Grateful Dead—Celestial Synapse at the Fillmore West w/The Golden Toad, Don Hamrick, Don McCoy, and the writer activist Stephen Gaskin, February 19, 1969
Grateful Dead—Celestial Synapse at the Fillmore West w/The Golden Toad, Don Hamrick, Don McCoy, and the writer activist Stephen Gaskin, February 19, 1969
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Two weeks before the Live/Dead run, the band played one of their most unusual shows of 1969. Billed as a "Frontiers of Science Celestial Synapse," the invitation-only event was undoubtedly one of the most colorful musical gatherings the Fillmore ever saw. Invites went out to folks in the rock music field and the various psychedelic families, including Rancho Olómpali, Morning Star, and the Wheeler Ranch. The organizing body of the event was Frontiers in Science, an intentional community located at Harbinger, a former hot springs resort 100 miles north of San Francisco. Founded by Donald James Hamrick in 1967, the self-reliant community sought to be a center for learning, research/development, and exploration, in addition to carrying out Hamrick’s vision to establish order and unity on earth and to connect the physical and metaphysical aspects of science. A Rolling Stone article from April of that year began: "Fifteen hundred invitations were sent out for the February 19 event, and although there was no other announcement, probably double that number attended. After a stirring oboe and bagpipe introduction by The Golden Toad, Don Hamrick of Frontiers in Science spoke for a few minutes in a gentle rural accent, addressing the crowd as the 'goodly company.’ ‘It is our hope,' he said, 'that this evening there will be an opening and a free interchange, so that something new may emerge. let the barriers fall, let there be a merging.'"
Grateful Dead—Celestial Synapse at the Fillmore West w/The Golden Toad, Don Hamrick, Don McCoy, and the writer activist Stephen Gaskin, February 19, 1969
Grateful Dead—Celestial Synapse at the…
Grateful Dead—Celestial Synapse at the Fillmore West w/The Golden Toad, Don Hamrick, Don McCoy, and the writer activist Stephen Gaskin, February 19, 1969
Two weeks before the Live/Dead run, the band played one of their most unusual shows of 1969. Billed as a "Frontiers of Science Celestial Synapse," the invitation-only event was undoubtedly one of the most colorful musical gatherings the Fillmore ever saw. Invites went out to folks in the rock music field and the various psychedelic families, including Rancho Olómpali, Morning Star, and the Wheeler Ranch. The organizing body of the event was Frontiers in Science, an intentional community located at Harbinger, a former hot springs resort 100 miles north of San Francisco. Founded by Donald James Hamrick in 1967, the self-reliant community sought to be a center for learning, research/development, and exploration, in addition to carrying out Hamrick’s vision to establish order and unity on earth and to connect the physical and metaphysical aspects of science. A Rolling Stone article from April of that year began: "Fifteen hundred invitations were sent out for the February 19 event, and although there was no other announcement, probably double that number attended. After a stirring oboe and bagpipe introduction by The Golden Toad, Don Hamrick of Frontiers in Science spoke for a few minutes in a gentle rural accent, addressing the crowd as the 'goodly company.’ ‘It is our hope,' he said, 'that this evening there will be an opening and a free interchange, so that something new may emerge. let the barriers fall, let there be a merging.'"