Letter: Don’t let ‘Summer of Love’ go to waste

Sunday, June 17, 2007 | 7:03 a.m.

This weekend is the 40th anniversary of the Monterey Pop Festival held in Monterey, Calif.

I was there 40 years ago. It is without exaggeration to say I am still recovering. Yet, it is such a sweet malady!

Ruminating over the event, I would say my three strongest memories are (1) arriving at the Monterey Fairgrounds in a blue VW Beetle with some friends from Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon, and immediately seeing a police motorcycle totally covered with pulsating garlands of dizzyingly bright flowers, (2) in about the 10th row, center, sitting through the three-hour transcendental concert by Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar on a foggy and drizzly Sunday afternoon, and (3) witnessing the stunning and totally unexpected set by the Jimi Hendrix Experience to close the weekend on Sunday night.

Today, I am 61 years old, and right now I'm thinking about 1967 and that year's so-called "Summer of Love." There have to be at least a few other Las Vegans who were there at Monterey Pop, and in San Francisco and in Los Angeles that summer.

So, we've made it to 2007. But today I'm thinking it's not enough to have "made it." The world is prone to war, it is so rude and crude, and it is dangerously desensitized to the condition of humanity.

This may sound corny, but to me and to the Summer of Love people like me, I think we should work every day on eating well, exercising, smiling and being healthy, nice, humble, compassionate and warmhearted.

Yes, we're probably antiques, but we're valuable antiques, I think. Our presence is important. We need to take care of ourselves, keep learning and growing, and keep our spines as supple as possible so we can be beneficial to our neighbors, community, country and the world.

Otherwise, the "Summer of Love" was a total waste. Peace and love are as elusive as ever. As Dr. Richard Alpert said, "Be here now."

Robert L. Candiotti, Las Vegas