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Archive for the ‘Hamilton Morris’ Category

Hamilton Morris–“Gaboxadol” [Are You Sleeping? In search of a good night’s rest ] (Harper’s, August 2013]

Posted in Drugs, Essays, Hamilton Morris, Harper's, Insomnia, Research, Sleep, The Front Bottoms, Tiny Desk Concert on September 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

aug2013SOUNDTRACK: THE FRONT BOTTOMS-Tiny Desk Concert #297 (August 19, 2013).

frontbotI really enjoyed The Front Bottoms’ “Au Revoir” and was pretty excited to see they had a Tiny Desk Concert.  After watching this, I’m very curious to see what they do in a full band setting because their sound works very well in this stripped down fashion–with acoustic guitars, penny whistle and muted trumpet (!).

Lead singer, Brian Sella, reminds me a lot of Mike Doughty in his speaky/singing way (especially on “Swear To God The Devil Made Me Do It”–although less speaky than Doughty or Cake–there’s just something about his delivery that puts me in mind of them.

He’s also always got a smirk on his face, which makes me like them more.

I’m torn between wondering if they’re a novelty band that I wouldn’t listen to more than a few times or a cool alternative band whose idiosyncrasies only get better with each listen.  I love the way “Twin Size Mattress” has little elements (like the tambourine moment–and the “no fucking way moment) which elevate it above some of the seemingly sillier songs.  Not to mention the lyrics are really good in the song.  Indeed, even though the lyrics are funny, they are often very clever, too.

I really enjoyed all four songs in this set and I have listened to it many times now.  “Au Revoir (Adios)” sounds great.  All four songs comes from their new album Talon of the Hawk.  And the more I listen the more I’m convincing myself to jut get the damned album.

[READ: September 6, 2013] “Gaboxadol”

This essay was actually hard for me to read.  That’s because the first half was all scientific chemistry talk and I really got lost–I don’t really know what GABA receptors are or do and I didn’t even really understand what he was talking about what Stepan Krasheninnikov did in 1755.  And I worried that I wasn’t going to enjoy this at all.

But soon Morris brought it back to an area that dummies like me can enjoy   He talks about the history of Gaboxadol a drug created by Dutch chemist Povl Krogsgaard-Larsen in 1977.  The first time Povl took it (self-experiment was very common until recently) he said it made him feel like he had just had three beers–a very comfortable feeling.

But Gaboxadol never found its niche.  Povl knew it had relaxing qualities but he couldn’t specifically diagnose who would best benefit from it.  It was tried on the mentally ill.  The desired effects did not really arrive–but the side effects made people feel sleepy.  Then it was tried as an analgesic for cancer patients.  It relieved some pain but it made everyone sleepy (you see where this is gong, right?).  It was then tested on patients with anxiety disorder, but the side effects were more powerful that the anti-anxiety effects.

So then the drug was just shelved (were people just less experimental back then?)  It wasn’t until 1996 that Marike Lancel a somnologist in Munich read the research and decided to try it as a sleeping aid.  She realized that Gaboxadol assisted sleep and also had none of the side effects that Ambien had (apparently terrible insomnia once you stop taking it–so I’ll not be taking that, thank you very much).  Merck bought the rights to Gaboxadol for $270 million. (more…)

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Hamilton Morris—“Blood Spore: Of Murder and Mushrooms” (Harper’s, July 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Death, Drugs, Essays, Hamilton Morris, Harper's, High Times, The Flaming Lips, Utopia, Violence on July 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

julySOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS–Live from SXSW 2013, playing all of Yoshimi battles the Pink robots.

yoshimiThe day before their main set, which featured songs from their newest album, The Flaming Lips did a surprise set in which they decided to play Yoshimi in its entirety–something they had never done before.

Indeed, there are a few songs from the album that they say they have never played live before.

They have an hour to do the deed.  But, Wayne being Wayne, he can’t stop talking between songs long enough for them to actually complete the album and they are left without playing the final track.  (I haven’t heard of that happening to other bands).

The set sounds pretty good.  It is quite different from the album in that the live unit plays all kinds of interesting sounds effects and updated keyboards and whatnot, it alters things in small and large ways although it doesn’t make it sound completely unlike the album.

Wayne’s voice is not as great as it used to be and he can’t hit all the notes anymore, which is a little disappointing (and may explain why the newer albums are not quite so soaring).  But they are clearly enjoying themselves, as is the audience.

The only bad thing about this set (you can stream the video at NPR) is that the volume is very low.  It sounds good, but is a little too quiet to be fully enjoyable.  And, of course, you don’t get to hear “Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia).”  Although you do get to hear how they came up with the title “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell.”

[READ: July 11, 2013] “Blood Spore”

This was a Folio in the center of the July issue of Harper’s.  The Folio is a lengthy article that’s printed on a different type of paper.  The Harper’s Folios are usually quite good.  And so was this one.

This essay is about the life and death of Steven Pollock.  Pollock was into mushroom.  Really into them.  He believed that they held cures to many different ailments and he set about trying to prove it.  He had a fully functioning lab and he did extensive tests on the different types of mushrooms and spores that he collected.  (Some of the tests simply included ingesting them, but he also used scientific methods).  He ordered manure and other kinds of bases and then he set about growing and testing different genus of mushrooms.

True, he was also interested in their psychedelic powers, but he believed they could do much more.

In order to make money he sold paraphernalia in High Times.  He was very successful (his company name and color ad in the magazine was quite a hit and he made an astonishing amount on the quasi legal market).  Most of his money went back into research.  He believed that when he made $2 million, he could get a proper lab.

The whole article was really interesting—seeing what Pollock did, seeing how some of the mushrooms he cultivated lasted throughout the years and how he managed to get some to spread (by getting spores in various materials in time for a Hurricane to blow them all across the South).  Pollock’s personal favorite mushroom, which he described as being the most amazing trip he’d had, was on the verge of extinction.  And he died believing that it was no more.  Fortunately somehow made it to Amsterdam where now it is a very common (and very popular) strain of the fungus.

Shame he was murdered under mysterious circumstances and the author began researching this article because he received a tape that someone claimed showed who was guilty of his death. (more…)

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