- 1937: Dale Elliot is born
Quote:
Derek Sidenius, a reporter for a local Victoria paper called the Times (now the Times Colonist), covered the case against Williams extensively. Sidenius wrote that, throughout the early 1970s, the RCMP's Victoria drug squad and local authorities conducted an extensive investigation into the activities of Williams and an associate, Dale Elliot. Elliot was a local mechanic suspected of having connections to biker gangs and their drug network. Using informants, bugs, and surveillance, the RCMP tirelessly monitored Williams and Elliot until the winter of 1973. After observing and bugging a suspected lab, on one of Elliot's properties in Chemainus, authorities decided to raid both the lab and Williams's residence.
During the raid, authorities caught Elliot with chemicals used to manufacture illicit drugs. As a result, both Williams and Elliot were put on trial for charges related to trafficking MDA, conspiring to traffic MDA, and possessing MDA. In the end, Elliot was found guilty of trafficking MDA and sentenced to ten years. On January 25, 1975, a judge acquitted Williams on all charges, and it appeared that he was in the clear.
(https://www.vice.com)
Despite these efforts, the police obtained no direct evidence of MDA manufacture until a listening bug on Elliott’s property picked up sounds characteristic of production. On December 17, 1973, they conducted a raid and caught Elliott and his young son in the final stages of cooking MDA. A concurrent raid at Williams’ property revealed a partial recipe for MDA but nothing else of consequence. Both Williams and Elliott were nevertheless arrested and charged with conspiracy to manufacture and traffic in MDA, as well as trafficking in and possession of MDA for purpose of trafficking.
(https://bcbooklook.com)
Dale was born 5am, Dec. 13, 1937.
(85 Grams: The Story of Art Williams - Drug Czar author Daryl Ashby to me personally)
- 1965: Paul McCartney likely takes LSD for the first time
Quote:
Paul McCartney takes LSD for the first time Monday 13 December 1965
13 December 1965 is the likely date that Paul McCartney had his first experience with the drug LSD.
The other Beatles had all taken acid by this time, but McCartney had always declined. John Lennon and George Harrison had had their drinks spiked during the infamous Dental Experience in the spring of 1965. Their second trip, during which they were joined by Ringo Starr, took place at a party in Los Angeles on 24 August that year.
When McCartney did use LSD for the first time, it was not in the company of his bandmates, but with Tara Browne, a young socialite whose death in December 1966 inspired the opening lines of ‘A Day In The Life’. Browne, the heir to a £1 million Guinness fortune, lived on Eaton Row, a secluded mews in London’s Belgravia district, with his wife Noreen (known as Nicky).
The trip took place the night after the Beatles’ last-ever British tour date, and ten days after the release of The Beatles’ Rubber Soul LP and the single ‘Day Tripper’/‘We Can Work It Out’.
After finishing their final UK tour with a performance in Cardiff on 12 December 1965 they were driven to London, where they celebrated the end of the tour at the Scotch of St James nightclub. The following night, 13 December, Lennon and McCartney returned once more to the club, where they met The Who’s John Entwistle and the Pretty Things’ former drummer Viv Prince.
Paul McCartney, 1965
Nicky Browne was also at the Scotch, and she invited them all back to Eaton Row. Lennon declined and returned to his home in Weybridge, but McCartney and Prince accepted the offer, as did several girls, and a dancer, Patrick Kerr, from the television show Ready Steady Go!
At the Eaton Row house, Tara Browne suggested they all take LSD. McCartney and Prince were unsure, having never before tried the drug.
I was more ready for the drink or a little bit of pot or something. I’d not wanted to do it, I’d held off like a lot of people were trying to, but there was massive peer pressure. And within a band, it’s more than peer pressure, it’s fear pressure. It becomes trebled, more than just your mates, it’s, ‘Hey, man, this whole band’s had acid, why are you holding out? What’s the reason, what is it about you?’ So I knew I would have to out of peer pressure alone. And that night I thought, well, this is as good a time as any, so I said, ‘Go on then, fine.’ So we all did it.
Paul McCartney Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
Nicky Browne served the guests tea, also offering them sugar lumps impregnated with liquid LSD. Unlike the Dental Experience, however, nobody had their drinks spiked, and each person stayed in the house through the night.
It was such a mind-expanding thing. I saw paisley shapes and weird things, and for a guy who wasn’t that keen on getting that weird, there was a disturbing element to it. I remember looking at my shirtsleeves and seeing they were dirty and not being too pleased with that, whereas normally you wouldn’t even notice. But you noticed and you heard. Everything was supersensitive.
We sat around all evening. Viv Prince was great fun. Someone said, ‘Do you want a drink?’ And everyone would say, ‘No thanks, don’t need drink, this is plenty.’ If anything, we might smoke a joint. But Viv demolished the drinks tray: ‘Oh yeah, a drink!’ Cockney drummer with the Pretty Things. ‘Orrright, yeah! Nah, does anyone want a drink? I fink I’ll ’ave one of them.’ And he had the whisky and he had everything. He was having a trip but his was somehow a more wired version than anyone else’s. In the morning we ended up sending him out for ciggies.
