Attempting to get back to my hippie roots

This was a big deal at the time. "Meeting" Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in August 2013.

At age 14 if you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I would have said Janis Joplin. At age 20 if you asked me the same thing I would say I want to work with Janis Joplin. Not that I ever wanted to be Janis Joplin. I wanted to have the lifestyle and the clothes and the carefree attitude. I was the queen for Halloween my senior year of high school and totally rocked it but I really just wanted was to be a hippie.

At age 14 I would have killed to have gone to Woodstock, would have loved to follow bands around the country and to be able to see them live in person during their prime. I've seen a lot of older rockers in concerts but, let me tell you, it's not the same. I wanted nothing more than to dance around a field and play in the mud like in "Taking Woodstock."

I tried so hard to be a hippie. I grew my hair long and wavy and frizzy. I started listeneing to The Beatles then branched out to less stereotypical classic rock bands. The Doors were my favorite band for a long time. I was a stereotypical flower child from the 1970s stuck in the 2000s. 

I grew out of this though. Thankfully. I now see how annoying I could be spewing out random bits of classic rock information. All. The. Time. Did you once know that John Bonham threw Ringo Starr into a pool? And that Keith Moon used to play pranks on anyone and everyone and The Who is banned for life from multiple chains of hotels? And so so so much more.

Rolling around in historical grass in June 2014 in Bethel, NY, the site of Woodstock in 1969.

This summer I attempted to get back to my hippie roots. I bought a pair of Birkenstocks and a long skirt with flowers  on it. I dusted off my records and blasted Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. I walked around outside barefoot in the grass with with my now short hair piled on top of my head while taking pictures. But I'm not like that anymore.

The other day I was cleaning my room and I decided to listen to The Doors greatest hits album digitally. Not on record, but my iPod Classic which can hold up to 20,000 songs opposed to a vinyl record which can hold up to 20 minutes of music on each side. The familiar sounds of "Break on Through (To the Other Side)" filled my bedroom walls and I just didn't get anything out of it. I wasn't singing along and felt myself ignoring the music and concentrating more on cleaning up.

I know I grew out of that stage of my life but I couldn't help but feeling sad. I have a Jim Morrison poster in my room and I like to cite the American poet as one of my inspirations but am I just saying that out of habit? Is Jim Morrison still one of my favorite poets and singers or am I just saying that to hold onto something?

My hippie ways have honestly made me who I am. The reason that I want to be a music journalist today is because of all the classic rock music that I listened to during my early teenage years that led to broaden my horizons. I was such a music snob ages 13 to 17. I definitely still am but I'm different now. I grew up and I realized there's only so many times one can listen to "Physical Graffiti" on vinyl before they start to hate themselves. Just thinking about how much I used to like the Grateful Dead is actually super embarrassing and I'd rather not talk about it.

I'm pretentious. I have no problem admitting this. I am a music snob and memorize lyrics and albums until I find something better. I realize now that's what I did to The Beatles that led me to The Doors, which led me to Led Zeppelin. The ways of the 1960s and 70s honestly did shape me into the person I am today and still see myself as a sad, ol' hippie. I am often called a "treehugger" (which irritates me to no end) because I'm a vegetarian and yell at people when they don't recycle. Hippie ways. 

I started collecting records when I was 15 years old. My "collection" is small and I have since stopped but I am happy and proud of the records I own. I mostly own AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and The Doors records. Pictured looking at a Led Zeppelin album in August 2012 (also notice the "School of Rock" shirt I am wearing).

I still consider myself a hippie. I throw up the heavy-metal devil horns whenever I get the chance and wear floral more than a person probably should. I love to be outside and sit around a campfire and stare at the stars. I have a Led Zeppelin poster in my room that covers the entire wall that is my pride and joy. I may not have the same sense of joy putting on a record as I used to but I can thank that very action for the person I am today.