I Liked Richie Havens Better Without Teeth

The first day of my summer vacation found me headed, in my cute rental car with the sunroof, for New York City. School was over, at last I had time to think, and I wanted the trip to begin to define me in new ways. I bought two CD's for the ride, a Cat Stevens compilation and "Richie Havens Sings Beatles and Dylan".

Cat Stevens was a cute! successful and thoughtful songwriter who disappeared from the music scene in the early 70's. Rumor said that he had become a Buddhist monk, which was intriguing in the early 1970's, but even more fascinating to me today. It is not easy to swim against the tide of what is acceptable in our culture and there is something really attractive about dropping out and forsaking the material culture that most people are chasing. One of my quests was to find out what sort of life he had lived after forsaking fame and fortune. I have heard his music called adolescent, but that is dismissive. His agony at being "different" (a thinker!), his search for love (carnal and otherwise), his gentle explanation for his exit from the music industry ("I Never Wanted to Be a Star"), his attunement to nature, and especially his tortured search for self knowledge and truth, drew me. "On the Road to Find Out" became my anthem through the mountains of Pennsylvania. Oh my God! I was falling in love with Cat Stevens!

But Cat is no longer Cat, of course. He is Yusuf Islam, and he isn't a Buddhist monk, he converted to Islam in 1977, is married, has five? children and owns a hotel in London. But he has helped me undertake this blog and begin this new life. "Don't be shy, don't live in fear. Nobody will know you're there," he encourages.

But Richie Havens, what happened to you? It's like "The Man" said, RICHIE! We're gonna make you a STAR! We're gonna get you some TEETH, we're gonna get you some JEWELRY, we're gonna take photos and every picture will have your HANDS in it! EXPRESSIVE! Show em your JEWELRY! Let em know you're still around! DYNAMITE! Make you a STAR.!" ....This album sucks! What have they done to you? They put unlistenable upbeat synthesizer elevator background bullshit behind your beautiful voice. They gave you front teeth. I liked you better without teeth.

I love New York City. My trip there, with Cat Stevens as my soundtrack, took me to Strawberry Fields in Central Park with my daughter AJ. I realized that we do, in the United States, have monuments where devout pilgrims make their journeys. I saw young seekers in Central Park that day, longing to break away from the unbearable tedium of high school and what comes after, of what our lives have become.

Strawberry Fields
Mobile Photo by MJ

"Well I think it's fine building Jumbo planes,
or taking a ride on a cosmic train, switch on
summer from a slot machine, yes get what you want to, if you want, 'cause you can get anything.
I know we've come a long way, we're changing day to day,
but tell me, where do the children play." - Cat Stevens