piece of mind

a few years back, daphne and i went to our friend m’s parents house in the country to while away a hot summer day by the pool.

m’s parents were there, so was her cousin, who i’ve heard was taking a break from life in the big city to sort out some personal business. when we got there, the cousin had already spent most of the morning chilling by the pool. probably thirty-something, she was friendly and shinny with oily sunscreen. as we splashed around in the pool, she applied more lotion and sunbathed on the chaise lounge.

daphne first noticed something odd about the cousin; she would occasionally shift into what seemed like slow-motion for about 10 to 15 seconds and, just as suddenly, snap out of it and continued with whatever she was doing as if nothing had happened. “looks like she’s on something,” daphne whispered to me.

as lunch was being prepared, we all got out of the pool and headed inside. the cousin was sound asleep so m told us that she would get her when lunch is ready.

10 minutes later, m stormed into the kitchen in a panic, face white as ash.

“shit! she’s not breathing!”

i ran out with her and saw her cousin still lying next to the pool. except for the freaky blue lips, she looked exactly like how we had left her. we decided to do cpr and moved her from the chaise lounge down to the lawn to clear her air passage. for about 5 minutes, i pumped while m did mouth-to-mouth.

“damn you,” m cursed. “don’t you fucking die here.”

it was hard to tell if it was working. what we thought was a faint pulse drifted, and while she remained warm to the touch, it could just be from baking in the sun. as we were about to give up, the paramedics came. they hooked her up, told us we did good, and took her away.

we found out later she had raided the medicine cabinet that morning and took god knows what. daphne and i didn’t say much on the way home; i could still feel the oily sunscreen on my hands.

m called the next day to tell us her cousin was brain dead and they decided to switch off the life support.

quicksilver messenger service emerged from san francisco’s haight-ashbury scene in the late ‘60s. given its drug-addled history, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that its biggest and only top 50 hit, “fresh air” off the “just for love” album (bgo, 1970), is an ode to the herb. taking a more glam but no less psychedelic approach is the live version of lou reed’s “sweet jane” from “rock ‘n’ roll animal” (rca, 1974). steve hunter’s solo guitar intro is one of those musical experiences, like eddie hazel’s excursion on “maggot brain”, that is forever seared into my brain, note-for-note. and, with titles such as “white light/white heat” and “heroine”, it’s hard to miss the not-so-subtle drift of the whole joint.

i was belatedly tipped to the dramatics' equally restrained “the devil is dope” from “feed your head: 16 mind-blowing classics”, an excellent promo compilation from mojo several years back. if you’re in the mood for more proselytizing, check out “a dramatic experience” (stax, 1973).

i signed “grace” by tokyo's dan k as part of the raw oxygen series and eventually licensed it to ministry of sound in europe. its hypnotic and slightly creepy groove probes deep into the mind and reveals the universal topology of our subconscious.

Posted by cellpharmer at June 4, 2005 07:18 PM