Seattleite recalls his good 'Hair' days

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In 1969, Kevin Mason was a gangly Seattle 22-year old with lanky blond hair and a yen to sing. And most nights around 11 p.m. you could find him at the Moore Theatre, emerging nude from a mock field of daisies in front of a wildly enthusiastic audience.

The West Seattle native was an original member of the first national touring production of "Hair." After auditioning on a lark, he joined the musical's tribe for a run of several months here, then went with the show to Miami, Chicago and other cities eager to see the Broadway phenom.

Now in his 50s, Mason looks back at his "Hair" adventure as "absolutely the most fun. ... When you get down to the essence of it, we were literally paid to be free, loving people with no cares."

Mason still waxes nostalgic about his "Hair" life. He has hosted a reunion for the Seattle company, and keeps an old suitcase full of show memorabilia — programs, posters, publicity photos, tattered press clippings.

One of the clippings, a 1970 Seattle Times story, reports on Mason's arrest along with seven other "Hair" cast members (including musical star Gordon MacRae's daughter, Sheila MacRae), in Miami.

"It was a big misunderstanding," he says of the incident, which was triggered when one of the "Hair" actors tried to take a photograph of a policeman in a park where the group was rehearsing.

But Mason makes that incident sound like a blip in a phase of his life that was otherwise pretty groovy, man.

When the "Hair" gig ended he returned to Seattle, and worked backstage for a Northwest presenter of such major rock acts as Elton John, Peter Frampton and the Rolling Stones. Today he is a builder and a Web designer.

But even in an era of cynicism about the naiveté of the whole hippie craze, Mason endorses the flower-power ideals "Hair" gave voice to. And he has no regrets about all that public disrobing.

"You gotta understand the times," Mason stresses. "It wasn't sexual, it was really about putting our hearts into the show's message. We felt we were all being very patriotic, that we totally loved America and wanted to help steer the country in the right direction. We believed in our hearts we were the love generation."