The Life and Death of Jack Coe

A small percentage of drug addicts are just irresponsible, unreliable and often violent people by nature, while the majority is just people who try to manage their habit in the best way possible. Yes, many of them steal, lie and cheat, but all that is due to prohibitionist laws and propaganda that treat (some) addictions like a horrible crime and create a sub-species of human beings. Have you noticed:
people like Keith Richards or Basquiat are considered cool guys (with just a passion for hard drugs) while the average heroin user, often homeless, is just an awful junky to loathe and possibly to lock in...Does it work by census?? Yes.
Many hard drugs users are just normal people with a problem: often they can't even speak about that with others (even family members), nonetheless they can be lovely people and even good parents...And I can say that for personal experience, I met some of them in my life....
See the story of Jack Coe, a good guy who just chose the "wrong" substances....

The Gravity-Defying Worlds of Cinta Vidal

"In her latest series of paintings, Barcelona-based artist and illustrator  Cinta Avidal Agullo defies gravity and architectural conventions to create encapsulated scenes of intersecting perspectives...."
Continue reading on ThisisColossal 

The Dreamy Mythological Art of Chie Yoshii

A native of Japan, Chie Yoshii moved to the U.S. in 1996 to attend Massachusetts Collefe of Art and Design in Boston.She began her career as a visual effects artist in Los Angeles but eventually she shifted her focus to oil painting. Much of her work is inspired by the analogy between mythological trales and the human psychology.
Chie Yoshii 

The Original Captain Trips

One of the most amazing and controversial characters of the "psychedelic epic", Al Hubbard (1901-1982) was an inventor, a smuggler during Prohibition and a secret agent in Canada and USA and finally a millionaire.
During the mid- 1950s and 1960s, after experimenting with LSD (the first time in 1951) he became an ardent proselytizer of the awakening and spiritual properties of the psychedelic drugs. He introduced more than 6000 people to LSD - including politicians,scientists, artists and church figures. He is known as the Johnny Appleseed of LSD.
On Reality Sandwich you can read ad interesting article about Al Hubbard written by Todd Brendan Fahey for High Times magazine in 1991.
Read here

Dedicated to Kathmandu....

...and the wonderful people of Nepal.
Once a peaceful, safe haven for the international freak community  and the final destination of the now legendary (original) "Hippie Trail", Kathmandu and Nepal still were the preferred destination of  (too) many young  globetrotters,  tourists, spiritual seekers, hash smokers and rock climbers....until yesterday....Now, after the last devasting earthquake, we have lost that magical place forever....No more temples, no more informal and spiritual vibes, no more markets full of colors and smells....just death and destruction...
I strongly hope that Nepali people will be able to overcome this terrible ordeal and that beautiful country will regain his identity in some way......

The Texting Hat

Bringing eye contact back  into the 21st century....? The Texting Hat, multitasking fashionable wear....
(maybe not on sale yet, but you know it's coming....!)



Texting Hat from Brad Hasse on Vimeo.

Lee Harvey Osmond

Canadian psychedelic folk (and blues and rock) band Lee Harvey Osmond is a music project of Tom Wilson. Their latest album "Beautiful Scars" (2015) is an absolute jewel, one of the most interesting albums of the last months. Check it out and don't miss also "A Quiet Evil" (2010) and "The Folk Sinner" (2013).
Lee Harvey Osmond 

Pix of the Day

just a little break....

Modern Times....

or the same old story ??!

In a Meditative Mood

The singing of kirtan("chant of the holy names") and prayers is a powerful means to achieve an instant state of bliss and meditation:  chanting with concentration and devotion while sitting with your back straight, you attain a complete, spontaneus harmony between body, mind and spirit. "Siksastakam" is an Hindu prayer to Shri Krishna: together with the beautiful images of this video, it leads you in a contemplative and joyous state of consciousness....
(The video is from "Mystic India", a film about the life and spiritual journey of ascetic Nilkanth, later known as Swaminarayan by his devotees)

Psychedelic Press UK 2015 Vol IIo

The new volume of the Psychedelic Press UK journal 2015 is now available. The magazine content is:

Subject S14CH by Chris Howarth

2. Francis Crick, DNA & LSD by Andy Roberts

3. The Vision of Hades by Robert Tindall & Susana Bustos

4. A Pipe of Salvia by Robert Dickins

5. Ibogaine: A gift of forgiveness from Equatorial Africa by Julyan Levy

6. Tonight, some people will encounter fear by Jan Kounen

7. The Sacred Pattern by Simon G. Powell

Artwork by Lucy Brown

You can order your copy HERE

Chameleon

Impressive art body painting by Johannes  Stoetter

Johannes Stoetter   

Celebrating the First LSD Trip....

Honoring Albert Hofmann and the first human psychedelic (bicycle) trip on LSD....
( April 19, 1943 )
( see my previous posts about celebrations in S. Francisco and Los Angeles here and here )
(drawing by Matteo Guarnaccia)

Wild Horse - Lyric Video

Nice one for all the Stones' fans (like me.) To celebrate the re-release of Sticky Fingers .  Trunk Animation was asked to create a lyric video for Wild Horse and they gave the job to  Stones' lifelong fan Rok and he and his team came up with this homage to the band and the song...
( via )



Wild Horses - Lyric Video from Trunk Animation on Vimeo.

