Winter 1971 – SUPERNATURAL SUPER NATURAL

Winter 1971 – SUPERNATURAL  SUPER  NATURAL

With this final post for 2021, 00individual will relate, in first person, a winter 1971 mind-blower.

With our three dogs, my girlfriend and I moved from L.A. to Mammoth Lakes, California at the end of summer 1971 before the winter that would eventually become the most snowfall Mammoth would experience in a decade.  The snow-plowed streets would literally become like the maze in “the Shining”. Our VW Bug was buried.

We had been invited by friends who lived there and told us that we could basically live free as the unemployment and food stamp allocations for that county would be lessened if not used so the local government literally wanted people to move to their county to flip the tab for life in Mammoth.

Pink Floyd’s just-released “Meddle” album was on constantly and the atmosphere for immersing in the Occult in Mammoth at that time was good; environmentally, spiritually and historically.
The snowy mountainous environment emanated an enriching old-world feel even though I wasn’t in Europe, …or was I?

Geophysical Mind Travel
Mr. Frost, (his real name) our  neighbor, peer and kindred spirit, first turned me on to Geophysical Mind Travel as we were appreciating the distant snow-covered mountainous landscapes and village rooftops out through his second-story window while sharing a joint. I said how cool it would be to be in Switzerland, and Mr. Frost said, “We are.”
And he was right; I was in a mountain village in Switzerland and my whole being took on the foreign feeling of actually being there.  There was no difference between the ambient environment and visuals in Mammoth than Switzerland at that moment other than I chose for it to be Switzerland.
I have done this repeatedly in my life since and as an example; on a particularly sunny day I am in my studio in a little Italian town – my outdoor visual complies. Or, outside on a foggy moonlit night, the mountains around me became a massively thick great forest and I was in an aerie.  This is where imagining and your present reality merge; you are there for real physically and the feeling is foreign, as would be expected in any foreign place, but it’s certainly an enjoyable sensation.
Driving up the coast many times I have imagined I’m on the South of France or a strange planet that is much like Earth, or when in industrial areas I’m in a future environment that could have all sorts of mystery and intrigue just beyond locked gates.  This is not fantasizing, this is sensory actualization made real by your imagination’s abilities.
Mr. Frost’s technique is a wonderful precursor to other more advanced forms of mind-honing. This, and other lessons learned while high on psychedelics, have made them accessible anytime, anywhere – an altered state of consciousness that is in fact “real” when experienced.
Groovy and Far Out!

Terrence McKenna
A man who changed my life as sure as psychedelics did, for the better, Terrence McKenna  (ethnobotanist, philosopher, psychonaut, researcher, teacher, lecturer, and writer on many subjects, such as human consciousness, language, psychedelic substances, the evolution of civilizations, the origin and end of the universe, alchemy, and extraterrestrial beings) stated that man’s ultimate evolution was to exist in his imagination.
Sounds feasible: with the introduction of the internet everyone world-wide has elevated their imagination with the capacity to relate to the virtual existence of “real” places in cyberspace – the first step to living in total imagination.

In Search For Psychedelics For The Skin
While snow covered the ground, but sometime prior to the first major snowfall, I made a quick trip back down to L.A. to visit a noted Metaphysical Shop on Melrose Avenue. There were two ingredients that I needed to complete the recipe for Witches’ Salve that I was extremely fortunate to acquire.  This was the reputed salve that Witches, bless their souls, would rub on their skin to give their bodies the sensation of flying.  Psychedelics for the skin!  I wanted some!  The Shop normally stocked the two herbs that I needed, but were out of both.  Sadly, I was told that those specific two herbs, that have been allowed entry into this country forever, were currently being held at the Long Beach docks pending a current FDA ban on their sale.  They were belladonna and wormwood.
I was very disappointed.

On The Day After Christmas
During this era I was acquiring serious Occult knowledge and it wasn’t until two years later that I found myself on the day after Christmas standing in a line in drizzly rain with two Nuns behind me at a Westwood Village theater for the first showing of “the Exorcist” – my girlfriend read the book and told me it was a documentary.
I came out of the theater with the stone realization that my attempts at trying to connect with “others” had the potential to get extremely messy, so understanding the possible implications of my past experiments I strode the neutral path for many years after.

Nature’s Sensory-Deprivation Tank
Back in Mammoth, with no Skin Psychedelics, I was greeted by our friend who said that he had something better and told us to prepare for a secret midnight ritual – it was “Nature’s Sensory-Deprivation Tank”, known to only a very few.  [And there we have the simple original ancient definition of “Occult”; “hidden (secret) knowledge that must be studied by initiates to be understood.”]  We were quick studies and welcomed initiates for this Occult journey, so on that crisp snowy night we all drove south out of Mammoth, off the main highway, past the old airstrip and ended up near a small hot springs pond that was part of a small creek with a flat foot-bridge across it.
The location of the hot springs wasn’t a huge secret; but the technique to experience Nature’s Sensory-Deprivation Tank was.  First, we’d all nude-up and go from the freezing, snowy banks into the hot, hot creek and from there we would literally navigate each other through mind-altering excursions.

The “secret technique” consisted of one person who would be “Tripped” by the other three or four people who would gently support and guide your floating body around the creek. The feeling was of being weightless floating in space “2001: A Space Odyssey” Starchild-style with the blackness of space and millions of stars circulating as you are guided about the creek.
It was essential that your ears were just below the surface of the water as the deep rumbling sound and sensation emanating from the underwater hot mineral source-spout near the bridge provided a universe-careening aural environment that ebbed and flowed as you moved toward and away from the rumbling vibrations.  This cosmic rumble complemented the weightless physical feeling which created the sensation of slowly ripping through space and time!
A true natural psychedelic experience! Mind-Blowing! Far Out!
If it was snowing, the experience intensified as the falling flakes appeared as if stars soaring past you on all sides as you traveled spirit-like through deep space.
(See header illustration.)

After the usual 45 minute trip per person in Nature’s Sensory Deprivation Tank, you were so “altered” that you enjoyed guiding the meditative Tripping of the next person.
Sometimes we’d be “out there” literally and literally, until near sun-up, but like vampires we needed to get back before daylight; as it would/could take away from the ambiance of the experience.
On the drive back we’d be zonked, but spiritually uplifted as the experience was highly concentrated due to the super natural element and therefore spiritual transcendence was certainly obtainable if one had this intent and power of thought in mind.

These Super Natural Trip experiences were a gift from nature and did not need any psychedelics to achieve truly exceptional psychedelic effects, … however, us Hippies were known to push limits and there were times when the cosmic spike of psychedelics could take you just about anywhere then and would truly be a Supernatural Super Natural experience.

Here’s the end scene (spoiler) from the movie “Altered States” to show you what can happen when you take psychedelics in a sensory deprivation tank – you could “TRANSCEND”.

.

Thank you to everyone who has visited this site for the past nine years and for future visits in 2022!

Here’s a treasured musical gift for everyone:
BEST WINTER / HOLIDAY SPIRIT SUBLIME ELECTRONICA TRIPPY PSYCHEDELIC
MUSIC ALBUM EVER!

and
SILENT NIGHT INSTRUMENTAL – ROTARY CONNECTION – 1968
(CRANK IT UP FOR FULL EFFECT!)

and

With a few more years of fun to milk it for all its worth;
00individual is seen here at 20 years old and nine months before the above experience
and nearing the end of the ten months of Free-Form Hippie Adventures that included
Spontaneous Road Trips and Mind-Blowing Psychedelic Trips and
Historic and Classic Rock Concerts!
Far Out!
Right On!

See you in 2022!

