"The 1960's Underground" with Alice Embree and Thorne Dreyer "And so to me, one of the stories is to look back at that time and go, "Look, there was a lot of crossover that younger people don't know about," right? And when I tell people about it, they're like, "Oh, I had no idea." … These narratives tend to live in textbooks and not come from people's lives, it seems like sometimes… if you pay attention to how people experience the times they lived through, it looks much different than the stories that get told much later on." (Alice Embree) In this episode, co-hosts Dr. Jason Mellard and Eddie Wilson, sit down with two of Austin's most enduring activist voices: Thorne Dreyer and Alice Embree, co-founders of The Rag, the sixth underground newspaper in the United States and one of the longest-running, publishing 377 issues from 1966 to 1977. Together they trace the arc of Austin's radical counterculture, from the origins of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) to the birth of a national movement. Content Warning: adult themes Content created during the global pandemic, in the room, and on Zoom. Chapters: 01:00 - Thorne's background: Houston upbringing, artistic family, acting in New York, arriving in Austin 02:10 - Alice's background: growing up in Austin during Jim Crow; Austin's civil rights battles on campus with segregated dorms, segregated football, and the fight to change both 02:55 - Kennedy assassination as a radicalizing moment; Lyndon Johnson's daughter in a segregated dorm; UT's delay tactics 04:10 - Frank Erwin and the Board of Regents; Thorne placed on disciplinary probation in 1967 04:25 - The founding of The Rag (October 1966); John Economidy's right-wing takeover of The Daily Texan 05:45 - "SDS": Students for a Democratic Society's trip to Haight & Ashbury pre-Summer of Love; overlap between Rag staff and SDS 06:15 - The Rag's 11-year run; 377 issues available on JSTOR via Independent Voices 07:33 - Reading of Thorne's October 1966 letter announcing The Rag to the underground press 12:05 - "Hippies and politicos merge": Austin's unusual counterculture-political fusion explained 13:25 - The "Prairie Power" movement inside SDS and why Austin's chapter stood apart from its East Coast counterparts 14:40 - Drugs: Austin as a national hub for peyote distribution; the 1963 Playboy "Assassination Issue" on psychedelics 16:45 - Jim Franklin stirring the peyote kettle outside Lockhart; the sheriff encounter 17:32 - Peyote Orange Juliuses; Dave Richards and Sam Houston Clinton exploit the legislative misspelling 19:00 - Surveillance of New Left activists and hippies; solidarity across counterculture and politics 19:25 - Texas SDS members standing out at national conferences; hostile state environment breeding unity 20:30 - Eddie Wilson and Shiva's Headband; carrying the band's pot to an East Texas benefit 21:40 - Shiva's Headband and the Conqueroo as politically active bands; doing benefits constantly 22:22 - The Armadillo and Vietnam Veterans Against the War; beer garden fundraisers 23:03 - United Farm Workers march; Economy Furniture strike; November 1972 Armadillo benefit with Greasy Wheels, Steve Fromholz, Willie Nelson, Teatro Chicano 25:25 - Eddie on the Armadillo as "a giant Petri dish"; bikers, ballet, grandmothers 25:45 - Stanley Hall run off from Austin Ballet Theater for being gay; moves dance classes to the Armadillo 26:25 - The UT folk singing club as a gateway to campus political culture; Janis Joplin performed there 27:00 - Austin's export to San Francisco: Chet Helms, the Avalon, Janis, 13th Floor Elevators, Doug Sahm, Rip-Off Press, San Francisco Oracle 29:50 - The YMCA building as nerve center: two locations, Frank Wright, Chris Cunningham as directors 30:30 - Alan Pogue: Vietnam vet photographer who essentially lived in his darkroom at the Y 30:55 - Women of The Rag set up birth control and abortion counseling hotlines within the office 31:15 - Those women persuaded Sarah Weddington to take the Roe v. Wade case 32:00 - The Rag ahead of the underground press on women's issues; papers elsewhere split apart (Berkeley Barb, Rat) 32:55 - Women bringing new content; collective leadership model enabling more women's involvement 33:10 - Alice's time in New York: NACLA, cross-fertilization with The Rat; Jeff Shero and the women's takeover of The Rat 34:00 - Collective editorial model at The Rag, Space City, and Liberation News Service 36:00 - Underground papers' lack of financial sustainability; why the underground press died; The Rag's 11-year run as exceptional 38:00 - The obligation to pass these stories to younger generations Follow us on Instagram and on Facebook, at @Threadgills AND Check out our store here and collect our gear: https://Threadgills.com/merch Guest: Thorne Dreyer and Alice Embree, founders of The Rag, Austin's influential underground newspaper; prominent figures in the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Their ongoing work: The Rag Blog, Rag Radio, anthology Celebrating The Rag, Alice's memoir Voice Lessons Production Team: Host, Eddie Wilson - Armadillo World Headquarters founder @Threadgills Host, Dr. Jason Mellard - Cultural historian @jasondeanmellard Editor, Renee O'Connor Music Mixing, Matt Carlson @axemanguitar Producer, Renee O'Connor @realreneeoconnor Producer, Sandra Wilson @sandrawilson709 Executive Producer, TSSI Music by Jake Andrews Music @jakeandrewsmusic Production assistant, Miles Muir @miles_muir Production consultant, Katey Psencik
