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InvisibleveggieM

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The history of 'Hippies' on the History Channel
    #6911531 - 05/13/07 09:14 PM (16 years, 10 months ago)

The history of 'Hippies'
May 13, 2007 - seacoastonline.com

The History Channel is about to get a little bit groovy. Dennis Kleinman, a 53-year-old New Castle resident, compiled information and writings for the newest History Channel and Lou Reda Productions documentary titled "Hippies." The premiere is tonight at 8 p.m. This isn't the typical 1970s-based documentary filled with images of peace, love and rock 'n' roll. Instead of focusing on the staples of the 1970s counter-culture, Kleinman dug deep into newspaper archives and books of the time to understand how the movement formed, changed society and later began to fizzle out.

"I wanted to go beyond what the media is showing, beyond the standard view of hippies and see what was actually going on. What was happening besides getting stoned and having sex," said Kleinman.

He originally planned to use Barry Miles' popular coffee table book, "Hippies" to act as the base for the two-hour documentary. It's filled with visual images of hippie culture including the music, fashion and art of the time.

"It brings you into the hippie experience," said Kleinman.

However, the History Channel didn't want to focus on a purely ascetic view of the hippie culture.

"I said the big thing was music. They told me the audience wasn't into music. The audience doesn't like hippies very much," said Kleinman.

Thus Kleinman focused on the chronological history of hippies. What he found was a unique time in history filled with rebellion and reactions to oppression within the backdrop of heavy mind-altering drug use.

"The roots of hippies were free-your-mind types. It's ironic that hippies changed more politically than the politicos," said Kleinman.

He found that the '60s and early '70s was a perfect hotbed for hippie activity in the United States because of numerous political and socioeconomic factors. Because of the large population of baby boomers paired with the "idealism of youth," young people began to lash out and form their own social hierarchies and customs — rejecting the oppressive cultural expectations like the "American Dream" and the nuclear family of the '50s.

According to Kleinman, the baby boomer generation equaled India's birth rates at the time. The sheer number of young people armed with pro-peace messages and flowers in their hair was enough to change the archetypal lifestyle Americans were expected to live.

"In the '50s, the problem was the need to fit in. People sacrificed individuality for the betterment of society. There was regimented prosperity. The sales of alcohol and tranquilizers went up 100 times over two years," said Kleinman.

In response to the rigid expectations of the '50s, young people from middle class families had money and spent it the way they wanted to. Therefore, they felt a sense of entitlement to live the life they wanted — free of obligations.

Beatnik writers — the hippie predecessors — such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg wrote of leaving behind society and its responsibilities by getting into a car and never coming back. Their attitude was that the world was insufferable and unable to change. However the hippies saw the world though a slightly different vantage point, partly because of LSD and other mind-altering hallucinogenics they took.

"With LSD, the possibilities seemed endless for hippies. It broke through reality and showed another reality," said Kleinman.

Originally developed as a medicinal drug, LSD leaked out onto the streets after Switzerland scientist Albert Hofmann developed the drug. At first it was a rare, legal drug that was hard to find on the streets. However, in 1964, pockets of users began to develop in urban areas. After Owsley Stanley, an underground LSD chemist, began to travel around the California coast offering acid tests to the public, LSD became much more popularized.

"There was a vat of Kool-Aid with mass amounts of LSD in it offered to everyone. The Grateful Dead was usually the house band," said Kleinman.

In downtown San Francisco, the first wave of hippies began to form in a neighborhood called the Haight-Ashbury. Most of the young adults living there were Berkeley students, part of the most politically active university in the nation. Most college kids were drawn there by the cheap rent and expansive old properties. It later became known as the "hippie mecca" because of the heavy drug activity and communal living styles.

Beatniks, college kids and artists lived in the houses together to make rent. It was an edgy place. They would experiment with the acid tests.

"The Haight-Ashbury was its own culture — an orgy of experiment," said Kleinman.

However Owsley felt as though every person had the right to his or her own transcendental acid trip. After Owsley released a press release inviting the populace to a massive acid test, 30,000 people showed up in San Francisco — including the press. The acid trips were broadcast on national television.

"There was sudden broadcasts of stoned out beautiful people with flowers in their hair dancing to weird music. Parents were appalled that their kids were looking that disgusting," said Kleinman.

On the contrary, the teenagers and young adults were drawn to that lifestyle.

