Friday, July 9, 2010
Blake4d : All Things Blake4d: Triond - Blake4d's Profile
Blake4d : All Things Blake4d: Triond - Blake4d's Profile: "So here is one place you can see my writing Blake4d's Profile"
Blake4d : All Things Blake4d: blake4d on Bukisa - Share your Knowledge, Earn Mon...
Blake4d : All Things Blake4d: blake4d on Bukisa - Share your Knowledge, Earn Mon...: "And this is another one I am writing on blake4d on Bukisa"
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
H. P. Lovecraft: The Ultimate Collection: 101 Stories, 45 Poems, Biography, and Bibliography in One Volume by H. P. Lovecraft (Kindle Edition)
A short but important review for those who are fans of H.P. Lovecraft. For the first time ever his entire collection of Science fiction and Horror Stories has been released in the Kindle Version for Amazon. The amazing thing is that it is only being sold for the meger price of $3.99. It makes me almost want to to and buy a Kindle myself, it would well pay for itself when you count the cost of quality Lovecraft books with all of the stories and poems contained herein.
"A lot of thought and care was obviously put into this nice and humongous collection of Lovecraft stories. If you are a fan of lovecraft or horror then this is the only collection of his you'll ever need. A whopping 101 stories of his are included in this one volume, many of which I'd never heard of. I like that the table of contents for stories includes his works that are lost (but obviously not included). The linked table of contents for the stories are arranged chronologically in the order he wrote them, which is interesting because it shows the progression of the various stages of themes in his writing, and each story's title page includes the date written and published information.
"Also included are 45 of his poems. This is my first introduction to his poetry, and I read somewhere that Lovecraft considered himself first and foremost a poet. This isn't the entire collection of his poems, however, but after looking through the bibliography of his poems (included in this volume) it's easy to see why. Lovecraft wrote hundreds upon hundreds of poems, which would make up an entire book in itself." K.G. Barnes on Amazon.com.
This is one not to be missed if you are a collector.
Those interested in more of Howard Phillips Lovecraft might also fancy these eerie selections.
Legal Highs: A Concise Encyclopedia of Legal Herbs and Chemicals with Psychoactive Properties Second Edition by Adam Gottieb (Paperback 1994)
"Read this book if you are new to legal highs. It lists many sources of legal highs and where to find them, and how much to take. WARNING - If you are unfamiliar with chemistry / extraction and synthesis; you should not be creating legal drugs from pure form, your stomach and intestines / brain may not like what you fed it. Or even if you are unfamiliar with drugs in general. Some people have adverse and very severe reactions to legal highs. I would not try any of the legal highs from here, I got extremely sick from morning glory seeds, (they were from a wholesaler, and did not contain pesticides). Be forewarned about legal highs. Use this book for reference only. Also, you must consider the source of the legal highsbecause, 1)It depends where and how the herb/seeds were grown, proper nutrients, light, etc... 2)How fast harvest was, from life to package, some herbs lose their potency within days. 3)How the extraction was performed, etc... I advise researching legal highs to the fullest extent using the Internet before buying this book. Also, many companies already sell legal drugs already prepared and tested. So, Do yourhomework before ingesting any legal high... "
- thedrugsdotcom / amazon.com.
