The families of bohemians and hippies lived inbourgeois comfort, with money enough for food,nice clothing, and a few luxuries. However,bohemians and hippies often gave up thiscomfortable lifestyle to live in poverty,exploring themselves and the world around them. Bohemians in the Latin Quarter of Paris,and hippies in the Height-Ash-bury neighborhood of San Francisco all lived together, sharing ideas and cultivating distinct counter-cultures.
"But I would not feel so all alone, everybody must get stoned."
Bob Dylan (Rainy Day Women nos. 12 & 35)
In the 1960s the hippies, en masse, undertook the largest uncontrolled experiment with drug use in the history of mankind. In those days it wasn't unusual to be handed a pill, and swallow it with the only instruction "You'll dig it, it's groovy." You trusted your fellow hippy and you wanted to get high and have a new experience. This was freedom. This was rebellion. This was cool. We discovered that Pandora's stash box was full of drugs!
John Lennon- While John Lennon might have considered himself foremost an artist and musician, he nevertheless met the criteria of a shaman in today's society. His great influence among young people was due to his charisma and talent. Lennon's experiences with psychedelics, particularly LSD, changed his view of the world and the way he expressed himself through his music. Not only did he become more experimental and inventive, but his lyrics took on an otherworldly nature. His songs inspired countless thousands to open their minds and experiment with psychedelics. Some of his tunes were actually composed and recorded under the influence of LSD. John was a tireless promoter of the hippy/shamanic message of peace, love and understanding. His message reached the far corners of the planet.
War on Drugs
An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.
Mahatma Gandhi
In my opinion, the real reason for the War on Drugs, and the particular emphasis on marijuana is that it is a way to control freethinking individuals. This works by either denying access to mind-liberating substances, or by imprisoning those who use them. Just as the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover maintained a list of subversive enemies of the state, today's enemy list includes anyone who uses (not necessarily abuses) drugs that are not beatified by our medical/industrial/political machine.
If they can't control our minds, they must control our bodies, thus prisons multiply. They fear a loss of control over the workforce, the primary consumers, the taxpayers, and their political constituents. For if we stop obeying our masters, it's tantamount to a slave rebellion. That is all we are, slaves working for the next dollar. We are no longer individuals with freedom to delve beyond the system's programmed parameters.
This threat is real, since the system offers no alternatives. You're either on the bus or you're one of them. If you happen to be one of the 700,000 American Citizens who get arrested for a marijuana offense each year, you know which side you're on. Likewise, if you're one of the millions who live in fear that one day your illegal toke will get you busted or fired, paranoia is your constant companion.
Do you believe in rock 'n roll? Can music save your mortal soul?
✌✌
Hippies use music to express themselves emotionally, spiritually, and politically. Music can make a statement, give voice to a movement, even unite us. As hippies explore their inner world, music guides them along in their quest for meaning. Without drugs it can get you high. With drugs, well, let's just say, music can be a religious experience. To explain the impact of music as a social phenomenon, we need to go back before the hippies to the Civil Rights Movement.
WOODSTOCK FESTIVAL .
The Woodstock Festival was a three-day concert (which rolled into a fourth day) that involved lots of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll - plus a lot of mud. The Woodstock Music Festival of 1969 has become an icon of the 1960s hippie counterculture.
The Plan for the Woodstock Festival
Kornfeld and Lang's original proposal was to build a recording studio and a retreat for rock musicians up in Woodstock, New York (where Bob Dylan and other musicians already lived). The idea morphed into creating a two-day rock concert for 50,000 people with the hope that the concert would raise enough money to pay for the studio.The four young men then got to work on organizing a large music festival. They found a location for the event up in an industrial park in nearby Wallkill, New York.They printed tickets ($7 for one day, $13 for two days, and $18 for three days), which could be purchased in select stores or via mail order. The men also worked on organizing food, signing musicians, and hiring security.
