THE ‘UNCLE DUKE’ ACTION FIGURE THAT MADE HUNTER S. THOMPSON WANT TO ‘RIP OUT’ GARRY TRUDEAU’S LUNGS
06.10.2016
10:20 am
It was 1974 when Gary Trudeau debuted the newest member of his Doonesburycomic crew, “Uncle Duke,” to the world. And the man whom the character was based on, gun-toting Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson was not pleased. In an interview with High Times, Thompson recalled the moment he became aware of Uncle Duke.
It was a hot, nearly blazing day in Washington, and I was coming down the steps of the Supreme Court looking for somebody, Carl Wagner or somebody like that. I’d been inside the press section, and then all of a sudden I saw a crowd of people and I heard them saying, “Uncle Duke,” I heard the words Duke, Uncle; it didn’t seem to make any sense. I looked around, and I recognized people who were total strangers pointing at me and laughing. I had no idea what the fuck they were talking about. I had gotten out of the habit of reading funnies when I started reading the Times. I had no idea what this outburst meant…It was a weird experience, and as it happened I was sort of by myself up there on the stairs, and I thought: “What in the fuck madness is going on? Why am I being mocked by a gang of strangers and friends on the steps of the Supreme Court? Then I must have asked someone, and they told me that Uncle Duke had appeared in the Post that morning.
Thompson went on to say that “no one grows up wanting to be a cartoon character” and that if he ever caught up with Garry Trudeau, he would “rip his lungs out.” Whilethat never happened, in 1992 Trudeau published book called Action Figure!; The Life and Times of Doonesbury’s Uncle Duke that chronicled the misadventures of Uncle Duke that came with a five-inch action figure of dear Uncle Duke along with a martini glass, an Uzi, cigarette holder, a bottle of booze, and a chainsaw. While theDoonesbury creator has never been one to shy away from controversy, this bold move seemed rather suicidal or at the very least a very direct threat to the current location of Trudeau’s lungs. You can actually still find the book and its sneering Uncle Duke action figure on auction sites like eBay and on Amazon like I did. More images follow.
In the late-‘80s, my parents familiarized me with the relatively passé term “headshop.” They were ex-hippies who liked to reminisce during casual listens of Dark Side of the Moon. Had it not been for these moments of family bonding, I’d have remained ignorant of the term until well into my late teens. A lot of my friends were into the rave scene, possibly the late-‘90s substitute for the hippie scene, but no one ever mentioned a headshop. After a generational gap that witnessed the term “headshop” fade largely from popular vocabulary, it has in recent years returned to our lexicon. But while the word has been reintegrated, the meaning behind it remains foggy. Today we explore the history of America’s iconic headshop as a cog in a cultural cycle that rolls into our time nearly 50 years later.
Why Call it a Headshop?
The Psychedelic Shop on Haight in San Francisco – possibly the world’s first headshop.
While the word “headshop” may have found its way back into popular vocabulary, the origin of the term may still seem elusive and confusing. Some claim “head” is actually an acronym for “He Eats Acid Daily.” Others may relate the term to a popular nickname for fans of the Grateful Dead; dead heads. But more than likely, the term actually found its seeds in slang that originated in 1913. This year marked the first documentation of someone pairing the name of a drug with the word “head” to denote a subject as an addict. In the ‘60s, when acid heads and pot heads became a pronounced aspect of American counterculture, headshops appeared to cater to those who wanted to improve their experiences. The song “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane repeats the line “feed your head” at the song’s closing; a challenge to the listener to expand his/her mind. In essence, a headshop’s mission was to help its clients “feed their heads.”
The Role Served by the Local Headshop
What to expect from your average headshop.
Headshops began as shops specializing in selling drug paraphernalia. You could pretty much count on your local headshop to carry all sorts of goodies to keep your intoxication at its optimum from water pipes and rolling papers to psychedelic visual aids and incense. Of course, the drugs themselves were not part of a headshop’s inventory. In fact, federal and state laws often found headshops skirting violations through sheer creativity. To create the impression that the glass pipes and water pipes decorating the headshop shelves were definitely not intended for drug use, certain incriminating words were banned from use within the store. Uttering one of these suggestive words would often buy you an immediate ejection from the headshop or, in severe cases, a permanent ban. In states that have yet to legalize marijuana, this vocabulary-based ban remains in full effect.
