Archive for April, 2009

So whatever happened to the hippies? Where did they go? Is it true that once a hippy always a hippy? I think many opted for Corporate America but keep alive their dream of the generation that made a difference.  And what are some of these artists doing now that entertain about 500,000 hippies? Well, we know that Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin are not here anymore but what about a couple of the others like say, Joan Baez? What is she up to these days? Joan Baez is still singing and if you go her website at www.joanbaez.com you can get the latest news on where she is touring and what she is up to. And what about Joe Cocker ? He was pretty well known at Woodstock and he is still going strong. And  Jefferson Airplane, The Who, CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revival) and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were at the top of my hit list. When I listen to these oldies it takes me back to that “summer of love”. All it takes for a real reality check though is to look in the mirror at my graying hair or look at these artists today! The 1960s have moved on!

But the hippies, the music, the cause and the lifestyle will forever be dear in my heart. I took away from that era the need to know “WHY”. I still do the “granola” thing about natural foods and drink. The drugs? That stays in the “summer of love” because most hippies including myself had to grow up, get a job, have a family and move on. Most of us old hippies had to tune back in to make a living and the causes that made us anti this or anti that are alive and well and we are still concerned. We vote, we make statements and we care about the future of Mother Earth and peace for all.

What got me going on this thing about hippies is, just the other day I was cruising through the mega store of America, Wal-Mart, and there in the front are t-shirts with peace signs on them and other messages from the world of hippydom. So when I began to write this I decided to do some research on my peer group. I found there is no end to information on the Internet (where no hippy ever went before) about Woodstock and the hippies.

And as I took a trip down memory lane I am proud to know that I was a part of an amazingly historical era.