Scratch a hippie...find a BMW.

[GordonJ]

The old saying is, scratch a hippie and find an authoritarian. HMMM.

Hippies?

Yea, Asheville N.C. is like a combination of San Francisco, Marin County, Taos and Sedona with a little Palm Beach tossed in.

It is filled with "hippies". As well as just about every other label you can place on a segment of our population.

Well, I was talking to a guy who goes by the name of FREEDOM. He's right out of Haight-Ashbury '67. Looks like a hippie, talks like one and dare I say, smells like one.

After listening to Freedom for awhile telling about fighting the "good cause" of the last 40 years, turns out his father died and left a 6 million dollar fortune and "junior" has been pretty much living off of his capitalist pig of a father, those monthly checks have been spent on many a fresh herb or two...

Never judge a hippie by his sandals (his could have been Roberto Cavelli...mine {back in the day} were Robert Hall) ...

Anyhow, there is an old truth, look at their feet and hands if you want to know the "real" story. I think it was Don Alm who talked about some "poor looking" guy who came into his store, until Don looked at his shoes.

You can tell a lot about people by the shoes they wear.

Anyhow, Asheville is a trip man, really FAR out.

Gordon Jay Alexander

PS: And Asheville has more good looking women than South Beach and Hollywood combined. If it weren't for that damn white stuff I could have found a new home...but even a "little snow" is MORE than this old hipster/yupster/bedster can take.

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by GordonJ

The old saying is, scratch a hippie and find an authoritarian. HMMM.

Hippies?

Yea, Asheville N.C. is like a combination of San Francisco, Marin County, Taos and Sedona with a little Palm Beach tossed in.

It is filled with "hippies". As well as just about every other label you can place on a segment of our population.

Thanks for sharing your experiences, Gordon!

Whiling away your days in a drugged out stupor is not my idea of a great life, and not one likely to lead to success.

Of course, I guess if you have $6 million to blow inherited from your old man, maybe it won't "hit you" now, though it still may "slam into you" later - like being hit by a Mack Truck...

There's a lesson in there somewhere, I think...!

Best wishes,

Dien

P.S. Did you know that the headquarters of Mack Trucks is also in North Carolina? After writing "Mack Truck" above, I Googled it, and just found that out... A spooky coincidence!

[GordonJ]

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

Whiling away your days in a drugged out stupor is not my idea of a great life, and not one likely to lead to success.

Sort of like whiling away your days in an Internet Marketing stupor looking for a magic bullet solution while spending years and thousands of dollars not getting to success either.

At least Ol Freedom is out in the fresh air interacting with people.

Time Wasters come in all shapes, sizes and economic conditions.

But there is a philosophical challenge there too... it has to do with judgements we make on other people's lives...and if "success" is what some of these Internet Marketing guru's have, you know, guys with fish tanks so big they need a scuba diver to clean them out...

well,

I'd rather spend an hour listening to street people like Freedom and the buskers around Asheville than spend a minute in the company of "success" driving around town in their BMW's filming surprise "meetings"...

But, hey, that's a JUDGEMENT too...although, I'm working on it.

Gordon

PS. I have met some incredibly SUCCESSFUL people here, who are involved with really neat projects such as sustainability, solar power, health, organic eating and great MUSIC. As many great musicians in Asheville as you'll find anywhere.

Several houses here that make that Lake Erie dump you and I looked at (the one with all those gawdyyyy horsies, ha!) like a small pool cabana. I'd be happy to do my impression of Kato Kaelin here.

Keep in mind, as per some Good ol' Google Bots and a little Hippie related Food for Thought(s)...

Steve... Hare Krishna and Many others are Still around and Kicking... Although, Not all and of course Times, Economics etc... Keep on Changing!

But interesting...

It was Steve who came up with the idea of selling them; he and Woz would go from room ... However, this business was illegal and the two of them stopped after they ... every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. ... He occasionally used LSD, and became something of a laggard hippie. ...
http://allaboutstevejobs.com/bio/long/01.html
http://allaboutstevejobs.com/bio/long/03.html

Phil

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by Phil

Keep in mind, as per some Good ol' Google Bots and a little Hippie related Food for Thought(s)...

Steve... Hare Krishna and Many others are Still around and Kicking... Although, Not all and of course Times, Economics etc... Keep on Changing!

Hi Phil,

Well pointed out...!

Actually, I don't have anything against "hippies" per se... I'm just not into the drug thing, personally...

However, many entrepreneurs might be called "hippies" or "former hippies"...

As well as Steve Jobs, some others could be...

• Richard Branson (founder of... oh... about a zillion companies, including Virgin Records and Virgin Airlines)
• Paul Hawken (author of "Growing a Business" and entrepreneur behind "Erewhon" natural foods and "Smith & Hawken" garden supply company)
• Ben & Jerry (of the ice-cream fame)
• Anita Roddick (founder of the Body Shop)
• Kenny Kramer (inspiration for Cosmo Kramer on "Seinfeld") - "During the disco years Kenny created an electronic jewelry item that sold so well that Kramer was able to live comfortably long after disco died." http://www.kennykramer.com/kramerbio.html

As long as there's a market for it, you can start a business doing it!

Here are a few more...

"The hippies who made it big"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/695976.stm

Best wishes,

Dien

Nice post, I like it much.