Q: Nature Boy, what brought you to The Shroomery?
A: Actually...a mis-adventure with a then unknown (to me) substance. Here’s how it went down: Back in 2007, our son was still living at home. The entire family was away, and I had the house to myself. Once in a while (like two to three times per year) my wife and I or my son and I would smoke some pot together...always from MY stash. So, while cleaning the house, I stumbled upon what I thought was my sons pot. I filled a bowl and hit it hard a couple of times in quick succession while (luckily) sitting at his desk. I shot immediately to level 6 psychdelic experience - amnesia. When I once again started to become aware of my surroundings, they had been bizarrely altered in the most psychedelic of ways. I had no memory of having smoked anything, but I found myself in a strange room that was so twisted and chaotically transformed such as to appear as if I was inside a kaleidoscope looking OUT through a multitude of colored, fractured pieces of glass. Thinking this was some sort of “local” phenomena, I wandered aimlessly throughout our upstairs (right past a VERY steep and dangerous staircase) looking fruitlessly for a location where some degree of normalcy could be found.
As the effects waned, I slowly started to calm down, but holy crap, what a powerful experience that was. The next day I began setting about trying to discover the answer to WHAT the hell I’d smoked? I stumbled upon Erowid and initially, erroneously concluded it was DMT, simply because of the brevity of the experience and the Erowid description for DMT. It wasn’t until a week later I found out from my son the substance was 20X salvia. A friend of his had purchased it, tried it, hated it, and had given it to my son.
In any event, in the course of researching this strange experience, I stumbled upon the Shroomery as a reference source of reliable drug information and first-hand experience, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Q: You're an old schooler. What year did you first try marijuana?
A: Circa 1968.
Q: What year did you first try a psychedelic?
A: By 1970 I had already had some decent experiences with both LSD and mescaline, which, looking back, was probably the HCL salt. I’d have to say circa 1969.
Q: Which psychedelic was it and what was your first experience like? A: LSD on a sugar cube, in what I now realize was a shitty setting, a friend’s basement. It is probably hard for you folks to imagine, but even the most rudimentary information, trip reports, dosage information - these were all NON-EXISTENT back in the late 60's, early 70's. All that one knew was what found its way into newspapers, magazines, or on TV. In those days there was SO MUCH negative propaganda to deal with, and no one I knew possessed accurate knowledge or very much first-hand experience. We were just kids - high school acquaintances, actually, just groping about pretty much in the dark, trying to express our contempt for the “establishment” through our counter-cultural acts. By smoking pot and hash, taking LSD, and dressing in a certain way, we were tacitly stating our opposition to Vietnam, our support of Civil rights, and other liberal political agendas then swirling around in the media.
Anyway, it was with this background and in the setting of a friend’s basement that the guys (I’d yet to meet a girl who was into anything but alcohol) dropped our first hits of acid. We had music (record albums!) and my friend R was an accomplished guitarist, so we had “live” music as well. Despite being more-or-less stuck in a basement with crappy furniture, stuffy air and little natural light, the trip itself was awesome. We played the Beatles, the Doors, Hendrix, Santana, The Chambers Bros., The Who...you get the idea. The highlight of the trip for me was when I hallucinated that my tongue had turned to wood, and I saw waves of rainbows coming out of R’s guitar instead of music.
Q: Will you talk about your best psychedelic experience? Where was it and what happened? A: Wow. There’s a bunch to chose from. What was the “best” for me would probably not be your choice to hear about since it involves a very special woman whom you’ve never met; someone who, then and now, is still incredibly special in my heart. You might enjoy the tale because it has an unexpected and funny ending...so here goes.
The place was in a huge family type park with several adjacent public golf courses. It was Fourth of July. Warm, still night, a bit damp, and VERY dark. A girl (19), “M” and I had been seeing each other about a year. She was, in every way, the quintessential hippie chick. Dark, long, curly hair, very artistic, a wonderful painter. Being it was my first serious romance, I loved her with all my heart - the only way you know how when you are 19. We went to the park along with thousands of others for the Fourth of July fireworks with a blanket, two bottles of wine and a sugar cube of acid each. We drank and tripped our tits off watching the fireworks. She sat in front of me in the crotch of my legs. My arms stayed around her for over an hour during the fireworks...time we spent tripping, talking quietly, eventually brought by the acid into a deeply “together moment” that just went on and on.