- thedrugsdotcom / amazon.com. When this book was released originally in 1973, it was distributed in pamphlet and xerox copy form and the author hid himself under the nome de plume of the Twentieth Century Alchemist. It covers in details many herbal and psychedelics, as well as compounds that you maybe able to find in quantity around your won household. How to get a decent and safe high off of things like Californa Poppy, Catnip, Dill, Guarana, Hops, Mint, Kola Nuts, Nutmeg, Madrake, Parsley, Yohimbe, Daturas, Wormwood and a slew of other odd alternatives to narcotics or other drugs. Each elixir per se is described first with its name, and scientific names or family, its materials, usage, active consituents, effects, contraincations, and supplier. Basically, many of the ideas in here are not going to taste that good (for example the nutmeg which must be consumed in large quanitities, therefore it is not a book for fine dining - rather a text strictly for altered states and high flying ambitions. A sacred neo-hippie codex.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture 8th edition by Uncle Fester (Paperback 2009)
This book is one of the most sought after works of scientific chemistry and illegal details on the high end production of drugs ever to be published. It is also the reason that the proliferaton of the methamphetamine industry grew in such leaps and bounds over the decades. If you thought that street kids or the Hells Angels invented the cooking of meth, you have been sadly misinformed. And since ths one is a particularlly sensative scourge to the federal government , I think I shall just let the fans and one lawyer's testaments tell the tale for me."A lot of underground manuals just don't stack up. They offer commonsense advice but hardly any hard-core instructions. This book is different. Uncle Fester gives detailed plans." -Outposts
"Secrets of Methamphetamine Manufacture by Uncle Fester delivers the goods. Believe it or not, it was featured on 60 Minutes....Every single way of making methamphetamine is covered here." -The Book Reader
"The best book ever written in the field of clandestine chemistry has just gotten even better with a new 8th edition. I present a new and very easy method for cooking ephedrine from health food store and hardware store materials. This eliminates the need to purchase the heavily regulated and polluted pills. I also present a series of new recipes which eliminate the need for obtaining iodine, red Phosphorus or anhydrous ammonia. The older recipes have been improved to make use of the weak or adultered materials now commonly found on store shelves. Everyone interested in the rapidly changing field of clandestine chemistry should have a copy of this book! " - Anonymous Amazon.com
And this is what a realtive of the original author , Pugsley had to say about his Uncle Fester,"Though my Uncle thought he was creating a wonderful low-profile reduction scheme using palladium metal and an electric current; he kinda dropped the ball by using Acetic Acid as one of the solvents. Acetic Acid has become closely watched as it is the reagent used to convert Morphine into Heroin. Why has My Uncle has sent us over to that side of town to make a little meth? All I can say is the guy has a weird sense of humor. That being said My Uncle did include a little synth my sister Wendsday wrote up detailing how to make bromosafrole, from very common materials. This is the real success of the book; as it a true "Apartment dwellers X".
And this is what a realtive of the original author , Pugsley had to say about his Uncle Fester,"Though my Uncle thought he was creating a wonderful low-profile reduction scheme using palladium metal and an electric current; he kinda dropped the ball by using Acetic Acid as one of the solvents. Acetic Acid has become closely watched as it is the reagent used to convert Morphine into Heroin. Why has My Uncle has sent us over to that side of town to make a little meth? All I can say is the guy has a weird sense of humor. That being said My Uncle did include a little synth my sister Wendsday wrote up detailing how to make bromosafrole, from very common materials. This is the real success of the book; as it a true "Apartment dwellers X".
If anything Fester is crtitcized most for knowing his chemistry so well, and in such detail that most of the tecniques are well behind the average person's comprehension. He also coined a couple other important works on making LSD and Meth advance techniques. So now you know, there are real receipes that you street tweekers ought to seek out if you are going to cook meth, please quit blowing youselves up.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
2000: Consumer Solutions for the Worst Techincal Blunder in History: A Survival Guide for the Year 2000 Problem by Jim Lord (Paperback 1997)
I am writing an short but to the point article about this book for three reasons, all of which are pretty much personal both in opinion and my need to express them. The First One is - that this may have been one of the worst examples of a scam artist hoax that has ever been written, this I address directly to Jim Lord should he wish to correspond. The Second One is, that I am glad to see his book is no longer even able to sell for more than 0.01 on Amazon.com. Real justice would be if this book never made anyone - the author, the publisher, or their descendants another red cent. The Third One is that this book may have single handledly already influenced so many people with Millenial Minded madness that future events may cause these same people who survived Y2K in tact and fine - to once again go off the deep end in panic, conspiracy, and paranoia over the upcoming end of the Mayan Long Count calendar on the winter solstice at midnight on the date 12 . 21 . 2012.