Headshops in the late ‘60s also became important points of countercultural support, offering a safe haven for distributing underground publications that questioned authority or promoted esoteric spiritual practices. This political poignancy was gradually watered down. By the early ‘90s, the headshop aesthetic had been co-opted. You could walk into a shopping mall to buy your tie-dyed Bob Marley t-shirt, smiley face black light poster and Che Guevara shot glass. The revolution had long been sold and the need for headshops was no longer so immediate.
The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Headshops
Head Shop, NYC’s first headshop.
When headshops first began sprouting up, it was most common to find them in the hippest districts of the major U.S. cities. California experienced a pronounced headshop boom in the iconic birthplace of psychedelia, Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco. Further down the coast, LA’s west side was offering up a fair amount of headshops, particularly closer to the beach. On the East Coast, New York City used St. Mark’s Place as its headshop haven while the Midwest even had its fair share in Chicago’s Old Town.
The birth of the headshop arguably began with the legendary Psychedelic Shop on Haight Street which opened its door on January 3, 1966. New York City saw what was likely its first headshop a few months later when the candidly named Head Shop took residence on E. 9th Street. Headshops never completely went away but as stoner culture was co-opted by corporations for novelty T-shirts, the average headshop found itself forcibly streamlined into a standard smoke shop; a store that traded strictly in drug paraphernalia such as water pipes. However, with marijuana now existing in an almost-but-not-quite-legal gray zone, headshops are returning to popularity. Many have even evolved beyond their brick-and-mortar predecessors with the advent of the online headshop.
Today’s headshops may bear little resemblance to those that supported the late ‘60s counterculture, but at their heart, they’re offering similar services. The glass pipes never went away and in several cases the Bob Marley t-shirts and incense are back in the inventory. Do the modern headshops still offer the mind-expanding aids and countercultural poignancy intrinsically offered by the term “headshop” itself? That depends on the head.
‘Call Me Burroughs’ pins down the extreme life of William Burroughs
Barry Miles’ William Burroughs biography ‘Call Me Burroughs’ is an extensive, fascinating biography of the ‘Naked Lunch’ author, including the William Tell shooting death of his wife and his life as countercultural spokesman.
Cover of the book “Call Me Burroughs” by Barry Miles. (Twelve )
William S. Burroughs’ “Naked Lunch” stands with Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” and Allen Ginsburg’s “Howl” as the seminal texts of the Beat Generation. With its harrowing scenes of junkie depravity, its view of postwar America was the most extreme of all the Beats. Yet few American literary figures have enjoyed more second acts than Burroughs. He was spokesman for the countercultural movement in the ’70s, begrudgingly bore the label Godfather of Punk in the ’80s, and was a spoken-word performer and visual artist until his death in 1997.
Barry Miles’ new biography, “Call Me Burroughs,” begins with the invention of the adding machine in 1888, which brought fortune to the Burroughs family and provided young master Bill a sizable allowance that he enjoyed until he was 50. Nice work if you can get it.
Wealthy or not, the 20th century childhood of a sensitive gay man was rarely easy, but Burroughs was fortunate to have received his awakening early. Alert to their son’s sensitivities, his parents sent him to an experimental school in northern New Mexico where the great outdoors was as much a part of the curriculum as French, Latin and Greek.
It was an all-boys school with an all-male staff that provided Bill with plenty of opportunities to confirm what he already knew about his sexual orientation. Getting caught resulted in immediate expulsion. Some semesters more teachers than students were sent home. The school was shut down when the government bought the land to build the Los Alamos National Laboratory, birthplace of the atom bomb. “It seemed to me right, somehow,” Burroughs quipped
#william.s.burroughs#Call Me Burroughs#biography#bool#ana_christy#beatnikhiway.com
There’s A Psychedelic Party On A Shoreditch Rooftop, And You’re Invited
Photo: Graham Turner
Shoreditch’s Queen of Hoxton rooftop bar has taken on the theme A Tribute To Dr Strange this year, in a bid to transport revellers back to the flower power age of the 1960s.
Rainbow food adorns the menu, including this psychedelic ice cream sandwich (clearly e-numbers weren’t a concern in the 60s). Burgers, fish and salads are also on the menu, for those with less of a sweet tooth.
