Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Is it possible to be functional on LSD?

58 views
Skip to first unread message

Gus

unread,
Jun 17, 2013, 8:28:31 PM6/17/13
to
On the NPR show "Unfictional" they said Dock Ellis threw a major league
baseball game while high. Not just pitched, but pitched a no-hitter-- on
LSD... Is that really possible? He also said he never played a game without
being high on something (usually bennies). I guess drug testing was a bit
more lax in the early 70s.


Claim: Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis hurled a no-hitter while under
the influence of LSD.
http://www.snopes.com/sports/baseball/ellis.asp

Status: True.

In 1974, feeling that his teammates had lost their aggressiveness and were
too easily intimidated, Ellis decided to put on a show against the
Cincinnati Reds (who had come from behind to defeat the Pirates for the 1972
National League pennant on a run-scoring wild pitch in the bottom of the
ninth inning of the final playoff game). In a May 1 start against the Reds -
having announced before the game that "We gonna get down. We gonna do the
do. I'm going to hit these motherfuckers." - Ellis opened the contest by
drilling leadoff hitter Pete Rose in the ribs; hitting the next batter, Joe
Morgan, in the side; and then plunking Dan Driessen in the back to load the
bases. Although clean-up hitter Tony Perez managed to dodge Ellis' pitches
long enough to draw a walk before being hit, Dock aimed his next two
offerings at Cincinnati catcher Johnny Bench's head, whereupon he was
unceremoniously yanked from the game by Pittsburgh manager Danny Murtaugh.

On 12 June 1970, Ellis hurled the first no-hitter of the 1970 season as he
blanked the Padres 2-0 in the opening game of a double-header in San Diego.
Ellis' feat was a bit unusual in that he seemed particularly wild that day,
walking eight batters and hitting one, but many pitchers have achieved
stellar results despite laboring with obvious control problems. (Yankee
hurler Bill Bevens came within one out of throwing a no-hitter against
Brooklyn in the fourth game of the 1947 World Series despite issuing the
Dodgers an astounding ten bases on balls.) In post-game interviews Ellis
said he had been thinking about a no-hitter from the fourth inning onwards
and attributed his wildness to his efforts to keep the ball away from
hitters:

"I know guys who don't want to talk about it, but if you're going to throw
[a no-hitter], you're going to throw it. The ball I was throwing was moving.
I was keeping the ball away from the hitters. That's why I walked so many."

Fourteen years later, however, Dock Ellis revealed an alternative
explanation for his lack of control that day: he was under the influence of
LSD at the time. According to accounts he gave the press in April 1984,
Ellis had spent the morning of 12 June 1970 relaxing in his home town of Los
Angeles, under the mistaken belief that the Pirates had the day off. Ellis
said he ingested LSD around noon, but at about 1:00 PM his girlfriend picked
up a newspaper and discovered that not only were the Pirates scheduled to
play a double-header in San Diego that evening, but Ellis was slated to
start the first game for Pittsburgh. Ellis' companion hustled him off to the
airport by 3:30 PM and got him on a flight to San Diego, where arrived at
4:30 PM, in time for the double-header's 6:05 PM start.

Ellis told reporters he remembered little of what took place during the game
itself: "I can only remember bits and pieces of the game. I was psyched. I
had a feeling of euphoria. I was zeroed in on the [catcher's] glove, but I
didn't hit the glove too much. I remember hitting a couple of batters and
the bases were loaded two or three times.

The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw
the catcher, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I tried to stare the hitter down
and throw while I was looking at him. I chewed my gum until it turned to
powder. They say I had about three to four fielding chances. I remember
diving out of the way of a ball I thought was a line drive. I jumped, but
the ball wasn't hit hard and never reached me."