"This book was written because The Y2K Problem scares me to death and I don't think enough is being done to prepare for it. The purpose of the book is to help the reader make those critical preparations. Here are the most important things I want you to know when you have finished A Survival Guide For The Year 2000 Problem:
1. How to protect your financial assets from Y2K related problems
2. How to safeguard your critical, private information from Y2K losses and contamination
3. How to protect yourself against the physical dangers caused by the Y2K Crisis
4. How to influence decision makers to take action on Y2K "
- this is an actual excerpt from Jim Lord's Book on the Y2K disaster that was impending, or the 'Millenial Bomb' as he calls it over and over again in the book. And don't take my word for it, there were thousands and thousands of intelligent people, business men and women, scientists, ...all of them much smarter than I am at 41 years old - everyone of them sucked into this profiteering propoganda that Lord and others like him spread. Their only goals being obvious, quick influence on an expansive computer market, bad investments and debts from their own failure to produce successful computer market products, and to make some big quick, cold hard cash before the last toll of the 1999 years' bell ringing.
The other point I wish to make is about not John Lord or his book, but about the similarities between te Y2K hysteria, and the just as blindsided view that many persons I know are beginning to shape about the 2012 Planetary Alignment that is less than two years away. I know some of you are just being exposed to this event and information concerning it, and some of you may react in an unsure or state of worry, But it is equally possible the Mayan Calendar ending might just be the stone age astronomers equivalent of Y2K...the calendar ends, because they found out nothing more than their calcualtions were off - and maybe they just suddenely found themselves at a crossroad. And the calendar way just a tool of their observations.
I guess I can sum it up in the immortal words of Roger Daltrey and the Who ." I Won't Get Fooled Again..."
The Nag Hammadi Library In English by James Robinson - Editor (Paperback 1988)
'Whoever find the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death.' Above is just one of many incredible momments within the newest of a two thousand year old group of documents known as The Nag Hammadi Library. It is the collection of documents that has been the cause of great controversy since being discovered in the 1940s. The body of documents is as important to the Historical roots of Christianity as the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It has been influencial all the way to the modern century having inspired not only scholars, but also artists and musicians from aroud the world. Most notably, Current 93 and Nurse with Wound, who recorded Sister albums around the most important poetic piece of the works "Thunder Perfect Mind". Also the author Phillip K. Dick wrote his master piece "Valis" ( part of the Valis Triology ). Around the belief that he was channelling a new Exegisis of thought and human history. In fact Dick dd not live to see he Nag Hammadi made available to the general public, and the depth of detail and understanding demonstrated in this book is uncanny, if not able to make the most true skeptic ponder the what if's of Phillip's claims. Also notable is the 1979 novel by Harold Bloom, 'The Flight of Of Lucifer : A Gnostic Fantasy.' In any event, the Nag Hammadi has given great understanding to a period of human history (the Time of Jesus) that has had much shadow cast over it. And also gave a much more elaborate understanding of the proto-Chrisitan movemet known as Gnosticism.
“Gnosis” and “Gnosticism” are still rather arcane terms, though in the last two decades they have been increasingly encountered in the vocabulary of contemporary society. The word Gnosis derives from Greek and connotes "knowledge" or the "act of knowing". On first hearing, it is sometimes confused with another more common term of the same root but opposite sense: agnostic, literally "not knowing”. The Greek language differentiates between rational, propositional knowledge, and a distinct form of knowing obtained by experience or perception. It is this latter knowledge gained from interior comprehension and personal experience that constitutes gnosis."
"In the first century of the Christian era the term “Gnostic” came to denote a heterodox segment of the diverse new Christian community. Among early followers of Christ it appears there were groups who delineated themselves from the greater household of the Church by claiming not simply a belief in Christ and his message, but a "special witness" or revelatory experience of the divine. It was this experience or gnosis that set the true follower of Christ apart, so they asserted. Stephan Hoeller explains that these Christians held a "conviction that direct, personal and absolute knowledge of the authentic truths of existence is accessible to human beings, and, moreover, that the attainment of such knowledge must always constitute the supreme achievement of human life."
