D O P E

D O P E

DOPE, is a 1968 documentary of the London drug scene. Featuring Donovan and Australian artist/dancer Vali Myers, the spectre of underground folk legend Geno Foreman, Marianne Faithfull talking about poppers, Syd's (Pink) Floyd in full UFO freakout mode, The Fool and mainlining in Richmond Hill, Dope is the definitive document of counter-cultural life in the capital during 1967.

Mere words cannot adequately describe this visual montage documenting the bohemian London drug culture of the late sixties...as they shoot up, eat, talk. In the spirit of the era’s avant garde film movement and evoking the subversive work of Andy Warhol, Jack Smith, Stan Brackage, and even Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider, Dope never spares its audience a break . . . Dope is more underground than the underground. It’s sub-underground.

"Light and atmospheric, this is a heady drama perfumed with scenes of heroin and hashish."--Ira Cohen

Film by Flame Schon, aka Diane Rochlin (in collaboration with the late Sheldon Rochlin). link

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WEHT Glen Schwartz from the James Gang?

David Byrne has this clip on his website of Glenn Schwartz playing at Hooples in Cleveland, Ohio.

From the website:

"Glenn started the James Gang in the 60s, then moved to California and was in the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. He flipped out soon afterward and was in religious communities. He's had a rough life and is tortured and crazy. Now Glenn is 67 years old and plays in a blues trio for free late every Thursday at a small bar called Major Hooples. There are typically 20-30 people there and he is jaw-droppingly amazing to see. His playing is like electric bolts straight from his psyche. He jumps off his amp and plays guitar with his teeth. And he often preaches fire and brimstone between songs. It's something very special and you won't see anything like it except on Thursdays in Cleveland.”

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[Link to video]

Anybody remember the "Jesus Freak" era that sprang out of the Sixties? One trip too many sent some people to Jesus and some people swung from yin (drugs) to yang (Jesus) just trying to find out who they were and some just flat out went to Jesus and kept on tripping. Whatever gets you through the night, I always say.

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