Hippy Night In Belfast (ireland)

Hey guys,
The Belfast Arts Collective that I run with my hippy mates put on a hippy evening last night at a music venue. It went very well. We had body-painting, Woodstock playing on the plasma screen, hippy-music DJ sets, a great Irish hippy band, plenty of flowers going around, and some cool costumes. There was plenty of peace and lurve in the room!!!

Plus Richard, who I met on this forum, came down with a few of his mates and shared in the craic, which was really great. Cheers for making it down Rich!

Fiddler

 

Here's a picture from the night. I'm the dude at the far right with the headband. Rock!

 

that's really cool..is there a lot of religous wars going on in belfast? i went to ireland in may and my mom was freakin out telling me not to go to belfast

 

Thanks Foundme! Yes, Belfast tended to have a problem with tensions between Catholics and Protestants, but then a ceasefire was called. Before the ceasefire, paramilitary groups faught mini-wars against each other. Since the ceasefire, which has been in place for a couple of years now, things have become peaceful these days. Feel free to come over!

 

You know what I've been thinking? It would be so cool to organise an evening like this, in as many places in the world as possible, on the same night, and advertise it as being anti-war, anti-whatever you-name-it and just bathe in peace and love as a planet of conscious people at the same time. Websites like this make that possible!!

Still in the planning process...

 

No such thing as Irish Hippies in Ireland just a bunch Drunks making unwanted noise with obsolete music instruments . and a accent no ones understands.

 

Yeah I was there and it was a really good night. It was also good to meet Tom aswell. I'm def goin to any other stuff thats organized.

 

that's not only untrue that's ignorant..... how can you be a "hippie" and be so critical of other people's culture.....have you even been to Ireland? There is so much history there and a lot of great music...so think before you speak you sound stupid

 

hey goldenbutterfly....that sounds like a good idea...i live in va too what part are you from??? oooh yeah thanx for that reply fiddlerontherooof....i'll tell my mom next time i go there i'll know it's safe!!!!

 

Count me in Butterfly. What d'you think Holp?- I reckon we can get in on this for sure. Great idea!

Was good to meet you too Holp, sorry I was a bit distracted in terms of being very busy trying to keep the night running smoothly. No doubt next time I'll have more time to chat, as it was a pretty busy one the other day there.

Also, thanks for the kind words Foundme. You're a great ambassador for America (whereas that other guy, who I see has been banned, most definitely isn't, lol)

 

thanx fiddler....it just pissed me off....how can we have unity if we are ignorant? People tend to speak without thinking, there are other great countries other than here and sometimes they don't see that. I try not to judge until I see for myself....although there is a lot of drinking in iRELAND i had no problem joining in.

 

Def sounds like a gd idea. Yeah it was cool to meet you to. I loved the band. I bought their demo and ive been playing it loads since then.

 

Holp-
Yeah, Swanee River are one heckuva band man, I love them. Tin Pot Operation, who played before them, are a cool bunch of guys too, with more of a punky vibe than Swanee's hippieness.

Foundme-
You're just right; "peace and love" to you my little hippy cherub xxx

This is true, drinking is a very social activity in Ireland; however, my mom is a Dublin woman and doesn't drink AT ALL, and my dad, when he was alive, didn't drink AT ALL either. So you tend to find extremes in Ireland, where some people drink quite a lot, and some don't drink at all.
Alcohol is definitely a tricky issue. There are loadsa old blokes*in Ireland wasting away from having drunk too much over their lives. Something people tend to forget is that Alcohol is a class-A drug, so it can have real bad long-term effects on you. In the UK, hash is a class C drug, so that will give you an idea of how careful people need to be with drink in comparisson!

(Mind you, I LOVE alcohol, lol)

*Bloke = "man" (UK slang)

 

Here's My problem drinking is way worse for your health than smoking the u know what...so why is it that a drug that is a stimulant is banned when something like alcohol which is a depressant is allowed? Drinking damages every body part and it also leads to anger and depression. I'm not saying it's ok to be a pot head but what's wrong with smoking, listening to music, and having philosopical conversations with people? You never hear about some pot head killing someone, everybody meshes well when they are high! Am I right? My theory is it's illegal because the government wouldn't make money if it weren't for the drug bust! Weed is natural and it cures diseases so I definelty think God put it here for a reason...I don't know what do you think? I'd rather smoke than drink all night, make a fool out of myself and then have a hangover in the morning ya know?Anyways you should email me sometime I like to have cool conversations, getting others opinions...anyways my email is italianmelly@hotmail.com if you'd perfer not to write you can tell me what u think here on the forum...bye

 

Sadly, I'm in a mad rush today and so for the meantime will just put my reply here if that's OK. But I will DEFINITELY write to you Foundme, thanks for your address! xx

I have to admit, I find the whole illegal hash / legal alcohol thing a real problem. As you say, alcohol has a real dark side. I went out last night and a drunk guy was screaming out of a car window at a girl I was with really scarily; and then I went to a bar and a drunk chap from Poland basically threw a girl into a bar-table, and me and three guys had to throw him out because there were no bouncers. One thing is for sure Foundme, and it's this:
IF ALCOHOL WAS INVENTED NOW, THERE IS NO WAY THE GOVERNMENT WOULD LEGALIZE IT.
Think of all the fighting, vandalism, and just general nastiness it causes! Just because it's socially acceptable doesn't mean it's not a drug, and a very dangerous one at that.
But alcohol has been part of Western culture for centuries, and if governments really do try and ban it there would be a huge outcry from the public and the government in question would probably be brought down. Plus it would upset the world's economy because Ireland (beer, whiskey), the US (beer, wine), France (wine), etc., etc., base a lot of their national economics on the import/export alcohol market.

Unlike alcohol, hash has not really been widely available over centuries, and has never been socially acceptable on the mass scale that alcohol is. So the government are able to keep hash illegal and alcohol legal.

The weird thing, if you really think about it, is that a given government isn't necessarily being "bad" or "mean" by refusing to legalise a safer drug (hash) and prohibit a more dangerous one (booze)- they're sometimes, I think, just so caught up in the system and politics of the globe that they're not courageous enough to tackle the issue head on.

For example, it recently came out that Tony Blair (British Prime Minister) smoked hash recently with Sir Robert Altman (British film director), or was at least present while his mates were having a smoke. So at the end of the day, even Blair, deep down, isn't necessarily anti-hash.

It's a weird situation!

(I reckon Bush could use a smoke or two to chill him out a little... lol)

 

More pics in from Hippie night! But dunno if I can get them to come out :-(

 

CHRISTIAN JACKSON

 

Well well well you make a really good point. I don't even know if I'd want the Govt. to legalize it. In some ways it would make sense but I look at Amsterdam and although it's a great place to go to smoke I wouldn't want to live there! So anyways if you don't email it's okay...this is kinda our forum since we are the only two that seem to stay. I really don't like the other forums. Ya go on there to talk with people but they usually don't reply or sometimes the conversations have already been expanded into so much detail that you wouldn't be able to jump in. When I found this site I was like cool I can meet new people and have some good conversations but in all reality it doesn't happen. So it's cool that I can talk to you a mind is a terrible thing to waste....talk to ya soon..mel

 

Yes, I totally agree with you my hippie cherub!
Sorry I still haven't e-mailed, I have been frantically busy lately and so have not been able to get a free minute. I know what you mean about the big giant conversations on the forums; sometimes so much has been said that it blows your mind away and you don't know where to start. Yikes!
Wish that hippy picture had come out, but it didn't :-(