Monday, December 28, 2009
Dinner and a buzz at Ganja Gourmet -- latimes.com
"Reporting from Denver - At the Ganja Gourmet, the chef's first order of business on a recent weekday morning was to whip up a meat lasagna.
Her next was to entice customers to try it.
'Dinner Buzz Special,' Jenny Fowler wrote on a dry-erase board. 'Start with our ganjanade [ganja tapenade], bread and a fat dank joint! Then choose from a slice of pizza or LaGanja [lasagna]. Then top it off with a Ganja Gourmet dessert, your choice, $30.'
This, pronounced owner Steve Horwitz as he watched over her shoulder, was a dinner special no other restaurant in America could claim.
Technically, the Ganja Gourmet, in a modest brick building on a worn boulevard among gas stations, hookah shops and antique stores, is not a restaurant -- it is a medical marijuana dispensary, one of many that have sprung up this year throughout Colorado." Sphere: Related Content
Washington among states considering legalizing marijuana, dozens of states weigh other reforms -- latimes.com
"OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington is one of four states where measures to legalize and regulate marijuana have been introduced, and about two dozen other states are considering bills ranging from medical marijuana to decriminalizing possession of small amounts of the herb.
'In terms of state legislatures, this is far and away the most active year that we've ever seen,' said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, which supports reforming marijuana laws." Sphere: Related Content
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Vic Chesnutt, Singer and Songwriter, Dies at 45 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com
"Vic Chesnutt, whose darkly comic songs about mortality, vulnerability and life’s simple joys made him a favorite of critics and fellow musicians, died Friday in a hospital in Athens, Ga., a family spokesman said. He was 45 and lived in Athens.
...Although he never had blockbuster record sales, Mr. Chesnutt was a prolific songwriter who remained a mainstay on the independent music circuit for two decades, making more than 15 albums.
Musicians flocked to work with him: he recorded with the bands Lambchop, Widespread Panic and Elf Power, as well as the jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, and in a recent burst of creative activity he made two albums with a band that included Guy Picciotto of Fugazi and members of the Montreal indie-rock group Thee Silver Mt. Zion.
...A documentary, “Speed Racer: Welcome to the World of Vic Chesnutt,” was released in 1993, and in 1996 his songs were performed by Madonna, the Indigo Girls, Smashing Pumpkins, R.E.M. and others for “Sweet Relief II: The Gravity of the Situation,” an album that benefited the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, a nonprofit group that offers musicians medical support."
Sphere: Related ContentFriday, December 25, 2009
The wait is finally over for the Stooges | freep.com | Detroit Free Press
"The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame sure made the Stooges wait.
The band that gave the world Iggy Pop became eligible for hall consideration in 1994, 25 years after the release of the group's first recording. It can be argued that they are among the most influential groups in rock history, but the Stooges were denied entry seven times after making it through the nomination process -- before finally making the cut in the 2009 Hall of Fame induction class announced Tuesday, a class that includes ABBA, Genesis, the Hollies and Jimmy Cliff.
For the Stooges, 'twas ever thus.
Formed in 1967 in Ann Arbor as the Psychedelic Stooges, the quartet was a product of the freewheeling, no-holds-barred late-'60s zeitgeist. Yet how the band chose to exercise that freedom put them at odds with the prevailing rock culture from day one. Only front man Iggy Pop, the former blues drummer known to his parents as Jim Osterberg, had any appreciable music experience. But he had an idea, and recruited Pioneer High School acquaintances Ron Asheton (guitar), his brother Scott Asheton (drums) and Dave Alexander (bass) to build it from the ground up." Sphere: Related Content
'When Giants Walked the Earth' by Mick Wall -- latimes.com
"Anyone familiar with Page knows that he admires early-20th century Magus Aleister Crowley. This is not a passing fancy or a superficial flirtation: Page, Wall says, found in Crowley's work a philosophy that embraced self-expression, not the devil. That, however, didn't stop the band from being seen in that light.
Associating music with the devil didn't start with Led Zeppelin. As Wall points out, the myth begins with bluesman Robert Johnson, who, legend has it, sold his soul at a deserted crossroads so he could play guitar.
Page, Wall reminds us, forged his chops and style not at the crossroads but as a much-wanted session man who wanted to do more -- more than the pop hits that the Yardbirds were scoring when he joined them alongside fellow guitarist Jeff Beck.
Yet as Zeppelin's success skyrocketed in the early 1970s, Page and Plant openly courted an unearthly, occult identity for the band. There seemed to be an obscure system of symbolism and ritual at work that seeped into the albums and performances, creating for Page 'an energy . . . that the audience picked up on and sent back to us. Really powerful stuff. . . .'" Sphere: Related Content
The Use of Magick to Assert the Will
"By ritualizing the actions of everyday life, one`s will takes artistic and symbolic form. Whether it`s lighting candles, performing a chant or mantra, meditating and or creating an artistic project such as painting or music, the rituals of both sacred and secular nature can enhance one`s life and direct it in a good manner. The following will provide examples of such Magick ritual that can be used to enhance one`s life." Sphere: Related Content
Marijuana 'Munchies' May Be Rooted in Biology - BusinessWeek
"THURSDAY, Dec. 24 (HealthDay News) -- New research sheds some light on the 'munchies' -- the desire that pot smokers sometimes have to eat lots of food.
THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, is similar to substances known as endocannabinoids, which are produced in the brain and body and enhance the perception of sweet foods, researchers say." Sphere: Related Content
Roky Erickson - Maxwell's - New York - Events
"Roky Erickson
BY JASON GROSS
Roky Erickson
This psychedelic godhead amazed everyone with a seemingly impossible comeback a few years ago, playing not only festivals but also his first gigs in Gotham in 2007. There he was, standing steely-eyed on stage, playing the guitar like a demon again and singing loudly about demons once more. Only two years into his restarted career, he now seems like a force of nature, planning a new album with booster Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) which will be his first album of new material in a dozen years. Not a bad way to ring in the new year." Sphere: Related Content
The Canadian Press: James Gurley, innovative guitarist for Joplin's Big Brother band, dead at 69
"LOS ANGELES — James Gurley, the innovative guitarist who helped shape psychedelic rock's multilayered, sometimes thundering sounds as a member of Big Brother and the Holding Company, the band that propelled Janis Joplin to fame, has died of a heart attack. He was 69.
Gurley was pronounced dead Sunday at a Palm Springs hospital, two days before his 70th birthday, the band announced on its website.
One of many prominent guitarists to emerge from San Francisco's psychedelic music scene in the mid-1960s - others included the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia, Jefferson Airplane's Jorma Kaukonen and Barry Melton of Country Joe and the Fish - Gurley was hailed by many as the original innovator of the sound.
'I would say all of my guitar-playing contemporaries strived to have their own sound, but I think James was a huge influence on all of us because he wasn't afraid to break the boundaries of conventional music,' Melton said Thursday.
'What one thinks of that genre of music is that place that it takes you to where the beat is just assumed and the whole thing is transported to another place, and James is the guy who started that.'
Doing things like using an electric vibrator as a slide on his guitar, and picking up amplifiers and shaking them during performances, Gurley created a loud, esoteric sound that was the driving force behind Joplin's voice on such classic songs as 'Ball and Chain,' 'Piece of My Heart' and 'Summertime.'" Sphere: Related Content
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
The Rainbow Family of Living Light, a Utopian Society - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com
"The Rainbow Family gather to draw attention to Peace, Ecology, and Spirituality. The name Rainbow indicates their desire to welcome all who wish to attend. Nationality, religious belief or social status will not restrict anyone from attending. If you come in peace, your presence is
welcome.
With their roots tied to a four day gathering in Colorado in 1972, the Rainbow People continue their annual pilgrimages to this day. For thirty five years they've come from all over the country to gather in National Forests around the country. In groups as large as 30,000, they set up temporary communities for a period of time each year." Sphere: Related Content
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Humboldt County's pot culture is a boon for some, irritant to others - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee
"ARCATA – Stephen Gasparas was destined for this fog-chilled, redwood-shrouded coast – America's most renowned region for legal cultivation of marijuana.
He started growing skunky-smelling pot as a young man, in the closet of his mother's suburban Chicago home. Later he visited cannabis fields in India. Ultimately, he shared spiritual puffs at a gathering of the famous moveable commune, the Rainbow Family, where a grizzled hippie told him Humboldt 'is the place you ought to be.'" Sphere: Related Content
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Pew Forum: Many Americans Mix Multiple Faiths
"The religious beliefs and practices of Americans do not fit neatly into conventional categories. A new poll by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life finds that large numbers of Americans engage in multiple religious practices, mixing elements of diverse traditions. Many say they attend worship services of more than one faith or denomination -- even when they are not traveling or going to special events like weddings and funerals. Many also blend Christianity with Eastern or New Age beliefs such as reincarnation, astrology and the presence of spiritual energy in physical objects. And sizeable minorities of all major U.S. religious groups say they have experienced supernatural phenomena, such as being in touch with the dead or with ghosts." Sphere: Related Content
Trial of trucker accused of hauling $516K of marijuana through N.J. deadlocks on charges | New Jersey Real-Time News - - NJ.com
"A mistrial was declared today after jurors in Morristown said they could not reach a verdict in the case of a California trucker accused of having $516,000 worth of marijuana in his rig when he was stopped on Route 80 last year.
