Darren has been a friend of mine for a very long time. When we met, we were both embarking on journeys of self-discovery, mainly through the writings of people like Robert Anton Wilson and Israel Regardie. Most listeners of this program know Wilson’s work. Regardie is known as the great scribe and philosopher of the Golden Dawn system of Western Ritual Magick. Both Darren and I were enrolled in schools of Western Occult studies, and realized that it was one of the oldest forms of self-therapy. He wrote the oft-quoted article “Green Eggs And SoHam” in one of the early issues of The Excluded Middle.
Darren has also been a composer/ musician for most of his adult life. We talked about influences on our lives and thinking and Darren played selections from his new CD This Old Life. We also talked about (and listened to) his musical influences such as Captain Beefheart, Robrert Johnson and singer/songwriter Pat MacDonald (formerly of the band Timbuk 3.)
We ended with a discussion about the influence of comedy on our lives and philosophies. I played part of a recording I made of a performance from the legendary Tony Clifton from a couple of weeks before.