June 8th, 1967
Bart & Jenny & I hitch to Nathan’s place. ’55 Ford blew up in Reno.
Leon picks us up. Very straight, silver tie, unsophisticated. Could be a construction worker. He keeps asking questions about hippies. Tells us he's a concert violinist, traveled 14 countries.
We beg him to come in & play. Says he can only stay for a few minutes.
Nathan’s got a great pad. Blue ceiling with silver stars; god's-eye on wall: colorful yarn on a cross of branches. Yellow door on cinderblocks. Paisley pillows on floor. $60 a month.
Leon plays for 3 hours: classical, Hebrew, folk, Broadway hits. Plays the violin like a guitar. Nathan brings out his mandolin. Nathan can’t stand still he’s so excited by Leon. Before long we all have spoons, bottles, kazoos. A jug band.
Nathan’s got a boyish face, long mustache, light curly hair, & granny glasses. Black & white shirt, black vest, black pants, slim tie, Beatle boots. Wears yarmulke while lighting joint.
He sells grass off-campus in Berkeley, great stuff.
Broke both hips in motorcycle accident in Nebraska when he blacked out. Hospitalized in Omaha, had worst case of hepatitis doctor ever saw. Smashed up 7 cars between the time he was 16 & 19. Met Michelle when she was hitching out of Wisconsin to get away from her father.
Michelle is 17. Blue eyes, hooked nose, thick eyebrows, blond hair to her waist. Always quiet, sewing, cooking, writing letters, ironing.
Nathan’s parents own a candy store in Brooklyn. His mother’s here for a visit. When he tried to turn her on by shoving a joint in her mouth, she said: "If it does to me what it's done to you, I don't want anything to do with it!"
They offered him the choice of $1,000 to come back there, or a one-week visit from them. He told them to come out here.
Defending Michelle to his mother: "We can't all be Jews!"
Nathan tells story about metal-casting shop in high school. Made a mold of his hand giving the finger. Then he casts it. Tried to get some girl to volunteer her ass but no luck.
Leon keeps asking about effects of pot & LSD. We try to turn him on, but he claims he has no vices.
"I only enjoy women, violin & tennis," he says.
We let him do his thing. When Nathan tells him about famous musicians in New York who turn on, Leon’s amazed.
"You remember Jimmy James?" Nathan asks him.
"Jeeemy James?" Leon says.
"Jimmy James and the Blue Flames?"
Leon looks confused.
"Jeeemy James?"
Nathan sets an album on the record player.
"He changed it to Jimi Hendrix," he says & sets down the needle.
Manic depression is touching my soul
I know what I want, but I just don't know
Nathan tells story about girl on acid jumping out of window in Berkeley. When cop asked her boyfriend why he didn't stop her, he said he thought she could fly too.
Virginia who lives downstairs with legless bluegrass guitar player comes in with a dyke named Sharon. They're both drunk.
Virginia keeps saying, "She's trying to be one of those—you know, what do you call them?"
"Knock it off," the dyke says.
Virginia's hair in curlers. She wants to know who stole her old man's wooden legs. Keeps asking Nathan to go to bed with her.
Sharon keeps reaching in Virginia's pocketbook when she’s not looking. Then she starts telling Jenny to "Come over here."
Jenny ignores her, then says:
"You can tell me what you want from there.”
Nathan jumps up, drinks a toast & falls back on the bed, claiming he's never been so drunk in his life.
Michelle sets some plates on the yellow door. I bring the pot of spaghetti over. Nathan does an impression of Groucho Marx, batting his eyes & flicking his fork-cigar.
"Alright, already! Let’s eat!”
We’re smoking Mexican Red all night. On the way home, I start hallucinating the image of a cane shaped like a 7. It keeps changing into a bird, a periscope, a dancing cane, & then a 7 again.
We take the 7-Haight home.