Introduction
Monday, November 15, 2010 7:49 PM
Introduction to Beatniks and Hippies
In more ways than one, Beatniks and Hippies brought a lot of diversity to American culture. Many saw this as a time for change. Change is exactly what occurred. In the 1950s, men and women began turning their backs on the conventions of the past and moved towards a more casual way of living. With this change, a new generation was born. The emergence of the Beatnik and Hippie generation would make its mark on American culture forever.
The Beatniks were a free spirited people that wrote books, poetry, and songs as a form of expression.They were initially known as the “beat generation” and did not get the name “beatnik” till later. They often experimented with drugs and alternative forms of sexually behavior in combination with their spontaneous, open, and unconventional ways of expression. Beatniks were very unique individuals that were trying to define themselves through song and poetry in ways that had never been done before.
After the Beatniks emerged the Hippies. Another free spirited people that thought their views of love and war would change the world and unite it in peace. Hippies expressed themselves through song, speech, rallies, and protest. Wood stock, Haight-Ashbury, and psychedelic rock often come to mind when many of us think of the Hippie generation. LSD and marijuana were popular drugs of the time and free sex gave way to a sexual revolution.
From poetry to peace signs, the Beatnik and Hippie generation made its mark on America. They opened minds and broke social barriers. They introduce alternate lifestyles, values, and ideologies that never had seen before this time. In a way, their open and peace loving spirits had an amazing effect on society and initiated an era of creative and original thinking.
James Dean/Rebellious Men
Tuesday, November 9, 2010 7:47 PM
James Dean
James Dean is an actor with three famous films that immortalized his portrayal of teen angst, the rebellious and the misunderstood. It’s not surprising he was forever frozen in time typecast into this iconic role with his death at a young age of 24. He is famous for his role in the movie “East of Eden” in 1955, “Rebel Without a Cause” in 1955 and his last film “Giant” in 1956. His iconic status is mostly credited to his role in the “Rebel without a cause”. He was born in Indiana
Reference:
James Dean. (2010). Biography.com. Retrieved 11:37, Nov 9 2010 from http://www.biography.com/articles/James-Dean-9268866
Marlon Brando/Rebellious Men
7:45 PM
Then... til 2004
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando is an actor who came into the scene in the 1950’s and was quickly recognized for his acting talent as evident of the multiple Academy wins and nominations at the start of his career. He is well known for his Academy-Award winning performance in the movie and the stage play “A Street Car Named Desire in 1951, “The Godfather in 1972 and “On The Waterfront in 1954. He is well known for his talent in acting with the use of “Method Acting” and is described by many of his fellow actors as one of the greatest actors in history. His rebel reputation however is a reflection of his stand against the pressure to conform in the Hollywood culture. Born in Omaha Nebraska Hollywood Hollywood Hollywood
Reference:
Marlon Brando. (2010). Biography.com. Retrieved 11:20, Nov 9 2010 from http://www.biography.com/articles/Marlon-Brando-9224306
Hugh Hefner/Rebellious Men
7:42 PM
Then.. and Now.
Hugh Hefner
“Hef” a term apparently coined by Mr. Playboy himself is the founder of the Playboy Empire that started at the launching of the “Playboy Magazine” in 1953 with nudes of Marilyn Monroe and then as one should say, the rest is history. He revolutionized publicizing men’s lifestyle magazine and his supporters would say the presentation of pornography respectfully. His lifestyle represents what is taboo to most of the world, a life of sexual liberation and celebration. He cited his puritan oppressed upbringing and a direct reflection of his “hipster swinger” lifestyle. His not so private practice of dating polygamy was also cited to be a reflection of his experience with girls, rejection and infidelity in both of his marriages. Although his moralistic righteous critics views him as “peddler of filth” a look into his background reveals that is personal experience especially with marriage Mr. Hefner’s heart is actually the one that had been broken.
Mr. Hefner has admitted that his triplicate playmate girlfriends and the goings on in his palatial playboy mansion as just him living the life he wanted and what the rest of his fans fantasize to be living.
