Daniel Johnston like youv'e never heard him before!!!

[Billy Castillo]

Wel, yeah, but I thought that went without saying! 

Nah...I've had some serious problems in the past, and there were parts of the documentary that hit a little to close to home. I'm obviously much better now, but I still have my "moments".

Well, it's just an opinion. I do drugs too, I just think it's something personal. Also, I wish I had a penny for every drug user that fancies himself an artist and or musician.  Usually, these people are marginally talented, but use their inclination towards getting high as a reconciliation/excuse to further their lifestyle. I think that's fine, but I don't understand why they have to use "art" as the conduit.

I'm a musician/songwriter, and I smoke my fair share of weed, but in my case that's more of a coincidence than one having to do with the other. I don't really write or record high anymore...at first it would stimulate my creativity, but now I'm finding I write better sober. However, I do prefer to mix buzzed.

[King Weasel]

"only a very stable and positive mind" ketamine mixed with acid and ecstasy? Sounds real stable. Don't you have a job or anything to do during the day?

yeh i agree that is very judgemental, i am young and youthfull and i am in college working hard on a music degree, experimenting with my minds creativity and potential is completely relevant and beneficial. My mind is stable, i couldn't be happier, life is about taking risks and experiencing new things, i respect my body completely i meditate, eat well and practice yoga. Drugs gets a lot of bad press because of negative people like you.

Well, it's just an opinion. I do drugs too, I just think it's something personal. Also, I wish I had a penny for every drug user that fancies himself an artist and or musician.  Usually, these people are marginally talented, but use their inclination towards getting high as a reconciliation/excuse to further their lifestyle. I think that's fine, but I don't understand why they have to use "art" as the conduit. Besides, I AM Judgemental Jones.

Can I hear a sample of some of your music? YouTube is a good way to get that out.

I dont write music on drugs, im not even a regular drug user, i was simply giving an account of listening to daniel on acid and ketamine,

As for my music, Its mostly electronic and ive only been at it a year, the emphasis in my music to keep things very simple, like daniel i use simple chord progression and really try to keep the song well basically simple. I dont claim to be good yet, but i do enjoy my own music, which is very important. I am starting to write some daniel johnstonesque songs these days, as soon as i write one that im really proud of, il let all you guys know.

If you want a taste my music, i have a music video of a song i made last summer in 45minutes, i made the video with my friend in 1hr aswell. It has become infamous for some strange reason in my college, worth checking out if you wanted to see childish side of me.

its under: stupid electronics-bovine on youtube, let me know what you think

[kung_fu_elvis]

Wow... at 26, I'm already outdated on drugs...lol.

That being said, I too enjoy a herbal remedy once in ahwhile.... just pot these days, I couldn't fathom any of the chems that are out there today. Mind you, I've always had the 'if it grows on a tree, it's ok for me...' type attitude.

I find it can go either way, I can write on pot, record as well, I find it helps me focus... (or just ignore everything else long enough to get through a take...lol).

I think drugs are a fairly subjective experience... some people's chemistry, or general states of minds will not allow them to dabble... However, you must pay attention to your own body and how this stuff is getting to you... short term and long. Others... ie. Hunter Thompson, have a mechanism that allows them to cope with this buisiness...

Responsibility is paramount... if the **** gets to you, stop... and always trust your friends, when they express concern, it's time to take a real look in the mirror. I've seen both sides, people completely sucked under/into, or others who didn't have the mental facilities to cope with it, and ended up institutionalised... As well, I know fully functional people who can operate under the influence.

I think Jones had a point about knowing many drug users that fancied themselves artists, I've seen that as well... besides the whole concept that Morrison carried of 'if I'm a poet, I can be screwed up all the time' has a pretty loose beginning.... (Read about Rimbaud and Verlaine, their love and absinthe for some more on that... (Rimbaud looked up to/loved Verlaine and while he was a drunk Rimbaud held him in such regard that he glorified his dependency issues))


I guess what I'm saying is... do what you will, but take care of yourself. Don't feel you have to do drugs to become a great musician, or to create...

Expand your mind... don't escape it.

[Henry Long]

Here's the thing with insights provided by K-Hole disconnects or LSD lucidity's, or whatever flavor of the day you choose (booze, weed, speed, etc.)...