1960′s and 1970′s Culture Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . TRUE PSYCHEDELIC TRIPS! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MIND-BLOWER #6 . . . Winter 1971 . . . . . . . . . . . SUPERNATURAL SUPER NATURAL . . . . . . . . . . . plus a Psychedelic Gift – in this post!

“Supernatural Super Natural” copyright 2012 00individual  TLL

A nice seasonal revised repost from the Psychedelic Archives of 00individual: 

EXPERIENCE TRUE PSYCHEDELIC TRIPS!
MIND-BLOWER #6 – Winter 1971
SUPERNATURAL  SUPER  NATURAL

00individual, his girlfriend and their three dogs moved from L.A. to Mammoth Lakes, California at the end of summer 1971 before the winter that would eventually become the most snowfall Mammoth would experience in a decade.  The snow-plowed streets would literally become like the maze in “the Shining”.  Their VW Bug was buried.

Invited and informed by friends who moved to Mammoth that the local government literally wanted people to move to their county, and unquestioned, would pay for unemployment and food stamps as their fiscal financial allocations would be lessened if not used. Groovy!

Once settled-in, Pink Floyd’s just-released “Meddle” album and the “Black Mass” album by Lucifer (Mort Garson – synth/moog master) both became the constant aural atmosphere for immersing in the Occult.
00individual had been delving into the psychedelic aspects of “Hidden Knowledge” for some time prior to the move north. Now it was a perfect time in Cultural History and in a rich natural environment where spiritual and metaphysical concentrations should bolster results.

One sunny snow-covered day, while sharing a joint and gazing out the second story window of our upstairs neighbor, peer and kindred spirit, Mr. Frost (his real name) the snowy mountainous view and environment emanated an enriching old-world feel.
Even though he wasn’t in Europe, for a moment 00individual felt that he was, and mused on how cool it would be if they were in Switzerland, and Mr. Frost said, “We are.”

GeoMindTravel
And he was right; 00individual was in a mountain village in Switzerland and the sensation took on the foreign feeling of actually being there.
Mr. Frost called it Geophysical Mind Travel; a matter of shifting a present reality to a similar but foreign reality complete with geographical settings.
There was no difference between the ambient environment and visuals in Mammoth than Switzerland at that moment other than 00individual chose for it to be Switzerland, . . . and because of that, it felt foreign – and that was the acid test, because if it felt foreign then it became real!

Since then, 00individual has done this throughout his life, and as an example, on a particularly sunny day through the studio’s sliding glass door a little Italian town is “felt” beyond the mountain and the brightness outside and therefore exists.
On a foggy moonglow night, outside through the sliding glass door, the bowl effect of the Santa Monica mountains become a massively thick great forest roof and 00individual is in an aerie.
Driving the Pacific Coast Highway many times, 00individual imagined touring on the South of France or cruising a roadway on a strange planet that is much like Earth.
Industrial areas become future environments that could have all sorts of mystery and intrigue just beyond locked gates; alien, ancient or . . ?
This is not fantasizing, this is sensory actualization made real by your imagination’s abilities to fill in the altered reality’s “world”.

Mr. Frost’s technique is a wonderful precursor to other more advanced forms of mind-honing. This, and other lessons learned while high on psychedelics, have made them accessible anytime, anywhere – an altered state of consciousness that is in fact “real” when willfully manifested and then joyfully experienced.

To wrap-up this trip on imagination; 00individual gives tribute to Richard Dunn who turned him on to Robert Anton Wilson’s book “The Cosmic Trigger”, which in turn introduced a man who changed 00individual’s life as sure as psychedelics did, and all for the better, Terrence McKenna – ethnobotanist, philosopher, psychonaut, researcher, teacher, lecturer, and writer on many subjects, such as human consciousness, language, psychedelic substances, the evolution of civilizations, the origin and end of the universe, alchemy, and extraterrestrial beings.
Terrence stated that man’s ultimate evolution was to exist in his imagination.

Sounds highly probable: the introduction of the internet, the immersive depth of video games and the assimilation of technologies have elevated human imagination with the capacity to relate to the virtual existence of “real” places in cyberspace – the first step to living in total imagination.

Psychedelic “Flying” Witches’ Salve 
Before the winter snow covered the ground, 00individual made a quick trip back down to L.A. to visit a noted Metaphysical Shop on Melrose Boulevard. There were two ingredients that were needed to complete the recipe for Witches’ Salve that 00individual was extremely fortunate to acquire.
This was the reputed salve that Witches, Bless their Souls, would rub on their skin to give their bodies the sensation of flying.  Psychedelics for the skin! 00individual needed this!

The Shop normally stocked the two herbs that were needed to complete the recipe, but they were out of both. Sadly, 00individual was told that those specific two herbs, that have been allowed entry into this country forever, were currently being held at the Long Beach docks pending a current FDA ban on their sale.  They were belladonna and wormwood. 00individual was very disappointed.

During this era 00individual delved into Occult knowledge, and two years later on the day after Christmas ’73, was standing in a wraparound-the-block line in drizzly rain with his girlfriend and in front of two Nuns at a Westwood Village theater, the National, for the first showing of “The Exorcist”.
00individual’s girlfriend read William Peter Blatty’s book and stated that it was a dramatic documentary, a movie based on real events.

Well, for 00individual this film was a wake up call. He had been spared; he was shown that his attempts at trying to connect with “others” had the potential to get extremely messy.
So, understanding the possible implications of past serious experiments, 00individual strode the neutral path for many years after. The Exorcist delivered a real karmic warning and was considered as “a word to the wise is sufficient.”

Nature’s Sensory-Deprivation Tank 
Meanwhile, back in Mammoth with no Skin Psychedelics, 00individual was greeted by the friend who invited him to Mammoth and told him the sad news, his friend mourned the loss but assured him that he had something better.
He told us to prepare for a secret Midnight Ritual – it was “Nature’s Sensory-Deprivation Tank”, known to only a select few – and there we have the simple original ancient definition of “Occult”; “hidden (secret) knowledge that must be studied by initiates to be understood.”

We were quick studies and welcomed initiates for this Occult journey, so on a crisp snowy night we all drove south out of Mammoth, off the main highway, past the old airstrip and ended up near a small hot springs pond that was part of a small creek with a flat foot-bridge across it.
The location of the hot springs wasn’t a huge secret; but the technique to experience Nature’s Sensory-Deprivation Tank was.
First, we’d all nude-up and go from the freezing, snowy banks into the hot, hot creek and from there we would literally navigate each other through mind-altering excursions.

The “secret technique” consisted of one person who would be “Tripped” by the other two, three or four people who would gently support and guide your floating body around the creek. The feeling was of being weightless floating in space “2001: A Space Odyssey” Starchild-style with the blackness of space and millions of stars circulating as you are guided about the creek.

But the essential part of the trip was that you needed to keep your ears just below the surface of the water, as the deep rumbling sound and sensation emanating from the underwater hot mineral source-spout near the bridge provided a universe-careening aural environment that ebbed and flowed as you moved toward and away from the rumbling sonic vibrations.
This cosmic rumble complemented the weightless physical feeling which created the sensation of slowly ripping through space and time!

If it was snowing, the experience intensified as the falling flakes appeared as if stars soaring past you on all sides as you traveled spirit-like through deep space. We were experiencing Star Wars before anyone else. (See header simulation painting above.)
A true natural full body and mind psychedelic experience! Mind-Blowing! Far Out!

After the usual 45 minute trip per person in Nature’s Sensory Deprivation Tank, you were so “altered” that you enjoyed the meditative Tripping of the next person. Sometimes we’d be “out there” until near sun-up, but like vampires we needed to get back before daylight; as it would/could take away from the ambiance of the nocturnal experience. On the drive back we’d be zonked, but spiritually uplifted as the experience was highly concentrated due to the super natural element and therefore spiritual transcendence was certainly obtainable if one had this intent and power of thought in mind.

