It popped up on my Facebook feed, a postcard from America’s past.
It was from a spring evening at the ballpark, Candlestick Park in San Francisco, 32 years ago, April 13, a video from the Giants’ home season opener. Sunlight was fading, but not yet gone. The wind was blowing at Candlestick, as it nearly always was, and the temperature was in the mid-50s. Its opening day vibes — celebratory, full of hope — offers a new season and April’s unspoiled dreams. There’s an honor guard with flags on the field, giving focus to the anthem to come.
There is no look or feel of the degradation that would come to the City by the Bay. The hope of the new season seems part of a general ambience one can sense from this video. It’s a city that is a gem of the country, a place to be proud of. Its economy has been revitalized by Silicon Valley, which has only just begun its run. Its state is well run, its highways still state of the art, its educational system something to be proud of. The deep rifts of the Sixties are nowhere to be seen tonight, and there is no hint of the rifts yet to come. And it is a place that has integrated its artists and avant-garde into itself — the city is proud of them and they are proud of the city.
And of the country.
Standing out on the field to sing the national anthem are members of a rock ’n’ roll band that made its breakthrough appearances as the driving engine of the Acid Tests and the cultural explosion that was to follow. Riding the crest of some wave of what seemed like a new consciousness, they would set up a communal home in the Haight-Ashbury district, then go on to play at Woodstock, and thousands of miles of touring year after year, building a dedicated and ever-growing coterie of devout followers. Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Vince Welnick of the Grateful Dead are going to sing the national anthem to start the game and the season.
There’s a film around, compiled from footage shot at the Fillmore Acid Test of January 8, 1966, where the Grateful...