You're absolutely right, Ari, and that history of co-option and marketing of
subcultures started towards the end of the 60s. Though some might put the
date further back to the whitewashing of rock and roll in the 50s, I
suppose. Or you could even go back to the mainstreaming by white performers
of black hipster culture of the 30s and 40s.
The irony is the original production of HAIR was itself an attempt to co-opt
the counterculture, watering it down and turning it into, of all things, a
musical!
I well remember when it came out and the disgust it was greeted with in the
underground press (of which I was a small part) at the time.
So anyone seeing HAIR now is seeing a very pale shadow of a pale shadow of
something that was once gritty and vibrant and REAL, which HAIR never was.
Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ari Richards" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2009 11:09 PM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Off-topic--Broadway's HAIR visits a non-coping Conan the
Annoying
cant really comment re HAIR as ive never seen it, and to be honest don't
want to, but it always happens, subcultures etc get watered down, I get
pissed off when i see these modern "punk" bands, college students who are
so squeaky clean, they spend more time manicuring their nails than paris
hilton. When I was at university we did a study on an essay called JEANING
OF AMARICA (google it) - where his argument was that buy making a
subversive culture mainstream , kills any power they have. You can see it
also in Rap music.
Ari
--- On Fri, 17/7/09, Joseph Bonelli <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Joseph Bonelli <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Off-topic--Broadway's HAIR visits a non-coping Conan
the Annoying
To: [email protected]
Received: Friday, 17 July, 2009, 10:35 AM
Perhaps a real-live
"Trip" to or in the PAST might .....
naaaah! I doubt it.
Joe
--- On Thu, 7/16/09, Jeff Potokar
<[email protected]> wrote:
From: Jeff Potokar <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Off-topic--Broadway's HAIR visits a
non-coping Conan the Annoying
To: [email protected]
Date: Thursday, July 16, 2009, 5:20 PM
Perhaps... a trip to the broadway
production with a simple, personal lesson in better Jazz
hands might bring the show up to snuff?
On Jul 14, 2009, at 4:00 AM, Franc wrote:
My goodness, you articulated my
cranky criticism of the current NY production entirely. I
saw HAIR in Central Park last summer and I couldn't get
over how much of a period piece this has become. The cast
was great and the music was as pleasant, and sometimes as
stirring, as ever but there was something sad about watching
this piece that was about protest and not conforming amidst
a group of yuppies, myself included, in flip-flops,
Ralph Lauren Polo shirts and dockers. The show was
protesting the very generation that we had become. We
the audience were lovin' it as a nostalgia piece, not as
protest theater. Even the celebrated nude scene at the end
of the first act that shocked everyone back in the
'60s looked relatively tame leading me to believe that
Thomas Wolfe was right: you really can't go home
again.
FRANC
-----Original
Message-----
From: MoPo List [mailto:[email protected]]
On Behalf Of Joseph Bonelli
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 12:56 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [MOPO] Off-topic--Broadway's HAIR
visits a non-coping Conan the Annoying
Just turned on the tv in time to catch the title tune
and "Let the Sunshine In" from the Broadway HAIR
revival that has made people under 40 think they "get
it."
They don't!
It's too damned CLEAN!!!
Choreography!! Too-pretty people! Pressed
costumes! Make up! Sho-biz!!
Well done but---- not 1968, folks!! Not
"HAIR!"
So much of this generation doesn't even KNOW
there's "a war" because NO ONE is MAKING
them GO! That's what "HAIR" is
about!!!
I had friends in the original L.A. company of this
real, live "happening." They said that on
opening night that Tommy Smothers, one of the producers,
passed out joints to the cast, told them to all light up and
then --- hit the stage!! It was REAL.
The revival seems beautifully done. But it
AIN'T "real." Nobody passed out anything,
obviously, except teeth-whitener!
And Conan obviously hated it because it (thank God)
took the attention away from him!
Some shows should just be left alone.
Joe B in NOLA
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