WhatheckR "Flower-Seniors" and Where Do They Go on "Sidetrips"?

Whatsa "Flower-Senior"?

I began using the term when I realized that, as it is presently used, the descriptor "hippy" seems to hold negative connotations that it didn't have back in the 60s when we ("we" because I still have my "tribal union card") called ourselves and were called by some of the other factions of society by that label. . .

To put it a bit more accurately, the term "hippy" doesn't seem to have retained any hint of its more positive aspects such as a love of arts, crafts and music, a sense of whimsy, generosity, mutual respect for others and a reverence for the environment -- traditionally associated with it.

In these days of issues dressed starkly in blacks and whites, many of my younger associates (and even many of those who are old enough to remember how it was but, for reasons I have yet to figure out, don't seem to want to remember) immediately latch onto what was in all seriousness probably the least important requirement for admission into "hippydom": Drug use.

It seems to be a common association that most people make today. . .

Have you noticed that, if you say the word "drug" today, most people seem to recoil in horror?

As the words are presently used, a "drug" is a what pot-heads and crack addicts "do" and "prescriptions" (or "medications") are substances taken by good, moral, upstanding people (at the direction of a licensed physician, of course). The fact remains, however, that, inclusively, all of them are "drugs". . . (Isnt it odd how words assume shades of morality over time that seem to subtly change hues under different regimes?)

At any rate, I have always preferred what I consider to be the more aptly evocative term "Flowerchildren" (hence the screenname. . .) and, since most of us meeting the requirements of such a term are sufficiently chronologically advanced to now qualify for substantial discounts on our "Grand Slam Breakfasts", I felt as though a metamorphisized term was called for and, so, have coined the term "Flower-Seniors". (Clever, n'est pas?)

As Far As "Sidetrips" Are Concerned:

The objectives of journeys or quests historically undertaken by "flowerchildren" (now, "flower-seniors") seem to have a habit of becoming secondary to the points in-between, the means used and/or the concerns of the people who may help them along the way. . .

Further, the rewards realized by most of us during these sojourns this long period of time have, for the most part, become great assets (indeed, sometimes even outweighing the benefits of the objective originally sought) . . . and it is those "sidetrips" that I plan upon charting here:

The byways, detours and incidentals of life of the some of us who are proud to have lived long enough to become "Flower-Seniors". . .


"30"

Plunkett -- I don't think we're in Cloverdale anymore...

I come to "Blogger beta" through a strange sequence of events -- really more like a "a several-hour burst of nostalgia" (I seem to be experiencing more and more of those lately... hm...) through my visitation of the blog of that "MC of Mayhem", that "Field Marshall of Film Noir", "Headmaster of Horror", "Sheik of Shock", the "Sultan of Sci-Fi" and "Boss of B-Movies" -- none other than "The Man Behind the Cigar", the inimitable and revered Mr. Bob Wilkins, esteemed host of a television show that was a former late-night staple of the Northern California TV waves: "Creature Features".

The entire long, strange trip via which I find myself here began -- innocently enough -- as I was "monitoring" (since I was otherwise occupied on-line and had my back turned to the TV set for most of it...) a TV documentary on I know not what channel (since my satellite company is so kind as to provide 180 of them for the thrifty sum of $39.99 per month) about the making of the "Star Wars" movies.

This occasioned my mind wandering (as it quite often does here of late) back to the year of our Lord nineteen-hundred and seventy-seven, when, on another long, strange trip, I found myself at the opening night of the original "Star Wars" movie at the Coronet Theater in San Francisco (a venue which, I was quite sad to learn, has now closed its doors forever to make way for some kind of "senior housing" which I suppose is a noble and worthwhile project -- still...).

Being the "cyberphile" that I am, I "Googled in" a series of descriptors meant to eventually lead me (I hoped) to some kind of validation in the recollections of others whose long, strange trips might have led them to that same (rather lengthy) ticket line on that noteworthy evening... (It was pretty much of "a happening" as I recall -- replete with costumed Darth Vaders and C3POs, TV cameras and bushels and bushels of Bay Area-ites ["Areaers"?] all jumbled up together in a rather carnival-like atmosphere.)

But, alas, I could find only sparse mention of the event (and only one reference that specifically mentioned the Coronet Theater) and, so, my wandering thoughts went further afield to an evening some two years later when, as a young, single mother and newly hired secretary (that would be "administrative assistant" to all ye born after about 1985 or so...) at a large, technical optics manufacturing concern in the North Bay, I was fortunate enough to have two tickets (dress circle, no less) given to me to attend an evening's performance (and attendant "laser light show") of the music of Mr. John Williams (composer of the scores of the likes of "Jaws", "Star Wars", the "Star Trek" movies, "E.T." -- I believe -- and others...) performed by an orchestra at the Marin County Civic Center Auditorium in Marin County CA because the firm that I worked for had provided samples of a "circularly variable" (rainbow-colored) optical filter to the designers of the first "Star Trek" movie's poster.(They actually used the filter -- on the poster for that movie, you see the Enterprise and the profiles of Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, et al, each illuminated by a differently colored "column" of light appearing in front of them.)

So, I attempted -- with absolutely no success whatsoever -- to find others' references to this second event...

Which makes me wonder what on earth would make me think -- if I was unable to find anything about the opening night of the very first "Star Wars" movie at the Coronet Theater in 1977 -- that I would find anything about an obscure symphonic performance held in a much smaller venue two years later... Hm.

At any rate, I remember that, during the intermission of that evening's performance (just as the audience was about to re-enter the auditorium from the sidewalk outside where we'd retreated to satisfy our cravings for nicotine), I came face-to-face with a rather diminutive, bespectacled, blonde, cigar-smoking gentleman -- surrounded by a goodly group of both men and women -- who seemed to notice that I'd spied him -- something in my expression must've said "Hey! That guy looks like Bob Wilkins of 'Creature Features'! Look! Wow! I think that's him! Don't you? I do!" (which I'm sure I said to my best friend, Joni, who accompanied me that evening and was standing right beside me at that moment).

Giving me a knowing wink, the man raised one index finger up to his pursed lips as if to say "Don't let on that you've recognized me -- it could start a an 'episode'" (or at least that's what I thought at the time...) -- Soon after which the signal was given for the end of the intermission and we all promptly returned to our seats for the second half of the performance.

So, on the very, very outside chance that Mr. Wilkins might have mentioned anything at all in his blog on this server about that evening -- or about the opening of the original "Star Wars" at the Coronet Theater in San Francisco -- I came to see and read it...

Not surprisingly, I found no reference to either event on his blog here -- but was going to leave a comment -- for which I had to register on this server... and, so, after doing so, found myself here, on the "compose" page...

Be that all as it may, that is how I wound up here... in case anyone is interested...

So, now that I look around -- the place could use some new curtains and throw pillows... and I think my next blog will undertake the subjects of:

What, exactly, a "flower-senior" is and what I mean by "sidetrips"...

Until then...