"It was on a December day in the year of 1945, near the town of Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt, that the course of Gnostic studies was radically renewed and forever changed. An Arab peasant, digging around a boulder in search of fertilizer for his fields, happened upon an old, rather large red earthenware jar. Hoping to have found a buried treasure, and with due hesitation and apprehension about the jinn who might attend such a hoard, he smashed the jar open. Inside he discovered no treasure and no genie, but instead books: more than a dozen old codices bound in golden brown leather.6 Little did he realize that he had found an extraordinary collection of ancient texts, manuscripts hidden a millennium and a half before -- probably by monks from the nearby monastery of St. Pachomius seeking to preserve them from a destruction ordered by the church as part of its violent expunging of heterodoxy and heresy. "
"How the Nag Hammadi manuscripts eventually passed into scholarly hands is a fascinating story too lengthy to relate here. But today, now over fifty years since being unearthed and more than two decades after final translation and publication in English as The Nag Hammadi Library, 7 their importance has become astoundingly clear: These thirteen papyrus codices containing fifty-two sacred texts are representatives of the long lost "Gnostic Gospels", a last extant testament of what orthodox Christianity perceived to be its most dangerous and insidious challenge, the feared opponent that the Church Fathers had reviled under many different names, but most commonly as Gnosticism. The discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts has fundamentally revised our understanding of both Gnosticism and the early Christian church." - quotes from the Gnostic Society Library online. http://wwwgnosis.org/naghamm/nhlintro.html
The Nag Hammadi library consists of twelve books, plus eight leaves of a thirteenth book. There are a total of fifty-two tracts. These are now kept in the Coptic Museum in Cairo, and, as the name suggests, are written in Coptic, although it is clear that the texts are Coptic translations of earlier Greek works. Coptic is the Egyptian language written with the Greek alphabet; there are different dialects of Coptic, and the Nag Hammadi library shows at least two. They were found in codex form (book form rather than scroll form). They were discovered in the mid 1940s, just a few years prior to the discovery of the first Dead Sea Scrolls (another reason for the combination of the texts in the public imagination).
Included in these texts are The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Philip, The Gospel of Truth, The Gospel of Mary and other gospel contenders (alas, in fragmentary form--the translation in this volume however is the complete Nag Hammadi text). The Gospel of Thomas has perhaps been the highest profile text from Nag Hammadi; it has been translated and commented upon extensively, particularly in modern scholarship which discusses gospel development.
There are so many reasons to recommend this book to anyone with an interest in a myriad of esoteric Christian and non-chrisitan concepts. And the translation is one of the most professionally careful ever having been done in the realm of Western theology. Well worth the energy your mind may have to expend on it. I was blown away to say the very least. Amen....
Here also have listed most of the other available translations, for any of them is probably as valid and will suffice the learning of the wouldbe gnostic apprentice of mind.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Holy Bible (Masonic Heirloom Edition) by Heirloom Bible Publishing (Hardcover 1994)
While the world claims to be more enlightened and better for the Holy Bible in all of its forms, most still do not really know much about the history of its translations. And it seems that many do not care to this day...When I realized I actually own this most beautiful edition of the Bible, I was saddened to see actual comments like these being posted by customers on Amazon.com...
Brian D. Koppenhaver says: "Amazon Books one of the best places to buy The Word of God supporting the Satanic Freemasons." Thank goodness there is still some sensability among the Chrisitan faith. As this reply inspires me to believe there is...even if a little biased as well. "Thanks for sharing. May God forgive you for your judgement of others. Truly not a Christian act. Perhaps you should re-read Luke 6:37 or Matthew 7:1." - Rev. Cody Maxwell, Master Mason.
I think it is not necessary to speak for either side myself, but I do think this quote from an actual Mason might say it better than I could try...
