“David is a person skilled at walking with those facing uncertainty and wishing for change. He is patient, supportive and able to use his own experiences in his work.
I had the pleasure of meeting David about a decade ago on his journey. At the time, he had realized he was unhappy in his life and did not know what direction to take. Though he had incredible social supports – what he was missing was a travel partner who had been through a large transition of giving up a career and way of life for something more fulfilling.
I got to watch him blossom from an unhappy person with a lack of connection and purpose into a person who has integrated into his own life and developed himself anew. He now provides that service to others, a fellow traveler a little further in his journey, helping someone reflect and withstand the uncertainty and terror that come from taking a leap of faith into a new journey in life.”
betty e.
“you seem to have found a place where your calling has landed. i think it’s real – who you’re called to be and what you’re called to do have met in the same place.
gordon p.
“i appreciate you. your kindness. your brain. simply you get it. you get me. i appreciate that i can trust you with my secrets of business or sometimes life struggles – it’s kind and generous of you to lend me your ear.”
tyler m.
“I was just thinking that you are much like Henry Miller in that one day you simply walked away from your corporate job! You took a leap into the ocean, the great river of life whose source can only be known when one ceases to exist on the ordinary level, but to live & thrive on the cosmic level. It takes guts & you have an abundance of strength & resolve!”
gregory k.
“I have recently had heart bypass surgery. This operation requires a long period of recovery and rehabilitation. David has stuck by me during this difficult time at one hospital and one nursing home. Others come for one visit, but he has been steadfast, coming every day and thinking of creative ways to keep me going and keep me cheerful.
He has been exceptional with me. Sensitive, caring, and creative.”
newton m.
“Best hoca I ever had.”
oya m.
“It was SO good to see you this week! You are helpful to me, I hope you know that. You keep my heart open while I’m at work and I remember myself.”
nancy y.
“fuck off and die you sack of shit.”
mark s.
“His singing career is clearly irrational. If he wanted to change careers and become a folksinger, IMHO he would be better suited to work part-time as a economist, and use his earnings to fund publicity & professional management for his new found hobby or prospective career.”
werner k.
“The world you represent should be protected from harm and cherished to blossom.”
janusz g.
“That is the most sweetest, heartwarming and encouraging message. You have the most kind and selfless heart that truly affects those around you. If it wasn’t for you and you always cheering me up and having faith in me, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
Your kindness, encouragement and positive perspective on life had a huge impact on me during my years at the cafe. I was just reminiscing about you having coffee at the bar and cheering me up while I was baking.”
katharine h.w.
“those conversations i had with you shaped my life.”
coulee s.
“David is a fascinating person to work for and with. He knows how to get to the heart of a very complex problem very quickly. His comments are always thoughtful and thought-provoking. He values creative brainstorming. He is open-minded, always ready to question accepted wisdom. He truly listens to people at all levels in a company, which is why he can come up with solutions where others see only obstacles or are frustrated by blind spots.
I highly recommend him as a colleague and problem-solver.”
katharine w.p.
“I can vouch for him. Just keep ya girl friend away. 😊”
doug h.
“your website looks great; I love everything about it, especially the concept behind it all. and i’ve never met someone so fitting for this “job.”
andes bt
“Thank you for having the conversation about my current inability to / inertia in pursuing a creative & productive future for myself…. you spent a lot of time discussing it with me and I really appreciated that.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to me.”
meral b.
“I especially love the blurry front page photo. Somehow the image of you ‘contains’ a sense of concentration and caring.
It’s very true to my experience of the actual David Webster.”
john g.
“when i saw this book i immediately thought of you and knew i wanted to get it for you, because it discusses the human condition in a raw, down-to-earth way.
thank you for being a constant reminder of what it means to be vibrantly human!”
evelyn k.
“you are literally medicine.”
hernan s.
“I like to get an external view from him, a sort of sanity check. David is very responsive, very helpful, a smart guy, and very easy to work with.”
paul b.
“If you’ve never met this beautiful soul, what the fuck are you doing???!!!”
kaisha w.
“How are you? you sound fabulous. I don’t really want to comment in detail on what you shared…except to say it was joyous and lifted my heart. you are very grounded…and so your positivity (and I’m sure your negativity) feels wholesome to me, something I could just breathe into and savor. That’s just sweet.”
antoinette a.
“Your story was powerful–and artfully presented.
