Taos hosts a 'Summer of Love' celebration

— -- It's been 40 years since Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper roared across the New Mexico landscape against a high-desert sky and a Born to be Wild soundtrack in the film Easy Rider. Now the community of Taos is ready to par-tay from May through September in a flashback commemoration that dusts off a number of the era's icons.

Dubbed Taos Summer of Love 2009, the event melds music, art and film, and kicks off with a fundraising dinner May 3 hosted by Hopper, a part-time Taos resident. The band Hot Tuna salutes biker week with a concert May 23, and on June 6, Country Joe MacDonald will create his Woodstock show. Other highlights: a photo exhibit of works from the '60s and '70s, a "Psychedelic Sixties" dance performance, and on June 20, an outdoor showing of Easy Rider at the Taos County Sheriff's Posse Arena. Now that's irony. Information: taossummeroflove.com.