Superior Court Judge Thomas Manahan declared the mistrial after jurors had deliberated for 12 hours over 2 1/2 days. The panel sent Manahan a note today saying they were hopelessly deadlocked and could not come to a decision against Michael Daley of Oakland, Calif." Sphere: Related Content
Medical Marijuana, Inc. Secures Land for Medical Cannabis Research & Development
"Medical Marijuana, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: MJNA) announces today the purchase of 20 acres of prime mountain valley property in Southern California intended to be used within strict governmental guidelines as a research facility targeting medical Cannabis strains specific to a wide range of medical conditions.
Today in California, a physician's medical cannabis recommendation is based on a patient's evaluation. However, the strain of medical Cannabis to be recommended, dosage and delivery methods must be refined and re-evaluated.
Many medical conditions are accepted by government as medical marijuana treatable. By diligently developing the most efficacious strains and matching those strains to ailments, MJNA will be poised as the industry leader in medical cannabis genetic research." Sphere: Related Content
Who would you like for Bonnaroo 2010?
"With 2010 now upon us, it’s officially time to start thinking and planning for next summer’s music festivals. Now hoping and dreaming and message board wishlists are nothing new, but rarely do we have the opportunity to tell a festival specifically who we want. This year, however, the folks behind the Bonnaroo Music Festival do want to know who you’re interested in seeing when the Manchester, Tennessee based musical events returns from June 10-13. So, they asked us to help ‘em out." Sphere: Related Content
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Christiania’s Endangered Hippies - Tonic
"If you’ve ever wondered what the world might look like if the hippies of the 1960s and ‘70s hadn’t all morphed into yuppies trading their Volkswagon Bugs for SUVs, then behold Christiania — while you still can.
Also known as 'Freetown,' the self-governed village in the heart of Denmark’s capital city of Copenhagen is a living monument to the Woodstock era — a social experiment in communal living, itself teetering on the edge of extinction. With all eyes on Copenhagen ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December, now’s a good time to take a look at an alternate universe where the environment, once discovered, never took a backseat. In Christiania, for all intents and purposes, it’s still the summer of love." Sphere: Related Content
The Associated Press: Nicolas Cage wins UN award for humanitarian work
"UNITED NATIONS — Nicolas Cage has won a U.N. award night for his humanitarian work and has been appointed a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented the actor and filmmaker with the U.N. Correspondents Association's Global Citizen of the Year award for humanitarian endeavors.
Cage said his role will be 'to shine a spotlight on the need for global justice.'
The Amnesty International advocate has donated $2 million to establish a fund to help former child soldiers and led a campaign around his film, 'Lord of War,' to raise awareness about international arms control.
The secretary-general also presented a Global Citizen of the Year award to William Roedy, chairman of MTV Networks International, for his work to combat HIV and AIDS." Sphere: Related Content
Stevie Wonder Chosen UN's Newest Messenger of Peace | Arts and Entertainment | English
"The United Nations secretary-general marked the International Day of Persons with Disabilities by welcoming music star Stevie Wonder as the organization's newest Messenger of Peace. But amidst the festivities, the message was clear - about 10 percent of the world's population suffers from some type of disability and they often encounter many disadvantages." Sphere: Related Content
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
2000 hippies converge on remote West Coast site | Otago Daily Times Online News
"About 2000 members of the worldwide transient 'Rainbow Family' started arriving in Bruce Bay on the West Coast today for a six-week-long gathering.
The first Rainbow gathering -- described on its website as an 'organic outgrowth' of the hippy movement -- was held in the United States in the 1970s.
This year the group will camp near the Ohinamaka (Black) River, a one-hour hike from the Doughboy Creek bridge on State Highway 6, halfway between Bruce Bay and Lake Paringa." Sphere: Related Content
GDRadio Broadcasts Furthur’s First 2 December Shows, “Almost Live” - PR.com
Furthur is longtime Grateful Dead bandmates Bob Weir and Phil Lesh’s latest non-Dead project. The band made its inaugural live appearances during a three-night run in Oakland, CA in September. In addition to the Dec. 8th and 9th shows in New York City, the trek will also include a show in Wallingford, CT (12/11), along with a pair of dates in Asbury Park, NJ (12/12-13). Furthur's lineup for the shows will again include guitarist John Kadlecik, drummers Jay Lane and Joe Russo, and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti. Chimenti and Lane are regular members of Ratdog, and Chimenti toured with The Dead as well. For more information and additional tour dates for 2010, see http://www.furthur.net" Sphere: Related Content
Sunday, November 29, 2009
40 years after Altamont, rock music's darkest day - San Jose Mercury News
"It was supposed to be 'Woodstock West' — a free concert that would draw hundreds of thousands of fans, feature some of the biggest names in rock and solidify the still-blossoming Flower Power movement.
The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was also envisioned as the most famous music event in Bay Area history. It became just that, but for all the wrong reasons.
'It was just a big mess,' says Rock Scully, the longtime manager of the Grateful Dead and one of the primary organizers of the festival.
About 300,000 fans turned out on Dec. 6, 1969, to the racetrack outside of Livermore to see the Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and others. What they found was a venue ill-equipped to handle such a large crowd and a scene that devolved into a violent antithesis of the peaceful gathering in Woodstock 3½ months earlier.
By the time the night was over, four people were dead — two from hit-and-run accidents, one from drowning in an irrigation ditch and, most notoriously, one from repeated stab wounds at the hands of a Hells Angels member during a confrontation in front of the music stage." Sphere: Related Content
At This School, It’s Marijuana in Every Class - NYTimes.com
At most colleges, marijuana is very much an extracurricular matter. But at Med Grow Cannabis College, marijuana is the curriculum: the history, the horticulture and the legal how-to’s of Michigan’s new medical marijuana program.
“This state needs jobs, and we think medical marijuana can stimulate the state economy with hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars,” said Nick Tennant, the 24-year-old founder of the college, which is actually a burgeoning business (no baccalaureates here) operating from a few bare-bones rooms in a Detroit suburb.
The six-week, $485 primer on medical marijuana is a cross between an agricultural extension class covering the growing cycle, nutrients and light requirements (“It’s harvest time when half the trichomes have turned amber and half are white”) and a gathering of serious potheads, sharing stories of their best highs (“Smoke that and you are ... medicated!”)." Sphere: Related Content
FALLBROOK: 'Mother Earth' medical marijuana dispensary joins Chamber
"The Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce has an unlikely new member ---- a licensed medical marijuana dispensary.
Bob Riedel, co-founder of Mother Earth's Alternative Healing Cooperative Inc., said last week he joined the chamber for the same reasons other members join: It's a good way to get involved in the community and to network. The co-op has already signed up as one of the sponsors for Fallbrook's Dec. 5 Christmas parade, for example.
'We wanted to get involved with the community and to let people know who we are,' Riedel said of his decision to apply for chamber membership. 'We have an actual retail license. We are completely by the book.'" Sphere: Related Content
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Growers operated pot operation next to LAPD station for about eight months | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times
"For about the last eight months, several suspects operated a sophisticated marijuana operation in a warehouse just 25 feet from the Los Angeles Police Department's Topanga Station in Canoga Park, police said tonight.
Three men were taken into custody earlier today after officers served a search warrant on the warehouse in the 8400 block of Canoga Avenue.
Growers had built three rooms in the building -- one for seedlings, another for medium-sized plants and one where harvesting was apparently conducted, police said. The lights were controlled so they wouldn't overheat, watering systems were automated and oxygen levels were supplemented by carbon dioxide tanks, according to police.
"It was very sophisticated," said LAPD Officer Karen Raynor.
She said the growers used insulation material to seal cracks in the building. But about a week ago, officers in the station's parking lot noticed something out of the ordinary.
