What was Owsley's callsign?

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

I'm not sure they were the original hippies, nor can you put a certain date on things. It was a slow evolution over time going back to at least the 50's and the beatniks, new forms of jazz and the hipsters, from which the term hippie is derived. The jazz beatniks were much cooler and less didactic than the hippies that followed them. Dylan nailed it when he wrote,

In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach,
Fearing not that I'd become my enemy
In the instant that I preach.

[Ed-VA3ES]

I'm not sure they were the original hippies, nor can you put a certain date on things. It was a slow evolution over time going back to at least the 50's and the beatniks, new forms of jazz and the hipsters, from which the term hippie is derived.

Quite true.  Ken Kesey, and the Merry Pranksters were  basically beatniks, not hippies.  The fact the Neal Cassady was part of that group proves it.  Kesey and his coterie were doing acid in the very early '60's (1962 or so).    They all had a great afffection  and commonality with Ginsburg, Ferlinghetti, etc.,  and hung out with them in the early days.   Kesey and gang merely took the beats another step.. furthur.       

[w1guh]

I'm not sure they were the original hippies, nor can you put a certain date on things. It was a slow evolution over time going back to at least the 50's and the beatniks, new forms of jazz and the hipsters, from which the term hippie is derived. The jazz beatniks were much cooler and less didactic than the hippies that followed them. Dylan nailed it when he wrote,

In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach,
Fearing not that I'd become my enemy
In the instant that I preach.

Not sure what you were into in those days  (late 60's)( unless you were JO'ing on your radio stuff), but to say that indicates that you really had NO IDEA what was going on.  Sigh...But, no matter...all you really care about is making RF...and the politics going on at any point while you're doing that really is irreleveant.  Right?

[w4bfs]

If you remember the 60's, you were'nt really there

[Ed-VA3ES]

If you remember the 60's, you were'nt really there

Actually, my quote is  "If you remember Woodstock as a good time, you weren't really there".

[Ed-VA3ES]

Not all of us were political back then.   Some of use were strictly counter-culture types who ignored the politics.   Not everyone was a leftist.     I was strictly into the culture and the music, and I avoided politics like the plague.

Not sure what you were into in those days  (late 60's)( unless you were JO'ing on your radio stuff), but to say that indicates that you really had NO IDEA what was going on.  Sigh...But, no matter...all you really care about is making RF...and the politics going on at any point while you're doing that really is irreleveant.  Right? 

[WD8BIL]

but to say that indicates that you really had NO IDEA what was going on.

Actually, it nails the head right between the eyes. Lots of the counter culture were the ones who didn't have a clue. They  were, and some still are, self-centered self-righteous spoiled little brats who couldn't see past their selfishness. Many have wized up and are now leading successful lives.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Like most other generations, the 60's generation thought history began with them. Some learned differently when they choose to open their eyes later in life. Others are still stuck in the 60's.

[WD8BIL]

Like most other generations, the 60's generation thought history began with them.

More so than past generations.
However, history will prove that that part of the "60's generation" was one of the most destructive to the overall cultures they infested.

[Ed-VA3ES]

but to say that indicates that you really had NO IDEA what was going on.

  Actually, it nails the head right between the eyes. Lots of the counter culture were the ones who didn't have a clue. They  were, and some still are, self-centered self-righteous spoiled little brats who couldn't see past their selfishness. Many have wized up and are now leading successful lives.

Couldn't agree more, which is why I  studiously avoided politics back than.  In those days, I was a libertarian capitalist, and  opposed the politics and  "movements" of most of my generation.    As I grew older, I grew even more and more conservative.   Yet I still retained the counter-culture[/u][/b] ethos.   I used to get together with my conservative hippie friends on Free Republic years ago. What a hoot that was! 

