No. It’s not. It’s not 1969 and it’s far from okay – and I have to confess that I am more than a little weary of all the anniversaries of everything that occurred forty years ago, back in the days of my youth, when the measures of hope and insanity, at least now and again, seemed to achieve a few moments of insane balance. Woodstock? The moon landing? The Manson murders? The last few weeks has been a parade of memories and things past. A couple of days ago I was informed that it was the fortieth anniversary of The Doors on Ed Sullivan. Poor Jim is dead and gone left me here to sing his song. Pretty little girl with the blue dress on, do you want to fill me in on how far we’ve come and what all that singing might have achieved? The bloody red sun still shines on LA. The engine still runs on glue and tar. The butterfly still screams, but the blue bus left long ago. Is you hair still burning? I cannot see for the smoke – and the miasma of ignorance and stupidity that rises from the modern slime-slurry of rotting, knee-deep, biomass-corruption. But what the hell? It’s Friday. Am I still able to run with the hunt?
Click here for Jim, long time passing. And click here for James Brown (by way of a bonus) doing “Please, Please, Please”, also on Ed Sullivan and in multiple capes.
The secret word is Gone (real gone)
Pardon the robots, I put a living feed on the web log & it seems to have infected the world, or at least other Bugger™ blogs. Hope to have it repaired soon.
ReplyDeleteForty yrs on: Depressing, innit?
Reminds me of UFO. Lots of fun. Sweeping up after the revelry less so.
ReplyDeleteI find myself wondering what of now will be worth celebrating in forty years
ReplyDeleteOf now worth celebrating in 40 years... electing Obama... 4chan & YTMND.. Cosplay at SakuraCon, PAX, ComiCon & E3.
ReplyDeleteThe real sexual revolution.
I suppose what you remember or celebrate will depend on who you are... about as close to a collective this generation has gotten was with electing Obama, however, I'm sure there are a number of youth who are still dismayed by the election & the fact that John McCain isn't in office, so I doubt they'll celebrate in 40 years when the rest of us are watching films & documentaries in compulsively nostalgic shopping sprees.
Reality is, there are no large trends or common grounds for the young... MTV & city ordinances have ensured it. The internet is about the best we have & that ain't saying much for this day & age. With cameras at every stoplight, there isn't much else we can expect but docile & uninteresting kids without the ambition to dream. Why did the concepts of "Hope & Change" sway the nation? Because they're dead ideals that go unrealized in this world.
When a rainbow gathering or burning man are the best left remnants of the search for enlightenment, you see us striving for access to ivy-league libraries again & that almost only ever leads to true corruption.
Is it really a wonder this generation has no woodstock worth mentioning & instead has a politician who's actions are perceived as more important than our own? After how bad you people scared the squares?
It takes courage to be a Lizard King (or Queen). Only those willing to fly without a net are worthy. Not too many of those these days.
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ReplyDeleteAside from Obama, Faux Smoke, I don't know what any of those references you refer to are.
ReplyDeleteAs for Obama, what I like least about about him is the idea of mass-trusting a politician to change things for the better.
Aw man, we didn't scare the straights any more than they scared us
Anyway, its just phase we're going through...the evolutionary yoyo effect. Change - real change - is outside of all this Maya.
All things consdiered tho', I'm glad I was young then and not now
Best thing my generation has going for it is what I like to call "the real sexual revolution"... nobody really talks about it right in the now so much, but it'll be a big deal in a few decades.
ReplyDeleteThe exploration of sexuality has become far more enlightening since the internet became popular... for better & worse, the net has opened a number of options & ideas that would have been otherwise lost to most ordinary & average people. In coupling, I believe that the exposure to new ideas & exhibitions has made for a more honest & sincere bonding through intercourse. More people are more willing to be understanding & genuinely curious about what suits them and their partner(s).
It may sound hedonistic to speak so highly of sexual gratification in common practice, however, I believe that as the larger populations become more contented with their sexuality, more peace & prosperity will follow into society. I call it "the real sexual revolution" because it is all but unavoidable now... even in the most conservative & uptight households the internet & a bit of curiosity is getting people to embrace their lovers in new ways. Lord knows a bit of better sex could go a long way with some of those people, but it isn't just relevant to embrace & position.
We see exhibition taken to new extremes & to the mundane amateur thrill. Never before has sexual exhibition been so intense & all-consuming as with modern technology, simply because we have a forum that knows no boundaries or borders between race, religion or region. We advance towards sexual freedoms that don't even exist yet & society will improve as we come to be more understanding & sincere in these respects. Interpersonal relationships will become more stable in their flexibility, people learn to heed the urges and desires of others more casually, our compassion & concern for the well being of others matures. These aren't effects that will be isolated within our mating habits, rather, they will translate throughout our entire lives & have long lasting impacts on our behavior.
At least, this is what I think.
And for those who thought that it couldn't get any worst, here's the Bob Dylan Xmas Album:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gundu1yLjWY#
F_S, on your first comment: Ouch (but yay cosplay!) As to that and the second: I'm almost thirty and attending college. In addition, I work in a field populated entirely by young people. As much as I have tried to view the (very real) sexual revolution you speak of in a positive light, I see it, like most 'social revolutions' being twisted to serve the mind-numbing long-range social-planning of the Illuminoids. I don't see free sexuality, when I look I see mostly cheap, third-rate party-favor lovin. I see a new kind of detatchment in long term-relationships. It was merely an agreement in days past, and it is being herded into another, equally impersonal, social safety net arrangement. I see a resurgence of anti-homosexual sentiment among the middle class. In the nineties it was sooooo uncool to be intolerant... no longer, now it's becoming vogue. I view public schools nowadays as Huxleyan slut-factories for swarms of clones. And with so much free excess at our fingertips here in the US, whats the motivation to do any damn thing at all?
ReplyDeleteSo I agree with you on the matter of a generation of "docile and uninteresting kids without the ambition to dream." But I wonder if perhaps this forced open-sexuality (ie the pressure placed on young girls to 'go bi') contributes to the situation.
I seem to remember a decade ago there were street-punks squatting the nation; hordes of goths in various flavors; ravers galore; documentary specials about the growing culture of runaways; (real) rockabillies making the unlikeliest of comebacks; those rude-boys....and the list goes on. Now that was fucking progress! Now we're right back to 'trying to fit in'. I mean, that Indie crap? What's that supposed to be, ironic? Get a bunch of people who live with their folks to dress in the same stupid haircut and designer jeans, then call the scene "Independent".
I'm sorry, I've gone ranting on your blog again haven't I, My Glorious Chairman? I'd love to talk about this sometime at length F_S, and you are a most erudite fellow.
in 40 years the next generation is going to make the hommages for all birds, bees, normal humans & monkeys...dissapeared in the meantime.
ReplyDeletenot a happy prospect.
Also, when is the anniversary of that stunt you pulled on david frost? We should celebrate that!
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