Amazing Dope Tales

by Stephen Gaskin, Spider Robinson (Introduction)

Stephen Gaskin looks back on the San Francisco scene during the 1960s -- the Summer of Love, the Grateful Dead, and the Merry Pranksters -- and shares his mind-blowing adventures.

Genres: Counter Culture

144 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1980

About the author

Stephen Gaskin was an American counterculture Hippie icon best known for his presence in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco in the 1960s and for co-founding "The Farm", a famous spiritual intentional community in Summertown, Tennessee.

Reviews

[Joe]

I grew up on the East Coast and went to college in the Midwest. It’s generally a good idea in college to spend a year overseas studying in France or Italy. It broadens you. Plus, you get immersed in a foreign language. I didn’t go overseas. I hitchhiked through San Francisco, stopping at Haight-Ashbury in 1967 and 1968. Broadened. Immersed in a new language. In 1970 after college I settled in San Francisco and heard good things about a white man guru named Stephen. (I also heard good things about a white man preacher named Jim Jones who had a church downtown – but that’s a whole ‘nother story.) I went out by the Pacific Ocean to Stephen’s Monday Night Class, which was a weekly gathering of hundreds of wonderful open-minded people and a few schizophrenic nutcases, though sometimes it took a while to spot the difference.

Stephen was a truly inspirational figure. Some folks followed his every word to the point of almost worshiping him, which was kind of scary and not something he encouraged. Then they all took off in buses and landed in Tennessee, and stayed there. I couldn’t – and wouldn’t – go. But I admire them, Stephen and his flock. They were the best of what came out of the Haight. Jim Jones was the other side.

Amazing Dope Tales takes me right back. The language. The mindset. The innocent, hopeful quest for a better life, better society, better world. A better soul. To an outside observer, it can sound nutty:

Sometimes we said that all the hippies left their bodies on Saturday night and went up in the air and came down in different people.
“I tripped yesterday.”
“Oh yeah? You get on?”
“Yeah, I got on.”
“Get off?”
“Naw, I didn’t get off.”
“Too bad, man.”

But there’s a beauty behind it. A truth. Stephen writes:

Thank God I’m a hippy.
It saved me.
That’s not a fanciful word.
Saved.
As in prevented-from-being-a-total-waste.
Saved. Kept from being lost and useless.

Amen, Stephen. Amen.

[Adam Sarmiento]

Truly one of the funniest and most amazing reads! It's a gas man. To be a fly on the wall during those heady days in the bay is a rare treat. St. Stephen raps with such humility and humor that it's just a fun trip even though things can get scary and real intense at times. The folks in that scene were true pioneers and explorers the likes of which had not been seen in centuries and may not be seen again for some time. I refer to them as "The High Ones" like the ancestral high Elves in Elfquest. As Croz said "It's been a long time coming. Going to be a long time gone."
*best read stoned

[Wanda Johnson]

Just not my type of book. It was well written but I just did not care for it..

[Brittany schwab]

Half read

[Raderblad]

Was it fun? Yes! Was the style of writing tough to get used to, and felt like someone rambling on ? Also yes!

[Melissa Renee]

This was my second time reading this and I had forgotten just how wonderfully weird some of these stories are. Every time I read Stephen Gaskin, I feel like his infectious positive energy surrounds me for days and days and I carry it with me everywhere I go. That to me is what makes a great storyteller. I'd highly recommend this to any fellow psychonauts out there or to anyone interested in 1960s counterculture.

[N.S.]

This book blew my freakin' mind when I read it for the first time. OH MY GOD. The next best thing to having been on the Haight in the day.

Where is Rockin Jody Morningstar now, that's all I want to know.

[Babs M]

Amusing but I really couldn't tell if this was fact or fiction. All I know is I was never fortunate enough to have trips like that. We must have gotten the weak stuff in Ohio, LOL! Enjoyed the historical stuff i.e. Grateful Dead, Chet Helms, Bill Graham.

[Sam]

In San fran and visited with friends. This street is still hippy-ish..hsha those benches anyone

[Ben]

Stephen Gaskin's collection of stories from the sixties in San Francisco and the drug scene. Interesting enough.

[Liis]

This was a bit hard for me to read.. I think whoever reads this should be either tripping as well or have the experience, which I don't. But, it was different and interesting nonetheless.