I love people. All people. People fascinate me. I can sit on the beach all day and just watch people. I often like to sit with my beautiful wife, Beth (Mrs. Hippie), on our boat dock and wave at people going by in their boats and yachts of all sizes. I love it. As a sign of peace, I always flash the “hang loose” hand gesture to the people I meet and every boat I see that is cruisin’ down the Intracoastal. Most people flash the “hang loose” hand gesture back to me. This simple flashing of the hang loose sign connects me to everyone I see or meet. For me, it is the new peace sign.
Since 1980, I have been known as a diet guru who specializes in protein powders, weight loss, bodybuilding, and natural healing—all achieved through my unique diets, exercise plans, and lifestyle choices that I teach. In 1995, I traded in my hippie look for a more mainstream, professional look to entice millions of mainstream Americans to embrace my diet plans, protein powders, and exercise programs. My hair had been basically long since the mid-‘60s, so cutting my hair was a bit traumatic for me. I went from “long hair, blue jeans, and Beatle boots, to short hair, monogrammed shirts, and Armani suits.” I went from driving a 1970 VW Bus (which I often lived in) to a new high-end Mercedes I paid cash for. And guess what? My new dressed up image worked big time.
With my new professional look, business took off like a wildfire. My weight-loss seminars were packed, my protein was flying off health food store shelves, my book, The Fat Burning Diet became a bestseller, Before I knew it, I was starring on TV as The Fat Burning Chef and doing countless TV, radio, and magazine interviews every month. Life was good as my company grew by leaps and bounds. Before I knew it, my protein became the #1 premium brand of protein in America sold in over 10,000 stores and nutrition centers.
My professional image was working. I knew this because my business was booming. But wearing my hair short and dressing as a professional was not me, at least not the real me. I realized I was no longer happy. Inside of me, I longed to return to my hippie roots. You see, no matter how short my hair is, or how I dress, or what kind of vehicle I drive, I have always remained a hippie at heart. Even after I cut my hair in 1995 and dressed up, my hippie roots were still in place. So in 2008, to return to happiness, I reset my life.
The first part of my reset was to stop wearing designer ties, shirts, shoes, and suits to work every day. In place of my Armani suits and shirts, I once again began sportin’ bellbottom blue jeans, Beatle boots, and ‘60s-style long-sleeve shirts—just like I wore back in the day and all the way up to 1995. It felt good to go full-tilt retro, wearing really far-out clothes every day, chokers, and wrist bracelets. Because my image with short hair was on my protein packaging, I kept my hair short, but I was chompin’ at the bit to let it grow.
Wearing short hair always felt awkward to me because even as a kid I wanted my hair long. Perhaps it is my Native American roots, but letting my black hair grow long always seemed natural to me. So from 1995 through 2017, I kept my hair short until one day I woke up and said to myself, “No more haircuts. I miss the feeling of my long hair on my shoulders and down my back.” So I stopped cutting my hair in the summer of 2018 and it felt wonderful. But there was one more piece that needed to be in placed in this transformational puzzle.
Back in the day, I frequently wore headbands, especially when my hair was really long. So one morning I got up and pulled an old bandana out of my dresser drawer, folded it into a headband and strapped it on my head. My friend, donned in my old-school headband, it felt like was coming home after being away for decades. I was a kid again, and it felt good. Really good.
My bandana was red, but I also had a teal one in my dresser. My wife Beth insisted I wear the teal one because I looked less gangbanger and more Rockstar. To evaluate which headband looked the best, I began alternating between the red bandana and the teal bandana and I noticed how people received me. It didn’t take long to notice that my wife was right, AGAIN, because people began to notice and remember me when I was sportin’ the teal bandana. Teal is also a really good color for my skin and hair. So teal it was.
By mid-2020, my hair was almost halfway down my back and I loved it! A year prior to that, I had created a three-inch sticker that was a caricature of me with my black hair, teal headband, sunglasses, and goatee. I printed 15,000 of these stickers and began giving them out to anyone and everyone. Before long, my stickers peppered the Palm Beach area. I was everywhere, cars, vans, trucks, boats, restaurants, kid’s notebooks, restaurant server’s order books, bathrooms, signs, and more. On the back of my stickers were the words “Hang Loose” and below that JayRobb.com.
In the summer of 2020, we hired musical genius, former Rockstar, and accomplished musician Josh Varnadore, aka, the “Magic Man,” to produce my music. Once Mr. Magic was on board with us, we converted our North Palm Beach office into a full-blown recording studio that we now call Hippie Hut Studios. One of the songs I had written was called Magic Bus. The song is about a 1974 VW Bus I was having chopped, dropped, and custom built to include a Tesla motor in place of the original 1600 cc gas engine. Because of my long hair, going retro ‘60s, and my message of peace and love, my nickname had become the “Guru of Peace.” This name fit like a glove for me, so it stuck. As I was writing the lyrics for Magic Bus, the last line in the second verse in the song needed something catchy that rhymed with iced tea, so here is what I wrote:
Windows are chopped
Body’s been dropped
The inside is chilled like iced tea
New shoes and socks
This ride really rocks
Custom made for the G.O.P.
To rhyme with tea, I turned the Guru of Peace into an acronym, and The G.O.P. was born! Now G.O.P. is my new brand of old-school peace-and-love-based music, videos, merchandise, and clothing. The G.O.P. is the man behind the mission of spreading peace and love across the planet. Jay Robb is my brand of protein. The G.O.P. is my brand of peace.
To get more of the details that went into the creation of my song Magic Bus, check out Rockstar Stories: The Story Behind My Song Magic Bus, and Rockstar Stories: The Music of the G.O.P.
Peace and love
The G.O.P.
