Almost Cut My Hair - CSN&Y

Johnny Vinyl · Jul 4, 2010

I'm glad I didn't.

Still a rebel at heart, despite going on 57 in a few weeks. It's easy for me to be a rebel as I'm single (I suppose), but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Did you cut your hair? Did you give up something that you didn't want to? Does it bother you?

John

cjfrbw · Jul 5, 2010

Spending some time over in Santa Cruz, there are a lot of men in my age group, the old hippies, who are a dime a dozen and homeless or nearly so. Lots of beards, dogs with kerchiefs, guitars etc. and it is kind of hard to be a rebel when there are thousands of clones of yourself all over the place competing for the dempsty dumpsters. It looks pretty pathetic.
Read David Crosby's autobiography, it is as chilling for what it doesn't say between the lines as for what it says.
Better to get a haircut and have a pot to piss in. Life is about compromises.

Gregadd · Jul 5, 2010

I cut my hair. Could not compromise my principles. It did not do any good.

mep · Jul 5, 2010

Now this is an interesting thread that John started. Unlike cjfrbw, I don't think I would classify all older homeless people as hippies. That is quite a leap of faith for me and the whole tone towards the homeless a little elitist. I feel sorry for the homeless because I know they are fighting some demons and/or mental illness.

And John, all married people who stay married compromise. If you read the for sale ads on Audiogon, you can see that many men claim to have to give up their best components or speakers because the wife says they don't fit with her decor. And if they are telling the truth, they surely regret it. The bottom line is that women have the snapper and men want the snapper. In order to maintain access to the snapper, men have to compromise whether they are married or not.

cjfrbw · Jul 5, 2010

Be careful of who you call "elitist". The shoe doesn't pinch until you have walked in it. Old hippies, spun off from the David Crosby era, are exactly who I am talking about, not the general homeless.
It may be fun even in middle age to fantasize about the possibilities of overt rebellion and self indulgence, but the apparent results don't seem to mesh with the fantasy.
Even the members of the band made fun of Crosby for his "freak flag" song, because he was such a selfish POS.

mep · Jul 5, 2010

OK. So you were only ripping on the old hippie homeless dumpster divers and not the homeless in general. Somehow I don't think your response is what John had in mind when he started the thread. I think he was asking if anyone felt they had to compromise a part of themself in order in achieve your lot in life. John alluded to the fact that he has long hair and never cut it and he is glad he didn't. That evolved into your response about older homeless hippies that are a dime a dozen and they should have cut their hair so they had a pot to piss in. So I am not sure whose shoes that you want me to walk in and what that meant in terms of my response. I think maybe you should reflect on the thought of walking in someone elses shoes more than I need to. I think I stated I felt sorry for the homeless and did not look upon them with the disdain that I felt you did. So I will pass the pinchy shoes over to you. I don't need them to understand the plight of homeless people.

cjfrbw · Jul 5, 2010

I have absolutely no idea what you are getting at with your rant. You seem to have a great deal of unresolved bitterness and resentment and you don't know me, so don't put words in my mouth.
If you are defending the homeless, let a few of them live in your home for a while and get back to me on that, I thought the general essay concerned a song and its latent message.
My statement is that there has been a lot of overt and obvious tragedy with those who "let their freak flag fly." If you have a lifestyle that lets you make a living and be mentally healthy that way, so be it, it doesn't seem to bear the evidence of those who have tried.
It didn't work for David Crosby, who penned the song, what makes you think it would work for anybody else except in theory or as a fantasy?

mep · Jul 5, 2010

I didn't know I had a rant going on here-it wasn't my intent and I don't believe it. I think you are the one with the rant and the slant you put on homeless people. And what words did I put in your mouth?? I think I used the words you wrote. And where oh where you somehow deduced that I have unresolved bitterness and resentment I have no idea. And no, I don't wish to have homeless people living with me as "punishment' for saying that I think many of them have mental issues and substance abuse problems. I do donate money on a regular basis to two local homeless shelters to help feed them and shelter them on cold nights, but that is as far as I am personally going to take that issue.

