Grateful Dead

12/28/69
all is great
Mason's Children is definitive
after that show MC was pretty anemic

turn up the 12/28/69 MC LOUD

And don’t you drink that reindeer pee. Unless you’re not busy for about a month, as Cheech once said to Chong.

I am always amazed at the ingenuity of humans when it comes to altering consciousness. If there is an herb that can be smoked, a root that can be made into tea, a fruit, berry, or packet of ketchup that can be fermented, a tree bark that can be crushed to a powder and inhaled, and it’s going to get you high, well, somebody figured that out and there are people out there doing it. But reindeer piss? You got to wonder how somebody discovered that one.

I used to go mushroom hunting on the Oregon coast, some lifetimes ago. Still can’t resist the urge to bend down to check out the blooming fungi, looking for the that tell tale purple bruising. But it’s been a long time since I’ve done any voyaging. Too long, in fact. I need to find a bag, pull an HF, and feed my head out in nature someplace, and soon.

I will say unapologetically that psychedelics changed my life for the better, and I believe that the vast majority of people would be better humans if they tripped once in a while. I’m glad the laws are changing, even if it inevitably means that the capitalists will be along any moment to find some way to commercialize the experience. I still think that legalizing shrooms for therapy will be like legalizing “medicinal” marijuana, and will eventually lead to more accessibility for more people. The more people try it, the more people talk about it, the more people will want to do it, the better for everyone.

I got my shipping notice for DaP 45 last night. Which usually just means that somebody printed the label, and it’s going to sit in a warehouse for a week or so, and then take another week to meander the length of California to my door. It’s all good. Plenty of music to dig in the meanwhile. Speaking of which …

Last five:
Mahler’s Sixth Symphony (Bernstein/NYPO) (a Phil Lesh favorite!)
Mingus Big Band: Blues and Politics
King Crimson: Absent Lovers
Tom Petty: Damn the Torpedoes
GOGD: DaP 23 (1/22/78) (very energetic, very cokey, very enjoyable: dig that Space>St Stephen>NFA!)

Fresh was seldom an option in CO. Had a friend who grew his own fungi in a terrarium but supplies were very limited. We did see fresh frozen that looked like frozen turds and most often the dried form. There was even a "brand" of dried that came in prepackaged cello bags with a colorful art nouveau header card on top with their brand name. I had a friend who was hesitant to take hallucinogens (the Paul McCartney of our posse) but would put some dried ones on top of cannabis to smoke. Seemed a waste to me. Can't say it had any effect as that bowl was passed around. Did more vitamin L than any other method but had some more intense effects from fresh buttons carefully and religiously prepared and a couple of times the purified forms of mescaline crystals. The frozen shrooms and fresh buttons went down well in a milk shake made in a blender. Not sure Don Genaro would approve of that ritual. Never had any other chemical forms, back then or more modern, as those always had the reputation of "bad drugs". Had some wild dreams one time after smoking some opiated black hash though. Now that CO will have those "healing centers" with supervised use I'll bet the previous comment about Pharma jumping in and likely ruining things may happen. I'm sure they are already working on it, at least in less public corners. The great outdoors has always been the best and safest way to indulge for me.
Cheers

45 still not sold out? Wait, what?

Mushrooms - Never a big fan. I recall doing them one time, and feeling this need to really clean up the townhouse I was in, as I had company coming that night. I’m doing everything, including laundry, but I threw these really expensive wool dress slacks I had for work into the dryer, without thinking. They came out GI Joe sized. My best friend’s older brother attended Ole Miss around 1970, and he said the mushrooms were so plentiful, they would collect bags of them. He is the guy that turned me on to two albums I still love: Crosby’s first solo, and the first one by Its A Beautiful Day

Shipping Notice - On its way, which is likely in two weeks. The second show looks like the gem in this package.

Dylan - The new Bootleg #17 arriving today, although Time Out Of Mind is not my favourite Dylan. I wish his next bootleg release would be some of the great stuff from his Never Ending Tour. He always travelled with a crack band, especially guitar players, Charlie Sexton, Larry Campbell, and Duke Robillard come to mind, plus his canon of music is massive, so many great songs got played over the years. Even cover songs, Dylan has a way of making them his own. Incidentally, I had bought his new book a few months ago, just getting to it the last few days, but he sure has a way with words.
“You live in a world of romance and rubble, and you roam the streets at all hours of the night. You’ve acquired things and brought people the goods”.

