The goal was to attract a crowd, to get attention and host an audience of everyday people looking for a place to exist free of charge, or expectation-and they did. On Saturday was a quasi street fair jam session protest with the intention, and name to match, Take Back Telegraph. It was set up on the corner of Haste and Telegraph in front of the old Mad Monk Music, across the street from the classic berkeley tourist trap amoeba records. 

 It was planned in the wake of the city’s crackdown on the Berkeley chess club, and occupation of peoples park. Take back telegraph was the community pushing back against what could be described as a systemic attack on places where people gather. The Berkeley Chess club was an informal gathering of people who wanted to gather and play chess, it was on haste and telegraph, the same spot as the event. 

 One of the event planners Josiah, of Kinda Good band, talked about the damage caused by the shutdown of the chess club by the city, “the impact of that loss is seen by hundreds of people. People who couldn’t find their friends since this shut down.” In our phone call he talked charismatically about his ideas surrounding spaces where people can just be without having to pay to exist. Spots where people of all different walks of life have freedom to do what they want and don’t have to worry about arbitrary rules around expression. 

There used to be more spaces like this, there was people’s park, and in the same spot was the Berkeley chess club, where people could walk up, play some chess, and just hang out. Even before that was the downtown plaza, which would host open mics and free jam sessions before it was renovated and the more free speechy stuff was shut down.

I spoke to Josh, a server with food not bombs about this,

 “We used to serve in peoples park and then you know, we got moved here. The city and I think the telegraph business improvement district has continued to target this space. Taking the furniture we rely on to distribute food… I know the building is up for sale so it’s always a question where we’ll go next” 

This is far from the first time bands roll up and jam in front of the closed mad monk music and jam with some of the locals, as Josh described it. Food not bombs serves at haste and telegraph every Friday, Saturday and Sunday starting at 12. 

I talked to Tren-he was young and relaxed. He wore a red mushroom hat and a baggy white t-shirt, he talked about people taking back the streets and gaining power, and the importance of these types of events. When I asked him why there aren’t more of them he said, “This is super illegal” 

You could hear the jam band play near endless brain melting songs, one after another, and the people ate it up! There was no cost to enter, and it naturally attracted a crowd of people who didn’t know it was happening, or only had a vague idea. While there were people who didn’t get it, straightened out college kids who couldn’t imagine that lifestyle, plastic punks who treated it like a zoo; watching from the sidelines-fetishizing the aesthetic without the energy and passion. Throw in a couple of finger waggers, shaking their heads and gossiping to their friends as they speedwalked past-folks like these you see why the bay area turned into the silicone phoenix, counterculture nearly dead and replaced with 21st century wasps and fleece wearing fleecers. The thing to remember is the movement never died, it just fell out of the mainstream. 

The people fighting for free love and music never stopped, they’re rallying around the just cause of living unbound by societal expectations and political norms-why aren’t you! Every person should be a hippie, a beatnik, a punk, or some combination. If you’re not somewhere in that spectrum you’re missing the point, losing an opportunity to live life to the full extent.  For every person annoyed by the sound there were 5 kind souls dancing in the streets, throwing footballs, or joining the band to keep the music going.