A lot of my customers remember the communes. One was at the old Longbranch hotel and it had about 100 hippies living there. It has since burned down, but I have a picture of it in the cafe. Another was off of hwy 59 and they had about 40 "longhaired hippies" living in a barn on an old chicken farm down Robert road...they had old campers and built huts on the property. They tell me there was a third small one at one of the old houses in town. Apparently, according to one of the town aldermen, who is a Viet Nam veteran from that time,and is from Abita, the cops really used to leave them alone. There was a lot of acid and pot, but they never did try and sell it to anybody from the town. Some of my customers are the old hippies who ended up getting jobs and staying around. Funny thing is the flower children from the 60's are actually now in their late 60's and you'd be surprised at who they are because they don't look like hippies any more...but some still look the part. "You can get anything you want, at Abita's restaurant" .
My mom used to take us to a hippie commune on America St in Baton Rouge. Seems like we headed out around Abita Spring for some sort of gathering one New Years Eve. Buncha people sitting around in a circle of the living room playing tambourines and guitars. I was about 6-7 at the time ('73 or '74) so the details are vague...or maybe it was the second hand smoke.
Nah, the real ones were righteous. A) The weekend hippies or B) the ones who became stockbrokers later on in life and sold out to "the man" were the pseudo cool bums. Patricia Hearst = Exhibits A and B :hihi:. SabanFan in the 60's = Righteous :grin:.
I was there too. My girlfriend had just left town to go to school up North. I was still looking for a teaching job so that I could avoid getting drafted (yeah, me too.) I needed cheering up. Some friends and I made it for one day. My central memory is falling asleep during a tech problem or a long equipment change and then waking up to hear Grace Slick's voice saying something like this: "The long wait is over. We have paid our tribute to the electronic gods..." Then the Airplane played, and they were unforgettable. (Oddly I don't see them mentioned on the program...) Another memory I have is of a burly guy with a military haircut who had gotten drunk and wanted to fight somebody. The crowd just kind of moved in and danced around him, neutralizing all his violent energy. That made a big impression on me. Another band I remember hearing was Tyrannousaurus Rex. They were into a whole different thing than what they later became known for. Bolan played acoustic, sitting down at the front of the stage in a medieval-looking shirt, and talked about a simpler, more peaceful time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. I don't recall drinking a lot or taking drugs. I started doing that a little later when my girlfriend dumped me for good for a guy she met up there. What I recall is the music and the peace. My hope of a new world was being forged then, and being there was part of what forged it. It still hasn't left me.
Real hippies are cool :thumb: One of my best friends is still hippie, we kinda sorta still is. He refuses to let the man beat him down and own him.
The man ? All I know is Paul McCartney in a sort of reverse hippie logic urges us to listen to what he says. Hippies, as you may know, don't want to listen to the man. I personally don't subscribe to the man, I put my stock in me! [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw1lmCS11A8[/media]
