goodness .... smallest price I saw was around $500 dollars, and that's crazy and GAS (Gong's website) should do something about that ... it hurts the whole story and hides a lot of things. 

Sadly, these days, no one cares about "history" and what it meant. In those days, at the very least, folks that were associated, and near, a lot of artists were given a lot of press and made folks wonder what was happening. The story of SM and then Gong, has its starts in a massive London place for a lot of folks, and you really don't know the connection ... you see the film "Tonite We All Love in London" and you kinda get the hint, but in the end, almost all of those folks were connected to the house, and the only one not seen in the film was Burroughs ... but Daevid had lots to say about that. But there was, unlike today's fans, a lot of respect for the works of other artists, specially in writing when they were very visible, though not the only ones. Today's fans, don't care about the arts, and it's like none of their rock stars and number one bands have ever seen a movie or a play! Heck, Marianne Faithfull did Shakespeare on West End! Get a hold of that! But no one can get past her being some sort of Rolling Stone groupie, which is really gross and bad, and totally dismisses any talent whatsoever. Even Keith speaks nicely about Anita.

The film ends up bringing up Yoko, and then John Lennon while Soft Machine plays in the background as if they were invisible ... and you know that the 1,2,3 and 4 probably showed up here just to try and wake folks up some from their star slumber ... which the event was sort of about. There is also another sub-text to the whole thing and it is a bunch of movie folks also in it ... who, were (no doubt about that) a part of the fun and the star thing at the show, however, the likelihood is that they were also involved in other ways ... it's hard not to see Eno meet Julie Christie here and later even write a beautiful song for her. She probably didn't care for his mouth, specially on politics, of which he was way out there at the time. But it also shows that there was a lot of politics around ... and Ginsberg poem is fantastic and speaks  for a generation way better than the bombastic and cardboard version in Coppola's film. It also suggests that sex, in many forms were all around, as is usually the case with younger folks, and specially visible in that time after the "psychedelic" thing was so loud and clear a very sexy thing for many rich folks. So, hearing Michael Caine and Lee Marvin is no surprise, and they probably did a lot of fishing around there ... 

If I remember correctly both of those "books" were not an album perse, but a compilation of various moments and comments Daevid made, but don't quote me on it. IF this is on a CD, I bet that someone wants mucho bux for it, if they even want to sell it ... 

The bunch of folks that might also know/have something would be the family that lives in Australia (Gilli's kids and Harry and others) ... as they would probably have some of it, and for sure a lot of stuff by Gilli as well ... some of her stuff needs to be released again, as there is a lot of far out stuff, up to and including stuff that was done, but not quite released ... the Goddess album with Steffi would be one. It is a magnificent album.

PS: I am looking through my backups going back 20 years and I have many emails that have details about/from the books (bits and pieces? Never seen the books myself) ... and am putting them together and will get them to you ... if anything it gives you a good primer.

PS2: The other thing that is clear here is the one that lots of folks tend to ignore ... how an artistic scene connects with the music ... something that fans today doubt and don't believe in, because it interferes with their idea of rock star and fame ... which is about adulation and nothing else. Daevid, in many ways makes this connection very clear and very open, and it is hard not to see how he became one of these beat poets, and writers ... that would never stop. Daevid, is as good, or better, than all of them!

I'll send you the stuff I have ... to me, the first book takes on the earlier stuff, which will confuse a lot of folks, as it takes on a lot of the arts at the time, and if you are aware of some of it, it will make better sense as to how Daevid felt, but if you are not familiar with all the writers, painters, film, theatre and other arts around in that time, I think that some of it goes right off the charts ... 

Make sure you look for "Tonite We All Love In London" and watch a couple of times, and then try to make sense of all the "different" folks show ... until you can find a thread here and there ... they all were a part of it and helped fuse it all in some fashion or another.

Stuff has been sent ... I thought I had one more but can't find it ... the first 3 seem to have parts from the book. Enjoy

PS: Please note that Gilli had a book about the Gong History ... from her point of view, I think it would be very interesting.