photo of Tommy Hall from the Austin Chronicle

[gilbert shelton]

The last time I saw Tommy Hall was sometime in the early to middle 70's
in a supermarket on Haight Street by Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
I didn't recognize him with his beard and scruffy look, even after he
asked me, "Hey, do you know a guy named Gilbert Shelton?"  After he told
me who he was (I still didn't know how to answer his question) he told
me how great things were now in the Haight-Ashbury, with big parties and
live concerts every weekend in the park ( I had seen no evidence of such
a thing even though I lived in the neighborhood too at the time).  We
didn't talk about philosophy.  I think maybe I had told him a long time
previously that I wasn't looking for a guru.  He and Clementine lived
next door to me when I lived in an apartment at 907 W. 22nd Street in
'63-'64.  They, and Claude Allen, were in the building to the west of
me;  Wayne and Honor Johnson and also Bob Finnel were in the building to
the east (Finnel died of heart problems five or so years ago).  Bill and
Pat Helmer and their kids lived on the corner to the east, two or three
houses down.  Upstairs from me, where David Dean had previously lived,
was Jesse Purifoy and his family.  Jesse was a mathematician who later,
while teaching at some other university, used the school computer (as I
heard) to make a fortune on the stock market.  They fired him when they
found out, of course, but what did he care?  It's a great story, whether
it's true or not.  H. Ross Perot made his fortune in a similar way,
except he used computers belonging to the government of the United
States, that is to say, YOU AND ME THE TAXPAYERS, which is not so great
a story.

Gilbert


Michael Eisenstadt wrote:

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