best (living) public speakers in psychedelic community?

[NatureBoy]

I'm wondering who you guys think of as the best living public speakers in the psychadelic community??????? (worldwide)

I'm asking because of the upcoming Adelaide Festival of Ideas taking place in July this year. I went to the one in 2003 (its a bi-annual event) and it was excellent- but I can't help thinking about how great it would be to have a pannelist from the psychedelic community.

I would like to suggest a short list of people to the organisers of the festival, because its exactly the kind of event that could benefit from the input of such people.

http://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/ideas/w...one/default.asp

PS thinking about this made me think about how i would hav liked to see Terence McK in person

[ 23. January 2005, 16:48: Message edited by: NatureBoy ]

[gerbil]

I've not seen/heard alot of talks, but from the brief ones i've seen, the 2 that imo are very worth while are

Mark Pesce (sp??)

and

Julian (folias/carpedmt)

Both are in australia.

Julian can be quite full on (in a good way) but I can see how alot of people are taken back by his ideas and his presentations, very entertaining and captivating, he is quite a character. Talks are more focussed on plants and tryptamines.

Mark is more of a gentle speaker. In a way he makes his audience feel very welcome and the only word to describe it i suppose is 'warm'. Seems to have a range of talks more with a technology twist.

From the ones i've seen, these are definately at opposite ends of the spectrum. Both well worth it imo.

Every presentation from all the different people i've seen has been impressive mind you, not one dull one.

I'd absolutely love to see the shulgins and alex grey present a speach for sure. Hey i can wish can't I? :D

[hebrew]

yes i would like to hear julian speak, i imagine he would have alot of interesting things to speak about.

i have not heard many ethno discussions (apart from when i talk to myself... lol)

bit i did go to ethnogensis (cant remember its name, the one in melbouren last year) i did like hearing Michael Boch speak.

[Torsten]

Sasha Shulgin, Paul Stamets and Johnathan Ott are the most engaging and captivating speakers I have seen. However, Sasha can't/won't come to australia for various reasons and Ott is here at the moment. Stamets has a rather high price tag. Many others have plenty to talk about, but won't captivate more than the hardcore ethnoheads.

I think the choice of speaker very much depends on the type of event. For your purpose it might be good to go for someone with a braod appeal even if not famous. Earth & Fire Erowid would fit this category well. Huge amount of experience, lots to talk about, and while most don't know their names, everyone knows their project.

[waterdragon]

definately agree with gerbil, mark has a very captivating quality and knows how to engage his audience. julian is very knowledgeable and completely fanatical, a joy to behold.

[NatureBoy]

Thanks for the replies guys. Received this message from the Executive Producer of the Festival of Ideas Today... seems I am too late to make suggestions:

**********************************

Dear NatureBuoy ,

Too late for July 2005 I am afraid - the list of invited guests is released on the 15 Feb with a detailed program released early in June. You may know that the overall title for the 2005 event is "What is to be Done?" and the Advisory Committee are exploring the subjects - Education, Health, Sustainability, Philanthrophy/Ideas into Action/Social Entrepreneurship

You can always submit names for 2007 however I will not know the theme until around September this year.

I hope you will attend this year and please come up and say hello I am usually near the Information desk.

Best wishes, Rose

Rose Wight

Executive Producer - Adelaide Writers' Week

Executive Producer - Adelaide Festival of Ideas

**********************************

Maybe I will talk to her there and mention some people who I would like to see next time....

For anyone in Adelaide or anywhere else who doesn't know, the Festival of Ideas is basically a panel of invited guests (each specialists in their field, and representing different viewpoints and even some radical, and practical ideas). There are individual workshop type presentations and group discussions, mostly around the buildings of Adelaide University. I would recommend attending the festival to anyone who takes an interest in the world around them.

[folias]

thanks guys for the unexpected praise!

I saw the topic and was going to say, ME, ME, ME, surely I am the BEST speaker ever... :D but seriously, clarity and presentation, audience engagment could do with a lot of work!

I saw Ott speak recently...super clean and clear speaker...but he seems very set in traditions of information and knowledge and so on...but this seems part of his way of working and lineage which is very co-ordinated to the relevant mind sets involved at this time...

(btw, mulga was his question ho' @ intra cortex! I have it on tape where ott asks me ask for a question and mulga is still trying to choose someone out the back to blot out the possible disturbance from the infidel!...I will post a good quality mp3 of most of the talk when I have time!)

Trout is the ethnobotanical speaker I like to listen to the most...he is a very humble guy who doesn't put himself out there much in the world...who is more knowledgable and open minded explorer than anyone I have ever met regarding these matters...and is very much grounded in a psychoactive consciousness of the plants... a practical alchemy he inspires in people.

