In a feeble attempt to combat my constant homesickness, I compile tales of New York City rock & roll landmarks, most of 'em long gone. Moronic musings on various other enthusiasms are also thrown in for good measure.
The band played for two years in various locations in Manhattan, NYC, including its own productions/shows at the Palm Gardens, and the Cheetah Club, shows with the Grateful Dead in Central Park and the Fillmore East, and other outdoor shows in parks such as Tompkins Square Park in the East Village. It was part of a larger group of artists by the same name, who participated with light shows and various other activities. Various other artists such as Tiny Tim and Wavy Gravy participated in the shows from time to time, as did the Diggers and other "alternative live style folks." After it disbanded, Leon Luther Rix went on to play with many artists including Bette Midler, Bob Dylan, and the show Rent. Doug Metzler went on to play with Country Joe and The Fish. Sadly, Paul, who played double-necked rhythm guitar, and occassionally other instruments as well as back-up vocals, died in an accident in 1967, not long after the band broke up.
Abbie Hoffman briefly discusses a Tompkins Square protest-happening they played at in this 1988 New York magazine article, but whoever transcribed the interview misheard Abbie and thought he said "the group Image," with no capital G--as in, just Image.
From Time Magazine's "Youth: The Hippies" article, July 7, 1967.
Work Trip. The new-found trip of work and responsibility reflected in the Morning Star experiment is perhaps the most hopeful development in the hippie philosophy to date. Other hippie tribes are becoming aware of the work trip as well. New York's Group Image, an aggressive agglomerate of some 50 East Village hippies—many of them from the Middle West—turns out everything from silk-screen prints to psychedelic artifacts and a deadly serious, tidily edited magazine called Innerspace. The tribe's seven-man combo plays to packed and palpitating houses at such uptown discotheques as Cheetah and Trude Heller's Trik. Other New York tribes, like Pablo and the Third World, produce light shows for discos and department stores, run their own shops, where they make jewelry and pottery with a medieval dedication to craft and quality. [Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,899555-9,00.html#ixzz0q4g2ZdL9 ]
Some links that have cropped up since I wrote that post:
New York Times article scan from June 9, 1967, reporting on a show at the Central Park Bandshell with the Group Image and the Grateful Dead. "A combo called the Group Image--five electric guitars plus drums--achieved a sound at times that suggested a derailed freight train plunging over a cliff."
"New York 'Hippies' Find Wonderland," a June 21, 1967 article from the Nashua (New Hampshire) Telegraph (via Google News). "The Group Image is the most ambitious and vigorous of the families. It has its own rock band beginning to play uptown discotheques for $2,000 weekend fees, a graphics shop that does the band's publicity and subcontracts work for other firms, a darkroom, an interest in the publication of a psychedelic magazine and even a corporate name--Group Image Enterprises."
A couple of weeks ago, reader IM left a comment on that earlier post which sheds some light on the Palm Gardens: "I found a 1939 photo of part of the Palm Gardens at http://tinyurl.com/62jsauw (the first of the two photos). The sign out front says "Palm Garden To Rent for Balls Receptions Entertainments Conventions etc. Large Stage" and more that's too small to read. According to Certificates of Occupancy going back to 1922 the second floor was a balcony. I'm guessing in 1967 it was the same building considering it had been a dance hall for so many years. Whatever was there in 2004 was torn down and replaced by a 42-story luxury condo tower. sigh..."
Now, on to the ads and clippings.
4/13/67 "Scenes" column excerpt.
6/8/67 issue.
6/15/67 "Scenes" column excerpt.
6/22/67 "Scenes" column excerpt.
6/22/67 issue.
7/13/67 "Scenes" column excerpt.
7/13/67 issue.
7/20/67 issue.
8/3/67 issue.
8/10/67 issue.
8/17/67 "Scenes" column excerpt.
8/17/67 issue.
8/24/67 "Scenes" column excerpt.
8/24/67 issue.
8/31/67 "Scenes" column excerpt.
9/7/67 "Scenes" column excerpt.
9/7/67 issue.
9/21/67 issue.
9/28/67 issue.
10/12/67 issue.
11/16/67 issue.
11/23/67 "Scenes" column excerpt.
11/30/67 issue.
12/7/67 issue.
12/7/67 issue. The Group Image may not have been involved with this shindig.
12/7/67 issue.
12/14/67 "Scenes" column excerpt.
12/21/67 "Scenes" column excerpts.
12/21/67 issue.
12/28/67 issue.
Other mentions in the '67 Voice:
5/4/67 issue: "New Sound to the East: Living Out McLuhan"--a profile of the Group Image. Includes a dark photo, and a description of a show they did at the Balloon Farm, which apparently was the last event held there before its closure and conversion to the Electric Circus.
6/8/67 issue: "The Youthquake and the Shook-Up Park"--confrontations between hippies and police in Tompkins Square. The Group Image and the Grateful Dead are mentioned.
9/7/67 issue: "Scenes" mentions an upstate pot bust involving some Diggers and Group Image members.
9/21/67 issue: "Scenes" mentions that the Group Image designed the sign for the Digger Free Store.
10/19/67 issue: "Love: A Groovy Idea While He Lasted." In the wake of the East Village's most notorious hippiedoublemurder, the dark side of life in the area is examined. "Like generations of Lower East Siders before them, the Group Image wants to move to the country."
Flash forward a few years with this NPR feature on Will Hermes' Love Goes to Buildings on Fire.
I have to admit I'd only heard about the Group Image in passing prior to time-warping deeply into Voice '67, so I'll leave the explanations to the professionals.
