Grooving on the Sixties

by Keith Carradine (Owen Fields)

I joined the cast of “Crash” mid-season, for episodes six and seven. I was at home in Studio City, California. Got a phone call from my agent and manager that the producers were interested in me. There weren’t any meetings involved, just a couple of conversations with Ira Behr, the executive producer and show-runner. He was worried I was too young for the role. I disavowed him of that. 

They needed me in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for filming in just a few days. So I made a plan to drive in our little Sprinter motor home. I was bringing our geriatric cat along. It was the only practical way to care for her. I threw my stuff together and hit the road. Two days later I was at the KOA in Bernalillo. 

The character of Owen Fields is a “legendary” sixties writer who used to be close friends with Ben Cendars (Dennis Hopper), and who married Ben’s ex-wife Suzy (Peggy Lipton) years ago. The role had wonderful echoes of my own life, having come of age in the sixties.  I felt the relationship between my character and Dennis’s character had some elements of my bond with my late brother David, who was older than I. And I was excited by the prospect of working with Dennis. 

My character was originally conceived as a sixties musician, then evolved into an author, like a Richard Brautigan or Timothy Leary. In the 1969 I was on Broadway starring in “Hair.” Leary influenced us all. I was a fan of Brautigan as well: Trout Fishing in America, In Watermelon Sugar. I felt I was part of a generational “awakening” that was spurred/reflected by these and other writers and poets and songwriters of the era. 

I brought my guitar onto set to play between scenes. I always have a guitar with me. It’s my way to relax without taking my head out of what we’re doing. Mostly I play my own stuff—I’ve written a lot of songs and continue writing—although I did play Jorma Kaukonen’s “Embryonic Journey” for Dennis and his assistant Satya and director Vincent Misiano on the first afternoon we were working. It’s an acoustic song recorded by Jefferson Airplane, and it kind of bonded us a bit; reminded us of those psychedelic days of summer way back when.

Every second working with Dennis and Peggy was like hanging out with old friends, though we’d oddly never really known each other before. After we wrapped my episodes, I stayed around for the weekend because Dennis invited my wife and me to the Willie Nelson-John Mellencamp-Bob Dylan show on Sunday night. That was definitely one for the annals! Geezers rock, dude! Gray power!