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Re: Pot Smoking Loopers



I have jammed solo and with others on everything except heroin and 
ecstasy, 
as I've
 never taken these.

The drugs increased a perception of cohesion amongs the players, probably 
induced 
by the agreement to partake in the ingestion; the rituals of sharing, 
passing; and finally the slow, unstoppable chemical shift.

I have recordings of "boring" sessions sans substances, and sessions with. 
The 
material without was, even reluctantly admitted when I was a stoner, 
better 
in the sense of being cleaner, clearer, more focused, less wandering. The 
material while on
 would take very strange turns. Some of it was musical, but it tended to 
drift 
aimlessly, become creepy sometimes. There were moments when a theme was 
explored and was successful, but it would rarely involve a key change. Or 
at 
least not 
a smooth one. Some remarkable pieces while on LSD needed lots of tweaking 
later in Digital Performer in order to sound better. And as I listen now, 
it's 
still not as 
remarkable as it sounded with the residue still making love to my 
dendrites, 
axons, and swirling in the bloodstream.

I found that if I learned and practiced while sober, and then smoked (or 
whatever), my
 playing would become very different, while still utilizing the skills I 
honed clear of the chemical shift. I also noticed that my memory would not 
serve 
as reliably, that I'd rediscover the wheel while playing, so to speak, and 
became fascinated with my 
own sounds rather than the band's. We would become ball-hogs who shared 
the 
ball
rather than a team with a goal in mind.

I would also buy and sell equipment impulsively. I regret the loss of a 
nice 
PRS, a The Strat, and a vibro champ.

 Some can get by with the memories. Others should never try them as they 
will 
be hurt. Shamans in the amazon will give westerners the ayahuasca root, 
but 
warn that they may die. Don Juan warns against the allies a user may 
conjure. 
But that was fiction...right? I am not for recreational use.

We were a band capable of playing and recording while high. We were aired 
on 
various 
public radio programs. I listen to the music now and I'm not as hyped 
about 
it as I was
 then. This still happens, though, even without chemicals. But there is a 
difference, 
both in composition and mood. The stuff I create today I would not trade 
for 
a moment of success while on drugs. Plus, it's more fun. I enjoy having my 
body to myself as I 
was born with, not dabbling with postnatal chemical recreations.

The memories instilled by the experiences serve just fine to ease me into 
a 
place of heightened performances. If drugs did anything, it was transitory 
and 
certainly nothing that I would want to rely on in order to perform. I have 
therefore had to train myself to relearn the instrument and all that it 
entails: 
that desire to continue 
playing, the pleasure, the accuracy, creativity, exploration... I would 
not 
repeat my 
earlier experiences. They were neither good nor bad and that is my 
personal 
danger.

Normal consciousness is boring, mundane, routine. Altered consciousness is 
life-
affirming. It's like breathing cool air on a clear midnight and seeing the 
"stars" and knowing that they are more than words in the mind, but real, 
mystically suspended, beautiful, unfathomably distant and unknowable 
objects... The 
challenge for me is a recognition (re-cognition) of this wonder without 
any 
further outside assistance than the stars themselves.

DMT may be able to awaken the kundalini, but so can.... 

This is what I meant to say.