"When I was raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason, this was the volume upon which I took my sacred vows and thus obligated myself, and the volume which my Worshipful Master
presented to me as his gift for my becoming the newest Master Mason in our Lodge. I've previewed through this sacred volume and as a Bible-believer, it is a special set of Scriptures with unique Masonic history in it that is both beneficial to both the new Master Mason and those who are non-Masons and are interested in our humble Craft. I should hope every new Mason should be given a copy, and if not, should seek to obtain one. We truly are members of the greatest Fraternity in existence and for those who are not yet Masons but are interested in becoming one, remember, 2B1 ASK1! " - Eric J. Martin ( Virginia Beach , VA )
According to product descriptions "... the only Masonic Edition of the Bible with all these features: Masonic, Scottish Rite, and Eastern Star Records, Masonic Presidents. Freemasonry and the Holy Bible - Taking you through the internal workings of Freemasonry from the first to the thirty-third
degree. Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Masonry. Order of the Eastern Star. Questions and Answers Relating to the History and Work of Freemasonry. (Three women who were Masons!). Biblical Index to Freemasonry - giving references by books, chapter and verse to phrases, characters, events and places associated with the ritual and teachings of Freemasonry. King Solomon's Temple. The Tabernacle of Moses. Words of Christ in Red. This blue cover Bible has gilded page edges." I am mainly reviewing this Holy Bible to make a simple point. The Bible has been torn historically to pieces through the centuries, by every language and culture that has a hand in it ( funny since so few Christians refer to the Old Testament as the Torah - a very nice way to just write the Jewish Faith out of the whole scheme or involvement in it's existence ). Also anyone criticiszing the Freemasonic Orders should take a little time to read their Crusade histories, in particular the of the Knights Hospitaller and the Knights Templar Orders. If anyone has show devotion, respect and actually given their lives to ensure the existance of the Living Word that is the Bible of today...it has been the Masons. They are far from Satanic in their views, and have every reson to be offended to such commentary.
I came upon this edition quite by accident buying books to sell. But I think this one is probably going to stick around in my collection for a while now that I know more about it. And for those of you who do not realzie it, there are Masonic Editions of every Christian version of the Bible. Catholic, King James, Greek , even Coptic. I have thrown a few examples at the end of the article for those interested in such things.
Holding it in m own hands and looking through the very detailed illustrations in its first few pages, I can attest as a non-Chrisitan or Mason, that it is a true illustration that the Holy Bible is one of the great works of artisitry ever successfully put into print. It is truly a testament to the achievements of mankind to this point.
That at least is how I choose to see it.
The Secret Teachings of All Ages : An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic, and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy by Manly Palmer Hall & J. Augustus Knapp (Hardcover 2008)
The full title on most editions of this book is - "The Secret Teachings of All Ages: An Encyclopedic Outline of 
Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy". Which just goes to prove that real books don't have short titles.
Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy". Which just goes to prove that real books don't have short titles. This is the great work of Manly Palmer Hall and illustrator J. Augustus Knapp. These two artisans created one of the most important compendiums of its kind in this book. Perhaps the only book to tackle the wide array of cultures, mythologies, and antiquarian histories. It has been the source of controversy within the esoteric communities for almost a century.
This book is both famed in it's own Rosy Crux circles, and at the same time is so little known that there are probably thousands of books that have used it as a reference work (some may not even know that their quotes from other great references are actually taking their inspiration from Hall who dedicated a great deal of his life just to this book's complettion. The earliest editions are nearly three feet tall and come with all 200 illustrations in full color, and it is one of the books I have ever seen that truly can be called a work of art - the traditions of illuninated manuscripts and other post-Christian era occult works. I forewarn the potential reader that this is not an ordinary book. Even getting through a few chapters can take all the concentration a gifted scholar is able to muster. Yet if you take the time to absorb the wealth of knowledge contained herein - you will have a better education in mysticism and the occult than most.
