CULTURE CLASH (Express Yourself)
LoNG HaiRed FReAkY PEOpLe
By Dan Marks
I STILL CRY AT THE END OF HAIR WHEN GEORGE BURGER DIES. What? That’s not the “hair” this issue is about? I beg to differ. Is hair not the most basic outward symbol of your appearance given you on God’s green Earth? Does it not trump fashion, cars, or my Versace purse as the first thing you notice?
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Is hair not a symbol of your social order. Your political stance. Your favorite historical time period. Yes, I’m referring to the recent Beach Revue and the fine reproduction of 20’s hairstyle that competes with the apparel. Really? (You don’t notice every year the slanted demographic of that contest? That’s right. I said it.) A hundred years ago, we were celebrating ourselves at the end of the War to End All Wars. We weren’t going to tolerate tyranny any more. Better yet, we were going to dance into the future with nihilistic abandon. Congratulations! 14
Europe was recovering from four years of horrendous pummeling. Jazz, the end of the Impressionists, the emergence of Dadaism and Art Deco, and a bunch of writers and artists, some straight from the trenches, were making their home in Paris. Many of them were Americans. Among them was Josephine Baker. Why would a performer with Baker’s talent seek refuge in Europe? Because back home America was experimenting with film. At the top of the pops was a little ditty by DW Griffith called Birth of a Nation. Say what you want about movies and video games shaping the minds of today’s youth. They have nothing on this movie. Griffith, with this flick, is credited with the second coming of the Ku Klux Klan. C U LTU R EC L A S H G A LV E STO N . C O M • J U LY/A U G 2 0 2 1