After the show, families filed out as quickly as possible to get to their cars before they were snarled in traffic. Not us. We leisurely walked in the general direction of our car, and encountered a fence to the golf course. We threw our blanket over, climbed up and over, and found a semi-circle of shrubs into which we made ourselves at home and got naked. In the midst of our fucking (because that’s what you do when you are in love, tripping and 19) the pitch black of our secret spot became bright as daylight in a circle about 10 feet wide. BRIGHTER EVEN!!! An extremely loud voice then came over a bullhorn-style PA system from high up above. “OK you rabbits, park is closed after dark!!” It was a police helicopter with infra red imaging! They spotted us getting frisky and used a carbon-arc lamp from about 200 feet in altitude to interrupt our sex! Just as suddenly, the light snapped off, and the copter headed off trusting us to obey. I'm sure they found it very amusing!
We gathered our clothes, made like we were leaving, and when we could no longer hear the rotors, got right back to finishing our business before laughing our asses off as we ran back to the car putting on our clothes as we went. An epic night we each re-lived in our minds over and over. For years afterwards, while doing nothing in particular, M would get a little Cheshire smile, and I knew EXACTLY what she was reliving, and we would fall into each others arms just to acknowledge, celebrate and cement our common experience.
Q: Will you please talk about the most interesting concert/festival you went to back in the day and what it was like?
A: Wow. Another tough question. I was pretty much stoned for two full days, but I think I really enjoyed this one, since it was right near-by to where M and I were living in those days: It was called the Festival of Hope.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.zz22.net/philzone/other_stuff_2011/messages/700694/685511.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.zz22.net/philzone/other_stuff_2011/messages/700694/685386.html&h=372&w=420&sz=166&tbnid=ZDu5_zhA7QMJhM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=96&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dfestival%2Bof%2Bhope%2B1972%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=festival+of+hope+1972&usg=__sBhNIf_u8HZJY7124P8bveDhFnE=&docid=yestSAJqgr1ldM&sa=X&ei=NIMGUp7ONYPuyQHnvYAo&ved=0CDoQ9QEwAg&dur=3355
If you look at the band list, there is one you will not see who put in a surprise appearance day 2. Jefferson Airplane. The crowd practically tore down the fence erected to protect the artists when they took the stage!! Grace Slick came out wearing nothing but a bandana as a top. She was SOOOOOOOO hot. And what a voice!
Q: Did you ever get to try MDMA or at least MDA? A: Nope. Neither.
Q: What would you say is the biggest difference between women when you were younger and women today?
A: Now THERE is a loaded question. To be honest, there were a few years in the early 70's when they seemed far more willing - eager even - to have sex. I attribute this to the same type of rebelliousness that caused the men to burn their draft cards and smoke pot coupled with the availability of birth control in the form of “the pill.” If you were at a party and dancing with a woman, you could literally just ask her “Wanna ball?” If she said yes, you would go off to a bathroom or unused bedroom and have sex, wash up, and go back to the party. Sometimes it was with the woman with whom you attended the party. Sometimes someone you kinda knew from your circle of friends, sometimes a near stranger you just met that night. That behavior happened with enough frequency that it stands out as the biggest difference. Gals back then wore far less makeup, but still managed to look great!
Q: What was your worst drug experience?
A: No doubt about that one. Picked up ten tabs of Orange Sunshine from the house of a girl in my high school. Took one out of the foil, and swallowed it (no water) as I neared the park where I intended to spend my time listening to a band shell concert. I was alone. Less than 15 minutes later, I was already DEEP in trouble. As I walked across the grassy field towards the band shell, the blades of grass started singing. SINGING!!!!! My flip flops looked twelve feet away, and the lawn was waving like the deep Atlantic after a hurricane. I remember making the executive decision to go back to the car and cower in the rear seat until things settled down. The last thing I remember is looking up through the rear window of the car, and seeing the tree limbs come alive and reach down towards the car for my soul.