Reference:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/5020806.stm
Beginnings of African-American Rhythm and Blues/ Elvis
7:21 PM
Beginnings of African-American Rhythm and Blues/ Elvis
The origins of rhythm and blues (R&B) began at the beginning of the twentieth century, around Texas, Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi. Most of the influences were work songs, religious music, minstrel shows and white country artists. Placing all these influences together help to promote a new type of music that became very popular down south. After World War l and during the depression era (R&B) music, became very popular among white people. This was seen as a way to bring in profits and so the early recording companies began searching for individuals who could appeal to African-Americans. The migration of blacks from the south to the north and north to the south helped to promote (R&B). Around 1940’s Jerry Wexler of Billboard magazine introduced the phrase “rhythm and blues” as a marketing word instead of “race music” (Wynne, 2008). Rhythm and blues set the foundation for subsequent styles of future music for example, rock and roll, soul, disco and rap. By the 1950’s, many new artist began to show a more aggressive type of (R&B) which evolved into rock and roll. New artists for example, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Bo Diddley began to have a big showing. Soon after they would be influencing white teenagers. As the music became more popular many white artists began to sing cleaned up versions of (R&B). For example, Pat Boone sang “Tutti-Frutti” by Little Richard and it would become a Top Ten hit (Wynne, 2008). Many of the black artist, from the beginning were not profiting from these songs. They were paid up front for the music which was recorded and were denied any profits or royalities. Music executive kept them from profitting and would keep them in dark. With time new white artists would continue to sing (R&B) but it would take Elvis to make the most impression.
Elvis Presley became a rock and roller in the 1950’s. He became an important icon who sang country, blue and gospel music. He was born January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi. His mother Gladys Presley was the person he was influenced by growing up. She would take him to church which always involved singing. Elvis spent much of his time hanging out in the black neighborhoods where blues artist would play for example B.B. King. He soon recorded a song in the local recording studio owned by Sam Phillips. He returned to re-record a song after several months and soon met Phillips. Together with new musicians were able to record new songs. They were played on the radio and soon became hits. “Elvis said that he sang all kinds of music—“I don’t sound like nobody.” It was in fact as succinct a definition as one might get of the democrat vision that fueled his music, a vision that denied distinctions of race, of class, of category, that embraced every kind of music equally, from the highest up to the lowest down” (Guralnick, 2007).
Guralnick, P. (2007). How did Elvis Get Turned Into a Racist? New York: The New York Times.
Wynne, B. (2008, January 1). Rhythm and Blues. Retrieved November 8, 2010, from MyWire: http://www.mywire.com/
Haight Ashbury District
6:52 PM
HAIGHT ASHBURY DISTRICT
Haight Ashbury was a neighborhood that became the center of the San
Francisco Renaissance, and influenced the rise of drug culture and the
rock and roll lifestyle. Students began visiting Haight during the
spring break of 1967. San Francisco's government leaders were determined
to stop the young people from coming once schools let out for the
summer. They unwittingly brought additional attention to the scene, and
created an ongoing series of articles in local papers. These articles
informed the national media of the hippies' growing numbers. By spring,
Haight community leaders responded by forming the “Council of the Summer
of Love”. The activities in the area were reported almost daily by
mainstream media coverage, this coverage of hippie life in the
Haight-Ashbury drew the attention of youth from all over America.
Haight Ashbury’s fame reached its peak as it became the center for a
large number of the top rock performers and other groups from the time.
The summer of Love helped Psychedelic rock music enter into mainstream,
and receive more commercial radio airplay. One of the more famous songs
was “San Francisco (Be sure to wear flowers in your hair” was written by
John Phillips and became a hit single in 1967. In addition, the Monterey
Pop Festival further cemented the status of the music as a part of
mainstream culture and helped get local Haight bands such as the
Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane to national stardom. Major media
interest in the hippie subculture exposed the Haight Ashbury district
and popularized the hippie culture movements around the world. While the
summer of love attracted a wide range of people, Haight Ashbury could
not accommodate the rapid influx of people. Overcrowding, homelessness,
hunger, drug problems, and crime afflicted the neighborhood and soon the
neighborhood scene quickly deteriorated as many people left in the fall
to resume school. On October 6, 1967, the remaining people in the Haight
staged a mock funeral called, "The Death of the Hippie" ceremony, to
signal the end of the Cultural Revolution in Haight Ashbury. A woman
named Mary Kasper explained the message of the mock funeral by saying
“We wanted to signal that this was the end of it, don't come out. Stay
where you are! Bring the revolution to where you live. Don't come here
because it's over and done with.” The message was taken seriously and
the large crowds did not return in following years.
Haight-Ashbury. (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November
08, 2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/724540/Haight-Ashbury
Haight Ashbury was a neighborhood that became the center of the San
Francisco Renaissance, and influenced the rise of drug culture and the
rock and roll lifestyle. Students began visiting Haight during the
spring break of 1967. San Francisco's government leaders were determined
to stop the young people from coming once schools let out for the
summer. They unwittingly brought additional attention to the scene, and
created an ongoing series of articles in local papers. These articles
informed the national media of the hippies' growing numbers. By spring,
Haight community leaders responded by forming the “Council of the Summer
of Love”. The activities in the area were reported almost daily by
mainstream media coverage, this coverage of hippie life in the
Haight-Ashbury drew the attention of youth from all over America.
Haight Ashbury’s fame reached its peak as it became the center for a
large number of the top rock performers and other groups from the time.
