When I went to download these tracks from my eMusic profile, I noticed that I had downloaded 666 artists. Whether or not this has any meta-meaning as I unravel the mysteries of these two classic orations from the '60s on Smithsonian Folkways, I'm not sure, but somehow it's a fitting number for Dr. Timothy Leary, a man who once rivaled Aleister Crowley for contempt by the conservative mainstream.

My take on the '60s and much of the psychedelia and mysticism that enshrouded it is much different from what it once was. More and more info is coming out about the CIA's involvement in the countercultural movement. Leary on the east coast and Ken Kesey on the west coast were the hierophant and the fool respectively. Not coincidentally, they were both connected to two of the most powerful educational institutions on both coasts as well (Harvard and Stanford). Rumors have dogged Leary persistently over the years as being a CIA operative to help create a counterculture that would lead to introspection and disengagement from society at large. Whether or not this was true or even successful, the ubiquitous nature of LSD and the… read more »