Jorma Elovaara Interview @ Ylioppilaslehti

Namechecking also pHinnWeb's Jorma Elovaara tribute page, Ylioppilaslehti of 15 May 2009 features a brand new Elovaara interview by Perttu Häkkinen (a.k.a. Randy Barracuda of Imatran Voima):

http://www.ylioppilaslehti.fi/2009/05/15/saapasjalkamies/

Another Vesimiehen Aika Radio Show @ YLE Areena

YLE Areena offers another episode of Jorma Elovaara's legendary psychedelic counterculture radio show Vesimiehen aika ("Age of Aquarius"), available online until 21 December 2008 (it can be listened only in Finland). The sound quality is low, only 32 kbps:

http://areena.yle.fi/toista?id=1720688

(Thanks for the info: J.H.)

More Vesimiehen Aika audioclips @ YLE Elävä Arkisto

"I Want To Take You Higher..."

Sly & the Family Stone: 'I Want To Take You Higher' (live at Woodstock, 1969)

Just watched again the concert film Woodstock, on the biggest counter-cultural event of 1960s. The worst excesses of drug-driven lifestyle and rampant commercialism ever more affecting the "underground" had clearly taken their toll by this time and some performances appear no more than self-indulgent hippie dross now; the film's sole highlight for me being Sly & the Family Stone's energetic live take of their 'I Want To Take You Higher', showing the band still at the height of their powers, unlike e.g. Jimi Hendrix who was already at decline during the time of the festival, despite his controversial, electrifying and Zeitgeist-defining guitar improvisation of 'Star-Spangled Banner' being there. Too bad Sly would also lose it on drugs before too long.

(As a technical side-note, it's interesting to notice Sly uses here a "rhythm box" in the song, being probably one of the earliest examples of "machine-driven" funk; Dick Hyman's 1969 Moog version of James Brown's 'Give It Up Or Turn It Loose' being another one.)

---

Unrelated: Musex (Music Export Finland) also has a blog now -- http://musex.blogspot.com/" -- but I seem to be unable to update it to the blogroll for the time being. Blaah, can't think clearly, it's too damn hot...

Jorma Elovaara 1970 Radio Show For A Limited Time

Jorma Elovaara in 1968

An April 1970 episode of Jorma Elovaara's legendary psychedelic/counter-culture radio show Vesimiehen Aika ("The Age of Aquarius") can be heard for a limited time of one week (sorry, Finland only, it seems) at:

http://lotta.yle.fi/ijulkaisu.nsf/sivut/olipakerranradio?opendocument&pageid=Content134902B463C

(Thanks for the tip: J.H.)

Albert Hofmann (1906 - 2008)

Albert Hofmann dies at 102 @ BBC News

Albert Hofmann, the Swiss inventor of LSD, has passed away at the age of 102.

More Albert Hofmann search results @ YouTube

Barney Bubbles

{feuilleton} also features an excellent article on the innovative British visual designer Barney Bubbles, real name Colin Fulcher (1942-1983). Mostly famously, Barney Bubbles was responsible for Hawkwind's psychedelic-science-fiction-Hell's-Angels-meet-Russian-Constructivism designs, but also for some new wave artists like Elvis Costello and Ian Dury. He also contributed to the UK underground magazines such as Oz, IT and Friends/Frendz.

http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/?p=1296

Barney Bubbles 1983 obituary @ NME, as republished by Aural Innovations

Reasons To Be Cheerful: The Life & Work of Barney Bubbles by Paul Gorman (a book, published November 2008, UK, ISBN: 978-0-9552017-3-8)

John Coulthart on Reasons To Be Cheerful

Robert Anton Wilson In Memoriam

Robert Anton Wilson passed away on the 11th of January 2007, at the age of 74. For some inexplicable rupture in space-time continuum, the tidings of his death reached pHinnWeb only now. An inspiration to psychonauts everywhere, Wilson (a.k.a. RAW) is best known for his 1975 The Illuminatus Trilogy, co-authored with Robert Shea (1933-1994), an anarchistic James Joyce and Thomas Pynchon-inspired mish-mash/parody/satire of occultism, post-hippie esotericism, psychedelic culture, numerology, and most of all, conspiracy theories. The same path was followed (though not exactly sharing RAW's cosmic slapstick anarchy) by Umberto Eco in his 1989 Foucault's Pendulum (and in a far, far more ham-fisted way by Dan Brown in that bestseller turd DaVinci Code).