I think you greatly misconstrued the intent of John's post, but I will let him chime in. Somehow I really don't think I come across as sounding bitter or resentful on this thread or any other. I will let others be the judge on who sounds mean-spirited and bitter and resentful on this thread. I don't think it is me. Take a chill pill Carl. Everything is alright. Really it is.

Mark

Johnny Vinyl · Jul 5, 2010

Jeez......didn't think this thread could/would elicit some of the comments I just read. A little heavy don't you think?

John

mep · Jul 5, 2010

John-I agree. Your question about being a rebel somehow devolved into becoming a homeless hippie with no pot to piss in. I didn't think it was your intent for the thread. It was probably more like the bottom paragraph in my first post on your thread.

Mark

cjfrbw · Jul 5, 2010

The thread started out asking for opinions. I expressed my opinion. You used my opinion to mount a PERSONAL attack on me, rather than simply stating a neutral opinion of your own. We are now engaged in what is known as a "flame war" that was started by you. My flame is stating that if you have so much personal bitterness and resentment, that you have to attack me for my opinion rather than simply expressing your own, maybe you should look at that rather than making assumptions about me as if they are fact and stating them as such. That is a pretty mild flame, but I would appreciate it in the future that you would reserve your comments to the topic and not to me personally, and I will do the same towards you.

mep · Jul 5, 2010

No flames and no personal attack on my end (mild or otherwise). We all read and comment on each other's threads/posts here and this is no different except you got your nose out of joint. It wasn't my intent to ruffle your feathers Carl. John asked a simple question when he started this thread and that was do you feel that you have ever compromised yourself. You never answered the basic question that started the thread.

cjfrbw · Jul 5, 2010

I love acid rock, stoner rock and just about all the stuff from the 60's and 70's as fantasy. As a road map for life or life advice, it sucks bigtime.
Yeah, I cut my hair and it worked out a lot better. Cancel my subscription to the resurrection.

Johnny Vinyl · Jul 10, 2010

I think this thread has gotten a little out of hand here in terms of how my thoughts were interpreted. So let me set the record straight.

The thread was started to see of anyone had compromized themselves. It wasn't about a lifestyle choice, and it surely wasn't about an association between cutting one's hair or becoming a homeless person. Where that came from I still have no idea. I do however believe that we can stand by our principles and that we don't have to give them up. I think too many do.

John

RUR · Jul 10, 2010

cjfrbw said:
I love acid rock, stoner rock and just about all the stuff from the 60's and 70's as fantasy. As a road map for life or life advice, it sucks bigtime.

Carl, we're just gonna have to cross your name off the passenger list when we hijack that starship. ;-)

cjfrbw · Jul 10, 2010

Guess I won't wind up in Heaven with Janice, Jimmie, Jerry, Jim or David Crosby's liver. Oh, well!

Quote: Lyrically, the album (Blows against the Empire) celebrates counter-culture idealism: let the old make way for the young; free love, minds, dope and music; children kept free of the system; together we can make a difference. It is set in a future where the counter-culture is able to unite and decide their own fate far away from planet Earth. Written in 1970, Kantner describes in "Hijack" the construction of a starship beginning in 1980, which "ought to be ready by 1990."

Phelonious Ponk · Jul 28, 2010

My hair left me.

P

Phelonious Ponk · Jul 28, 2010

Oh and by the way, he may be a burnt-out old hippie and a selfish POS, but Crosby's "If I Could Only Remember My Name" was brilliant.

P

FrantzM · Aug 9, 2010

Phelonious Ponk said:
My hair left me.

P

.. Same here ... No longer is a 'fro possible

RUR · Aug 10, 2010

I told my wife that, when I retired, I'd grow a ponytail (Just like the one I had ca. 1970) and wear an earring. Although I've been retired for two years, I haven't followed through - yet! ;-)

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