"They happened to catch a whiff of it," Raynor said." Sphere: Related Content
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Medeski Martin And Wood talk Radiolarians and jam bands | Music | Interview | The A.V. Club Milwaukee
"You can call Medeski Martin And Wood a jam, jazz, or funk band—just don't call them stingy. On Nov. 24, MMW is releasing Radiolarians: The Evolutionary Set, which compiles the previously released Radiolarians I, II and III along with bonus tracks, an unreleased 70-minute live album, a double vinyl LP set consisting of highlights from the three Radiolarians albums, a DVD (directed by Martin, who moonlights as a visual artist and filmmaker), and a 10-track remix disc featuring Dan The Automator, DJ Logic, and Scott Harding. Named after a single-celled organism with an intricate exoskeleton, the Radiolarians series was purportedly the band's way of subverting the music industry cycle of creating an album and then touring behind it. MMW is touring in support of the box set, though, and will visit The Rave/Eagles Club Friday. In advance of the show Billy Martin talked about Radiolarians and why he's not crazy about MMW being labeled a jam band." Sphere: Related Content
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan - UN Day on Tolerance: ‘Respect others, have peace’
"ISLAMABAD: United Nations (UN) International Day for Tolerance was observed on Monday with the aim to educate people about the need for tolerance in society and help them understand negative effects of intolerance.
The International Day for Tolerance is a lesson for people to learn respecting and recognising rights and beliefs of others. It is also a time of reflection and debate on the negative effects of intolerance.
Live discussions and debates take place across the world on this day, focusing how various forms of injustice, oppression, racism and discrimination have a negative impact on society." Sphere: Related Content
Meditation can cut the risk of heart attacks by up to 47%, a new study shows | Mail Online
"A relaxation technique beloved by 1960s hippies can have a beneficial effect on heart disease and stress, a study has shown.
Transcendental meditation techniques that were all the rage during the Summer of Love can halve the rate of heart attacks and strokes in patients with cardiovascular disease." Sphere: Related Content
Radio Taiwan International
"Today in History
On this day in 1938, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann first synthesized the psychedelic drug LSD at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland."javascript:void(0) Sphere: Related Content
Monday, November 16, 2009
NorthJersey.com: The visible and obscured Man Ray
"Man Ray poses an interesting challenge for an institution like the Jewish Museum: how to frame an exhibit about a Jewish artist who, throughout his career, denied his Jewishness?
Few people know that the famous avant-garde artist and photographer was born Michael Emmanuel Radnitzky to Russian Jewish immigrants. Ray, who spent most of his adult life in Paris, cast aside not only his Jewish identity, but also much of his American one, disappearing almost entirely into the role of a European dadaist and surrealist.
Rather than sidestepping a seemingly uncomfortable issue, the Jewish Museum has put it front and center, titling the show 'Alias Man Ray: The Art of Reinvention' and making Ray's enigmatic, contradictory persona its focus.
Few artists have been so simultaneously narcissistic and self-effacing. His self-obsession comes across in all the self-portraits he did in different media — from photographic to sculptural to abstract to conceptual. If there's a signature image to this show, it's his 1933 'Autoportrait,' a wooden box containing a bronze cast of his face cushioned by crumpled newsprint. He looks out defiantly as if enduring the indignity of popular opinion." Sphere: Related Content
Iowans Turning To Marijuana For Ailments - wcco.com
"CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) ― Some Iowans acknowledge they are not waiting for a state board's recommendation whether to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.
They are already smoking marijuana up to ease whatever ails them.
'It allows me to get up every day and function as a mother,' said Lisa Jackson, 43, of rural Crawfordsville, who has the long-term pain syndrome fibromyalgia." Sphere: Related Content
The man who brought the '60s to town: As owner of hippie hot spot The Barn, Leon Tabory planted a flag for the counterculture in SV - Santa Cruz Sentinel
"SCOTTS VALLEY — Despite its reputation as a natural wildlife preserve for 1960s-style hippies and similarly free-spirited lifestyle rebels, Santa Cruz County was once, in fact, a quiet, conservative, decidedly un-hip place.
If anyone were ever to draw up a list of those most responsible for turning Santa Cruz from the latter to the former, among the top five names would certainly be Leon Tabory.
Tabory, who died in September a week before turning 84, will be remembered at a memorial service on Sunday for a life that reads like a grand 20th century novel. But in the cultural history of the county, Tabory stands, for good or ill, as a pioneer in establishing the '60s counterculture in this area. He brought in the DayGlo colors where once had been only red, white and blue." Sphere: Related Content
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Lafayette patient credits marijuana for her sight - Boulder Daily Camera
"Cheryl Crosby believes she would be blind today if it weren't for marijuana.
The 70-year-old Lafayette resident was diagnosed with glaucoma in 1994. Despite taking two medications on a daily basis and having two surgeries, the pressure in her eyes -- an indication of fluid build-up -- continued to be higher than recommended.
She knew about the research that showed marijuana could slow the progression of glaucoma, an incurable eye disease that damages the optic nerve and eventually leads to blindness.
Her ophthamologist did an experiment, measuring the pressure in her eyes before and after she smoked marijuana. The pressure was measurably lower after she smoked.
The lower the pressure in the eyes, the more slowly the disease progresses." Sphere: Related Content
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Jam Band Rocks Fox Theater - Entertainment News Story - KTVU San Francisco
"Widespread Panic
One of the many neo-hippie jam bands which inherited the road-warrior mantle left behind by the Grateful Dead, Georgia-based outfit Widespread Panic established a devout grass-roots following on the strength of constant touring and a loose, rootsy brand of Southern rock informed by jazz and blues textures. The group's origins dated to 1982, when vocalist John Bell and guitarist Mike Houser first began playing together while attending college in Athens, Georgia. The line-up gradually filled out and Widespread Panic was officially born.
The band built up its regional following for several years before finally releasing their energetic debut LP 'Space Wrangler' in 1988 on the tiny Landslide label. After several years of relentless touring, they signed to major label Capricorn, which issued the group's eponymously titled sophomore effort in 1991. A mainstay on the early '90s H.O.R.D.E. tours that cemented the jam-band phenomenon, the group greatly expanded their fan base to more mainstream rock fans.
In June 2002, Widespread Panic returned to the road for their annual summer tour of the States, but within a month, founding member and lead guitarist Michael Houser had to bow out. Houser was battling cancer and returned home to Athens, GA to rest while guitarist George McConnell stepped in to finish the tour. In August of that summer, Houser succumbed to complications from pancreatic cancer at the age of 40.
The band soldiered on in accordance with Houser's wishes and was inspired to release its strongest effort yet, 'Ball,' the following year. Widespread Panic remain one of the most entertaining improv-heavy rock bands on the scene, as these three shows at the Fox Theater in Oakland will demonstrate." Sphere: Related Content
GreenCine | product main - Mondo Mod / The Hippie Revolt (1967)
"This documentary is an exploitation film aimed at further alarming middle-class Americans about hippies. No real insight is given into the reasons hippies adopted the alternative lifestyle, as the camera focuses on enclaves in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and a rural commune dubbed Strawberry Fields. Psychedelic dance rituals, drug use, body painting, and incoherent babbling of the hippies sensationalize instead of educate as to the reasons so much of the youth of the world is involved in the counterculture. The visit to the commune could have been revealing, but the round table philosophical discussion only adds to the confusion and offers no illumination. The political, economic, and social relevance of the movement remains unexplained. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Special Features:
* Audio Commentary by 'Mr. Sixties' Johnny Legend and Hollywood Book and Poster Co.'s Eric Caidin!
* Original Theatrical Trailers!
* Surprise Alternate Footage from MONDO MOD Short Subject #1: Pot Party Playgirls!
* Surprise Alternate Footage from MONDO MOD Short Subject #2: Hot Hippy Hips!
* Acidhead Short Subject #1: Beyond LSD!
* Acidhead Short Subject #2: Psychedelic Hippie Love-In
* Gallery of Drive-In Exploitation Art!" Sphere: Related Content
Granddaughter writes history of Nepenthe
"As the October moon rose over the Big Sur coast, a belly dancer with gold Iris wings twirled with the dancing ghosts of parties past at Nepenthe restaurant.
The release of 'My Nepenthe' is celebrated at the restaur...The release of 'My Nepenthe' is celebrated at the restaur...The release of 'My Nepenthe' is celebrated at the restaur... View More Images
There was a big reason to celebrate.
After six decades of nurturing artists, writers and singers, someone had finally written the story of the fabled restaurant's magical past.
That someone is an expert - Romney 'Nani' Steele, granddaughter of Bill and Lolly Fassett, creators of Nepenthe in 1949. 'My Nepenthe' details Steele's childhood growing up under her grandmother's wing at the iconic restaurant, where her aunt Dorcas belly danced for literary crowds that included writer Henry Miller, actress Kim Novak and singer Joan Baez.
At her Oct. 24 book-release party, Steele watched her 16-year-old daughter, Nicoya, continue the belly dancing tradition for generations of family members who were quick to claim the book as the quintessential tapestry of the bohemian happening that was, and in some ways still is, Nepenthe.
