Some of you may be following my ongoing efforts to rebuild Team Hippie for the modern age. The time is right for long hair, free (or at least inexpensive) love, and dancing in the streets, but I’m looking for a few good Peace Warriors to lead us out of our current cultural doldrums. As I interview prospective Peace Warriors, one question must be answered: Do you care enough about peace and love to fight for it?
My campaign to rebuild Team Hippie for the modern age has already attracted interest from a new generation of would-be hippies to well-known veterans of the original hippie movement. As some of these groundbreaking hippies are learning, however, the wrong answer to my key question in the interview process can lead to rejection. To date I’ve fielded interest from a dozen well-known hippies from the ’60s. See if you can identify which ones made the grade as modern-day Peace Warriors and which ones were sent home with a daisy shoved in their hash pipe.
I’m guessing Stephen Stills and Ed Sanders made the grade, otherwise you wouldn’t have used pictures of them in sportswear.
I’m gonna say Ritchie made the grade, because he just keeps on doin his thing, no matter if anyone’s watchin or not.
Look at Bobby Weir givin the California finger.
The real finger is east coast with the thumb pulled in as part of the clench ready fist.
Donovan probably didn’t make your cut, but he should, as he’s the only one in that collage likely to have actual Peace Warrior powers. All that time spent doing transcendental meditation with David Lynch has to have added up to some remote viewing/astral projection powers at the least. Also, his ability to put up with Mike Love means Donovan has to have a tougher hide than most of us would expect.
We know too that he a willingness to go on tour for your cause, which is a plus. And a catalog with some numbers that could still connect today – Season of the Witch has life left in it, and you could retool the opening narration of Atlantis to something like “the blogger, the gamer, the professional skateboarder, the foodie and the other so-called Gods of our legends.”
First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is? That’s some serious Jedi peace warrior shit you shouldn’t overlook, Mod.
I would hope Ed Sanders is on the list. He’s a hero of mine, and his anthology of selected poetry is called Thirsting for Peace in a Raging Century. He had a bookstore called Peace Eye, and I think a publishing imprint under that name too. He’s always kept his eye on the peace ball.
I discovered just the other day that he has a website with lots of free poetry and other writings:
http://www.woodstockjournal.com/
And I heartily recommend any of his books of fictionalized history called Tales of Beatnik Glory.
Oats has correctly identified Stills and Sanders as making the grade. I hadn’t thought about the fact that they were wearing football jerseys, but certainly that says a lot.
Kilroy also nailed it with Richie Havens for JUST THE REASONS he states. Bravo. Mad props, too, for finding the telling flaw in Weir’s finger!
Based on alexmagic’s letter of recommendation I may have to call Donovan back in for a second interview. I hope I didn’t overlook his talents in helping my cause.
There are at least two more candidates who are likely to move forward with us.
Can we get that picture of Grace Slick to show up with the other pictures at the top of the page? I really like that one. I’ll go be a hippie with her, but otherwise I like showers and my own space and stuff too much.
Amen, shawnkilroy! I hate the California Finger.
Is there no room for Wavy Gravy? It would mean a lot to me if you could include him.
When I was bar tending on Haight Street, I kind of got burned out on the relentless stream of hippie-and-street-people-related nonsense that was pervasive at the time. So when an older, crispy looking guy came in, I kind of gave him the cold shoulder. I wasn’t rude to him, I just didn’t really bring my bar tending A game. Turns out it was Mr Gravy and I’ve felt bad about not buying the guy a beer ever since.
I know he’s not a musician but he could cook breakfast in bed for everyone, man.
By process of elimination in the lady department, I think Joni is the only one who qualifies. Grace got mired knee-deep in the hoopla and never emerged, and Melanie is not only now a Libertarian, but:
In the 1980s, the Quaker Oats Company used a version of “What Have They Done To My Song Ma” in their commercials for Instant Oatmeal with the revised lyrics “Look what they’ve done to my oatmeal”.
Beyond the women, Manzarek has too much ego to be a good peace warrior.
“Grace got mired knee-deep in the hoopla”
hahahahaha!
eh is correct: Joni will join our movement!
I’m guessing Graham Nash comes with Joni. That’s a stylin’ photo of him up there.
No David Crosby: Too much ego.
No Robert Wyatt: Too arty.