It's re-wiring your brain.

Now, I'm all for making new and different connections. I encourage one to look at the mysteries behind our ground of our being and draw their own conclusions. That's the whole point of Visions...to have them manifest in reality in some personal, important and useful manner to the perceiver.  However, drugs (legal and otherwise) have a way of quickly becoming abused, and then the biological responses to them become, in every instance I can think of, self-destructive.

Self-destruction (and violence) is totally romanticized in our culture. From sterility-cult anorexic junkie models to the “starving” artist who suffers for his or her work. It’s built in to our language. In my opinion, it’s a form of slavery. It’s Martyrdom sold in a cool-looking package. Look how the Media glorifies the tragic, from Curt Cobain’s suicide to the National Enquirer’s weekly-rehab headlines. The Front page of your local paper today probably has some crap about Anna Nicole Smith’s death. We are addicted to reading about other people’s addictions!

I’m saying all this having gone through the whole shebang myself. The fires of Hell are quite real, only you don’t see the flames when you’re in them. I was blessed. I came out alive. A lot of my fellow travelers did not, or if they did, are left permanently brain damaged and will never live as fulfilling a life as they might have otherwise.

Please don’t assume I’m preaching here. I’d never judge or lecture anyone to pursue anything other than their own path. This is just one person's experience. I was on that road, and I know where it goes. It’s a dead end.

Romanticize the Vision, but know that the inherent nature of those psychotropic or narcotic chemicals or animal tranquilizers is to control brain chemistry. If you ate and drank nothing for 4 or 5 days, you'd see things too, but the end results would be harmful to your health. Can't have much of a Vision when you're in a wooden box under the ground.

[Rob Wheeler]

I'm with you all the way here Henry. The original poster is I suspect completely ignorant of what the chemical's were actually doing to his brain. I personally have never seen the sense in why people think taking drugs makes them in anyway creative. If you look at the recording up until Hi How Are You, you find Daniel Johnston writing spectacular music because he is facing things. He describes real feelings and emotions and is indisputably connected to the real world is a totally lucid and spiritually touching way. Those who think they are being creative while taking drugs are always looking away from reality, looking for escapism. Daniel Johnston's music hinges on its reality even if it can be occasional cosseted in abstract concepts.

The original poster took:

ketamine - which disorientates - to the point where the user can forget how to speak or what there own name is for several days.

Ecstacy - an amphetamine that floods the brain with pleasure chemicals - creating a set of circumstances that sends the brain into full panic mode, desperately trying to mop up the chemicals limiting the damage it does. And there is more an more evidence that the damage it does is vast. Recent published works suggest that damage to brain blood flow after a single dose is detectable 6 months after consumption.

LSD - A hallucanagenic. This is a drug, from observing what people say about it, I think has a property that is not yet understood. In your life there are things which you slowly come to accept as reality. For example, you accept that a cars are a four wheel vehicle that travel on the ground. You gradually form concepts about society, how you fit in, why you get up in the morning etc. This are huge perceptions that are gradually formed and cemented over many years. Lyseric Acid seems to have the ability to corrupt the areas in your brain where these long term decision and persceptions are made. Often you hear reports of a person who has taken lysergic acid saying afterward "everything just seemed different". I pretty sure this is an effect of the long term decisions being corrupted. They might not be able to put a finger on it, but that part of that firmly rooted assertions that seem to have been dislodged. Some people might think that is a good idea, but I certainly don't.

There are actually a good number of examples even within rock and roll of people that have taken that drug and a extreme and had a profound change in their perception of the world that has left them. Anyone can see that Daniel Johnston had problems before he was drawn into drugs, but it was only after that he became obviously delusional, violent and a danger to society. Vince Taylor is a famous character, who went to a party one night, took lysergic acid, and returned convinced he was a God. This was a man who was a really big rock and roll star, and immediately went to rack and ruin. David Bowie bumped into him once a whiel before he died. He was working as a cleaner at a train station. He had a conversation with him which seemed very lucid, and then suddenly from his back pocket, Taylor produced a map from his back pocket and started to explain this is where his was going when he built a rocket ship to go and visit the aliens.

People that have taken these things never seem to perceive its retarding and delusional effects.