Photo: Graham Turner
Ice cream floats, slushies and themed cocktails will cool rooftop-goers down on those long, hot summer days while they take in views of the City and the East End.
Photo: Graham Turner
The decor of the roof garden is every bit as eye-catching as the food, and best of all, entry is free.
We’re not entirely sure what this is, but we wouldn’t want to meet it down a dark alley. Photo: Graham Turner
Special events take place on the rooftop throughout the summer, including film screenings, flower garland workshops, and, for those who really want to embrace their inner hippie, festival clothing customisation sessions. Check the website for upcoming events (there’s a charge for most events).
Those not gifted with a sweet tooth won’t starve. Photo: Graham Turner
Queen of Hoxton summer rooftop is open 7 days a week, 12pm-10pm (closed for special events — worth checking before you go). Entry is free.
Animal Rights Activist, Film Actor, Television Actor (1961–)
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Woody Harrelson
OCCUPATION
Animal Rights Activist, Film Actor, Television Actor
BIRTH DATE
July 23, 1961 (age 54)
EDUCATION
Hanover College
PLACE OF BIRTH
Midland, Texas
FULL NAME
Woodrow Tracy Harrelson
ZODIAC SIGN
Leo
SYNOPSIS
EARLY LIFE
RISE TO FAME
CONTINUED SUCCESS
CITE THIS PAGE
Woody Harrelson is an actor known for his long-running role on TV’s Cheers, film roles and his breakthrough work on True Detective.
Synopsis
Woody Harrelson’s big break came in 1985, when he was cast as sweet, dim-witted bartender Woody Boyd on the wildly popular sitcom Cheers. His performance earned him five Emmy nominations and a win for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Harrelson moved into film and has had an impressive run, in films such as Natural Born Killers, The Thin Red Line and No Country for Old Men. More recently, Harrelson won accolades for his role on the HBO crime series True Detective.
Early Life
Woody Harrelson was born Woodrow Tracy Harrelson on July 23, 1961, in Midland, Texas, to parents Charles and Diane Harrelson. Harrelson’s father went to prison on a murder conviction when Harrelson was only seven, leaving Woody’s mother, a legal secretary, to raise him and his two brothers in Lebanon, Ohio. Harrelson was raised with a strong, spiritual foundation, which helped him earn a scholarship to Hanover College, a Presbyterian institution in Indiana.
In 1983, Harrelson earned a bachelor’s degree in English and theatrical arts, after which he headed to New York City to pursue acting. His career began as an understudy in the Neil Simon play Biloxi Blues and as an extra in various films and television shows.
Rise to Fame
Harrelson’s big break came in 1985, when he was cast as sweet, dim-witted bartender Woody Boyd on the wildly popular sitcom Cheers, which was in its fourth season. Woody was an instant hit with viewers, as well as with critics, and he stayed on with eight seasons. His performance earned him five Emmy nominations, including a 1989 Emmy win for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
While still on Cheers, Harrelson also continued his work as a stage actor, appearing in the James Brooks play Brooklyn Laundry in 1991, as well as the drama Furthest From the Sun (1993), a play he both wrote and directed. Harrelson also took on some supporting and cameo film roles in films such as Wildcats (1986) and L.A. Story (1991), as well his first starring role in the comedy White Men Can’t Jump, co-staring Wesley Snipes. But his film career didn’t take off until after Cheers was over and he starred with Demi Moore and Robert Redford in 1993’s Indecent Proposal. After the success of Indecent Proposal, Woody landed the lead in Oliver Stone’s controversial movie Natural Born Killers (1993), with co-star Juliette Lewis.
After starring roles in 1996’s The Sunchaser and the Farrelly Brothers’ comedy Kingpin (1996), Harrelson sparked controversy in the biopic The People vs. Larry Flynt. But once the controversy faded, Harrelson’s sympathetic portrayal of adult-film mogul Larry Flynt earned the actor Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor. The film was lauded by critics, and his performance boosted Harrelson to A-list actor status.
After that, Harrelson landed a series of more serious film roles, including the war movie Welcome to Sarajevo (1997), the political satire Wag the Dog (1997) and the award-winning war film The Thin Red Line (1998).
