Curtis,
Last night, I had the distinct pleasure of listening to you on your website---as I'm sure you've heard before---many times, your performances were uplifting: My only regret is that I have not done this sooner. My heart felt thanks. Sorry for taking so long to answer an earlier question of yours---I've been auditioning at The Cirque, for a place on the high wire; As a child, I ran away with the circus, but never got past cleaning up after the elephants. Like many of the terminally unique---the only thing I fear is being called a flibbertigibbet. In answer to your question: I've seen parts of the Leary/Liddy road show online, a couple of showmen, or showoffs--- depending on your POV. "Storming Heaven..." covers Liddy busting Leary at Millbrook. Some speculate; the Leary bust got Liddy his job in the Nixon White House. In addition to integrating my experience of over four decades ago, my interest in psychedelics is commercial. I'm developing a film about the 60's---the genre is black comedy. I decided I needed to use one of the many personalities of that era, as my protagonist, or villain---to develop the story around. My first choice was Abby Hoffman, but Spielberg has a Hoffman story in development; I then thought of Leary, but George DiCaprio, Leonardo's pop, has had a Leary story in development for sometime---with Leonardo as Tim; it may be awhile, before they get it done, as I believe their "Brave New World" has been green lit (George was a good friend of both Leary and Laura Huxley)---with Ridley Scott helming. Anyway, I then decided: 'To hell with it---I'll just use acid, as the hero, or villain'---depending your POV. For back-story, I started my research with the synthesis of mescaline, in the early part of the twentieth century; the legacy, and degrees of separation, that brought psychedelics to the 60's Boomers is fascinating. IMO, many who take the shape of Eastern thought---in the West---for granted, may never have heard anything about it without the Boomers being exposed to psychedelics (I include the ubiquitous availability of yoga studios in this premise); also true, IMO, of who---Philip Goldberg says, Maharishi became, in the DNA of 170 years of American Veda. One example, of this legacy and degrees of separation, is Robert Gordon Wasson, the Wall Street banker, who introduced the American public to the "divine (psilocybin) mushrooms, used in some South American rituals--- through an article in LIFE magazine in the 50's. IMO: A direct line can be drawn from Wasson, his Russian wife, and the folks who turned on Leary, in Mexico, with mushrooms---for the first time: And from there, a direct line to the Harvard Psychedelic Club. http://www.imaginaria.org/wasson/life.htm Another example was Al Hubbard (a.k.a Johnny Appleseed)---who turned on Humphrey Oswald (the man who coined the word psychedelic)---who turned on Aldous Huxley, and managed the Saskatchewan mental hospital where early (non-CIA) psychedelic work was done, and Myron Stolaroff---who founded IFAS in Menlo Park and turned on Doug Englehart and got the ball rolling in Silicon Valley---you can draw a line from IFAS to the Homebrew Computer Club, Jobs, and a lot of the early personal computer industry. He also supplied Sidney Cohen in LA, as well as a number of other prominent psychiatrists, who turned on Alan Watts and a host of celebrities like Cary Grant. Hubbard did more than anyone to "seed" North America with LSD. Any "Sandoz" acid that was taken (before Owsley Stanley and The Brotherhood of Eternal Love got rolling) probably had Hubbard's finger prints on it; He was the legal distributor for Sandoz in North America, well into the sixties. He was a hustler worthy of any character in "TIN MEN"---at one point he raised money in a public offering for a perpetual motion machine, that used oxygen to fuel motors. Like myself, he was a devout Roman Catholic. Also interesting, in "Storming Heaven..." are the feelings many of these pioneers had toward Leary, Albert (Ram Dass), and, "The Harvard Psychedelic Club"---in general; Huxley (who introduced Huston Smith to Leary and "The Club") and Stolaroff---both first thought Leary was too square:) to be an effective advocate for psychedelics--- were later horrified to see what Leary was doing; to something they thought would be of great benefit to humanity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_LSD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euiq1AcZDUU&feature=related (If you have not already; I recommend watching all six parts of this program on youtube, the above clip has a bit about Hubbard) Another fascinating character is Alexander Shulgin who probably invented more psychedelics then everyone else combined; He was a consultant for DEA till he got on their bad side, when he published his life's work---the encyclopedias of psychedelics; Pihkal and Tihkal (if you like chemistry, they're an excellent read). He discovered STP by accident, which got out onto the street in 68---after he presented a technical paper to his scientific peers. He’s probably best known as the re-inventor of ecstasy (based early work at Merck). He literally discovered hundreds of psychedelics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Shulgin http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/158496.Alexander_Shulgin It's interesting to consider the 32-year timeline starting with Hoffmann's discovery in 1938, in Basel, and ending with LSD being made Schedule 1 in 1970. I had an office in Basel, 30 years ago; I walked the streets imagining Hoffmann riding his bike home, through that medieval city, experiencing the first acid trip---just down the street from BIS (Bank For International Settlements). Leary and the Harvard Psychedelic Club are two thirds into