Talking with the Hippies

In this episode I chat with Robert Norris, an old hippy from California.

In the 60s we grew up in the shadow of the Viet Nam war. Thankfully, Harold Wilson, the UK Prime Minister at the time, refused to get involved, so in the UK we were spared the draft. But for American kids it was serious life and death stuff. 58,220 Americans lost their lives in a war which history tells us was fought largely for the benefit of the arms industry.

This is the story of one American growing up in that shadow.

All of life continually searches for comfort. And people are no different. We all have ideas of how we can individually make our own lives more comfortable, and some of us never stop wondering if the human race can one day collectively find a better way to live.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure about that myself, but my doubts don't stop me dreaming.

Hope that you enjoy Part 2, there's one more episode of this mini series recorded which I will put up in a week or two.

Please share and so on with everyone that you know who may be interested. Reviews and plugs anywhere and everywhere always appreciated.

Love and Peace

Tom

Old meets Young - Part 2

In this episode of Talking with the Hippies, I'm chatting with Iris about living in Tipi Valley. It just does me so much good to see that the dream is alive and well, and in good hands.

If you enjoy listening to Talking with the Hippies, please like, share, review and all that stuff. And also, if you have stories, thoughts and so on that you would like to share, please do let me know.

Big thank you to Iris, and her sister Lily, for the music we use in this episode. Hopefully more to come shortly.

Love and Peace

Tom xx

This is one of the conversations I had when I recently visited Tipi Valley. I'm chatting with Axle who is the guy who first recommended that I visit. We talk about communities, anarchism, politics and so much more.

I don't really know where to start when it comes to telling you about this place. It has profoundly changed so much about the way I look at life. To me it slightly felt how it felt in the 60s living on the edges of the festival scene. Like when the fence came down at the I o W, and the authorities had to accept the inevitable - the people were in!

I met some beautiful people - some fierce idealists - and some just sheltering from the storm.

There are a couple more episodes still to come from this visit, and I am so looking forward to my next visit when I am hoping to record more. The place is a gold mine!

Love and Peace to everyone, and please do share and review etc. if you enjoy listening to my podcast.

In this episode I chat with Mark. We have a lot of common interests including the history and philosophy around alternative living from the 60s onwards.

Mark talks openly about his involvement with the hard drugs scene - a scene that I know very little about. A big thank you for this - clearly not the easiest thing to discuss.

We also talk about what happened to the hippie scene after the 60s - something I really do want to get into discussing in much more depth.

If you enjoy listening to my podcast please do subscribe to make sure that you get to hear every episode. Release times are a bit erratic, but I do have some interesting stuff planned for future episodes.

Love and Peace

Tom

Part Two of my chat with Miranda and Simeon. 

In this episode we talk about what it is like to bring up a family outside the state education system. I do accept that some people do find the subject of Home Education quite contentious. I want to make clear that I am completely aware that loads of kids are perfectly ok within the school system, and so are their parents, and that is just fine. 

During this session it became obvious that there was a lot more on this subject that we could talk about - we ran out of time - I'm hoping to return soon to record Part Three.

Please share my podcast with friends who you think may also enjoy it. 

As always, making the podcast has been great fun. Thank you for listening. 

In this episode of Talking with the Hippies I take a break from history, and move the focus more on to what is actually happening now.

I chat to Miranda and Simeon. We cover topics like Life, Living in a community, eco housing, sustainable living, and raising a family outside of the State Education System.

I spent a lovely few hours in the permaculture community that they live in. I've got to say it - it was right up my street!  And thank you for such a lovely lunch.

All the music is courtesy of Simeon - Thanks so much for that too.

If you enjoy listening to my podcast please do share the link with your friends, and please remember to follow on your podcast app - that way you will always know when a new episode is published.

And never forget - the Hippies were Right.

Love and Peace

OK, I'm slightly misleading you with the title there. We do touch on the festivals, and they are definitely events that I do want to go into in much more detail, and my guest definitely did go to those festivals, but it turns out he wasn't really there either, if you get what I mean.

Today in Talking with the Hippies I am chatting with Chris Wilko. Chris is an old hippy, a musician, a poet, a philosopher and a storyteller. 

This episode is a collection of classic 60s memories and let's just say, I think we have definitely captured the feeling of those glorious days here! 

All the music and poetry in the podcast is composed and performed by Chris.

Recording this, and putting it all together as an episode of a podcast has been such fun. I do hope that you enjoy listening to it, and if so please can I ask you to pass the link on to any of your friends who you think may also enjoy it.

Also, if you can remember the festivals, the clubs, or in fact any interesting events and stories about the subculture of the 60s onwards please do feel free to get in touch with me at talkingwiththehippies@gmail.com.

In this episode I chat with Paul Justison. Paul grew up in Tuscon, Arizona and along with 1000s of other hippies in the USA, he moved to Haight Ashbury in 1966. 

What can I say about Haight-Ashbury in 1966/67. Some say it's where the scene all started out. Obviously it's not - it was happening all over - but for sure right at that time some amazing things were happening there. We chat about the music, the politics, the scene in general, Viet Nam, the draft, and some of the stuff that happened next.

Chatting with Paul about the scene in the USA in the Sixties was amazing. I've got to say I relaxed right in to that beautiful West Coast pace there for a minute - how on earth did my life get so hectic!

