OT: My "Mature" Friends

[Patti Feinberg]

I'm watching the Leslie VanHouten parole hearing, and I'm wondering, which of my beloved mature poster friends remember the "Helter Skelter" stuff when it was occuring....

:'(John Entwistle

[shadow=gray,left,300]long live rock[/shadow]

Patti

[Tanis]

I guess no one else is going to admit to being mature.

I think there are other mature members, probably not as mature as me.  At least no one has admitted it.

I do remember the "Helter Skelter" days.  Not alot of it.  I thought it was shocking, back then it was extremely shocking.  I live in South Dakota, probably ultra shocking to us.

Tanis

[RingoCollins]

which of my beloved mature poster friends remember the "Helter Skelter" stuff when it was occuring....

:'(John Entwistle

[shadow=gray,left,300]long live rock[/shadow]

Patti

If you mean 'Oldies, - but goodies'.....  I certainly remember that crazy stuff, and of course, the most crazy part of the whole thing was Crazy Charlie trying to 'credit' the Fabs for the 'messages' [in 5 songs from the 'White Album'].  A bit of bizzzzzzarre trivia - the same day the murders happened, The Boys had the photo session that would be used for the Abbey Road cover.  ooooo-Wooo-oooo

and re: John E. - check out my photos of him from the link in my Long Live Rock post. [out of my brain on the train!]

[Carol]

I'm watching the Leslie VanHouten parole hearing, and I'm wondering, which of my beloved mature poster friends remember the "Helter Skelter" stuff when it was occuring....

:'(John Entwistle

[shadow=gray,left,300]long live rock[/shadow]

Patti

Yes, I remember Charles Manson and his gang of killers. I remember thinking how horrifying the events were especially the murder of Sharon Tate, pregnant with Roman Polanski's child.  I don't think he's ever been the same since that event.

I'm 53--a young mature member.  Remember the Son of Sam murders?

[Mark Rainey]

Yeah, I remember the Helter Skelter days, although being pretty young, the whole bizarre episode was kinda out there and surreal for me. It wasn't until several years later that the Manson family business made a real impact on me. I certainly remember seeing Manson on TV and being bemused by the "raving hippie." The whole thing is helluva fascinating study of psychodelic insanity.

I've always enjoyed the movie Helter Skelter, especially in that the characters all appear quite true to life, especially Steve Railsback as Manson. And DS's own George DiCenzo is excellent as Bugliosi.

[shadow=maroon,left,300]--Mark[/shadow]

[Gerard]

I remember it.  What shocked me was, even though I was just a kid, for some reason it stuck in my mind that Sharon Tate played one of the secretaries on "The Beverly Hillbillies".  Her name appeared in the credits and I recalled that.  So when the news came out that she had been murdered (along with the others), the first thing I thought was:  "She use to be on 'The Beverly Hillbillies'."

Gerard

[kuanyin]

Sadly, yes, I do remember. It was a terrible time and a betrayal of the "peace movement" type of hippie. Manson and his tribe were cruel examples of the combination of a psychopathic lack of conscience, mental illness and drug use.

I had a hair stylist in Kansas City, who had moved back from Calif. after the murders. He said he had been Jay Sebring's partner and the police took him through the house to gage his reaction, as he was, very temporarily, a suspect. He did have a picture on the wall of him cutting Paul Newman's hair on the set of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and this was decades before Photo Shop. I looked look it up in the book and there was a reference to an unnamed partner of Sebring's, as I recall anyway. So, all in all, I believed him.

[CastleBee]

Oh, I remember this really well - one of those things that stand out in your mind because it was just so completely bizarre and tragic.  

I've always enjoyed the movie Helter Skelter, especially in that the characters all appear quite true to life, especially Steve Railsback as Manson

YES, what a great film (mini-series?).  That guy WAS Manson.  I always laugh when I think of this one line when he was on the stand and his eyes start to bug out and almost spin with such Charlie-like realism and he says "The devil doesn't HAVE any friends!"  I know, I have a really weird sense of humor but that cracks me up to this day...I'd watch the entire film just to see it.

[Josette]

Well, I certainly remember hearing of it at the time.  I wasn't familiar with the people involved, so it was just a horrible news story, but I don't think it had much impact on me.  Obviously, there's been so much about it over the years that by now I really don't remember how much I knew or followed it at the time and how much I recall from all of the subsequent attention.