Anyway, the the reason I've sprung up here unannouced and spewed forth here is because I found the original post highly disturbing. The brain is a very delicate bit of gear and ramming it full of dodgey chemicals can only damage you. I have never and will never take any drugs. I don't even eat chocolate or drink caffinated drinks, and I avoid products with msg. I have suffered pretty awful depressions and nervous breakdowns, and I would never wish them on anyone, but I think people that take drugs are so shortsighted and cretinous that they are a blight on society. They seem to be so stuck in their own cloud, always ready to say that I'm being small minded, but unable to accept the facts when presented to them. My mum works in a mental health clinic and 95% of their clients are people who have a history of "recreational" drug use. We are not talking "hard drug" users here, their clinic does not deal with them. We are talking about people uses drugs such as the one the original poster seems to think are a bit of fun. And to be honest I have absolutely no pity for them, I really don't. I'm sick of the careless and cocksure attitude of drug users I've had around me. I've seen folk die from it, I've seen them do crazy things, I seen them become pretty useless people. I have no pity because they don't care about the pain they might be causing, and they think they are clever enough to take risks.

Case in point, the original poster's choice of drugs he decided to pollute himself with. What the poster may not be aware is that the amphetamine known as ecstacy has a nasty side effect when mixed with certain classes of antidepressent - which is death. What he may also not know is that derivitives of that particular class of antidepressent have been known to be ground down and used to bulk up ketamine salts for illicit sale. So basically, the original poster could have quite easily have ended up in a box. This is what I think, smartarse student, sitting in his room alone, listening to music, dead, mum gets the phone call, son is dead, very sad, he was her little boy, life is never the same. Nice one smart arse clever student.

If you are determined to take drugs I would strongly suggest getting a degree in human biology, brain chemistry and chemistry in general before doing so.

Rob Wheeler

[chunk1904]

well ive done lots of drugs in the past and i still ,
 mess around every once in a while  and im fine i own a home raise a family.
and i am very happy and im only thirty one.
and i was a into drugs pretty hard growing up in sourthern ca.
 yeah there bad but ive had some good times  .
you just got to know when to stop and grow up.
 thats good that some people can stay away from it.
but i am very happy to have had all those crazy days and nights 

 

[King Weasel]

Jesus this not a forum for discussing the pro's and cons of drugs, i was simply saying i had the most memorable splendid and lovely time listening to daniel johnston whilst on drugs, and only making a suggestion to any other fellow daniel lovers who are willing to take risks in life, to share the experience. i never claimed that i took drugs to make me more creative, although it most scientifically does, whence on drugs, parts of your brain are opened which are usually shut down thanks to their lack of use, because we live in such a square world where cars have 4 wheels. anyway on lsd i had no ego, i was completey detached from any need to impress when i sang i sang from deep within in my subconscious, my true self/spirit. My friends enjoyed the performance and thats all tat mattered to me. i Think before people start ranting about people who take drugs they should first accept and consider the fact people have different expectations from life, mine for example is not explore it thoroughly, i am an explorer and a lover of the world and all it's 11 dimensions. Like with grand theft auto, once you have completed the4 game it';s fun to mess around with the cheats.
i love |Daniel Johnstons music, he has helped sculpt who i am. And i am eternally gratefull.

[Rob Wheeler]

Jesus this not a forum for discussing the pro's and cons of drugs, i was simply saying i had the most memorable splendid and lovely time listening to daniel johnston whilst on drugs, and only making a suggestion to any other fellow daniel lovers who are willing to take risks in life, to share the experience. i never claimed that i took drugs to make me more creative, although it most scientifically does, whence on drugs, parts of your brain are opened which are usually shut down thanks to their lack of use, because we live in such a square world where cars have 4 wheels. anyway on lsd i had no ego, i was completey detached from any need to impress when i sang i sang from deep within in my subconscious, my true self/spirit. My friends enjoyed the performance and thats all tat mattered to me. i Think before people start ranting about people who take drugs they should first accept and consider the fact people have different expectations from life, mine for example is not explore it thoroughly, i am an explorer and a lover of the world and all it's 11 dimensions. Like with grand theft auto, once you have completed the4 game it';s fun to mess around with the cheats.
i love |Daniel Johnstons music, he has helped sculpt who i am. And i am eternally gratefull.

