Seated left to Right: Stephen King, David Bright, Harold Crosby, Jim Smith, Philip Thompson, Keith Carreiro, Frank Kadi, Sherry Dec, Michael Alpert & Jim Bishop (Credit: Hans–Ake Liljas, 7 November 2016).
This past Monday evening in Maine, starting at seven o’clock, a rare and unique event occurred. It transpired in The Hutchins Concert Hall at the Richard R. and Anne A. Collins Center for the Arts (CCA), which is located on the University of Maine Campus in Orono. The lines of people waiting to get into the 1,435 seat hall formed early. When the doors at last opened for this venue and the audience settled into their seats, the hall was filled to capacity.
From left to right: Carolyn Carreiro, Stephen King & Keith Carreiro (Credit: Robert Keating, 7 November 2016).
While folks were patiently waiting to be seated, a small conclave of former student activists from the 60s were backstage talking with one another, eagerly and anxiously waiting for the event to begin. They had not been together in almost a half century, not since the dust settled from their time at what was then called UMO (now UMaine), which was from 1966 to 1970.
The reason for their gathering was the brainchild of Jim Bishop, who pitched an idea to Stephen King several years ago. Based on Steve’s book, Hearts in Atlantis (1999), Jim asked the renowned storyteller if he would take another reprise of the master’s time at UMO.
The novel consists of two novellas and three short stories that are somewhat chronologically connected together with characters who are woven into the plot and who reappear throughout the timeline of the story.
“Hearts in Atlantis” occurs in the second part of the novel. Atlantis is King’s metaphorical term for the 60s, which King alludes is lost. An epigraph from the end of the movie Easy Rider (1969), as stated by Peter Fonda’s character Wyatt (aka Captain America), is set at the beginning of the novel:
“We blew it.”
In Steve’s novel, he uses the protagonist Peter Riley as his avatar. Peter is a matriculating student at UMO, and the story line follows his path as a freshman at the land grant state university.
Cover image of Hearts in Suspension. Photo reproduced from the 1970 University of Maine Prism. Courtesy of Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University of Maine.
Jim thought it would be cool if Steve could take another look at this turbulent and unsettling time, as well as have his roman á clef be accompanied by personal narratives from his UMO peers.
Thus, Stephen King’s latest book, Hearts in Suspension: With Essays by College Classmates and Friends was born. Steve’s co-authors in this journey of reminiscence are listed alphabetically as follows:
David Bright
Keith Carreiro
Harold Crosby
Sherry Dec
Bruce Holsapple
Frank Kadi
Diane McPherson
Larry Moskowitz
Jim Smith
Philip Thompson
Nine of us were able to be together backstage with Steve and Jim. Much to our disappointment, we missed the presence of Bruce, Diane and Larry, as they could not make it to Orono at this event. Yet, while they could not be with us for the launching of Hearts in Suspension, their spirits were nevertheless present with us. Their names and stories, their aspirations and contributions, and their insights and revelations about our time together not so long ago on Marsh Island were kept very much alive in our conversations before, during and after the evening was over.
I am not going to record here what transpired when the presentation began, you can follow the links about it that I have provided here in this post, if you wish to do so. Steve gave an introduction to the book and accompanied it with a reading of selected excerpts from what he had written for it. A conversation with the authors followed in the form of a Q&A with the audience.
Keith testing his mike. David Bright in the background behind him (Credit: Carolyn Carreiro, 7 November 2016).
I will say, however, that I forgot what a wonderful raconteur Steve is: he often had all of us there with him in deep laughter and enjoyment over his asides, comments and observations about the human condition then and now. If the well from which he obtains his stories runs low, I think he could still make an incredible name for himself as a humorist and satirist.
With all what I have said above as a given, I want to get to the last part of the time spent onstage in the Hutchins Concert Hall. A young woman stood up and asked Jim, who was moderating this part of the evening, “What advice can you give us that can help us know how to come together and find hope?”
Sherry fielded this question with great aplomb. However, I had faded away as the answer came to me in a blinding flash.
I was back on the mall marching with hundreds of other students. The sunlight was shining down upon us in a radiance filled with chants of “End the war!” “No More War!” “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” Bare Feet not Arms!”
A line of anti–war protestors was on our right, shouting, “Love our country!” “America, love it or leave it!” “No glory like old glory!”
I tried to respond, to catch Jim’s attention to let me add what I was seeing. The wave of energy that had come upon me was right there. I was surfing on it in the gnarliest, most flowing, way possible.
I couldn’t get his eye.
I was in Sandy Ives’ barn.? Pete Seeger was there. Gordon Bok. Margaret MacArthur. Diane McPherson and Zoltan. Even Woody and Arlo Guthrie. Dylan smiled. Paul played a riff on his guitar to which Frampton gave a responding riff. Jeff, Jimi, Keith, Frank, Eric, Pete and Jerry responded.?
I laughed, cried, tried to say what I was seeing once again in my mind. It wasn’t just a memory. I guess it was a mercy rendering of the time. A gift of remembrance. It stings. Burns. Blinds. But I see once more . . .
Part of the audience already seated before the event (Credit: Keith Carreiro, 7 November 2016).
Jim Bishop caught my eye at last and nodded his head at me.
Yet, I heard Keith Moon zig–zagging across his kit. Arms forward like a skier, two sets of his tom–toms booming out in thunder.
Another of my friends gave an answer to the young woman still standing amidst the audience on stage right. I lost track of what was being said.
I was next to Carmine Appice. With twin bass drums, two of the largest floor toms imaginable, and converted tenor drum mounted as a rack tom, He sounds his signature cymbal flourish.
