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Roger Keen – The Mad Artist – psychonautic adventures in the 70s

Eric, Sam's friend, who used to come occasionally to Ebury sessions, was a mushroom user with a legendary reputation around Bournemouth.  He was said to pick thousands every autumn, which he dried, setting some aside for tripping throughout the rest of the year.  He gave the odd batch out to friends, such as Sam and Race, but I never knew him well enough to be included there; and as for selling them like any old drug, that was definitely considered taboo.

I’d talked to Sam once, asking him what the mushrooms were like.  He said they were a really great high, a bit like acid but milder, softer at the edges and kinder to the psyche, without that sense of alienation and paranoia [sic], more of an ‘organic’ hit all around. This sounded marvellous to me, and I resolved that I really must try them for myself.

[But he doesn’t because he can’t find any!].