[Mb-hair] Planet Love Note from WMH

[Michael Harris]

Dear Tribes,

A quick note to wish you health, happiness and righteous headspace this holiday season.  I haven't posted much to this list of late - but wanted to send a seasonal message of peace and harmony to you all.  

The Reunion and Be-In this past September inspiried me (turn on) to think carefully about how I want to spend my days (tune in), quit my job (drop out) and find a new one that fit my renewed sense of mission and purpose. After the Reunion, everything for me pointed towards inspiring youth for social change.  For this I credit all of you, my fellow tribe members, and the vibe we sent into the Universe with our singing. I believe our final chorus of "The Flesh Failures" fine-tuned the earth on its axis, fixed a hole in the ozone, aligned Jupiter with Mars.

Of course I wanted my re-tooled employment to involve the arts, my first love.  No sooner had I come to these realizations that I secured the perfect job as executive director for The Power of Hope.

www.powerofhope.org

Sounds religious, but it's not.  It's universal, and all about empowering youth for social change.  It's really cool, a perfect fit.  Everything I've done in the past has prepared me for this job including and especially HAIR.

Two days ago I came to the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York to be with my family for Christmas.  My dad is gravely ill at this time, and it feels good to be able to spend what may be his last days with him.  He's an actor 84 years young.  While I was in HAIR at the Biltmore in 1968 he was in "The Great White Hope" a few blocks away.  It was an exciting time for us, having achieved our family's dream of making it on Broadway.

These are "screen grabs" of my dad from a quirky movie database that honors little known actors:

http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorsH/P00040494.HTML

http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorsH/P00030494.HTML

The first is him as "Officer Mooney" from SUPERMAN; in the second he's a bartender in SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL.  Dad played dozens of supporting roles in movies - one of the many ways he and Mom, as theater artists, raised six kids.  He enjoyed an illustrious career as a stage actor and bandleader over seven decades.

It was a great honor to be asked to emcee your Reunion and Be-In this year, and a great joy to meet so many of you in person for the first time.  Let's do it again soon and strive to remain connected.  Being with my dad now reminds me we are only here "on this dirt" a short time, and life's too short to hold grudges.

In sympathy and trust abounding, have a Merry Prankster Christmas and a Hopi New Year!

WMH