DEJA VU: PSYCHEDELIC '60s & '70s BECOME FASHION CRAZE

The Beatles, Jimmy Hendrix, bell bottoms and tie-dye shirts bring to mind a time known to most as the Woodstock era of the 1960s and '70s. An now, in the 1990s, both the music and fashions are making a reappearance.

To most, it would be just a fad. But to one Cape Girardeau businessman it is the idea behind an entire store.

Woodstock 2000 is a store that reflects the history of music and rock 'n' roll from the Woodstock era to now. And it will change as the times change, said owner Bill Piercey.

Piercey said he had ideas for opening the store long before the '60s craze started. "I wanted to open a music store where young people could come and buy music-oriented products and merchandise like posters, T-shirts and jewelry," he said. "It just so happened that all the interest in the '60s and '70s tied it all in with my plans."

Previously, there was not a place where a young person could go and find music memorabilia products, Piercey said. "There was just not a place where you could get something on a group that was currently out or had been popular 25 years ago," he said.

Woodstock 2000 sells as much of the older memorabilia as the new, Piercey said. "We have young people wanting Jimmy Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead and Beatles T-shirts, as well as Guns and Roses and Metallica," he said.

Eighty percent of the people who shop at Woodstock 2000 are high-school and college students, Piercey said. "The other 20 percent are either curious or they are moms and dads who still want to pick up things that mean a lot to them," he said.

People like to reminisce, Piercey said. "The young people remind them of what they used to wear and the artists they used to follow," he said.

Piercey said what surprises him most is the number of young people coming in wanting things with Jimmy Hendrix, The Doors and other groups that were big during that era. "Kids ride up here on their bicycles and buy Jimmy Hendrix posters, and these kids were born 15 years after Hendrix died. But they are fascinated by artists like Hendrix."

Piercey said even before it was popular, his daughter had a poster of Jimmy Hendrix and a peace-sign flag in her room.

"It just blows my mind to ride in a car with my daughter," Piercey said. "She's listening to The Doors and Led Zeppelin, which is what I was driving around listening to 25 years ago. Of course, it was current then," he said.

What is happening is there has been a revival of the music and the interest of the '60s, Piercey said. "There are a lot of young people who listen to Led Zeppelin and The Doors in their car one minute, and the next minute they're listening to the current groups," he said.

They are listening to the '60s music because they want to experience and be a part of what they have only read or heard about in regards to the war movement, the protests, the peace and love of the era, Piercey said.

His daughter, Jacky Piercey, said she likes all types of music, but she really likes anything to do with Led Zeppelin and the Beatles, in addition to the alternative music she listens to.

"It doesn't matter if you grew up in the '60s or the '90s, or whether you are a rock 'n' roll or country fan," Piercey said. "The music reflects your generation and society."

The music is not the only thing that is returning from the '60s; the fashions are also making a come back.

"We sell a lot of tie-dye shirts and dresses," Piercey said. "And, of course, they've been popular for a long time, but they're coming back strong now," he said. "And you're also starting to see bell bottoms in the department stores."

It is strange, Bill Piercey said, because a lot of the kids say they would never do or wear anything their parents did, but now bell bottoms are sneaking back in and the young people are wearing them.

"My daughter has seen pictures of me from the '60s in my bell bottoms and she said she would never wear anything like that," Piercey said. "And now she has bell-bottom jeans and she's the hippie of the '90s and she loves it," he said.

Jacky Piercey said she can go to Networks and buy anything from the '60s, including chokers and bell bottoms.

In a year from now you will see a lot of young people walking around in bell bottoms and other '60s clothing, Bill Piercey said. It takes time for any new fad or fashion to break into the mainstream market and the Midwest, he said.

Another thing that is coming back is blacklite and blacklite posters, beads and peace signs, and anything else associated with the Woodstock era, he said. "We also sell a lot of alternative jewelry, incense and wall hangings," he said.

"The Ying Yang sign, which means perfect harmony, is almost as popular as the peace sign now," Piercey said. The Ying Yang sign can be found on necklaces and shirts at Woodstock 2000, he said.

Piercey said that in general people are fascinated by the groups and the music of the '60s and what society was like back then.

Tom Lucas Jr. of Barlow, Ky., is one such individual. Lucas was at Woodstock back in 1974. He recently came to Cape Girardeau to shop at Woodstock 2000.

"I decided to check it out because that's my age and that's what I grew up with," Lucas said. "Once there, I saw that I had some of the same stuff and I was able to reminisce and relive a little of my youth.

"I was also able to look back and smile because it brought back memories. I remember having some of the same blacklite posters and beads that Woodstock 2000 sells."

The interest in the '60s will increase as it gets closer to the 25th anniversary of Woodstock, Piercey said.

"For the anniversary next year, they're trying to put together a festival in New York at the original grounds and have some of the original performers and some of the new groups attend," he said.

Lucas said an anniversary of Woodstock will never be the same because the situations are so different. "At the time of Woodstock," he said, "the glue was the anti-war sentiment, and that will never happen again.

"People will be trying to relive something that just can't be relived because the attitudes have changed so dramatically since then, but it'll still be fun."

Woodstock 2000 is at 1412 N. Kingshighway.