Ummagumma
Every so often as my fingers are running along the edges of my CD collection, trying to find a fit for my mood, this song beckons to be heard. Tonight was one of those rare occasions. The wife and kids were gone and the empty house’s silence begged to be broken. My mood needed something only the right music could satisfy. Music had and has always been able to create the right atmosphere, at just the right time, for any and every occasion. The song I was setting up to listen to would transport me to a time of incredible change and growth in my life; a time of self discovery and exploration.
Music existed for me based on what my parents listened to around the house, bland and boring. When I was finally introduced to other types of music, they impacted me heavily. Rock and Roll affected my lifestyle the most of any genre. As my adolescent rebellion coincided with my self discovery, music followed suit, matching my attitudes step for step. A roller coaster ride ridden by an overly eager kid preparing to see the wonders of the world.
A rustling in the woods. The chatter of small creatures in the night. First just one. Others join in the chatter. All with something different to say. The song had started and so too had the vivid memories of that night so long ago.
I stared at the small smiley face like an artist at his masterpiece, the smile a hint of what was to come. “Full of possibilities and wonders”, at least that’s what my new best friend had told me, before I agreed to try it. I was ignorant, naïve, but eager. I had waited until my parents were asleep and with absolute terror and anticipation, I placed the piece of paper into my mouth, beginning the ceremony and initiation.
The chatter turns to whistles and screeches. The tumult of sounds begins forming a rhythm. A drum steadily builds in momentum like a tap dancer in full form.
Somewhere between junior high and my freshman year of high school, I felt that I had no identity. I needed, and thus became interested in, anything and everything different, thirsting for life experiences. I was barely into my freshman year when I began hanging out with the ‘wrong crowd’. My parents saw my friends as weird, strange, and trouble-making, but I considered them unique and fascinating. Their influence, despite what my parents thought, was positive. My friends were jocks, musicians, and outcasts, all sharing an avenue of rebellion from the mainstream. My biggest transformation would come from my best friend Dave, the trumpet player who played in the local symphony. The ‘Reagan Years’ were good and enabled our parents to send us to a private high school where our matching desires to be different brought us permanently together. Music was at the forefront of everything we did together.
The drums and creatures combine their voices into a chaotic chant. Their urgent songs rising and falling. One creature begins chanting a strange incantation.
Anticipation had been building for some time until finally one day before classes started, I asked Dave for something that would take me away. I was ready to experiment and escape from my supposedly troubled world. By the end of the day Dave had acquired what I was after. His only words of wisdom, or were they warning, were to be careful and keep an open mind.
Individual creature sounds emanate from separate speakers, engulfing me in their chaotic cries. Hundreds of creatures seem to be adding their voice to the chorus.
For quite some time, I felt nothing. Beginning to get disappointed, I picked up a gyroscope from my nightstand and gave the disc a giant spin. I laid on my bed and put the tip on my nose, where it balanced like a top and gave my eyes a view through the middle of the spinning wheel. Each section of the disc revealed new doorways to different places as it whizzed faster and faster. Each image presenting me with a new wonder. Overwhelmed, I moved to the thickly carpeted floor and was met by enormous mountains and wooded valleys surrounding me. After an incredible journey ‘over the hills and through the woods’, I reached my dresser and faced myself in the mirror.
Cries seem to echo of the walls. Whispers and whistles, clattering steps and billowing breaths. Everything combining in chaotic symphony. The song is building as well as the memory. Each group of creatures sounds off with their own individualistic expressions, creating a dim roar. Suddenly a human voice screams in Gaelic, building and intensifying, spilling an ancient ballad. The sermon answered by the occasional murmur from a creature.
In the dim light of my bedroom my face transformed to a bare skull and then to a dragon’s head, with several strange images between. Still not realizing what was occurring, I went into the dark bathroom to get some water and splash my face. Hundreds of rainbow butterflies erupted from the wallpaper and danced around me. During my journey I had solved every mystery and question in the world, yet when morning came could not recall a single revelation. A spectacular sunrise danced over the hills with “Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict”, by Pink Floyd, playing the sun’s anthem.
The man’s story concludes and the creatures retreat back into the night, the sounds fading into silence. The song ends with a sense of fulfillment I share. Emotionally exhausted I place the album, UMMAGUMMA, back amidst the hundreds of other memory-stirring albums.
My explorations were short lived but everlasting. Despite high grades, sport’s letters, and a great job, my parents thought every trouble I encountered in life were a result of my youthful straying. The differences that affected me so strongly were in my perception of the world around me and my attitude towards it. Newly optimistic and self confident, I rushed head-on into life. I questioned everything and was rewarded with endless mysteries to unravel and experience. My first psychedelic experience had shattered my immature preconceived notions of the world and opened my life to a whole new realm of possibilities. I never found myself that night but discovered that the search was more enjoyable than the treasure at the end. I have maintained this attitude from that day forward.
