Invasion of The Long Hairs – Summer of 78

Invasion of The Long Hairs – Summer of 78

Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Animal House, and Dear Hunter, were among the notable movies in the theaters in 1978. Devo's “Are We Not Men”, The Police's “Outlandos d'Amor”, and of course the Bee Gee's “Saturday Night Fever” were among the notable albums. It was the year of the first cell phone, the Jim Jones led mass suicide in Guyana, and the start of what would become the video game craze with the release of Space Invaders.

Animal House was filmed in Eugene and the surrounding area the previous fall. The famous food fight scene was done in the U of O student union. I happened to be sitting in the union when they started setting up to film that scene. The actors entered and there was a big crowd wanting to get into position to watch. I saw big trays of what looked like hamburgers being moved into the room. That was when I decided to leave. I'm not big on crowds and had not really paid much attention to the film activities that were going on around the campus. I do remember that there had been an ad for extras for the parade scene that was to be filmed in Cottage Grove, a small city a little south of Eugene. As I recall they were looking for guys with short hair and although mine was about to be cut it was still long at that time. It wasn't something I was interested in anyway.

1978 was a time of transition, at least for me. It was the year the Sex Pistols broke up and Disco music was peaking, but it was also a time when Punk music was becoming more main stream and New Wave was making its way into the pop charts. The 80's were around the corner. In 1978 I shaved my beard off in March, cut my hair in April, and graduated in May. While I didn't want it to be, the summer of '78 would be my last summer in Eugene as I would move to San Francisco that fall to find a job.

By '78 the number of people sporting long hair was dwindling. That being said, that summer in Eugene turned into a sort of a last hurrah for long hair. The Rainbows came to town for one of their big family gatherings. There was a Renaissance Festival that summer. The Grateful Dead made their first appearance in Eugene playing a concert at Autzen Stadium. Lastly, the Hoedads held their annual convention in Eugene. All four of these groups were largely populated by people with long hair and frequently beards as well. The typical Hoedad had both long hair and a beard. The Hoedads, for those who don't know about them, were a tree planting worker owned co-operative. Jerry Rust who would later become a Lane County Commissioner co-founded the organization in the 70's. Of course everyone knows about the “Dead Heads”. The Rainbows were essentially a group of hippie types who held gatherings that could last a month or so. From what I experienced, the group preached peace, love, and unity. They were largely a group of counter-culture folks who would squat legally, as far as I knew, on a piece of property. From my experience a Rainbow Gathering visit could include hacky sac, meditation, dancing, “enhanced” discussions,and, shall we say, a more personal social activity. I also found there seemed to be a number hanger-oners, those who were just there for the free food and a place to stay. The Renaissance Festival was not really all that much different other than it was more organized and had lots of craft and food stuff for sale. The two groups kind of blended together. Adding in the “Dead Heads” and Hoedads, long hair was “the thing” in Eugene that summer. Even though my hair was now short, I did do a couple of visits to the Renaissance Festival and the Rainbow Gathering but I was out of town for the Grateful Dead show. I knew a couple of Hoedads but the convention was a members only affair.

Having graduated, I was feeling compelled to spend the summer pursuing a job, like a real professional job. I was hoping to find something somewhere in Oregon, but I did not let that “compellsion” (Hello Barney Fife) get in the way of my current daytime job of having a good time. I went backpacking a couple of times with my dog Nyshia and friends up in the Three Sisters Wilderness area. I made a few visits to the local hot springs. I did a lot of swimming in the Willamette River, played some softball and pickup basketball, and in my spare time looked around for a computer programming job.

I took a car camping trip with plans to swim in the rivers of southern Oregon and northern California. Rivers I remember setting out to swim in included Umpqua, Rogue, Chetco, Winchuck, and Smith. I am not sure I actually got to all of them as today I only remember swimming in the Rogue and Smith rivers. I especially remember the Smith as it was so clear. I still think of the Smith as the nicest river I ever swam it. I spent a whole day at one swimming hole on the Smith with a guy, his son, and a woman who was working the summer at the Oregon Caves. She encouraged us to visit the caves saying they were worth checking out. I did stop on my way back to Eugene but it was late in the day by the time I arrived and there was a fee so I just moved on.

One night playing basketball under the freeway I was driving to the basket when someone undercut me and I went down face first on the asphalt. Instinctively I held on to the ball rapping one arm around the ball and used my other to try to protect my face. My left arm hit the asphalt first. I was a little scraped up and my left arm was hurting, but other than the pain I seemed to be OK so I continued to play on. Soon I lost all feeling in my left hand and then I found I couldn't lift my arm above my chest. I took myself to the University Health Center. However, I was now out of school and no longer entitled to receive health care from them so they sent me to the emergency ward of a local hospital. The hospital took me in and took an x-ray of my arm. They told me I'd done some significant damage to my left arm and one of my forearm bones was broken. The damage was in the upper area of my forearm near the elbow. The good news was the broken bone was in place so it didn't need setting. The bad news was they said I may never completely straighten my arm again. The doctor told me I would need to start doing rehab exercises soon. He talked on for awhile but after I heard “not straighten my left arm again” I kind of zoned-out. I'm left handed. The doctor put a cast on me, wrapped up the arm, set me up for six weeks of doctor visits, and sent me home. The cast only went 3/4 of the way around my arm so I could actually pull it off which was handy for showering but driving was difficult because I could only use one hand (I had a stick shift) and it became a convenient excuse to limit the job pursuit for awhile.

At my first appointment the following week I met with a new doctor. He came into the room and put up the same now week old x-ray and proceeded to show me where my arm was broken and the extent of the damage, end of story. It was the exact the same thing the doctor from emergency had done. He asked if I had any questions. What was this appointment for? I damaged my arm, not my memory. It was a total waste of my time, not to mention I was expected to pay for this with my limited funds. So I asked when would I start doing rehab exercises and what were they? He said probably next week. He was unwilling to go into detail just then but said they would be exercises moving my arm in order to straight it again. I asked if he would be taking any more x-rays and he said not unless there were further complications. I then asked what we'd be doing for the remainder of my visits and it sounded like five more weeks of the same thing. OK, it was the old “fool me once” thing so I thanked him and on the way out I canceled my 5 other appointments.

I knew a Yoga teacher who was knowledgeable in Chinese medicine and I met with him the next day. He advised me to put heat on my arm and start moving it right away. He also gave me some stuff to rub on my arm Whatever it was it heated up my arm. As soon as I got home I removed the cast and rubbed some of that stuff on my arm and started moving my arm as much as I could. I continued to do this frequently. At first I moved my arm only with the Chinese stuff rubbed into my arm or in the shower with very warm water running on it. After a couple of days I was moving it without the heat, although I was still using the heat too, and I permanently removed the cast and just used the sling. Four weeks later I was back to playing softball and I could straighten my left arm.

I eventually got the bill for the emergency visit as well as the additional doctor visit. I paid the emergency visit fee but I refused to pay for the worthless doctor visit. The seriousness of being told that I broke and damaged my arm coupled with a viewing of the x-ray was pretty clear the first time. I didn't require or want a replay with a second doctor.

The summer of '78 was coming to an end, the visiting long hairs were mostly gone, my left arm was now good, my money was running out, and I had not found a job. It was becoming clear that this portion of my life was about to end and I was going to be starting a new chapter that entailed leaving Oregon to find a “real professional job” in computer programming. Yikes! I was about to embark on a career, or at least a temporary one until I truly figured out just what I wanted to be when I grew up.