Well, for some of us it is
Sri Dharma Mittra in London last month. Can you figure out which is the real rebel? (HINT: It's probably not the ones searching for the Atman).
Sri Dharma in NYC, circa 1984 (from his famous poster)
CK in Minneapolis, circa 1986 (from her famous rebellion)
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-Photo of Sri Dharma in London by Hugh Herrera (c) 2010
-Photo of Sri Dharma in NYC by Dharma Mittra (c) 1984. (This photo reminds me of the Greek medical symbol -- and the nadis of course).
-Photo of CK (c) 1986 by Tony Retkowski, from Tusitala magazine
A punk CK, : ) always shocking to see punks outside UK. had a good friend in 81 with a double mohican.
ReplyDeleteThere was a first wave of punk here, called '77 punk (Ramones, New York Dolls, etc). I was in the second wave; our music was hardcore punk (faster, louder, more political) and we were *really* angry. I suspect your friend was also in the second wave. I remember seeing the Dead Kennedys and Fang (a skinhead band!) at Metro in '83 and realizing, "This is it!"
ReplyDeleteWhat the kids are doing now is beyond me.
Yep second wave, Pistols, Clash etc. Anger was very much in fashion over here too, if you weren't particularly angry...well people tended to get quite peeved about that too. I just left them to it and traveled for most of the 80's
ReplyDeleteI'm biting - where did you go?
ReplyDeleteNowhere exotic really. Spent a bunch of years traveling all over Europe picking up work here and there then Canada and the States. I hitched or walked pretty much everywhere, mostly sleeping in tents and playing the harmonica for bread. Was very dismissive of the whole hippy trail in those days, shame wish I'd gone now, might have ended up in Mysore twenty years ago.
ReplyDeleteDid you hit Chicago?
ReplyDeleteI hear you re; hippie trail. The punks loathed the hippies - thought they could have changed everything, and instead just traded it for wealth.
(We also thought the only reason they protested the war was less about its injustice, but because they didn't want to be drafted. Self-interested brats, we thought. They had free love and easy economic times, and we got Herpes, AIDS and the recession. Plus there were no jobs left by the time we finished college [our big protests were against nuclear arms, the unofficial US wars in Central America, and Apartheid. During the last, the fraternities on campus threw stuff at us and yelled racial epithets. By then, Reagan was in office. No wonder we were angry!]).
I did I sold a cleaner door to door for awhile around the midwest and ended up in Chicago, think it was called "Tough and tidy'.
ReplyDeleteWe had Thatcher, Greenham common, Falklands war and the Miners strike, glad I was away for most of it.
I suppose that if we were less angry, we may have realized that going to India was a GOOD thing, not simply a hippie thing....
ReplyDeleteI'm watching Om Nama Shivya on DVD (all 200 episodes!) and one of Brahma's sons is so angry and stubborn, he keeps ruining everything. He was born out of Brahma's big toe, and came out that way (angry/stubborn). It is a quality of Tamas.
For me, the way out of Tamas (towards Sattva) is Rajas - action. That's probably why I love how dynamic Ashtanga and Dharma Yoga are.
Tough and Tidy describes Chicago!
ReplyDeleteYou may have been her during the brief reign of Harold Washington - our first and only African American mayor. The vibe in this still very segregated city was different then (more sattvic, more inclusive).
i did not think i saw you last week at iggy & the stooges :-(
ReplyDeletethat shot of you with the tall mohawk is fab !
Thank you. It was so tall I had to scoot down very low in order to fit inside and drive my white '77 Buick Le Sabre.
ReplyDeleteNo more concerts for me. The interest has waned (hence giving away my record collection last year).
Kirtans, though, are another story - as long as they don't start doing solos and singing in English!
Hair styles,music, and objects of anger change, but not much else.At that age it's becoming clear that things arent perfect and well, somebody has to be blamed.The only thing that has ever consistently captured the raw enthusiasim and anger of youth is war.Who knows,maybe twitter,facebook,and black framed glasses will change the world this time around.
ReplyDeleteFinally we get to see the mohawk! Thank you. Looked good on you.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Boodi!
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that has ever consistently captured the raw enthusiasm and anger of youth is war. Really? How about injustice? Paris '68?
I think most youth are not angry. Most people believe in the system as long as it works for them. Then... POW!
Was not Paris 68 war?The universe works for no one,death is the mediator.We are all somebodies bitch.Youth may not be angry but it loves the high so they(me)are(were) all in. At some point it's a simplier life.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what you're trying to say, but Paris '68 was about many things - including a protest against overcrowded universities, poor labor prospects, and the conservative De Gaulle government. What's wonderful is that labor joined in.
ReplyDeleteChristopher Isherwood was against World War II. Instead of getting angry and joining some movement, he realized he had to start with himself, and found yoga. It's detailed very nicely in his 1980 memoir, My Guru and His Disciple.
Starting with oneself is the key. After starting yoga-asana practice, I stopped putting my fists through windows, walls and windshields. After learning more about yoga philosophy from Dharma - and starting to actually believe it - my anger and sense of injustice and victimhood all but evaporated.
I the dont think I'm trying to say anything but rather sharing a perspective that is mine and not necessarily pertinent to your posting. I enjoy your writing and occassionally It moves me to comment instead of just enjoying the thoughts it creates.
ReplyDeleteJust for the record Fang were not a skinhead band per se.
ReplyDeleteAs you point out ("per se") there is a gray area regarding what Fang was or was not.
ReplyDelete