Continued Success
Harrelson earned the attention of critics again in 2007 for the Coen brothers drama No Country for Old Men. The film won Harrelson a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast, along with Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Kelly Macdonald. In 2008, Harrelson appeared in several films, including the comedy Semi-Pro with Will Ferrell and the drama Seven Pounds (2008) with Will Smith. In 2009, he co-starred in the horror comedy Zombieland and the dystopian apocalypse film 2012. His role that same year in the critically acclaimed drama The Messenger earned him several award nominations, including Golden Globe and Academy Award nods.
Harrelson made his next big splash, and it might be his biggest to date, on January 12, 2014, the day the series True Detective premiered on HBO. Harrelson played Detective Marty Hart opposite Matthew McConaughey, and both actors served as executive producers. The show, a dark and atmospheric crime drama, was an instant critical darling and pulled in a whole new crop of fans for Harrelson. It also earned the actor an Emmy nomination for Best Actor.
In addition to acting, Harrelson has been an outspoken advocate for the environment. His activism includes efforts for preserving the California redwoods, involvement in the American Oceans’ Campaign and legalization efforts for the use of industrial hemp. Harrelson challenged the constitutionality of the Kentucky state law that does not distinguish between industrial hemp and marijuana by planting several hemp seeds. He won the case, and became an advisor for NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
Harrelson was briefly married to Nancy Simon, the daughter of playwright Neil Simon, in 1985 during a trip to Tijuana, Mexico. They planned to annul the marriage but divorced instead in 1986. On January 11, 1998, Harrelson married longtime girlfriend and former assistant Laura Louie in a private ceremony in Costa Rica. Louie is currently a partner in their production company, Children at Play, and co-owned their health-food restaurant and oxygen bar, 02, which was located in Los Angeles. They currently reside in Maui, Hawaii, in a self-sustained community with their two children, Deni Montana and Zoe Giordano.
“Ken Kesey said to me, ‘Always put your good where it will do the most,'” he says. “I’ve underlined that one in my heart, in my mind and everything in between.” Susana Millman
Wavy Gravy will forever be associated with Woodstock, but from the moment you start talking with the clown prince of the counterculture, the former Hugh Romney makes it clear he isn’t a relic from the ’60s. “Did you like my haiku?” he asks, referring to one he’s just penned in honor of Prince: “A sexy God weeps/Soft wet tears fall on St. Paul/A purple rainbow.” “I enjoyed Prince,” Wavy says. “I like all good music, I bounce around.” Then he adds, with just a hint of solemnity, “It’s something in my geezer-ness, that, as people expire, I create haikus.”‘
Although he’ll turn 80 on May 15, Wavy Gravy works hard at avoiding his own geezer-ness. He continues his work with Camp Winnarainbow, a performing arts camp for kids in Laytonville, California, and the Seva Foundation, the nonprofit group dedicated to curing blindness for people around the world. In honor of Wavy’s milestone birthday, Steve Earle, Blues Traveler’s John Popper, the New Riders of the Purple Sage (still led by singer-guitarist David Nelson), and other acts will join forces on May 22 at the Somo Village Event Center, the solar-powered outdoor venue in Rohnert Park, California. Proceeds from the event(along with those raised by another Wavy tribute in Mill Valley on May 15) will benefit Seva. Those on the East Coast can honor Wavy’s 80th as well at “Unlimited Devotion: An Evening of Goodness,” which will feature an appearance by Wavy and a collection of rare Grateful Dead posters, all at the Main Line Art Center in Haverford, Pennsylvania on June 10 and 11. (A portion of proceeds will go toward the Rex Foundation, the charitable non-profit spun off from Wavy’s longtime friends, the Grateful Dead.)
Given all this activity, it felt high time to catch up with Wavy, a one-man tour of American counterculture over the last five decades.
How do you feel about turning 80? All I got to do is keep breathing. In 20 years, I’ll be 100.
How did you come to be involved with Seva? The [first] benefit was a Grateful Dead show. [Co-founder] Dr. Larry Brilliant’s boss came to him: “Larry, we must do something about this blindness.” And in Larry’s Rolodex were me and my wife Jahanara. I was given the task to get the Dead to do some music. I went to Detroit and who was on the airplane? The Grateful Dead, and they didn’t have parachutes. I sided with the drummers. I got Mickey and Billy to concur and then Jerry was a pushover. He always said, “Might as well.” It’s his exact quote. I used to talk to Jerry mostly about art. The last discussion I had with him was about a conceptual artist named Andy Goldsworthy who makes stuff out of logs and trees and bushes. That was ’93, ’94. Jerry was bubbling. But it was a hard ride for him.