Some time, many hours later, in a place many miles from the park, I walked up to the house of a complete stranger simply because the door was open (there was a screen door) and the outside light was on. A woman answered the knock or the bell. I handed her my wallet and asked her to please tell me who I was. Suffice it to say, the husband came out to talk to me, and the police were called. The male homeowner was very nice to me. So was the cop who showed up, who I did not even recognize as law enforcement.
Apparently, because I was clean cut looking, young, and respectful, the cop called my dad. Because I had our only car, they had to borrow a neighbors car, and my dad AND mom had to come, since both cars needed to be driven away.
Anyway, I had zero interaction with my mother, who was sent home immediately with the neighbors car. I was told by the nice officer I had to leave with the ANGRY man (my father, whom I also did not recognize). I did NOT want to go with him. He was so angry and MEAN. Why did I have to go with HIM??? Anyway, I got driven to an area hospital ER close to our home by the angry man. The nice cop had given the angry man the other 9 tabs of Orange Sunshine to give to the hospital doctor so they would know what I’d taken. I had told him they were in the glove compartment since he was so nice.
I spent the next few hours watching the green and white ER curtains wave, and when I was finally recovered enough to recognize my dad, I was allowed to leave. The acid was left with the ER doctor(s). For months my parents treated me like a criminal and a pariah. Every time I came or went I was scrutinized. My room was repeatedly searched. Fast forward about three months. I’m laying in bed in my underwear sleeping. Cops (detectives, actually) bust into my house with a warrant. I was charged with possession of LSD and cuffed face down in my bed in my underwear. Having taken so much shit from my parents, this was the last straw. I told the “pig” I wasn’t in possession of anything, I was in my fucking UNDERWEAR! As they marched me down the stairs I was singing “Have you seen the little piggies, in their starched white shirts”...
Needless to say they cuffed me HARD, bent over in the back seat of the cruiser for the ride to be booked and fingerprinted. My dad (furious again) hired a lawyer and got the whole thing dismissed. There was nothing linking me (the chain of evidence had been broken when the cop gave the ‘cid to my dad, who gave it to the ER who later gave it to the cops) to the LSD, so other than dad having to pay a lawyer, I got off scott free. No record whatsoever as I was given a youthful offender unconditional discharge. Records were completely expunged one year later.
However, this event went on to shape my life and make it very hard. I was made so miserable at home, I moved out at a very early age, and had to make my own way. Thank god for “M” (above) or I’d have starved. I didn’t know how to cook nor own a pot, plate knife or fork. She and her parents stuck by me. I loved their daughter and they knew it. I resolved to “show everyone” and I sure did. I went to college on my own hard-earned dime. I got a degree in organic chemistry/pre-med and was accepted to medical school which I paid for by selling my car. My dad passed away 10 years ago March, and I’ve spoken to my mother maybe eight or ten times since he passed, and seen her maybe three times. She is still a miserable, unhappy, and selfish woman, and I intend to keep my distance from her and hold dear the people who REALLY showed me love in my life, despite the lack of sanguinity.
Q: Did you ever meet a classic rock band or one of its members?
A: Yeah, but nobody you would likely consider over-the-top famous. Grand Funk Railroad. Many years later I briefly met Prince backstage after a show. I shook his hand and he moved on. 20 seconds max. Again, thanks to a well-connected girlfriend.
Q: What is the largest amount of drugs you've seen at one time?
A: ~ 1969 I helped unload a speedboat full of pot that pulled into Freeport, New York dock at a private waterfront home. I think there was about 1000 lbs. I'd never been there before, nor since. Took hours cause there was only three of us daring (stupid) enough to take the job. We took the bricks up along the side of the house in the dark towards the front driveway and put it into a van. Have no idea what happened to it after that. I got either 4 or 6 ounces of Mexican plus a sum of money I can’t recall other than thinking afterwards I wished it was more considering the risk.
Thanks a million Nature Boy.
Pleasure was mine. Sorry about the length.
-------------------- All submitted posts under this user name are works of pure fiction or outright lies. Any information, statement, or assertion contained therein should be considered pure unadulterated bullshit. Note well: Sorry, but I do not answer PM's unless you are a long-time trusted friend. If you have a question, ask it in the appropriate thread.
Edited by Nature Boy (08/15/13 02:24 PM)
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