To show the wide acceptance of this book as a reference work - Here is how Publisher's Weekly describes it for the masses: "In 1928, a 20-something Renaissance man named Manly Hall self-published a vast encyclopedia of the occult, believing that "modern" ideas of progress and materialism were displacing more important and ancient modes of knowledge. Hall's text has become a classic reference, dizzying in its breadth: various chapters explore Rosicrucianism, Kabbalah, alchemy, cryptology, Tarot, pyramids, the Zodiac, Pythagorean philosophy, Masonry and gemology, among other topics. This affordably priced edition would be vastly improved by a new foreword, placing the work in some kind of historical and critical context and introducing readers to the basic contours of Hall's sweeping corpus. Instead, we have a disciple's adulatory 1975 foreword, which merely parrots the same themes of mystery and esoterica that are espoused in the book. Readers who are unfamiliar with Hall's work will be at a loss in ferreting out which chapters have stood the test of time and which have been vigorously debunked (like the one on Islam, which actually uses novelist Washington Irving as a primary source on the prophet Muhammad). However, they will also marvel at the sheer scope of Hall's research and imagination, and at J. Augustus Knapp's famous illustrations, including a 16-page color insert. " - Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition. For once ole Amazon has a product review that is accurate and useful : "The Secret Teachings of All Ages is perhaps the most comprehensive and complete esoteric encyclopedia ever written. The sheer scope and ambition of this book are stunning. In this book Manly P. Hall has successfully distilled the essence of more arcane subjects than one would think possible. He covers Rosicrucianism and other secret societies, alchemy, cryptology, Kabbalah, Tarot, pyramids, the Zodiac, Pythagorean philosophy, Masonry, gemology, Nicholas Flammel, the identity of William Shakespeare, The Life and Teachings of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus, The Qabbalah, The Hiramic Legend, The Tree of the Sephiroth, Mystic Christianity, and there are more than 200 illustrations included here. This is essential reading for anyone wishing to explore esoteric knowledge." - Amazon product review.
"Into this volume has been compressed the quintessence of a colossal learning. It is a living human document, pulsating with the mental and spiritual vibrations of a profound thinker who takes knowledge for his province and reduces whole libraries to a single tome." - George Barron, Curator of the De Young Museum of San Francisco, in his tribute to this remarkable work.
There is a big difference between this newer edition and manly of the scarce but available older hardcover editions. At the end of this article I have provided a few links to several older editions that collectors may want to consider for purchasing, you can make up your own mind. - My opinion is simple. This newer paperback edition is one of the worst examples of reprint and bastardization of one of the 20th century's masterworks. Yes inevitable as the industry is about selling out to the lowest common dollar, this would not have happened if Hall were alive to see his great book reduced to a college reader text. Trust me even the smaller 80s editions in hardcover will be well worth the couple of extra dollars that may be incurred.
And if you are knowledgeable of Manly P. Hall and this text, you already understand. I have had this for many years in my personal collection. I believe it is one of top ten books you can read before you die, and one of the classics ever written in human literature.
Even modern Publisher Llewelyn has nothing but high praises for 'Secret Teachings'...
"Simply put, this is the most beautiful and complete occult book ever published. It represents a lifetime of research into the mythology, symbolism, and magical practices of countless cultures. From the secrets of Isis to the teachings of mystic Christianity, nearly every occult dogma imaginable is represented here. The book is full of giant illustrations, some of which fold out into a magnificent two-page splendor. This is the definitive guide to secret societies, famous figures, and more a must for every personal library." - Llewellyn New Times
There are editions available on the open retail market these days if you just want a reader copy, and there are older collectable editions that are worth thousands of dollars, that is if you can even acquire one. I hope the listing below gives you a fair crossection to consider.
Other Editions
Monday, February 22, 2010
'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child by David Henderson (Paperback 2009)
It is very rarely that I have given a rock biography a serious read over, most in my opinion are written with a fourth grade vocabulary because the editors assume that the readership inclined to buy their garbage never finished grade school. Why bother reading another hundred pages of crap that could have just as easily been photo tags from old Hit Parader and Circus magazine articles. Also if I really like the artist, I am looking for more than their fashion sense and how many chicks they bang while on a six day binge...in the case of Jimi Hendrix, this point cannot be more true. Yet, with all such hesitations in mind, I took a chance that there might be some grace left in the world of rock and roll journalism - and in this book I can finally say that some justice was done to the legacy that was James Marshall Hendrix.
"Most reviews of this book do not understand what David Henderson is up to. Henderson is an artist in his own right and his biography of Hendrix is a great read. Henderson is an artist forged in the same cultural milieu as Hendrix. Henderson was an important figure in the Black Arts Movement and he is working in the New Journalism tradition (Hunter Thompson, Thomas Wolf etc.) so don't expect generic writing and a presentation of "facts." This is a poetic biography and it brings Hendrix to life. If you are put off by "slang" and are appalled by any deviation from the New York Times Style Sheet you should probably skip this book, but if you want to spend some time digging Jimi, his triumphs and tragedy you should get this book. If you were not at Monterey Pop, or Woodstock, or the Berkley Community Theater in 1970 when Hendrix dedicated the show to the Black Panther Party, you should get this book-- it is the next best thing to being there. " - Keith , an Amazon reviewer.
