Within the Tribe

Beautiful.

Manhattan's Palm Gardens ballroom was really turned on. The flowers, Tim, the flowers. They were in people's hair, on the floor, swarming over two huge screens from the color-slide projectors. Lights flashed everywhere, bounding off the Day-Glo lunarscapes along the wall. And when the phosphorescent beams caught the dancers, it turned the boys' white shirts purple, along with their teeth and eyeballs. The electronic band made the floor jump, and everybody was happy, sniffing the incense, smoking pot. It was a real love-in.

Then in came the beautiful people on four motorcycles, right into the ballroom, oozing with flower-power. It was the signal for everybody to get ready for the wedding and gather around the sanctuary, an arbor of aluminum beams and reflecting plastic panels. There came the groom, Artie, 24, carrying a guitar and wearing baggy trousers, a white, Nehru-collar tunic with red trim and cowboy boots. "My wedding suit. Nancy made it," he beamed. And there came the bride, Nancy, 15, her long blonde hair glistening, silver braces on her teeth (she'll take them off next year), and happily, joyously pregnant.

The members of the wedding belonged to the same tribe, the Group Image, one of the new, first-name-only hippie groups, of which Nancy is the den mother, sewing and cooking, and Artie the lead guitar. The tribe has about 25 musicians, artists, and psychedelic experts in it; they decorate clubs, design posters, and teamed up to do TIME'S hippie cover (July 7). "They're different from the usual hippies," says

Nancy's mother. "They're working and planning something for themselves. Their philosophy is a very loving and tender thing."

It was clear what they all meant to each other as the tribe gathered round the couple, and the Boo-Hoo, a priest in the hippies' Neo-American Church, his face painted gold for the occasion, conducted the double-necklace ceremony. Then to share in the love, 50 of the guests formed a tight huddle around the bride and groom, hugged up close and rocked back and forth to the mu sic, while the lights flashed, balloons burst and everyone chanted the Hindu Hari Krishna (Hail Krishna). Soon everybody was kissing everybody. Nancy was radiant. "Everything's beautiful to the bride," she said. "All I want now is a home in the country where Artie and I can raise children. I'm sure he and I will love each other forever."

Beautiful.

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