He changed his name from Cohon to Coyote, in honor of the trickster god he met the first time he ate peyote. Savants and Shamans from more ancient tribes (the Modoc, the Ohlone, the Beats) shared a Potlatch of the spirit. Break a leg.Įnlightenment came in bits and pieces, like sunlight through tall trees. The streets were the stage.īetween the acts the Diggers fed the flower children. The Diggers took theatre straight to the people. Some just burst.Įmmett Grogan was a familiar soul. Some burst into blossom, some into flame.

(Those who say it isn’t, lie.)īill Graham was a familiar soul. Peter had a several gifts-movie star looks, a Henry Fonda voice, and a ready laugh. He came to San Francisco to study poetry with Robert Duncan, and was soon seduced into the Mime Troupe, which took on the task of waking up America. In New York the fierce discipline of modern jazz from Buddy Jones, Charlie Parker’s roommate.Īt Grinnell, a small college in the Midwest, it was history, literature, theatre, the Humanities … He liked the heft and hope of that last word. On Martha’s Vineyard, folk songs from Tom Rush. Growing up in Jersey, in the arms of a big Jewish family, he learned the art of disputation from old commie uncles. He came from the East and never looked back. The story of an old friend, commissioned for a special issue of “Common Ground” celebrating the California Bay Area’s progressive history and heroes.

Peter coyote