Freedom

A friend of mine was a postman in Oakland in the seventies.  He had on his route a house with a stepvan on the lawn and a lion chained to the van.  Or two lions.  I’m pretty sure about the chain, but not the number of lions.  Some of the stories from those days are a little hazy.

I dropped into Borders today and what should I find but a book called "Freedom" by Sonny Barger.  Sonny rode a large motorcycle in the days before the Harley Owners Groups dominated the bike club scene.  You could say that in those days Sonny’s club sort of dominated the scene.

Recently I posted regarding the "last lonely goldfinch" at Dorothea’s house.  As a quiet joke, I linked to the New Riders’ lyrics to "Last Lonely Eagle."  Oddly, the song appears on a recent (2004) NRPS release of a live concert in Veneta, Oregon that happened in 1972. 

The odd coincidence for me is that the town of Veneta, Oregon was named for Beth’s grandfather’s second wife.  It was named by Grandma Veneta’s father, who founded the town when his daughter was an infant.  The town is little more than a bend in the river to this day, but I do have a cat named after the original Veneta, the grandma, not the town that’s named after her.

Large motorcycles, pedal steel guitars, psychedelic poster art…   I swear it’s time to get back to basics.