Roy Harper

He had a guest appearance in Pink Floyd's Have A Cigar and Led Zeppellin titled a track in his tribute. Easily one of the greatest folk singers of the time period, he somehow lacks the deserved attention and respect. His music dripping with soul, and some of his ever-changing melodies could bring me to tears.

Check out the strangely titled, Stormcock.

Random tip for finding music ... Use Captrain Crawl, a music mp3 search engine. It will connect the user with blogs that have the album somehow connected to their blog - typically uploaded with Rapidshare, Megaupload, or Mediafire.

An Excerpt from the first page of A Language Older Than Words by Derrick Jensen.

"There is a language older by far and deeper than words. It is the language of bodies, of body on body, wind on snow, rain on trees, wave on stone. It is the language of dream, gesture, symbol, memory. We have forgotten this language. We do not even remember that it exists.

In order to maintain our way of living, we must, in a broad sense, tell lies to each other, and especially to ourselves. It is not necessary that the lies be particularly believable. The lies act as barriers to truth. These barriers to truth are necessary because without them many deplorable acts would become impossibilities. Truth must at all costs be avoided. When we do allow self-evident truths to percolate past our defenses and into our consciousness, they are treated like so many hand grenades rolling across the dance floor of an improbably macabre party. We try to stay out of harm's way, afraid they will go off, shatter our delusions, and leave us exposed what we have to the world and to ourselves, exposed as the hollow people we have become. And so we avoid these truths, these self-evident truths, and continue the dance of world destruction."

I highly suggest this author and would advise new readers to start with Endgame. I promise a mind blowing read for the open minded reader...

Charles Mingus: Pithecanthropus Erectus

One of 30 records that appeared in 10 years by Charles Mingus, this album is remarkable. Mingus is a fantastic bassist, and his skills are beautifully high-lighted on this album. Like Ellington, Mingus was a band leader that wrote compositions for certain players. You can see this come through wonderfully well in the chemistry the musicians seem to have together through out the album. Special props to Mal Waldron, who totally rocked the majority of this album when Mingus wasn't in spot-light.

My sources claim that Pithecanthropus Erectus is tale about the rise of mankind and it's eventual downfall. This could explain that I consider the sweeping mood-swings .
"Haightian Fight song" begins with a sweet little base solo that one could never deny it's greatness. It creates a fantastic build up which is slow and soulful. This track is significantly less suspenseful than track 1, and the use of pauses and breaks in the music is less apparent. The tempo can seem really random at about 3 minutes in, but it somehow works out nicely through out the song. Another great performance by Waldron, where his piano sounds like the right hand is a drunk butterfly and the left hand a weight lifter hammering away at the chords. The song has great swing and ends as it begins with the a similar melody. This song would be absolutely mind blowing to see live, and i am jealous of the handful of people enjoying the performance. I can't believe this album was made in 1956...

Overall, when I think this album I think of a jazz version of the garage rock mentality. Obviously, this album came before garage rock. Either way, the garage-rock anger is replaced by a bluesy sadness, and the plaid is replaced by most likely sophisticated black turtle necks. Overall, it is an exceptional album that i suggest for the following life situations; angry heart break, sunday nights, rainstorms, drinking whisky, and mood swings.

Ethnobotanicals, how they can't win

Acorus Calamus (sweet flag, calamus root) -stimulant to battle fatigue. Larger doses thought to cause psychadelic effect. Used lovingly by Walt Whitman. The witches "flying brew."

Iporuru/Niando - Used to treat many ails such as arthritis. Can have intense lows following moments of excitement. Used in some ayahuasca brews.

Amanita Muscaria - the shroom of shrooms. Red and white, mario, alice and wonderland. Enough said.

Banisteriopsis Vine/ Ayahuasca Vine: The most commonly ingredient in shamanic brews in the Amazon. Life changing visions occur when brew is made with vine and other ingredients- for healing physically and spiritually when guided by shaman.

sinicuichi - the sun opener. A sedative brewed as a tea by the Aztecs. Tastes nice.

Inebriating Mint- Turkistan Mint, extremely rare sedative tea.

Wild Dagga- seen as a marijuana substitute.

Kratom-sedative.

Blue/White Lotus: Wine mixer

Nelumbo Nucifera - The Sacred Lotus, the lotus-eaters in The Odyssey.

Kava Kava - Used in Fiji the same way we used alcohol.

Chacruna - Yage, similar to Ayahuasca.

Ololiuqui Seed - to be remembered and understood at a later time.

Mescal Beans - Poison or hallucinogen?

Sleepy Grass/ Stipa Robusta - One can only wonder.

Voacanga Africana - Aphrodisiac, psychedelic, brother and sister outlawed in the U.S.

California River Toad... hallucinogen.

I will do cacti later, as well as continue to update this post with links regarding prices/how to buy/etc.

"Not acting against violence is violence in itself"

For all interested in over-throwing the government I have found two necessary views.

I recently stumbled across the film Panther, released in 2005 by Mario Van Peebles. It is truly a great film, reflecting the true story of the Black Panther Party. Apparently, the characters have been a bit "dumbed down" for the viewer, but I have found it over all accurate depiction of events for being a product of Hollywood. I have also heard a few murmurs in relation to its lack of air play, as well as it not being in print because of its somewhat "radical" content. The lack of airplay in combination with the Black Panther Party having virtually no role in the civil rights movement in the American classroom is extremely disturbing. And randomly, this is also one of Chris Rock's lesser-known films as he plays the fairly insignificant role of "Yuck Mouth." Great name, Chris, great name..








Warnings: Not a great idea to watch with racist relatives, can causes extreme destruction of national pride, as well as the desire to burn government buildings. But no worries! Take that added energy and watch another intriguing film in relation to the 1960's. The documentary "The Weather Underground" is simply put- awesome. Its a personal favorite, and it never fails to entertain the unknowing viewer. The radical ideas portrayed will be bouncing around in your head after watching these two films. Also keep in mind that some of these political prisoners are still being held in jail for their crimes as you sit comfortable on your sofa, characters of both the Weather Underground and Panther.