Mate, seriously, you are a buffoon.

I made the point that mixing illicit cuts of ketamine and ecstacy could quite possibley kill you in one dose and you try to justify it by saying you enjoy taking risks. If you are so engrossed in the so-called square world that you think you need to take chemicals to to release yourself from it, don't you think it might be better actually trying to work out why you are so psychologically bonded to those things, which are actually not realities. If you have all these hangups, why can't you just say, "hey, I'll put them to one side for one moment"?

I would strongly advise anyone that insists on taking drugs not to take the mix of drugs that this very cocksure and foolish idiot did. I've lost people that have done the sort of things this guy has done, and seen it brake so many people's hearts.

So original poster, I took the opportunity to suggest that your suggestion was stupid, dangerous and idiotic. I have to say i have nothing but contempt for you and your creed that encourage to follow your example. People will do what they want to do, but I felt I had to step in and rubbish and bring some reality and facts to your superficial and misguided assertions.

Opening up parts of the brain that don't get any use... I've never heard such complete and utter bollocks. Honestly mate, I mean, honestly. I just have to laugh, what parts of the brain are they? What parts of the brain did evolution produce that do not work until you add a disorantative drug most commonly used as horse tranquliser, an amphetamine that all evidence points to having a long term damaging effect on blood fow, actually decreasing the function of the brain, and a hallugenic, derived from ergot. Ergot is a fungus which grows on certain types of grain and for hundreds of years was caused for causing incurable madness when bread made from it was consumed. I don't think any of these things do a great deal of good for the brain.

You keep rolling the dice if you want to mate, but with these things it is inevitable they will catch up with you one day. Smart arse.

[Disfranchise]

Jesus this not a forum for discussing the pro's and cons of drugs, i was simply saying i had the most memorable splendid and lovely time listening to daniel johnston whilst on drugs

haha yeah Henry and those guy are crazy! they can write ALOT about everything, it's really cool! i enjoy reading their post and insights, preferably stoned, that's irony i think


Someone should print out some of those great posts and make something of it
you rock

[King Weasel]

If you are so engrossed in the so-called square world that you think you need to take chemicals to to release yourself from it, don't you think it might be better actually trying to work out why you are so psychologically bonded to those things, which are actually not realities. If you have all these hangups, why can't you just say, "hey, I'll put them to one side for one moment"?
 

Well it's seems that people on these personal forums seem pretty presumptious and stereotypical. The fact is it was my only time ever taking lsd and ketamine, and i dont plan on taking them again. For a once off experience as experiences go, for me it was well worth the risk. Reality is what you make of it. Sargeant Pepper's lonely hearts club band. If it doesnt open up our brain explain the links between autistic children with an incredible capacity for, memory and creativy and the effects of drugs. Drink is the biggest killer, personally i think anyone who indulges in such a pleasure is a buffoon, but what would i know, I'm just a drugged up junkie.

[Henry Long]

King-

Sorry for my knee-jerk reaction to your original post. Perhaps I should have stayed with the slightly tongue-in-cheek South Park reference "Drugs are Bad. m'kay?" If you know Daniel, or know his history either first hand, through the book or from the film, then you know how much some of the drugs you've mentioned have hurt him, hurt his family and friends, and brought alot of pain into all their lives.

So when I read "...but yesterday i had the most amazing daniel johnston experience whilst on an Acid, Ketamine and Ecstasy trip. It felt like i was in heaven..." it was like you were celebrating something which was actually quite damaging to Daniel. Like, "Drugs are COOL!" I know you didn't mean that, and in fact you point that out clearly at the end of your post:

"Its well worth a try, But like daniel acid isnt for everyone...so be careful if you plan taking Daniel to the next level..."

I think I was responding out of some weird protective sensibility, like there was a parental old-fashioned DAD in me which said "Gee, I hope some kid who's just getting into Daniel doesn't read this and think they HAVE to trip to truly "get" it..." (Insert image of J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, the pipe-smoking Sub-Genius here). So, yeah, sorry about that.