At this juncture we must point out that our assignment of a "True" status to
this story is a guarded one: only Dock Ellis knows whether or not he
actually took LSD the day he pitched his no-hitter, and therefore we have to
take him at his word. Even if Ellis did ingest LSD that day, however,
judging the extent to
which the drug was affecting him by the time he took part in that evening's
game is problematic. Baseball is a difficult game to play at the major
league level, even for skilled professionals free from the effects of
mind-altering substances, yet Ellis managed to pitch a complete game that
evening, apparently did not act so unusually that his teammates or manager
took notice, and was quite lucid while conducting post-game interviews with
the press. (Since it's a long-standing baseball superstition that players
should avoid speaking to a teammate who is in the midst of pitching a
no-hitter, the other Pirates likely had little or no interaction with Ellis
in the dugout during the latter half of the game.) Although Ellis might
correctly be described as having been "under the influence of LSD" during
his no-hitter, quite possibly the drug's primary effects had peaked and were
wearing off by game time. (Dock Ellis also maintained that he never pitched
again while under the influence of LSD but admitted he had taken pep pills
before the 1974 Cincinnati game in which he intentionally threw at the first
several batters.)

Bob

unread,
Jun 17, 2013, 10:13:22 PM6/17/13
to
On Jun 17, 8:28 pm, "Gus" <G...@Overton.Com> wrote:

> On the NPR show "Unfictional" they said Dock Ellis threw a major league
> baseball game while high. Not just pitched, but pitched a no-hitter-- on
> LSD...

There's a YouTube cartoon to accompany the telling.

Sano

unread,
Jun 18, 2013, 12:16:29 AM6/18/13
to
"Gus" <G...@Overton.Com> wrote in news:kpo9jk$43q$1...@news.albasani.net:

> On the NPR show "Unfictional" they said Dock Ellis threw a major
> league baseball game while high. Not just pitched, but pitched a
> no-hitter-- on LSD... Is that really possible? He also said he
> never played a game without being high on something (usually
> bennies). I guess drug testing was a bit more lax in the early 70s.
>
>
> Claim: Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis hurled a no-hitter
> while under the influence of LSD.
> http://www.snopes.com/sports/baseball/ellis.asp
>
> Status: True.

That never seemed too outlandish to me. I never experienced all that
"far out" stuff that was supposed to accompany acid trips.

bill van

unread,
Jun 18, 2013, 2:04:55 AM6/18/13
to
In article <XnsA1E32C3...@69.16.186.7>,
Acid was only mildly hallucinatory compared with, say, a big dose of
manufactured psilocybin. It could upset people who came to it while
gnawing on something that was troubling them. But a person not given to
introspection could have a very pleasant time on it, and a skilled
professional athlete at the top of his game might just feel exhilarated.
It has been a decade or three since I read about it, possibly in Jim
Bouton's fine book Ball Four, but I seem to recall some descriptions to
the effect that Ellis's high inside fastball that day was wild enough to
scare the bejesus out of the opposing hitters, and none of them ever got
comfortable in the batter's box.

bill

Pastime

unread,
Jun 18, 2013, 7:11:20 AM6/18/13
to
You both want to find the charlatans who sold you the acid and get
your money back.

Whenever I took acid I was in outer space, upside down and inside out
and experiencing every sensory stimulation anyone ever had, all
simultaneously, ten times over. Backwards. I wouldn't have been able
to throw a ball at all - I'd have been intently listening to it and
gently feeling its smell.
--
John

Gus

unread,
Jun 18, 2013, 11:53:26 AM6/18/13
to
"Pastime" <wsub...@tznvy.pbz> wrote in message
news:2rf0s8pahvbh1k1c3...@4ax.com...

> You both want to find the charlatans who sold you the acid and get
> your money back.
>
> Whenever I took acid I was in outer space, upside down and inside out
> and experiencing every sensory stimulation anyone ever had, all
> simultaneously, ten times over. Backwards. I wouldn't have been able
> to throw a ball at all - I'd have been intently listening to it and
> gently feeling its smell.
> --
> John


For how long? Ellis did have a few hours (about 5 or 6?) from when he
dropped to when he pitched. And maybe he did not drop much? He did walk 8
batters and throw a lot of wild pitches. 8 walks is an awful lot.

Pastime

unread,
Jun 18, 2013, 2:06:55 PM6/18/13
to
Gus wrote:

> "Pastime" <wsub...@tznvy.pbz> wrote in message
> news:2rf0s8pahvbh1k1c3...@4ax.com...
>
> > You both want to find the charlatans who sold you the acid and get
> > your money back.
> >
> > Whenever I took acid I was in outer space, upside down and inside out
> > and experiencing every sensory stimulation anyone ever had, all
> > simultaneously, ten times over. Backwards. I wouldn't have been able
> > to throw a ball at all - I'd have been intently listening to it and
> > gently feeling its smell.
>
> For how long? Ellis did have a few hours (about 5 or 6?) from when he
> dropped to when he pitched. And maybe he did not drop much? He did walk 8
> batters and throw a lot of wild pitches. 8 walks is an awful lot.

