It's still the 60's here!

April 26, 2006 8:09 AM

From colorful Eugene, Oregon, comes the new independent film HIPPIES about a group of folks who have not given up their values or their vices, and set about saving the earth. Trailer here. (Note release date.)

Of course, the Oregon Country Fair is still going strong and weird
(minor muddy boobage in last link)
posted by Danf (26 comments total)

Makes me nostalgic for my days at University of Oregon, when we would walk over to downtown to check out the freak show at the Eugene Saturday Market.

That said, the actual movie looks pretty lame.
posted by sbrollins at 8:34 AM on April 26, 2006

I actually attended the Country Fair a couple years ago. I was so icked out by teh hippy that I had to blast The Cure all the way back to Portland.
posted by pieisexactlythree at 9:24 AM on April 26, 2006

I've never been to Eugene. It looks like a fun place.
posted by deborah at 9:26 AM on April 26, 2006

Makes me think of the "Drugs Stink" song from Bob Roberts and appreciate it unironically.
posted by Mayor Curley at 9:30 AM on April 26, 2006

This is the reason after my time at UO I couldn't wait to get the hell out. One more mangy reject with a puppy on a hemp leash asking me for change on 13th street and I was going to go ballistic...
posted by Heminator at 9:30 AM on April 26, 2006

I wonder if the "Whole Earth Festival" still goes on at U.C. Davis, or as we called it at the time "Freak Week". Wavy Gravy was the MC every year. Back in the day it was a serious hippie get together, but later it was pretty much a glorified crafts fair.
posted by Eekacat at 9:59 AM on April 26, 2006

Eekacat: Unfortunately, yes. In my younger years living here in the valley I thought it a great lark: lets all go play hippie and watch the girls go running by braless.

In later years, when a good friend and I decided to get discretely stoned in the arboretum and subsequently got The Eye from the good people of Davis, I decided that it was all a yuppie sham and they could fuck themselves. (Note: IANAH)

For those unfamiliar with the culture, rich enclaves still exist. I know that there's some fairly large hippie areas back east and they dot up and down the PNW. Hell, one need go no further north than Arcata, CA to find it...
posted by Ogre Lawless at 10:06 AM on April 26, 2006

Speaking of hippie stuff, for those in the Austin area, here's a reminder that Eeyore's Birthday is this saturday.
posted by jefbla at 10:08 AM on April 26, 2006

An authentic mud tribe, huh? Yeah.
Looks authentic to me.
I mean, topless women, drums - that's gotta be tribal.
Mud tribe.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 10:44 AM on April 26, 2006

Heminator, my favorite was when the mangy reject would ask for change while wearing his brand new Birkenstocks, while I would be walking to class in my Doc Martens with holes in them.

You did have to appreciate the honesty of some of the Eugene burnouts, though. I remember one guy in particular that flat out told my friends and I that he needed some change because he was "trying to get high."
posted by sbrollins at 11:07 AM on April 26, 2006

What I really hate are these freaks and parasites who hang around Capitol Hill panhandling for tax dodges, government handouts, protectionism and regulatory exemptions. Why don't these corporate losers try working for a living?
posted by George_Spiggott at 11:26 AM on April 26, 2006

I hate hippies.
posted by keswick at 11:35 AM on April 26, 2006

What George_Spiggot said. Double.
posted by nofundy at 11:42 AM on April 26, 2006

This is the reason after my time at UO I couldn't wait to get the hell out. One more mangy reject with a puppy on a hemp leash asking me for change on 13th street and I was going to go ballistic...

For some reason, it's always puppies, and never full-grown dogs. . .

hmmmmm
posted by Danf at 11:47 AM on April 26, 2006

Meh.

It's pretty cliche to mock Eugene's hippies. Keep in mind that the Eugene area is really two cities, Eugene and Springfield, separated only by I-5. While Eugene is the college town and like college towns, full of liberal minded youths, it's not any more hippiefied (imho) than any other. Meanwhile Springfield is chock full of meth-manufacturing, pickup truck driving, pro wrestling watching southern Oregonians. Things average out.

I lived there for four years while attending UO. I knew a number of Lorax Manner co-op kids. While it does occasionally merit the reputation, on the whole the Eugene area is pretty middle of the road, perhaps even slightly right of center.

The movie looks silly, but not out of line with what I've come to expect from Eugene's, um, burgeoning film industry.
posted by mullingitover at 11:58 AM on April 26, 2006

I like that picture, the one with the daisies in it.
posted by scratch at 12:16 PM on April 26, 2006

mullingitover -
What Eugene did you live in?
"Slightly right of center"?
It may not be the hippieville it once was, but right of center?
Maybe you lived there pre-Bush Jr.?
posted by madajb at 1:19 PM on April 26, 2006

I got your back Madajb - Mullingitover, seriously I lived in Eugene four years as well and you're smoking the same herb as all the damn hippies that infest the place if you think Eugene is "perhaps even slightly right of center."
posted by Heminator at 2:40 PM on April 26, 2006

I haven't been to Eugene since Jerry Garcia was alive. I rather like Eugene.


(And kudos, George_Spiggott; well said.)
posted by leftcoastbob at 3:09 PM on April 26, 2006

Jerry is not alive anymore?

This changes everything for me.
posted by Danf at 3:29 PM on April 26, 2006

...the new independent film HIPPIES about a group of folks who have not given up their values or their vices...

Good. I thought for a minute this was going to be about historical re-enactors.
posted by hydrophonic at 5:55 PM on April 26, 2006

Capitol Hill Parasites and Hippies, birds of a feather.
posted by acetonic at 6:00 PM on April 26, 2006

sbrollins writes "my favorite was when the mangy reject would ask for change while wearing his brand new Birkenstocks, while I would be walking to class in my Doc Martens with holes in them."

I think it's funny how easily the punk vs. hippie war is revived. It's also funny that punks think their suburbanite adolescent affectations and overpriced, trendy clothing are any less ridiculous and tired than the hippies they detest.
posted by krinklyfig at 7:05 PM on April 26, 2006

I nearly fell over when someone else knew about Arcata. My (very straight and militaristic) father was born in Eureka and most of his family now live an "alternative" lifestyle in Arcata.

Nothing weirder than seeing your aunt breastfeeding her kid, her grandkid and then offering to breastfeed your own kid when she has a free boob.
posted by hollygoheavy at 8:19 PM on April 26, 2006

I lived in Eugene for a year and a half, and apart from the area around the university and Downtown, I found the place pretty conservative too.

A few years ago my girlfriend's (Native American) sister was walking home from the OCF with her white boyfriend when they were attacked by a group of skinheads. They taunted them about being an interacial couple and then proceeded to beat the crap out of the boyfriend. When the girl tried to intervene they broke her wrist. They were never caught.
posted by Devils Slide at 9:40 PM on April 26, 2006

If hippies didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent them.

In college, I was friends with identical twins. One was a punk and one was a hippie. The hippie made something of himself. Last time I saw the punk, he was homeless.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 10:06 PM on April 26, 2006