'Nepenthe was at the center of Big Sur - if not was Big Sur to many people,' Steele said between bites of salad on the deck overlooking the Pacific. 'Nepenthe acted as a stage bringing writers, poets and musicians to speak and perform. Growing up there, the world came to us.'" Sphere: Related Content
The American Medical Association Reconsiders Marijuana. Will the Justice Department Follow? - The Human Condition Blog - Newsweek.com
"More than 100 million Americans have smoked pot. Thirteen states have medical marijuana laws on the books, and a dozen more are considering legislation. Studies have shown that the substance can stimulate appetite, ease muscle spasms and numb pain.
Yet since 1970, when Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substance Act into law, the time-slowing green plant known as marijuana has been a Schedule 1 controlled substance: classified alongside drugs like heroin and PCP—and deemed more harmful than cocaine, meth, and Ketamine. Pot advocates call that reality the “Schedule I Lie” —referring to the drug’s federal classification as the most potent of drugs, considered, by law, to have “no accepted medical use.”
The idea that a few tokes every now and then is more harmful than the recreational use of dog tranquilizer seems a bit, well, bogus, considering its mainstream acceptance. Barack Obama has openly admitted to smoking pot; Michael Phelps has tried it (and still managed to bring home eight gold medals); and earlier this year, attorney general Eric Holder discouraged U.S. attorneys from prosecuting retailers in medical marijuana states. There are pot TV shows and cities (like Oakland) that are now taxing the drug’s medicinal use to bring in extra revenue." Sphere: Related Content
First U.S. marijuana cafe opens in Portland | U.S. | Reuters
PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - The United States' first marijuana cafe opened on Friday, posing an early test of the Obama administration's move to relax policing of medical use of the drug.
The Cannabis Cafe in Portland, Oregon, is the first to give certified medical marijuana users a place to get hold of the drug and smoke it -- as long as they are out of public view -- despite a federal ban.
'This club represents personal freedom, finally, for our members,' said Madeline Martinez, Oregon's executive director of NORML, a group pushing for marijuana legalization." Sphere: Related Content
Public Access Lives! (On DVD): One Of 'The Threee Geniuses' Talks The Re-Death Of Psychedelia - Los Angeles Music - West Coast Sound
"Taking LSD over seven times may or may not make you legally insane (if the myth were true, some of us here at West Coast Sound might have just missed the loony bin), but we can assure you, watching the psycho-delic circus known as The Threee Geniuses as many times is likely to drive you nuts, at least temporarily.
The visually demented Los Angeles public access cable TV show -which celebrates the release of a new Best Of DVD, 'The Re-Death of Psychedelia,' this Sunday with an all-star in-the-flesh musical freak-fest at the Silent Movie Theatre- was seemingly created for the sole purpose of pushing the boundaries of taste, logic and FCC laws. It was conceived, shot, mixed and edited on the spot, in 'real-time,' so anything could and often did happen." Sphere: Related Content
The Prisoner: An All-Star Appreciation | Underwire | Wired.com
"Patrick McGoohan’s stunning spy-fi series The Prisoner only lasted 17 episodes before sadly disappearing in 1969. But its revolutionary mix of geopolitics, sci-fi and psychedelia has influenced not just television, but also music, comics, film and more.
It even made a deep impression on the most influential band of all time.
“Before Magical Mystery Tour, the Beatles were going to do another full movie like Help, and it was all going to be based on The Prisoner,” Dhani Harrison, son of Beatles guitarist George Harrison, told Wired.com in October, before his own Prisoner-inspired band thenewno2 kicked off its inaugural North American tour. “They were going to be in a movie written and directed by Patrick McGoohan in the same vein as The Prisoner, because they thought it was one of the best series ever. They were so into his psychedelic weirdness.”
Unfortunately, the Beatles project ultimately fell through. But not before McGoohan inspired the Fab Four to do something that they never did again. “What came of it was the [Prisoner] episode ‘Fall Out’ featuring ‘All You Need Is Love,’” Harrison said. It was the only time a Beatles song was licensed to a TV show." Sphere: Related Content
Lennon, Manson and me: the psychedelic cinema of Alejandro Jodorowsky | Film | The Guardian
"Eyebrows, hopes and ceremonially lit bongs were all raised earlier this year with the news that Alejandro Jodorowsky was finally making another movie. The high priest of head-trip cinema, Jodorowsky blew the collective mind of the counter-culture with a handful of supremely odd movies in the 1970s, such as El Topo and The Holy Mountain, but despite continual promises and rumours, Jodorowsky's long-awaited return never seemed to materialise. In the meantime, his work has been seized upon by a new generation of hipsters desperately seeking out-there inspiration, as we shall see. This year, though, at the Cannes film festival, Jodorowsky announced he had raised the cash for his next movie. It would be called King Shot, and it would be a metaphysical western set in a desert casino, featuring a man the size of King Kong and Marilyn Manson as a 300-year-old pope." Sphere: Related Content
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
A New Era for U.S. Drug Policy? - CBS News
"As the founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, Nadelmann has long advocated for the liberalization of U.S. drug laws -- specifically, making marijuana legal, regulated and taxed and ending criminal penalties on the possession and use of all other drugs.
For most of that time the Alliance has been relegated to the fringe of serious policy discussions, a space long occupied - or so the stereotype goes - by radical libertarians and readers of the marijuana enthusiast magazine High Times.
But things are changing. The last few months are 'the first time I've ever felt that the wind is at my back and not in my face,' Nadelmann said. 'There's a tremendous amount of momentum across the board.'" Sphere: Related Content
The psychedelic seaslugs that outshine their garden cousins | Mail Online
"The incredible images were taken by researcher and photographer Thomas Vignaud, who was diving off the coast of southern France.
The 23 year old said: 'Most of the nudibranchs have totally incredible colours - like underwater living jewels designed by an artist.
'There are several thousand known species but we're far from finding the real total. The vivid colours are, like for other animals, used to warn any potential predator, 'I'm not good to eat'." Sphere: Related Content
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Music & nightlife | The birth of 'Grunge,' in photos by Michael Lavine | Seattle Times Newspaper
"Despite its title, 'Grunge,' Michael Lavine's newest book of photographs, is not meant as a definitive history of Seattle's most infamous musical movement. When Lavine arrived in Seattle in 1982 and started shooting the punks, mods and Goths hanging out on the Ave in the U District, he wasn't trying to encapsulate a scene. When he moved to New York in 1985 and became the go-to studio photographer for the Sub Pop record label, he didn't believe his work was exhaustive. Even now, his book raises more questions than answers.
'It was punk until somebody decided to call it grunge. It really was. It wasn't grunge to us at the time,' Lavine says, laughing. 'That was one reason we named (the book) that, just to make people think about the word in a different way.'" Sphere: Related Content
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Rock snobs, rejoice! Wolfgang's Vault, the Ft. Knox of classic concerts | Brand X | Los Angeles Times
"If you call yourself a music fan and you've not taken a pilgrimage over to Wolfgang's Vault, then make a move, stat, hippie! The sprawling website is a veritable treasure trove of classic rock concerts, many from the archive of the late, great San Francisco-based concert impresario Bill Graham (real name: Wolfgang Grajonca). It's the Ft. Knox of live music.
Graham began recording rock shows at his Winterland, Fillmore West and Filmore East show palaces and stored the tapes in the basement of his Bill Graham Presents offices. These 2,500 hours formed the basis of the Vault's collection, but the archives of the 'King Biscuit Flower Hour' radio show, the Dawson Sound collection, the Ash Grove (a L.A. 60s folk club, now known as the Improv) archive, the Newport Jazz archives and tapes from the Record Plant have been added in recent years. Meticulous restoration work is done on the well-preserved, but aging, material by an army of recording engineers who will even resort to slow baking the tapes for several days so they can be played just one time and captured digitally.
From the acid rock of the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Jimi Hendrix on to the punkier sounds of the Sex Pistols, the Clash and beyond ('80s New Wave groups like Culture Club, Duran Duran and ABC are represented too), much of the 3,500 concerts on Wolfgang's Vault stream free for members (it costs nothing to sign up, but you do have to register to listen) and the audio quality is top-notch. Additionally Wolgang's Vault boasts a streaming radio station and an online store with what is probably the single best source of rock and roll memorabilia on the Internet. New concerts are added weekly. There's even a Wolfgang's Vault iPhone app for listening concerts on the go, which was named the best app of 2009 by Macworld.
www.wolfgangsvault.com
-- Richard Metzger" Sphere: Related Content
COMMUNITY VOICES: Rock out to help the world - Fall River, MA - The Herald News
Although nothing takes the place of volunteering and face-to-face connections, here are some suggestions on how to incorporate a social agenda into your life by rock n’ rolling and munching! Some of the everyday things you do can have an impact on the world.
The list of socially conscious music groups continues to grow daily. Want to go to concert? Want to buy a new CD? Let your seat or CD also help you repair world.
— The Boss. Bruce Springsteen donates a portion of his profits to local food banks and often asks concert goers to bring canned food as part of the cost of admission. The food is distributed to local food pantries.
