Dancing Around the Truth

After a long hiatus, Jerry Sander returns to the show, with reflections about 2023, where he's been and some hopeful energies for 2024. 

An extraordinary interview with an extraordinary person -- Hans E. Hageman. His lifestory continues to unfold in the direction of working to heal the world. Through his work with people often written off as "too difficult" or too dangerous to embrace Hans continues to inspire the rest of us to go out of our comfort zone. 

Our special guest today -- someone who has never appeared as a guest before -- is author Jerry Sander, previously (and currently) the host of the podcast-in-hiatus (?) Showing Up.
In this bracing interview Jerry explains the nearly one year disappearance of Showing Up from his loyal community of listeners and explains what 2021-2022 held for him.

His book, The Guyland, an episodic memoir about growing up on Long Island in the late '60's, early '70's, is discussed and, obviously, promoted. 

What if you found out, a lot later in life, that there were some very important things your about your family-of-origin that didn't quite add up?  That there were some important things about the very essence of who you were, and where you came from, that they'd not told you?

Author Christine Jacobson went through this experience and wrote about it. It brought her into contact with a side of herself she'd had a dim awareness of, and it didn't come without complications. 

Her book, Dancing Around The Truth, can be ordered here: https://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Around-Truth-Christine-Jacobsen-ebook/dp/B08LSNTTLQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ZMRYBCY4TQYE&dchild=1&keywords=dancing+around+the+truth&qid=1633993195&sr=8-1

This is the second part of my interview with Don Lattin, author of a nonfiction "psychedelic trilogy" of books about San Francisco, Tim Leary, LSD, MDMA, Richard Alpert/Ram Dass, Aldous Huxley and the resurgent prospect of using psychedlic substances (legally) to assist psychotherapy.

Will "psychedelic psychotherapy" come into being as a mainstream, insurance-reimbursable reality within the next few years? Isn't changing consciousness at the heart of what is being attempted with anti-depressants? Or...maybe not.

Don writes about the intersection of the spirit, mind, body and consciousness....through the lens of his experience, and reporting about, the psychedelic substances that were heavily demonized in the "War on Drugs." As these come into serious study in the therapy field, now, a reconsideration of what was being attempted, on both the East Coast and the West Coast, in the 1960's is in order.

Don can be reached at http://www.donlattin.com/

In which I interview Don Lattin, author of a nonfiction "psychedelic trilogy" of books about San Francisco, Tim Leary, LSD, MDMA, Richard Alpert/Ram Dass, Aldous Huxley and the resurgent prospect of using psychedelic substances (legally) to assist psychotherapy. 

How does the love of music -- and the creative impulsive to change/adapt it -- get transmitted across generations? I interview L.A. musician and producer Josh Shpak about his journey. Learning from jazz masters, from legendary trumpet/trombone player Mic Gillette (one of the original members of Oakland's powerhouse Tower of Power) and a myriad of other influences on both the East and West coasts, Josh has matured into the rare musician who can create a jazz album of depth and unique sonic textures and then turn around and produce pop music that is fresh and contemporary.

Here is a YouTube video of young Josh being taught the beginning of "You're Still a Young Man" by Mic Gillette: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A03u7f3t_to
and here is the video of Josh being brought ontstage to perform the song, live, with Tower of Power when he was 17 years old: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVA12k6moz4

For more info on Josh's recent projects, visit him at https://www.joshshpak.com/
The album, "Astatic," by the Josh Shpak Band, can be found here: https://tidal.com/browse/album/48723029 or on iTunes here: https://music.apple.com/us/album/astatic/1011664021?uo=4&app=music

Three original members of the 1970's South Shore Long Island rock group, Primeval Ooze, reunite for conversation 50 years later. Topics include: what WAS that we did, and had, 1970-1972, what we went on to do in the decades that followed, the evolution of musical taste, and trying to wrap our heads around the fact that the young rock musicians of the past are now grandparents, have their Medicare cards in their wallets and have children and grandchildren who may or may not be interested in tales about the good-old-days. 

In which the discovery of cool is understood via the form of a Farfisa keyboard and the musical company of two preteen rock musicians. Guest interviewee is Marc Blam, the first guitarist welcomed to the finished basement of my suburban Long Island home in 1967. Spoiler alert: two old guys reminiscing. 

A playlist of relevant music is here:https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2yLgS45YaWhVXz0IC18jTM3qA0oTm5jt

Further discussion with Dr. Craig Heacock, adolescent and adult psychiatrist and addiction specialist in Colorado, and host of the psychiatric storytelling podcast, "Back From the Abyss."

We discuss the uses and abuses of a range of substances -- some of which seem to hold promise for controlled use in the therapy process, and some of which seem particularly designed for recreational use. 

What is being seen in states that have already legalized recreational use of marijuana? What can be expected in states that have legalized recreational use of some psychedelic substances? 

And what, if any, are links to depression, anxiety, and/or suicide? 

What can be gained, and lost, from our interactions with medicines/substances/drugs?