Thanks for listening to my podcast. And remember, if you want to help fill in with any info/stories/thoughts about those momentous and sometimes glorious days of the Sixties/Seventies and onwards, please do get in touch at talkingwiththehippies@gmail.com

Don't forget to share the link with your friends, and follow, like and review my podcast.

Thank you, and kind regards

Tom Widdicombe

In this episode of Talking with the Hippies I'm back on to the subject of Operation Julie. 

I'm on a road trip to the Arts Centre in Aberystwyth to watch a performance of 'Operation Julie - A Rock Musical', followed up by a question and answers session with some of the main characters involved at the time.

It's really is all very interesting stuff, and as you might be realising by now, I'm getting quite involved in the whole adventure (that's code for, I'm pretty certain there's more to come on this subject shortly).

My travelling companion on this journey is John, who in the 1970s was known to a lot of people as Blue. Blue figures in at least a couple of the books that have since been published about Operation Julie. The journey is an ideal opportunity to ask Blue a few questions about his involvement in the story.

I hope that you enjoy listening to this episode of the podcast. Please do share the link with any friends that you think may also enjoy it. Also, if you want to be certain that you catch every episode of Talking with the Hippies, make sure that you hit the follow button on your podcast app.

In this episode of Talking with the Hippies, I chat with Chris Voisey, and get to listen to some of his poems. Chris grew up in Plymouth during the 50s/60s and has been writing poetry all of his life. I was lucky to get to look through some of his early journals - all the poems are dated and written in beautiful handwriting. I really struggled with poetry at school and have never been near it since, but I have to say, I really did enjoy listening to Chris's work. 

As the recording went on I found myself being taken to a deeper place within myself. I hope that you enjoy listening as much as I did.

The music on this podcast is a gift from my friend John Allen. He doesn't know it yet but I am saving up all the tracks he gives me to make up in to one big 'musicfest' podcast in due course.

If you enjoy listening please do give me a follow, a like, or a review. Or even better, plug the podcast to your friends.

Love and peace Brothers and Sisters.

In this episode I chat with the author, and one time member of The Incredible String band, Rose Simpson.

We do chat for a long time, and yes, we do go over the sacred 60 minutes that the podcast experts say loses listeners. We cover a lot of ground - the 60s, the String Band, being an author, getting old, love and peace, and so much more - it was a joy!

If you enjoy listening to Talking with the Hippies please remember that the only way to guarantee not missing an episode is to follow this podcast on your podcast app. And please share the link with anyone else that you think might enjoy the listen.

If you have stories to tell please do get in touch with me at talkingtothehippies@gmail.com.

Big thanks to my friend John Allen for the piano music - perfect for this one!

In this episode my guest is Steve Bentley, who worked in the drugs squad as an undercover cop in the 1970s. Steve was involved in surveillance and infiltration work in the infamous Operation Julie busts of 1978.  This is a good listen - I hope that you enjoy it. If you were in any way caught up in the events surrounding Operation Julie and would like to share your memories of that time, please do get in touch. 

Where to next for Talking with the Hippies - I started with a plan but the plan has gone. Things very much seems to be going where they go.   If you were involved or connected in any way to those heady days I'm after any stories connected to the entire culture - the music, the media, the festivals, the hippy trail, the politics, the US scene, etc. etc. - in fact any memories at all that you might like to share with the listeners of this podcast. If you want to be absolutely certain of finding out about each new episode please follow Talking with the Hippies on your podcast app.

In this episode I chat with my friend John Allen.

In the 60s we used the word 'cool' a lot. Looking back I can see that I put a lot of effort into trying to be 'cool'. I tried not to make problems, and I tried not to over-react to problems. I tried to keep a level head - not always an easy thing to do in some of the circumstances we found ourselves in. Why am I saying this - because spending an hour recording this podcast with John, made me feel as if I had lived through those years in a pretty tame way.

All the music in this episode is composed and played by John.

If you have enjoyed this podcast please Like, Review, and most importantly, Share with anyone else who you think might also enjoy it.

Thank you for listening

In this episode I chat with my friend John about some of his thoughts and experiences of the 60s.

I really enjoyed recording and producing this podcast. I hope that you enjoy listening to it.

Please subscribe and share with friends who you think may also enjoy it.

If you have stories of those glorious times (or maybe not so glorious for some) that you would like to chat about please do get in touch with me at talkingwiththehippies@gmail.com

I'll sign off with the words of a Buddhist monk I met in 1971. Before every meditation session he would say,

'Let's begin this session by wishing goodwill and good wishes to all living beings'.

Totally with you on that one, Brother.

That difficult second podcast! 

Take it from me, if you enjoyed listening to episode one then you'll love this one too.

My guest today is Rose Ellis.

Among other things, Rose is a potter and a musician, but most importantly of all, a genuinely nice human being. We chat about all the usual stuff, you know, drugs, rock and roll, free love, travelling, love and peace, and more.

If you enjoy this podcast please remember to like and subscribe, and tell your friends. 

Also, if you have any stories from those days that you would like to share with me, please do get in touch at talkingwiththehippies@gmail.com. You don't necessarily have to be your typical old hippy (but if you are that's great) - I want to talk to anyone who has any connections to those heady days - so for example, was your kid a hippy, or have you got hippy parents, were you in the drug squad, did you marry a hippy and how did that work out, etc etc

Thanks for listening.

Love and Peace