I found an old Aussie dollar in the drawer. Reminds me of Gypsy Bob and me back at Bob Gould‘s Third World Book Shop on Goulburn Street in Sydney. For a while I was attending Bob Gould’s Socialist Resistance group meetings. Later I met some others who had more of an anarchist bent and I left Resistance. My new friends and I, put out the first and only Yippie paper in Australia, ‘Plague.’ Gypsy Bob was nothing like Bob Gould. Gypsy was a wild character with a silver and purple dyed beard and long hair with glitter. He sported a patchwork coat & trousers crafted from assorted materials. I, on the other hand, dressed plainly, but our ideas clicked.
Gould had Abby Hoffman‘s ‘Steal This Book’ and Jerry Rubin‘s ‘Do It!’ for sale.
As we aimed to stroll out with both books, Gould halted us, asking, “Where do you think you’re going without paying for those books?” Gypsy quipped, “Hey, it says ‘Steal This Book,’ and Rubin’s says ‘Do It!’ so we’re doing it!” Gould retorted, “No way!” I clutched the books, and Gypsy brandished a dollar note, declaring, “Hey, Mr. Socialist, watch me burn this dollar if you don’t step aside!” Mesmerized, I observed as Gould protested, “Don’t burn the money, you hippie!” Igniting his lighter, Gypsy slowly brought the flame to the lifted dollar note. Gould erupted in a frenzy of profanities as we made our escape, books in hand.
I wish I still had ‘Do It’ and ‘Steal This Book.’
Months later, I revisited the shop, the sole source of alternative news and views in Sydney. Gould treated me warmly, asking, “Why’d you get mixed up with those crazy mystic acid heads? You were OK in Resistance.” I replied honestly, “Because it’s more fun than Resistance.”
Pretty dumb, huh? I was just 19.
Posted by stavr0s 
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Journeys and Star Gazing 