You were there for some of the early Acid Tests, of course.
I was there in the beginning with the Merry Pranksters and I spent the better part of the early evening at one saying, “The Kool-Aid on the right is the electric Kool-Aid. The Kool-Aid on the left is for the children.” Two giant galvanized ash cans, brand new, one with acid and one not. Tom Wolfe got the information that I put the acid in the Kool-Aid at Watts. I didn’t. Fucking Owsley [Stanley] did. I still have mothers hit me with umbrellas, because they think that probably 50 people committed themselves that night.
What do you get out of being involved with Seva? We’ve been at it for 40 years and 3.5 million sight-saving surgeries. So it was all about making a little music in the free world and then causing somebody on the other side of the world to not bump into shit anymore. How could you not jump at it? Standing next to cataract surgery performed on the poorest of the poor was one of the highest moments of my life. It’s a high that is not achieved in that pharmaceutical cabinet.
How did you round up the musicians for this show? I’ve watched Yonder Mountain String band rise over the last five years and they keep going up, up, up and getting better and better. They take bluegrass into the stratosphere. Steve Earle has been with Seva for at least five years; it’s his second main cause, along with being against people being executed. John Popper, from Blues Traveler – we’ve been great friends over the years. Of course, the New Riders, we go back to the ancient times. I thought David Nelson would have been the most logical person to step into Jerry’s vacant shoes. I don’t know why that didn’t happen – because I was not in charge, obviously.
Ben and Jerry are also attending the 80th birthday event in Sonoma, giving out free ice cream. Bu they don’t make the Wavy Gravy flavor anymore, do they? No. I was a flavor for eight years and then they went public stock and all. They sold it to people who immediately sold out to this big Dutch corporation, who immediately dumped me for not being cost effective. But some day, I’m trying to resurface as a rainbow sorbet. I used to get $30,000 a year when I was a flavor. I donated all that money to Camp Winnarainbow.
Ben & Jerry’s co-founders scoop “Wavy Gravy” ice cream for its namesake in San Francisco. Lou Dematteis/Reuters
Do you have a stash of it somewhere? I wish. I’ve been offered hundreds of dollars.
Did you ever think the legalization of weed would happen? I thought it would happen about 30 or 40 years ago. Lenny Bruce was my manager at one point, and he convinced me: “Look, it’s going to happen. Everybody knows a lawyer that smokes pot or a law student. They’re going to carry it through and it’ll be legal in five years.” He was really, really off about that. But it’s happening now – “An eternity, now!” I always say. That’s a line of mine, by the way, that I began with the Nobody for President presidential campaign. We ran nobody from 1976 up until Obama with cross-country tours. When nobody did speeches, we used these windup clicking teeth. It was pretty hilarious.
Are you reviving Nobody this year? No. This time, I’m supporting anything but Trump. And people should make their vote count. I suspect that if we do, and if people realize the horror of that possibility, that people that never voted before will rise in mass numbers and blow him out of the water. And I suspect we’ll have a woman president.
I hope you’re right. Trust me on this. The alternative is so horrific. I don’t know anybody that I ever talked to that would support that fucker. He’s got the right-wing crazies and the disillusioned ones. But we’re so much more. I think you’d be stunned to discover how many we are. They always say to me, “Wavy Gravy, you were at Woodstock. How many people do you think are here at this event?” Well, count their feet and divide by two and hope there aren’t any pirates.
Woodstock still follows you around. I was a teenage beatnik, turned into a standup comedian who became a hippie icon at Woodstock. “Good morning. What we have in mind is breakfast in bed, for 400,000.” It just flew out of my head at the moment. It was without thinking. I maintain that thinking gets in the way of thought.
Wavy Gravy on the “Nobody for President” campaign trail in 1984. Lyn Alweis/The Denver Post/Getty Images
And you were at Woodstock 3 in 1999, which got pretty gnarly. Let me tell you – it was fine. I was all the way back to my hotel. I was exhausted. And what happened was, Limp Bizkit was the band that ignited it and this asshole, Fred Durst, says, “Go out and destroy something, it’s good for you.” So they set a semi on fire. People were screaming about the high price of water, but what about the free water that came out of the taps? That was never brought up. I got very steamed by a lot of that. I’m a very dear friend of [Woodstock promoter] Michael Lang and I think he’s always trying to do right. If anyone was to blame, it was Fred Durst igniting the crowd of Limp Bizkit fans.
