Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Easy Rider

I was 21 years old in 1969 when the movie "Easy Rider" came out starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. I was living in Venice, California at the time and thought the movie was amazing and captured something powerful about what was going on in the U.S. so though I found the movie very disturbing so was the Viet Nam War and there is really no way to appreciate "Easy Rider" without viewing it in the anxst of that era.

I had begun the evening trying to figure out what songs I wanted from ITunes from the 1960s and 1970s while I was from 12 to 32 from 1960 until 1980. So I was very surprised when I found so much amazing music from the Easy Rider Sound Track at youtube.com. I also found a video montage of out in the country motorcycle shots that I really like of Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda riding their 'choppers' (chopped down motorcycles custom built) of that era. I recently saw someone in his late 50s riding a copy of Peter Fonda's chopper through Mt. Shasta last Summer while I was visiting who was riding it up interstate 5 northwards. He even had the stars and stripes helmet to match.

Here is the internet address of the chopper footage with music in the background:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uygNtTB2Urc&feature=fvst

I also found in the Easy Rider sound track at youtube.com Joe Cocker's "with a little help from my friends" as well as "Born to be Wild" and some other Steppenwolf tracks. Also, Jimmy Hendrix had some music in Easy Rider as well.

It took me back to the craziness and amazingness of that era that all those who actually survived it all and are still alive and well today remember well.

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