These Super Natural Trip experiences were a gift from nature and did not need any psychedelics to achieve truly exceptional psychedelic effects, … however, us Hippies were known to push limits and there were times when the cosmic spike of psychedelics could contribute to a truly Supernatural Super Natural experience.

WARNING!
Here’s the end scene (spoiler) from the classic movie “Altered States” to show you what can happen when you take psychedelics in a sensory deprivation tank – you could “TRANSCEND“.
.

Thanks to all of you Righteous Rockers who have visited this site over the past 3 1/2 years!

Here’s a treasured musical gift for everyone:
Best Winter Holiday Spirit Sublime Electronica Trippy Psychedelic
Music Album Ever!
and
Silent Night
Instrumental – Rotary Connection – 1968
a bit of Hendrix, Santana, Morricone and Floyd
CRANK IT UP FOR FULL EFFECT!

With a few more years of fun to milk it for all its’ worth;
00individual is seen here at 20 years old; nine months before the above experience
and nearing the end of the ten months of Free-Form Hippie Adventures that included:
Spontaneous Road Trips and Mind-Blowing Psychedelic Trips,
Historic Albums, Bands and Historic and Classic Rock Concerts!
L.A., Hollywood, Venice, Santa Monica, Westchester, the Beach and the Vibe!
Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll!

Historic Times for 00individual – Historic Times for History!
.

Now, for any and all of you Righteous Rockers and Dedicated Souls who made it this far,

00INDIVIDUAL has a PSYCHEDELIC GIFT for YOU!

Position the header art as full screen as possible and stare at the image of the snowflakes
Within 30 to 60 seconds or less, your brain’s own boredom will begin to move the snowflakes down the screen in a “dripping” fashion.
Now, this alone is a cool optical illusion, but let’s take it much further.

For fun, 00individual wondered if he could control this snowflake movement with his mind.
Merely by concentrating and commanding the dripping snowflakes to stop, they slowed to a stop
and by concentrating and commanding them upward, against the normal optical flow, they moved upward.
00individual was able to control the movement of the snowflakes with his mind!
Now that was and is cool fun!  Mental Psychedelics!

Tested: works whether stoned or not.
Dope it works for you!

.

– Please disregard any advertisements that may appear on this site –
00individual does not endorse nor receive any payment of any kind from any advertiser(s).

1960′s and 1970′s Culture Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . TRUE PSYCHEDELIC TRIPS! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MIND-BLOWER #6 . . . Winter 1971 . . . . . . . . . . . SUPERNATURAL SUPER NATURAL

EXPERIENCE TRUE PSYCHEDELIC TRIPS!
MIND-BLOWER #6 – Winter 1971
SUPERNATURAL  SUPER  NATURAL

With our three dogs, my girlfriend and I moved from L.A. to Mammoth Lakes, California at the end of summer 1971 before the winter that would eventually become the most snowfall Mammoth would experience in a decade.  The snow-plowed streets would literally become like the maze in “the Shining”.  Our VW Bug was buried.

We had been invited by friends who lived there and told us that we could basically live free as the unemployment and food stamp allocations for that county would be lessened if not used so the local government literally wanted people to move to their county to flip the tab for life in Mammoth.

Pink Floyd’s just-released “Meddle” album was on constantly and the atmosphere for immersing in the Occult in Mammoth at that time was good; environmentally, spiritually and historically.  The snowy mountainous environment emanated an enriching old-world feel even though I wasn’t in Europe, …or was I?
Mr. Frost, (his real name) our  neighbor, peer and kindred spirit, first turned me on to Geophysical Mind Travel as we were appreciating the distant snow-covered mountainous landscapes and village rooftops out through his second-story window while sharing a joint and I said how cool it would be to be in Switzerland, and Mr. Frost said, “We are.”
And he was right; I was in a mountain village in Switzerland and my whole being took on the foreign feeling of actually being there.  There was no difference between the ambient environment and visuals in Mammoth than Switzerland at that moment other than I chose for it to be Switzerland.
I have done this repeatedly in my life since and as an example; on a particularly sunny day I am in my studio in a little Italian town – my outdoor visual complies.
Outside on a foggy moonlit night, the mountains around me became a massively thick great forest and I was in an aerie.  This is where imagining and your present reality merge; you are there for real physically and the feeling is foreign, as would be expected in any foreign place, but it’s certainly an enjoyable sensation.
Driving up the coast many times I have imagined I’m on the South of France or a strange planet that is much like Earth, or when in industrial areas I’m in a future environment that could have all sorts of mystery and intrigue just beyond locked gates.  This is not fantasizing, this is sensory actualization made real by your imagination’s abilities.
Mr. Frost’s technique is a wonderful precursor to other more advanced forms of mind-honing. This, and other lessons learned while high on psychedelics, have made them accessible anytime, anywhere – an altered state of consciousness that is in fact “real” when experienced.
Groovy and Far Out!

A man who changed my life as sure as psychedelics did, for the better, Terrence McKenna  (ethnobotanist, philosopher, psychonaut, researcher, teacher, lecturer, and writer on many subjects, such as human consciousness, language, psychedelic substances, the evolution of civilizations, the origin and end of the universe, alchemy, and extraterrestrial beings) stated that man’s ultimate evolution was to exist in his imagination.
Sounds feasible: with the introduction of the internet everyone world-wide has elevated their imagination with the capacity to relate to the virtual existence of “real” places in cyberspace – the first step to living in total imagination.

While snow covered the ground, but sometime prior to the first major snowfall, I made a quick trip back down to L.A. to visit a noted Metaphysical Shop on Melrose Boulevard. There were two ingredients that I needed to complete the recipe for Witches’ Salve that I was extremely  fortunate to acquire.  This was the reputed salve that Witches, bless their souls, would rub on their skin to give their bodies the sensation of flying.  Psychedelics for the skin!  I wanted some!  The Shop normally stocked the two herbs that I needed, but were out of both.  Sadly, I was told that those specific two herbs, that have been allowed entry into this country forever, were currently being held at the Long Beach docks pending a current FDA ban on their sale.  They were belladonna and wormwood.
I was very disappointed.

During this era I was acquiring serious Occult knowledge and it wasn’t until two years later that I found myself on the day after Christmas standing in a line in drizzly rain with two Nuns behind me at a Westwood Village theater for the first showing of “the Exorcist” – my girlfriend read the book and told me it was a documentary.
I came out of the theater with the stone realization that my attempts at trying to connect with “others” had the potential to get extremely messy, so understanding the possible implications of my past experiments I strode the neutral path for many years after.

Back in Mammoth, with no Skin Psychedelics, I was greeted by our friend who said that he had something better and told us to prepare for a secret midnight ritual – it was “Nature’s Sensory-Deprivation Tank”, known to only a very few.  [And there we have the simple original ancient definition of “Occult”; “hidden (secret) knowledge that must be studied by initiates to be understood.”]  We were quick studies and welcomed initiates for this Occult journey, so on that crisp snowy night we all drove south out of Mammoth, off the main highway, past the old airstrip and ended up near a small hot springs pond that was part of a small creek with a flat foot-bridge across it.
The location of the hot springs wasn’t a huge secret; but the technique to experience Nature’s Sensory-Deprivation Tank was.  First, we’d all nude-up and go from the freezing, snowy banks into the hot, hot creek and from there we would literally navigate each other through mind-altering excursions.

