We shall put to one side the question of hippy composition and consider in its stead the question of compositions played by hippies, or those whom one might take once to have been hippies, such as is the venerable Peter Walker, whom I saw perform, having been opened for by Jack Rose and the surprisingly nonsucky Alps (who, by dint of projecting stuff onto a screen while they played, reminded me of the guy I saw who opened crosslegged sitarwise for Rick Bishop in the summer of 2004, whose projected stuff included scenes of a JZ Smith maybe 10-15 years younger than he then was smoking on the quads of Chicago, thereby casting me into a state of melancholic navelgazing from which I have yet to emerge fully, as evidenced by this entire parenthetical).
I admit to being somewhat put off by the friendly old man-ness of Peter Walker! I liked what he played a lot, but it seemed as if he wanted the crowd to like him—he'd occasionally look up and smile in a way that I, probably quite uncharitably, interpreted as a plea for approval from the crowd. (It didn't help that his inter-song stories were awkwardly old-manly. And from an old man, no less!) I was expecting more reserved dignity. But of course it's totally possible that he's just ingenuously a nice hippyish old dude who was behaving more or less unselfconsciously, which, officially, is exactly how I'd have things, and I just don't like being reminded of the indignities of age (walking slowly, forgetting where one put one's pick, etc).
When a person smiles at another person it indicates any number of things: a genuine happiness at seeing that person, a pleasurable thought, a perpetual, goofy jollity.
When a hippy smiles, an old hippy or young one, it means only one thing: a base, treacly, pathetic cry for approval. Watch out for your honey.
Posted by: text | November 22, 2006 at 08:47 AM
Which is more loathesome: a performer who openly covets audience approval, or a performer who affects disdain for the very fact of performance?
Posted by: bitchphd | November 24, 2006 at 07:33 PM
Both covetousness and affectation are bad. Why?
Posted by: ben wolfson | November 24, 2006 at 07:41 PM
Just wondering.
Posted by: bitchphd | November 24, 2006 at 08:01 PM
Both pale, however, next to the irritating "verify that you are not a bot by typing this random sequence of letters and numbers" thing you've got coded into your commenting.
Posted by: bitchphd | November 24, 2006 at 08:02 PM
Typepad does that. I hate it too.
Posted by: ben wolfson | November 24, 2006 at 08:06 PM