September 1, 2009

Taking in "Taking Woodstock" — at Sundance, in Madison, tonight.

No, we weren't. We were just eating sushi at a sidewalk table across from the theater, and these ladies — who were very enthusiastic about seeing the movie — asked us to take their picture. This isn't the picture M. took. That's in their camera. This is the picture I took after M. made the request:

4 ladies on their way to see "Taking Woodstock"

(And they said yes to taking the picture and putting it up on line.)

57 comments:

dick said...

Would like to see the contrast between then and now.

KCFleming said...

40 years later, it's now Wheezestock; ibuprofen and a cabernet replace pot and acid, everyone's in bed by 10, and no one wants you to dance nude.

traditionalguy said...

Much as with the Whooping Cranes, Wisconsin seems to provide a good site to re-establish a bonded group of Flower Power Birds who were thought extinct since 1969. Remarkably they still show no fear of hip internet photos of them being taken by known Bob Dylan afficiandos, although this sort of trusting free love is usually blamed for their original near extinction some 40 years ago. When will they ever learn, and more importantly,when will they sleep in the sand?

rhhardin said...

It's the age of aquarium.

Randy said...

Like the car! It sure looks like they're having fun. That's the idea - enjoy life.

somefeller said...

If I were a French postmodernist, I might say that this is the inevitable result of late capitalism - a simulacrum of other cultures, particularly those from other eras, appropriated for a sense of authenticity.

But, since I'm not, I'm with Randy. It looks like they are having fun. That justifies itself. Though I'd be more inclined to dress like a mod, if I were to do the sixties dress-up thing.

KCFleming said...

I'd dress like an FBI agent infiltrating the SDS. (The black shoes give it away.)

But that's just me.

Wince said...

No, no, no. These ladies are, in post Woodstock fashion, going to see a movie in a group as a social gathering.

Conversely, Lee Harvey Oswald was alone when he decided to "take in" the double feature of Cry of Battle and War is Hell at the Texas Theater.

Although, ironically, he got in without paying for a ticket, but which led to him being hassled by "the man."

Very pre-Woodstock ;)

Meade said...

I thought they were pretty cute. And wish them all love and peace.

Methadras said...

More like GeezerStock. Blending the horrendous with the hapless for a lifetime of audacious pain.

fivewheels said...

As an X'er, all I can say is: I'm coming around on that death panel thing.

Gah, I'm sorry that I can't help being that way, and I'm sure they were very nice. But come on.

Synova said...

I agree with the others. They look like they're having a lot of fun, and I love the car. Bravo!

I hope they liked the movie as much as they thought they would, but I'm betting that it wouldn't have mattered in any case compared to being out with friends and having a great time.

One of the silly family games we play is that each of us has a "bug" color and call out "So-and-so's car!" whenever we see them. The challenge is to see one of each, blue, green, yellow and red. (Hubby and I are stuck with Black and Silver/White.)

I'll have to show them this picture and see who they think belongs to *that* car.

I'd drive it! (And I never liked Silver/White/Cream anyhow.)

Automatic_Wing said...

Far out, man.

KCFleming said...

I went back in time and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.

Donna B. said...

It must depend on where you were when you were a hippie because I would not have been caught dead in that car.

They are having fun and that's great...but do any of you who lived through that era remember anyone or any VW looking like that?

KCFleming said...

I lost my sense of joie de vivre somewhere around 1984, in Omaha.

Anatomy class, I believe.

bagoh20 said...

"I went back in time and all I got was this lousy t-shirt."

That's a keeper, Pogo.

Synova said...

I used to put my kids all in bright tie-dye shirts so they'd all be easy to find in a crowd.

;-)

(I'm not old enough to be a hippie.)

And no... that car isn't my idea of a hippie car. Obviously you've got to have a VW bus and paint it like the Mystery Machine. Curtains are a plus.

My generation put water-beds and shag carpet in the back of full sized American made vans. We were a pre-mini-van generation. ;-)

somefeller said...

For a nice bit on this topic, here is the Who playing at Woodstock, wherein Pete Townshend knocked Abbie Hoffman off the stage because Hoffman interrupted the Who's gig for a dumb rant. Alas, the ass-kicking is in the blackout part of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIG7nJ3w6qY&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Keyword: Phist - what Pete Townshend provided to Abbie.

