... concerning a resurgence in the use of LSD, and how that might trigger a renewed interest in Progressive Rock, an often overlooked, but very interesting variation on more traditional Rock themes.
Sorry, Brian, but I wanted to explain my comment, and didn't want to do it on Facebook.
I totally admit, and really haven't ever tried to deny the fact that I used drugs, fairly frequently, from the time I turned 16. Believe me, I regret it, but not like anyone would accept. I regret the fact that my self-esteem was so low that I had to hang out with some of the people I hung out with, although a lot of that had to do with the fact that I started smoking at 10, and, even in the early '60's, smokers were somewhat ostracized by the more "popular" kids, tending to hang out in groups of kids that smoked. We weren't the Popular crowd, but I found out later that quite a few of them smoked, and were just being A-holes to people they just didn't like. I didn't figure it out until much later, but smoking was a symptom of a much bigger problem.
Your dad can tell you, that teachers used the terms "stupid," "dumb," and "idiot" back in the '50's and '60's pretty freely. Classes then weren't the "touchy-feely, every one's a winner" things they've evolved into. You stepped out of line, somebody smacked you, and you didn't go home and tell Mommy and Daddy about it, because they'd probably beat your ass for being a problem in the first place. I didn't know until I was 19 that I had a 135 IQ, so I went through 13 years of public school thinking I was stupid, dumb, and an idiot. Re-enforced by my parents, who weren't equipped to deal with me, and who deferred to what the teachers said.
And that's only part of it, too. I could give you a whole lot of psychological/sociological/behavioral reasons why I did it, but to be honest, I mostly did it because I had a whole lot of fun. Particularly LSD.
Understand, my drug use was purely recreational. I never got "hooked" on anything, nor did I ever consider using cocaine, heroin, or anything like that, although I did do opium a couple of times, and could see how that could be a problem. Shrooms? Acid? A handful of Bennies? That was a pretty good Friday night, and sometimes Saturday, too. We hung out in the park like "Hippies," only we lacked the commitment to a lifestyle that included infrequent bathing.
Occasionally, we'd wait until Saturday morning to "drop" (take) the LSD tablet, and do an all-day trip (pun not intended, but it did work pretty well). During the Winter, we'd go to Tahoe, or one of the ski resorts, and just play in the snow like kids. Sure, kids never got "trails" off a snow ball, or any of the thousand things that caused one of us to say, "Oh Wow!" We had gone up in the daytime, and it was pretty cold in the back of the pick-up we rode up in, but after dark... towards the end, we were in a pile in the back of the truck, as close to the cab as everyone could get. In hindsight, probably not the best planned trip to the snow, but those of us who went had the time of their lives, playing in the snow (I know I've never seen snow the same way since).
Every once in a while, after we got married, I would get an offer to do a tab of Acid, and I turned it down, almost every time. There was this one time, in Louisiana, after we had lost our daughter Amy, I said, "OK."
We went water skiing on the Pearl River, right on the Mississippi/Louisiana border. I've tried to sit down and write this experience out many, many times, and just can't do it justice. There were no hallucinations (although I thought I saw an alligator), but everything was funny. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G! A bird lands on a bush. HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA. I do a face-plant in the middle of the river. HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA. The alligator. HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA.
I woke up, the next morning, and my sides hurt. I started to think about the previous day, and start to chuckle again, OW! That was the last time, though. It's odd, because all of the other ones had great colors, and more than a few hallucinations, but there was always music involved in the others, just a boat motor, and the sound of three idiots laughing themselves silly.
The interest in Progressive Rock goes back to when most people had turntables, and PRock songs are usually pretty long, so you didn't have to change the record as often (which was BS, anyway, because vinyl could only take so much). If you had a reel-to-reel tape player/recorder, you could make tapes that were 6 hours long, and PRock albums could play uninterrupted.
Back before headphones became popular, I used to listen to music with my head between the stereo speakers, when I came back with a real good buzz going. It's A Beautiful Day, by a band of the same name, was particularly moving for me, once you get past "White Bird," which was the groups only hit, the album really gets good, particularly for someone on Acid.
I will say the same thing I always do, when this subject comes up, and that is, "Don't do it." Yeah, I did, and I survived, but that was 50 years ago, and people aren't the same. We used to get our Acid from Chemistry students at UC Davis, Sac State, and Berkley. They were pretty conscientious about what they used as fillers, often using Tylenol or Aspirin. Now, people really only care about the money. Who says you'd even have the same experiences I did, even if I could set up the same circumstances (one really good one was at a BB King show at the Filmore West. After BB played his set, and did some post show "jamming" with the likes of Mike Bloomfield, Buddy Miles, Al Cooper, and Dave Brown, the bassist for Santana, Johnny Winter came in, and they played until daybreak).
Would I do it again? Probably not, but then I would risk having an entirely different view of life.
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