May was the month that we (mostly me) would start to venture out into the cow fields to gather the sacred psilocybin cubensis. Sometimes in April but mostly from May thru September and occasionally in early October. I would go every weekend and gather them. In Florida, South of Kissimmee in a town called Poinciana. There was a road that ran down the side of this cow field on one side, RR tracks on the other. This road had been built for the RR to build a station, but they never build the station. We would drive down this abandoned road about a quarter mile and then pull into a clearing alongside the tracks to park.
I had heard from the locals and thru my then then wife's brother that this field had been there for about 100 years and always had cows there and there was always plenty of mushrooms. He was right, place was lousy with them, so many that we would only pick the big ones, leaving the smaller ones to grow and spore.
The shrooms themselves were ancient, depending on the dose, these magical mushrooms would take you astral tripping to just about anywhere you could think of. I myself flew on a winged camel thru the Himalayas and back, then right up to the moon to walk among the mountains there.
For years we would pick here, never having any hassles from neighboring farms or the man. We would stay out there for hours leisurely picking to our hearts content. Picking them to me was half the fun, then came the best part, the consuming.
I had heard for years that the ancient Aztecs would consume the sacrament while drinking chocolate and would dip the shrooms in honey. As most of us have experienced, they would have visions and legend has it that they would extremely enjoy themselves. During the experience, the royals would collect their urine and store it until the following day, then they would allow their best followers partake of their urine and experience the "fruit of the Gods". This was a rare honor and only given to the most loyal slave or follower.
Now I never could read no roadmap and I don't know what the weather might do, but back in the day, if it rained during any of those months, I was out in the fields.
Santa was a mushroom and magic dust really did make the reindeer fly. Faries wear boots too.
Brain maintenance is a good way to put it, cleaning out the cobwebs, attitude adjustment, or just to sit and laugh.
always loved them.
I remember my first trip, Purple Haze, big hits, crumbly, and soo good, only had to do an 8th, sometimes a quarter, depending upon the circumstances.

"I hope I never forget how to do nothing."

Chuck - great story. That's what you call a tea party.
I have been put in mind of Jefferson Airplane through various conversations recently, and played "Surrealistic Pillow" for the first time in aeons last night. I was surprised how good it sounds - not just the songs, but the actual sound of it. Quite echoey. Jorma Kaukonen's guitar sounds very different on here than it does on other albums. Less overdriven and blues based. More....echoey. Pleasantly spooky.

My favourite Bob album, I'm listening to it now midway through the last song, Highlands, 16:32. It's like a trance groove. There are two or three schmaltzy love songs on this disc but most is spooky and cool, haunted Bob at his best.

Tomorrow is release day for the five disc celebration of this masterpiece, and when I get home from work I shall pour a glass of Basil Hayden, burn it into eyeTunes, pick up a Gibson and strum along for a bit. Ah, the simple pleasures.

Got a rando shipping notice from Warners as well about the new Dead release... apparently more great music is enroute.

We're in Stapleton. Same as everyplace else, Manhattan or Middle Earth.

Peace everyone.

\m/

Now on to some trips of the 30 variety.

Started with ‘85, set two. Onto ‘82, set one. ‘81, the whole show. Perhaps 1980, set two should be next.
You know, no one should EVER complain about any release, because we have SO MUCH!!

Music is the Best!!

....round holes. Where is Gainesville??
Dead.net will explode and crash when released. Marye will be here for damage control while Lemiuex will point at wildlife. Bust out the fire extinguishers dear.
I saw a video of the snow pack at Mammoth in California. 12'.
Need that in the Rockies, but it's a start.

I've found that elk, deer, coyote, pronghorn and dogs (for 12 years including mine) would give me the most quizzical looks if they were in my psychedelic proximity.

And it is interesting that mushroom legalization allows people to partake under the safety of a "guide." Okay, not a problem for me. I've been gobbling them solo in the wilderness for 50 years. Guess I've gotten a wee bit of practice...

Got shipping notice. Countdown to rock 'n roll!