a Galactic Activation Multimedia Concert Experience.
Article by Robert Lucente . Photographic images created by Conall O'Brien.
Canal Room
285 West Broadway at Canal Street
New York City, NY.
Friday, 12/16/11(Red Rhythmic Earth)
Countdown to 2012: A Celebration of New Planetary Consciousness – held at the historic Canal Room in NYC on 12/16/11 was a celebration and kickoff to the countdown to the Winter Solstice of 2012, closing out the Great Cycle, and ushering in the Noosphere the next stage in new planetary human consciousness.
Based on the original “Countdown to 2012 – Celebrating the Life of Terence McKenna” held in San Francisco in 2000 - which included DJs, live music, visionary artists Robert Venosa and Martina Hoffmann and a special guest appearance by Grateful Dead bass player Phil Lesh - this year’s extravaganza featured genre-blending live music and multimedia including trip-hop performance by DJ SPOOKY, funk-fusion-jazz band, KUNG FU, and a very special electronica jam rock performance created especially for the event, by the BMD JAM SESSIONS featuring MARC BROWNSTEIN and ARON MAGNER of The Disco Biscuits with ADAM DEITCH of Break Science and Lettuce.
This year’s event celebrated positive transformation, music, art, peace and unity and also included visual art projections by SCOTT DRAVES aka SPOT (creator of the famed abstract morphing animation “ELECTRIC SHEEP”), intergalactic intermezzo sets by SYNCHRO (spinning House and beyond), invocation and activation ceremony by James Riverstone, featured artist Gizem Bacaz, and movie shorts provided by Post Modern Times and 2012:Time for Change (the 2010 feature-length documentary collaboration between best selling author Daniel Pinchbeck and Emmy Award nominee João Amorim, which presents an optimistic alternative to the mainstream apocalyptical doom and gloom portrayal of 2012 and the “end of the Mayan Calendar”).
The event honored the great 2012 visionary José Argüelles, who passed away in March 2011. Jose, founder of the Foundation for the Law of Time, gained international acclaim in 1987 with The Mayan Factor – which introduced the date of December 21, 2012 to mass consciousness. Argüelles advocated that a great transformation is taking place via the “galactic synchronization” of the 2012 Winter Solstice and that this is the end of a 5,125 year Great Cycle, and the beginning of a new cycle ushering in the Noosphere – the next stage in the evolution of human consciousness. In memory of Jose, free 13 Moon / 28-Day calendars were made available courtesy of the Foundation for the Law of Time.
The event also again payed tribute to Terence McKenna - author, speaker, visionary, and overall psychonaut – who created the infamous Timewave Zero Novelty Theory which postulates that “the universe has a teleological attractor at the end of time that increases interconnectedness, eventually reaching a singularity of infinite complexity in 2012, at which point anything and everything imaginable will occur simultaneously.”
Sadly, Terence died in 2000 as result of the deadly brain tumor Glioblastoma and 10 years later the event promoter and founder of Countdown to 2012, 13:28 Productions’ Robert Lucente, would become intimately close to this terrible cancer yet again when his beloved 46-year-old brother-in-law was diagnosed with Glioblastoma suddenly in April 2010.
Lucente’s brother-in-law fought a courageous and difficult year and a half long battle but passed away this October. In memory of both Terence and Lucente’s brother-in-law, Christopher Lombardo, and on behalf of Countdown to 2012 and 13:28 Productions, a portion of post-production proceeds were donated to the National Brain Tumor Society and information and literature were made available to help raise awareness of this deadly cancer.
Also in tribute to Terence, the event featured a short exclusive video conversation held by Lucente and Terence’s brother, Dennis McKenna – ethnopharmocologist and author. Dennis continues his focus on the therapeutic uses of psychoactive medicines derived from nature and used in indigenous ethnomedical practices and is currently working on a memoire, The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss, detailing his experiences with his brother Terence as a collective effort.
During this brief video conversation, Dennis makes point to acknowledge that Glioblastoma research is critical; that it is still a very intractable terrible disease with no good treatments. He notes that 10 years ago there were no good treatments and today there are still not good treatments and that we need to proactively continue this research.
Dennis also advocates that psychedelic research is still very important and notes that in the last decade there has been a revival of clinical well-controlled scientific studies with psychedelic research. One area where psilocybin, particularly, (a fungi that contains psychoactive compounds aka “magic mushrooms”) is showing a lot of promise is with helping people with terminal illness come to terms with their illness and help them deal with the fact that they are dieing and the fact that they are moving into transition.
There are clinical trials going on currently using psilocybin, but surprisingly, it’s hard to get people to sign up for these trials. The recruitment is difficult due to low awareness of the trials. Dennis recommends that if you know people with cancer who might benefit from this treatment, go to the Web site, http://clinicaltrials.gov, and search “psilocybin” and all of the current studies going on psilocybin will come up and could make psilocybin available to people and benefit their end-of-life transition.
Also, although not fully understood how Glioblastoma may occur and could sometimes be genetic, it should be noted that a study came out in 2010 that tracked a 40% increase in Glioblastoma in connection with the increase of cellular phone use and cell waves and towers. Lucente makes it a mission to encourage people to use a hard-wire headset for their cell phones and avoid directly holding the phone to their ears.
Additional donations in support of National Brain Tumor Society can be made through the Countdown to 2012 fundraiser page at www.braintumorcommunity.org/goto/countdownto2012.
To learn more about 13:28 Productions and future events, visit http://www.1328prod.com and http://www.countdownto2012.com.
Click photos for large view.
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| 13:28 Productions presents :::COUNTDOWN TO 2012 |
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| Tributes to Terence McKenna and José Argüelles |
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| Invocation & Activation provided by James Riverstone |
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| Invocation & Activation provided by James Riverstone |
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| Invocation & Activation provided by James Riverstone |
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| Invocation & Activation provided by James Riverstone |
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| Invocation & Activation provided by James Riverstone |
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| Invocation & Activation provided by James Riverstone |
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| Invocation & Activation provided by James Riverstone |
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| Invocation & Activation provided by James Riverstone |
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| Tributes to Terence McKenna |
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| Tributes to Terence McKenna |
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| DJ SPOOKY aka That Subliminal Kid (trip-hop) |
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| DJ SPOOKY aka That Subliminal Kid (trip-hop) |
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| DJ SPOOKY aka That Subliminal Kid (trip-hop) |
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| DJ SPOOKY aka That Subliminal Kid (trip-hop) |
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| DJ SPOOKY aka That Subliminal Kid (trip-hop) |
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| DJ SPOOKY aka That Subliminal Kid (trip-hop) |
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| 13:28 Productions Presents ~ Countdown to 2012 | 13:28 Productions presents http://www.countdownto2012.com/Click to Make Direct Donation to National Brain Tumor Society through the Countdown to 2012 Fundraiser PageClick here for official press release. Photographs © 2011 Conall O'Brien All Rights Reserved - obiephotography_at_hotmail.com Next pages KUNG FU, BMD Jam Sessions |
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