Friday, October 18, 2013

Flashback Books: Communism, Hypnotism and the Beatles


Below: from flashbackbooks.com, a Canadian mail order book store run by Michael Horowitz, hippie/beat author and close friend of Timothy Leary (he is on the board of The Timothy Leary Archives).

The title alone of this religious tract tickles Patty's funny bone. How could anyone logically come up with this combination of things? The 1960's American Religious Right, that's who:

"Communism, Hypnotism and The Beatles are all instruments of (...wait for it...) THE DEVIL. Evil incarnate! Satan! Lucifer! Beelzebub! The Beast! There are subliminal messages in rock music, especially in the music of the Beatles. Play this one backwards...hear it? "Paul is dead! Paul is dead!" With their atrocious long hair, loose morals and hidden messages, the Beatles are turning God fearing clean cut American youth into Godless communists! It's true: they do it with mind control. And once our best and brightest minds have been taken over, who knows what Satan might bid them do? One moment our children are homecoming queens, football players, All-American types fixing meatloaf for the church potluck, and the next thing you know, they are eating garbage with their hands. Communally! Like communists! And even worse, the garbage will be...gasp...VEGETARIAN."

Mr. Noebel's manifesto was no longer available through Flashback, so Patty purchased copies of the 1972 and 1974 Senate Hearings on the Marijuana and Hashish Epidemic instead. And while there was nothing too compelling in them relating to our topic of study, Patty was interested to learn that the BEL was heavily involved in a passport fraud operation in order to mask their comings and goings abroad. This, the hearings read, was confirmed by Interpol, who once investigated Bruce Davis' undocumented presence in London on at least one occasion (that slippery little git).

Michael is a very nice man and he will do you right. We chatted a bit over email, and he sent me in the mail, free of charge, these photocopies of some rare BEL ephemera. Apparently, these cards were the ones that Orange Sunshine was distributed on at free concerts and gatherings. COOL SHIT. Thanks, Michael. You are positively lovely.








11 comments:

brownrice said...
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Matt said...

Patty:

When YOU figure out how relevant YOUR new post is to the whole MANSON story, YOU should begin to understand how the "system" really works.

Add a circus tent "fire and brimstone" preacher named Billy Graham to President IKE and you have the birth of the "conservative right" - the fight against Communision - the Vietnam War -----

Robert Hendrickson


Patty is Dead said...

Show Patty the way, dear cryptic friend!

Doc Sierra said...

Add a circus tent "fire and brimstone" preacher named Billy Graham to President IKE and you have the birth of the "conservative right" - the fight against Communision - the Vietnam War -----

Robert Hendrickson
-------------------------------------
That's funny. I always thought Vietnam was LBJ's war.....

Patty is Dead said...

Patty spoke to Michael last night over email. She wanted to know if he had anything on the history of MDA because Patty has had a difficult time locating any. He suppested Peter Stafford's Psychedelics Encyclopedia, which Mr. Patty just happens to have in his collection. Patty pulled it down last night, and started reading, now armed with a Chemistry minor, that will be finished same time next year. Here is what she learned:

MDA and other similar drugs are part of a “cluster" including DOM/STP and another very dangerous variant called PMA. They are all likened to synthetic mescaline.

Why did Gibby Folger and Voytek Frykowski have it in them when they died? Why did Johnny Griggs die of a “synthetic mescaline” overdose? And did Gary Hinman make up said bad MDA in his basement? There’s a story out there about some pissed off bikers feeling that they got ripped off over a bad batch. And, the BEL was in with The Gypsy Jokers, the Straight Satans and the Angels. Hmmmmm.

Patty is Dead said...


Another ooEEoo Patty discovered in the encyclopedia: Alexander Shulgin, the famous chemist known for his work with these specific compounds, was in residence during the mid to late 60a at...wait for it...UCLA.

Matt said...

Patty's gonna figure this out, I can feel it!

Ajerseydevil said...

Patty I thought I had read John Griggs died from Shrooms ?

Patty is Dead said...

William, you are probably right, depending on who you read it says different things. But everybody agrees that it was synthetic, it was made in a lab somewhere and that it was a "bad batch." It would be much more convenient for Patty's hypothesis if it was mescaline, but she must guard against making the evidence say what she wants it to. It must be allowed to breathe, evolve and speak for itself. Thanks for keeping Patty honest. xx

Patty is Dead said...

Every single theory out there probably has an element of truth and an element of BS. This will make it harder for us to find a pattern, but the internet is uncovering more of the facts for more of us to consider. What do you think happened?

Ajerseydevil said...

I see your point Patty It being the only known case of anyone overdosing on Magic mushrooms You peaked my interest again on BEL I read Schous book plus the one on the Drug libraries website Which personally I thought was a little better. I've been reading another excellent web page for the past two days on BEL that start at the very beginning with Sandoz corp. + Government involvement with LSD and mind control. Very interesting and another thing I love so much about the MANSON case so many possible subplots its endless