Wally Hope

I’m reading The Story of Crass by George Berger, and there is this awesome description of a poster for a (pre-Crass) concert/festival put on by the members of Dial House, including this totally rad LSD-saturated friendly affable Messiah figure, who named himself (and anyone who joined his harmless funcult) Wally.

A poster for the first festival reads:

“FREE STONED HENGE OFF ROCKS OFF

EVERY SUN DAY FOREVER”

With a picture of the Turin Shroud sitting atop the flyer between pictures by Gee Vaucher of the pyramids and standing stones, there is a clear attempt at inferring a mystical, if not religious, emphasis to the event[…]A poem lower down the page reads:

“THANKYOU GOD FOR THIS AMAZING DAY

And the leaping greenly spirits of the trees

And a blue dream of sky and for everything

Which is natural, which is yes.

I who have died am alive again today

This is the SUN’S birthday, this is the

Birthday of LIFE and of LOVE and wings

And of the gay great happening

Illimitable earth

Hippy Hippy Shake

How should tasting, touching, seeing

Breathing any lifted from the NO

Of ALL nothing, human merely being

Doubt unimaginable you

Now the ears of my ears are awake

Now the eyes of my eyes are opened”

“On the 20^th June 74 off the floor, the laughing Rock’n’Roll Movement spear-head tribal clan entrenched, Home Sweet Dome, to Arthur’s banner, The UNION WALLY, Best mates with all, FAR OUT communication, and totally miss by the system class, scandel monger media.”

“OUR FATHER, THE SUN wants the Lion to lie with the Lamb, seeing the Leopard can’t change its spots, Energy Crisis only in the brains and hearts of AHH MEN, so the greatest revolution is by EXAMPLE, RALLY at

Salisbury Plain, the Henge.

Or accept Hell confusion of the war.”

The whole poster was printed out in ‘rainbow print’ with different coloured inks running into each other, befitting the fashion of the times. “We found we could ‘do acid’ on paper,” as Penny Rimbaud puts it.