[w1guh]

Guess you guys haven't actually met the "real stuff."  I had the real pleasure to camp with, hang out with, work with, put on gatherings with hippies in the 90's that were absolutely the "real thing."  They KNOW how to live cheaply, healthfully, peacefully, and productively on next to nothing.  They KNOW how to coexist peacefully, how to deal with problem situations, how to BE without the BS that passes for "enlightenment" these days.  If the "big one" happens...if the "collapse" happens, THEY are the ones who know how to deal with immediate conditions and survive very well.

But...you won't read about them in the media.  You won't hear about them on the six or eleven o'clock news.  "The revolution will not be televised."

They're living well by being intelligent and sharing, and using only what's needed.

They're there.  I can tell anyone who's genuinely interested in that sort of life how to find them.  But they're buried where you just won't hear or read about them.  What you will, and have, read, is the mis-information that has been promulgated about them by those who are threatened by such people.   They (we) really don't care.  We know what we can do.  We know who we are.  We sit around campfires joking about being "old hippies", but then, lament the fact that it's only some of us who have really found what we've found.

One geographic area where this is very, very alive and well is in the Catskills, in NY.  And, to pinpoint the centers, there's Woodstock, NY (the town, not the festival).  But Bethel, in White Lake, in Sullivan County, is another very active place.  Well, not as active as it was...it's become a little diffuse of late.

But yes, there WERE and ARE hippies.  Not the caricature that some of you have bought into, but people who are serious about learing how to live healthfully, peacefully, lovingly, and very, very cheaply, and do it all the time.

Good Night.

[Ed-VA3ES]

Paul,  very interesting, but  for some of us, all that is old news.    I'm quite well aware of the whole scene around Woodstock, NY and environs.  In fact  there are  a  few  "outposts" of these fellow-travelers all over North America.

There are literally dozens of festivals and "Gatherings of the Tribes" all over the U.S. every summer.    I used to attend a few in the early seventies, but haven't done so in years.  There a quite a few planned for this year.   

[c. mac neill w8znx]

never cared for the Dead
was more a Mothers / Fugs
and Jazz fan
Detroit was hot bed of music
along with the Artists Workshop,
Grande Ballroom, Detroit Committee to end the war

for me it ended when they
drafted my ass and shipped me to Viet Nam

of a pound of CamBoRed for 6 bucks MPC
first rate O was 50c a hit MPC

came back hichiked around the country
did a strech of county time in So Cal

all my junky friends are dead
none of them made it past 35
i quit when i was still in my 20s
relised shooting smack was a dead end

old junkies are hard to find
sure Billy Burroughs survied to old age
and Marianne Faithfull is in her late 60s

am listening to Marianne right now
she does a good job of " WORKING CLASS HERO "
they won't be playing
" WHY D'YA DO IT " on the radio

mac ola

[WBear2GCR]

"...damn hippies!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Zapcomix1.jpg
http://www.rcrumb.org/

[w1guh]

Paul,  very interesting, but  for some of us, all that is old news.    I'm quite well aware of the whole scene around Woodstock, NY and environs.  In fact  there are  a  few  "outposts" of these fellow-travelers all over North America.

There are literally dozens of festivals and "Gatherings of the Tribes" all over the U.S. every summer.    I used to attend a few in the early seventies, but haven't done so in years.  There a quite a few planned for this year.   

And how nice is it to hear that it's "old news".  That's the best news I could read.  Thanks

[ka3zlr]

Always interesting...these observations, and being Alive an able to look back...

Living as a parasite never interested me, at that.

But then again: "superman an green lantern",..Still.. "ain't got nothen on me"...LOL...

I wonder if Wavy is still alive... an original trooper...

[W2INR]

http://www.wavygravy.net/

[WBear2GCR]

Fwiw,

I live about 1 hr door to door north of Woodstock.

While not exactly at the epicenter, pretty close. Plus I know people who live up there... afaik, not much of a "scene" going on. Plenty of wealthy people with full time or summer houses, plenty of musicians/artists doing their thing. If there is a "scene" it is certainly "private" for the most part, and much the same as any other area where people who do similar things eventually find each other or not, and then you have a small circle of friends. Political too.

