Times are tough, right? Many of us are wondering about our jobs, our dwindling health, and our children's futures... It's all doom and gloom, non? Disaster and devastation wherever you turn your head...
But there is one place you can go, where it is always sunny, and where you can travel without leaving your sofa... It's where the music is always cool, because you choose it, and you never have to switch the channel to avoid an advert that is really getting on your nips!
"...Know what it is yet?"
(Rolf Harris TM Catchphrase!)YOUTUBE! The wonderfully clever and energy-filled Rosaria also known as Lakeviewer, recently commented that she thought I was channelling a variety of personalities during my postings...
Rosaria is a frighteningly insightful soul... and such an interesting and intelligent writer at on her blog at Sixty-Five What Now? She has noticed my penchant for poignant pictures of la belle Marilyn, my header starring the lovely Scarlett (...now beautifully brunette, and I can never mimic that, lifelong blonde that I am...). My son, Grizz, thinks I channel Stevie Nicks sometimes, and there are probably many others...
Rosaria said: "Fhina, I think you channel different personalities, including the marvelous Marilyn Monroe as a gipsy queen. We are all fortune tellers for others whom we know well.
We project what we wish for them and what is inevitably written in their temperament".
Fascinating, non... There are many competing voices inside my head, I will admit to it...
Perhaps the most dominant within, however, is one who is a bona fide Hippy, a Flower Child, in fact a Wild Child of the Sixties... I was born in the Sixties, but perhaps a little too late to partake of the actual scene, man...
Did you know me at that time, I wonder? I lived for a while up in The Haight district of San Francisco, working in a Second-Hand bookstore there. ...I might have been channelling Janis Joplin, all bells and whistles, and I was planning a trip down to Monterey with some friends, just to hang out and feel the music whispering in the air...
...In another incarnation, I lived in Swinging London, and wandered thoughtlessly through the fashion-filled rooms of Biba on Carnaby Street on Abingdon Road in Kensington... I wore hand-picked flowers in my hair, was cut by Vidal Sassoon himself into a shinyblondebob just like Twiggy's, and I had procured a selection of scarily mad petal-printed polyester mini-dresses with knee-high black patent boots a la Shrimpton... 
but often I would sneak in to my wardrobe cotton and muslin shifts that reeked of hemp and Patchouli, and mais bien sur I would go barefoot in the streets then...
'I don't want to know about evil, I only want to know about love...'
~ I have always loved the music of this era, and it calls to me its siren-song of love and longing, peace and enchantment, fun and freedom...
Here are Crosby, Stills & Nash singing Stephen Stills' song, Love The One You're With from 1970, and I'm travelling in a car on the Pacific Coast Highway, driving from Santa Monica to Malibu.
I want to make this road trip next year.
I want to listen to classic Californian Adult Oriented Rock while I'm doing it.
I want to channel my Inner Wild Child, and feel the warm breeze in my hair...
Hell, I'm only thirty years out of date!
And Chris Farlowe is singing, "My poor old fashioned baby... I said baby, baby, baby, you're out of time."
34 comments:
Rosaria is astute. I have a feeling she's going to be challenging all of us.
You, wild woman of decades ago, are spirited.
I was only a kid during the Wild Child era - unfortunately... I do love the music of the Sixties!
The Beatles are the best. And don't forget Emilio Pucci... My aunt worked for Braniff Airlines in the 1960s, when its uniforms were designed by Pucci himself. What I wouldn't give for her work wardrobe now!!
Rosaria is astute because I also thought you were assuming various personas - in a good way of course.
I've done that west coast trip a few times now and it is such a great area of the world
Happy travelling
I love that song and everytime I hear it on the "oldies" station I turn it up loudly and sing quite badly, lol.
Geez, I can't beleive the songs of my youth are now considered "oldies"........where has the time gone??
Steady On
Reggie Girl
I'm a child of the eighties, which holds wonderful memories, but I really did listen to a lot of older stuff. Loved the Beatles and the Doors and Rolling Stones, but favourites were the Mammas and Pappas (oh dear or is that Mamas and Papas?) - we find comfort in what we would listen to in more simple times.
Fhina,
I got to live through some of the hippie days, and they were fun! But it's better now to listen to the music and dream, much less dangerous.
Hello Fhna,
Now, if only we could see you in the "petal-printed polyester mini-dresses"!!!
You are one of the most fascinating people out in the blogosphere, no doubt about it. My wish for you, my friend, is that you do get to make that road trip next year, and that you get to drive along the PCH in a convertible with the breeze in your hair, all to the soundtrack of your choice.
I can totally see you as a Flower Child without stretching my imagination one single bit. It's a good look for you!
xo, Lady Fhina, have a wonderful weekend!
Ooolala, this speaks to me! I was born in'62. I get a visceral memory for the late 60's that is hard to put into words. I think I fell in love with my ex because he was 20 in 66 and so I projected all of my stuff onto him. Sorry, I'm blogging on your comment page.
And I would totally dress like the first picture on this post everyday if I could.
I sometimes wonder, that it would have been better to be young in the 60's, not being born then.;)
Love that song, always have.
The absolutely first picture is incredible; an image that represents everything I am.
Hope you are having a lovely weekend Fhina.;))
Hmmmm . . . I think I'm outta sync here. The 1960s -- University, Viet Nam War, Trudeau as Prime Minister of Canada.
Speaking of University and Viet Nam -- I was vice-president of the Students' Council in my graduating year. Learned many years later that Security Service would have opened a file on me just for my (non-radical) student involvement. I've always had a tough time seeing myself as a potential threat to Canada's peace and security. :))
Aside: I wonder how many bloggers (Brit or otherwise) have attracted the attention of MI5 (or is it MI6?). You just never know.