— The Grateful Dead. One of the most organized rock n’ roll charitable efforts, The Rex Foundation donates a portion of Grateful Dead profits to a plethora of service organizations working on issues such as the environment, homelessness, literacy, child welfare and peace efforts.
— Willie Nelson. Farm Aid, live mega-shows run yearly, raises money for independent farms that are in danger of being gobbled up by the Agra business.
— Phish uses a portion of its profits to support many social actions projects including environmental causes in the Lake Champlain region of Vermont, the birthplace of the band.
— Rapper Ludacris and The Ludacris Foundation team up with Greyhound and The National Runaway Switchboard to help runaways find their way home. Ludacris and Mary J. Blige’s song Runaway Love is featured in a televised public service announcement encouraging runaways to go home.
Who doesn’t enjoy a dish of ice cream on occasion? Make your munching matter. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company is well known for its commitment to social causes, Ben & Jerry’s produces a number of tasty and socially responsible flavors.
— Some of the profits from Heath Bar Crunch go to “The Campaign for New Priorities,” an organization dedicated to advancing peace through education and an end to poverty." Sphere: Related Content
Sacramento Press / Cinco de Alchemist: A Celebration of Transformation
"Alchemist CDC was founded in 2004 by Wendy Carter, Lisa Nelson and Chris Aguirre to promote equitable community development in Sacramento. The nonprofit group believes that the overall health of the region depends on the health of urban centers, and they are currently focused on serving the Alkali Flats and Mansion Flats neighborhoods of downtown Sacramento.
In 2007, Alchemist CDC and the Sacramento Mutual Housing Association began the city’s first urban farm stand at J. Neely Johnson Park in Alkali Flats. In 2009, they began a farm stand at McClatchy Park in the Oak Park neighborhood. The farm stands operate from May through October." Sphere: Related Content
411mania.com: Music - Jam Central Station 11.07.09: Robert Randolph and the Family Band
"Steel guitar virtuoso Robert Randolph and his Family Band's rise to prominence didn't come from the typical schedule of incessant recording and touring that most jam bands follow. Robert Randolph, for all of his talent, wasn't even aware of guitar greats like Buddy Guy or Muddy Waters as a teenager. His entire musical knowledge came from his church, a House of God church in New Jersey. Raised as the son of both a minister and a deacon, most of Randolph's early life was spent in the church. However, for Randolph, church music didn't mean organs and old ladies in the choir. Although it's a small denomination, the House of God churches had a musical tradition for Randolph to latch onto, a tradition known as Sacred Steel.
The pedal steel guitar, which is the lynchpin of Sacred Steel music, rose to prominence in House of God churches in the 30's. The black Pentecostal churches of this time couldn't afford costly organs, and the pedal steel guitar was introduced as a replacement instrument. While the instrument itself had been used primarily in Hawaiian and country music, the way that the House of God churches used it bore little resemblance to those other traditions. The energy that this instrument produced was much closer to the high-energy services of the Pentecostal churches, and was quickly accepted as part of their worship. This type of music seldom left the church, however. True to the name 'Sacred Steel,' church elders believed that the only appropriate place for this sacred music was in the church. Those who didn't frown on playing the music outside of the church still believed that the primary purpose for the music should be evangelism. Few recordings were made of Sacred Steel playing, and only a handful of practitioners played outside of church events.
Sacred Steel was 'discovered' in 1992 by Florida musicologist Robert Stone. He began recording the music in the churches. In 1995, he put out the first widely released recording of Sacred Steel music, Sacred Steel: Traditional Sacred African-American Steel Guitar Music in Florida. Stone's recordings of Sacred Steel music struck a chord not only with lovers of gospel and church music, but many guitar music aficionados across the globe.
About the time Stone was 'discovering' Sacred Steel music, a Robert Randolph was growing up in urban New Jersey. Randolph didn't just grow up in the church; he also grew up on the streets. He often skipped school and he dealt drugs for a short time. He maintained his relationship with his church, however, and began drumming in the youth choir. The shooting death of a close friend that brought Randolph seriously back into the church, and he left behind the street side of his life for good. He was given a steel guitar, and, at 17, he began playing in earnest. It was at this time that a friend gave him a Stevie Ray Vaughn tape." Sphere: Related Content
Friday, November 6, 2009
Building With Whole Trees - NYTimes.com
"According to research by the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, run by the USDA, a whole, unmilled tree can support 50 percent more weight than the largest piece of lumber milled from the same tree. So Mr. Gundersen uses small-diameter trees as rafters and framing in his airy structures, and big trees felled by wind, disease or insects as powerful columns and curving beams.
Taking small trees from a crowded stand in the forest is much like thinning carrots in a row: the remaining plants get more light, air and nutrients. Carrots grow longer and straighter; trees get bigger and healthier.
And when the trees are left whole, they sequester carbon. “For every ton of wood, a ton and a half of carbon dioxide is locked up,” he said, whereas producing a ton of steel releases two to five tons of carbon. So the more whole wood is used in place of steel, the less carbon is pumped into the air.
These passive solar structures also need very little or no supplemental heat.
Tom Spaulding, the executive director of Angelic Organics Learning Center, near Rockford, Ill., northwest of Chicago, knows about this because he commissioned Mr. Gundersen to build a 1,600-square-foot training center in 2003. He said: “In the middle of winter, on a 20-below day, we’re in shorts, with the windows and doors open. And we don’t burn a bit of petroleum.”" Sphere: Related Content
Rock Candy: Last Night: The Meat Puppets
"Once upon a time, two blue-blooded, musically gifted brothers from Arizona started a band. This was during the hardcore heyday of the early ‘80s, and though the winds were blowing strongly in the direction of harder-faster-louder, the siblings had an abiding love of such punk anathema as Neil Young and the Grateful Dead.
In short order, the Meat Puppets signed to the label SST and released a slew of albums — at least two of which are masterpieces — which combined the theretofore-disparate sounds of punk, country and psychedelia." Sphere: Related Content
XTC: The Complete And Utter Dukes - XTC News @ antiMusic.com
"(Howlin' Wuelf) The Complete And Utter Dukes is a special LIMITED edition release of XTC's pseudonymous output as 'The Dukes of Stratosphear' being released domestically November 30 on XTC mainman Andy Partridge's Ape House label, distributed by ADA.
This LIMITED EDITION purple cloth-covered box set completes even the completist's collection with everything the Dukes ever recorded presented in a variety of formats.
This includes the vinyl versions of 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot are faithful to the original in their content and were remastered especially for these vinyl pressings. Both come in gatefold sleeves and newly designed inner bags. There's also a 7 inch single featuring Andy Partridge's 'Tin Toy Clockwork Train,' a track written for a psychedelic Euro Star ad campaign and Colin Moulding's demo of 'The Affiliated.'
You also get both 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot are on separate CDs, again, having been completely remastered from the original analogue tapes, with generous bonus material and packaged in hardback books." Sphere: Related Content
wbur.org » NPR
"I don't think there has ever been a comedy as freakishly, surreally psychosexual as Jared Hess's Gentlemen Broncos. It's the story of a teenager who writes unpublished Dune-like sci-fi novels called Yeast Wars in which the hero has his gonads stolen and faces off in a rocky desert against laser-blasting mammaries.
The kid, Benjamin, played by Michael Angarano, is clearly sublimating like mad to relieve his sexual discomfort. But often Hess cuts to his fantasies — scenes from his novels enacted onscreen — and they're so visionary and intense that they hurtle past Freud. They have a Jung-like mythical dimension. His protagonist, Bronco, played by Sam Rockwell, is part cowboy, part Flash Gordon. His battles are gloriously tacky and psychedelic. He rides robotic deer and dodges Cyclops and pursues a jelly jar with his pilfered private parts. These fantasies lift the movie into a realm both lofty and madcap. The down-to-earth realm is loco in a different way." Sphere: Related Content
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Associated Press: Maine becomes 5th state to allow pot dispensaries
"PORTLAND, Maine — Voters approved a referendum making Maine the fifth state to allow retail pot dispensaries, but medical marijuana advocates say it won't become like California, where hundreds of marijuana shops have popped up and come under critical scrutiny.
California, Colorado, New Mexico and Rhode Island allow for places where medical marijuana patients can legally buy pot. Maine voters gave their approval Tuesday, 59 percent to 41 percent." Sphere: Related Content
Syd Barrett Photo Auction - 4 Nov 2009 | Clash Music Latest Breaking Music News
A series of images capturing the decline of psychedelic icon Syd Barrett are set to be sold at a special auction.
"'Barrett' and 'The Madcap Laughs' have now become celebrated works, adorned with the classic photography of Mick Rock.