In all, twelve hours, divided into roughly three parts of equal
length. The first and last parts were mild, an intro and an outro, and
the middle part was when all the madness happened.

This, anyway, was my experience with all of the several trips I had,
but I don't think it's universal.
--
John

Gus

unread,
Jun 18, 2013, 4:32:14 PM6/18/13
to
"Pastime" <wsub...@tznvy.pbz> wrote in message
news:d981s89bcaaq92tco...@4ax.com...
I've never partaken, but I have seen the movie Altered States a few times.
Late at night, in the dark, all alone.

M C Hamster

unread,
Jun 19, 2013, 12:25:27 AM6/19/13
to
On Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:32:14 -0400, "Gus" <G...@Overton.Com> wrote:

>"Pastime" <wsub...@tznvy.pbz> wrote in message
>news:d981s89bcaaq92tco...@4ax.com...
>> Gus wrote:
>>
>>> "Pastime" <wsub...@tznvy.pbz> wrote in message
>>> news:2rf0s8pahvbh1k1c3...@4ax.com...
>>>
>>> > You both want to find the charlatans who sold you the acid and get
>>> > your money back.
>>> >
>>> > Whenever I took acid I was in outer space, upside down and inside out
>>> > and experiencing every sensory stimulation anyone ever had, all
>>> > simultaneously, ten times over. Backwards. I wouldn't have been able
>>> > to throw a ball at all - I'd have been intently listening to it and
>>> > gently feeling its smell.
>>>
>>> For how long? Ellis did have a few hours (about 5 or 6?) from when he
>>> dropped to when he pitched. And maybe he did not drop much? He did walk
>>> 8
>>> batters and throw a lot of wild pitches. 8 walks is an awful lot.
>>
>> In all, twelve hours, divided into roughly three parts of equal
>> length. The first and last parts were mild, an intro and an outro, and
>> the middle part was when all the madness happened.
>>
>> This, anyway, was my experience with all of the several trips I had,
>> but I don't think it's universal.
>
>
>I've never partaken, but I have seen the movie Altered States a few times.
>Late at night, in the dark, all alone.

My experiences were much more like John described than Sano's.
Mescaline was considerably gentler and less disabling, and as a result
rather more pleasurable.

On acid, my mind raced impossibly quickly. I convinced myself I was
having miraculous realizations about myself, about the universe and
everything, but I was so impaired that it was impossible for me to
remember those realizations or write them down or anything, so that
they were lost forever when I came down. With that kind of racing
mind, it's hard to imagine thowing a baseball with any kind of
effectiveness.

I don't think 5 or 6 hours would have helped, though it's possible the
effects could have worn off. I'm skeptical that Ellis was tripping on
full-blown acid, and suspect it was something similar.

I can't remember if I took psilocybin or not, though the mescaline we
were buying may well have actually been psilocybin.
--

"Big Wheel Keep on Turnin'" -- Creedence Clearwater Revival

bill van

unread,
Jun 19, 2013, 2:36:48 AM6/19/13
to
In article <j5c2s817mtk49b3bf...@4ax.com>,
I did mescaline three or four times and acid a couple of times, and
finally a horse pill that was psilocybin, not the mushrooms, but the
manufactured product.

The mescaline was fairly gentle. Colours were very bright and distinct,
but I can't say I hallucinated. Playing eight-ball was a hoot, and
eating stuff, and listening to music. I'd say it was more like a strong
hash stone than anything else.

Acid was a little speedier, and much more cerebral. Yeah, I tended to
think brilliant thoughts that I couldn't keep track of or pin down
later. But I was with friends, with favourite music and food available,
and it didn't feel dangerous.