The “secret technique” consisted of one person who would be “Tripped” by the other three or four people who would gently support and guide your floating body around the creek. The feeling was of being weightless floating in space “2001: A Space Odyssey” Starchild-style with the blackness of space and millions of stars circulating as you are guided about the creek.
It was essential that your ears were just below the surface of the water as the deep rumbling sound and sensation emanating from the underwater hot mineral source-spout near the bridge provided a universe-careening aural environment that ebbed and flowed as you moved toward and away from the rumbling vibrations.  This cosmic rumble complemented the weightless physical feeling which created the sensation of slowly ripping through space and time!
A true natural psychedelic experience! Mind-Blowing! Far Out!
If it was snowing, the experience intensified as the falling flakes appeared as if stars soaring past you on all sides as you traveled spirit-like through deep space.
(See illustration above.)

After the usual 45 minute trip per person in Nature’s Sensory Deprivation Tank, you were so “altered” that you enjoyed the meditative Tripping of the next person.
Sometimes we’d be “out there” literally and literally, until near sun-up, but like vampires we needed to get back before daylight; as it would/could take away from the ambiance of the experience.
On the drive back we’d be zonked, but spiritually uplifted as the experience was highly concentrated due to the super natural element and therefore spiritual transcendence was certainly obtainable if one had this intent and power of thought in mind.

These Super Natural Trip experiences were a gift from nature and did not need any psychedelics to achieve truly exceptional psychedelic effects, … however, us Hippies were known to push limits and there were times when the cosmic spike of psychedelics could take you just about anywhere then and would truly be a Supernatural Super Natural experience.

Here’s the end scene (spoiler) from the movie “Altered States” to show you what can happen when you take psychedelics in a sensory deprivation tank – you could “TRANSCEND“.

Thank you everyone who have visited this site for the initial past six month start-up and for future visits in 2013!

Here’s a treasured musical gift for everyone:
BEST WINTER / HOLIDAY SPIRIT SUBLIME ELECTRONICA TRIPPY PSYCHEDELIC
MUSIC ALBUM EVER!

and
SILENT NIGHT INSTRUMENTAL – ROTARY CONNECTION – 1968
(CRANK IT UP FOR FULL EFFECT!)

and

With a few more years of fun to milk it for all its worth;
00individual is seen here at 20 years old and nine months before the above experience
and nearing the end of the ten months of Free-Form Hippie Adventures that included
Spontaneous Road Trips and Mind-Blowing Psychedelic Trips and
Historic and Classic Rock Concerts!
Far Out!
Right On!

1960′s and 1970′s Culture Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . TRUE PSYCHEDELIC TRIPS! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MIND-BLOWER #4 . . . Spring 1970 . . . . . . . . . . . DEATH RIDES A METAL HORSE

“Death Rides a Metal Horse” copyright 2012 00individual  TLL

TRUE PSYCHEDELIC TRIPS!
MIND-BLOWER #4 – Spring 1970
DEATH RIDES A METAL HORSE

After historic times at the beach pad, an era had ended and two of us (the Driver from Mind-Blower #1) moved into a nice, but unfurnished stand-alone place isolated on top of our garage and several other units’ garages. This gave us tremendous freedom to play loud music, both from our stereo and from us – the Driver was a guitarist and I had a drum kit and friends would drop by and jam. We could cut loose and party every day and night with outrageous behavior and no one complained.
Our apartment was situated mid-way down the back-alley that served as the main exit of the most popular McDonald’s in the area. So our convenient location became a place to “drop by” and the apartment soon became known as the “Topside Room”.
We never furnished it other than our bedrooms – there were some Hippie pillows and a mattress in the front room along with my drum kit in the corner and an amp and speaker – the kitchen literally turned into a workshop where my buddy built his components for his future step van mobile home. The fumes from the resin-lacquered propane-burnt wood boards could get you high just entering the place.  I don’t ever remember even using the kitchen to make a meal – we knew waitresses at several local restaurants that we frequented and they’d get us free meals – sometimes breakfast and dinner on the same day. We were livin’ like total Bohemians back then.

I was still working at the art department (saving-up money so I could quit and go have Hippie Adventures, which I did), when one night a good friend upon arrival back from Hawai’i treated us to some bowls of Primo Abdoolie #1 Hash.  I knew it was Primo Hash; as I could taste it in my brain, really. Then for a few nights straight a small circle of friends came by the Topside Room and we got pretty hallucinogenic from this Primo Hash.  I remember vividly, we were all sitting on the floor of my buddy’s bedroom and after several tokes I felt the whole room tip and slant to the point I thought we would all slide out through his doorway.
After a couple nights of this ritualistic mind-bending Hashish I became such a drugged numbed artist at work that it was only when the Exacto blade that had jammed into my leg through my jeans (when I got up from my drawing table to go use the darkroom) and the handle hit the doorway as I was walking through did I say, OW!  And looked down at the blood-soaked area around my stabbed leg and realized that just maybe I should stop, or at least slow down on the Hashish consumption, and I did for one night – what was I thinking? This was Primo Abdoolie #1 Hash! I haven’t had any since!  I was an unenlightened dope to skip a night.

A few days after the Abdoolie Primo #1 Hash rituals ceased and we were ready for some psychedelic fun, we decided to drop acid and go for a motorcycle ride – now that’s not strange for us, we’d done that before, but this time it was a very blustery and windy early evening and the sights of the trees swaying in the wind and the sounds of the howling winds created an atmosphere that made the evening already psychedelic.

I remember feeling the anticipation of fun to be had as I was on my bike giddily revving the engine at the people who came down our alley while my buddy did the same– it was so windy and blustery that we were just adding to the cacophony of the leaves flying and the wind howling.
Our metal horses were screaming, chomping at the bit, wanting us to let them loose and ride. Once we settled them down we took off and headed for the beach towns for some psychedelic sight-seeing and cruisin’ fun.
As we rode past our old beach pad at 338 Pershing in Playa Del Rey, we curved onto PCH and headed for the beach cities Hermosa and Redondo.  It was getting dark and the winds had died down so we could enjoy the ambient setting sun.

Although my buddy had been known to do the “Coffin” (a lethally dangerous move) on his bike  – tonight we both had a lethally dangerous experience – and while tripping on LSD.

Fortunately, we were slowing to enter the first beach town proper, slowing meaning about 50 mph, when my buddy pulled his bike up next to mine and we immediately got our handlebars entangled – for real!
My right throttle grip and his left grip and clutch were stuck – all I thought of was the next second we would dovetail together into end-over-end human and metal pretzels.
At the last second before we miraculously got “unhooked” I looked over at him and his face was this psychedelic grinning skull – as if he did it on purpose and with a look of, “Wasn’t that fun!?”
His Triumph 650 could catch my Honda 350, but I still got way out ahead of him and lost him in Hermosa Beach. (I later upgraded to a classic ’69 900cc Harley-Davidson Sportster! Cool!) He didn’t try and catch me  – he may have been as terrified of me!

We later ran into each other on the main boulevard, not literally, and cruised the rest of the psychedelic night by taking in the fresh, crisp, night sea air, the sparkling, vibrant yet soothing lights, the incredible unhelmeted joy that you get from becoming one with a powerful machine between your legs that responds to your every move and the total freedom of mind, spirit and body of living right then.

Now the question is; what was real, and what was a hallucination?

Everything was real, however, even though my friend had moments of evil-tinted mischievous deeds, manifesting into a skeletal demon was beyond his capabilities – but I could see his grin in there, so, that’s one of the fun things about hallucinogenics; the real and the unreal blend and you experience what you see and hear as real, but very rarely is it life-threatening – our ride with Near Death was.

Hey, as long as you live to tell the tale …

Here’s a truly amazing look at what we were listening to in the Spring of 1970 –
all of these albums were released within the previous seven months!!!

