Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Monday, December 26. 2011

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From the pupette, this afternoon:


Dad: Just arrived in Ho Chi Minh, was expecting to get airlifted to the tune of "Fortunate Son" but an Airbus will have to suffice.

Posted by Bird Dog in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 19:57 | Comments (7) | Trackbacks (0)

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Airlifted to where? Is she going farther than Saigon?
#1 apple pie on 2011-12-26 22:15 (Reply)
I'll bet Bruce had the same flashback I just had. Gwynnie too I'd say. Waiting for a dust off in a UH-1 - that's a giggle. Pupette has a sense of humor - gud 'on 'er....

They didn't call it the Rock 'N Roll War for nothing you know. It had a dual meaning too - rock 'n roll was a euphemism for lock 'n load.

Now I'm thinking about all the music of the time and I won't be able to get those songs out of my head all day.

There is so much to say about this subject - little things stuck with you. For instance, Vietnam was the first war in which soldiers listened to protest songs. Access to the music was available at base exchanges and often times cassettes/tapes were sent from home with nary a censor in sight. Cassette players were the players of choice - easy to carry, battery powered and the tapes were swappable with others. I remember one guy in particular who's stateside girlfriend found all this underground protest music and delighted in sending it to him - some of it was quite good - most of it was horrible.

And then there were references to things like the M-18 violet smoke grenade called "Purple Haze". I remember this like it was yesterday- my then girlfriend (now my wife) were sitting out on her front porch the night before I left for Vietnam when I first heard "Alice's Restaurant".

Damn - am I really that old? :>)
#2 Tom Francis on 2011-12-27 08:16 (Reply)
Tom,

Good music to say the least. But then, Alice's Restaurant was just the name of the song, not the name of the restaurant. That was the "Village Restaurant", in Stockbridge, Mass..
#2.1 Tom, on 2011-12-27 11:18 (Reply)
Nope - Alice's Restaurant is, or was, very real. It's a long convoluted story, but the Restaurant came long after the song - five or six years after I think. Alice Brock used to have a Thanksgiving Dinner every year at her home and while the restaurant didn't exist, Alice did and the story is partially based on an incident in which Arlo participated - littering.
#2.1.1 Tom Francis on 2011-12-27 12:56 (Reply)
You are mostly correct Tom. The pews from the church in Great Barrington (where Alice lived) were used in "The Village Restaurant" located in Stockbridge, Mass. which, as you say, was built after the history memorialized in the song "Alice's Restaurant". Director's license used the Village Restaurant as the fictitious "Alice's Restaurant", in the movie. Had breakfast there one fall morning and was even followed around town by Officer Obie. A much later visit found "Obie" retired and I bought him a pint and spoke for a few minutes. I'm not aware if Alice had a restaurant before the one in Stockbridge.
#2.1.1.1 Garry on 2011-12-27 14:03 (Reply)
I couldn't remember the whole story and didn't want to look it up. I knew something involved the Village Restaurant, but I honestly wasn't sure.

I've been to Stockbridge several times - West Stockbridge in particular fishing the Williams River which is a tributary of the Housatonic I believe. I can tell you this - I've fished the North and South forks of the Snake, West Yellowstone, Firehole and several other places out West - that marshy end of the Williams has some of the best trout fishing in the world. Now that I live in South Carolina, I can let that secret out. :>)
#2.1.1.1.1 Tom Francis on 2011-12-27 15:16 (Reply)
I was young mom working at Oakland airport. Would go in to town (San Francisco)on Sundays to have lunch with my aunt. I still remember sitting in the restaurant/bar the Top of the Mark(Mark Hopkins Hotel), those boys all looked so clean, so eager, so excited. The Green Berets looked so confident. Twelve months later when they came home through the air terminal at Oakland Airport I remember the horror. Half of them were stoned, all were changed forever, but the worst part was the people our age, college students from Berkeley (mostly young women) spitting at them and screaming "Baby Killer" in their faces as they walked through the terminal.
#3 apple pie on 2011-12-27 11:14 (Reply)

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