How is your health—your longstanding back issues, for instance? Oh God. I got beat up a lot by the police and the National Guard. I spent months in body casts. In fact, the picture of me in the first Rolling Stone that I appeared in, which was a huge article, had a picture of my all-star cast. It went from my knees to my nipples. We painted it blue and put stars all over it. They would bring me on stage to Grateful Dead shows and put me under the piano. I believe I was under Keith [Godchaux]. The second cast I had, we covered with money from all over the world and I called that one the cast of thousands. I try and use humor with hard stuff.
What’s left on your bucket list at this point in life? Well, I’d like to see more and more blind people not bump into shit. Ken Kesey said to me, “Always put your good where it will do the most.” I’ve underlined that one in my heart, in my mind and everything in between.
NEAL CASSADY WATCHING OUT FOR THE COPS
Oakland 1966
While waiting for Ken Kesey to arrive, Cassady kept a lookout for the cops. Kesey was a fugitive at the time. Cassady asked me, “What’s the heat like around here, man?” Thinking he was talking about the weather, I said, “Pretty nice.” He gave me the weirdest look, then I knew what he meant.
KEN KESEY / PROFILE
Oakland, 1966
Fugitive Ken Kesey was giving a talk to some students at the California College of Arts and Crafts when I shot this picture. I sent Neal Cassady some prints. The FBI intercepted Cassady’s mail, found this photograph and put it on a wanted poster. It was the only current profile they had of Kesey.
CASSADY AND MURPHY
Oakland 1966
Neal Cassady, and an old girlfriend of his, Ann Murphy, were at CCAC to attend an underground lecture. The lecture was by Ken Kesey, who had jumped bail and was now a wanted fugitive. Cassady was there at my school to be sure no cops were around before Kesey arrived.
GYPSY & CASSADY
Oakland, 1966
Gypsy was a Hell’s Angel from Colorado, where he said he knew Dylan. Neal Cassady is lighting Gypsy’s cigarette from his, in this photograph. Both of them were talking in ‘con talk’ most of the time. Neal asks Gypsy “Hey, have you got any animals, man?” Gypsy replies that he doesn’t have any animals. Later, I asked Gypsy what Cassady asked him for and he said that Neal wanted some Camel cigarettes.
By Andy Walker
Today, Radio 4
11 March 2011
From the section Magazine
Keith Richards, Sienna Miller and Pete Doherty
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The word “bohemian” is bandied about now, applied to everyone from Pete Doherty to Kate Moss, but what exactly is one?
Eccentric. Rebellious. Amoral, quite often. But bohemianism was, maybe still is, about much more than just frightening the horses.
The writer Virginia Nicholson recently told the Today programme that “in a sense, we are all bohemians today”.
But what is a bohemian, how do you spot one, and might you be a boho, too?
“Bohemian” was originally a term with pejorative undertones given to Roma gypsies, commonly believed by the French to have originated in Bohemia, in central Europe.
The bohemian is an outsider, defines themselves as an outsider and is defined by the world as an outsider
Virginia Nicholson
The Oxford English Dictionary’s definition mentions someone “especially an artist, literary man, or actor, who leads a free, vagabond, or irregular life, not being particular as to the society he frequents, and despising conventionalities generally”.
But the connotation rapidly became a romantic one. From its birth in Paris in the 1850s, and the huge success of Murgier’s play Scenes de la vie de Boheme, the ethic spread rapidly.
Gypsy clothes became all the fashion, sparking a style which lives on today through lovers of boho-chic like Sienna Miller and Kate Moss. And artists and poets from Baudelaire to van Gogh characterised bohemian ideals.
Its foundations in the Romantic movement of the 19th Century imbued bohemians with an almost quasi-religious sense of purpose.
In Puccini’s opera La Boheme, the poet Rodolfo and his friends do not shiver in their Parisian garret where Mimi’s hand is famously frozen merely because of their poverty. Theirs, as Rodolfo has it, is a higher, if more sensual, calling.
I am a poet!
What’s my employment? Writing.
Is that a living? Hardly.
