Rainbow Valentine talks with her mom’s friend, Julia Brigden, aka Girl Frieberg, who married musician, David Frieberg of the Quicksilver Messenger Service at the age of 17 to avoid returning to Juvenile Hall. Julia Girl Brigden did reckless things in the 1960’s like hitchhike to Mexico to trip with psychedelic mouthpiece, Tim Leary (coiner of Turn on, Tune in, Drop Out) before being sent to reform school where she hung out with musicians David Crosby, Paul Kantner of the Jefferson Airplane and fellow classmate, Bob Weir.  Along with her youthful delinquency, Julia Girl Brigden tells us about her freewheeling life with the acid rock stars, drugs, misogyny, free love and more. Plus RV unpacks the history of hitchhiking, the 1966 Hunter’s Point Race Riots, Cool Whip and much more.

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In a mini episode of Smuggler Family Album previously only avail on Patreon, Rainbow Valentine’s mom, Taffy Lemur aka Kathy Mason Lerner, from Psychedelic Women and Disorganized Crime, shares true stories about an infamous 1960’s San Francisco prostitute known as The Dragon Lady and an ergotomine tartrate smuggler who had a secret cellar of treasure and strangely, a fake tire store. Plus, the history of the condom, the sordid pasts of Marin real estate ladies, Margo St. James and memories of vintage Marin County, California in the 1970s and 80’s before the tech titans usurped the psychedelic pioneers. To support this historic work, join Patreon.com/RainbowValentine

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Before she became one of the first female DJ’s in America, Dusty Street was babysat by San Francisco’s most iconic Madam, Sally Stanford and the brothel’s cook, Juanita, who became the Bay Area’s most colorful restauranteur.  These historic women and Dusty’s Communist/cocktail waitress mom taught Dusty to be a badass trailblazer who was on the air continuously for over 30 years.   

Host, Rainbow Valentine interviewed Dusty Street before her death in 2017 and in this juicy, sex, drugs and rock’n’roll packed episode, Dusty shares fascinating stories about growing up in Beatnik SF in the 1950s, her teen years in Palo Alto hanging out with the future Grateful Dead, the rise of her historic DJ career, her illegal abortion, her Mexican run-in with the counterculture’s most notorious one-handed smuggler, the Trips Festival of 1966, the Summer of Love, her encounters with murderous music titans and rock stars, her marriage to RV’s sister’s babydaddy, LSD, the Pill, cocaine, plus the history of Kotex, Pop Tarts and much more.

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You can’t buy your way into the inner circle counterculture - you behave your way in; plus what’s difference between outlaws and criminals?  In this hybrid episode, host, Rainbow Valentine talks counterculture greed, loss, trust and betrayal with her psychedelic pioneer mom, Kathy Mason Lerner (subject of eps 1 – 6) and Kira and Jasper Thelin, whose family opened the first headshop in America.  RV’s mom tells us about Janis Joplin’s best friend/costumer, Linda Gravenites, the ex of Nick Gravenites, who was RV’s mom’s 3rd husband’s drug-dealing partner. Plus, a bag of stolen bling, a smuggler named Anchovy, Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart’s ex and that’s just the first 20 minutes of this psychedelic soap opera.  Next, we hear the story of the visionary boy scout who burned $100 dollar bills aka Ron Thelin, who, along with his wife, Marcia and brother, Jay, started the Psychedelic Shop on

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Don’t everyone’s parents have smuggler friends who disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle? In the subculture host, Rainbow Valentine grew up in, yes, but the rest of the world, maybe not. And because of this, RV shares ho-hum lunch convos with her and her former pot-smuggler counterculture parents from the podcast, Disorganized Crime. In this trio of Lunch with the Lemurs, RV's parents tell us true stories of missing smugglers, a power-crystal shaman, a San Francisco smuggler soiree, the most infamous Mill Valley cop of the 80’s, plus RV’s dad’s love of Costco, the hippie

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Before she was a 17 year old groundfloor member of the 1960's San Francisco counterculture, Rosie McGee was the child of French Holocaust survivors who, after WW2, flipped a coin on where to emigrate and as Rosie says, “I won” because San Francisco in the early 60’s was a city of beatniks melding into hippies – the perfect place for a teenage detective to become a psychedelic woman.  Before she wrote her memoir, Dancing with the Dead, Rosie McGee was Florence Nathan, a naïve, theater enthusiast who lived a double life, secret from her conservative French parents who had no idea their daughter’s job with Big Daddy Tom Donahue would lead her into the arms of comedian, Lenny Bruce, Grateful Dead bassist, Phil Lesh and to the Far East with the SF counterculture’s most infamous smuggler.  This episode unpacks true stories of the Muir Beach Acid Test, the Human Be In,  Janis Joplin, The Coffee Gallery, The Committee, the Warlocks and more.

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“You can smuggle anything except for drugs and guns…” These were the rules laid down by a Brazilian beauty queen to her Uraguyan Jewish husband, who smuggled everything from hi-fis to Hindus.  In this episode of Smuggler Family Album, host Rainbow Valentine chats with her Brazilian drummer friend, Pedro Strasser, whose father (also named Pedro) was a smuggler during the Brazilian dictatorship of the 1970s and 80s.  Everyone in the counterculture smuggler scene or those interested in the smugglers of yore, will relate to/be fascinated by Pedro Jr.’s memories of his scrappy smuggler dad’s innovative creativity and entrepreneurial spirit as he moved everything but drugs and guns, in his handmade yacht, in order to support his wife, kids and art.

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In this bonus episode host, Rainbow Valentine, continues to put the psychedelic puzzle pieces of her culture together as Dr. Maria Mangini, PHD, co-founder of the Women’s Visionary Congress, nurse practitioner and psychedelic historian, tells RV and listeners about her friendship with Nicky Scully, subject of Episode 10 and takes us down some serious counterculture rabbit holes.  Topics include insider Grateful Dead trivia, Timothy Leary, the Emerald Tablets movement, Goldfinger the smuggler, Esalen, Millbrook, Fred and Bill Wahpepah, the Sundance Ceremony, a gem called the Seva Diamond, a secret room stuffed with psychedelic goodies, women’s colleges and the Academy Award winner in Dr. Maria's theater program and much more…

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Cults! Kidnapping! Concubines!  This epic bonus episode of the Radiate story (Eps 1 - 6) with Rainbow Valentine and her Zelig artist mom, Kathy Mason Lerner aka the Astrologer’s Daughter, gets into RV’s mom’s life before she gave her signature fur hat to Janis Joplin.  True stories of RV’s mom’s godparents who were California Bohemians of the 1930s, 40’s and 50’s,

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How many counterculture brides can say that Janis Joplin sang at their wedding?   At least one and her name is Nicki Scully and host, Rainbow Valentine’s mom made her wedding rings.  Shamanic healer, Nicki Scully was an LSD-taking teenager who arrived in San Francisco during the 1967 Summer of Love, where she met and married Goldfinger, the infamous, one-handed smuggler who kept Nicki doped up and in a gilded cage before she left him for one of the managers of the Grateful Dead. In this gritty episode, Nicky Scully shares dark stories about surviving relationships with famous counterculture men, which gave her the tools to becoming a healer.  Along with Nicki's stories, Rainbow Valentine gets into the history of women’s shelters, abortion laws in America and Janis Joplin’s veterinarian… plus that time Nicki took LSD and delivered a baby without midwifery training, let alone the internet.  If you like counterculture history don’t miss the trippy true stories shared by Grateful Dead family member/shamanic healer, Nicki Scully.

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