Peter Hoh said...

Randy!!! Glad to see you here again.

Or perhaps I've missed your posts for the last -- however long. I skip a lot more threads than I used to.

fivewheels said...

Seriously, though, don't these people deserve to be mocked in the same manner as the geeks who wear stupid costumes to Star Wars movies? (My brethren, admittedly.)

Steven said...

Did the shirts come with the car?

The Crack Emcee said...

Slip sliding away. Slip sliding away. You know, the nearer your destination, the more you're slip sliding away."

Alert me when they're gone.

Beth said...

They look like a fun bunch. Nice picture, Althouse - and a nice story.

Unknown said...

Looks to me like the youngsters are just out for a good time. Good on'em.

I did notice the vanity plate, the custom painted VW, and what appears to be a Coach purse in the center foreground.

Clean, fun, rich hippies. God Bless America. I mean that.

vw: hyloc--I'm not kidding.

Maxine Weiss said...

The Worst Generation still engaging in clueless self-debasement.

--Pathetic and humiliating.

Unknown said...

No, Old Dad. That's not a Coach bag. I wouldn't even call it a knock-off.

I agree with others here that these ladies look like they're having fun, and good for them!

But it's rather disappointing. I come here for foaming-at-the-mouth, hate-filled, right-wing rants, and what do I get? Tolerance.

Donn said...

Bitchin'

Cherry!

bagoh20 said...

I wear tie die regularly, but I notice it is not slimming at all. I've been thinking about black on black tie die.

Penny said...

The funny thing to me is how different the remade tie dyes are from the originals. My originals were very soft, more like jersey sheets, and ironically, the colors were much more subdued. The remakes feel and look like they are starched, which is one reason they are not slimming bagoh2O. The other reason is of course that most of us are not as slim as we were back then.

Gary Rosen said...

"here is the Who playing at Woodstock, wherein Pete Townshend knocked Abbie Hoffman off the stage because Hoffman interrupted the Who's gig for a dumb rant"

I was there. Honest to God. And I still remember what Townshend said right after he whacked Hoffman:

"The next fuckin person who comes on the fuckin stage is gonna get fuckin killed!"

Love and Peace!

Chip Ahoy said...

Psychedelic celebrants Taking Woodstock

bearbee said...

Nice pic. Nice shirts. Especially like the car.

Vanity plate is TIEDYE4

Charlie said...

Right arm!

Farm out!

AllenS said...

That's heavy, man. Oops. Don't take that the wrong way, ladies.

Bissage said...

My curiosity aroused by those ladies resplendent, I made inquiry as to whether one might take that magic bus to the next stop.

The answer is yes. Link.

Laura(southernxyl) said...

"Seriously, though, don't these people deserve to be mocked in the same manner as the geeks who wear stupid costumes to Star Wars movies?"

No, fivewheels. People who were not stamped out of the same cookie cutter that you were stamped out of do not "deserve" to be mocked for that reason. Lighten up. Everybody isn't you, and there's no reason why they should be. Nobody is telling you that you have to wear a tie-dye shirt.

KCFleming said...

Women smiling is life transcendent and sublime.

For that, one can briefly forgive the socio-political millstone that occasioned their wondrous beaming.

Randy said...

Peter Hoh:

Hi ya'! How's the garden? My fruit trees did OK this year.

I've been here and there (that's amba's new place - drop by!), but mostly in the middle of nowhere just reading. (Don't seem to have as much interest in commenting these days.)

A.W. said...

Mmm, i was reading a review of that movie on ign, and they said that ang lee seemed to have no idea what the historical significance of the event was.

Okay, so what was it? i mean it seems like a sweet concert and all, mostly, but besides that, pbbbt, who cares?

i mean i think south park had the best take down of that whole phenomenon, with their comment that sitting around and listening to music for 3 days is about the most selfish and self-indulgent thing you can do.