What is the meaning of number 23? Why a dollar bill has in it an eye in the pyramid? Who were Adam Weisshaupt and the Bavarian Illuminati? What are "fnords"? These are only some of the questions The Illuminatus raises, and manages to (un)answer in a glorious way. One of the musical luminaries influenced by the book were The KLF who took the name of their side project Justified Ancients of Mu-Mu here, and countless other artists and scenesters in electronic music underground and rave culture have been influenced by the works of Robert Anton Wilson.

In a 2003 interview with High Times magazine, RAW described himself as a "Model Agnostic" which he says "consists of never regarding any model or map of the universe with total 100% belief or total 100% denial. Following [Alfred] Korzybski, I put things in probabilities, not absolutes... My only originality lies in applying this zetetic attitude outside the hardest of the hard sciences, physics, to softer sciences and then to non-sciences like politics, ideology, jury verdicts and, of course, conspiracy theory." More simply, he claims "not to believe anything," since "belief is the death of intelligence." He has described his approach as "Maybe Logic." [Wikipedia]

RAW's published output, general influence on underground culture and legacy are all too vast to be dissected here in any even nearly satisfying way, so I just recommend you follow the links below.

Robert Anton Wilson Homepage

Robert Anton Wilson @ Wikipedia

Robert Anton Wilson @ Blogspot

RAW Memorial @ MySpace

The 8-Circuit Model of Consciousness by Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson

Psychedelic Phinland - Finnish Hippie & Underground Music

Title: Psychedelic Phinland - Finnish Hippie & Underground Music 1967-1974
Format: 2CD
Label: LOVE RECORDS
Date: 15 November 2006
Cat.No: LXCD 651

From press release notes (translation from Finnish and all ensuing errors by pHinn):

The hippie ideals and that fiercer underground arrived to Finland in the mental turmoil of the end of the 1960s. Their blooming was cut short, but both left their permanent mark on pop culture. The 2-CD Psychedelic Phinland collects together the nation's first hippie troubadours, pioneers of psychedelic prog, vanguard warriors of anarcho rock, acoustic tribal musicians and the extreme daredevils of the arctic avantgarde. The album presents the mashers of the fringes of consciousness from Blues Section to Tylympi Kohtalo ("The Grimmer Fate"), the wanderers of stellar spheres from Pekka Streng to Jukka Kuoppamäki, the gravediggers for the Establishment from Suomen Talvisota 1939-40 ("The Finnish Winter War 1939-40") to Apollo, those who grasped the meaning of the holy simplicity from Those Lovely Hula Hands to Kruununhaan Dynamo ("Kruununhaka's Dynamo") and the midwives of sonic revolution from The Sperm to Sähkökvartetti ("The Electric Quartet"). It's a unique sound documentary of the alternative music of the turn of the 1960s and 70s. For those already familiar with Suomen Talvisota and The Sperm are offered some curiosities which amaze by their sheer existence. Everything essential concerning the topic is presented here -- from Jorma Ikävalko's no-holds-barred hippie comedy to the flute meditation reaching for the world spirit by Sikiöt ("The Foetuses"). This compilation produced by Jukka Lindfors includes 29 tracks from 20 different artists or bands, including self-releases, radio and TV performances and live recordings. The sleeve illustration is provided by Timo Aarniala, the court artist of Finnish underground. The whole it can be best described by the words of the poet Markku Into: "Everyone does their own thing. A symphony for every member of the family, for everyone their own alienation".