The photographer shot Syd Barrett in his London flat, capturing the tragic songwriter in the midst of his illness. Set to vanish from the London society for ever shortly afterwards, Mick Rock's images have become almost as well known as Barrett's music.
Now fans can own three photos taken at those sessions. Mick Rock is selling the images as part of the music sale at Phillips de Pury in London on November 21st." Sphere: Related Content
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Stephen Schlesinger: Obama Gets Good Grades at the United Nations
"Barack Obama promised throughout his presidential campaign to reengage with the United Nations. And he has. He's compiled an extraordinary list of accomplishments already at the UN building. Let's begin with his decision to appoint a new ambassador, Susan Rice, who actually believes in the UN and has made her commitment clear. Next, his early meeting with Ban Ki Moon at the White House in his seventh week of his presidency, which demonstrated in a public way Obama's determination to link America up again with the UN.
Then his early decision to pay up our annual dues and peacekeeping arrears, estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and to switch our payment schedules to coincide with the UN's own budgetary calendar rather than our Congressional one; his choice to increase American military and civilian support to UN peacekeeping missions; his willingness to rejoin the Human Rights Council; his public declaration to recommit the US to ending climate change; his renewal of US funding support for family planning programs and reproductive health services at the UN's Population Fund; his desire to strengthen American backing of UNICEF and UNESCO; his endorsement of such UN inspired treaties as the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; his backing of the UN General Assembly statement opposing violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation; his public citing of the ICC and the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women; his push for a pact to end the production of fissile nuclear materials and his pledge for a vigorous US participation in the 2010 UN review conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; his support of the UN's Millennium Development goals; his desire to reform the UN Security Council, including possibly adding more countries to its roster; and his support to complete the UN's internal reforms, the Peacebuilding Commission, the Democracy Fund, management changes and the new Responsibility to Protect provision (in the Security Council). All of this represents a 180 degree change of course from the George W. Bush years." Sphere: Related Content
Breckenridge votes to decriminalize marijuana possession - KDVR
DENVER (AP) — The ski town of Breckenridge has voted overwhelmingly to decriminalize marijuana possession.
Early returns Tuesday night showed the proposal winning with 72 percent of the vote. Breckenridge is poised to clear adults over 21 to have up to 1 ounce of marijuana. Sphere: Related Content
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
UFOs, Orgasms and the Occult: The Tucson Connection - Paranormal Old Pueblo
"Before Wilhelm Reich, an occultist from England named Aleister Crowley also dabbled in the powers orgasmic energy. Crowley called it “Sex Magick.”
Both Wilhelm Reich and Aleister Crowley believed that suppression of sex was at the root of all evil and violence in the world.
Each individual has an absolute right to satisfy his sexual instinct as is physiologically proper for him. The one injunction is to treat all such acts as sacraments. One should not eat as the brutes, but in order to enable one to do one’s will. The same applies to sex. We must use every faculty to further the one object of our existence. – Aleister Crowley in the “Book of the Law”
Crowley believed that the energies built up and released during the sex act was capable of being used for magic. Crowley emphasized sex as a supreme magical power. There was more than this belief in the application of sexual energies that bound these men together. Their link came in the form of a man named Israel Regardie." Sphere: Related Content
AFP: Jewish-Muslim music fest is lesson in tolerance
"The opening concert at the three-day fest improbably featured an 80-year-old singer-rabbi, Haim Louk, backed by a Moroccan band who drew thunderous applause from the audience -- people of all ages and social class, women wearing headscarves and others in western gear, tourists, foreigners, Jews and Arabs."
"'When people can sing and play together on stage in Hebrew and in Arabic, it is beyond symbolic, it is real. It is about reconciliation,' he said.
'And when you see the standing ovation that a Moroccan Muslim public gave a Moroccan Jewish artist, you see maybe they could pay attention elsewhere.'" Sphere: Related Content
JerryFest Music Festival - What The Community is All About.
"Traveling through the hilltops of Pennsylvania, you approach the small town of Kempton with an understanding that life here is different than that of the suburbs NJ. Antique shops with furniture that has more history than time itself and traffic lights that really serve no direct need. This truly is a setting that a music festival was meant to be born from, the countryside. As we had arrived and we were about to realize what community really was meant to be, Jerry Fest." Sphere: Related Content
Monsters of Folk: Making hits without the hype | csmonitor.com
"The Traveling Wilburys, the late 1980s supergroup that featured Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne of ELO, set the blueprint for chummy band projects whose sum often happened to be as good, if not better, than their equal parts.
While it's an old concept that might seem passé in this age of iTunes and Rock Band video games, Monsters of Folk are giving it new life. The four-member group – which features solo songwriter-performer M. Ward, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, and Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes – represents the kind of project that often falls through the cracks these days because nothing about it – the music or the marketing – conforms to what is considered necessary to sell records.
And yet, because all four members are not household names, the project is also a reflection of artistic resilience. The group's self-titled album, released in September, and a North American tour, with dates through mid-November, are endeavors that together reflect an old-fashioned approach to making music that is more homespun and more about the total experience than selling a hit single. At the same time, their album hit No. 15 on the Billboard charts and No. 3 on Top Independent Albums." Sphere: Related Content
Never Get Out Of The Boat!: Grateful Dead (Advance Listen)
"ADVANCE LISTEN:
Road Trips, Vol. 3 No. 1
Oakland 12/28/79
Click HERE for a pop up player
Here's a version of 'Sugaree' from a new live Dead release from 1979. Road Trips, Vol. 3 No. 1 is a full show, 2CD set that comes with a bonus CD (for those that pre-order) culled from a show at the same venue two nights later. Release date is Nov. 10." Sphere: Related Content
The Daily Athenaeum - Jam bands perform at 123 tonight
"123 Pleasant Street is set to host a pair of jam bands tonight when The Bridge and Cornmeal take the stage at the downtown venue beginning at 9 p.m. Tickets are $12.
Based out of Chicago, progressive bluegrass group Cornmeal will be making its first appearance in Morgantown for tonight’s show, but the group is familiar with West Virginia and the area’s diverse music." Sphere: Related Content
Like...Dreamsville: Battle Of The Venice Beach Beatniks.
"An interesting article about some in-fighting amongst the Venice Beach beatniks who frequented The Gas House. From the April 1960 issue of Modern Man. Makes mention of the Miss Beatnik Contest." Sphere: Related Content
Sacramento Press / Group behind 'urban farm stand' to celebrate fifth year
"A local non-profit organization that purveys fresh produce in some of the city’s underserved neighborhoods is hosting a celebration this Thursday Nov.7, marking their fifth anniversary serving the community.
Alchemist Community Development Corporation is the group behind the “urban farm stand” idea – selling fresh, farmer’s market-style fruits and vegetables in areas like Alkali Flat and Oak Park. The event, which is open to the public, will be held at the Beatnik Studios near the city’s Tower district and will include live music and food from some of Sacramento’s top restaurants." Sphere: Related Content
Organization in need of school supplies - KVIA.com El Paso, Las Cruces - Weather, News, Sports -
Preparing children to learn in a classroom setting starts at home.
That is the belief of organizers behind Americorps' HIPPY program. HIPPY stands for Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters.
In order to further that belief, organizers conduct home visits with hundreds of families participating in the program. They take with them school supplies to give to the 3 and 4 year old children, who will hopefully use them to help prepare them for preschool and kindergarten.
But in order to hand out the glue sticks, crayons, and scissors, organizers need to have them on hand. Unfortunately, the supplies are running low." Sphere: Related Content
Turn It Up: Dhani Harrison: The son of Beatle George describes how he learned to embrace the music and Thenewno2
"There was a bit of disconnect between the sleepy debut album by Dhani Harrison’s band Thenewno2, “You are Here” (Vagrant), and the galvanizing performance the band put on last summer at Lollapalooza in Grant Park. The album was slow-moving and introspective, tinged by psychedelic textures and electro rhythms, while Harrison’s vocals suggested the unhurried cadences of his late father, the Beatles’ George Harrison. At Grant Park, however, the sound morphed into a forceful, Technicolor swirl that rocked beneath the noon-day sun." Sphere: Related Content
Photo: Flaming Lips received a streaker surprise during Voodoo Fest show | Voodoo Music Fest - - NOLA.com
"Striking visuals are an essential element of a Flaming Lips show. But their visuals are rarely as eye-popping as the apparition that crashed the Playstation/Billboard.com Stage during the Lips’ Sunday night set: A stark naked woman.
She emerged from the two dozen fan club members recruited to dance on stage in what was either white mice, abominable snowmen or polar bear costumes. Something about the moment and music – specifically “Silver Trembling Hands,” with its line about “when she gets high” -- compelled her to take it off and bum-rush Lips frontman Wayne Coyne. He rolled with it until a member of the band’s crew finally corralled her and ushered her away."