Then one of the serious secretaries from our office rang about an engagement I had; she had traced me to here. ‘Um, can’t talk now. Important business’ or something. I just got out of it. ‘But you’re supposed to be at the office.’ ‘No. I’ve got ’flu.’ Anything I could think. I got out of that one because there was no way I could go to the office after that.
Paul McCartney Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
Paul McCartney later stated a belief that he first tried LSD in 1966. Viv Prince, however, confirmed to Beatles biographer Steve Turner that the event took place the night after the Beatles’ final UK tour date.
McCartney took LSD several more times, although he never embraced it with the fervour of Lennon and Harrison.
I had it on a few occasions after that and I always found it amazing. Sometimes it was a very very deeply emotional experience, making you want to cry, sometimes seeing God or sensing all the majesty and emotional depth of everything. And sometimes you were just plain knackered, because it would be like sitting up all night in a train station, and by the morning you’ve grown very stiff and it’s not a party any more. It’s like the end of an all-nighter but you haven’t danced. You just sat. So your bum might be sore, just from sitting. I was often quite wiped out by it all but I always thought, Well, you know, everybody’s doing it.
Paul McCartney Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
Indeed, it was McCartney’s lack of stamina which largely put him off LSD.
The thing I didn’t like about acid was it lasted too long. It always wore me out. But they were great people to be around, a wacky crowd. My main problem was just the stamina you had to have. I never attempted to work on acid, I couldn’t. What’s the point of trying, love?
Paul McCartney Groovy Bob, Harriet Vyner
(https://www.beatlesbible.com)
Quote:
Laura Huxley (née Archera) (November 2, 1911 – December 13, 2007) was an Italian-American musician, author, psychological counselor and lecturer, and the wife of author Aldous Huxley.
Early life
Laura Archera was born in Turin, Italy on November 2, 1911. She began playing the violin at the age of ten, studying in Berlin, Paris and Rome, where she earned a Professor of Music degree. She also studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, played in a major symphony orchestra, played before the Queen of Italy at the age of 14 , and performed at Carnegie Hall in her teens.
Life and career
In 1949, she was working as a freelance documentary filmmaker. According to her obituary in the Los Angeles Times, Archera called philosopher and author Aldous Huxley at home, saying that John Huston had promised to finance her proposed documentary film on the Palio di Siena if she could get Huxley to agree to write a screenplay. Archera then became close friends with Huxley and his first wife Maria, who died in 1955. In 1956, Archera married Huxley. She wrote several self-help books concerning human relations, including You Are Not the Target (1963) with a foreword written by Aldous Huxley.
After his death in 1963, she wrote This Timeless Moment: a personal view of Aldous Huxley (1968), a book describing life with her husband.
In 1977 she founded Children: Our Ultimate Investment, also known as "Our Ultimate Investment" or just OUI, a non-profit organization dedicated to the nurturing of the possible human. The organization sponsored a four-day conference also entitled Children: Our Ultimate Investment.
Film
She was a producer of documentary films, and an assistant film editor at RKO. Huxley appeared in Hofmann's Potion: The Early Years of LSD, a documentary from the National Film Board of Canada. Laura felt inspired to illuminate the story of their provocative marriage through Mary Ann Braubach's 2010 documentary, "Huxley on Huxley".
Death
Laura Huxley died of cancer, aged 96, at her Hollywood Hills home.
Awards and honours
Huxley received widespread recognition for her humanistic achievements, including:
Honorary Doctorate of Human Services from La Sierra University Honoree of the United Nations Fellow of the International Academy of Medical Preventics The 1990 World Health Foundation for Development and Peace Prize The 2003 Association of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health Thomas R. Verny Award, for outstanding contributions to the field of prenatal and perinatal psychology.
Bibliography
1963 - You Are Not the Target - Metamorphous Press; Reissue edition (August 1995) ISBN 1-55552-009-X, ISBN 978-1-55552-009-0 foreword by Aldous Huxley 1969 - This Timeless Moment - Celestial Arts; New Ed edition (December 2000) ISBN 0-89087-968-0, ISBN 978-0-89087-968-9 1974 - Between Heaven and Earth - Hay House; Reprint edition (February 1, 1991) ISBN 0-937611-87-5, ISBN 978-0-937611-87-6 1986 - Oneaday Reason to be Happy - Compcare Publications ISBN 0-89638-112-9, ISBN 978-0-89638-112-4 1987 - The Child of Your Dreams (with Piero Ferrucci) - Compcare Publications ISBN 0-89638-110-2, ISBN 978-0-89638-110-0
(https://en.wikipedia.org)
Edited by Learyfan (12/10/23 10:39 AM)
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