You Are What You Eat (1968)

The great hippie home movie, You Are What You Eat (1968) is a strange, psychedelic and convoluted film as incoherent as its hippy brethren 200 Motels (1971) and Rainbow Bridge (1972). It belongs with that small collection of movies in which more people own the soundtrack than have actually seen the film. The soundtrack is phenomenal. The bright yellow cover is as eccentric as the vinyl itself that features audio cut-ups, squealing Moog synthesizers, relentless psychedelic improvisations, lounge music, Tiny Tim oddities, and the final appearance of The Hawks before they changed their name to The Band.

The list of those involved with the film is an incredible roster of counter culture heroes and weirdos. Tiny Tim, The Electric Flag, Frank Zappa, Peter Yarrow, Paul Butterfield, Superspade, David Crosby, Hamsa El Din, Barry McGuire, the radio personality Rosko and several others.

Superspade was William E. Thomas. William E. Thomas, a 26-year-old black man, was known to just about everyone in the scene as “Superspade,” a moniker he embraced by wearing an oversized button proclaiming “Superspade, faster than a speeding mind.” Superspade was a dealer for legendary LSD maker Owsley. On 3 August 1967 Thomas made a drug run to Sausalito with a reported $35,000-$55,000 in cash to buy the makings of a massive batch of LSD. Thomas' body was later found stuffed in a sleeping bag and hanging 38 feet off a 300 foot cliff in Point Reyes. He had been shot through the back of the head and stabbed in the heart. Only $15 remained of the wad he'd brought with him to make his score. He and his girlfriend had been planning to move to Europe following this one last drug scheme. The murder of William “Superspade” Thomas is still unsolved and is being handled by the cold case unit of the Sausalito Police Department.