23 | January | 2026 | Bob Schwartz

Psych-Out (1968)

Dick Clark is known as an entertainment impresario, from American Bandstand to Rockin’ New Year’s Eve. Less known is his brief career as an actor and movie producer. One of the three movies he produced in 1968 is Psych-Out.

Psych-Out is a great dramatized on-location non-documentary about the last days of love in San Francisco. The plot is ridiculous, and ridiculously complex and fevered. It begins with Jenny (Susan Strasberg), a deaf runaway, who comes to Haight-Ashbury looking for her brother The Seeker (Bruce Dern), falls in love with musician Stoney (Jack Nicholson), and ends up standing in traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge, her hearing miraculously restored.

Following is the trailer and the entire movie online.

Note: As outrageously over-the-top as this is, know that in countercultural moments aiming for better, which many times fall down and flat, this kind of mockery and ridicule is a standard weapon. Like accusing well-meaning people you hate of eating pets. So many things went wrong so fast with the Summer of Love phenomenon. But like the song goes, What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding?

Dean Chamberlain: Light Paintings of Elder Psychedelic Pioneers

Timothy Leary © Dean Chamberlain

Dean Chamberlain is an extraordinary photographic artist. He works in a technique known as light painting, using hand-held lights to illuminate and color a scene photographed in long exposure. While versions of the technique have been known and used since the early days of photography, Dean was the first artist to work exclusively in the medium.

From Light Painting Photography:

Dean Chamberlain is the father of light painting photography and has been capturing photographs since 1967. It was his passion for photography that led him to the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1974 to pursue a fine art degree. During Dean’s time at Rochester in 1977 he discovered light painting photography. Dean was the first person to coin the term “Light Painting” for his open shutter long exposure photographic technique. He has worked with his unique art form ever since in his various works. Dean has created stunning portraits of well-known individuals such as David Bowie and Paul McCartney. He has also directed numerous music videos. Chamberlain’s work has appeared in publications such as Esquire, Vanity Fair and the Washington Post. He has received an MTV breakthrough award for directing music videos for Arcadia (Missing), Paul McCartney (This One) and Duran Duran (All She Wants Is).

Along with light painting rock stars, landscapes and other subjects, Dean created a unique series called Elder Psychedelic Pioneers. This includes Timothy Leary, Albert Hofmann, Alexander Shulgin, and others—many of whom have now passed on.