did you even know what a "hippie" was? i found this grateful dead movie at a library back in ohio (i watched the damn thing 4 times that first day i got it ), and jerry was talking about that when the media and the rest of the nation started calling them and all those other people out in san francisco "hippies," they had no idea what the hell a hippie was. so...did you?
nope, but it was a documentary that spanned the recordings and history between Anthem of the Sun to American Beauty... came out in the late 80s i presume, cos the quality wasnt all that great... a very inspiring movie, nonetheless.
Nah, man. I lived in farm country, surrounded by mainstream-ness. Didn't find out about Woodstock until the movie came out! And by the time the term "hippie" came around, they'd already held the "Death To Hippy" celebration in Golden Gate park. Proactive bastids, they never let us po dumm fucks inda East ever have any fun! We had to be content with just being freaks. ~sigh~
As a bona-fied' actual member of that group in those days-The hippy word got put on all us longhaired San Francisco people-It really meant nothing-just a way to catagorize us longhairs-the world was alot different then-people with long hair were put down-laughed at-spit at and generally harrased in most of the country in 66-In my high school there was 3 of us with hair covering the ears!-this was 20 miles outside San Francisco-I was told to cut it or I would not graduate-I refused-and my parents faught with the school about my rights; but the school won-I got a diploma but was not allowed to cross the stage or be in any graduation ceromonies or have my picture in the yearbook-all because my hair was long!-yes-alot has changed since then-but we always have to protect our rights -that has not changed-back to your question-the 1st. group of long haired in my area-San Francisco was mostly in the Haight Ashbury District-but the beatniks were the 1st. group of free thinkers/artists/musicians etc.-They had been around for many years-but remained pretty much to themselves.We called ourseves freaks-or heads and when the press came out with the hippy word-it stuck-but it was invented by the press-we were just a bunch of people tryin something new-I used to go to the Haight in 66-to pick up a little herb-cuz thats where it was-who would ever think that 1 year later the city would be flooded with runaways and people from everywhere comin in-making for one huge party!--It was all about livin free-lovin-trippin-dancin at the Fillmore or Avalon and protesting the war--Hippy?-None of my friends or I ever called each other hippies-cuz-nobody ever said really what it --a politcal group? Aanti-war group?-A party-get high group? or what-Some things everbody pretty much agreed on for a while-The war had to end-Our San Francisco bands were the best in the world-Owsley made the finest acid ever-Bill Grahmn was mean and Chet Helms was great-Long hair was great and no bras were too!-If somebody was hungry-feed em-if someone is sleepin on the street-help him find a crash pad-/eat less meat-practice non-violence--basically-make love not war-very popular idea--and we did-do what ya want but don't step on anybody's toes-In other words-don't let your own pusuit of happiness infringe on others-respect the people around you-So-being a free spirit does come with some responsibility;s-cuz-not everybody is going to think like you and thats why America is such a great country-we can be whoever we want to be-(try that in N. Korea)lol-
Hey Drumm-Damn man-Don't be so hard on yerself-If it were'nt for you farmers-all of us city slickers would starve!-I'm sure you had alot of fun tearin it up in the country-Shit-by 68' you wouldn't have wanted to be in San Franciso anyway-way too many people-Most people I know were lookin for a way out to the country by then-the "movement" started in S.F. but then whole thing spread fast everwhere--but-I don't think you would have been too happy tryin to scrounge up a find a place to crash every night- lots of folks sleepin on the sidewalks-
Hey rob... HA!... not bein hard on myself... just a lil self-deprecation. Yeah, hot fun in the country sun. A wonder I'm still here.