The summer of Love helped Psychedelic rock music enter into mainstream,
and receive more commercial radio airplay. One of the more famous songs
was “San Francisco (Be sure to wear flowers in your hair” was written by
John Phillips and became a hit single in 1967. In addition, the Monterey
Pop Festival further cemented the status of the music as a part of
mainstream culture and helped get local Haight bands such as the
Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane to national stardom. Major media
interest in the hippie subculture exposed the Haight Ashbury district
and popularized the hippie culture movements around the world. While the
summer of love attracted a wide range of people, Haight Ashbury could
not accommodate the rapid influx of people. Overcrowding, homelessness,
hunger, drug problems, and crime afflicted the neighborhood and soon the
neighborhood scene quickly deteriorated as many people left in the fall
to resume school. On October 6, 1967, the remaining people in the Haight
staged a mock funeral called, "The Death of the Hippie" ceremony, to
signal the end of the Cultural Revolution in Haight Ashbury. A woman
named Mary Kasper explained the message of the mock funeral by saying
“We wanted to signal that this was the end of it, don't come out. Stay
where you are! Bring the revolution to where you live. Don't come here
because it's over and done with.” The message was taken seriously and
the large crowds did not return in following years.
Haight-Ashbury. (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November
08, 2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/724540/Haight-Ashbury
Beat Poetry Beatniks
6:48 PM
BEAT POETRY/BEATNIKS
“Beatniks”- were a group of American writers and artists popular in the
1950s and early 1960s, they were influenced by Eastern philosophy and
religion. They were known especially for their use of nontraditional
forms and for their rejection of conventional social values. The
Beatniks emerged in and around Columbia University in New York City in
the 1940s. They picked up the word "beat" from a man named Herbert
Huncke. Some of the original Beat Writers include William Burroughs,
Allen Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac. Beat poetry was used it to describe
their free-form, improvisational style of writing and their
unconventional, spontaneous way of life. Their movement soon emerged in
California in the mid-1950s and influenced much of the cultural
rebellion of the 1960s. The most famous beat novel, “On the Road”, was
written by Kerouac‘s in 1951 but was not published until 1957. The book
was based on his adventure with Neal Cassady in the late 1940s, the book
reportedly encouraged countless others to seek personal fulfillment
through the pursuit of an existential lifestyle. The beats were
rehabilitated in the 1970s. Today Beat Poetry and literature has
significantly changed American literary conventions and values, and
their lifestyle inspired restless souls and cultural rebels of all stripes.
Beat movement. (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November
08, 2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/57467/Beat-movement
“Beatniks”- were a group of American writers and artists popular in the
1950s and early 1960s, they were influenced by Eastern philosophy and
religion. They were known especially for their use of nontraditional
forms and for their rejection of conventional social values. The
Beatniks emerged in and around Columbia University in New York City in
the 1940s. They picked up the word "beat" from a man named Herbert
Huncke. Some of the original Beat Writers include William Burroughs,
Allen Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac. Beat poetry was used it to describe
their free-form, improvisational style of writing and their
unconventional, spontaneous way of life. Their movement soon emerged in
California in the mid-1950s and influenced much of the cultural
rebellion of the 1960s. The most famous beat novel, “On the Road”, was
written by Kerouac‘s in 1951 but was not published until 1957. The book
was based on his adventure with Neal Cassady in the late 1940s, the book
reportedly encouraged countless others to seek personal fulfillment
through the pursuit of an existential lifestyle. The beats were
rehabilitated in the 1970s. Today Beat Poetry and literature has
significantly changed American literary conventions and values, and
their lifestyle inspired restless souls and cultural rebels of all stripes.
Beat movement. (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November
08, 2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/57467/Beat-movement
Womens Liberation
Sunday, November 7, 2010 2:55 PM
Women's Lib....
"You've come a long way, baby" (Virginia Slims cigarette ad).
Imagine yourself as a women in the sixties...expectations of you are to get married, stay at home, cook and clean, pop out babies. . . the sixties were years of tremendous change. The women's liberation movement of the 1960s gained momentum alongside the civil rights and anti-war movements. Pop culture glorified the "Happy homemaker" with the likes of June Cleaver, and Lucy....Women had had enough!
Women worked at low paying jobs like teachers, nurses, waitresses, secretaries - the only kind of jobs women COULD get... The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination against women making it possible for women to obtain professional positions.....Women could do men's work, but STILL the got lower pay. This was unfair and women everywhere began protesting for their rights. Seeking long overdue social, political and economic equality, women protested for such things as equal rights, equal pay, maternity leave, childcare, etc.
"The fashions of the 60s revealed much more of women’s sexuality than ever before. Miniskirts, see-thru blouses and freedom from bras ironically turned women into sex symbols at the same time they demanded to be seen as more than that." Burning bras became a sign of the times.
