On The Road

Amazing photo gallery of the “new American Beatniks”. Surely the girl pictured to the left below is a Zappa fan…

poodle-free-montana.jpg

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19 Responses to On The Road

  1. G. says:

    I actually saw these photos a few weeks ago and did some internet sleuthing. Apparently the “Poodle-Free Montana” thing has nothing to do with FZ (at least directly). It was created by some nutty artist in Montana named Greg Leichner.

  2. Al Stone says:

    ‘Food gathering in post-industrial America’

  3. Choice or predicament? It did cross my mind…

  4. jane23 says:

    are tattoos the new mod-a-go-go-stretch-elastic pants?
    film at 11:00

  5. I love the smell of terminal cynicism in the morning!

  6. HairFarmer says:

    My impression was more along the lines of “New American Vagrants” rather than Beatniks. To paraphrase Patton Oswaldt:

    I agree with the Hippie ideal. I’m all for peace. I just want peace that smells like…

    soap.

  7. HairFarmer says:

    and tatoos are DEFINATELY the new MaGGSEP

  8. urbangraffito says:

    Hmmmm… what goes best with terminal cynicism in the morning… I’ve got it! Bacon Fat from last Friday’s boot! Yum, yum, good…

  9. wuzza says:

    Didn’t anyone ever tell ya ’bout soap ‘n water, darlin’?

  10. Bálint says:

    Wow… these pictures somehow frighten me…

  11. Jamez says:

    Ugliness.. Ugliness!

  12. SOFA - Philostopher/Chef says:

    A distinction should be made regarding the difference between Hobo & Beatnik…

  13. Jeroen says:

    The big question with me is always: why do people spend their last money on cigarettes?

  14. I admit “beatnik” is an overly ambitious term, and I probably shouldn’t have used it. At the same time, judging from the pictures, these people — at least some of them — do not strike me as braindead hobo’s.
    They show an awareness of, a pride even perhaps in their way of living.

    Oh and as for the call for “soap”, which seems to be a recurring theme in this thread’s comments: take a time-machine, travel back to NYC’s Garrick Theatre and smell some armpits. That’ll teach you a lesson or two…

  15. Paul Sempschi says:

    They look more like Freaks ala ‘Freak Out’ than hippies or Beats.

  16. jim says:

    I rode freights once in 1986 w/ a sibling, all the way from Saskatchewan to BC & back … very dirty loud & dangerous but the fare is right.

    Folks doing it in an open-bottomed car is just plain Championship-Stupid.
    Got to be some meth or crack “logic” afoot there.

    Soap implies water, which’s a constant plight for ANY nomad, voluntary or otherwise. Phew!

  17. xorg says:

    It strikes me as a tad perverse that these people have apparently adopted the hobo/vagrant/bum lifestyle as a fashion statement. Unless of course it’s some bizarre post-modernist joke.

    The sweaty armpits etc of the Mothers was a by-product of their choice to be starving musicians working for Zappa! Ref: “If we’d all been living in California…” track 3 side 3 of Uncle Meat.

  18. jane23 says:

    hadn’t seen all the pics until now
    why do these people always own dogs?
    with a rope for a collar
    i guess it’s ok if you choose to be this way
    some of them seem happy
    i like the guy eating a banana with hot sauce
    but there is not enough hot sauce in the world
    to entice me to eat that possom

  19. Rick in Detroit says:

    WTF ? Did they let Manson out of prison ?
    They look like the Charles manson auxillary leauge.
    Fucking hippies. Who is passing the new red crabs ?
    who is passing those crabs these days ?
    Are we supposed to be impressed ?

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