Psilocybin was the big one for me. Nothing much for an hour after
dropping, then 15 or 20 minutes of nausea, then hallucinations. Still
things moving, colours shifting. The rust spots on a yellow metal wall
became moving caterpillars. Time lasted forever. It was the day of the
first moonwalk and I spent a lot of time transfixed by that story on
television. I was living in a former nursing home at the time converted
to a very large co-op, with 60 other people. I visited friends in their
rooms, listened to their music (the soundtrack to Hair and Velvet
Underground with Nico were big in that co-op). Somebody took me for a
drive and we stopped on a hilltop and looked at an impossibly blue sky.
Everybody else eventually went to bed and the thing turned into a bit of
a bummer. I was keenly aware that none of us could truly connect
emotionally with anyone else (not entirely true, but it felt profoundly
sad at the time).

I eventually knocked on the door of a guy who was a bit of a father
figure, hoping to talk to him. But he'd just returned from a day of
being wrecked on belladonna, which had a brief run as a recreational
drug, and he was in worse shape that I was.

I tried to go to work in the morning (I was a copy runner at a local
daily that summer) but the frenetic atmosphere in the newsroom was way
too much for me and I went home "sick". Got a few hours of sleep that
afternoon, and felt much better by the third day. Rose again, as it
were. But I never did hallucinogenics again. My public excuse was that
it took too much time to take the trip and recover from it, and that
gradually grew to be more or less true, but I was afraid of that
solitude I had felt.

Hoo-wee. That was just about 44 years ago.

bill, emotionally connected now

Sano

unread,
Jun 19, 2013, 9:21:18 AM6/19/13
to
Pastime <wsub...@tznvy.pbz> wrote in
news:2rf0s8pahvbh1k1c3...@4ax.com:
I can see your point I suppose.

I never got too disoriented or lost in too much of anything. IRL
either. ;-)

I did recently hear the proper way to do 'windowpane' though. You put
it in yer eye. We-ell I never did a whole lot of anything to get to
familiar with it.

Cocaine now .......... first time Iknew dat stuf' 'd getme in the bad
places.

Lesmond

unread,
Jun 19, 2013, 1:37:33 PM6/19/13
to
On Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:21:18 GMT, Sano wrote:

>
>I did recently hear the proper way to do 'windowpane' though. You put
>it in yer eye. We-ell I never did a whole lot of anything to get to
>familiar with it.

What!?! In your EYE?!?

That stuff had sharp edges!

--
If there's a nuclear winter, at least it'll snow.



art...@yahoo.com

unread,
Jun 19, 2013, 1:44:24 PM6/19/13
to
On Wednesday, June 19, 2013 1:37:33 PM UTC-4, Lesmond wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:21:18 GMT, Sano wrote:
>
>
>
> >
>
> >I did recently hear the proper way to do 'windowpane' though. You put
>
> >it in yer eye. We-ell I never did a whole lot of anything to get to
>
> >familiar with it.
>
>
>
> What!?! In your EYE?!?
>
>
>
> That stuff had sharp edges!

Is it worse than licking eyeballs?
(Apparently in Japan this is a new way of spreading STDS)

Gus

unread,
Jun 19, 2013, 4:14:15 PM6/19/13
to
"M C Hamster" <davo...@nospam-speakeasy.net> wrote in message
news:j5c2s817mtk49b3bf...@4ax.com...

> My experiences were much more like John described than Sano's.
> Mescaline was considerably gentler and less disabling, and as a result
> rather more pleasurable.
>
> On acid, my mind raced impossibly quickly. I convinced myself I was
> having miraculous realizations about myself, about the universe and
> everything, but I was so impaired that it was impossible for me to
> remember those realizations or write them down or anything, so that
> they were lost forever when I came down. With that kind of racing
> mind, it's hard to imagine thowing a baseball with any kind of
> effectiveness.
>
> I don't think 5 or 6 hours would have helped, though it's possible the
> effects could have worn off. I'm skeptical that Ellis was tripping on
> full-blown acid, and suspect it was something similar.
>
> I can't remember if I took psilocybin or not, though the mescaline we
> were buying may well have actually been psilocybin.
> --

Did you read Castaneda? Huxley?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDrKI8nIMDc




David J. Martin

unread,
Jun 19, 2013, 5:09:14 PM6/19/13
to
"Lesmond" <les...@verizon.net> wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:21:18 GMT, Sano wrote:
>
>>
>> I did recently hear the proper way to do 'windowpane' though. You put
>> it in yer eye. We-ell I never did a whole lot of anything to get to
>> familiar with it.
>
> What!?! In your EYE?!?
>
> That stuff had sharp edges!