"If the Butthole Surfers represent the dark side of a psychedelic experience – they screen such stomach-churning videos as up-close eyeball surgery – the Flaming Lips are a much happier trip. They deployed dozens of orange and yellow beach balls, clouds of confetti and the aforementioned dancing critters." Sphere: Related Content
Monday, November 2, 2009
Radio Business Report/Television Business Report - Voice of the Broadcasting Industry
"Audience members are uncovering new independent online stations every day. They find one and then look for more. Now read on and begin to formulate your business internet plan.
Clear Channel's Randall Mays is out. Google gets with Lala and MySpace Music to match consumers with songs. Wells Fargo radio analyst, Marci Ryvicker, predicts radio will lose more jobs. If you work in the radio industry - online or off - this is not the time to be wondering what to do next. That decision should have been made. Now you should be planning your next move.
The big companies are in such disarray that the major topic at each is survival. Across all traditional media, not just in the radio industry, the 'big boys' are plagued by out-of-control costs, severely-depressed revenues, and a general feeling that they are in the middle of a swarm of internet gnats - with no repellent in sight.
The Wall Street Journal has an excellent article which outlines the problem with media today. The title says it all: On the Web, Amateurs Rivaling Professionals.'
What's unsaid is 'the web' is becoming such an intuitive part of everyone's life that making a major imprint there is worth more than owning 1,000 radio stations." Sphere: Related Content
CaribWorldNews.com - Global Caribbean Daily Newswire
"United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has congratulated United States President Barack Obama for lifting the travel ban to the U.S. for people living with HIV.
Obama`s announcement late last week overturns a policy that had been in place since 1987, and it came as he signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009, which has provided treatment and support services to people living with HIV since 1990. Obama made the announcement in signing an extension of the the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Act, which provides for education, prevention and treatment programs for U.S. HIV patients. He said his administration will publish a final rule today, Nov. 2, that eliminates the travel ban effective just after the first of 2010.
`I urge all other countries with such restrictions to take steps to remove them at the earliest,` Ban, who has made removing the stigma and discrimination faced by those living with HIV a personal issue, said.
Almost 60 nations impose some form of travel restrictions on people with HIV." Sphere: Related Content
POLL: Illegal Downloaders Buy the Most Music
"The UK’s Independent newspaper picks up on a curious study today: people who download music illegally also buy more music legally, according to a poll’s results. The study comes as the UK plans a controversial “three strikes and you’re out” rule that would disconnect copyright infringers from the Internet – it’s set to become law in April 2010."
SEE ALSO: Study: File sharers spend more money on music
I know that many, especially those associated with making money out of music, feel that pirates who share files should be made to walk the plank to the rhythm of Fiona Apple's "Criminal."
However, a survey commissioned by the professional cogitators at Demos in the U.K., suggests that just because one might download illegally, it doesn't mean one never spends money on music.
Indeed, according to the Independent, this survey, performed by the omeletteheads at Ipsos MORI, showed that those who share files spend 75 percent more on music than those who have allegedly clean hands.
Another omelettehead, Mark Mulligan of Forrester Research, told the Independent that those who share files are simply more interested in music.
He added: "They use file sharing as a discovery mechanism. We have a generation of young people who don't have any concept of music as a paid-for commodity." Sphere: Related Content
The Bear Creek Music & Art Festival « Musical Stew Daily
Legends of Funk Join Galactic, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Perpetual Groove, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Steve Kimock, The New Mastersounds, Papa Mali, Toubab Krewe, Lotus & more than 40 more bands
Three generations of funk are set to converge at this year’s Bear Creek Music & Art Festival Nov.13-15 at the beautiful Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, voted “Florida’s Best Live Music Venue” by readers of Florida Monthly Magazine earlier this year." Sphere: Related Content
Witch School Leaves Rossville For Salem, Mass - Chicagoist
"The past two years that the Witch School has operated in the city of Rossville, about 125 miles south of Chicago near the Indiana border, haven't been without constant protests from nearby Christian groups, going so far as to sprinkle the wheels of their cars with holy water and drive around town to ward off witches. This weekend, the Christian groups demands will finally be met as the Witch School is moving to a more occult-friendly city: Salem, Mass, the site of the notorious witchcraft trials over three centuries ago." Sphere: Related Content
Liverpool Daily Post.co.uk - Features & Entertainment - The Beatles - Beatles News - Beatles housemate is all art
"IMAGES of work by the man who painted Paul McCartney’s psychedelic Magic Piano have been put on display in a Liverpool bar.
Dudley Edwards, who has created murals for some of Britain’s most famous musicians, is exhibiting his art as part of Liverpool Music Week.
The show, at 3345 Parr Street, includes photographs that have not been on display for four decades.
Edwards said: “Musicians and artists in London at the time all knew each other. It wasn’t unusual that I should know the Beatles.
“It was an exciting time because young people all wanted to do their own thing.”
A member of pioneering pop art collective BEV, Edwards helped paint the brightly coloured shop fronts on Carnaby Street and Kings Road that became synonymous with 1960s Swinging London.
He also decorated the psychedelic Buick that appeared on the cover of the Kinks album Sunny Afternoon as well as a Cobra sports car for Guinness heir Tara Browne, who would later die in a car crash." Sphere: Related Content
It was the worst drug problem I ever had | Caitlin Moran - Times Online
"A report last week claimed that a growing number of people are taking LSD and other psychedelic drugs — such as Ecstasy — to help with a range of problems including anorexia nervosa, cluster headaches and chronic anxiety attacks. Dr John Halpern, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, found that, of 53 people with cluster headaches, “almost all” obtained relief when taking either LSD or psilocybin, otherwise known as magic mushrooms.
Over in Switzerland, meanwhile, there is an experiment going on where people with a terminal condition are given LSD, along with psychotherapy, to cope with the profound anxiety brought on by impending death. While many of us might conclude instantly that the very last thing someone coming to terms with their own impending drop into the grave needs is wigging the hell out on a load of dappy-tabs, it seems that we are being overly cautious on the matter.
“If you handle LSD with care, it isn’t any more dangerous than other therapies,” says Dr Peter Gasser, the psychiatrist leading the trial." Sphere: Related Content
Saturday, October 31, 2009
DAY ONE REVIEW: Phish on Friday proves a tasty treat | MyDesert.com | The Desert Sun
"Their opening night at Festival 8 proved two things to me.
1) They’re a distinctively charismatic band that can jam without sounding repetitious. The Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers could do that and Phish can, too, with their own unique sound.
2) Following a band around on tour is fun. I followed the Dead from San Francisco to Los Angeles to San Bernardino in the late 1970s and it was a fun adventure and listening experience since the Dead never repeated more than a couple songs. But having a band come to you for three days in a row is and never repeat a song is even better when they’re playing in a venue that fills you with sensory overload like the Empire Polo Club.
To this novice Phish phan, Friday’s opening set showed how polished they’ve become. They played three songs from their new album, “Joy,” which many critics have called their best album ever, including “Time Turns Elastic,” which some critics have called Phish’s equivalent of the Dead’s “Terrapin Station.” It has so many unique components, like “Terrapin,” it’s almost a suite. That makes it a difficult song to expand upon in a jam because its growth is built into its structure. But, it was a treat to hear them perform the song expertly even if it didn’t improve significantly on the recording." Sphere: Related Content
Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock - Times Online
"Lee put his extras and cast through a crash course in “hippy”. “We took them on a two-day hippy ‘camp’, where they would learn all about the era,” he explains. “We gave them a hippy handbook that had a glossary of hippy lingo like ‘roach clip’, ‘can you dig it?’, ‘crash pad’ and ‘far out’. I gave them books to read, loads of documentaries to watch and drilled them in the politics and attitudes of the time.”
Lee has re-created the Woodstock experience with such unerring exactitude it is as if you were there — not as a roadie next to the stage or as a VIP backstage, but as a punter wandering the outskirts, unable to penetrate the throng at the front." Sphere: Related Content
Canadian psychedelic Beatles album auction sparks international excitement
"Four psychedelic, one-of-a-kind Beatles albums pressed by a bored Canadian record plant employee are going up on eBay — and the rare find has already sparked international buzz.
An employee of Capitol Records' Toronto-area plant pressed the records in the 1970s, mixing coloured vinyl to create a splattered-paint look for a touch of psychedelia.