I could be wrong about this, and I'd like that, but afaik nothing magical has gone on in Woodstock for a long, long, long time, if it ever did.

If there is something good going on, I would like to know about it and check it out! 

                   _-_-bear

[w1guh]

Fwiw,

I live about 1 hr door to door north of Woodstock.

While not exactly at the epicenter, pretty close. Plus I know people who live up there... afaik, not much of a "scene" going on. Plenty of wealthy people with full time or summer houses, plenty of musicians/artists doing their thing. If there is a "scene" it is certainly "private" for the most part, and much the same as any other area where people who do similar things eventually find each other or not, and then you have a small circle of friends. Political too.

I could be wrong about this, and I'd like that, but afaik nothing magical has gone on in Woodstock for a long, long, long time, if it ever did.

If there is something good going on, I would like to know about it and check it out! 

                   _-_-bear

Hi bear,

It's not surprising to hear you say what you did.  Yes, it is very buried...but it's there.  (BTW..."an hour north of Woodstock" (I assume the town of Woodstock)...Somewhere above the thruway?  )

I found it through a very, very fortuitous combination of events that took me to Bethel in '94.  At the same time that Michael Lange was putting on the (kinda BS, but kinda real, too) Woodstock '94, I had the good fortune to be set up to where it was "easy" to head over to Bethel to check out what Sid Bernstein was doing that same weekend.  It got no publicity...in fact, he had no permits and finally gave up on getting them and putting on a "legitimate" concert.  But (by some miracle) since everything was alread paid for (the stage..the acts...the porta-potties..etc.) and the vendors were all ready to go...it went on, despite the fact that it was "illegal."  But...at that time the site at Hurd Rd. and West Shore Rd in Bethel NY (look it up on Google Earth), was owned by a lady in Brooklyn, NY who either didn't or couldn't care what happened on her private property and, since it was private property where the owner wouldn't press things...the "real" reunion happened...and attracted all the "right" hippies.  Wow.  What a time.

It happened again the next year, albeit without the organizational skills of Mr. Bernstein, but that made it more "human" and authentic. 

The next year, 1996, a multi-bilionaire bought the property and put up fences and signs ("Signs, signs, everywhere there's signs"), and that put an end to gatherings on that piece of property.  But...

There was a married couple in Bethel (Roy Howard and Jeryl Abramson) who owned Max Yasgur's farmhouse and land around it...and while they could, the invited all those who made the pilgrimage to Bethel every year to gather on their property.

http://www.yasgurroad.com/

They hosted a great time from 1996 til the early 2000's, until they, too, got frustrated at the permit process in Bethel/Sullivan County.

I met lots of people who are dedicated to...well..."living properly."  They are all outstanding, committed people, and I love them all (not to mention having the honor of being part of that family).  None of us really care what we do in "Babylon"  (the real world)...what is obvious when we get together is the (sorry about this wording, but it's the only way to put it) power in what we're doing.  To live amongst them is the most peaceful, secure, loving experience you can know.

But we're diffuse...to the point of being almost abstract in this whole thing.  But that's OK, given life here in the good ol's U  S  of A these days.  We can't always be together...but when we have the good fortune to hook-up...it's magic.

You're right about Woodstock, NY...it does have lots and lots of what you say...but right off of Tinker St there's a place where it's safe to be. 

There's also this...and all are welcome, and where you can see for yourself what's going on in the underground.

http://www.nerflings.com/

I've been to two of their gatherings...they happen sporadically.  I think the last two were '98 in VT and (I think) '00 in the Finger Lakes.  Both were so, so very worth going to.

Pretty short notice...I just found out about it myself.  Call the "Light Line" in the upper right hand corner of the home page to hear the recorded message and get kind of a feel for what it's all about.

Love and Peace, brothers and sisters.

Paul