It Was Twenty Years Ago Today

[Paul Mackin]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bekah" <Bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net>
To: "Robin Landseadel" <robinlandseadel at comcast.net>
Cc: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 10:50 PM
Subject: Re: It Was Twenty Years Ago Today


> Well,  long hair as as symbol of rebellion had been around since the 
> beats (and prior,  probably) and then the Beatles had longish hair  for 
> 1963.

Trvial point but I don't recall the Beats having long hair.

They were a pretty unflamboyant lot appearance-wise.

Even Ginberg.

Difference between North Beach and H-A.

If memory serves, which is admittedly sometimes a dubious premise.



P.


    But I suppose if we're going to split hairs (so to
> speak) it comes down to my perception of 1967,  the summer of love  which, 
> imo,  ended in the August burial in GG Park and was murdered  for sure at 
> Altamont (12/67).  The term "hippie bum" could have been  used any time in 
> there,  I suppose - I just don't remember it -  although I heard the term 
> "hippie" from March or so 1967 (I think -  remembering where I was and 
> all).
>
> Anyway,  then  we  also have  my perception of 1969 which included  far 
> more aggressive music, sex, drugs and anti-war tactics than we  saw in 
> 1967.   The 1969 scene  is presented perfectly in Vineland -   but 
> Vineland doesn't go back to 1967 (as far as I recall.   Someone  give me 
> page numbers if I'm in error - there's a lot in there.)
>
> But I suppose it's all my perception - I lived in SF or traveled  there 
> regularly during this time -  so I wouldn't know how it was all  perceived 
> elsewhere.  And I suppose perceptions varied in the city, too.
>
> Bekah
>
>
>
> On Apr 9, 2009, at 7:59 AM, Robin Landseadel wrote:
>
>> On Apr 8, 2009, at 10:17 PM, Bekah wrote:
>>
>>> I watched the whole thing - all of them.  Lots of memories there. 
>>> Thank you,  Robin!   That's my times and I loved that album.  (And  I 
>>> saw Yellow Submarine more than 13 times.)
>>>
>>> But I'm not sure how much 1967 has to do with Vineland - it's a  kind of 
>>> background for it, for sure,  but Vineland takes place in  1969 and that 
>>> was a world of difference.
>>
>> . . . by that logic, anything from 1987 would be a distortion of  the 
>> events of 1967. While there is an overall impression of unity, 
>> engagement and a single-mindedness in the script and voiceover of  "It 
>> Was Twenty Years Ago Today" what's on display is a divergent  non-group 
>> of anarchists, activists and artists in this video-doc.  Understand that 
>> the march on the Pentagon, or the work of the  Diggers or the work on 
>> legalizing/decriminalizing marijuana on  display in IWTYAT—that was the 
>> counterculture that was quashed both  by the powers that be and by its 
>> own "Inherent Vice." It was a  short step from the summer of love to the 
>> drug nightmare of 1968 in  the Haight.
>>
>> IWTYAT shows the dream of immortality that Zoyd and Mucho speak of,  the 
>> dream that Brock and his minions undermine so diligently. It  shows us 
>> players that turned---like Timothy Leary---it shows us  players that 
>> turned on themselves, like Abby Hoffman, it shows us a  scene that many 
>> are still aspiring to, forty years later.
>>
>>> The clips from your post are from 1967 for the most part with 1987 
>>> remembering them - great stuff.   The Summer of Love in 1967 was  so 
>>> free and new and beautiful.   No one was calling anyone else a  "hippie 
>>> bum"  because the term was barely invented (disputes here,  I know).
>>
>> Showing up at junior high school with long hair in 1967 got me a  lot of 
>> "hippie bum" and "are you a boy or a girl?" The shock of the  new still 
>> was capable of un-nerving the straights back then.
>>
>>> The hippies were pretty much being peaceful in San Francisco at  the 
>>> time although there were anti-war demonstrations.     In 1969 
>>> (Vineland) the  anti-war people were splitting into the faction 
>>> demanding more militant activism.   The 1969 break (Country Joe)
>>
>> . . . did some anti-nuclear activism in 1982/1983. Florence 
>> McDonald---Country Joe's Mom---was involved with our group in  Claremont 
>> California.
>>
>>> with the flower-power of 1967 ("Are You Going To San  Francisco?")    is 
>>> exceptionally well done in Vineland.     The  flower-people  of the 
>>> Haight dissolved into the Weathermen of 1969  or went other ways. 
>>> (Maybe y'all don't see the difference now.)
>>
>> It was the same people, but circumstances changed. The media spin  was 
>> moderately left in '67. Media spin turned hard right in '69.  The biggest 
>> difference between 1967 and 1969 was the reporting.
>>
>>>  The  Beatles split in 1970.  :-(
>>
>> . . . and continue to exist as a market entity in 2009:
>>
>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/08/beatles-back-catalogue- 
>> remastered-reissued
>>
>>> 1969 was these old favorites:
>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBdeCxJmcAo&feature=related
>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tenV9Din7K4&feature=related
>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIvs4j4IniA&feature=related
>>
>>
>> . . . it was also the year of these millennial hits:
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzF_MoXOU1E
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y5SSilhN-8
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EegRh8Z4H-o
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>