Women eventually felt empowered; no longer imprisoned as homemakers; and got to pursue careers their mothers and grandmothers could only dream about. Family values were questioned heavily of any women that sought equal rights....
"But Women’s Liberation didn’t stop there! It spread around the world as feminist protests and liberation movements occurred in major cities everywhere. Today most women take for granted the gains garnered by the Women’s Liberation movement, but for many oppressed women around the world, their day has yet to arrive… "
Ref:
http://hippy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=311
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/peopleevents/e_lib.html
Becky Casinger
Saturday, November 6, 2010 7:21 PM
History of the Grateful Dead
In the days on the verge of the psychedelic revolution in a San Francisco scene, a guitarist known as Jerry Garcia met a drummer Bill Kreutzman while buying a banjo at a local music store. The two began to get along immediately and Garcia secured a job at the music store selling instruments and teaching guitar lessons. Bob Weir, a sixteen year old student of Garcia, became good friends with Garcia. In 1965, Garcia, Weir and Kreutzman formed Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions. Ron McKernan,who was later added to the team, was known as Pig Pen, to sing their blues songs. At the time, Pig Pen was a fifteen year old harmonica player who was often found skipping school and drinking wine. It was Pig Pen who convinced the rest of the band members to make Mother McCree's go electric; thus forming The Warlocks. Phil Lesh was chosen to play bass, after playing around with the bass for two weeks. Lesh had a background in jazz and electronic music.
After Lesh claimed he saw an album by another band calling themselves the Warlocks, the band went in search of another name. They stumbled on the phrase “Grateful Dead” in a randomly opened dictionary. The words referred to a genre of folktales in which a Good Samaritan arranges for the burial of a penniless stranger. At some point later, the Samaritan come across life-threatening peril and is, himself, aided by the spirit of the man he helped bury, hence "grateful dead."
The group's mission statement as voiced by Garcia in 1967: "We're trying to make music in such a way that it doesn't have a message for anybody. We don't have anything to tell anybody. We don't want to change anybody. We want people to have the chance to feel a little better. That's the absolute most we want to do with our music. The music that we make is an act of love and act of joy...we're not telling [anybody] to go get stoned, or drop out.... We are trying to make things groovier for everybody so more people can feel better more often, to advance the trip, to get higher - however you want to say it - but we're musicians and there's just no way to put the idea 'save the world' into music."
July 1986: Garcia enters a life-threatening diabetic coma. Garcia regained consciousness a few days later, but a period of extended convalescence kept the band from touring until the following spring.
1990: Brent Mydland passes. Vince Welnick brought on board as new keyboardist.
On August 9, 1995: Garcia was found comatose and without a pulse in Serenity Knolls treatment facility in Marin County. He was 53 years old.
The band discussed continuing without Garcia, but in December 1995, they announced that the Dead would be no more.
cla.calpoly.edu/cla/legacies/dbsmith/.../history.html
Hippies
3:16 PM
The hippies were in search to have the world based on peace, love, and happiness. They revolted against society, and abandoned traditional traditional customs, lifestyles, and society to form their own.
Many lived together in small groups called communes, where they worked together and shared posessions. Sexual relations with members of these groups flowed freely, whenever there was a mutual attraction. Their belief was to "go with the flow" rather than be uptight about sex like past generations were. Drugs were very common with hippies, especially LSD, marijuana, and hashish.
They strongly opposed the American involvement in the Vietnam War and wanted peace. Later these hippies were known as flower children because they often would hand out flowers to promote ideas of peace and love.
Along with their beliefs and lifestyles came many slogans and symbols. These slogans were to help other people become aware of their purpose. Here are a few of the most popular ones.
Woodstock
Friday, November 5, 2010 7:37 PM
was the biggest pop culture event of the decade and arguably ever in history. Woodstock
It was three says of “peace, love, and rock ‘n’ roll”. History’s most unbelievable lineup of bands from all over gave an epic performance lasting three days. The event took place on Max Yasgur’s farm inBethel ,NY August 15-18 1969 . The lineup included, Jimi
Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Joe Crocker, Santana, The Who and many more. Originally planned as a paid event,turned into a free event when more than 500,000 Woodstock
young people showed up tearing down the fences and opening it to the public. It was the largest gathering of human beings in one place in history. Essentiallywas a Woodstock
gathering of 500,000 hippies to celebrate music the freedom we have in the United States and drugs. This event that started out just as one simple music festival turned into a culture fest that shaped a large amount of people today.Although people may argue thatwas an important event in our Woodstock
history, it was also one we may not want to be so proud of. A major part of the population was teen aged kids and young children, too young to understand what was going on, that were exposed to a damaging environment. I suppose we can look at is as Jimi Hendrix said " I'm gona die when it's my time to die, so let me live the way i want"