The unique works of musical art, which the British newspaper The Guardian called possibly 'the rarest Beatles albums ever,' are now in the hands of Canadian music experts Akim Boldireff and Aaron Keele. They will auction the records off on eBay beginning Nov. 10. Starting bid? $1,000 for each of the four records." Sphere: Related Content
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tweet For A Track: Free viral music promotions on Twitter (trade tweets for tracks) - Fan
Just post this tweet and it’s yours! Sphere: Related Content
Jerry Garcia Band: Let It Rock on JamBase
For Jerry Garcia, 1975 was a seminal year that found him splitting time between recording Blues for Allah with the Dead, directing The Grateful Dead Movie, and forming the Jerry Garcia Band – his long-running side project. JGB's earliest days are the subject of a two-disc live collection recorded during that momentous year. THE JERRY GARCIA COLLECTION, VOL. 2: LET IT ROCK, JERRY GARCIA BAND, NOVEMBER 17 & 18, 1975, KEYSTONE BERKELEY will be available November 10 from Jerry Garcia Family/Rhino at physical retail outlets and at www.dead.net for a suggested list price of $19.98." Sphere: Related Content
The Advance-Titan - Yellow journalism and Aleister Crowley’s editorial as ritual
The Advance-Titan - Yellow journalism and Aleister Crowley’s editorial as ritual: "In the eldritch days of yore, in the golden age of yellow journalism, editorials had a magical power to them. Here I am thinking of P.T. Barnum and his “All publicity is good publicity,” or William Randolph Hearst’s article that incited the Spanish-American war’s beginnings. Yet my personal favorite of this era comes under the guise and influence of Aleister Crowley, black magician, mountaineer and magus –who at one time indirectly credited himself with the sinking of the Lusitania after publishing editorials for the pro-German “The Fatherland” paper.
Let’s take the case study of Crowley to illustrate what it means to fully see what editorial as ritual means. His definition of “magick” as “the Science of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will,” perfectly explains how this Englishman and possible MI6 agent infiltrated a pro-German propaganda newspaper ‘The Fatherland.”" Sphere: Related Content
Marijuana sparks joint party powwow
"Discussions continue at the Capital this week between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other state leaders regarding a bill supporting the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.
The bill, created by San Francisco Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, proposes the open, legal sale of marijuana to adults 21 years of age and older, and includes a per-ounce tax aimed at generating state revenue and offsetting debt. A public safety session regarding Assembly Bill 390 took place at the Capital on Wednesday, with Gov. Schwarzenegger remaining neutral on the matter."
SEE ALSO: California Gets Closer to Passing Marijuana Law - The Atlantic Business Channel Sphere: Related Content
Ultraviolet: 69 Blacklight Posters From the Aquarian Age and Beyond by Dan Donahue < Reviews | PopMatters
Counterculture historian Dan Donahue compiled the book, and contributed a lucid and thorough essay that covers the development of the oddball art form associated most often with the late ‘60s, when “the blacklight poster had become the premier freak flag to hang at the door to a new consciousness.” In his history of the “blacklight revolution,” the use of ultraviolet light originates (possibly) with secret communication techniques used in WWI, and flourishes with the spirit of experimentation and hallucination in the Summer of Love:
“The blacklight poster was actually a medium capable of mimicking the effects of the new wonder drug. With the ability to glow and vibrate under ultraviolet light, the posters could simulate the sensations and visual distortions one experienced during an acid trip.” Sphere: Related Content
A survival guide to Phish's Festival 8 | Pop & Hiss | Los Angeles Times
This coming weekend, Coachella Valley will witness a locust-like descent from a 40,000-strong horde of hippies, a scale unseen in the Golden State since at the very least, last weekend’s 40th Celebration of Woodstock in Golden Gate Park (a murky and monotonous tale for a different post).
Indeed, over Halloween weekend, Phish, the Vermont jam-band behemoths, will be throwing their first All Hallow’s Eve festival since 2004 and their first ever west of the Mississippi, featuring a staggering eight sets in three days. It all includes a Sunday acoustic performance with coffee and doughnuts, an organic farmer’s market and a 100-foot Ferris wheel.
In Phish tradition, the band will play a special Halloween set in which they cover the entirety of another band’s album. According to the most recent update to the Festival 8 website, the remaining candidates are: David Bowie’s “Hunky Dory” or “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders From Mars,” Genesis’ “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway,” Jimi Hendrix’s “Electric Ladyland,” King Crimson’s “Larks' Tongues in Aspic,” Led Zeppelin's self-titled debut, MGMT’s “Oracular Spectacular,” Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” Prince’s “Purple Rain,” Radiohead’s “Kid A,” the Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main St.,” and Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks.” Sphere: Related Content
Hands-on: Google music streams useful, not revolutionary - Ars Technica
As expected, Google announced Wednesday that it was indeed adding music streams to its search results thanks to a partnership with Lala, MySpace (with streaming from iLike), Rhapsody, and imeem. The search giant has struck licensing deals with EMI, Universal, Warner Music, and Sony Music to bring streams of popular music to the search page via the streaming partners, while the likes of iLike and Lala will be bringing their collection of independent artists as well.
Now, whenever you search for a musical artist, a song, or even a lyric (thanks to Gracenote), Google will include streams right there in your search results along with links to the other services. Sphere: Related Content
Lebanon warns UN: Israel planning to attack us - Haaretz - Israel News
Lebanon's ambassador to the United Nations has warned that Israel is exhibiting signs of an imminent attack on his country, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Hayyat reported on Friday. Sphere: Related Content
Raising the Dead in Vail | VailDaily.com
VAIL, Colorado — The Grateful Dead always centered their concerts around the energy of the audience, with the goal of making the audience's state of mind the focal point of the music. This goal is mirrored by a Colorado collaboration of Grateful Dead tribute bands, called Rocky Mountain Grateful Dead Revue, who will be in Vail this weekend. Sphere: Related Content
Leonard Cohen to play rare date in Asheville | CITIZEN-TIMES.com | Asheville Citizen-Times
Canadian-born poet-musician Leonard Cohen takes the stage Sunday night at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in Asheville, North Carolina. Sphere: Related Content
10/30/2009 - Legendary hotel's wild days are over in 'Chelsea' - STLtoday.com
For more than a hundred years, the Chelsea was a bohemian roach motel: Artists checked in, but they never checked out. Abel Ferrara, the bootstrap director best known for "Bad Lieutenant," recounts and re-creates the history of the hotel in his first documentary, "Chelsea on the Rocks."
Although the Chelsea has hosted luminaries such as Bob Dylan, Arthur Miller, Joni Mitchell and Dylan Thomas (who died there), Ferrara focuses on the semipermanent struggling artists who gave the place its peculiar charm. It's a cheap, vicarious high to hear these unidentified denizens reminisce about the orgies and overdoses that seem to have been included with the rent. Sphere: Related Content
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Conservative christian, right wing republican, straight white, american male.
Conservative christian, right wing republican, straight white, american male.
Gay bashing, black fearing, poor fighting, tree killing, regional leaders of sales.
Frat housing and keg tapping and shirt tucking back slapping, haters of hippies like me.
Tree hugging, peace loving, pot smoking, porn watching,lazy ass hippies like me.
Tree hugging, love making, pro choicing, gay wedding, wide spread digging hippies like me.
skin color blinded, conspiracy minded, protesters of corporate greed
We who have nothing and most likely will, till we all end up locked up in jails
by Conservative christian, right wing republican, straight white american males.
Diamonds and dogs, boys and girls living together in 2 sperate worlds.
following leaders up mountians of shame, looking for someone to blame.
Diamonds and dogs, boys and girls. living together in 2 seperate worlds
following leaders up mountians of shame, looking for someone to blame.
I know who I like to blame.
Conservative christian, right wing republican, straight white. american males
soul saving, flag waving, Rush loving, land paving, personal friends to the Quales
quite diligently, working so hard to keep, the free reigns of this democracy
from tree hugging, peace loving, pot smoking, bare footing, folk singing hippies like me.
tree hugging, peace loving, pot smoking, porn watching, lazy ass hippies like me.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Transpersonals - EGO TRYP
This is a band that I discovered that really preserves the tradition of the early psychedelic movement. One can hear influences of Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, etc.. The most important part though, is that they do it well. Treat yourself to a Friday Psychedelic Freekout with The Transpersonals.
Bliss:
Alamantra
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
L'Abbaye de Theleme Presents Musica Mystica
DOWNLOAD HERE
Playlist:
A LA SEINE by pedromonteiro.musica 2:13
Dark Eyes by Blue Jar 3:09
Work by Naughty Jack 3:20
Cannibal Bill by Carne Cruda 6:22
Begin the Baiao by Kerry Politzer 3:59
Pour-quoi, pour-quoi pas by Elisabeth Lohninger Quartet 4:51
La Cumparsita. Matos Rodriguez. Arranged and performed by Alejandro Cremaschi 2:54
A LA SEINE by pedromonteiro.musica 2:13
Dark Eyes by Blue Jar 3:09
Work by Naughty Jack 3:20
Cannibal Bill by Carne Cruda 6:22
Begin the Baiao by Kerry Politzer 3:59
Pour-quoi, pour-quoi pas by Elisabeth Lohninger Quartet 4:51
La Cumparsita. Matos Rodriguez. Arranged and performed by Alejandro Cremaschi 2:54 Sphere: Related Content