And although "...this not a forum for discussing the pro's and cons of drugs..." if you read through the many pages in our Library of Love, you'll see that alot of things get brought up and discussed here which are, at best, marginally related to Daniel. As a moderator, I feel that's the fun of the forum...it can be a starting point for all kinds of discussions! In this particular thread, there is so much passion... and of course, looking back, I can see both sides. Hopefully in the future, name calling and finger pointing will be kept out of such discourse, and forum members should at least keep in mind certain sensitivities regarding Daniel's health and history in their posts, if for no other reason than out of respect.

Oh, and if I tend to go on a bit much time to time, ["...Henry and those guy(s) are crazy! (T)hey can write ALOT about everything..."] I am guilty as charged. I am a writer, and spend at least 4 hours a day doing just that, so it kinda comes with the territory. I'll try to use my words more conservatively in the future, but I can't promise anything.

[Disfranchise]

Oh, and if I tend to go on a bit much time to time, ["...Henry and those guy(s) are crazy! (T)hey can write ALOT about everything..."] I am guilty as charged. I am a writer, and spend at least 4 hours a day doing just that, so it kinda comes with the territory. I'll try to use my words more conservatively in the future, but I can't promise anything.

No, don't even think about writing more conservatively in the future. I think writing is about letting all those ideas out there, good and bad. It will stimulate other thoughts and they can grow to be anything, if it's not good it will probably die off anyway and if someone gets offended you can always apologize or explain.. don't censor yourself in advance.. that would be foolish

As long as you feel what you are writing is true and not intentionally evil or offending it's all good
There will always be room for wrong interpretations of everything, as long as you keep it true to yourself all of that doesn't matter. You will alway be able to explain yourself here.. nothing is written in stone.

I like reading your posts and nothing is really too out there.. we can always try to reach for some big thought and just playing with it might learn us something, eventhough we might come off as pretentious at times.. so what?

[Rob Wheeler]

Well it's seems that people on these personal forums seem pretty presumptious and stereotypical. The fact is it was my only time ever taking lsd and ketamine, and i dont plan on taking them again. For a once off experience as experiences go, for me it was well worth the risk. Reality is what you make of it. Sargeant Pepper's lonely hearts club band. If it doesnt open up our brain explain the links between autistic children with an incredible capacity for, memory and creativy and the effects of drugs. Drink is the biggest killer, personally i think anyone who indulges in such a pleasure is a buffoon, but what would i know, I'm just a drugged up junkie.

I have some fundamental problems with this post. First of all, what are you actually suggesting - that autistic people are all on drugs? There is no chemical link with autism, it is a genetic condition. What is more, I just can not see the link you are making. Are you suggesting that there are people that can not draw/play music/be generally artistic and then they take drugs and then become gifted in a certain field?

Secondly "Sergent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" is not a sentence.

Thirdly, I think you misunderstood the point I was making in the previous post. I was not accusing you of an attachment to the drugs you were taking, I was accusing you of having an attachment to the things you were trying to escape. You are much better trying to see through the fog in the cold light of day than run away and medicate yourself to try and forget it.

Fourthly, I think drinking is stupid too, so there is no point throwing that at me (its a common justification), but there is also a major caveat you have to consider. Alcohol is a depressant and generally causes a down turn in body and brain function, which the body struggles to reverse. Ecstacy for one, is a stimulant and sends the whole body and brain into a major panic. The changes put massive stress on the function of all your major organs, particularly the heart, and your body struggles to deal with the increase in body tempreture. The chemicals whose release is triggered in your brain by the drug hang about for a few days as your brain desperately tries to mop them. These chemicals when released in normal amounts are adequately managed by the brain, but in large amounts they cause cell damage, so the brain automatically shuts down any further production until it is sure the crisis is over and it has time to replenish its store of mopper upperers. This means there is an inevitable phase with ecstacy several days after consumption when your brain completely drains of all the normal chemicals that keep you a balanced individual and you feel a severe depression. I've known a few people that have attempted suicide during this phase, and if you've never had a depressive spell before you simply will not be able to cope with it. Ecstacy is a very potent drug in any dose, and should simply never be consumed for any reason.

And finally, this notion that you are trying to reach some hitherto unachievable state of being  accessing new parts of the brain is complete hogwash. If that was the genuine reason people tended to take drugs, then processes such a brainwave syncronization (which uses sound) would be infinitely more popular than any chemical. Let's be honest, what you were trying to do mate, was get off your face.


[edited to repair mysterious corruption in original post]