"They loved the music, the drugs, the sex," said Kleinman.

Average Americans began to grow their hair and buy fake mustaches, wanting to be a part of the hippie way.

"Everyone wanted to be a hippie," said Kleinman.

Classic acid rockers began to dominate the music scene. Everyone knew Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin as well as Jefferson Airplane's tunes all about "groovy" trips.

But the times turned sour. Inspired by the culture, young people flocked to the Haight-Ashbury in droves, looking to live the hippie lifestyle. However, they came unprepared and Haight-Ashbury became overcrowded. Homeless teenagers were prevalent. Everyone was on an acid trip most of the time. Women were exploited as prostitutes and crime lords came in to regulate the psychedelic and later — harder drugs.

"There were hippie riots. It was a mess," said Kleinman.

In 1966, California became the first state to make LSD illegal because of the number of psychotic episodes unsupervised drug users were undergoing.

"When controlled it was a great drug. It helped a lot of people. But uncontrolled, kids were having bad trips," said Kleinman.

But the downfall of the mass hippie movement was spurred by murders that Charles Manson, a popular hippie, ordered in 1969. He was convicted of leading a cult-like conspiracy commune and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He raped a boy at razor-point before joining the commune. When convicted, the hippie culture rallied for his defense but slowly began to understand he was insane.

"They just thought he was being oppressed by 'The Man.' But really he was nuts. Parents began to say, look what happens when you lead this kind if lifestyle. Bad things happen," said Kleinman.

The American government began to fight back against the hippie culture, finding the anti-war movements potentially destructive. President Nixon was elected and cracked down on the anti-war movements and radical political groups like the Black Panthers.

"Society was very, very polarized," said Kleinman.

Some hippies decided to move back to the land, escaping urban settings. Some went back to their middle class parents. However even though the hippie movement died down significantly after the summer of love in 1969, there will always be hippies.

"There's always a counter-culture dissatisfied with the culture as it stands," said Kleinman.

Even though he was born just shy of being able to participate in the famous Woodstock concert and some of the wilder experimental hippie activity, Kleinman still feels as though he was affected by the hippie culture, along with the rest of the country. Researching this time in history fulfilled some of Kleinman's memories of his past.

"This has been a challenging personal journey for me. I was sort of a hippie. I played guitar and tried to be Neil Young. To dig into the whole story clarified some things in my life — some things I still believe in," said Kleinman.

Watch 'Hippies'
What: "Hippies," a 120-minute documentary written by New Castle resident Dennis Kleinman
When: Upcoming episodes air tonight at 8 p.m.; Monday, May 14 at 12 a.m.; and Saturday, May 26 at 5 p.m.
Where: The History Channel
Contact: Visit www.history.com/shows.do?action=detail&episodeId=221518

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OfflineCerius
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Re: The history of 'Hippies' on the History Channel [Re: veggie]
    #6911548 - 05/13/07 09:18 PM (16 years, 10 months ago)

Yeah, I saw this whole thing. It was pretty good.

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Offlinecoda
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Re: The history of 'Hippies' on the History Channel [Re: Cerius]
    #6911810 - 05/13/07 10:28 PM (16 years, 10 months ago)

watching it right now, pretty good, but nothing new really.


--------------------
To get really high is to forget yourself. And to forget yourself is to see everything else. And to see everything else is to become an understanding molecule in evolution, a conscious tool of the universe. And I think every human being should be a conscious tool of the universe. . . .

-JG

i really am glad you came back to us instead of taking the other path. *hug*

-A_S (RIP your final words to me will never be forgotten)



Don't fuck with the laughing jesus.

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InvisibleClean
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Re: The history of 'Hippies' on the History Channel [Re: veggie]
    #6911922 - 05/13/07 10:52 PM (16 years, 10 months ago)

Haven't seen the series.

now i'm going to rant.

Mostly because I've been getting called a hippie a lot lately by people who have no idea what they are even saying. By now the word can mean so many different things you might as well just not say it and take the extra effort to actually vocalize what you're trying to say without resorting to catchy labels.

I'm beyond tired of the word Hippie. Most people seem to think it has to do with fashion, drugs and mindless rebellion. In many cases, they are right! Anyone can see that the world is fucked up, yet somehow buying into some culture of fads is a valid way of expressing your desire for change? Ya, right. The president would start wearing dreads and hemp pants if the powers that be thought it would keep things running smoothly.