Saturday Reggae Fever

Stephen Marley's  "Rock Stone", featuring Capleton and Sizzla

Martin Wittfooth's Allegorical Art

Martin Wittfooth was born in Toronto in 1981 and spent most of his childhood in Finland, moving back to Toronto in 1993 where he earned his BAA in illustration in 2003. He currently works as an illustrator and fine artist in New York City.
Visit his website here 

Bicycle Day Up Date

Few days ago I posted about the next celebration of the first human trip with LSD (April 19, 1943)  that it will be held in S. Francisco on April 19 (read here) Now I read about another event in Los Angeles on April 18, held at Box 8 Studios in Downtown Los Angeles.
To get info and buy tickets go to Bycicle Day LA
(All proceeds will be donated to MAPS)

Cartoon of the Day: "Fat"

Human Rights for Psychedelic Users

Founded by clinical psychologist Pål-Ørjan Johansen and medical researcher Teri Krebs, Emma Sofia is a non-profit organization based in Oslo, Norway, working to increase safe access  to quality-controlled MDMA and psychedelics for medical, scientific and other legal purposes.
Visit Emma Sofia here and join their Indiegogo campaign here 

Secret Friend

Secret Friend is a music project by Thailand-based musician and producer Steven Fox. Relax, put on your stereo headphones and enjoy (wide screen) these two mesmerizing videos....
Secret Friend 
Secret Friend

Bicycle Day Celebrations

On April 19 the international psychedelic community will celebrate the Bicycle Day, to commemorate   chemist Albert Hofmann and his historic discovery, LSD.
 The Swiss (al)chemist - after an accidental exposition to LSD in his laboratory three days before - decided to undergo a "bio essay" (self-sperimentation") on himself  on April 19th, 1943. He took  250 micrograms of LSD in his laboratory (a presumably very low dose, but effectively a rather consistent one !) After half an hour, noticing the first alarming effects of the entheogen, Hofmann decided to go back home by bicycle. Since then the now legendary visionary Hofmann's bicycle ride marks the  beginning of   LSD history and his great influence in modern society.
The event will be celebrated all over the world, with small or great events (and even with solitary/small groups  psychedelic celebration under the full moon....) If you're in San Francisco, you can join the 2nd Annual Bicycle Day Parade, that will begin at Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco - April 19, 1pm.
Bycicle Day Parade 2015
Hofmann-LSD-Bicycle Day 

Dark Star: H.R. Giger

"Dark Star", a new documentary on the life of  legendary Swiss artist H.R. Giger, produced by Icarus Films and directed by Belinda Sallin, will be released this May in city theatres all across the USA.
I hope it will be also distributed in Europe and then soon released as DVD.
Go here for further details.




DARK STAR: H. R. GIGER'S WORLD Trailer from Icarus Films on Vimeo.

So Long Judith

Co-founder of the anarchist/pacifist theatre company The Living Theatre (with her partner  Julian Beck) Judith Malina has died two days ago in NYC at 88 of lung desease.
Judith, an actress and director, has continued the work with the Living Theatre until recent times and as character actress she appeared in TV series  and several movies.
Judith and Julian and the subversive theatre and street performances of the Living's legendary "Paradise Now" will remain in countercutural history forever....RiP
The Living Theatre 
Judith Malina 

Time of Psychedelic Conferences in USA

Soon the American psychedelic community (plus possible foreign hosts) will have the opportunity to congregate for two interesting conferences.
Psymposia (Envisioning a post prohibition world) - with talks on ayahuasca, iboga, MDMA, marijuana, drug policy and harm reduction - will be held on April 17-19 in Amherst (Massachusetts); among the speakers there will be Earth and Fire of Erowid (see the complete list on Psymposia website). If one can't go to Amherst, it's possible to watch the entire conference (and even ask questions) online.
For more details, tickets and livestream tickets visit: Psymposia

Generation Psychedelic - held in the same Psymposia days, April 17-19 -  is a three-day conference celebrating the younger generation of the psychedelic movement. The conference is produced by the Greener's Association for Psychedelic Studies at the Evergreen State College in Olympia (Washington). Among the speakers there will be Rick Doblin of MAPS (see the complete list on Generation Psychedeli website.)
Info, speakers and tickets on Generation Psychedelic  

The Healing Toad

Octavio Rettig is a young Mexican doctor who cures drug addicts and other patients with the entheogenic substance (5-Meo-DMT) extracted from the parotoid glands of the Bufo Alvarius, a toad found in northern Mexico and the southwestern USA.

The Surreal Art of Rubenimichi

Rubenimichi is an interesting, mind-moving Spanish art collective. Besides acrylic paintings, they sometimes work also with ceramic. Find Rubenimich here 

GIF of the Day

Your Brain on Drugs

This time "Your Brain on Drugs" isn't the umpteenth  terrifying prohibitionist spot on TV, with frying eggs and all, but an explanatory and 'correct' graphic design project by Meaghan Li, a (self-taught) graphic designer and photographer born in New Zealand.
See the whole gallery here 

The Art and Life of Victor Moscoso

Victor Moscoso (b. 1936) is one of the pioneer underground artists who created the American "psychedelic style" of rock posters and comix during the 1960s and 1970s. Moscoso's work has continued up to the present and includes animated commercials, posters and album covers for musicians like Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and David Grisman.
Yuo can find an interview with Moscoso here 
Victor Moscoso