TEN YEARS AFTER – SSSSH – August 1969
FLEETWOOD MAC – THEN PLAY ON – September 9, 1969
the BEATLES – ABBEY ROAD – September 26, 1969
KING CRIMSON – IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING –October 10, 1969
FRANK ZAPPA – HOT RATS – October 10, 1969
LED ZEPPELIN – LED ZEPPELIN II – October 22, 1969
the ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND – THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND – November 4, 1969
PINK FLOYD – UMMAGUMMA – November 10, 1969
the MOODY BLUES – TO OUR CHILDRENS’ CHILDRENS’ CHILDREN – November 21, 1969
ROD STEWART – the ROD STEWART ALBUM – November 1969
the ROLLING STONES – LET IT BLEED – December 5, 1969
GRAND FUNK RAILROAD – GRAND FUNK – December 29, 1969
ZEPHYR – ZEPHYR – 1969
FRIJID PINK – FRIJID PINK – January 1970
VAN MORRISON – MOONDANCE – February 28, 1970
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG – DEJA VU – March 11, 1970
JIMI HENDRIX – BAND OF GYPSYS – March 25, 1970

TRULY HISTORIC TIMES!

1960′s and 1970′s Culture Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . TRUE PSYCHEDELIC TRIPS! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MIND-BLOWER #2 . . . July 4, 1970

EXPERIENCE TRUE PSYCHEDELIC TRIPS!
MIND-BLOWER #2  –  4^th of July  – 1970

It was the 4^th of July, 1970; the perfect holiday to take an LSD trip.

A few of our “Goon Squad” cruised down to Newport Beach to see the fireworks from a hill over-looking the harbor. We had fellow dope fiends that lived on the beach that graciously allowed us to use their pad as our home base for the day.  We brought plenty of fun drugs to share in return for their hospitality.
The fireworks display was to be shot from a boat in the harbor and the resulting reflections on the water made the experience doubly cool!  This is common today but forty years ago it was unique.
Back then there were fireworks stands set up all over the city as most people bought and set off their own fireworks in their backyards. So to go somewhere to watch a big display was fun and a good reason to dose ourselves – but back then we had many good reasons, like, “Hey, it’s Tuesday afternoon, let’s drop acid!”.

I remember this day extremely vividly for two reasons; one, the observance of the molecular structure of a lit candle and two, the fact that while watching the fireworks a large boat manifested and drove past us on the over-looking hill!

We dropped either Double Dome or White Lightning acid (both strong and long-lasting – umm-umm!) about mid-afternoon, as a day goofin’ off at the beach on acid would be a great build-up to the nighttime festivities.  As we walked we talked and that in and of itself could be very interesting and more so if the subject matter was heavy – which it usually became because LSD stimulates parts of you that you normally don’t acknowledge; the part where higher thoughts drown out the mundane concerns of daily life and allow you to see things clearly and as they really are.
At some point after some uninhibited displays of psychedelic weirdness and fun we decided to take the short walk back to the beach pad and smoke a couple joints and then head out to the Harbor hills.

Although it was a sunny day, the beach pad interior was coolly dark except for a few lit candles.
Now I’m not new to candles; I was a candle maker myself around that time (see: KPPC / Hippie Candle Factory) but the LSD was hitting me perfectly to see an amazing event.  I could see into the candle on the table in front of me, but not just inside, the whole molecular structure of a decent-sized 6” square candle.
Not only could I see through it but I could see each interior side as if it were a clear cube.  But it was far from clear as there was a whole lot of activity going on in there. The light from the candle wick cast back down throughout the candle giving the already yellowish candle a golden glimmer as symmetrical strands of what looked like live electricity crisscrossed back and forth much like the wire-framing of today but not seen on a screen or monitor but in real Superman see-thru 3D vision – in three dimensions – but this must have been the fourth dimension!?!

I was amazed!  I’ve tripped many times before and had seen many things but this was the first time I could actually sit and continue watching this event, for what seemed like as long as I wanted.
Soon other colors of live electricity began to inter-mingle and then I saw what was really going on; those strands weren’t strands, they were highways!  As I looked even closer it seemed as though my eyes became microscopes as I could view in as close as I wanted.  It was then that I saw it; a teeming metropolis with everything you’d see in any major city except that everything was still tinged in a golden glinty light – the light from these inhabitants’ sun – the lit candlewick above!

Unfortunately I was jolted-back to somewhat reality with the demands to hit the road, it was getting to be twilight so I was forced to leave that relatively little universe behind.

Once up on the hill the thrills of the psychedelics were hitting all cylinders and we were privileged to view the most far out wicked display of phantasmagorical sight and sound!
Without acid, fireworks can have the illusion of coming at you and pretty convincingly if you’re at the correct angle – with acid it’s no illusion as the fireworks are absorbed by you!
And here’s where weird synchronicity and normal strangeness intersect right when you’re peaking – and it seems to happen a lot –  like one time when we were all really psychedelicized on acid and watching TV with the volume down and listening to records when all of a sudden this large, what looked like a woman, in jean overalls and tight curly hair, looking a lot like a country Fatty Arbuckle comes on stage  and starts playing a guitar (which looked like a ukulele compared to her very large size) and just as she starts Captain Beefheart’s “I’m Gonna Booglarize You, Baby” synches exactly with what we’re watching this “woman” sing and play!
But it gets better, at first we knew what had happened, we were stoned, not stupid and this was highly entertaining, but as the song and her performance began to synch-up to perfection it began to get really weird as she now became the anti-Bowie the next Superstar as we were seeing this become real in front of us!
This track off “The Spotlight Kid” was four minutes and thirty-three seconds; a good long song and even longer on acid.
But then things turned ugly as the Captain’s Mack truck-grinding-gears voice coming out of this “woman” was becoming more than fairly demonic; it was a very creepy pre-cursor to next year’s debut of the scariest movie ever, “the Exorcist” which had one of the film’s most twisted scares with Mercedes McCambridge’s demonic voice coming out of sweet little innocent Linda Blair.
Another very cool LSD experience that “just happened”.
So strange as it seems, when you’re on hallucinogenic drugs it sometimes acts as a catalyst for experiences of “synchronicity of strangeness”.  Like attracts like – when you’re strange and weird you attract the strange and weird – makes sense to me.

Now back up on the hill:
We’re way up on this hill over-looking the harbor/bay and during a pause in the fireworks before the big finale we see the silhouette of something big coming our way from off in the distance to our right. Nothing to be concerned about until it got closer – it looked like a … boat, a fairly large boat, but it was on wheels and had headlights.
As it got closer we all just stood our ground, as it were, because at the time and under the circumstances this was highly strange, bizarre and out of place – all the things that make acid trips the exceptional experiences that they are.

It passed right in front of us and disappeared in the distance as quick as it came, the fireworks resumed with a terrific finale that blew our minds and we went back to the beach pad for some late night tunes and an acid comedown smoke-out and always many laughs.

We never found out what that thing was or why it was up on that hill and I never saw another universe, but since then I have always known they exist.

LSD Lesson Learned: Everything is relative and nothing is solid.

MOM’S APPLE PIE – CENSORED LP COVER ART – 1972

Both versions from 00individual’s personal collection.

EXPERIENCE 1970s ROCK CULTURE!

Mom’s Apple Pie was a ten piece band who emulated the sound of Chicago and Blood Sweat and Tears.
While I’m sure that they were all fine musicians and they did reach some level of success; there are no notable songs or hits from this group.