The word has been around steeping in the media stew long enough that it's pure cliche. It's utterly useless unless you want to propagate systems of segregation.

I'd like to meet one fucking "hippie" that's read even a handful of the things I have, and who has done one minute of the serious introspection required in order to walk the path of true rebellion. Not that I think I'm smarter or better or more pure than anyone, but the truth is that SOO many people my age who are aware and somewhat rebellious and who are asking the big questions, are just being mislead and their energies being channeled into fucking fashion and bogus new age "answers"... The only thing that sets me apart is purely a matter of set and setting of one's upbringing and nothing to do with potential mental capacity.

My generation has had very few REAL teachers in any position of authority where kids will go to them en masse and listen. There are plenty of intellectuals with nice cars and who have read lots of mysticism teaching in universities, but what do they know when it comes to the true spirit of rebellion? They are paying off a mortgage and a new Saab. We have to be lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to meet someone that can actually help inspire us to effectively make use of our rebellious spirit.

I'm not saying that really paradigm shifting inspiration can't come from behind a podium at a big institution, but it is a rare exception.

Furthermore..
Just because someone sees the ills of society, it doesn't mean they themselves are some kind of saint, but all to often counter culture types will fall into this trap of thinking they are right when everyone else is wrong. Some people I've met (who would be described by an idiot as "hippies") are just as arrogant and stuck in their ego-obsessed ways as those onto whom they project their blame for the problems of the world.
[/rant]

Yeah, anger forces me to draw verbal lines in the sand. It feels good to let it out. Take it or leave it. I'm not going to split any long dirty hairs over this.

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InvisibleDIRTYMAN
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Re: The history of 'Hippies' on the History Channel [Re: Clean]
    #6912548 - 05/14/07 02:16 AM (16 years, 10 months ago)

Don't let a silly word get to you.


The show was OK, like Coda said nuthin' new.


--------------------
I'm racist.                http://k-k-k.com/

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OfflineEllezdey
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Re: The history of 'Hippies' on the History Channel [Re: DIRTYMAN]
    #6912628 - 05/14/07 02:57 AM (16 years, 10 months ago)

I saw it. Thought it was great. And cant wait to see the documentary from 2030 about todays drug cultures.

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InvisibleClean
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Re: The history of 'Hippies' on the History Channel [Re: DIRTYMAN]
    #6913510 - 05/14/07 10:29 AM (16 years, 10 months ago)

It's not even the word itself that really gets to me. It's the laziness on the part of people who use it in a serious way. But yeah, it's definitely not going to ruin my day.

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Invisiblerod
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Re: The history of 'Hippies' on the History Channel [Re: veggie]
    #6915887 - 05/14/07 06:11 PM (16 years, 10 months ago)

That was pretty good, but one thing I never see being discussed,
is that right now there are about 2.5-3 wage earners, for every
person drawing Social Security benefits, but a projected date of 2017
there might be 1 for 1.

The hippy baby boomer's, might just get that revolution they
wanted back in the 1960-1970,s.

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Invisiblefastfred
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Re: The history of 'Hippies' on the History Channel [Re: rod]
    #6918553 - 05/15/07 02:29 AM (16 years, 10 months ago)

> The hippy baby boomer's, might just get that revolution they wanted back in the 1960-1970,s.

What? A depends revolution?

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OfflineOddEye


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Re: The history of 'Hippies' on the History Channel [Re: fastfred]
    #6919925 - 05/15/07 01:18 PM (16 years, 10 months ago)

Is there anyway I could watch this on the internet, I'm interested.


--------------------
I'm at the highest peak, still glad the meak is understandin' me
Artillery, thoughts of killin' me is just a fantasy
The man in me is ready for war, like Holyfield-Tyson IV

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Offlinekukm66
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Re: The history of 'Hippies' on the History Channel [Re: veggie]
    #7491022 - 10/06/07 11:01 AM (16 years, 5 months ago)

There is a haunting instrumental guitar piece that is played at various points during this documentary. Can anyone identify who played this and the name of the piece?

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OfflineKevsaNewb
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Re: The history of 'Hippies' on the History Channel [Re: veggie]
    #7491130 - 10/06/07 11:50 AM (16 years, 5 months ago)

:peace: HIPPIES!!! :peace:

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