I haven't seen shulgin speak, but someone I know thought after seeing him, that this guy had taken all these chemicals and substances and was SO articulate and clear, gave hope to us all!

And yeah, in Australia, there are people who could be very good speakers, but don't want to put themselves out there...people like Mulga could share a great deal, but almost seem to believe in a secret society way of going about things rather than open communicativeness or/and there is a lack of self confidence in the basic logos/voice which is coming through us...there is no doubt in my mind terrence was just the dude who was plugged into THAT so very directly and immediately.

Sure terrance was pretty wacky at times, but listen to most of his talks and most what he is saying is just very self supporting and clear.

I find terrence terrence to be like a clear conduit of entheogenic consciousness and what it is attempting to communicate to us....and so anyone is overly critical or closed minded to terrence I tend to be pretty suss of!

Julian.

[rkundalini]

what about neil pike?

[Being]

One of the main ingredients i find lacking in the psychedelic/enthnobotanical community in general is communication on these states of being from a female perspective. And this seems to be dictated partly by the fact that most speakers are in the business of conveying more technical information based on their scientific careers, where (it seems?) few females share anyway.

(Not to disregard Darklight's articulate and considered presentations and highly valuable work in the field)

Having been to conferences overseas, this does seem to be more of an Australian thing, as there is a stronger female presence elsewhere, but lets face it, it is still largely a boys club..

Personally i feel i have a unique perspective as a female worth sharing as a speaker ...one of these days.. for now i am still too young..

so where are all the experienced psychedelic / ethnobotanical females, and where (and what exactly?) is their voice?

[Being]

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Edited October 26, 2006 by Being

[Being]

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Edited October 26, 2006 by Being

[Being]

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Edited October 26, 2006 by Being

[bluetonguedragon]

best talks eb 1&2 - neil pike - classic pike, Darpan - wonderous, nem - great first hand account of the history of the eb scene, julian was very interesting! - piers gibbon - fantastic entertaining and endearingly english, that german chemist was it Christian reich? sorry or something, hung out w him and is missus in the pool for a few hours and they were v cool,mmmr kundalini was very user friendly in his explanations of chemistry and a clear speaker, ray from hhh is always entertaining and charasmatic,floyd davies preached the divine word, mulga was shy but v knowledgable, Tors radiated enthusiasm...mmmthats all I remember right now...Had the pleasure of spending a couple of hours one on one w mckenna a few years b 4 he left, and he was mesmerizing, the conceptual linguist, stuff just dripped from his tongue...gunna listen to ott this weekend, and hope to have a wee chat too...

[NatureBoy]

hello Being, you foxy female minx - I would like to see some female speakers in our field too and see what they have to say.

This could be a new thread, but it is maybe a further question to anyone who wants to answer:

What do you think is stopping more people from feeling comfortable enough to talk in public about their experiences/research/thoughts on matters psychadelic???

and how do those of you who are speakers deal with your own hesitations (if any) on dealing with 'law sensitive' material?

[Torsten]

Originally posted by NatureBoy:

and how do those of you who are speakers deal with your own hesitations (if any) on dealing with 'law sensitive' material?

There are three ways to deal with this.

1) Ignore all the laws as they are redundant. (eg some of the locals)

2) Tell everyone the laws are redundant, but that the larger the group the more you have to play along with them (the majority of speakers)

3) "My career as a teacher/pharmacist/lawyer/chemist/physician/miner/policeman does not allow me to comment on that" and refers to erowid.com (these are the ones sharing all intricate illegal detail on forums such as these while securely protected by their anonymity).

[Rev]

Yep

Carl, neil pike and mark pesce strike me as the people i like to listen to speaking publicly the most out of the the local EB presenters ive seen so far. Their topics are good but im referring to the whole package their quality as spoken word presenters.

cant put my finger on it but they stand out against those who had the topic but lack the delivery (ie the rest of us to lesser or greater degrees).

RK did a pretty good chem discussion integrating solid simple multimedia . Didnt see Robin Rodds talk at EB3 but ive seen his stuff before at his uni and private presentations and its always good)

I missed many others.

I thought claudia and christian were good but im foggy as to whether it was their style or just the allure of the exotic substance that got me. i lean to say i was biased by the susbtance though they are good. I did really like Piers Gibbons style.

[alucinare]

As i've only heard a small number of audio's regarding ethno lectures i cant really comment on this. I've mainly only heard Mckenna who can easily suck you into the world of his thoughts and some from Ott, being very knowledgable.

I have a few question on this though, where is Ott speaking this weekend? how do i get information about various events such as the ones spoken of, except EB and does anyone know where i might be able to download audio's of ethno talks?

thanx!