Zem-Zem
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photo by Neil
So hard to remember where and when things began but I will follow my father billy bonzini's lead. I was a couple of years old and a tow head wandering around a huge property filled with naked people smoking pot and singing folk songs. My father took the communal lifestyle seriously and eventually he helped my mother build her own A-frame just a few trees away from his house, which I just learned was built around a tent.I remember running around the land calling for Tommy, Iggy and Gabriel.
There was always great music coming from the Long House...my favorite song is still the one my dad wrote and performed on many occasions:"Sang it to the ladies in Georgia" - I cannot wait until the reunion so I can video tape him belting it out.
The creek...the salamanders (I was always trying to catch salamanders)...the pancake breakfasts...I celebrated the Land and all of the freedom it provided. I could do anything and there were no walls, no limits. There was a community that raised me and the small cadre of children. They let me sing Responsibility Icecream, which was a never-ending serenade to my stuffed gorilla "Cocaine" that Rain gave me. I Eventually I had to learn boundaries, but at that time I only knew freedom.
The saddest day of my life even now is the day Sierra drowned. She was such a bright light and it is hard to believe that she was only two. I really loved her and am brought to tears even now remembering. I was seven. By then my dad lived at Struggle and I was back in LA. I loved visiting. George and Kathy, Tommy and Cody were there (Lily came later).
Tommy and I would do laps in Joan Baez' stone bathtub...Jenny and Rita would join us. The first time I revisited Struggle Mountain I was shocked to discover the pool that I remembered was merely a jacuzzi-sized circular bathtub.
TOMMY AND ZEM, NOV '72
ZEM AND EVVIE, JAN '73
photos by Neil
Zem has a website at www.ecofabulous.com
nice article on Zem today : www.spacesmag.com/ba/index.php?src=news&srctype=detail&category=Department&refno=64
Zem-Zem
photo by Neil
So hard to remember where and when things began but I will follow my father billy bonzini's lead. I was a couple of years old and a tow head wandering around a huge property filled with naked people smoking pot and singing folk songs. My father took the communal lifestyle seriously and eventually he helped my mother build her own A-frame just a few trees away from his house, which I just learned was built around a tent.I remember running around the land calling for Tommy, Iggy and Gabriel.
There was always great music coming from the Long House...my favorite song is still the one my dad wrote and performed on many occasions:"Sang it to the ladies in Georgia" - I cannot wait until the reunion so I can video tape him belting it out.
The creek...the salamanders (I was always trying to catch salamanders)...the pancake breakfasts...I celebrated the Land and all of the freedom it provided. I could do anything and there were no walls, no limits. There was a community that raised me and the small cadre of children. They let me sing Responsibility Icecream, which was a never-ending serenade to my stuffed gorilla "Cocaine" that Rain gave me. I Eventually I had to learn boundaries, but at that time I only knew freedom.
The saddest day of my life even now is the day Sierra drowned. She was such a bright light and it is hard to believe that she was only two. I really loved her and am brought to tears even now remembering. I was seven. By then my dad lived at Struggle and I was back in LA. I loved visiting. George and Kathy, Tommy and Cody were there (Lily came later).
Tommy and I would do laps in Joan Baez' stone bathtub...Jenny and Rita would join us. The first time I revisited Struggle Mountain I was shocked to discover the pool that I remembered was merely a jacuzzi-sized circular bathtub.
TOMMY AND ZEM, NOV '72
ZEM AND EVVIE, JAN '73
photos by Neil
Zem has a website at www.ecofabulous.com
nice article on Zem today : www.spacesmag.com/ba/index.php?src=news&srctype=detail&category=Department&refno=64