From rateyourmusic.com :
The band played for two years in various locations in Manhattan, NYC, including its own productions/shows at the Palm Gardens, and the Cheetah Club, shows with the Grateful Dead in Central Park and the Fillmore East, and other outdoor shows in parks such as Tompkins Square Park in the East Village. It was part of a larger group of artists by the same name, who participated with light shows and various other activities. Various other artists such as Tiny Tim and Wavy Gravy participated in the shows from time to time, as did the Diggers and other "alternative live style folks." After it disbanded, Leon Luther Rix went on to play with many artists including Bette Midler, Bob Dylan, and the show Rent. Doug Metzler went on to play with Country Joe & The Fish. Sadly, Paul, who played double-necked rhythm guitar, and occassionally other instruments as well as back-up vocals, died in an accident in 1967, not long after the band broke up.
Abbie Hoffman briefly discusses a Tompkins Square protest-happening they played at in this 1988 New York magazine article, but whoever transcribed the interview misheard Abbie and thought he said "the group Image," with no capital G--as in, just Image.
From Time Magazine's "Youth: The Hippies" article, July 7, 1967.
Work Trip. The new-found trip of work and responsibility reflected in the Morning Star experiment is perhaps the most hopeful development in the hippie philosophy to date. Other hippie tribes are becoming aware of the work trip as well. New York's Group Image, an aggressive agglomerate of some 50 East Village hippies—many of them from the Middle West—turns out everything from silk-screen prints to psychedelic artifacts and a deadly serious, tidily edited magazine called Innerspace. The tribe's seven-man combo plays to packed and palpitating houses at such uptown discotheques as Cheetah and Trude Heller's Trik. Other New York tribes, like Pablo and the Third World, produce light shows for discos and department stores, run their own shops, where they make jewelry and pottery with a medieval dedication to craft and quality. [Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,899555-9,00.html#ixzz0q4g2ZdL9 ]
The Electric Circus was shocked last week when posters appeared throughout the East Side last week advertising a free dance with the Group Image. They had, after all, agreed only to an audition, but the Group Image needs an audience to do their thing. The Circus theatened to call the audition off, but when several hundred happy hippies responded to the invitation they relented and let them dance. Despite the group's growing fame (last week's cover of Time magazine), many of the local pop spas have found the Group Image a little unwieldy, and the Image, in turn, doesn't like the static they've been picking up. Their present plans are to return to the freak-outs through which they first emerged in the spring. The first will be at the Palm Gardens on Wednesday, July 19, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Admission will be $1.50.
It was their big chance. The management of the Electric Circus was impressed with the Group Image as they played to thousands in St. Marks Place Saturday night, and offered them an audition, in the form of a free dance, Sunday afternoon. The psychedelic tent was overflowing the next afternoon, but the Image was irked. The air conditioning, they complained, was off and the bathrooms were locked. They paused to tell the audience that "the Electric Circus sucks." That blew the audition, but the band played on, pausing occasionally for another insult. It was getting pretty raunchy. But the Circus had the last word. A hastily lettered slide flashed on to the screen behind the stage. It read "The Group Image Sucks." And the Image, amidst a forest of erect middle fingers, packed up and left.
Noise is the major issue. "Even the Group Image wouldn't live on the block," Bernie Hamtman, a [St. Marks Action Block] Committee explained. "The Electric Circus is overloaded and not soundproofed...If the laws were enforced, it would be shut down."...Hamtman said with a smile that the committee was thinking about promoting an "Electric Circus" featuring "The Group Mirage." The Group Mirage, he explained, were invisible hippies.
The "Scenes" column in the 9/7/67 has a brief report on a pot bust that landed a few Group Image and Diggers members in an upstate jail. And in the 11/23/67 issue, the column reports that the Parks Department had given the Group Image permission to organize a free pop festival at Flushing Meadow Park, to be held over Memorial Day weekend in '68. It was to be called the "First Memorial to the 20th Century Environmental Pops Festival," and "[t]o help out, a committee is being made up of important music business executives. A lot of top groups from both coasts have already agreed to appear. Not only music, but all kinds of kindred art and media will be showcased...The Group Image has chosen a slogan: Come to Flushing Meadow and Dance on the Grave of the World's Fair." I'm fairly certain this didn't actually came to pass...I'd surely have heard about it by now.
I haven't been able to locate any historical details on the Palm Gardens (310 W. 52nd Street), but this first ad seems to indicate it was an old ballroom/dancehall.
7/13/67 issue: "100% energy at a price you can afford, $1.50." The Group Image, the Keepers of the Light, July 9.
7/20/67 issue: The Group Image, the Keepers of the light, the Electric Lotus, July 19.
7/27/67 issue: The Electric Lotus, the Group Image, the Rings of Sacrobosco, Truth and Beauty Inc. on 7/26. The Group Image, Keepers of the Light, the Federal Duck, the Heavy Metal Kid, the Water Tower West on 8/2.
8/24/67 "Scenes" column illustration: Report on a wedding which occurred at the previous week's freak-out, presided by Digger/gay activist/nightlife impresario Jim Fouratt.
9/7/67 issue: The Fallen Angels, the Second Circus, "special guest Hugh Romney," and "the Group Mirage with Bernard Hamtman and his Invisible Hippies."
9/21/67 issue: The Group Image, Truth & Beauty, Illuminum Dream [sic., should be Aluminum.]
9/28/67 issue: The Children of Paradise on 9/28, the Aluminum Dream on 10/4.
11/30/67 issue: For a 12/6 show, can't tell if any other bands were involved.
12/21/67 issue. Christmas party with the Grateful Dead ("Grateful" is inked out of the ad for some reason), the Gray Company, the Aluminum Dream, the Group Image, 12/22-24.
12/28/67 issue: The Group Image, Dada and other surprises, December 29 & 30.