"The New Journalism began on the Lower East Side in the mid-sixties when poets and fiction writers became reporters for The East Village Other, mother of the Underground Press. David Henderson was one of the pioneers of the style. He combines his gifts as a poet and a reporter in 'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky, and the result is a rewarding and unique reading experience. It is part thriller and part lament for some tragic lives who enlivened an exciting decade." - Ishmael Reed. "No one who wants to assemble a coherent version of Jimi's story can afford to be without this book -- it is not only the best version, it is the only complete one." - Dave Marsh, author of Born to Run.
Not to worry, yes Henderson brings his journalistic artistry to the table...but never does he forget who is really buying this book in numbers off the shelves; musicians, in particualr guitarists and bassists for whom The Experience as the trio is still one of the most formidable teams assembled in the history of modern music. It is amazing the amount of detail gone into regarding Hendrix's off stage jam sessions, private time trading licks with other guitarists, and his spiritual beliefs and how he personally saw them as part of his core as an artist.
A few of my favorite examples from the pages of personal dialogue are : A private jam session between Eric Clapton and Jimi where Hendrix let's Clapton know he doesn't really like him much for an English bloke by repetatively playing machine gun sounds endlessly (until Clapton reluctantly is forced to leave without any explanation), Jimi explains in detial how Axis Bold as Love is inspired by the writings of Freemason Manly P. Hall who wrote about the Earth's axis being a focal point for the macrocosmic world - and how Jimi had a visionary leap of understanding that the needle on a record player is a transmission device for the Axis of anyone who records their music on vynil ( trust me that one is worth the read, and is more coherrant than it may sound in brief ), details about the actual construction of Jimi's arsenal of inverted guitars that any guitarist will find fascinating enough to screw up their own perfectly working axes after a read through, of course many pages dealing with Jimi and the Black Panther movement - whom he basically let's know that he would support as a black artist if they would just loosen their rules about use of drugs (especially Jimi's later favorite Heroin), and the breaking up of The Experience as Jimi spends his last years in England post Woodstock.
Also included are many never before published poems and lyrics in their uneditied forms, like this one that Jimi wrote about and for the audience as he watched from the stage side at Woodstock on the morning of his 'Star Spangled Banner' performance :
"500,000 halos....
outshined the mud and history
We washed and drank in God's tears of joy
And for once...and for everyone...
the truth was not a mystery -
Love called to all...music is magic
As we passed over and beyond the walls of nay
Hand in hand as we lived and
made real the dreams of peaceful men -
We came together...Danced with
the pearls of rainy weather
Riding the waves of music and
Space - music is magic....
Magic is life....
Love as never loved before....
Harmony to son and daughter...man and wife"
- J. Hendrix on pg. 433
- J. Hendrix on pg. 433
I cannot give high enough praises for this biography of a bright and brilliant rockstar, and kudos to Henderson for handling the task with intelligence, respect, and where necessary brutal honesty about a great American artist - who was also a talented but damaged soul. I think even Jimi would have given Kiss the Sky his seal of approval. Hopefully Jimi comes back as a merman and makes sure we "...never have to hear surf music again...."