CD1:

1. Topmost: The End
2. Hector & Oscar: Savu
3. Jukka Kuoppamäki: Kukkasen valta
4. Jorma Ikävalko: Hippijortsut pöhkölässä
5. Blues Section: Cherry-Cup Cake Twist
6. Wigwam: Must Be The Devil
7. Baby Grandmothers: Being Is More Than Life
8. Eero Koivistoinen: Pientä peliä urbaanissa limousinessa
9. Charlies: Taiteen kriitikistä
10. Apollo: Ajatuksia
11. Suomen Talvisota 1939-40: Kasvoton kuolema ja Sirhan Sirhan
12. Suomen Talvisota 1939-40: Tehtaan vahtimestarit
13. Suomen Talvisota 1939-40: Flaggorna fladdrade i gentlemannens WC
14. Tylympi Kohtalo: Näkemiin, voi hyvin ystäväni
15. Pekka Streng: Olen erilainen
16. Juice Leskinen & Coitus Int: Zeppeliini
17. Hector: Meiran Laulu
18. Jukka Kuoppamäki: Aurinkomaa
19. Markku Into: Olen puhunut utopiaa

CD2:

1. Those Lovely Hula Hands: Tarzan apornas apa / Tarzan gregah / Jane Porter sivistyksen muurilla
2. Those Lovely Hula Hands: Menevät miehet
3. Pekka Airaksinen: Fos 2
4. The Sperm: Heinäsirkat I
5. Sähkökvartetti: Kaukana väijyy ystäviä
6. Kruununhaan Dynamo: Simple Things
7. Sikiöt: Side One
8. Sikiöt: Trippin' Together
9. Those Lovely Hula Hands: Missä on Marilyn?
10. J.O. Mallander: Degnahc Ev'uoY

Contact:

Love Records / Siboney

HÄMEENTIE 6 A 4 00530 HELSINKI FINLAND

Tel. +351-(0)9 -417 66 640

FAX +351-(0)9-417 66 650


Psychedelic rock in 60s Finland @ pHinnWeb

Early Years of Finnish Electronic Music & Avantgarde @ pHinnWeb

Jarkko Laine In Memoriam

Jarkko Laine (17 March 1947 - 19 August 2006)

Finnish writer, poet and playwright Jarkko Laine has passed away. Laine became known in the late 60s as one of the pioneers in Finnish underground culture when he published in Turku with another "U" luminary, Markku Into, their provocative counterculture magazine Aamurusko. Laine also provided with Into and M.A. Numminen lyrics for the band Suomen Talvisota 1939-1970. Furthermore, Laine wrote lyrics for Rauli "Badding" Somerjoki.

Jarkko Laine @ Wikipedia

Jarkko Laine: Kuin ruumissaatto

The Sperm featured @ WFMU's Blog

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/09/adventures_in_t_2.html, linking also to pHinnWeb's Finnscene: The Prehistory page.

There is also a 16:09 MP3 of The Sperm's 'Heinäsirkat' from their only album Shh! ("Locusts"):

http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/WB/The_Sperm_-_Heinasirkat.mp3

Oz Magazine Cover Gallery

[Skip this entry if you are under 18 years old.]



Here you can see the cover gallery for the legendary late 60s/early 70s UK underground magazine Oz, spotted from the blog of mighty Jahsonic! And here (click "Library") you can see scanned contents of Oz magazines in their entirety: chockful of stuff -- articles, photographs, psychedelic and provocative artwork -- that will blow your mind, baby!

The acclaimed 60s UK underground insider and historian (Barry) Miles writes in his Hippie:

On Wednesday 23 June 1971, at court number 2 at the Central Criminal Courts of the old Bailey in the City of London, Britain's longest obscenity trial got under way. The three defendants -- Jim Anderson, Richard Neville and Felix Dennis -- were charged with having 'conspired with certain other young persons to produce a magazine' that would 'corrupt the morals of young children and other young persons' and had 'intended to arouse and implant in the minds of these young people lustful and perverted desires'. There were four other charges to do with publishing 'an obscene article', possessing copies of the magazine, sending it through the postal system and so on. The trial was a farce -- the contents of the magazine were so tame that the Soho sex shops would not have stocked it. In reality it was an attempt by the authorities to curb the growth of the underground press and to stop the spread of pernicious ideas about sexual freedom, the rights of school children and other hippie notions.

Oz had previously published a Homosexual Oz, edited by homosexuals but aimed at the usual Oz readership. The Women's Liberation Oz was edited by feminist author Germaine Greer but distributed to Oz magazine's usual underground readership. There had even been a Flying Saucer Oz, edited by people who believe in such things. The School Kids Oz was edited by school kids, but aimed at Oz's usual readership. The court, of course, thought that they were aiming the magazine at children, which was the main reason given for the case. Richard Neville represented himself. He told the jury, "One of the reasons we invited adolescents to edit this special issue of Oz was to combat the tendency for everyone to try and shut them up. We were interested in what they had to say. But we didn't want to be like the headmasters who censor everything they don't happen to agree with... Oz 28 is the result of this experiment. School Kids Issue, it says on the cover -- which means of course, the issue edited by school children, not aimed by others at them."

