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Looper's Delight
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Mark- That was a nice post! By that i mean, that my experiences closely mirror yours.... My first experience with hallucinogenics was amongst the top 3 experiences of my life thus far. It was a HUGE door-opener to a whole side of myself that family/society/government had insisted wasn't there and that i should repress. For me, it was a life-changing event that i'm glad that i stumbed onto. Since then, my interests have veered into meditation, shamanism, "primitive" cultures, out-of-body travel, LOOPING, etc. Those interests would've likely remained dormant without some HELP. That being said, the experience surely ain't for everyone, not everyone's nervous systems can handle the experience safely. Nor does "everyone" end up in a gutter. BEWARE of words like "true" and "always" and "everyone", every single being is going thru their own thing and needs different things. Those who lost their way, many times will have lost the original meaning of what drew them to the experience initially, and are drawn to the "escape from reality" factor of drugs. Others can neither confirm nor deny, because theirs is a different experience. Today, drugs rarely factor in. As Mark said, once you know the road is there, its easier to get there without a bushwacker! My life is richer and fuller for being made aware of those other dimensions. However, even recently, i re-stumbled onto the psychedelic experience, after a long layoff, and the experience was quite similar (in terms of impact) to the original one. Years spent day-gigging and being polite, and sitting in meetings has a dulling effect for me, which an evening on the "other side" can reverse and re-orient oneself in a hurry! As to why a large portion of music was made under the influence of a drug, here's my take: For me "good music" means "timeless music". It means that its music that i can go back to years later and have it still mean something (other than a reconnection with the "good ol' days"). Drugs can lift you out of time, so you can relate to the cosmos in a more intimate way, with fewer inhibitions and a whole different view. You can "see" connections that you couldn't see before, play things you "couldn't" play before and relate to yourself and others in a way that's outside your "normal" setting. You can essentially go out of the normal frame, uncover something, find some meaning in it and bring these revelations back into time. (words aren't very good for this, email even less so...) I'd liken it to the Hero's Journey from Joseph Campbell. To me, the creation of music is the "bringing back to society" part of that Hero's Journey. You've made important discoveries and connections "out there" and now that you've made them, its your job to translate them into the everyday realm. Good music does this for me. It carries me outside of myself, brings forth the ecstatic experience with me, and then, drops me back in the everyday. The best music and musicians, i believe, are intimately aware of those "other realms". To me, the "best" music reveals itself to me over time. First, it might be the lyrics. Then, after a few listenings, the interaction between the bassline and the lyrics might be what grabs me... Suddenly, the whole bassline/drums interaction is "the thing". And so on... Its the same with looping. As you all have described, leaving a "well-constructed" loop run for hours is a cool thing... At different times, your awareness will find different connections and/or synchronicities between different voices in the loop. And then, "that" awareness will fade... and ANOTHER will emerge. And so on... These kinds of connections between things become more apparent to some musicians via trance, meditation, and the ectstatic experience. I'm rambling. Hope i made sense.... Your "mall" comments really cracked me up! Regards. Mark Sottilaro wrote: > For all recorded history there are tales of artists and drugs. It seems > to be an indelible part of art "lore." Should the list avoid the > topic? Some feel uncomfortable with the topic, due to either bad > personal experience or bad press, but how can we avoid this topic. The > stereotype of the drug addled musician didn't come from nowhere. > > Back to the Bulgarians... I was actually tripping the first time I heard > the Bulgarian Woman's Choir. It made me cry with joy. If I had not > been tripping, my emotional response would probably not have been that > acute. Why? Internal social "noise" imprinted in most male humans > stifles such behavior. What the LSD did was put my "filter" off-line > for a while and let it all stream out (in?) with out that little mental > traffic cop, I call Mr. Conscious, pointing the way. > > Now, should I have been able to "go there" without LSD? Of course. But > how can one go to a place that one doesn't know exists? The reason I > don't do drugs any longer is that they've served their purpose for me. > I can get there on my own. Bizarre social constructs block most > creative free form thinking. Face it, true artists are few and far > between. We should not need to use any substance to access this > integral part of ourselves, but we also should not get scolded for > "coloring outside the lines." I'm one generation away from a time when > nuns beat my father for writing with his left hand. > > So how does one leapfrog over such social hurdles? I used > psychedelics. Now I cry like a baby when I see the episode where Snoopy > runs away...has anyone... Oh, sorry. I know I could have gotten to > where I am without drugs. That's tough for a boy raised in the land of > Malls. But I'm not sorry for wanting to see what inspired I Am The > Walrus. Or the Giles, Giles and Fripp album, for that matter. If > Robert Fripp wasn't tripping in those days, I'd be amazed. And speaking > of our heroes, has anyone listened to Adrian Belew's "1967" on Mr. Music > Head? > > Let's face it: a very large proportion of the music that we listen to > was created under the influence of some drug. (I include alcohol in that > list.) Why is this? I'd love to hear anyone else's theories. > > Mark Sottilaro