Alpha Hair

Freaky. I just saw the "Hair" post by Stephen and it sparked my own memory about the musical. But a bit different. It was Spring 1979, and like Stephen's memory it took place in New York, although not Broadway or the Big Apple, but in way upstate New York. Here's the scene. Me and my Junior High buddies are bored on a Saturday afternoon. I saw an ad on T.V. about Hair - the film - and I dunno, something about it appealed to me. I wasn't a musical kid at all. I mean I couldn't play a single note on any instrument. But I wanted to see the movie. If you're a guy, remember Junior High and your guy friends? It was all about who was the coolest, who was leading the group on any given day. It's like a wolf pack where every day you decide if you want to fight to be the Alpha dog.

So I was Alpha Dog back then and I talked the guys into going to see "Hair" the movie. They follow but warn me that it better be good. About twenty minutes into it they start complaining about how much the movie sucks. They whine "man, this is a stupid musical!" They wanted blood, sex and of course rock and roll - not some adult type musical. They all leave. I stay. I was all "yea, whatever guys, I don't care what you think". Of course, I did. It kind of sucks when you pick the movie and everyone hates it. Plus I was bummed because I was having this really awesome musically enlightening experience and all my "friends" wanted nothing to do with it.

As for Hair, I loved the story, the funky groove of the music, the dancing and the message about freedom and fairness - about how friends make sacrifices for friends...hmmm, how's that for irony? So on that day I traded in my lead of our cool little wolf pack to experience the cool music, moves and message of Hair - the movie. A trade well worth it. When I hear the song "Aquarius" it reminds me that crowds sometimes make bad decisions. And sometimes you just have to step out on your own to discover something worth discovering.