On this episode of Hippie Love Turbo, on KUCR 88.3 FM I was having one of those nights where my brain was bouncing all over the place. Perhaps my mind is twisted from this unusual weather with temperatures still in the mid to high 80s or maybe I'm still trying to cope with the fact that another Halloween season has come and gone and all I got was a bag full of rocks. Either way, let's take those rocks and roll into the topics I covered on this episode (please don't hate me).
The first thing I blabbed on about were two of my favorite mushrooms, which I call my favorite purely for their unusual beauty. The conversation about mushrooms came up because the first song of the night was Hugh Barrett's cover of Terry Noland's song There Was a Fungus Among Us. While I think Noland's version is worth checking out too, I prefer Barrett's cover because it has a grittier edge which I think suits the topic of the song a little better.
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| Photo by Darvin DeShazer from Mushroom Observer |
Anywho, the first mushroom is known by many names with Bleeding Tooth being the most descriptive. When the fungus is immature it has the appearance of used chewing gum with indentations that hold onto a red liquid that is reminiscent of jelly or blood. Despite the spooky name and unappetizing nature, the mushroom is non-toxic and actually contains Atromentin which is known for it's antibacterial and blood thinning properties. I won't pretend that I know how the Atromentin is extracted from the fungus but I doubt you should go around eating them for any sort of medicinal reasons, especially since the mushroom is known for having an extremely bitter taste.
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| Basket Stinkhorn |
Secondly, I mentioned the foul-smelling Basket Stinkhorn which has an egg-like appearance until it matures into a strange geometric shape that reminds me of chicken feet from heck. Unlike the Bleeding Tooth, a mature Basket Stinkhorn isn't considered harmless although flies certainly love it, which most definitely means that even if you can get past the awful smell, eating a mature Stinkhorn is probably a big no-no.
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| Portrait of Alice Cooper's Brain as seen in this video |
As the show continued, I played a song by a Phoenix, Arizona garage rock band named Spiders who were previously known as The Earwigs but more famously transformed into Alice Cooper. There's plenty of things to say about Alice Cooper, both the band and the man (they both share the same name), but what I chose to focus on in this episode was the time Salvador Dalí teamed up with Alice Cooper (the man) for an unusual portrait. In 1971 Dalí was contacted by an artist/businessman named Selwyn Lissack about the possibility of Dalí exploring the field of holography. Dalí eventually collaborated with Lissack and his crew by creating a series of holograms including a holographic cylinder which featured a portrait of Alice Cooper sitting down while holding a modified statuette of Venus de Milo, complete with his signature makeup and an assortment of expensive jewelry. Although the audio is a little spotty, you can hear Cooper recall the portrait during a Q&A session at The Dalí Museum back in 2013.
Finally, to round out this post I'll quickly go over some other random things I touched upon throughout the show. You heard The Palace Guard's song Oh Blue (The Way I Feel Tonight) and I mentioned that they were from the L.A. suburb Hawthorne, which was also the hometown of both The Beach Boys and Tyler The Creator. Another song I played was The Scots of St. James' Tic Toc which led me to recommend a short story by Harlan Ellison named "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman. You heard a fun tune by The Rats, who were a garage rock group from Akron, Ohio which some call the home of the hamburger due to claims by Frank and Charles Menches that they originated the staple American classic at Akron's 1892 Summit County Fair. However, Akron is probably most famous for their vast rubber production and their minor league baseball team, the RubberDucks. Lastly, you heard a song by The Nashville Teens who were surprisingly from a town in Surrey, England named Weybridge. Weybridge has a lovely bus museum nearby (The London Bus Museum) which features a wide variety of buses over the span of 150 years. From everything I've seen online, it sort of reminds me of the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, CA, which I highly recommend if you are in the Riverside area.
Thanks for tuning in! Remember, you can listen over the air on KUCR 88.3FM or through KUCR.org every Saturday at 9pm. If you'd like, you can also listen to KUCR through Radio Garden or Tune-In.
You can hear this episode's playlist below:
Hugh Barrett - There Was A Fungus Among Us
The Palace Guard - Oh Blue (The Way I Feel Tonight)
The Systems - Su un'altra terra
The Roosters - She Sends Me
The Mummies - Your Love
Thee Headcoatees - Davey Crockett
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