AsEverWas: Memoirs of a Beat Survivor
by Hammond Guthrie
Category: Beats (Persons)

AsEverWas, along with Ed Sanders' Tales of Beatnik Glory are the two most important tomes I've seen recounting those decades of the twentieth century. -- Larry Sawyer, Editor, Milk Magazine Hammond takes you places you want to linger and others that cause you to shudder with fears you might not know you had. It was the sixties, but you haven't read this story before. -- Comment on Amazon.com from a reader in Sioux Falls, South Dakota Hammond's book may be one of the quintessential freak histories. -- Michael Simmons, LA Weekly columnist It brought back memories I've never had! -- Gary Fulkerson, singer/songwriter When the counterculture was busy being born in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the mid-1960s, Hammond Guthrie found himself in the midst of hipster heaven, somewhere between late Beat and early Hippie. A budding painter and writer, he quickly made friends with many of the musicians, poets, performance artists and street people who were blazing trails into new lifestyles. Realizing that life was meant to be a total trip, a non-stop adventure, he left the West Coast with his wife for England and immersed himself in the alternative scene in London - the world of International Times, the UFO Club, Arts Lab, inner-city squats - with a writing gig at Time Out magazine. Moving on to Amsterdam, he befriended Provos and free-living bohemians, while building a promising career in the art world - the Stedelijk Museum even bought his paintings for their collection. But in the early 1970s the trip took a surreal turn. His wife started taking free love far too literally, and her amorous escapade with a drug dealer entangled them both in a nerve-racking intrigue in the twilight zone of Tangier. Hammond's Moroccan mission was to spring five Americans, including his wife's lover, from 60-year prison sentences for wholesale hashish smuggling. Here he tells it all in his playful style, with a keen eye for absurd detail and an unflagging sense of humor. Among the hundreds of famous and not-so-famous personalities he encountered along the way were the Buffalo Springfield, Del Close, Max Crosley, Richie Havens, Nico, Carmen McCrea, Allen Ginsberg, John "Hoppy" Hopkins, William Burroughs, Simon Vinkenoog, Kenneth Alsop, Pete Townshend, and Emmet Grogan. I laughed, I cried. It's a marvelous book written in intriguing conversational style, bringing back wonderful memories from a wonderful time. -- Herb Gold, Beat journalist AsEverWas captures the story of countless others who lived on the fringes during an era when the country was at an important crossroads. Anyone who was alive during these turbulent times and who gives a damn about just how we got here should read this book -- John Aiello, poet and journalist Helps you see, feel and understand the moods, people and places that shaped an extraordinary decade. For its style and its lessons, Hammond Guthrie's memoir is a rare and important achievement. -- Stew Albert, co-founder of the Yippies I'm blown away by the stories - [he] really [has] seen and done it all. Just fascinating and, unlike so many of the other accounts I've seen, [Hammond] actually does remember. -- Jeff Tamarkin, author of Got a Revolution 'What a marvelous surprise lurking beneath the cover of this one.' -- Jack Magazine