ElStinkenpants666
observer
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
member since: Mar 31, 2012
total forum posts: 3
last login: Apr 5, 2012
I discovered the Flaming Lips, half my life ago, while under the influence of mushrooms. My friend Yan is/was a musician; a talented and creative musician, who had a lot of gear. We listened to Transmissions From Satellite Heart through a stack of amps towering (almost) higher, taller, than us. This might have been the same night we decided to set afire those Zip barbeque lighting chunks and throw them all over the road from the second floor balcony--watching the cars stop, wonder, and avoid these little clusters of fire. Shortly thereafter a lovely policewoman stopped by to ask us, nicely and with a smile, to stop our halucinogenic tomfoolery. We did. The street name is/was Gladstone, downtown Ottawa, and fairly busy all through the day and night. I think we just wanted to make something happen, for us and for everybody passing by. And we did. Back then, I was twenty-two, when the world is so huge, and all things removed, but I didn't know the power of me--of the individual--at the time. I do now, but I'm sure not fully, yet, and perhaps never.
It was also under the influence of mushrooms that I had an epiphany: I am an atheist.
It was quite shocking. All of a sudden I was, we all were, everybody, alone to figure out our existence without the guidance of a diety that was, really, never there. I remember lifting my head out of that swirling torrent of thought, that new notion, and meeting the eyes of Yan's beautiful, intelligent, inspiring and aspiring artist girlfriend.
I said: "I don't think I believe in god anymore."
She said: " Neither do I. Let's smoke a joint." Or something to that effect.
And then it all changed. Freedom. Condemed to make my own choices and live through, move through, the repercussions.
I left the Flaming Lips after that album... I was a little put off by the idea of their next album Zaireeka (sp?). The idea was very cool to me--four albums meant to be played at once, but these were the days of early CD players. To play the album like it was meant to be played meant four cd players, each having at least...(at least!) two speakers--my friends and I (incidentally, one of those friends, Tony, paid the $100 to have his name mentioned in the 6 hour song twenty years later) did not have the technological wherewithal or the space to make it happen. And we were lazy. So it goes.
For the time between then and now, I pretty much listened to Satellite and got into other great shit.
One day I caught a Dell commercial on T.V. Immediately I recognized the song in that commercial was the Flaming Lips. I never heard the song before, but like a long lost lover you just know when they are in the room. I went to CD Warehouse and found the album, and a few more. Bought them and, once again, became enthralled, elated, and in love. My wife and I, before we had our son, ate some mushrooms and listened to At War With the Mystics...to put it to the test--mushrooms are good for that--finding truths. A beautiful experience indeed. And we thought, hey, these guys are atheist, and they seem to make music that caters to the open mind of a mushroomed head. A couple of years later, Embryonic was released, and my marriage was coming unglued.
My parents spend our beautiful Canadian winters in Florida. My wife and I decided to separate during this time--just this past Christmas (2011). I would live at my parents' house for the mostpart, and she would remain in our home. It so happened that I was divinely bestowed an infinite flow of mushrooms (again, I know!) during this time. So, at my dad's computer I blew the confines of my past mind wide open with mushrooms and the Flaming Lips. I decided to put Embryonic on even though my first encounter, my first approach to the album, was less than enthusiastic. Like a good friend though, or a lover that will come to be, you don't always appreciate or recognize the beauty at first.
The Embryonic album, over the course of my first REAL listen--my second listen--and two grams of mushrooms, became the only sonic masterpiece I have ever encountered. I still can't believe how great, how profound it was, and is. At first, when going over the album in my spinning mind, I thought there was no pause--all the songs transcended seemlessly. It felt that I had just listened to something like GMS, a trance unit that fills hours with unending, blending of musical soundscapes, looping in and out, to and fro--cool fucking shit. So I listened to it again. Yes, there are pauses. It had changed. It always changes. Everything does, so go with it, and be with it.
I guess I should mention that it was under the influence of mushrooms (nature's truth serum) and all the beautiful (I use that word so much these days) music that I had discovered through the Flaming Lips website, when I decided that I should leave my beautiful, intelligent wife. Again, a mushroom epiphany. You just can't lie to yourself while on mushrooms. Try it. When you confront the hard truths you improve. And with the help of Existential philosophy you will understand YOU. The YOU. Amongst all of the THEY. And THEY want what's best for them, and what they think is right for YOU. And they are wrong, for YOU. YOU are right for YOU, so get to know the new you. You are fucking amazing! And together, YOU and I and WE can make an amazing planet out of this over-politicized, willfully ignorant, cannabinoid deprived world.
Kill your gods and start your engines.
The Stinkenpants