Maybe blotter.

David

Lesmond

unread,
Jun 20, 2013, 4:48:25 AM6/20/13
to
We all did 35 years ago. Damn, you're just learning about drug literature
now?

Gus

unread,
Jun 20, 2013, 9:01:38 AM6/20/13
to
"Lesmond" <les...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:yrfzbaqirevmbaar...@192.168.0.6...
I hear there this hep cat named Ram Dass I should check out.

Actually, I remember being a bookstore in the early 80s and seeing a bunch
of books by Castaneda (and also Hesse). I found the meta story about
Castaneda and whether it was all made up more interesting than the Castaneda
books themselves.

There's still a lot of weirdness surrounding Castaneda. A cursory look at
some youtube vids and there are a lot of comments defending him. I watched
"Enigma of a Sorcerer" a few years ago. Cheesiest thing I have ever seen,
but I think the producers actually think it's well done and should be taken
serious.

Some people say the BBC doc is a waste of time, but I watched a few minutes
and at least the scenery looked interesting. It surprising Castaneda was
able to have so little known about him and protect his "image" so well. I
don't think he could do that today. He may have been the last famous person
to be able to do that before cell phone cameras and TMZ etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDrKI8nIMDc

M C Hamster

unread,
Jun 20, 2013, 2:07:45 PM6/20/13
to
I spent a nice couple of weeks hanging out with Philip Kapleau (author
of "The Three Pillars of Zen") at his Zen Center in Rochester NY which
is still there, I see. http://www.rzc.org/. I was invited there by
an old high school friend (he was class president, I was
valedictorian). I'd dropped acid or mescaline with him several times
during our college days, but he had moved on to Zen as an alternative.
He left the center after about a year and went to India to continue
his self discoveries.

A few months ago, I Googled him, wondering what he was up to. He is a
senior managing director of The Blackstone Group, the multinational
private equity, investment banking, alternative asset management and
financial services corporation, working in their corporate private
equity group. Zillow shows me he owns a $7 MM apartment on the Upper
East Side in Manhattan.

I can only conclude he achieved nirvana, and cashed it in.

art...@yahoo.com

unread,
Jun 20, 2013, 3:06:59 PM6/20/13
to
On Thursday, June 20, 2013 9:01:38 AM UTC-4, Gus wrote:

> I found the meta story about
>
> Castaneda and whether it was all made up more interesting than the Castaneda
>
> books themselves.

Carlos did meta mphetamines?

Pierre Jelenc

unread,
Jun 20, 2013, 4:11:27 PM6/20/13
to
In article <kpuufi$cud$1...@news.albasani.net>, Gus <G...@Overton.Com> wrote:
>"Lesmond" <les...@verizon.net> wrote in message
>
>Actually, I remember being a bookstore in the early 80s

Now, that's serious drugs you were doing! The best I ever became was a
minor god...

Pierre
--
Pierre Jelenc
The Gigometer www.gigometer.com
The NYC Beer Guide www.nycbeer.org

Gus

unread,
Jun 20, 2013, 5:20:14 PM6/20/13
to
"Pierre Jelenc" <rc...@panix.com> wrote in message
news:kpvnlf$o61$3...@reader1.panix.com...
> In article <kpuufi$cud$1...@news.albasani.net>, Gus <G...@Overton.Com> wrote:
>>"Lesmond" <les...@verizon.net> wrote in message
>>
>>Actually, I remember being [in] a bookstore in the early 80s
>
> Now, that's serious drugs you were doing! The best I ever became was a
> minor god...
>
> Pierre

I've never done any drugs or smoked anything. Not even a fish.

I've always had problems leaving words out when writing since young.
Actually worse when writing by hand. I have to go over things a couple
times, and still get some words wrong or some get left out. The worst word
to accidentally leave out is "not" which I sometimes do. My fingers often
just don't keep up and leave things out. It's annoying having to proofread
a couple times or more, and still get it wrong.

