Kung Fu Hippie Rant

[KC Elbows]

Sounds good. Can we call it "The Gentle Folk of the Holy Janice's Death Cult, reformed"? We could kill them all with environmentally friendly vegan cupcakes made with sunflower pollen and ajax.

Hold on, there's some CSNY playing.

I love you guys.

[greendragon]

I wasn't trying to get historical, rather Be Here Now. So e.wallace, care to enlighten me with the motivation behind your mouth ? ...Large black man to small white boy "that's right son, I'm a n*gg*r, now where's your daddy?"

[guohuen]

Chang, you still dating Leslie?

[Chang Style Novice]

I'm dating the rotting corpse of Sharon Tate, and GDA is really jealous.

on a related topic: What goes into 13 twice? Roman Polanski!

on edit: alternate punchlines include but are not limited to R. Kelly and Jerry Lee Lewis.

[Merryprankster]

Ken and the Merrypranksters were hippies the way they ought to have been, ******! I identify with Kesey's forthrightness, his willingness to live and the extraordinary cleverness of that group. I found them to be uncommonly resourceful and remarkably GROUNDED. Transcendence is spoken of in an ethereal manner, and the truth is that it's everyday life, not "something else."

I think he had more in common with Jack Kerouac and Neal *******. I happen to detest Ginsburg. I feel that, ideologically, he was a hanger on--a fringe figure who was the recipient of second-hand coolness without a truly original thought in his head. He seemed, always to me, to identify more with the fact that he was part of the group rather than himself.

Of course, what it really winds up boiling down to is the individual, as always.

Greendragon--read my post again until it makes some sense--WE did not "mainstream the hippie concepts," any more than any other group. The hippies helped mainstream Asian Philosophy and concepts. You pointed that out, I said exactly that previously.

This all predates me though! I'd sure love to hear some stories from you old geezers!! I'm sure my perspective is skewed to some extent.

[Black Jack]

I once killed a hippie and sold his foot to a bunch of chinese guys in a van.

[guohuen]

ROTFLMAO!

[KC Elbows]

I want my foot back.

[guohuen]

Sorry, your foot and the remains of Lenny Bruce are now part of a male stamina concoction being sold by the gram in a little booth in Hong Kong.

[greendragon]

MP< here's a funny picture for you, 1970.. long haired skinny kid trying to explain kung fu to a bunch of outlaw bikers... they laughed so hard they almost dropped their hand grenades!

[rogue]

How many of you lived through the Dark Hippy Years? Thank goodness that in the 70's Aerosmith, Van Halen and the punks saved us from that mess of bad clothes, bad food, bad music and horrible hygiene.

Most hippies were just spoiled middle class youth trying to get laid.

[KC Elbows]

Aerosmith and Van Halen should have stayed in the seventies. Everything after both band's early years was schlock, especially aerosmith, who started off promising and degenerated into cheesy balads that sounded exactly the same, or anthems that repeated the same phrasing endlessly("There's something wrong in the world today...wait, didn't I already sing this part?")

60's: Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Hendrix(most influential guitarist in rock history), Joplin, CSNY, The Godfather of Soul, the Beatles(most influential band in rock history), CCR, all except for possibly Aretha and James Brown HEAVILY influenced by the hippy culture.

70's: Zep(heavily 60's influenced), Aerosmith(a couple good albums achieved under the heavy influence of drugs, never to be repeated once the band cleaned up- hippies, anyone?), Van Halen(Great guitarist surrounded by mediocrity and a lead man who couldn't get along, good early stuff, dull later stuff), Sabbath(IMO, much more indicative of the good stuff that came out of the seventies than aerosmith, very original), Rush(good stuff, especially their middle period-thematically, very hippyish), disco

The rock in the seventies is a continuation of the hippy culture influenced music of the sixties, which in turn is a continuation of the blues/jazz tradition. Every subsequent reintegration of past musical forms into rock has largely been from the sixties era, with the exception of the recent integration of disco into rock and rap.

In fact, as far as influence on present styles, the seventies, with it's difining characteristic of long fixed compositions, is the least yieldy form to arise in the last forty years. Those bands with influence in the seventies largely fall into two groups: those who integrated jazz and classical composition into rock(like Rush), or those who continued the hippy tradition of trance music(Floyd).

This yielded modern day bands like Tool, a hybrid of trance, classical composition, and the rock style lyric.

All the seventies did was come up with some improvements on the forms of the sixties, NOT drop the forms adopted in the sixties and start from scratch.

There. I've gotten in my required posting for the day AND belittled aerosmith, a band that poses as themselves in the seventies.

[MonkeySlap Too]

I've had friends who hung out with hippies - my assesment was that for the most part they were selfish, self-centered, users (not drug users, but that too) who liked to pretend they weren't.

Most had pretty severe narcissistic tendancies and LOVED beads so much that they could resist stealing them. The only two professions I saw them persue with any gusto was making bad jewelry and selling bad drugs.

I think it was probably fun back in the sixties when the hippie thing introduced a break with the 'old culture' and introduced us to veneral disease, AIDS, overdoseing, and bad hygeine. Ahh, the affect of new found affluence and a useless war on a culture's youth.

Of course back in the sixties I would have been one too....hopefully minus those last four points. But in today's world most self-proclaimed hippies I've seen are more selfish than peaceful.

That being said, two of my best friends are former hippies, so those negative tendancies don't always seem to stick.

I can't speak to Merrypranksters points on the beats, but I pretty much hate poetry, but I dug Ginsberg's work, and most of the beats for that matter...

[KC Elbows]

Ironically, the eighties had more originality but less honed talent than the seventies, further demonstrating that the seventies were largely a continuation of the sixties and the good work of the hippies.

We still love you all.

[KC Elbows]

Monkey,
I haven't hung with the bead loving hippies.

BTW, AIDS is more a sign of the disco culture, late seventies.

While most that fall under the hippie banner are just there to veg, I've known a number who were productive members of society in the most unique ways. One was the originator of a highly successful brand of salsa who is, at this point, rich as heck, and constantly uses his money to do charitable deeds. One couple heads a foundation that provides high quality education for single mothers, and while they aren't rich, they are very influential people and are thought well of by all who meet them. One hippy I know is one of the best push hands players I've ever met, and lives a modest but productive life.

And then there's me. But then, I'm the penultimate bad hippy, fighting the corporate culture by getting a good corporate job and using that time to become the number 1 poster on KFO. The revolution will be moderated!

Actually, I do a pretty good job, I just make sure my stuff is done before I post.

Anyway, I think those math club guys are the real problem. Never met one who didn't have their priorities messed up.