Post #93563 by ikitnrev on Sat, May 29, 2004 10:46 PM

So, it is not enough to wear vintage-like clothing from the late 50's /60's, or reproduce cocktails from that era, or listen to the Polynesian influenced music from those years? It sounds like many of you are also replicating the general social attitudes of the elders from the 50's and 60's, by showing a definite sense of revulsion against the hippie aesthetic as it appears today.

Well, I don't buy it or accept those views. Along with an appreciation for the whole lounge culture scene, I also greatly appreciate many of the things associated with the hippie lifestyle.

But then, I don't associate the hippies with the incense, the long hair, the marijuana, the VW vans, etc. as much with the attitudes behind the outer appearances. I enjoy their willingness to break away from some of the mainstream social mores and seek out like minded people. I enjoy their utopian visions and their willingness to try a more holistic form of living much more than I appreciate the goals of a straight-laced businessman who is out to make it rich and move into the biggest home he can.

I enjoyed the early 80's punk music for the same reasons. It was the values behind the music, and not the safety pins, or the ripped t-shirts, or the need to be seen in a 'hip' scene, that attracted me. The hippies had a more rural, outdoor, natural feel, while the punks had a more gritty urban feel, and although there were many more obvious differences between the two groups, I do generally tend to emphasis the similarities between the two.

I've attended both Grateful Dead and Phish concerts. The main thing that I did not like about both were related mostly to the size of the venue - it is tough to get a good sounding mix when the concert is being held in a large outdoor ampitheater or a football stadium. One doesn't attend a concert in such a venue to hear quality sound reproduction, but more to sit with and interact with like-minded fans. For quality sound, you need to go to a smaller club ... perhaps one of the venues where Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, or Don Ho regularly performed. (even Jimmy Buffet would probably sound better in a smaller venue)

I don't really associate the Grateful Dead with light country music, but with a more general roots/folk tradition. In the early 60's, country music was going for a more polished cosmopolitan sound, and many of the country hits from that era featured lush strings and vocal choirs. The Grateful Dead, along with Dylan, the Byrds, and other 'hippie' bands of that era helped rejuvenate the more rootsy sound of country music, and I think that is a good thing.

I did prefer the Grateful Dead show to the Phish show - although the audience for both was mostly made up of kids in their teens and their twenties, the Dead definitely had more older people in the audience. The older crowd just wasn't there for the Phish show, and I missed that cross-generational aspect of it all.

I have attended several weekend Hukilau festivities, wearing Hawaiian shirts, and I have also attended week-long music/dance camps out west that had a definite hippie look and feel to them, where I wore tie-dyed t-shirts. I greatly enjoyed both types of events, and would not hesitate to do either again. Both featured fun, kind, friendly, and very accepting people. There really are more similarities than differences between the two groups, and I enjoy knowing that I can could choose to hang out and be accepted with either group.

I'm unlikely to wear my tie-dyed t-shirts underneath one of my Hawaiian shirts, but there are enough hangers in my closet for all sorts of shirts to wear to all sorts of events. There is enough room in my CD racks for all sorts of genre of music (actually ...no, the CDs are already overflowing onto the floor), and enough room in my heart and mind to accomodate all sorts of subgroups -- the punks, the hippies, us tiki folk -- I wouldn't want to give up any of them.

Perhaps the elders of the late 50's and 60's felt threatened by the sudden appearance of the hippie lifestyle, and so I can somewhat understand their attitudes. But it is now 30 years later, and I find it somewhat mystifying to see that many of those same attitudes still seem to exist today, and that so many appear to enjoy expressing those views.

Vern

[ Edited by: ikitnrev on 2004-05-29 22:48 ]