Who knew Freddie Mercury had a nanny who probably taught him the secrets of the earth huh? Like, she must rock at it because he’s happy as hell. Also, Zanzibar. Because that’s a real place. But yes, Freddie Mercury was actually born Farrokh Bulsara amd he was born in Zanzibar. Bust that out next time someone who only likes Queen because of Wayne’s World starts going on about We Are The Champions. Via r/OldSchoolCool, home to a pretty impressive selection of photography, both of regular & intensely famous people.
Tag Archives: Reddit
Kratom, Stimulants & Withdrawal: A Developing Story
This week, for #DFF we’re talking Kratom! You’ve probably not heard of it, but if you have, we’d love to hear from you! Ravelrie, NY DanceSafe & Stay Safe Seattle are joining me to talk about a substance that has both a long history and an entirely new global fanbase. In many places, like the USA, it’s actually still legal, though, as we’ve seen with a lot of gray-area drugs, that may not be the case for long.
This drug has the very interesting side effect of essentially replacing methadone for opiate withdrawal. This is something that took me both a review of the research (summed up nicely in this Scientific American article) and a lengthy stay in r/kratom (that’s right, there’s a reddit community about it) to really believe. One of the differences between the article and the concreteness of the sub-reddit is immediately obvious. While the scientists are speculating and wondering about the effectiveness of the drug, there’s an entire underground of people already using it. Not only are they using it the way it’s traditionally used in Thailand, as the organic/natural analog to methamphetamine, similar to Khat & coca leaves in Africa & Latin America (respectively). But it also provides a much smoother withdrawal than when you try and stop using opiates. The only other drug I’ve ever encountered in my research that does this is Ibogaine, but that is a story for another day. This substance apparently replaces the opiate/pain medication usage, but when users try to quit this…they feel like they’ve got a caffeine headache.
The significantly reduced physical dependency potential & softer withdrawal symptoms have gotten people to use it to do what methodone, Narcotics Anonymous & a lifetime of DARE commercials couldn’t. Get them off drugs. Some succeed, a bunch fail, but in this case, they’ve got a leg-up, as dealing with caffeine withdrawal is a zillion (yea that’s a scientific term sure) times easier than weaning yourself off heroin. As any fan of Trainspotting could tell you. The drug isn’t actually scheduled in the USA, but the DEA is watching it like a hawk. There’s a chance that it could be used to help people, but I assume the usual suspects will shit all over that, but the fact that the community exists, is global, and has helped (admittedly self-report & confirmation bias not-withstanding) a lot of people, means there might be something here. Join us on Twitter at 4:30pm to help us figure it out.
Wisdom From r/futurebeats.
One of the best kept secrets of the internets for future-minded music.
Punk Lives In The Library
This surfaced on Reddit over the weekend, and I am happy to report that punk is alive and well. Also, butterflies are punk as fuck.
Childish Gambino Wants To Be A “White Rapper.”
Childish Gambino is wonderful, and trying so hard to be authentic in a world full of posers. This happened on Twitter and it gets exactly to the problems that he & millions around the world face. It’s a potent plea to not be misunderstood, and to be accepted. Donald Glover is one of the people I want to see succeed at all he attempts most in this world. He deserves every iota of it. (via r/Frisson)
Midnight Music: Vadim Zhukov – Moscow Night [Trance & Breaks]
Gotta give it up to r/Trance, as they’re responsible for introducing me to this Russian hotness. I didn’t know you could combine Breaks & Trance, but it seems if you live in Russia, you totally can. Vadim Zhukov did this like a decade ago, but it’s still jaw-droppingly good. The build that picks up at 3:30 and pushes all the way past 5ish min is pure, classic & hard trance. This old school vibe is something you can’t hear in any Trance on either side of the pond these days. Check out the r/Trance link to listen to the rest of the CD because this dude is freaking talented, and it’s totally not something you’d expect to ever work. I hope Alexander Popox and other Russian trance artists get a listen to this, because 138 trance + breaks would be amazing. Can’t wait to see what those Eastern European kids are going to come up with next!
Baller Cat Mashed With Marijuana By Chrome Sparks
I don’t have time to catch the real gems that come off Reddit and post them here before they hit the blogs & Facebook, but this is fantastic and seems to have slipped under the radar. Someone showed us all that their girlfriend’s cat parties harder and better than we ever will. Plus Marijuana by Chrome Sparks is a wonderful song. (via Reddit)
Skrillex Reminds You To Never Give Up.
I’ve backed off the motivational quotes lately because I didn’t want to be tossed into those wacky positivist blog clusters that the internet is building. However, this is a bit too close to home. Skrillex wasn’t even Skrillex when he started working on playing in front of thousands of people. Don’t stop doing what you love, no matter how crazy people think it is. This advice is invalid if you love anything terrible like child pornography or big room house.
Miles Davis Fucks With CBS
Bitches Brew would go on to be one of the most critical & important albums in the history of both Jazz & Rock. Just imagine the look on the guy’s face when he got the telegram. Or whatever the hell people used to communicate in the late 60’s. I love how “Please advise” means the same thing in business-speak no matter what era you’re in. (via Reddit)
A First Hand Account of how Hipsters came to be & reviled.
For all of our Brooklyn-ites & curious internationals, the hipster has come to embody a lot of what urban America/Gotham City is known for now. A random cool person breaks it down on Reddit for ya. It’s one of those gigantic posts that really puts things in perspective. For people that aren’t into reading, the tl;dr is
“There’s no one thing that defines a hipster. It came out of the punk/DIY movement, but has become a commercialized subculture that many of us who were part of the earlier counter-culture don’t recognize.”
Coming out of the anti-capitalist/DIY/post-punk movement, a lot of heads eventually got recognized as unique/authentic, and then the fashion got stole’d by richies, diluting the entire construct and making it totally against what it was started for. Now, instead of looking retro/vintage because you spent 5hrs thrifting because you reject capitalism/materialism, you spend 2 grand and look the same. Interestingly this was lampooned in both Gangnam Style (for those of us who bothered looking up the translated lyrics) and more accessibly, in Thrift Shop by Macklemore & Lewis, posted below for the approximately 4.7 people in America who still have not heard this song.
So, check it out, and next time you see em, remember, authenticity is forever and douches will always find a way to get ripped off trying to be authentic. See you on that dance floor, wear something that helps you express yourself, not some bullshit that some style-guide told you was in.
Terry Gotham 