The Beatles
When the Beatles came to America in 1964 it really was an invasion of new music, style and attitude. They not only turned the music world upside down with their electric guitars, their happy harmonies, long hair and mod fashions, but suddenly music was fun like it hadn't been since Elvis. We boomers couldn't get enough of them, as Beatlemania swept the country. With fame and fortune theirs, they realized they could do anything, and decided to experiment with new sounds, new electronic techniques, and new drugs. What followed was the most innovative music the world had ever seen. The Beatles got serious about their music and the messages it conveyed. After all they are the biggest band ever and their influence was worldwide. Credit John Lennon with much of the creative new work and deeper messages. George Harrison took the Beatles on a turn to the East with Ravi Shankar inspired sitar work and philosophical lyrics. Paul McCartney added a much-needed light cheery touch to their music. There's no way we can measure the profound impact of the Beatles on other artists and the course of human history. I don't know a single hippy who didn't love them. As a group the Beatles had their ups and downs, and when they called it quits, no one wanted to believe it. Fortunately their legacy lives on in some of the best music to ever slip through our ears and grace our minds.
Hippie clothing styles included jeans for both men and women. Two main styles were hip-huggers and bell bottoms. Hip-huggers were tight and sat just above the hip similar to the low-rise jeans of today. The bell-bottom style was a flared or bell-bottom leg wider at the bottom and covering the shoes.
Skirts were long and made from natural fibers such as cotton and linen. One mark of the Hippie movement was the use of natural and organic materials. Granny skirts and peasant dresses were very popular items. Dresses were both long and short, sundresses being very popular in the summer.
Both hippies and bohemians wore clothing that mocked mainstream culture. Bohemians often wore clothes of different styles with bright colors in order to stand out and mock the bourgeoisie. Hippies borrowed many of their fashion ideas from the bohemians, wearing brightly colored clothes and styles that originated not only from the Parisian bohemians, but also with the gypsies of the Czech Republic.
The Hippie Generation, those who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s, embraced philosophies of peace, love and community. Rejecting middle class values and the teaching of the generations who had come before them, the hippie movement created a culture of its own, embracing "free love" and beginning the sexual revolution. However, the hippie movement had a darker side as well, encouraging drug abuse and the use of substances ranging from marijuana to LSD.
It was the hippies that took the movement out of the coffee shops and on to the campuses around the country. Berkley became the center of the movement. There were protest and demonstrations. Angry at the injustices in this country such as racism, poverty and the lack of women's rights, sit ins were staged. Sometimes practically taking over campuses. Many were arrested. The movement started small and grew. I believe there were two major factors in the growth of the hippie movement. Music and Vietnam have to be considered in the equation. As the war escalated, more and more young people were going to Vietnam. Students died in confrontations with the national guard at Kent State and Jackson State. It was a war that was considered unjust within the movement. Peace became a common goal and the ranks of the hippies swelled. The music took roots from the folk music of musicians coming out of the depression, such as Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Singers like Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and Arlo Guthrie brought folk music into the sixties with protest themes against government oppression and war. They had taken the words of the beat generation to a new level. Music festivals like the Newport Folk Festival drew large crowd of like thinkers where they could not only enjoy the music but share the common goals. These festivals grew in size and number. Many areas banned the festivals because they were afraid of what might happen. All those crazy, dirty, dope smoking hippies. Who knows what they might do? It's true that drugs were a part of the movement. For some reason drugs have been part of music for generations, including the blues and jazz performers of the 1920s and 30s. This just was the first time it spread so far. Much of the drug use, dress and such was just a part of the protest. Some, of course, were in it for the drugs alone. These were the people, that naturally, were most linked with being a hippie. Even with the protest of the establishment, music festivals flourished and the movement grew. Then in August 1969 there was a festival that changed the world. Half a million hippies joined together to make history. Woodstock was probably the high point of the hippie movement. Woodstock proved the doom and despair people wrong. For three days, all these crazy hippie lived together in peace and harmony.
+-+bc.jpg)