And it seems like that all the mythologizing about that event is just another sign of the insufferable narcisism of that generation. i mean a couple of years ago someone noted that a recent history book had 6 pages on marilyn monroe, and one page on george washington. sorry, boomers, but not everything that happened in your lifetime was earth shattering. some big things happened back then to be sure, civil rights being the most obvious. But a whole lot of important things also happened when you were not even concieved yet. and as lovely as Ms. Monroe is, she is not half as significant as the father of our country--indeed, if there was no washington, maybe there wouldn't have been the freedom to have a monroe.

Roger J. said...

Looks to me like a group of people having a good time--the smiles are infectious-esp in these intemperate times. Plus, they are cute as hell. As Titus would say: I'd do 'em. But only in a platonic way, of course.

El Presidente said...

Piss off hippies:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chez-pazienza/what-a-long-strange-thoro_b_273774.html

fivewheels said...

Right. I'm the cookie-cutter guy, because I'm the one resisting the idea of how "cute" it is to wear identical costumes to a movie.

But of course hippies are still the popular crowd and still self-celebrate how individual and free-thinking they are in the midst of all their massive conformity. OK.

As usual you miss my point, Laura, which is that while it's safe and popular for the real cookie-cutter culture to mock some people, it chooses others for sacred cow status despite similar behavior -- and of course it's the truly conventional who enjoy that safety.

Richard Lawrence Cohen said...

That settles it, I'm taking a vow of chastity.

Randy said...

That's funny, Richard! A friend who is your age said the same thin when she saw that picture of you on here about a month ago ;-)

Susan said...

I'd take hanging out with these ladies over red-hat ladies anyday. They look like way much more fun.

Laura(southernxyl) said...

Nope, sorry, fivewheel, this is what you said:

"Seriously, though, don't these people deserve to be mocked in the same manner as the geeks who wear stupid costumes to Star Wars movies? (My brethren, admittedly.)"

You don't want to wear costumes to Star Wars movies, so anybody who does "deserves" to be mocked. This has nothing to do with conformity, it has to do with your readiness to mock people who do things that aren't your particular cup of tea.

KCFleming said...

"your readiness to mock people"

Don't mock, smock.
Tie-dyed no less.

A.W. said...

I for one feel that dressing up in Star Wars stuff is much, much more mockable. and i say that loving the movies.

Ron said...

RLC: send me your women!

fivewheels said...

Laura, you're not getting it. What do you think "My brethren" means? It means, among other things, that I have a Red Wings jersey with "Kenobi" on the back. I doubt anyone else misunderstood. Honestly, you jump to conclusions a lot based on what you think people are saying rather than what they say.

fivewheels said...

To spell it out further for you, all I was saying was: If my silly subculture has to take shit constantly, let their equally silly (but historically far more destructive) subculture eat some too.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

They are having fun and that's great...but do any of you who lived through that era remember anyone or any VW looking like that?

Not really. The tie dye they are wearing is a bit too even and bright. Obviously commercial and not home made but fun for the ladies nevertheless. They look like they are having a blast.

Tie dye was cool but more hip was to dress in faux native american indian style or old time prairie granny dresses or India indian style clothing. Ragged, patched and embroidered blue jeans. Beads and bangles. Earth groovy and all that stuff.

The VW....um...I've seen worse in SF during the hippie era. VW bus painted all kinds of colors with glued on doll parts and some even with plants growing on the roofs. Very funny.

LordSomber said...

There is something very, very sad about that picture.

I can't imagine punks (or emo's or name any genre/movement types) getting costumed out when they're hitting 50.

It's as if these types will never grow up.

Laura(southernxyl) said...

fivewheels: You said that these people deserve to be mocked. Now you are saying that you deserve to be mocked. Is that what you are saying?

You also said this:

As an X'er, all I can say is: I'm coming around on that death panel thing.

Gah, I'm sorry that I can't help being that way, and I'm sure they were very nice. But come on.


Want to interpret that for me now?

Laura(southernxyl) said...

LordSomber said...
There is something very, very sad about that picture.


There is something very, very weird about you saying that, because the women themselves appear to be pretty happy, as others have said. It makes you sad to see people having a bit of harmless fun? What's that saying about the Puritans?

Richard Lawrence Cohen said...

Ron: Never! I manufacture them with a secret formula.

Randy: Then she and I are a match.