Doc Stanley Defense Fund Poetry Jam! [handbill]

[Stanley, Michael "Doc"]

Berkeley: [1977]. Handbill. 8.5x14 inch handbill, mimeographed one side on tan paper, small closed tear at top else very good condition. The blank reverse was used as scratch paper for typing out a list of publications and their addresses; staple holes at corner from having been stapled together in a stack. Announces an event with Wavy Gravy as M.C. and a host of poets, to raise funds for an appeal after the local countercultural figure had been convicted of killing a Vietnam Vet in a dispute.

Our friend Eric Noble provides the following background: "Michael 'Doc' Stanley was a folk musician and an early (1965) contributor to the Los Angeles Free Press. At first he was credited as one of the staff photographers but within a few months he started contributing reports of political protests and other radical news. Eventually, Stanley became a prolific journalist, with articles (and letters to the editor) appearing in numerous underground newspapers of the period. One of his pieces, 'Policemanship: A Guide for the Arrested,' first appeared in 1966 and was circulated by the Underground Press Syndicate. He would sign his more passionate writings as 'Lovable 'Ol Doc Stanley (L.O.D.S.)' He visited and got involved with the burgeoning scene in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury early on. He was instrumental in Claude Hayward relocating from Los Angeles (where they both had been on staff at the Free Press) to San Francisco. Stanley introduced Claude and his wife Helene to the Diggers in the fall of 1966 at their first Free Frame of Reference free store. Claude Hayward would later co-found the Communication Company (Com/Co) as the publishing arm of the Diggers. Stanley's 'Policemanship' guide and other pieces were reprinted by Com/Co and distributed in the Haight-Ashbury along with Digger street sheets. Stanley ended up in Mendocino County where many Haight-Ashbury veterans migrated and where he became an activist in the Mendocino Coast anti-whaling campaign. In 1976, Stanley was arrested and convicted for killing a young Vietnam Vet in a dispute over vandalism and reputation. The local Bay Area arts and activist community responded in Stanley's defense. The big benefit performance in 1977 was after his conviction in order to raise funds for an appeal. Wavy Gravy, who emcee'd the event, had known Stanley from their days in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s, and wrote an article in the Berkeley Barb calling for his release. Over the next few years, Stanley would send articles to the underground press about his captivity in the California penal system, reflecting on his experiences behind bars. In 1979, the Chronicle's Joel Selvin reported that Stanley and his 'San Quentin Prison Ragtime Gospel Band' performed in a statewide prison band contest. After release from prison, Stanley eventually moved to Calexico, California, on the border with Mexico. It was there in 1997 that the Calexico Chronicle reported Stanley's death in an article that mentioned his community work and impassioned activism. Stanley had continued his career as an inveterate writer of letters to the editor in the local paper for several years leading up to his untimely demise. He would have been 63 or 64 at the time of his death."

Cat.No: 229566

Price: $25.00