[scout75]

I think Willie Loomis & Squeeky Fromme would be an interesting match...you'd hear the dogs howling then, baby!

    [shckd]

[Cassandra]

I've always enjoyed the movie Helter Skelter, especially in that the characters all appear quite true to life, especially Steve Railsback as Manson. And DS's own George DiCenzo is excellent as Bugliosi.

Yes, you're so right! He looked so much like the real Manson that it was downright scary!  
As for the murders, I was very young when they occured, around 8 years old but I remember hearing everyone talk about them and how shocked everyone was.  It wasn't until years later when the movie & book came out that I really understood what really happened back then.  I always remember Sharon Tate playing in "Valley of the Dolls" and how young & beautiful she was. It was just so horrible what those sick animals did to her and the others. What really got me was how much Manson's followers did whatever it was he asked them. Those three girls, Atkins, Krenwinkle & VanHouten were so evil & creepy. You wonder what kind of family lives they must have had to wind up believing in a creep like Charles Manson? It's scary to think that there are kids out there who have such low self esteem and absolutely no morals at all that they will follow the first crazy idiot that comes along!

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Ah yes, the "beloved" Manson family.  Wasn't "Charlie" interested in a musical career?  I recall that he pestered Roger McGuinn and record producer Terry Melcher about getting an audition.  Thankfully, both men were wise enough to keep him at arms length.

While I'm generally against the death penalty, I think that Ms. Van Houten and her "colleagues" can never make amends for their vicious and immoral act.  My sympathies are with the surviving members of the Tate and LaBianca families.  Van Houten and her lot should stay right in prison to reflect on their heinous actions for the rest of their natural lives.  Good riddance.

Of course, about ten years later, on the East coast, we had the infamous "Son of Sam" murders to live through.  Some people think that David Falco Berkowitz was not the only assasin.  Some surviving victims and witnesses described the killer to be a heavily built white man (a perfect description of Berkowitz).  However, other people described a tall, thin white guy, decidely different from Berkowitz.  The killings stopped after Berkowitz's arrest, but rumors still persist about animals being found slaughtered sacrificially, with Satanic inscriptions nearby, in parks and rural areas of the tri-state area.  Spooky stuff, makes me want to return to the relatively safe surroundings of Collinsport, ME, circa 1969.

[scout75]

From what I know, Manson auditioned for the Monkees and tried to sell songs to CSN&Y; he also lived with Dennis Wilson, the late drummer from the Beach Boys.  It was around this time that Charlie started putting his "family" together; it got so weird, Dennis Wilson had to vacate his own house!!

Also, Guns N' Roses recorded a Manson composition, "Look At Your Game, Girl"...

[Donna]

It was late December 1971, Christmas Break when my parents, myself and a gal friend of mine where on a trip to Disneyland.

We were just hitting the pass going down into LA when an announcement came over the radio about the killings and the Manson Gang. I'm not sure but I think the trial was happening at that time. We had just pased a sign pointing to the Spawn Ranch.    I don't think I've ever been so scared to be some place I've wanted to be as I was then.  I kept looking up into the hills, expecting to see something/someone.  What tricks the mind plays on you.

I wished I could of been back home, riding my horse, anything then being where I was at that moment.

I won't ever forget that trip nor the happenings of the horrible Manson family.  I have read Helter Skelter, I've seen the mini series with Steve Railsback.  Yes!!! He is a twin to Charles Manson for sure!  Everytime I see Mr Railsback in a movie, I think of his role as Charles Manson.

Speaking of Manson, I've been past San Quenten (sp) prison too where he is serving out his life sentance.  

What was even more of a surprise is to learn that Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys knew him.  I was an avid Beach Boy fan then too.  I believe also that Doris Days son, Terry Melchner(also friend of Dennis Wilson's),  knew Manson and had been a visitor at the house.  I have the White Album of the Beatles.  I had just received it for Christmas that year and listened to it just before we left on the trip.  Then when Abbey Road came out and I saw the pictures of the Beatles, Paul being barefoot,  the rumors being passed around that Paul was dead.

It now seems so long ago in terms of time but whenever I hear something about Manson, it comes back so clear, of course, I was just 17 when that happened.  

I often think about the poor families of the victims and what they have had to live through.  Also the babies and little children who were born at the ranch.  Hopefully they grew up having a good life and are in good care.