Arthur Rusell Bio -

Since the snow has been falling & outside looks like shite, I decided to get a hold of Tim Lawrence ("Love Saves The Day") & he informed to keep a look out in September of 2009 for his new book, a Biopgraphy on legendary producer Arthur Russell - More info to come - Hopefully will have time to interview Tim about this & soooo much more :)

Go SEE the DOCKTER

Old school Pirates Pitcher Dock Ellis passed away yesterday - Read below about the infamous story of his 1970 No Hitter......................on Acid!

Posted to the Newsgroup alt.drugs
Subject: Baseball
Date: 15 Jul 91 20:29:10 GMT Posted to the Newsgroup alt.drugs
Subject: Baseball
Date: 15 Jul 91 20:29:10 GMT

You may have heard about "no-hitter" that Bob Milacki's of the Oakland A's pitched last week. No-hitters are pretty rare and this one made the news everywhere. One of the local TV stations refered to it as Milacki's "no-no," a term that originated with Dock Ellis's no-hitter back on June 20th, 1970 for the Pirates.

Dock pitched that game on acid. That fact didn't come out until almost 15 years later. Here are some interesting excerpts from Eric Brothers account of the game in the August 1987 issue of High Times magazine:

Dock woke up late. Why shouldn't he? As far as he knew, the team had an off day and he planned to take full advantage of it. Three hits of LSD were ready and waiting in the refrigerator.

A few minutes later, his girlfriend returned with coffee, donuts, and the morning paper. At noon, they dropped acid. Dock put on a record, while his girlfriend read the paper.

"Dock, it says here you're pitching today!"

"Whaaaa...? " vsaid Dock groggily. He snatched the paper, scanned the box scores, and read:

PITTSBURGH AT PADRES DOUBLEHEADER (6 P.M.) - Ellis (4-4) vs. Roberts (3-3)

He makes it to the game and after having someone help him find his locker, he suits up and enters the game.

Dave Roberts, the Padres' pitcher, had an easy first inning, ending with Roberto Clemente hitting one back to the box. Dock marched to the mound, wondering if he'd last the inning.

His fingers tingled as he squeezed the ball. He squinted to see catcher Jerry May's hand signals. He nodded his head and went into his windup, falling slightly off balance in the process. The ball hit the ground about two feet in front of the plate and skipped into May's glove.

May signaled for a fastball outside. Dock wound up and threw a hot one over the the corner of the plate - a swinging strike! In was no ordinary pitch: The ball burst from Dock's hand and left a blazing, cometlike tail that remained visible long after the ball was caught.

Dock felt wobbly on the mound and his stomach was churning with acid cramps. His concentration, however, was superb. As long as he kept to his fastball, the comets kept burning across the plate. All he had to do was steer the ball down the multicolored path. Dock had a crazed look in his eyes and his lack of control was evident to the batters, many of whom were feeling increasingly vulnerable in the batter's box. Dock easily retired three batters in a row [in the second inning].

[In the seventh inning] the Pirates were clinging to their 1-0 lead. Dock was staring at the scoreboard when he realized he'd pitched hitless ball for seven innings. He smacked Cash on the arm.

"Hey, look," said Dock, pointing at the scoreboard. "I've got a no-no going!" Cash gave him a blank look. "A no-no?" asked Cash. He'd never heard the term before. But Cash wanted to keep the pitcher loose and happy, so he smiled and said nothing.

He finished the game without a hit. Dock had a pretty good year in 1970. He went 13-10, and helped the Pirates win their first of three divisional championships. The fact that he pitched his no-hitter on LSD was not revealed until April 8, 1984.

You may have heard about "no-hitter" that Bob Milacki's of the Oakland A's pitched last week. No-hitters are pretty rare and this one made the news everywhere. One of the local TV stations refered to it as Milacki's "no-no," a term that originated with Dock Ellis's no-hitter back on June 20th, 1970 for the Pirates.

Dock pitched that game on acid. That fact didn't come out until almost 15 years later. Here are some interesting excerpts from Eric Brothers account of the game in the August 1987 issue of High Times magazine:

Dock woke up late. Why shouldn't he? As far as he knew, the team had an off day and he planned to take full advantage of it. Three hits of LSD were ready and waiting in the refrigerator.

A few minutes later, his girlfriend returned with coffee, donuts, and the morning paper. At noon, they dropped acid. Dock put on a record, while his girlfriend read the paper.

"Dock, it says here you're pitching today!"

"Whaaaa...? " vsaid Dock groggily. He snatched the paper, scanned the box scores, and read:

PITTSBURGH AT PADRES DOUBLEHEADER (6 P.M.) - Ellis (4-4) vs. Roberts (3-3)

He makes it to the game and after having someone help him find his locker, he suits up and enters the game.

Dave Roberts, the Padres' pitcher, had an easy first inning, ending with Roberto Clemente hitting one back to the box. Dock marched to the mound, wondering if he'd last the inning.

His fingers tingled as he squeezed the ball. He squinted to see catcher Jerry May's hand signals. He nodded his head and went into his windup, falling slightly off balance in the process. The ball hit the ground about two feet in front of the plate and skipped into May's glove.

May signaled for a fastball outside. Dock wound up and threw a hot one over the the corner of the plate - a swinging strike! In was no ordinary pitch: The ball burst from Dock's hand and left a blazing, cometlike tail that remained visible long after the ball was caught.

Dock felt wobbly on the mound and his stomach was churning with acid cramps. His concentration, however, was superb. As long as he kept to his fastball, the comets kept burning across the plate. All he had to do was steer the ball down the multicolored path. Dock had a crazed look in his eyes and his lack of control was evident to the batters, many of whom were feeling increasingly vulnerable in the batter's box. Dock easily retired three batters in a row [in the second inning].

