HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEB!!!!

Follow up on Filippo Tenerelli

I have done quite a bit of research on Filippo Tenerelli since Eviliz's last post on him which was contributed by Ole JC.  http://www.mansonblog.com/2013/08/fillipo-tenerelli.html. I didn't go solo with my research either but had input from Patty, Ole JC, Trilby and a few comments that were made by our readers. 

The issue for me was to try to determine whether or not Filippo was indeed a Gypsy Joker and I now have that answer.  I certainly have not found all the answers to the questions surrounding Filippo but have learned a bit more about him.   There was a bonus, too, another bit of ES/BS came to light, read on!

One of the first things I did was to send for Filippo's death certificate.  From this I learned that he was 23 years old when he died, his birthday was November 4, 1945.  He lived in Culver City with his parents at the same address which is on his naturalization papers.  He was born in Italy and had been in the US for 10 years.  His parents were Giovanni and Caterina Tenerelli both of whom were born in Italy.

He was a tool and die maker who had held that job for three years at a place named Randall Company.  The company made airplane parts.

The address of the motel where Filippo died was 636 N. Main St. Bishop CA.  Upon looking up the address on Google maps I found  there is now a Holiday Inn at that address.  So I searched for and found a vintage postcard with a picture of the motel that used to be in that spot.  The postcard is from 1959 but I suspect that 10 years later when Filippo checked in it was much the same as on the postcard.

Next I started reading what others had written online about Filippo.  Most was the same everywhere but there was a post by someone at Cats' that said Filippo was a Gypsy Joker with the name of Dago.  Cats replied to the poster that Sanders mentions a Gypsy Joker named Dago in the first edition of his book, in the chapter that Sanders wrote about The Process that was removed in subsequent editions.  I checked and Sanders did mention Dago, page 115 if you have that edition.  Those posts are here- http://truthontatelabianca.com/threads/case-reopened.1270/page-5

Trilby told me about a new book out by Meg and Phil Cross who founded the San Jose chapter of the Gypsy Jokers.  The book is called "Phil Cross: Gypsy Joker to a Hells Angel".  Phil was the club photographer, among other things, and the book has dozens of pictures.  And bless Phil Cross, there is a picture of Dago!  He is the one sitting on the bike in the picture.  (If this is a subject that interests you, I definitely recommend the book.   http://www.motorbooks.com/books/Phil-Cross-Gypsy-Joker-to-a-Hells-Angel/9780760343722  )

Phil did not date the picture of Dago so off to find a history of the bar, Chateau Liberte, where the picture was taken and I found that here- https://scruzwiki.org/Chateau_Libert%C3%A9  This bar has a very interesting history involving the rock musicians that played and recorded there.

The bar had a couple of "Chateau" names before it was known as Chateau Liberte and became a biker bar.  It did not have that name until 1971.  So, since Filippo died in 1969 he could not have been Dago who was the Gypsy Joker.  This journey was a bit of a rabbit hole, but it was a fun rabbit hole and it is probably just as important to verify and document the misinformation as it is to verify and document the  truth.

To learn with absolute certainty if Filippo was or was not a Gypsy Joker, regardless of a nickname, I decided to contact Phil Cross.  Phil sent me a reply which should put this to rest.... forever.

Hi Deborah,

I'm glad you enjoyed the book.

In answer to your question, Dago's name was Donald Ragante, and there was no Gypsy Joker named Filippo Tenerelli.

I have no problem with you posting my photo of Dago at the Chateau.

One other thing you might post is that Ed Sanders statement that the Gypsy Jokers were "heavily into the occult" is complete bullshit.  We could have cared less about any of that shit.  We rode, partied and fought, and that's what we lived for.

Best,

Phil Cross

President Ford Assassination Attempt Video Tape Released

The Eastern District Federal Historic Society petitioned for and received a tape made of President Ford giving a deposition about Squeaky Fromme's attempt on his life.  Portions of the tape were played at her trial and then stashed away.  The tapes were sought by the society which is dedicated to preserving the history of the Sacramento Federal Court to be able to share with the public.

Read about it here- http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/history/article2596754.html

There are also links to vintage articles written by the Sacramento Bee about the incident and a couple of pdf's on President Ford's diary at the above link.

Charlie's Bread Truck?

I was watching one of those videos of the girls singing while sitting on the corner. When the camera pans out in one scene, there is a bread truck parked by where they are sitting. I know there was a van there for them to sleep in, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNv7NopYFUg

I was wondering if this is the bread truck that Charlie was driving with Stephanie Schram when they went down to San Diego. I'm not sure what year the van was. Can anybody shed light?

