C'mon, Have A Hart...
Topic: by Lenny
the Steve Hart "No good reason for this interview" interview...

SH -- Steve Hart
LF -- Joe "Lenny" Flatley

SH: First off, which do you prefer, Joe or Lenny?

LF: Well, short answer, my name is Joe, but my friends call me Lenny. Call me Lenny.

SH: What are you doing right now, Lenny?

LF: Pecking away here at the keyboard, working on something I have been putting off, comparing "magick" - that's with a 'CK' - with technology. Now I am never gonna get this done. Can I put this interview on my website?

SH: Sure.

LF: Great. When are you gonna be using this?

SH: Well, the project is due tomorrow, so hell. . . I may have the transcript done tonight.

LF: You can do it faster than that! Just hand in the tapes, do it now, wake that professor up! (laughs)


LF: Isn't that the promise of the internet? Just pass out and hand in those tapes like Hunter S Thompson...

SH: Yeah, but the world doesn't need another wannabe Hunter S. Thompson.

LF: no shit... so, can you send me the transcript tonight?

SH: maybe tomorrow.

LF: Great! I'll put it up tomorrow. That's how I love to do things... you know, someone mentioned the phrase "Instant Karma" to John Lennon and that night he had the song written and it was recorded, produced, ready to release the next day.

SH: Really?

LF: Yeah, totally. Right now I am typing and watching the Timothy Leary documentary and now you're bugging me so I am not going to have anything for my website tomorrow, unless you send me that transcript.

SH: OK.

SH: Did you watch the presidential debate tonight?

LF: yeah, what a bunch of bullshit...

SH: I dunno, I think that Kerry had some good points.

LF: I think that Kerry had some good points, but they were all within the context of a bullshit political party. Listen, do you know about the Leary/Wilson model of "mind" or "consciousness," I am not sure which one is correct.

SH: a little, that's one of the reasons I chose to interview you.

LF: Really? Cool. OK, basically "politics" is one stage of development, practically the "lowest," and human predator-prey politics is no different than that of say, dog packs. That's why politicians are all assholes, people don't vote from their mind as much as they vote from the gut. Elvis Costello said something like, "the gut reaction is to sell your very soul."

SH: You're not voting...

LF: Yes I am, and obviously I am voting for Kerry based on the fact that he's not "Dubya" and I am going to leave it at that. I can't talk about this anymore.

SH: OK.

LF: Let me get another beer, my phone doesn't have reception in the kitchen. Hold on.

SH: OK.

LF: I am watching the Tim Leary movie, and you have to watch it... there are two of 'em - "Timothy Leary's Dead" which I got from Netflix, which is great but has some very corny moments, and "Timothy Leary's Last Trip," which you can find EVERYWHERE and it's total bullshit. Actually, me and my buddy were really stoned one time and watched "Timothy Leary's Last Trip" and we were like, "this music isn't that bad. What is it?" Turned out it was the Grateful Dead!

SH: Oh, no! I hate the Dead.

LF: I could never stand them!

LF: Anyways, they just mentioned how psyched Tim Leary was when he found out he was dying: "another great adventure," he said. I am taking an online class with Robert Anton Wilson and he had a cancer scare about a month ago. But he said what he learned from that is that he is not scared of dying. "JR" from Dallas, whatever his real name is, said the same thing. That's where I want to be, really... not afraid of dying. I mean, after that, who gives a shit, right?

SH: Yeah, I know what you mean.

LF: ...and of course, what they all have in common is heavy acid use! So, maybe I should try again to find some LSD...

SH: I know, we've talked about this before. Where has all the acid dried up?

LF: maybe you have to look in the Halls of Europe (laughs).

SH: is that like the Hall of Justice?

LF: I don't know, but they're opening one of those crushed capsule hotels in London, like they have in Japan and in Neuromancer. $9 bucks a night gets you a bed, a bath and nothing else. You have to be quick to get a room with a window!

SH: Do they have Ethernet?

LF: I hope so. I should pay in advance for the next year, I figured it out and that's like four grand. I have paid almost ten grand, well, closer to eight here in Providence the last year. I figured it out, have a homebase in London. That'd be dope.

SH: ...anyways...

LF: You know, we haven't talked about anything yet?

SH: That's OK, I think we have covered some ground.

LF: But nobody knows why you're interviewing me.

SH: Because you tend to talk to much when you're high on caffeine!

LF: I know, I'm not an advocate of drunk driving, but I have never had an accident after drinking a couple beers, but I have had two when I was hopped up on coffee.

SH: You'd better watch it, now that you've said it.

LF: You kidding? I don't drive, hate it. Except for work, but, yeah, right now it's caffeine and I have been zoom-zoom-zooming with this program, "Brainwave Generator," Google it. Apparently people are at their most creative when their brain is at a certain level, like wide awake is "Beta," I think, and "Theta" is almost asleep. Anyways, you use this thing and, using sound, it "entrains" our brain, leads it into these other states. It's like meditation, but you get results right away. It's a shortcut to meditation, to eternal bliss. (laughs)

SH: Sweet.

LF: Well, I don't know about the bliss part, but it's great. The two most useful things I have ever done, to like improve myself or make a positive impact on my life, to become happier and healthier have been getting hypnotized, there's three: hypnosis, seeing a hypnotherapist; the book Undoing Yourself which is a book of "energized meditation" exercises by Christopher Hyatt, and this brainwave generator.

SH: Cool.

LF: ...and, yeah, check out Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson and Info-Psychology by Timothy Leary if you want to understand how your brain functions and why.

SH: OK, I'll tell you what, I think this about covers it.

LF: Awesome. Give me a call, I'll buy you a beer. I'm leaving Providence in two weeks.

SH: I know, I'll talk to you soon.

LF: Later...