The Hippie Narrative:
A Literary Perspective On The Counterculture

Mount Vernon’s Scott MacFarlane examines the key works of prose of the hippie movement of the 1960s and early 1970s and how the works are reflective of the counterculture.

He mentions that "Siddhartha," written in 1922, and "Stranger in a Strange Land," published in 1961, were very instrumental because these narratives shaped the formation of a hippie counterculture and were written before the sixties movement.

And he covers Kesey, Brautigan and Wolfe. Nationally influential. link


That leads me to the Foxfire Books, which is one of my favorite books of all time.

Regionally influential in the South were the Foxfire Books. Especially to those of us living on communes and/or outdoors.

Firefox has branched off to teaching and workshops now, but originally it was the communer's bible here in the South, where you could find sections on hog dressing, log cabin building, basket weaving, preserving foods, making butter, planting by the signs, snake lore, hunting tales, faith healing, and moonshining, which we left to the pros. We made blackberry wine.


Read FOXFIRE Series 1 - 6 (PDF)
**UPDATED: JUNE 22, 2007 - Caution: Not all of these are working links, but these are the only online FOXFIRE books I could find and for the links that ARE working you will almost certainly be able to get a feel for what the FOXFIRE series were about. Thanks. --Editor

Sex, Drugs, and Soybeans
In 1970, pot-smoking guru Stephen Gaskin, a former U.S. Marine, led his band of acolytes on a mystic trip out of San Francisco and into the American heartland. But a funny thing happened on the way to enlightenment: Gaskin's hippies learned the ancient virtues of hard work, good hygiene, and crop rotation. Deep in the Tennessee woods, they formed a spiritual commune called The Farm, which has morphed over its 36 years into a high-tech eco–think tank.

Read More

W E B T R A I L | peppermint. wendy-o. pancakes. crabs. zappa. alt-refer. penis ice cream.

* 'Germ' Wrongly Jailed Over Soap; Absurd GHB Drug Charges for Don Bolles, Drummer of the 'The Germs,' Stem From a Bottle of Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap - I've followed this story for days for authenticity and now it looks like it's not a hoax. Hearing Friday, April 13.
LATimes | Dr Bronner Release

* Cover Freak has some wild and crazy covers. They keep their links up a few weeks but just took down an mp3 of Wendy O Williams and Motorhead's Lemmy doing "Stand By Your Man" (Tammy Wynette). Also, here's Wendy in Reform School Girls on YouTube. (Wendy died April 6, 1998)

* Cooking up in your spoon - it's not just for heroin anymore. link

* What's that? "It's much more affordable just to make the crabs disappear." link

* The Frank Zappa Primers - Lots of FZ links, graphics, and mp3s.

* Citizendium looks like fun. Supposed to be the alternative version of Wikipedia. I'm all for that.

* Davezilla has a link for penis ice cream. I'm all for that, too. NSFW: see it here

More on the sudden demise of Arthur Magazine

Arthur was oversized, free, colorful, patchouli-scented but whip-smart, unapologetically political, sometimes silly, often anarchist and always willing to listen to voices way, way outside the mainstream. Above all, it was prophetic, usually about two years ahead of the rest of the country in its loves and obsessions. But in the end, there just wasn't enough peace and love to go around.

"The magazine can't be restarted," Babcock said. "It's a done deal. It's dead. The situation can't be unfucked."

link

2 Upcoming Films With Links To The 60s

Neal Cassady - From the bars of Denver to the Steel Mills of Utah to the avant-garde parties of Manhattan, across a nation whose heart is calling for a role-model, a leader, a hero... Neal Cassady's on the road again, and all his old pals are there with him--Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, The Merry Pranksters. They're searching for Neal's long-lost father, who holds the key to the great unwritten American novel. But in the end it's Neal alone, and in the rear-view fast-approaching are cops, groupies and the dark chimera of his own vanity.

Release Date: To Be Announced
link


Across The Universe - A love story set against the backdrop of the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, mind exploration and rock 'n roll, the film moves from the dockyards of Liverpool to the creative psychedelia of Greenwich Village, from the riot-torn streets of Detroit to the killing fields of Vietnam. The star-crossed lovers, Jude (Jim Sturgess) and Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), along with a small group of friends and musicians, are swept up into the emerging anti-war and counterculture movements, with "Dr. Robert" (Bono) and "Mr. Kite" (Eddie Izzard) as their guides. Tumultuous forces outside their control ultimately tear the young lovers apart, forcing Jude and Lucy – against all odds – to find their own way back to each other.

I don't know if I would like this one or not. I've read that it's more like a series of punctuated scenes and characters each represented by a Beatles song - 32 in all. Too much of a musical for me...maybe it has more of a story.

Now the Neal Cassady film sounds promising because the people are interesting. Cassady, Kesey, Kerouac, the the Pranksters, of whom I thought were the end-all and be-all of the universe when I was growing up.

Release Date: September 28, 2007.
View trailer
Link

W E B T R A I L

* Marijuana product placement on grocery shelves? link

* Visualize that the Holy beings enter your heart chakra or a Dharma wheel in the form of lights before you move anything on the altar. There really is a method to moving your altar. link

* A Pima, Arizona, couple has stepped down as leaders of a church that considers marijuana a sacrament and deity. The government contends the church is a front for drug trafficking. link

* Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox - A documentary. link

* I didn't know Richard Clarke had a website. link

* BBQ-ing with Bobby Seale - Yes, that Bobby Seale. link

* Help Hastert Hide the Perv and more silliness - link

* David Byrne offers up “Record Companies: Who needs Them?” and gives his opinion on the Montreal music this week. link


FULL MOON
Take some time around this Full Moon to create more balance in your life, in whatever way you feel called. Use the tools you have to stay centered. listen to your heart, and remember: "To go out of our minds at least once a day is tremendously important. By going out of your mind you come to your senses! When you come out of the conditioned, limited and unaware mind the center of gravity naturally shifts to the heart." --Alan Watts