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The Tom Constanten Chronicles, Part 5: “Do not attempt these tricks at home!”
Step back in time as Tom Constanten narrates a series of personal chronicles. Listen to firsthand accounts of life with Pigpen, musical breakthroughs, and unforgettable moments from the heart of the 60s music scene.
In 1963, Phil, Bill Walker, and I were sharing a house on Eureka Street, and one night we went to the San Francisco Opera House to see Die Walküre. We parked on Van Ness across the street, in front of City Hall, and lit up a joint to prepare for the festivities. We got standing-room tickets, which was all we could afford.
Leopold Ludwig conducted. Amy Shuard sang Brünnhilde. She did well, but I was skeptical going in. I’d gotten spoiled. Earlier the same year I was living in Italy, and La Scala mounted a monumental Ring Cycle, with Birgit Nilsson, Regina Resnik, Hans Hotter, and Gottlob Frick. Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Jon Vickers sang a creditable Sigmund.
Another time at the Eureka Street house, Phil had gone to bed, and I felt like listening to some Mahler. I put on the Third Symphony. Phil staggered out into the front room.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’ll turn it down.”
“No,” he answered, “turn it up!”
We listened through the Third, the Fourth, and got halfway through the Fifth before our eyelids got heavy enough to call it a night.
Page stayed with us for a spell. “Wanna go for a ride?” he asked me once.
“Sure,” I said.
So we took off for Golden Gate Park. Suddenly he took a turn off the main road onto a service road, and we were suddenly in a different world (again). We passed through the verdant realm without seeing a soul until we got to Ocean Beach. Page had a question for someone we saw there, and this guy took out a device, put it below his jaw, and spoke to us in a quasi-cyborg kind of voice. The strangeness didn’t let up, it seemed!
A friendly reminder. Times were different then. Do not attempt these tricks at home!