However, in 1972 they did go down in Rock History with their debut LP cover art depicting a blouse-unbuttoned hottie in her apron offering up a scrumptious pie while licking her lips.
A very innocent yet provocative cover that went unnoticed – for a while.
Once censored, the clever artist used this negative to turn into a positive by pouring cement and closing off the “offending” area with barb-wire and driving the censorship home with the American flag flying proudly.
We now see tears flowing down her cheek as two cops peer/leer in through the back window.

Censorship overkill combatted with artistic overkill.  Nice!

Double click for double zoom on both images!

For those of you who appreciate a nice slice of Mom’s Apple Pie you’ll surely enjoy some WARM HEART PASTRY!

MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA – RECORD STORE MANAGER – 1972

 EXPERIENCE ROCK AND JAZZ-FUSION HISTORY!
AND ’70S CULTURE!

the MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA
w/John McLaughlin
3-23-1972 Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica (Capacity: 3,000)
(the Mahavishnu Orchestra were the supporting act for Emerson, Lake and Palmer at this concert)

Before and after I was a rack-jobber for a record and tape distributor in L.A.; I was a record store manager.

When my girlfriend and I and our three dogs decided (yes, they were in on the decision) to move back to L.A. from Mammoth; I was able to beat out hundreds of other applicants for a job at the notoriously-discounted and famously-known Crane’s Records in Inglewood; the Home of the Fabulous Forum!
Well, …actually at $1.00 an hour, ten hours a day from 10 AM until 8PM, Monday through Sunday (seven days a week) for three months straight – no one else wanted the job.

But I was a fiend, this was my door to the music biz and I wanted in – and after three months of record store boot camp, I was put in charge as manager of Crane’s Palos Verdes store located near the beach; got a raise to $4.00 an hour; hired an assistant manager and a couple clerks; and I was in my element!

A Record Store Manager back then was seen by some girl store groupies as close to a Rock Star as they’d ever get and that went for guy store groupies, they knew if you managed a record store you had to know your shit so I would be challenged or respectfully questioned daily, but that was cool ‘cuz I knew everything back then, all there was to know, and then some, I was good!  How good?  Just like in the Cusack movie High Fidelity, I had a customer come in once who said, “I don’t know the name of the song and I don’t know the name of the artist ..” I stopped him, motioned him to follow and then I pulled an LP from a bin and handed it to him. Looking at the LP he smiled, remembered and confirmed that it was the record he wanted, and said, “You’re good!”.
But best of all, being a Record Store Manager gave me  a certain level of Rock Cred with whatever groups or people I met.

That store was my second home and I really customized the place; took the fixtures from a clothes store that closed next door and installed their slanted shingled  “roof” over the length of the whole cash register area. The “roof” was supported by slender real tree trunk wood and with a wall of cassettes behind me I’d light up a Benson & Hedges 100 menthol (cigarettes were great props for dealing with the public – this being the phase that I smoked cigarettes – too cool, ya know?), look out across my domain and down all of the aisles  as my subjects flipped through bins of records while Hendrix’ “In the West” was cranked or Neil Young’s “Harvest” or Alice Cooper’s “Schools Out” or T-Rex’ “Electric Warrior”,  or Americas 1st LP – and those were just the most recent Warners/Reprise releases!!!  Good times?  No, great times!

Promo LPs and tapes from just about every label were available to me from day one.  So I was always up on the latest releases and literally sampled everything from rock, pop, jazz, blues, soundtracks, comedy, show tunes, anything, everything; every day brought new releases.  Plus my record collection began to grow as I was consuming more and more music and at the same time widening my musical horizons.

I started listening and getting into jazz; Mose Allison, Herbie Hancock, Modern Jazz Quartet, John Klemmer, Miles Davis, Alice Coltrane, Bobby Hutcherson, Dave Grusin (Three Days of the Condor soundtrack is one of my Top 30 Albums of All Time!), Herbie Mann (Live at the Village Gate – played this late night at the beach pad – perfectly groovy!), and many others   In ’74 when the movie “Chinatown” came out it generated a wonderful appreciation for ‘30s jazz with big band orchestras like Bunny Berrigan’s.

Then one day in the store, I put on the Mahavishnu Orchestra “Inner Mounting Flame” LP.  Whoa!  What is this!  Jimi Hendrix back from the dead continuing his evolvement into a jazz-fusion master!
No, it was John McLaughlin, recently with Miles Davis and now with Billy Cobham, Jan hammer, Rick laird and Jerry Grossman surging forth with spiritually intense jazz/rock!
Few LPs have had the ability to move me in the way these pieces do; at times extremely intense and unrelenting but at the same time powerfully graceful and transcending; all the while riding the Rock spirit harder than most “Rock” bands at the time.
I was thrilled to hear this completely new sound and quickly realized that this was new for everyone; no one had heard jazz or rock like this before!

This music, along with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock’s explorations were the beginnings of real “jazz fusion”; a term that has since been drained of its essence.

Like with most concerts, hearing and seeing pieces played live is a real treat.  In this case, the LP just whets the appetite for what was to come.

The Mahavishnu Orchestra created music that came alive and engulfed you as each band, (in this case “orchestra”) member’s virtuosity surges forth.

The Santa Monica Civic still had its rows of bolted-to-the-floor seats which in this case actually served everyone best. I had my Bowie and Lee Michaels seats; about sixth row, center.

There was an excited reverence about this concert as surely all who attended were aware and eager to hear and experience the Mahavishnu Orchestra sound live.  So sitting for this performance seemed right, actually on a bare floor in the Lotus position would be even more appropriate because this was definitely a headnodic bodysway concert, … no, wait, even better, an open field, at night with a bonfire and as they perform everyone can dance impulsively in the firelight to the music like some ritual to the Inner Mounting Flame!  Yeah, that!
OK, so seats were good; you could groove your own way as this music takes you away.

It was an exhilarating performance and a highly entertaining experience.
And, yes, another historic concert.

Line-up: Original Mahavishnu Orchestra: John McLaughlin (devoted guitarist), Jan Hammer (keyboards), Jerry Goodman (electric violin), Ron Laird (bass) and Billy Cobham (drums).

Setlist:  Cuts from their only LP; “The Inner Mounting Flame”.

Turn-On: Billy Cobham’s 1973 LP release, “Spectrum” has a stellar line up with fellow Mahavishnu Orchestra band member and future “Miami Vice” keyboardist, Jan Hammer; veteran studio musician Lee Sklar on Fender bass; and Tommy ”Zephyr” Bolin on guitar.  Bolin has been recognized as at the height of his short but dazzling career and at the top of this game on this LP.  Cobham is amazing – there’s some musician wizardry going on here by all!
Classic and highly accessible jazz/rock; leaning heavily on the rock, …no, on the jazz, …no on the rock, …

MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA – MEETING OF THE SPIRITS – OPENING TRACK ON THE INNER MOUNTING FLAME LP – CHILLS!

JAN HAMMER – THE FIRST SEVEN DAYS – OPENING TRACK – MOOG MAGIC!

BILLY COBHAM – STRATUS – from SPECTRUM – MASSIVE ATTACK ARE THE HIPPEST!

the MOODY BLUES – 1970

EXPERIENCE ROCK HISTORY

the MOODY BLUES
12-12-1970
Fabulous Forum, Inglewood (Capacity: 17,000)

I fell in love with the Moody Blues sound early on with the haunting “Go Now” whose “mood” foreshadowed “Nights in White Satin”.  I went through several copies of, “To Our Children’s, Children’s Children” and “Days of Future Passed” and “On the Threshold of a Dream” and “In Search of the Lost Chord” were played a lot also.

Just by looking at the titles and cover art of the Moody’s LPs you could see that these guys were ethereal and residing off planet.

I was a great admirer, still am, of all their LPs up to and including the recently-released “Question of Balance”.