They advertised for school children between the ages of 14 to 18 to come and edit Oz, offering them freedom from editorial interference. Mostly they wrote about the iniquities of the school system: arbitrary punishments, vindictive teachers and grading systems. Being school kids, there was a lot of smut, including a collage of Rupert Bear with a huge phallus that had been taken from a Robert Crumb cartoon and stuck on him.

The trial result could be easily predicted. Judge Argyle made life as difficult and worrying as possible for the defendants, from not allowing an adjournment when their barrister dropped out, to remanding them in custody for social, medical and mental report before he would pronounce sentence. The defendants' long hair was forcibly shorn in prison. They were given 15 months each, and Neville was to be deported back to Australia, his birthplace. Once more the law was shown up and, once more, an appeal was needed to overturn the sentences and set the Oz Three free.

Oz Magazine @ Wikipedia
The Rupert Bear Controversy

The Miskatonic Acid Test

I just got this mysterious message from a gentleman called Rob MacKenzie; probably his interest was raised by pHinnWeb's Beyond The Calico Wall page, dedicated to 1960s psychedelic garage rock (for me, the best rock'n'roll ever made):

I'm writing to spread the word about The Miskatonic Acid Test, a very ambitious feature length movie which is currently filming in Maine and Massachusetts, USA. The film combines psychedelic rock (influenced by groups like the Elevators, Watchband, Stooges, etc.) with cosmic horror concepts pioneered by the writer H.P. Lovecraft, mixing in a good bit of philosophy, antiwar politics, and humor along the way. It's going to be a gas... and did I mention the psychedelic rock?

Here's the outline: in 1969 a group of students at Miskatonic University in witch-haunted Arkham, Massachusetts decided to emulate the West Coast and put on their own sort of "happening", where "music and atmosphere could combine to create an alteration of consciousness", with the clandestine help of a little LSD. Or maybe a lot. Unfortunately, the professor they chose to serve as faculty adviser on the project had an agenda of his own; see, he was a philosophy professor, one who specialized in the "study of Evil", and one who saw the Miskatonic Acid Test as an opportunity for a little experiment. As the music and drugs reached their peak he ascended the stage and began to read incantations from the dread Necronomicon... and soon everybody learned a lesson about "cosmic consciousness"... they learned that some things are cosmic, and, unfortunately for us, they are also conscious.

The official site at http://miskatonic.americanentropy.com has more on the film, including set photos, a "teaser" trailer, an early script draft, and - just added! - the first of many soundtrack downloads, "Where the Sun Touches the Sky" by The Conqueror Wyrms.

A bit about me... I'm Dark Lord Rob, the writer and director of the film (I also play Professor Firth, the evil philosophy professor). Before this I was founder and bass player for the well-regarded 80's/90's garage/psych combo The Not Quite ("a major band" - Pulsebeat; "classic psychedelia by any standards" - Freakbeat; "One of the strongest bands in the genre" - Knights of Fuzz). After the band evaporated I turned my hand to writing, creating the Electric Druid website, which evolved into American Entropy.com, where literally dozens of projects are evolving - novels, screenplays, teleplays, and, um, other. The Miskatonic Acid Test will be my first film... a lifelong dream achieved.

Also in the all-star cast is Chris Horne, formerly with garage legends The Brood.

If this sounds like an exciting concept, I hope you'll take a moment to have a look and a listen on the website. If you like what you see/hear, I hope you'll help spread the word about the movie (with a link, news blurb, or just by telling your friends) so that we can start building some momentum and make this film an event. Thanks!

Dark Lord Rob
American Entropy Productions
http://americanentropy.com

Bedtime For Bonzo

WHY I WANT TO FUCK RONALD REAGAN [1967] by J.G. Ballard

RONALD REAGAN AND THE CONCEPTUAL AUTO DISASTER. Numerous studies have been conducted upon patients in terminal paresis (GPI), placing Reagan in a series of simulated auto crashes, e.g. multiple pile-ups, head-on collisions, motorcade attacks (fantasies of Presidential assassinations remained a continuing preoccupation, subject showing a marked polymorphic fixation on windshields and rear trunk assemblies). Powerful erotic fantasies of an anal-sadistic surrounded the image of the Presidential contender.