Xho Jingleheimerschmidt

unread,
Jun 20, 2013, 10:21:01 PM6/20/13
to
On 06/20/2013 01:48 AM, Lesmond wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:14:15 -0400, Gus wrote:
>
>> "M C Hamster" <davo...@nospam-speakeasy.net> wrote in message
>> news:j5c2s817mtk49b3bf...@4ax.com...
>>
>>> I can't remember if I took psilocybin or not, though the mescaline we
>>> were buying may well have actually been psilocybin.
>>> --
>>
>> Did you read Castaneda? Huxley?
>
> We all did 35 years ago. Damn, you're just learning about drug literature
> now?

Which Huxley are we talking about?

Xho

Gus

unread,
Jun 20, 2013, 11:56:02 PM6/20/13
to
"Xho Jingleheimerschmidt" <xho...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:kq0haa$mr$1...@dont-email.me...
Bob

Lesmond

unread,
Jun 21, 2013, 2:17:00 AM6/21/13
to
Lorna Huxley. I went to school with her. She has great tits,

Stanley Daniel de Liver

unread,
Jun 21, 2013, 5:03:03 AM6/21/13
to
... but ?

--
It's a money /life balance.

Lesmond

unread,
Jun 21, 2013, 10:26:16 AM6/21/13
to
>.... but ?

That wasn't supposed to be a comma.

Pastime

unread,
Jun 21, 2013, 5:07:22 PM6/21/13
to
The one that wrote that book about untrustworthy Spanish Muslims, "The
Moors of Deception".
--
John
Message has been deleted
Message has been deleted

Gus

unread,
Jun 21, 2013, 7:18:05 PM6/21/13
to
<art...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:592946c7-7118-42b6...@googlegroups.com...
He did a lot of stuff....

"For fans of the literary con, it's been a great few years. Currently, we
have Richard Gere starring as Clifford Irving in "The Hoax," a film about
the '70s novelist who penned a faux autobiography of Howard Hughes. We've
had the unmasking of James Frey, JT LeRoy/Laura Albert and Harvard's Kaavya
Viswanathan, who plagiarized large chunks of her debut novel, forcing her
publisher, Little, Brown and Co., to recall the book. Much has been written
about the slippery boundaries between fiction and nonfiction, the publishing
industry's responsibility for distinguishing between the two, and the
potential damage to readers. There's been, however, hardly a mention of the
20th century's most successful literary trickster: Carlos Castaneda.

If this name draws a blank for readers under 30, all they have to do is ask
their parents. Deemed by Time magazine the "Godfather of the New Age,"
Castaneda was the literary embodiment of the Woodstock era. His 12 books,
supposedly based on meetings with a mysterious Indian shaman, don Juan, made
the author, a graduate student in anthropology, a worldwide celebrity.
Admirers included John Lennon, William Burroughs, Federico Fellini and Jim
Morrison.

Under don Juan's tutelage, Castaneda took peyote, talked to coyotes, turned
into a crow, and learned how to fly. All this took place in what don Juan
called "a separate reality." Castaneda, who died in 1998, was, from 1971 to
1982, one of the best-selling nonfiction authors in the country. During his
lifetime, his books sold at least 10 million copies.

Castaneda was viewed by many as a compelling writer, and his early books
received overwhelmingly positive reviews. Time called them "beautifully
lucid" and remarked on a "narrative power unmatched in other anthropological
studies." They were widely accepted as factual, and this contributed to
their success. Richard Jennings, an attorney who became closely involved
with Castaneda in the '90s, was studying at Stanford in the early '70s when
he read the first two don Juan books. "I was a searcher," he recently told
Salon. "I was looking for a real path to other worlds. I wasn't looking for
metaphors."

The books' status as serious anthropology went almost unchallenged for five
years. Skepticism increased in 1972 after Joyce Carol Oates, in a letter to
the New York Times, expressed bewilderment that a reviewer had accepted
Castaneda's books as nonfiction. The next year, Time published a cover story
revealing that Castaneda had lied extensively about his past. Over the next
decade, several researchers, most prominently Richard de Mille, son of the
legendary director, worked tirelessly to demonstrate that Castaneda's work
was a hoax...."

http://www.salon.com/2007/04/12/castaneda/

Xho Jingleheimerschmidt

unread,
Jun 21, 2013, 9:06:38 PM6/21/13
to
Does she keep them in a gilded cage?

Xho

Snidely

unread,
Jun 22, 2013, 12:59:46 AM6/22/13
to
Gus submitted this idea :
You forgot to put in Greg's Goss tags.

/dps

--
Ieri, oggi, domani


Lesmond

unread,
Jun 22, 2013, 2:49:36 AM6/22/13
to
Yeah, but they keep singing.

Lesmond

unread,
Jun 22, 2013, 2:48:04 AM6/22/13
to
POTW.

Gus

unread,
Jun 22, 2013, 6:41:26 AM6/22/13
to
"Snidely" <snide...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:mn.ad277dd609fcb3bf.127094@snitoo...
"You're supposed to use <goss> </goss> tags when explaining the obvious in a
joke. "

But it wasn't a joke. I believe Castaneda was more of a trickster. He
seemed to take it all serious, especially after the Time article in 1973.
How did he dupe so many people??

"Many obituaries had a curious tone; the writers seemed uncertain whether to
call Castaneda a fraud. Some expressed a kind of nostalgia for an author
whose work had meant so much to so many in their youth. Korda refused
comment. De Mille, in an interview with filmmaker Ralph Torjan, expressed a
certain admiration. "He was the perfect hoaxer," he told Torjan, "because he
never admitted anything."

Deemed by Time magazine the "Godfather of the New Age," Castaneda was the
literary embodiment of the Woodstock era. His 12 books, supposedly based on
meetings with a mysterious Indian shaman, don Juan, made the author, a
graduate student in anthropology, a worldwide celebrity. Admirers included
John Lennon, William Burroughs, Federico Fellini and Jim Morrison.
All four [initial] books were lavishly praised. Michael Murphy, a founder of
Esalen, remarked that the "essential lessons don Juan has to teach are the
timeless ones that have been taught by the great sages of India." There were
raves in the New York Times, Harper's and the Saturday Review. "Castaneda's
meeting with Don Juan," wrote Time's Robert Hughes, "now seems one of the
most fortunate literary encounters since Boswell was introduced to Dr.
Johnson."

In 1972, anthropologist Paul Riesman reviewed Castaneda's first three books
in the New York Times Book Review, writing that "Castaneda makes it clear
that the teachings of don Juan do tell us something of how the world really
is." Riesman's article ran in place of a review the Times had initially
commissioned from Weston La Barre, one of the foremost authorities on Native
American peyote ceremonies. In his unpublished article, La Barre denounced
Castaneda's writing as "pseudo-profound deeply vulgar pseudo-ethnography."

Contacted recently, Roger Jellinek, the editor who commissioned both
reviews, explained his decision. "The Weston La Barre review, as I recall,
was not so much a review as a furious ad hominem diatribe intended to
suppress, not debate, the book," he wrote via e-mail. "By then I knew enough
about Castaneda, from discussions with Edmund Carpenter, the anthropologist
who first put me on to Castaneda, and from my reading of renowned shamanism
scholar Mircea Eliade in support of my own review of Castaneda in the daily
New York Times, to feel strongly that 'The Teachings of Don Juan' deserved
more than a personal put-down. Hence the second commission to Paul Riesman,
son of Harvard sociologist David Riesman, and a brilliant rising
anthropologist. Incidentally, in all my eight years at the NYTBR, that's the
only occasion I can recall of a review being commissioned twice..."

http://www.salon.com/2007/04/12/castaneda/




Sano

unread,
Jun 23, 2013, 3:26:56 AM6/23/13
to
"Lesmond" <les...@verizon.net> wrote in
news:yrfzbaqirevmbaar...@192.168.0.6:
Pictures? d'oh

Gus

unread,
Jun 23, 2013, 9:58:03 AM6/23/13
to

Stanley Daniel de Liver

unread,
Jun 23, 2013, 11:37:36 AM6/23/13
to
Sorry, my reply was supposed to be a double t

Sano

unread,
Jun 23, 2013, 12:29:52 PM6/23/13
to
"Gus" <G...@Overton.Com> wrote in news:kq6utj$fvl$1...@news.albasani.net:
-sigh- that yolk is beaten to deat.....
0 new messages