I’ve wit though wealth be wanting,
Ladies of rank and fashion
All inspire me with passion;
In dreams and fond illusions,
Or castles in the air,
Richer is none on earth than I.
Although steeped in its French roots, the bohemian ideal transferred easily to many countries and cultures.
In Britain, the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the aesthetic movement of the 19th Century imbued bohemianism with a dangerous, dashing, social cachet. Later, the exploits of the Bloomsbury group – one of whom was Nicholson’s grandmother, Vanessa Bell – thrust it into the cultural limelight.
William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac were beat and bohemian
Across the Atlantic, poets and writers like Jack Kerouac, William S Burroughs and Paul Bowles led their own offshoot. And the playwright Arthur Miller’s prose conjures the musty essence of that temple of American bohemia, Manhattan’s Chelsea Hotel, where “there are no vacuum cleaners, no rules and shame”.
“Everyone has a view of what the bohemian is,” says Nicholson. “The bohemian is an outsider, defines themselves as an outsider and is defined by the world as an outsider… A lot of people regard them as subversive, elitist and possibly just a little bit immature.”
Bohemians were typically urban, liberal in outlook, but with few visible political passions and, above all, creative. Though critical of organised religion, they were keen – witness the pre-Raphaelites and Oscar Wilde – to defend and explore the religious spirit.
Above all, they defied the constrictions of hearth and home and the false morality which they believed underpinned it.
In essence, bohemianism represented a personal, cultural and social reaction to the bourgeois life. And, once the latter was all but swept away by the maelstrom that was the 1960s, the former was doomed, too.
Nothing you wear was inspired by a fashion magazine
Laren Stover, Author of Bohemian Manifesto
The late Ian Dury lived what could be considered a bohemian life, constantly on the move, awash with musical and artistic creativity, challenging preconceptions of disability, while costumed in a range of sometimes outlandish second-hand clothes, famously complemented with “new boots and panties”.
But, apparently the freedom of bohemia palled even for him, as he explained in typical fashion:
I wanna be straight, I wanna be straight
I’m sick and tired of taking drugs and staying up late
I wanna confirm, I wanna conform
I wanna be safe and I wanna be snug and I wanna be warm
So who, today, is a true bohemian?
Keith Richards who, by his own admission “used to walk down Oxford Street with a slab of hash as big as a skateboard”, is regularly touted as the ultimate boho. But, as he told the Daily Telegraph’s Neil McCormick: “The image thing is a ball-and-chain. There’s nobody like Keith Richards that would ever be alive. No way. But you can’t buck the image. As long as I don’t have to be that guy all the time, or with my friends.”
Paul Stokes, associate editor at the NME, says: “It’s more difficult with Pete Doherty. When Pete first came out his talent was enormous. But his tolerance for the bohemian lifestyle has hit the buffers. His work with the Libertines was lauded, but the missed gigs with his next band Babyshambles saw his fans lose patience.”
Ian Dury
Image caption
Ian Dury ploughed a lone furrow
Stokes cites artists like Patrick Wolf, Naysayer and MGMT as worthy heirs to the bohemian tradition. Morrissey, he says, has lived a boho life but his love of boxing and league football now count against him. And Amy Winehouse “doesn’t strike me as someone who would drop everything and go to Marrakech”.
Laren Stover, author of Bohemian Manifesto: A Field Guide to Living on the Edge, has identified five archetypes: Nouveau, gypsy, beat, zen and dandy.
Bohemians might look for work as nude models, she suggests, will be banned from fancy restaurants for use of patchouli and will have a bookcase containing all the Romantics, Jack Kerouac’s Dharma Bums and erotica by Anais Nin.
“And in the pantry there are obscure grains from South America, medieval spices and a miniature Krishna,” Stover says. “Your diet may be considered extreme: macrobiotic, vegan, or a real nose-to-tailer who knows 100 ways to cook and saute a snout. And nothing you wear was inspired by a fashion magazine.”
Nicholson, author of Among the Bohemians, believes today’s bohos retain that original spirit of revolt. “We take it for granted that society is fluid, that informality prevails. On the other hand there’s still plenty to reject: there’s consumerism.
“In a sense the environment movement could be seen as today’s bohemians. There’s that sense of sacrifice, there’s that sense of purity, there’s that sense of a burning mission, of giving up things.
BEATNIKHIWAY 