Weekend Guide #69
are we really goin anywhere? ✌️
“Be not content with the system of things…” - Jesus Christ
Everybody is talking about the Metaverse. I don’t do well with fantasy so it’s starting to wear on me. Live in the now. Sometimes it feels like the real world may actually disappear, or at least morph into something completely unrecognizable.
I wonder if this is what the acid heads were on about. Is this the breakthrough? Did we just break on through to the other side? I hope not. Owsley and Leary are likely doing flips in their respective graves.
I have always gravitated towards anti-hippie sentiment. Making fun of hippie idealism has always been my bag. This is surely Frank Zappa damage - but it’s a hill I will end up dying on.
Hey Punk, where you goin' with that flower in your hand?
Well, I'm goin' up to Frisco to join a psychedelic band
I'm goin' up to Frisco to join a psychedelic band
Hey Punk, where you goin' with that button on your shirt?
I'm goin' to the love-in to sit & play my bongos in the dirt
Yes, I'm goin' to the love-in to sit & play my bongos in the dirt
Hey Punk, where you goin' with that hair on your head?
I'm goin' to the dance to get some action, then I'm goin' home to bed
Hey Punk, where you goin' with those beads around your neck?
I'm goin' to the shrink so he can help me be a nervous wreck.
Why would anyone make fun of hippies? They seem to be a genuinely tame bunch. All wrapped up in their peace and their love. Well, since I was born in 1987, first hand knowledge on the subject is unattainable. But from what I can tell, the real searchers, the ones who were subterranean—heads down—navel-gazing their way inward, would have never worn paisley.
We are comfortable with the bright side of hippiedom - flowers, peace and love, smoking a little grass, sticking it the man, etc. What we aren’t used to is the yang to that yin. The real underground. Those who were there at the dawn of the psychedelic revolution. Before the style was developed and commodified. The real acid heads. Our culture isn’t too familiar with that archetype.
Remember. Hippies create Police. Police create Hippies. Around and around we go. It’s just a ride.🌀
I found a note perfect counterpoint to the aforementioned commercialized hippie takeover. Maybe i’m late. Probably by about fifty years. But I hope I can turn at-least a few of you onto William J. Craddock.
Be Not Content is the anti-hippie book. It is the brief history of an acid freak in Northern California during the early days of the psychedelic revolution. Our guide, Abel, shares a smattering of experiences starting out with his days riding with a bike gang to getting turned on to acid and his ensuing, and ultimately, unsuccessful quest for enlightenment.
The book is structured as a story within a story: Abel gives the book manuscript to his friend who is on an LSD trip. The manuscript is then found by another LSD head who, on a bad trip, eats it page by page.
Abel also - talks to god, gets beat up by a cop, and attends an acid test where the Grateful Dead play.
Craddock successfully eviscerates the idea that drugs, acid in particular, are a way to break through. It’s funny, biting, and super dark. Rock it man! If you are into this sort of this, you will dig. Scouts honor.
I liked this book so much that I reached out to Rudy Rucker, the supposed creator of cyberpunk and the first person to publish Be Not Content since it’s original pressing in 1967. He sent me an email back quickly (my favorite quality in a person and the mark of a good human) - surprised that I had found a copy, he shared with me a “heavily commented” blog post of his on the book from 2007. Worth double clicking if the spirit moves you.
Thanks for sticking with me. If you want to talk, or if you are reading something that you think I would like, don’t be a stranger. Also, feel free to share this with your favorite hippie. Peace and love.