Other Editions:
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Dealing or The Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues by "Michael Douglas" (Hardcover 1971)
"Take the 'High' road with Peter Harkness as he travels the Berkeley-to-Boston trade route for marijuana. Peter takes the money and comes back with tidy packages of little bricks of dope soakd in Coke (to diguise the smell). There's plenty of action and then plenty of hassle when Peter's lady gets busted for holding forty bricks (or eighty pounds) of marijuana. Suddenly, everything becomes very heavy for a formerly straight college student named Peter Harkness." - from the text on the backcover of the paperback edition of 'Dealing' by the mysteriously nome de plume'd author of this unusual novel 'Michael Douglas'. This is actually an pair of brothers writing their first novel together in the late sixties as a team, Michael and Douglas by first names. One of which would soon begin his stock and trade as a novelist that would redefine the American writing, movie, and television industries with his detailed eye for the scientific state-of-the-art world with the everyday working man's 9-to-5 culture interwoven successfully with such famed works as 'The Andromeda Strain', 'The Eaters of Men', 'Jurassic Park', 'Disclosure' , and the televsion series 'ER' to his credit. You probably have guessed by now that the edler brother is none other than modern science fiction's own Michael Crichton.
Here are a few of the humorous remarks made by readers on the Amazon site review list :
"Love this book. It is NOT Crichton's usual, that's for sure. It tells more truth about drug culture in the 60's than most scholarly tomes." - J. Shawn Sullivan, Massachusettes.
"I find myself quoting a line from the book repeatedly. There is a scene where the main character goes to his friends room and the girlfriend wearing only a robe, crosses her legs giving him a long slow shot. "Nothing offered," the character says, "just letting you know it's all there." - Catfish, MS.
"Wow! I didn't know Crichton was such a druggie. I wonder what his mother thinks of this. " - A. Customer, USA. "This book is one of those rare ones that I've reread many times over the years, for its madcap descriptions that capture a period and place that I was on the edge of -- but close enough to smell the authenticity of the writing. Of course, the plot isn't quite real, but just enough to keep you on the edge. Another thing I like about this is that it's so different from Michael Crichton's later work, very fresh and genuine, yet still wise and slightly self-mocking..." This is definately a must read for the avid Crichton fans, yet this book has a immortalized itself as it is little known despite it's wide audience subject matter and is now infamous because it is dated with slang and cultural history of the fast burnout of the sixties from the satire of two young adolescent boys who actually were living it...more or less. It is a story full of humor and angst for about as long as the buzz takes to wear off - but the real fun of the book is the nostalgic avenues that it conjures up for us to relive without the politically correct sanctioned revisionist history stamping itself in the writing like a charcoal swastika into the forehead of a future Manson bride.
This is a young writer without shame or inhibition, writing his first out cries onto the blank page, without press releases, retainers, contracts, publishers, fans, editors, publicists, or anything more than a typewritter and a sibling collaborator, white out, and a spare ink ribbon on hand. Pure and uncensored as the first spoken haiku, Michael Crichton today could hardly have known that lengthy career about to lay itself before him from the beginning of the 70s until the closing of the first decade 2K.
So please, give this one a ready sometime. There is a movie version on DVD - which I am not going to recommend as highly, but it is also worth a watching in retrospective. If you are not looking for Cheech and Chong or George Carlin to approach you with the acid tripper story type used in the post flower child era scripts. And although quite humorous in its delivery, Dealing is a quick read with no real message or moral lessons in the end. But almost anyone who has read it, knows that is part of what makes it live on with a legacy, not hippocracy as so many hippie influenced manifestos gone by the wayside, with the fall of the Abbey's, the Leary's, and the Ginsburg's into an empire of second hand smokers gone to rehab assed out, only to dry hump the next two decades with dogmatic doublespeak and political campaigns needy for contributions from the baby boomers. No nukes, no war, no jobs, no money, and no where - the revolution ends with a whimper, utopia cut short by color televsion and methamphetamines.
Michael and Douglas Crichton seem to have missed the fall or the Haight, the Grateful Dead, and Kent State. Yet found the teenage equivalent of temporary earthbound nirvana - selling and smoking marijana for fun and profit. Simple, sensible, and super for a summer job to pad the college fund, and support your girlfriends' habit. Teenage Wasteland in real time...
Sorry for the rant, in short - disco arrives just in time to glitter up all the jive talking junkies and sketch artist tree huggers that would flood the USA with post Woodstock propoganda literature until Y2K was long past.
Be you a head, or a narc, a campus up-and-comer or a hipster chick...remember the first words of the first page from 'Dealing' - "All names , characters, and events in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real persons is either coincidental or the result of stoned paranoia."
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