Subjects were required to construct the optimum auto disaster victim by placing a replica of Reagan's head on the unretouched photographs of crash fatalities.

In 82% of cases massive rear-end collisions were selected with a preference for expressed fecal matter and rectal hemorrhages. Further tests were conducted to define the optimum model-year. These indicate that a three year model lapse with child victims provide the maximum audience excitation (confirmed by manufacturers' studies of the optimum auto disaster). It is hoped to construct a rectal modulous of Reagan and the auto disaster of maximized audience arousal.

Motion picture studies of Ronald Reagan reveal characteristic patterns of facial tones and musculature associated with homo-erotic behaviour. The continuing tension of buccal sphincters and the recessive tongue role tally with earlier studies of facial rigidity (cf., Adolf Hitler, Nixon). Slow-motion films of campaign speeches exercised a marked erotic effect upon an audience of spastic children. Even with mature adults the verbal material was found to have a minimal effect, as demonstrated by substitution of an edited tape giving diametrically opposed opinions.

INCIDENCE OF ORGASMS IN FANTASIES OF SEXUAL INTERCOURSE WITH RONALD REAGAN. Patients were provided with assembly kit photographs of sexual partners during intercourse. In each case Reagan's face was super imposed upon the original partner. Vaginal intercourse with "Reagan" proved uniformly disappointing, producing orgasm in 2% of subjects.

Axillary, buccal, navel, aural, and orbital modes produced proximal erections. The preferred mode of entry overwhelmingly proved to be the rectal. After a preliminary course in anatomy it was found that the caecum and transverse colon also provided excellent sites for excitation. In an extreme 12% of cases, the simulated anus of post-costolomy surgery generated spontaneous orgasm in 98% of penetrations. Multiple-track films were constructed of "Reagan" in intercourse during (a) campaign speeches, (b) rear-end auto collisions with one and three year model changes, (c) with rear exhaust assemblies.

SEXUAL FANTASIES IN CONNECTION WITH RONALD REAGAN. The genitalia of the Presidential contender exercised a continuing fascination. A series of imaginary genitalia were constructed using (a) the mouth parts of Jacqueline Kennedy, (b) a Cadillac, (c) the assembly kit prepuce of President Johnson...In 89% of cases, the constructed genitalia generated a high incidence of self-induced orgasm. Tests indicate the masturbatory nature of the Presidential contender's posture. Dolls consisting of plastic models of Reagan's alternate genitalia were found to have a disturbing effect on deprived children.

REAGAN'S HAIRSTYLE. Studies were conducted on the marked fascination exercised by the Presidential contender's hairstyle. 65% of male subjects made positive connections between the hairstyle and their own pubic hair. A series of optimum hairstyles were constructed.

THE CONCEPTUAL ROLE OF REAGAN. Fragments of Reagan's cinetized postures were used in the construction of model psychodramas in which the Reagan-figure played the role of husband, doctor, insurance salesman, marriage counsellor, etc.

The failure of these roles to express any meaning reveals the nonfunctional character of Reagan. Reagan's success therefore indicates society's periodic need to re-conceptualize its political leaders. Reagan thus appears as a series of posture concepts, basic equations which reformulate the roles of aggression and anality. Reagan's personality. The profound anality of the Presidential contender may be expected to dominate the United States in the coming years. By contrast the late JFK remained the prototype of the oral subject, usually conceived in pre-pubertal terms. In further studies sadistic psychopaths were given the task of devising sex fantasies involving Reagan. Results confirm the probability of Presidential figures being perceived primarily in genital terms; the face of LB Johnson is clearly genital in significant appearance -- the nasal prepuce, scrotal jaw, etc. Faces were seen as either circumcised (J.F.K., Khrushchev) or uncircumcised (L.B.J, Adenauer). In assembly-kit tests Reagan's face was uniformly perceived as a penile erection. Patients were encouraged to devise the optimum sex-death of Ronald Reagan.