I kept hangin on.†
It’s the music. The music. We listened to the music that was never played before or since on the radio, at concerts, between us. It’s the music that came out of all of us. Set us apart from the world. Bonded us together. It was everywhere. It centered us. It brought out the truth of who we were. It was monstrous. A vision. Heavenly. Prophetic. It gave us peace. Blew us away. Transformed us. Made us see not just the black and white colors of reality, but all of the hues and more of the spectrum of light and darkness. It set us free. What failure?! We didn’t fail. We transcended.
Jim was ending the time on stage with one another and those in the audience. I felt the wave begin to pass by me in a slow ponderous roll of green flowing motion.
I almost stand up. Screw decorum. I’ve got to say this. If I don’t, it will haunt me for three eternities.
The audience starts to applaud.
From left to right: Philip Thompson, David Bright, Stephen King, Sherry Dec, Jim Smith, Jim Bishop, Michael Alpert, Harold Crosby, Keith Carreiro & Frank Kadi (Credit: Carolyn Carreiro, 7 November 2016).
A piano sounds. The same chord repeating in sharp staccato bites.
beep . . . beep . . . beep . . . beep
A busy signal.
Jimmi Greenspoon smiles at me.
“One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do . . .”‡
1-2-3-4- We don’t want your fucking war.
5-6-7-8- We don’t want no fucking hate.
Was that the audience chanting? No, it’s coming from outside. On the mall in front of Fogler Library.
I can see all of us again. Young. Almost pristine. The maw of adulthood stretching out its feral grin. We were filled with a purpose, and an energy that was marvelously elastic, pliable and molten with the zest of youth and the genesis of ideas.
A large banner ripples its letters out in front of the line of marchers. There is a grimness to their steps, yet their faces are wreathed in smiles and lighthearted banter.
Our audacity to speak the truth in a land filled with lies and false premises was startling to some.
A right–handed, black Stratocaster floats by. It is played upside down by a left–handed Pan. Its maple neck is aflame. Neil Young and Clapton smile.
. . . let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late.?
Jim Bishop nods to the crowd as they applaud heartily.
Jim Bishop, editor & contributing author of Hearts in Suspension (Credit: Keith Carreiro, 7 November 2016).
The music never died. It’s been playing right alongside us. It’s in all of us. It just takes courage to step off into the void. Find the music. We come together in the music of our passion. Hope is found in the poetry of our souls, in the heartbeat of our times, in the rhythm of a zeitgeist breathing its energy into us.
My eyes clear. Old friends are standing up from where they sat aligned in a slight arc on the stage. They rise from their seats as though young again. They swim in the sea of their youth once more.
“Does anyone hear the music here?” I mumble.
I look at Sherry and thank her for what she said in response to the young woman’s question. Our eyes brimming with tears, we smile at one another.
For the first time in a long while, the beat of fifty years passing was not spent in making rhymes of yesterday . . .?
Dylan, Bob. The Times They Are a-Changin’. 1963. New York City, Columbia Records, 1964. Accessed 18 Nov. 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7qQ6_RV4VQ
Notes:
?Please refer to the blog I wrote about Professor Ives: < https://immortalitywars.com/the-storytellers-part-v/ >.
?The musicians referred to hear are all lead guitarists. Their full names are listed as follows: Geoffrey Arnold “Jeff” Beck (1944– ), James Marshall “Jimi” Hendrix (1942–1970), Keith Richards (1943– ), Frank Vincent Zappa (1940–1993), Eric Patrick Clapton (1945– ), Peter Dennis Blandford “Pete” Townshend (1945– ), and Jerome John “Jerry” Garcia (1942–1995).
†“You Keep Me Hangin’ On” is a song written and composed by Holland–Dozier–Holland (1966). The Supremes (1966) did a version of it. The lyric referred to here refers to the one the rock band Vanilla Fudge played in 1967.
‡Written by Harry Nilsson, “One” was made famous by Three Dog Night in 1969.
?Bob Dylan wrote, played and recorded “All Along the Watchtower” in 1967, which is in the album John Wesley Harding. In 1968, Jimi Hendrix did a version of it, recording it for Electric Ladyland with the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The strat mentioned here is reportedly Jimi’s favorite guitar.
?The reference being made here is to the song “One” noted above in note ‡. The line is written as, “Now I spend my time just making rhymes of yesterday.”
I was proud of the youths who opposed the war in Vietnam because they were my babies.
— Benjamin Spock, 1988
Vietnam was what we had instead of happy childhoods.
— Michael Herr, 1977
This war has already stretched the generation gap so wide that it threatens to pull the country apart.
— Sen. Frank Church, May 1970
Tell the Vietnamese they’ve got to draw in their horns or we’re going to bomb them back into the Stone Age.
— Gen. Curtis LeMay, May 1964
Related Links:
https://wabi.tv/2016/11/07/stephen-king-talks-new-book-at-umaine/
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. As a contributing author to Hearts in Suspension, I have a material connection to this book I have mentioned here. However, all sales go to the University of Maine Press.I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
3 comments. Leave new
It was an awesome evening indeed dear husband! An evening that all who were there will always remember! !
I am recommending ‘Hearts in Suspension’ for it is time to look back at what happened in the sixties to college students outside of the usual focus centers like Berkeley. I was witness to this unique book launching event at the University of Maine Orono. Seen through the eyes of the insightful Stephen King and his fellow students and friends, I found the event and this non-fiction book to be both thought provoking and entertaining.
Thank you, Robert, for your comment. It was a very powerful and memorable event for me as well.