--Me 2003
Music existed for me based on what my parents listened to around the house, bland and boring. When I was finally introduced to other types of music, they impacted me heavily. Rock and Roll affected my lifestyle the most of any genre. As my adolescent rebellion coincided with my self discovery, music followed suit, matching my attitudes step for step. A roller coaster ride ridden by an overly eager kid preparing to see the wonders of the world.
A rustling in the woods. The chatter of small creatures in the night. First just one. Others join in the chatter. All with something different to say. The song had started and so too had the vivid memories of that night so long ago.
I stared at the small smiley face like an artist at his masterpiece, the smile a hint of what was to come. “Full of possibilities and wonders”, at least that’s what my new best friend had told me, before I agreed to try it. I was ignorant, naïve, but eager. I had waited until my parents were asleep and with absolute terror and anticipation, I placed the piece of paper into my mouth, beginning the ceremony and initiation.
The chatter turns to whistles and screeches. The tumult of sounds begins forming a rhythm. A drum steadily builds in momentum like a tap dancer in full form.
Somewhere between junior high and my freshman year of high school, I felt that I had no identity. I needed, and thus became interested in, anything and everything different, thirsting for life experiences. I was barely into my freshman year when I began hanging out with the ‘wrong crowd’. My parents saw my friends as weird, strange, and trouble-making, but I considered them unique and fascinating. Their influence, despite what my parents thought, was positive. My friends were jocks, musicians, and outcasts, all sharing an avenue of rebellion from the mainstream. My biggest transformation would come from my best friend Dave, the trumpet player who played in the local symphony. The ‘Reagan Years’ were good and enabled our parents to send us to a private high school where our matching desires to be different brought us permanently together. Music was at the forefront of everything we did together.
The drums and creatures combine their voices into a chaotic chant. Their urgent songs rising and falling. One creature begins chanting a strange incantation.
Anticipation had been building for some time until finally one day before classes started, I asked Dave for something that would take me away. I was ready to experiment and escape from my supposedly troubled world. By the end of the day Dave had acquired what I was after. His only words of wisdom, or were they warning, were to be careful and keep an open mind.
Individual creature sounds emanate from separate speakers, engulfing me in their chaotic cries. Hundreds of creatures seem to be adding their voice to the chorus.
For quite some time, I felt nothing. Beginning to get disappointed, I picked up a gyroscope from my nightstand and gave the disc a giant spin. I laid on my bed and put the tip on my nose, where it balanced like a top and gave my eyes a view through the middle of the spinning wheel. Each section of the disc revealed new doorways to different places as it whizzed faster and faster. Each image presenting me with a new wonder. Overwhelmed, I moved to the thickly carpeted floor and was met by enormous mountains and wooded valleys surrounding me. After an incredible journey ‘over the hills and through the woods’, I reached my dresser and faced myself in the mirror.
Cries seem to echo of the walls. Whispers and whistles, clattering steps and billowing breaths. Everything combining in chaotic symphony. The song is building as well as the memory. Each group of creatures sounds off with their own individualistic expressions, creating a dim roar. Suddenly a human voice screams in Gaelic, building and intensifying, spilling an ancient ballad. The sermon answered by the occasional murmur from a creature.
In the dim light of my bedroom my face transformed to a bare skull and then to a dragon’s head, with several strange images between. Still not realizing what was occurring, I went into the dark bathroom to get some water and splash my face. Hundreds of rainbow butterflies erupted from the wallpaper and danced around me. During my journey I had solved every mystery and question in the world, yet when morning came could not recall a single revelation. A spectacular sunrise danced over the hills with “Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict”, by Pink Floyd, playing the sun’s anthem.
The man’s story concludes and the creatures retreat back into the night, the sounds fading into silence. The song ends with a sense of fulfillment I share. Emotionally exhausted I place the album, UMMAGUMMA, back amidst the hundreds of other memory-stirring albums.
My explorations were short lived but everlasting. Despite high grades, sport’s letters, and a great job, my parents thought every trouble I encountered in life were a result of my youthful straying. The differences that affected me so strongly were in my perception of the world around me and my attitude towards it. Newly optimistic and self confident, I rushed head-on into life. I questioned everything and was rewarded with endless mysteries to unravel and experience. My first psychedelic experience had shattered my immature preconceived notions of the world and opened my life to a whole new realm of possibilities. I never found myself that night but discovered that the search was more enjoyable than the treasure at the end. I have maintained this attitude from that day forward.
--Me 2003
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