Charles Manson and Lt. Calley

This article was written by Stew Albert who was a political activist and major player in the New Left movement.  Albert along with Jerry Ruben and Abbie Hoffman founded the Youth International Party,  better known as the Yippies.   Throwing money off the balcony at the New York Stock Exchange and the Exorcism of the Pentagon were just two of the political statements that he made in the heyday of the '60's.

Army Lt. Calley was charged with murdering 102 Vietnamese men, women and children in the My Lai Massacre.  Calley had a military trial which began Nov. 17, 1970.  On March 30, 1971 newspaper headlines told of both the Manson jury voting for the death penalty and Lt. Calley being found guilty of the charges against him.

Good Times April 2, 1971, a San Francisco underground newspaper.  Vol. IV No. 13

LIFE AND DEATH

Charlie Manson is going to get locked up in the cyanide machine.  The patriots will drop a tablet and see Charlie choke.

How can the armies of technological blood judge a killer?

Lt. Calley is just an invention of a Henry Kissinger concept.

Lt. Calley is just some dust blown by Richard Nixon's ambition.

Charlie spent most of his life in jail because prosecutors suspected there was retribution in his eyes.  In the can he learned the incantations of revenge-- the white man must die/all women are bitches. 

It happens because from the small window in the hole all the tyrants are white and if you can't gently be near a woman for the next twenty years-- chauvinism and hatred seem to be a practical solution,

Lt. Calley's draft board quit in protest at his conviction.  If we can't in good conscience strip a young man of his humanity because once we take his soul a court marshal might still insist he be slightly moral, we will let young men of Georgia stay on their farms because the profession of robotry has lost its integrity.

"How the hell can you tell a gook from a Cong because our orders were to search and destroy everything." 

Charlie walked around Haight St. clearly a white man but his all black draft board was meeting in San Quentin and the order of the day was-- burn Amerika.  I guess Charles Manson is a flower killer.  Someone who read the I-Ching in a way of which our middle class background would never permit.

Lt. Calley is only 5ft 3 but he stretched real hard for an Amerikan medal.  He could never be a good athlete and what blond blue eyed cheer leader would bolster the prepubescent ego of a pimply runt?  But any Amerikan has the opportunity to make glory with a machine gun.

"No Amerikan GI was ever convicted of war crimes in Sega Magazine, why should Lt. Calley be an exception," screamed the defense lawyer.

Charlie Manson would never fight in whitey's war.  In jail the blacks taught him all you need to hate power elites, military industrial complexes, monopolies and jive assed liberals.

A prisoner's hatred is just a love song speeded up on wardens gramophones and made incomprehensible even to the prisoner.

Lt. Calley was taught that the enemy was dialectical materialism.  It wasn't human beings Amerika was killing in those jungles, it was bad ideas.

"Today 5 Amerikans-- 15 Vietnamese and 35 thousand Communists were killed."  They teach these John Wayne fans that it's some sort of morality play, with our enemies being absolutely so evil that they make the Sunday school devil seem reformable.  We used to hang witches now we burn Communists in Napalm-- it's in the service of white painted churches and small stores, so don't talk to Lt. Calley about genocide, he was too short to know what was going on.

Charlie Manson had no illusions about his jury, the Chicago 7 had its daydreams, they were going to protect western civilization, the family and Christianity in general from a man and his family who wanted to start a race war.

Do they want to poison Charlie's lungs because he has long hair, drops acid and runs a harem (a prisoner's hatred is a love song that even he doesn't hear) or because he believes in the moral superiority of the black race, which has had Lt. Calley on its street corner ever since this nation was founded?

For at least one week I don't want to hear pious holy bemoanings of Charles Manson's nihilism from refined phd candidates (who in good conscience could march for Caryl Chessman because he told them he never raped anyone) because Lt. Calley was never a guard outside your cell and how can you feel superior to these two orphans, to whom you denied both your love and your wealth,  and yet thought you were their father?

Jimmy Page Unearths Soundtrack Album

From RFoster1:

Just discovered this today, although it’s been out for a year now. Apparently Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin had recorded some tracks for the Kenneth Anger film, Lucifer Rising. To refresh your memory, that was the film that Bobby Beausoleil had been involved with. Don’t know how much you all were into Zeppelin, but Jimmy Page was into the occult, the “dark arts” and such back in the day. Who knows if he still is, or not. Anyway, this was news to me, so it might be news to some of you too.