[In the seventh inning] the Pirates were clinging to their 1-0 lead. Dock was staring at the scoreboard when he realized he'd pitched hitless ball for seven innings. He smacked Cash on the arm.

"Hey, look," said Dock, pointing at the scoreboard. "I've got a no-no going!" Cash gave him a blank look. "A no-no?" asked Cash. He'd never heard the term before. But Cash wanted to keep the pitcher loose and happy, so he smiled and said nothing.

He finished the game without a hit. Dock had a pretty good year in 1970. He went 13-10, and helped the Pirates win their first of three divisional championships. The fact that he pitched his no-hitter on LSD was not revealed until April 8, 1984.

classic!

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SnowDay

Yes it is snowing outsside of my cold, basement window. Looking around at the mounds of sleeves and boxes, crates full of music from all over the town. Winter is upon us, something delicate is in the air. The cold creeks in as the wind flys around, swirling and whirling it's way from the sound. Another night is upon us, another day of wasted dreams. With that I leave you something, something that came to me in from the winter's freeze.

back in the day

This was a cool snippet from a recent Village Voice archive from 1981. $2.50 gets you wildstyled! Back in the day....

Chocolate Star Christmas E.P. by Gary Davis

This Holiday gift comes from the fine folks
at the Rong Music. Ho Ho Ho

The Gobi Seeds

interesting story, fresh after all these years.
The Gobi Desert grave
By Jennifer Viegas

Nearly two pounds of still-green plant material found in a 2,700-year-old grave in the Gobi Desert has just been identified as the world's oldest marijuana stash, according to a paper in the latest issue of the Journal of Experimental Botany.
A barrage of tests proves the marijuana possessed potent psychoactive properties and casts doubt on the theory that the ancients only grew the plant for hemp in order to make clothing, rope and other objects.
They apparently were getting high too.
Lead author Ethan Russo told Discovery News that the marijuana "is quite similar" to what's grown today.
"We know from both the chemical analysis and genetics that it could produce THC (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase, the main psychoactive chemical in the plant)," he explained, adding that no one could feel its effects today, due to decomposition over the millennia.
Russo served as a visiting professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Botany while conducting the study. He and his international team analyzed the cannabis, which was excavated at the Yanghai Tombs near Turpan, China. It was found lightly pounded in a wooden bowl in a leather basket near the head of a blue-eyed Caucasian man who died when he was about 45.
"This individual was buried with an unusual number of high value, rare items," Russo said, mentioning that the objects included a make-up bag, bridles, pots, archery equipment and a kongou harp. The researchers believe the individual was a shaman from the Gushi people, who spoke a now-extinct language called Tocharian that was similar to Celtic.
Scientists originally thought the plant material in the grave was coriander, but microscopic botanical analysis of the bowl contents, along with genetic testing, revealed that it was cannabis.
The size of seeds mixed in with the leaves, along with their color and other characteristics, indicate the marijuana came from a cultivated strain. Before the burial, someone had carefully picked out all of the male plant parts, which are less psychoactive, so Russo and his team believe there is little doubt as to why the cannabis was grown.
What is in question, however, is how the marijuana was administered, since no pipes or other objects associated with smoking were found in the grave.
"Perhaps it was ingested orally," Russo said. "It might also have been fumigated, as the Scythian tribes to the north did subsequently."
Although other cultures in the area used hemp to make various goods as early as 7,000 years ago, additional tomb finds indicate the Gushi fabricated their clothing from wool and made their rope out of reed fibers. The scientists are unsure if the marijuana was grown for more spiritual or medical purposes, but it's evident that the blue-eyed man was buried with a lot of it.
"As with other grave goods, it was traditional to place items needed for the afterlife in the tomb with the departed," Russo said.
The ancient marijuana stash is now housed at Turpan Museum in China. In the future, Russo hopes to conduct further research at the Yanghai site, which has 2,000 other tombs.

Paranoid Disco

I read this & thought I would share - since I will not be buying this item -

Britney Spears Returns With Paranoid Disco on New CD

Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) --

Britney Spears’s new CD is best appreciated when you are half asleep -- or doing the shimmy shimmy shake on the dance floor early in the morning.

Under no circumstances should you attempt to dissect any of the tracks that make up her sixth studio album. And don’t read the lyrics. You might end up thinking that the 1910 Fruitgum Company’s “Yummy, Yummy, Yummy” is a work of deep meaning compared with the sometimes inane material that Spears spews out over a collection of modern dance beats and ballads.

“Circus” (Jive) has been crafted as a major statement in the wake of her life as a tabloid train wreck, much like Michael Jackson’s songs such as “Leave Me Alone.” This is not a revelatory, strip-me-bare effort on the scale of Marvin Gaye’s “Here, My Dear” or even Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black.”

Rather, “Circus,” released today in the U.S., comes off as a shallow and calculated effort by the 27-year-old.

“Bitch, Bitch it’s Britney Bitch/Out and open, that’s alright/If it ain’t, don’t stop, just do it, do it/All night, alright, this way, kill-kill the lights,” she sings on “Kill The Lights,” which appears to be a commentary on her war with the paparazzi.

Her two children get a shout out in “My Baby,” a warbling ballad. John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)” this isn’t.

The beats which form the backbone of “Circus” are urban, hip and clubby. “Rock Me In” is hooky and fun. The record will sell a couple of million copies, with the first single, “Womanizer,” having already hit no. 1 in Billboard.

Spears, who looks healthier and more alive on the cover of a recent Rolling Stone magazine than she has in a couple of years, will be greeted with sold-out audiences as she lip-syncs her way through “Circus.”

She probably was aiming for greatness but seems to have only forged a new genre: paranoid disco.

Rating: *.(Poor)

The album is priced about $18.98. Download fees vary across services.

need they say more?