The Moodys were strictly in a class of their own.  Their style was undefinable – and how rare is that? They possessed tinges of progressive, folk-rock, pop and rock and leaned toward a classical approach (even outside “Days”, their orchestral flourishes via the mellotron are heard throughout all of their albums) – but mostly the Moodys delivered music whose lyrics and presentation of sound set them up as the most introspective band ever.
Every album of theirs’ delved into the self-awareness side of the psychedelic period.

An obvious examination of the “moods” of their LPs tells a lot: an average Day in the life of an average person(s); Searching for …; envisioning the possibilities of a Dream; soulful and insightful observations to be passed on to our Children; and the Question of Balance in our lives and the world we live in.  These guys were obsessed with self-awareness; raising consciousness and expanding your mind on a very seductive and solid rock ‘n’ roll foundation.  No one consistently had these higher concepts as their main theme – no one – and to make it all so accessible – the fine musicianship, compositions and vocals truly separated the Moody Blues from all the rest – they are their own genre of Rock.

These guys should all be heralded as the innovators they are instead they are shunned by the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Shame – an out of touch undeserving entity of their name – as they are truly the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of SHAM! Sheesh!

Days of Future Passed was so innovative, ground-breaking, perfect and ahead of its time that it took until 1972 for “Nights” to chart as a single (#32) in the US after reaching #19 in the UK in 1967!  It was re-released two more times in the UK; ’72 and ’79.

In 1967 I played the “Days” LP ‘til I knew every lyric and musical nuance; Lost Chord and Dream followed, but it was with “To Our Childrens’ Children” that I totally fell under the spell.  Every single bit of that LP has the most moving, loving, ethereal feeling to it that it becomes literally spiritual while maintaining solid Rock roots.  It’s one of those LPs that never gets old – it’s timeless.  Another LP within my Top 100!  (Along with “Days”!)

And if you are not moved to goose bumps and heart-tugs while listening to “Out and In’ and “Watching and Waiting” from Childrens’ Children then you are a Republican – ‘cuz only a cold unfeeling heart could not be affected by these tunes.

As far as this concert goes, it was a weird combination of thrills and chills and a bit of a letdown, and I say only a bit and certainly not the Moody’s fault.
While the Moodys music seems big, full and rich; it is actually very intimate music and with 17,000 in attendance the intimacy was pretty much lost.  Unfortunately, I did not get to see them earlier in their career when at smaller venues their unique style was probably better presented.

However, Ride My See Saw SOARED – it was a terrific choice for an encore and provided a real arena rocker for everyone.  And we all left the Forum feeling up, high and with just a little bit more awareness.

So, to see the Moody Blues live and especially at this time in their career, was a terrific experience and I thank these gifted musicians and lyricists for making my teen, late teen and years beyond a wonderful experience with their music to live, love and contemplate by!

Thanks guys!

Lineup: Justin Hayward (guitars, vocals), John Lodge (bass guitar, vocals), Michael Pinder (keyboards, vocals), Ray Thomas (harmonica, flute, vocals), Graeme Edge (drums, percussion).

Setlist: Gypsy, The Sunset, Dr. Livingstone, I presume?, Never Comes The Day, Peak Hour, Tuesday Afternoon, Question, Are you Sitting Comfortably, The Dream, Have You Heard (Part 1),The Voyage, Have You Heard (Part 2), Nights In White Satin, Legend Of A Mind.

Encore: Ride My Seesaw.

If you’ve never experienced this LP, do it now!  If you have, feel good again and have another listen!
MOODY BLUES – TO OUR CHILDRENS CHILDRENS CHILDREN – TAKE A TRIP INSIDE!

————————————————————-

To follow these posted events chronologically please take a trip to: Top Ten Historic Classic Rock Concerts 1968-1972 #4 Savoy Brown! Humble Pie!  When done, come back and continue!

LEE MICHAELS – MARIJUANA’S TRUTH – 1970

EXPERIENCE ROCK HISTORY and 1970s CULTURE

LEE MICHAELS
08-00-1970 Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica (Capacity: 3,000)

Lee Michaels has always been a favorite artist of mine, with his natural “blue-eyed soul” voice and Hammond organ mastery backed by a social conscience and bare-bones Rock-style – he had his shit together .

Lee Michaels’ “Carnival of Life”, kicks ass and is one of those LPs that connect you to a time and a place and a feeling – all good.
I was 17 in 1968 when it was released and was just experiencing the wondrous effects of marijuana and the album became an imprint of the beginning of a life-long journey of consciousness-raising, mind-expansion, awareness and Rock ‘n’ Roll.

I was part of a whole generation of teens who willingly took mind-altering drugs fearlessly and with excited curiosity and then once we understood the effects it became an infinite exploration of all the five senses – and some we never knew we had.

But the single most revealing and priceless gift that you experience is truth; inescapable truth.  In the subtlest of cannabis inhalation to the purest LSD trip; the one experience that is universal is when the layers of your life are pulled back to reveal the “Real Me” and likewise for all that is around you; from your friends to your Government.
It’s a sobering experience and for many not one they wanted to face again.

Marijuana was nature’s gift for those who sought more than could ever be taught from a book, teacher or institution; it allows you to discover and understand important aspects of your life and what was really important through experience for yourself and by yourself..
At the same time it magically separates the fact from the fiction we’d been told – which naturally led to our Tribe’s motto to “Question Authority” and then the inevitable rebellion against the lies, untruths and manipulation by all those who wanted to keep us down and dumb – well, it didn’t work, thanks to marijuana our eyes were opened at an extremely crucial time in history – and we saw through it all – and the rest is history.
But even more importantly it insures that no matter what you do; “Everything’s Better With A Bag Of Weed!”

The opening to “Hello!” off Carnival just floored me the first time I heard it (still does, always will) with each massive organ whomp there is a jacked-up organ grind to bring the massive whomp down again.  Loved it!  And the whole rest of the LP just came at the exact right time – all of the tunes are excellent and for me transcendent.

Sadly, I never saw Lee Michaels before this concert but it was actually perfect timing as I was diggin’ his newest release “Barrel” and his attitude and delivery were right in groove with my sensibilities.

“Barrel” was an LP with a conscience, with Lee in righteous protest mode over the Vietnam war (“What Now America?”, “Thumbs”, When Johnny Comes Marching Home”), injustice and police brutality, (“Murder In My Heart (For The Judge”), “Mad Dog”), and a couple of bittersweet love songs, (“Didn’t Know What I Had”, “Day Of Change”) and the main love song, “Ummm My Lady” to balance-out the album.  Excellent!

This concert was taped live for a documentary on Lee and featured songs from his current LP release, “Barrel”.
Inside the “Barrel” album were photos of Lee walking with his big cats, Cheetahs I think, on his wildlife compound in Northern California.  I was envious; I love big cats!

 A few months later I actually caught the TV documentary on Lee with the concert footage; (I can be seen in the sixth row center as the camera pans the audience) mixed in with him on his preserve/home with his big cats and about his wild(life).

I am very glad to have seen Lee live.  He is a true example of an Unsung Rock Hero; a seminal artist that never received his due in regard to his influence, creativity and deserved place in Rock history.

The current whereabouts of Lee Michaels is clouded in mystery since he withdrew from the music scene over 20 years ago. There have been rumors of hearing loss and retreating to Hawaii and the current “best truth” is that he is/was the owner of a small franchise of “Killer Shrimp” restaurants in Southern California.
I pass by the one that borders Marina Del Rey and Venice on trips back and forth.  The restaurant (“killer” logo by the way!) has now become a sense memory trigger of the days I listened and rocked to Lee’s music; which always brings a welcomed smile.

