I've been reading Really The Blues by Mezz Mezzrow. My mind is boggled by the jive patois and the sheer excitement and togetherness of that time. Just like it's boggled by the excitement and (relative) togetherness of, say, punk rock. Or revolutionary rock (like the MC5). I posted a link a while back in the right-hand column to a A-Clue point that, with Dubya in office, we'd find it easier to form a counterculture.
Here's hoping.