Haven’t seen you for a while and you are missed.
Your presentation yesterday was–I’m not sure of the best adjective. Artful, maybe. And extremely moving. I can’t think of anything I’ve heard before that matched it, in describing the experience of a manic incident, a brutal encounter with the police and, perhaps most affectively, the daily burden of knowing that the craziness could happen at any time if you let it. And you do it with great drama, no eye contact, no hand or body movements, no graphics.
Experiences are just what make us who we are. But I AM sorry that you have this extra weight to carry with you. I am also awed by your talent.”
june l.
“i had a blast yesterday and look forward to future rendezvouses(?) with you. time stood still and yet it flew by at the same time. what magic!”
aviva w.
“of all my friends, you’re the one with the best chance to save this decrepit world.”
peter c.
“i consider you to be an artist whose medium is the energy of life.”
steve d.
“Mr. Lou** is a beacon for all opportunities collective and creative. If you are going somewhere in these two aspects I ensure your investment in him and contacts will come back to you three-fold.”
lance h.
**david is known in some circles as hippie lou, a nickname he received when he first arrived in the east village in 2008.
“Hope that you get better HDL.
Either leave the galaxy or put your feet back on Earth’s ground.
Orbiting is just redundant.”
christina n.
“Beyond the obvious lesson, never judge a book by its cover, Hippie Lou indirectly taught me to sacrifice the comforts of society’s plan for me, for a greater understanding. Never stop learning, and never settle in a life that anchors you. If this mind is all you have, fuck rational, forget the boarder between the societal drag telling you the way be and your own perception.”
carmen r.
“he’s from the land of Serendipity.”
peter jh
“There will be no further discussion of Mr. Hippie Lou, for I find it useless.”
natasha s.
“Dave is really a brilliant guy who can apply his skills to commercialization in any industry, no matter what it is. I wouldn’t hesitate to ask him to work on anything from nanotechnology to drug discovery.
He was able to really understand our technology as well as competing technologies, assess the industry’s need for the technology – ours and others’ – and essentially predicted the cooling off of this whole sector. That was critical for us, because we would have invested millions to develop a technology that ultimately would have fallen on weak demand.”
nabil l.
“During a recent conversation with sage and dear friend, Hippie Lou, I began to realize that all of the books I’ve read, the lectures I’ve listened to, and the never-ending philosophical conversations I’ve been a part of, hold little weight until I transform that wisdom into action.
I finally understand the true meaning of a yogi, as described by my dear Indian teacher. A yogi is a person who puts her words in to action, who lives just as she speaks. Words are not mere concepts to a yogi, but an actual moment-to-moment daily practice. And this is when life becomes a meditation.
And my mode of action is the play itself. It IS the Pilgrimage. The transformation comes in how I choose to actualize this wisdom I’ve gathered.”
annalisa d.
“When in doubt about your art, spend all day and night walking around the city drunk with your hippie godfather….if you don’t have one, you should find one.
tara f.
“This is going to sound very Holden Caulfield, but: You’re the least phony person I know.”
eric h.
“Hey Hippie, That’s a beautiful journal entry. Very honest, most people cannot be that honest. When I read it I saw gates opening a rush of water flowing. Life seems to be opening up for you. And I can tell you with total assurance that you are meant to be here, not as a failure. The eyes of society are an illusion. Some do very well living it. Some, most if they judged themselves with those rules would fail.
It seems you think you are wandering because of your past etc but it is because this is what was needed to find your purpose and knowledge you can share with others.”
lilly
“Today was a little bit transformational for me and I am experiencing a more positive state than I have had for a while. The reason is because I met up with Hippie-Lou. I really value and appreciate his effort and availability to meet with me. It has enabled me to switch gears dramatically and be in a different place. Having been estranged from meaningful human contact for quite a while, I tend to forget the value in such things. Furthermore, not just contact with anyone but with an individual that has insight and compassion and the ability to reach and resonate with me. I find myself therefore feeling very grateful to Hippie-Lou.
“Highly unexpectedly and uncharacteristically, as a result of our talk I am tentatively actually considering attempting something in this arena. If you knew my firm reticence and reluctance concerning such matters, you would be able to appreciate that it is nothing short of MIRACULOUS that he created in my mind a sense of being even slightly open to the idea.”
declan m.
“you find the poem in people.”
wendy l.