Ringolevio

By Emmett Grogan

After retiring from the scene in late 1969, Emmett wrote his account of the adventures (and misadventures) of the previous decade and Ringolevio was published in 1972. Many of his compatriots felt betrayed and (even to this day) refused to read the book. Many others (myself included) who had not been present at most or all of the actual events cherished Ringolevio which (to us) captured the purity of vision the Diggers represented. Granted there were flaws of ego and machismo and braggadocio. But, man, what a story Grogan could weave.

My intent is to have a full-text, searchable version here. For now, this page has links to the scanned (uncorrected) files that pick up the second half of Ringolevio, starting on page 209 with a dedication to Matthew "Peanut" Johnson, the sixteen year-old kid who was shot and killed by a policeman in Hunter's Point, San Francisco, September, 1966, thus precipitating a paradigm shift in the evolving Digger consciousness.

Update (2016): we now have a full-text, searchable PDF version of Ringolevio, Section Three (the Haight history). Note: file size is 30 MB.

To Tell The Truth (1972)

An anonymous angel sent me the following episode of "To Tell The Truth" from 1972 with Kitty Carlisle and the other panelists attempting to discern "the real Emmett Grogan." The occasion of Emmett's appearance on the game show was the recent publication of Ringolevio, which is prominently displayed by the host (Garry Moore.) [Added Mar 3 2012]

Ringolevio (Full Text of the Haight-Ashbury Portion, HTML)

Pages 209 to 263
Pages 264 to 308
Pages 309 to 353
Pages 354 to 399
Pages 400 to 443
Pages 444 to 498
ALL pages (209 to 498)

[Note to our readers: If anyone would care to send corrected versions of the above files, we would be eternally grateful.]

Ringolevio (Full Text of the Haight-Ashbury Portion, PDF)

Full text, searchable PDF, by page in the original edition of Ringolevio, Section Three (the Haight history). Note: file size is 30 MB.