Lee pretty much sums up the times, from “Hello”:

Time is here my friends, Time for us to win,
Let us share a song, now it won’t be long,
‘Til we’re laughin’, ‘til we’re singin’, ‘til we’re shoutin’,
Oh what a great, great day, oh what a happy way!

Line-up: Lee Michaels (Hammond organ, keyboards, guitar, vocals), ‘Frosty’ (Bartholomew Eugene Smith-Frost) (drums), and unknown guitarist(?).

Setlist:  Do You Know What I Mean?, Mad Dog, America, Uummmm My Lady, Day of Change, I Wonder, Stormy Monday, Who Could Want More, Didn’t Know What I Had, Oak Fire, Heighty Hi, Rock Me Baby

LEE MICHAELS – STORMY MONDAY – CRANK IT UP! AND ENJOY!

LEE MICHAELS – HELLO – REALLY CRANK IT UP! – AN ABSOLUTE ROCK GEM!!

I’ve had a difficult time  establishing this concert’s exact date.  Barrel was released in July 1970 and a few days after its release Lee played the Fillmore West on the 23rd; so it is likely that he performed at the Santa Monica Civic soon afterward and that means that I probably saw him in August or September at the latest and surely before the end of the year.

I only use Google or Wiki to verify concert dates and venue capacity, sometimes set lists, but I cannot find verification of this concert other than I was there and it was filmed and I saw the mini-doc of Lee on TV.

I will re-insert this in its correct date within this chronological blog when verified.  If you know, please contact me, thanks!

Strong recent rumors say that he plans to perform soon, possibly before the end of the year here in L.A. somewhere.  If I get anything solid I will update this post immediately.

STEVE MILLER – the REAL SOCIAL NETWORK – 1970

EXPERIENCE ROCK HISTORY

STEVE MILLER BAND
4-10-1970
Olympic Auditorium, L.A.  (Capacity: 15,300)

 Steve Miller had a colorful history before gravitating to the San Francisco scene and becoming an accepted part of it. His style allowed him to capitalize on Rock, Pop, Psychedelic, Country and Blues – and all successfully.

All of his albums had great tunes but my favorite was Steve Miller # 5.  This LP was cookin’ on my turntable and contained a song that would become the theme song for a drug (pretty cool pot) our group was experiencing around the time of this concert .  The concert featured my faves from the #5 LP; so to see our theme song along with all of Miller’s “hits” performed live was a thrill! (All of his commercial hits came in the mid-to-late ‘70s)

“Jackson-Kent Blues” is an epic classic and was so good that you almost forgot it was a protest song about the killing of four students by the United States National Guard during student demonstrations against the war at Kent State University in Ohio.  After laying down the hard-rockin’ rant, Miller takes off on a classic hard rock space jam showing his Space Cowboy roots; complete with LSD-laced watery echoplex and trailing, surging guitar wrangling and Wah-Wah wizardry throughout. It quickly became our fave background/foreground music for pretty cool pot shenanigans any day of the week, and for us was the crowning moment of this concert.

This track is usually pulled from the internet, but it’s up now so go for it! Jackson-Kent Blues
Sequences 2:22 thru 4:30 and 5:20 thru 7:18 are very Elecric Ladyland and solidly psychedelic PLUS the whole song ROCKS and the lyrics are righteous – easily in my Top 100 singles list!

Lineup: Steve Miller (synthesizer, bass, guitar, harmonica, vocals), Nicky Hopkins (piano), Tim Davis (drums, vocals), Ben Sidran (keyboards), Lonnie Turner (bass).

Set List: The Story of BB Leary (The Blues), Can’t You Hear You’re Daddy’s Heartbeat, Gangster of Love, Industrial Military Complex Blues / Jackson Kent Blues, Living In The USA, Space Cowboy
Encore:  Going To Mexico

The fact that we had “groups” of people that we interacted with that converged around music and songs with lyrics that really defined our thoughts had a far-reaching effect that extended the already tribal brotherly love we were enjoying.

It was the birth of the REAL SOCIAL NETWORK

Much has been written about analog versus digital music and I’m not going to debate the issue here, I know from obvious personal experience that there is no comparison – I want to hear what the artist recorded.

But back when analog was the preferred method of listening, Long Playing (LP) 33 1/3 RPM records offered much more than a platter of vinyl encased in thin cardboard that contained full, rich, warm, sound – LPs were portals to the Real Social Network.

The shared experience of record listening was a great cultural and social networking thunderhead that literally gets overlooked.  Mainly because it became a life-style for many of us – human interaction was normal.

In the fifties when Rock ‘n’ Roll took off, it was a hard flight at first as it was considered “race” music by the white majority. Rock ‘n’ Roll showed its undefeatable power when the archetypal “American Teenager” bought those records and played them anyway.
Surely many battles were won and lost over Rock back then BUT the Real Social Networking began.  Teens would get together anywhere they could to listen to the latest LPs and 45s and even 78s in some cases. Real connections were made with real people.

By the late fifties and early sixties most homes had Hi-Fis and “easy listening” turned into Rock ‘n’ Roll when the parents were not around.

By the mid-sixties pre-teens, teens and young adults would have music going on all the time and the introduction of stereo as opposed to monaural improved our listening pleasure (that’s debatable to some listening cults) BUT it wasn’t until the Counter Culture Hippies of the mid-to-late sixties that the shared record listening experience became a cultural phenomenon – and when the Real Social Network took off.

Daily and nightly tribal gatherings in Hippie pads, dorm rooms, and houses were always accompanied by music.  Either host’s choice, group agreement or someone would bring a new LP to listen to.
The whole vinyl record listening culture really took their time to appreciate and absorb not only the music, but the information on the instruments the band members used and played, about the band members, where it was recorded and so on..
After listening to an LP, another would take its place or if impressed or a favorite, we’d play it again.
Plus the 12” LP size allowed us to actually see who the artists were and provided some amazing groovy far out art to enjoy while listening.  Additionally the covers were sacredly used as the plateaus to collect weed residue for the rolling of a joint – and – if adept; the separating of weed from seed. And lastly, sometimes there would be posters to unfold that were included inside, plus stickers, booklets and anything that the record company promotion department thought fit.

Most times, conversations would brew and the LPs then turned into hip background soundtracks to “heavy” discussions.

You could tell where someone was at by their interests and could find kindred spirits through the mutual appreciation of a particular artist or sound. Or debate any and all of the truly amazing music we were blessed with.  All the while joints and bowls of hash would be inhaled deeply.

Music was so central to our lives that when we weren’t going to concerts or clubs while listening to the radio or 8 tracks and cassettes in our cars or portable players, we would be discussing the bands, band members, their styles and songs.  How could we not?  All of the major Rock Icons came to be in the sixties; and we were magically caught up in the whole scene.
Now transfer the image of the tribal gathering of music lovers at a Hippie pad, then throughout a neighborhood, then a town, then a city, and out across America, reflecting the origin of all of this with the British Invasion and you see how the shared album experience connected us all.

Eric Clapton commented on the shared album experience scene too in a recent Rolling Stone article and after sharing pretty much the same info as I just described, he then went on to ask a similar hypothetical question as I (he was much more tactful): In today’s Self-Centered Society, does anyone even share a new or classic CD or DVD with a friend – or anyone?

With personal downloaded music and ear buds, an entire generation has entered into an encapsulated world of solitude – replacing human interaction with Facebook, texting and all forms of digital interaction that removes the fear and possibility of actual human contact on a personal level.

Hey, I’m entrenched in the digital world too, it’s fucking magic!  And that’s why I can speak from experience.  And because of that, I sincerely feel for all those who will never experience the many joys surrounding analog music and the very real human “social network” it provided – and at a perfect time in history.

1965 – 1975 RULES FOREVER!