Jimmy Page Unearths Soundtrack Album Guitarist releasing avant garde early Seventies instrumentals Jimmy Page's avant garde soundtrack music from the early Seventies will finally be released on March 20th. Lucifer Rising and Other Sound Tracks will collect several compositions that were recorded at the Led Zeppelin guitarist's home studio, including the title piece, which was intended for use in Kenneth Anger's short film Lucifer Rising. The music never made it into the picture, but Page did make a cameo in the film.
Page will release the record exclusively through his website. An LP edition will be issued on heavyweight vinyl, and a special run of numbered copies will be released as well. The first 93 copies of that set will be autographed by Page.
The track listing for Lucifer Rising and Other Sound Tracks is as follows:
Side One
"Lucifer Rising – Main Track"
Side Two
"Incubus"
"Damask"
"Unharmonics"
"Damask – Ambient"
"Lucifer Rising – Percussive Return"

Original Rolling Stone article HERE

Spahn pic right after the Clampitt fire in September, 1970

I recently found this snapshot of the Spahn Ranch buildings immediately after they burned as the result of a wildfire. This got me curious about wildfires...

The Ranch buildings burned in September of 1970 in a fire known as the Clampitt Fire. The fire burned a large area extending along the Simi Hills from northeast of upper Las Virgenes Canyon through Rocketdyne to Black Canyon. Here is a topo map of the 1970 Topanga fires.

If you are a geek about wildfires, or Santa Susana State Park (of which the Spahn property is now a part of) there is a scientific report on the subject HERE (PDF).

Spahn after the September, 1970 Clampitt fire

Spahn before the fire

Today, from the same general vantage point

Debra's Chest

Patty is not sure how she missed this one. For the 40th anniversary of the murders, Debra Tate did a piece with Inside Edition and an exhibit with artist Jeremy Corbell whereby she had a Sharon lookalike model some of Sharon's clothing. Have you ever seen these?

Were all of the above meant to be dresses, or is "Sharon" running around bottomless in some of them? Here is the art exhibit that was held in Culver City. Apparently, Steve Urkel was
in attendance. See him?

Was it all in the stars?

Scanlan's was a short lived monthly magazine that leaned left of Left.  Only eight issues were ever published, between March 1970 and January 1971.  The magazine was investigated by the FBI and came under the ire of the Nixon administration.  It was essentially put out of business by the muckraking Right. The editors were Warren Hinkle III and Sidney E Zion.

The August 1970 cover was an R Crumb cartoon with a mention of Charlie Manson.

Inside is "An Astrological Portrait of Charles Manson"  done by "Gavin" Chester Arthur.  Certainly astrology was apropos of the times and no surprise that someone should do Charlie's chart.  I found this particular assessment to be quite interesting, offering mystical insight to why Charlie was the way he was.

Just as interesting was the man who did the chart.  Gavin Chester Arthur, born Chester Alan Arthur III, 1901 in Colorado was the grandson of President Chester Arthur.   In the 1920's Gavin eschewed his college education at Columbia to go off and become involved in the Irish Republican Movement of the 1920's.  In the early 1930's Gavin migrated to California and founded a commune at the Oceano Dunes near San Luis Obispo.  In 1934 he joined the Utopian Society of America. 

At the outbreak of WWII in 1941 Gavin signed up with the Navy.  After the war he moved to New York for a time but was back in California by 1949.  During the 1950's he held various jobs, a teacher at San Quentin, a merchant marine, gold prospector and he also completed his bachelors degree at San Francisco State College.  He was heavily involved in San Francisco's Beat movement. He had been married and divorced twice by this time but was also an unabashed bisexual.  He was a forerunner in the gay rights movement.

In the '50's he became interested in astrology becoming a professional astrologer in the early '60's. By 1966 he published "The Circle of Sex", a book having to do with sexual behavior categorized on a wheel like in astrology.   Gavin, with his astrology knowledge, was asked by the staff of the Oracle to select a date for San Francisco's Human Be-in.  That date turned out to be January 14 1967, a scant two months before Charlie was released from Terminal Island Federal Prison.

Gavin Chester Arthur died at Ft. Miley Veteran's Hospital in San Francisco in 1972.

Here is his assessment of how the stars ruled Charlie.

Over The Hill And Through The Woods To Spahn's Ranch we go!

My dearest readers, an opportunity of a lifetime has arisen from the greater depths of Los Angeles real estate! How would you like to be in the vicinity of the old Spahn's Movie Ranch? Spahn's is practically in the back yard (well, over a giant, rocky hill, that is) of this gorgeous, one-of-a-kind place. This property can be YOURS for only a measly sum of a cool $1,995,000!! The property's back yard is actually across the railroad tracks from Shorty Shea's old burial site. Just think of all the exploring you could do, if you were to purchase this beautiful place. Hell, if I didn't live in an-already beautiful place (Austin), I would leap at the chance to own this! Well, that, and if I had an extra million in the bank. The actual address of this groovy, little "ranchette" is at 11001 Farralone Avenue in Chatsworth. (Do NOT bother the realtor, unless, of course, you have the money.) As I already stated, Spahn's Ranch is right over the hill in the back of the place. Eviliz team ASSEMBLE! Let us all put our money together, buy this joint, and make our own commune! Just kidding.
Enjoy some photos: