"Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No"

"without question the most intimidating pitcher of his era"

I've posted before of Dock Ellis and his no-hitter pitched while under the influence of LSD.
Here's a great short film by James Blagden.



The preceding video, and the following description, are from NoMasTV's channel.

In celebration of the greatest athletic achievement by a man on a psychedelic journey, No Mas and artist James Blagden proudly present the animated tale of Dock Ellis' legendary LSD no-hitter. In the past few years we've heard all too much about performance enhancing drugs from greenies to tetrahydrogestrinone, and not enough about performance inhibiting drugs. If our evaluation of the records of athletes like Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Marion Jones, and Barry Bonds needs to be revised downwards with an asterisk, we submit that that Dock Ellis record deserves a giant exclamation point. Of the 263 no-hitters ever thrown in the Big Leagues, we can only guess how many were aided by steroids, but we can say without question that only one was ever thrown on acid.

Sadly, the great Dock Ellis died last December at 63. A year before, radio producers Donnell Alexander and Neille Ilel, had recorded an interview with Ellis in which the former Pirate right hander gave a moment by moment account of June 12, 1970, the day he no-hit the San Diego Padres. Alexander and Ilels original four minute piece appeared March 29, 2008 on NPRs Weekend America. When we stumbled across that piece this past June, Blagden and Isenberg were inspired to create a short animated film around the original audio.

Bicycle Day

April 19th is Bicycle Day.
It was on this day in 1943 that Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann ingested LSD before his bicycle ride home. It must have made for one amazing journey.

R.I.P. Dickie Peterson

"I think the secret of rock & roll is that it’s 10% technique and 90% attitude. If you deliver one note with the right attitude, it will do more than 60 notes with no attitude."

Blue Cheer bassist and co-founder Dickie Peterson passed away on Oct. 12 after a bout with prostate cancer.

Blue Cheer had a hit with "Summertime Blues" in 1968 and were the heaviest band to emerge from the San Francisco psychedelic scene (and are also credited as being the pioneers of heavy metal).
"We’re just a power trio," Peterson said. "We play ultra blues, and it’s rock & roll. It’s really simple what we do."
Peterson, who was 61, had held the band -which was named after a brand of LSD- together over the years, but had canceled a recent tour to get treatment.



Dickie Peterson was a supporter of medical cannabis and was the recipient of the High Times Doobie award.

Field Trippin'

One high school teacher's account of a trip he didn't mean to take

by John Moss

"By the time I reached Chase Street, I had a pretty good awareness of what was happening. Some of the treetops were dancing in the heat and wind, and my mouth was extremely dry."

(from Bohemian.com)

Dock Ellis , RIP

Dock Ellis (March 11, 1945 - December 19, 2008)

Former major league pitcher Dock Ellis, who infamously claimed he pitched a no-hitter for Pittsburgh under the influence of LSD, has passed away.

Ellis spent 12 years in the majors with Pittsburgh, the New York Yankees, Oakland, Texas and the New York Mets. He retired in 1979 with a record of 138-119, but was best known for several colorful incidents on and off the field.

Here's an NPR Interview with Ellis: Pitching on LSD (audio below)

Ellis died Friday of a liver ailment at the age of 63.

Here's a great song (sample) inspired by that fateful game, from troubadour Chuck Brodsky.

"A startling presence, both vocally and visually...an Oscar Wilde in drag who combined insight and sarcasm that was sometimes light, sometimes dark. "

Grace Slick was born Grace Barnett Wing on October 30, 1939 in Evanston, Illinois to Ivan W. Wing and his wife Virginia Barnett (a direct descendant of Mayflower passengers).

Grace was, is, and forever shall be the goddess of sixties rock- side by side with Janis Joplin- though in a league all their own, these women were THE pioneers in a male-dominated world and their work and actions were/are no less significant than the 1st female firefighters, astronauts, etc.

Grace Slick was a member of; The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Starship.

After retirement from the music business, Slick began drawing and painting.




While critics have alternately panned and praised her work, Slick seems indifferent to the criticism. She views her visual artistry as just another extension of the artistic temperament that landed her in the music scene in the first place as it allows her to continue to produce art.

"Bang, zoom, straight to the moon!"

Jackie Gleason trips out on LSD in this clip from 1968's Skidoo .




The film starred Jackie Gleason, Groucho Marx, Carol Channing, Frankie Avalon, Mickey Rooney, Peter Lawford, Richard Kiel, Slim Pickens, Frank Gorshin, Burgess Meredith, Caesar Romero, George Raft, Arnold Stang, Harry Nilsson (Nilsson also composed the soundtrack), and many others!
A cult-classic, Skidoo was directed by Otto Preminger who was experimenting with LSD (along with Groucho Marx) during the film-making.

Watch the movie (97 min.) at Google Video.

RIP Albert Hofmann

It is with great sorrow, that I bring to you the news of Albert Hofmann's passing. The Swiss chemist and father of LSD was 102 years old.

Bicycle Day

April 19th is Bicycle Day. It was on this day in 1943 that Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann (he's 102 years old!) ingested LSD before his bicycle ride home. It made for one amazing journey.