this time line, and, IMO, what happened in the fifties, before The Club, is as interesting as what happened during the 60's--- when Leary and Kesey scared the hell out of the powers that be, which lead to all psychedelics becoming Schedule 1; I believe, completely nuts---since psychedelics are not addictive, while alcohol and cigarettes so obviously are. Personally, I think Leary's Millbrook period (Metzner and Albert, as well as Peggy, Bill and Tommy Hitchcock---heirs to the Mellon fortune---are a few of the standouts in this period) is just as interesting as the Harvard Psychedelic Club phase. "Storming Heaven..." covers Millbrook and the Harvard period as well as pretty much the whole 32 year time line. One of hundreds of good stories in the book is about Robert Thurman at Millbrook; I think Thurman is representative of my cross-pollination premise. http://books.google.ca/books/about/Storming_heaven.html?id=gfqNsrwLH6IC My premise: The psychedelic experience, of close to two million Western Boomers, ---by the time these substances were made Schedule I, lead them directly to Eastern thought; more specifically, in Maharishi's case---close to ten thousand of them becoming TM initiators, from 1968 to 1978. I arrived at this opinion through understanding my own experience, as a full time initiator from '72 to '77 and the study of other manifestations of Eastern thought, and Eastern teachers---in the West, from the early 60's to late 70's; as well as the fact that prior to 1960, Eastern Mysticism and more specifically "American Veda" was mostly the interest of the Western Upper classes rather than all classes----as it became with the Boomers in the 60's. As a few examples; SRM in the 50's, Yogananda, Vivekananda, Krishnamurti and, of course, the Theosophists. I believe the "New Age" or American Veda---as we know it, cannot be separated from psychedelics. I remember Jerry Jarvis joking about the crowds being initiated at the Berkeley center (many became initiators) after fleeing "The Haight" (as he called it); I wonder, being from the late part of the earlier, elite, group if he really understood what the boomers (and their psychedelics) would do to TM and Eastern thought, as a whole, in the West. The following three clips summarize some of the milestones three milestones the Boomers passed through to get to what became the American Veda, of our generation, that many take for granted; in some cases---forgetting, where we came from. What did Santayana say about "Those who cannot remember the past..."? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEhjZSxO_I8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leP16fM3wsg&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxrCqMuVods ________________________________ From: curtisdeltablues <curtisdeltabl...@yahoo.com> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 11:15:47 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Harvard Psychedelic Club --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bob Price <bobpriced@...> wrote: > Curtis have you read, "DMT: The Spirit Molecule"? With your interest in > neuroscience I think you might find it interesting, I did. I have read another book on its use as an entheogen. I agree, very interesting. I'll check out your recommended book, thanks. Did you see the video of Tim Leary and Gordon Liddy debates? They had a very entertaining road show for a while. > > > It's good, but I liked "Storming Heaven, LSD & The American Dream" a lot > more. > > > I also enjoyed WHAT THE DORMOUSE SAID (How the 60's Counterculture Shaped the > Personal Computer Industry). > > > Although I'm a fan of Tim Leary; I really enjoyed the audio book of "Timothy > Leary" by Robert Greenfield which angered Ram Dass and Metzner. > > > If anyone's interested, Ram Dass still does a monthly webcast from his place > in Maui? > > > Ram Dass has yet to forgive Andrew Weil for the behavior that is covered in > "The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and > Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America". > > > I found Houston Smith fascinating in both "The Harvard Psychedelic Club..." > and "Storming Heaven...." > > > I believe Dana Sawyer (my favorite---after Ravi---BatGap interview) is > working on a biography of Houston Smith, which I am looking forward to. > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz1M7zpdv0Q > > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Sawyer > > > The best audio archive I've found on the web for all subjects psychedelic is: > > http://www.matrixmasters.net/salon/ > > > There is a menu of podcasts on the right of the page. > > > Curtis have you read, "DMT: The Spirit Molecule"? With your interest in > neuroscience I think you might find it interesting, I did. > > > > > > ________________________________ > From: curtisdeltablues <curtisdeltablues@...> > To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com > Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 9:59:49 AM > Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Harvard Psychedelic Club > > > > Thanks for posting this, it looks great and I found it at my library! > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer" <rick@> wrote: > > > > There's a book out called "The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, > > Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a > > New Age for America". > > > > > > > > http://www.amazon.com/Harvard-Psychedelic-Club-Timothy-Fifties/dp/0061655937 > > > > > > (I believe the title is a reference to the Harvard Metaphysical Club, which > > included Oliver Wendell Holmes, William James, Charles Sanders Peirce, and > > John Dewey.) > > > > > > > > http://www.amazon.com/Metaphysical-Club-Story-Ideas-America/dp/0374528497 > > > > >  >
