Psychedelics! Hallucinogenics! LSD! Mushrooms! Peyote! STP! I couldn’t wait to take them after reading Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, but I had trepidations. I was afraid they’d transport me to some far-off psychic realm and deposit me there for good, and I’d end up like Syd Barrett with Quaaludes melting in my hair, talking to my long-dead great-grandfather, the one who was dragged to death by horses. So I asked a more experienced buddy, a macrodoser who once dropped acid every day for a month, how long the trip would last. And he replied insouciantly, “Oh, anywhere from six hours to the rest of your life.” I wasn’t what you’d call reassured.
I only tripped a few times, because as it turns out I’m Woody Allen neurotic and far too fragile a psychic specimen to be messing about with my delicate brain circuitry, but had I been the Captain Trips type who knows, maybe I’d have heard Leaf Hound’s great Growers of Mushroom. Alas, I gave up hallucinogenics on the fateful night I dropped acid, then spent the next six hours down on my hands and knees looking for it.
But it’s never too late to rejoin the counterculture, which I have done by burning my draft card (okay, so it was a pay stub from work, but it’s the symbolism that matters) and checking out all the semi-obscure psychedelic bands from that time I can find. And the band I like best, by many many micrograms, is Leaf Hound. The British band only released one LP, but it’s a work of true genius. It has everything you could possibly want in an album—great vocals, great guitar, great songs, even great cowbell. I love this album and want everyone to know about it, because it’s like Owsley-quality blotter acid for your ears and guaranteed to cause you to turn on, tune in, and turn it up.
Atlanta, GA | Atlanta-area record shop finds temporary home in neighboring music store after blaze: His Rock Music in Cumming erupted in flames earlier this month, but has now found temporary refuge at Ponce De Leon Music Center. After His Rock Music in Cumming erupted in flames earlier this month, destroying thousands of dollars worth of vinyl records and music equipment, the community has been quick to step up to help store owner Bob Johnson. First, a member of Johnson’s church launched a GoFundMe to help him recover some of his losses, then area musicians started planning a benefit concert, which will take place on Feb. 8. Now, a neighboring music store has taken Johnson in while he works to rebuild his business. Johnson first opened his store more than a decade ago. Originally located in Dawsonville, it relocated to Cumming five years ago. The store was in the process of moving again, this time to downtown Cumming, when the fire broke out. With the help of his community, business is getting 
Atlanta, GA | What’s old is new again: Dungeons & Dragons, combats boots, vinyl records are back in vogue: It’s true – pretty much everything old can become new again. Dungeons & Dragons, the role-playing game in which fate can change with a toss of the dice, is racking up the best sales in its 46-year history. Teens weaned on iTunes are falling in love with vinyl. And fashionistas are stomping all over Instagram and Pinterest in combat boots. Sharing items enjoyed by earlier generations helps families, friends and peers find a new way to connect, experts say. “In today’s turbulent world, a lot of consumers take comfort in the designs of the past,” says Neil Saunders, managing director of the retail consultancy GlobalData. “There is something reassuring about retro products, many of which are also seen as being authentic because of their heritage.” From left, Nicholas Prescott, 21, Lucas Davey, 22, and Austin Anderson, 21, all of Plymouth, N.H., get together every Sunday to play an old-school game, Dungeons & Dragons, one of the retro items and experiences that are 
Lincoln, UK | For the record: New HMV store opens in Lincoln Cornhill Quarter: HMV has opened a new store in the Cornhill Quarter with a much bigger vinyl record collection after closing on the High Street. The new shop opened on Friday, January 24 in place of BrightHouse next to Heron Foods and the upcoming Everyman Cinema at 16 Cornhill. It is very similar to the old HMV store which closed on the High Street on January 12, but it is now in a brand new, much brighter, unit. Laurence Price, head of retail at HMV, said previously: “All staff will be moving across to the new store and are looking forward to a refreshed unit. “It will give us the chance to update our offer and improve on our 
Bozeman, MT | ‘Social space’: KGLT hosts annual fundraiser record swap: A room in the Strand Union Building at Montana State University turned into a pop-up record store Friday afternoon. The smell of cardboard from record jackets filled the air as people young and old dug through boxes and crates of vinyl for KGLT’s Record Swap. Ear Candy, from Missoula, Bozeman’s Cactus Records and some individual sellers setup shop for the swap. A radio blared different music in the background for vinyl junkies looking for music that was new or weird or something they didn’t know they needed. Sandy Jett and Erin Eisner were among the crowd digging through the thousands of labels. Eisner said she’s been to previous swaps and has always been able to “find a lot of goodies.” She said Jett had the day off, and she dragged him to the swap. Jett said he was hoping to find something weird that he “didn’t expect to find or knew existed.” Eisner said she didn’t go with any expectations, though she limited herself by only grabbing $20 from the ATM — “I’ve spent a lot more before,” she said. Eisner said she’d figure out what she was looking for when she saw it. “It’s just fun to be 
Columbus, OH | Local record store owners embrace vinyl comeback: “Out with the old, in with the new” doesn’t always ring true in the music industry. Though streaming services still generate the most revenue, vinyl sales are making a comeback, with nearly a 13-percent revenue increase in the first half of 2019, while CD revenue increased by less than 1 percent, according to a 2019 Recording Industry Association of America report. To Columbus-area record stores such as Elizabeth’s Records, Used Kids Records and Magnolia Thunderpussy, this comes as no surprise. “There was a time back in the ’80s, when CDs came out, that we were throwing records in the dumpster to make room for CDs, and now we are doing the same thing. We are throwing CDs in the garbage to make room for records,” Charles Kubat, owner and manager of Magnolia Thunderpussy on High Street, said. Greg Hall, owner of Used Kids Records on Summit Street, said CDs deteriorate over time in a way that vinyl does not. “I think 
What Jimmy Page thought ‘Physical Graffiti’ lost within the transfer from record to CD: If you solely had one phrase to explain Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti (1975), “overwhelming” may be the best way to go. Between “Custard Pie” at first of Side One and the final moments of “Sick Again” on Side Four, Zep packed 83 minutes of powerhouse music onto its double album. Along the best way, Jimmy Page and Zep dropped a number of the band’s masterpieces. In truth, for those who have a look at the closing songs of the album’s first three sides, you discover three tracks within the Zep canon. After “In My Time of Dying” on the primary facet, listeners received the epic “Kashmir” on the finish of the the second facet. On the third facet, Page closed with one in every of his greatest compositions (and general productions), “Ten Years Gone.” When Physical Graffiti went onto CD, the discharge clearly misplaced the influence of Page’s authentic sequencing. In a 2015 interview, Page acknowledged that the unique four-sided LP was the best way Zep’s sixth album was meant to be heard… “Each side of vinyl was sequenced to showcase whatever was on there, so it wasn’t square pegs in round holes. Any of the four sides could be your favorite side.” When the interviewer requested if the CD sequencing has “unbalanced the album,” 
