Hippie Fest 2019 - Indiana

 

This was a cool event. I cannot say this is the same "hippie" life as was in the 60's and early 70's. I Can say that all of us appreciated and enjoyed the event of today. You just had to watch everyone to understand that.

The groove was there. The music was there. The tie die was definitely there. It was great to see the different styles of hippie attire, the buses, and the vendors. It brought back good memories of the times, which is why we were so mellow this weekend. For the hippies of that time had a lot of clique differences that I did not see here this day. We are all the same now.

For some reference, words and phrases of the time were: Groovy, flower power, make love not war, peace, free love, love child, psychedelic man, flower child, right on, hope/peace/love, outta sight, "far out" or if you were really "far out" you were "outasight", way out, deep, out of this world, heavy, no sweat, dig it, and if you were from the Chicago South Side jagoff.

We loved music whether it be rock or folk. For the most part we lived an eco-conscious lifestyle. There was free love. We grooved to what made us feel good.

Evolving from the Beats movement (later called Beatniks) from the late 50's to early 60's, the hippie movement began bucking the establishment, challenging The Man and his status quo. ("The Man" being used in a general sense here. Not just "the cop", but everyone from the cop to the top.) We were the middle class kids. We felt society was keeping us out, and that society wanted to dictate what we did. We sought more meaning in life. We did not care how we looked, just how we felt. We made statements with loud colors, wore our hair long, and experimented with drugs (not all of us did that) and called out as "outasight outa mind". The one song that hit home the most for me was "Signs" by The Five Man Electric Band. Seems to still be appropriate to some music venues today.

There were many cool, heavy, dig it songs back then. One of my other favorites being "Peace Train" by Cat Stevens. Another, which hippies either liked or disliked, was "Alice's Restaurant" by Arlo Guthrie. Other songs: "Blowin in the Wind" - Bob Dylan; "If I Had A Hammer" - Peter, Paul and Mary; "Let It Be" - The Beatles; "Teach Your Children" - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; "Time Of The Season" - The Zombies; "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything there is a Season)" - The Byrds; "Imagine" - John Lennon; "California Dreamin" - The Mammas and the Papas; "Break on Through" - The doors; "This Land is Your Land" - Woddy Guthrie, and many many more.

We were all hippies in general. We were the counterculture of the mid to late 60's and early 70's. We were against the establishment (bucking the establishment) controlled by The Man. We argued among the hippie cliques a lot and never really agreed with each other. Only within the clique did that ever happen. One thing for sure, we were all against the establishment with many ideas for change, and with a don't-give-in attitude. As we all found out later we had to give some to get some. When the hippie leaders did that we said they were "selling out". The problem was, it is never a one way street, even if we tried to make it one. The leaders new that and negotiated. All for the better.

The movement escalated between in 69 and 70 because of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. We were against the war and we new The Man would never tell the truth, which was confirmed to us by President Nixon's actions and Watergate.

Growing up, all of us baby boomers on the block were definitely hippies and preaching flower power and playing guitar in our front yards. My friend Philip used an idea from his Grandmother to make himself some money. He painted sea shells and attached them like roses to a green looking wire stem. He went door to door saying, "Suzy sells sea shells at the sea shore. We sell sea flowers right at your door!" Yes, corny. Just as corny as our band name, "The Futuristics", complete with Rocket logo because we were a bunch of Estes rocket buffs too.

So yes, this weekend was the laid back modern version of times past. We are the outcome of that time. We are in the now as well. Make no mistake, we will have input into the future even if we have to start this movement all over again.

Enjoy the photographs!

The above photograph was taken as soon as that bubble in the photograph above it popped.

Lots of buses for sure. This bus, pictured above and below, had all of the band names listed who played at Woodstock, along with the day they played and at what time. It was a trip to take all that in.

This far out converted bug pictured above and below, was a camper that can be towed. The inside was decked for sleeping, with an air conditioner where the engine would normally be. The trunk was decked out for cooking.

Perhaps the photograph below should have been changed to Fur Child for our dog Bubba!

"Magic Bus" band was super great. I recommend you go see them anytime you can.

You may not understand the photograph above and the next few photographs (Magic Bus band). The guitarist and base player were playing each others guitar that was wrapped around to their back, with them in a wrapped around fashion to each other. They turned and turned and turned, playing, never missing a note (that I could tell), until they came out of this frenzy twisted kick ass ordeal. You can tell they had fun, and so did we!

This little bug turned out to be very interesting. The painting on the side (couple photos down) was a commissioned piece. The owner gave the artist a basic concept, and free reign to complete. Not only did the artist kick it in design and color on the passenger side (as if you were looking normally at it), she painted the driver side as if you were looking behind the passenger side (a back side of the concept image).

With a little creativity, the owner applied the same artwork on a model, and 3D printed himself (his head) and put it on a Lego body for the driver.

My bride and me next to the coolest painted bus on the scene.

Yes, I will go back next year . . . I need not say more.

Hippie Fest is a traveling show. You can check out the tour dates on their website.

Hippie Fest

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This event was held at Bucklake Ranch in Angola, Indiana. A perfect place to be, just to be.

Buck Lake Ranch

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