But the music was good! No, GREAT. Thought You-Tube isn't my cuppa.
Flower power in the last picture brings it all back...Aaaaahhhhhh!
Oh my, my name has been bantered around! Fhina I had my first child in the sixties, and he loved those hippy sounds right away. He still does, remembering all the sit-ins and sing-ins and shout-ins of his hippy parents. Why, he came with us everywhere. I bet your parents had the same loving feeling about themselves and their friends that blanketed every thing they did. You're reliving pre-natal good times, all good vibrations!
What do you do if you see a space man?
Park in it man.
Well that's kind of 60's.... ;-) xxx
You know. . . sixties are kind of "in" these days. And the best part is that we get to pick and choose which parts we want to recreate!
I love the clothing and the free thinking, but probably would have been scared of all the rest!
And I agree with Rosaria. . .you ARE a channeller! That may be exactly what you are!
It was great music -- and you have great taste -- in music and in personas!
I remember Rosaria's comment, it struck a cord with me too. I used to think my aunt who was a teenager during the sixties was the coolest thing ever. She's definitely no longer a wild child, but very insightful, complex and just plain fun. I still want to be just like her when I grow up.
I can dig it and it is really groovy, baby.
Wise Rosaria, Wonderful you!
Thank you for this "groovy" post (keeping the 60s lexicon hot) and for the splendid photos. The Biba exterior is terrific. Ciao
Bless you, all of you for your continuing kindnesses and good grace, and good humour in tolerating me ~ I was born in 1963 - so old enough, but not old enough to experience the Sixties consciously! I wore polyester petal printed dresses but I was a little girl at the time - I think my mother was into fashion around then - My parents, I think, were more products of the Fifties, however - Hollywood movies and musicals, Frank Sinatra, Mario Lanza, Carousel, Buddy Holly, pedal-pushers, poodle-skirts, cardigans and possibly 'bobby-soxers', so my love of the free love era has come through osmosis, I think...
I can recall dancing around our tiny snug lounge to Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves by Cher on the radio, and Son of a Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield, and I remember a summer holiday spent in a Butlins camp, where Love Is All You Need by The Beatles was constantly played out of all the speakers in the open air - I think all this infected me, particularly the music, Sandy Shaw and Eurovision (I wanted to be called Sandy, and signed my little reading books with her name - How mad is that, ~ I was about 5 years of age?
Much later, I was influenced by Free, Bad Company, Fleetwood Mac, Jefferson Airplane, Lindisfarne, Whitesnake, The Mamas & The Papas, Woodstock, Queen and Janis Joplin...
And then, it came to falling in love with my not-quite husband who had just grown out of his afghan coat and stopped going barefoot in the streets... I was in my teens in the Eighties - How could anyone love that era of electronic pop? Yak! So those of us with any soul hankered after earlier generations, and earlier versions of ourselves, and we wore cheesecloth and muslin clothes from India, and the scent of Patchouli filled the air once again!
As for Pucci, I am the proud owner of a tiny, tiny, tiny turquoise and white Pucci bag, purchased as a bin end, so desperately cheap - I adore it!
And so my son has (lawd help him, second or third generation) hippy parents... Is there any hope left?! Mwah!
...And, for Rob-bear - that does not surprise me in the slightest, your bear-ship - I know I was photographed by MI~5 during student marches to prevent the closures of ambulance stations locally, and later - I am a bit of an activist, and understand my limits and my frontiers, so manage to balance my professional life with my, now much more diminished, politique! I've experienced 'phone taps, and understand some of the pressures that can be brought to bear...
I love you man!!
Michelle: :) x As ever!
Ahhh... the Sixties. They say if you can remember the Sixties, you weren't really there. :-) The Sixties were very strange -- good and bad. I do love the music of the Sixties, though, especially the Rolling Stones (the bad boys...)
I have driven on the Pacific Coast Highway, from Santa Monica to Malibu -- actually from Santa Barbara to Malibu, and all along Pacific Palisades. It's absolutely wonderful.
Lake Viewer has an amazing amount of insight!
I too was born in 1963 and experienced the thrill of Cher and Sandie Shaw on Eurovision! 'Gypsies' is still one of my favourite songs. I did Butlins - did you ever enter their kid's beauty competition??
My Mum hated music but my Dad loved Elvis and Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey etc. I was a part time punk rocker though and still love loud heavy music - think my 16 year old son thinks I'm cool 'cos I listen to Linkin Park!
I do however love 'The Doors' and also 'Love' with Arthur Lee due to hubby's fascination of 60's music. A mixed bag methinks.
and yes, I definitely see you with flowers in your hair!
Thank you for visiting.
Not suer if I have been here with you previosly but nevertheless, I have to give you some feedback on your blog title.
There are no women without Importance ....
Have a nice Sunday with or without less important neurotica
I heart YouTube, too. I hope you get a chance to visit those places you want to see in CA and channel your inner 60's hippy chick to your heart's delight!!
Jo, I know you are right about what they say about the Sixties - I have a feeling I would have just been dead boring if I'd been old enough to enjoy myself then! x
Meredith: Tis true, she is a marvel! x
Tismee2: We did have Butlin's and Pontins hols as a child, but I was never brave enough (nor talented!) to enter their competitions, although I do remember watching them! My dad loved Burley Chassis too! Your hols can't be long now? x
Arne, Thank you for stopping by - I think you might have called in before from David's Post of the Day, but never commented then, so thank you for gracing my blog with your worthy presence and words, Sir!
carma, You are a veritable star on YT, never mind just loving it! I will get that chance to visit the States soon, I just know it! x
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