On the weekend the streets would be bumper to bumper with cars and kids, people with movie cameras, driving slowly taking pictures of everybody. “That was the scene when I first got there, it was culture shock,” Montgomery admits.
“While I was gone I got a world of reality and more of an education than any classroom. I had some of the most incredible experiences.” Montgomery lived communally in San Francisco’s Haight/Ashbury district, similar to the group home in East Dayton. “I did my share of panhandling. Anyone who lived in Haight/Ashbury panhandled.” The underground economy and touristas literally fed the movement. “In Dayton, every time I turned around some redneck wanted to beat (me up) for being a hippie, out there I’ll never forget the first time I walked up Haight Street I felt like I was in a Fellini movie. It was a circus.”
After leaving The Haight, Montgomery went to LA then visited Santa Fe. He returned to Dayton destitute but determined to return to W.S., get his degree, start teaching and save money to open a club in Dayton.
“Allyn Hall was the first building on campus. The cafeteria was in the basement where I met guitar players and musicians my age. It was a cool atmosphere.” It may sound weird but students hung out with their “Profs” (professors) back then. Oelman Hall was then built and used as the library at the time adding to a few basic building when he graduated.
When he came back from the West Coast he started an outside performance area called the Terrace Café on the side of the Oten Gallery in Yellow Springs. “We did that all summer, got my feet wet, had a tiny stage and got the people together from the old scene before I left to come out and play.”
Life in The Haight and LA gave Montgomery the real life experiences he needed and wanted, returning to Dayton and Wright State determined and rededicated to school fulltime. His focus earned him a 4.0 at graduation, furthering his education as Wright State’s first art grad assistant.
“I was the first grad assistant in the art education department. I was a grad assistant for a year there.” That year he got involved with student government who helped him start a club on campus called the Fireside Lounge. The ‘new’ student center basement had the Rathskeller that sold pizza. The other side had a study room with a fireplace. “We had to make it portable. We only opened on Friday nights. We had some great shows with the AV departments small PA.” The Hot Mud Family played there with big crowds for local songwriters. The Hot Mud Family was the biggest acoustic, bluegrass act in southern Ohio at the time and was well regarded in the folk music world. They were playing all the big festivals back then and were guys from WS that I knew before.”
Next week Montgomery talks about the end of the Fireside Lounge and the Wrightstock concerts.
