Dr. Bruce Damer's Levity Zone

Returning for the second half of the Merry Pranksters visit to the Levity Zone, Prankster Lee Quarnstrom reads from his autobiography "When I was a Dynamiter" with a spectacular telling of the 1965 bust at Ken Kesey's house in La Honda. Yours truly, Dr. Bruce, shares Leon Tabory's hitherto untold tale of the accidental painting of Kesey's magic bus before its epic 1964 New York trip, a chance inspiration that colored up the whole 60s. And John Leopold, First District Supervisor of Santa Cruz County introduced the set and setting of the 50th anniversary of the first Acid Test then introduced Nicholas Meriweather, archivist for the Grateful Dead collection at UC Santa Cruz. Nick gave us historians view of the importance of the acid test, through the the words of beloved departed Jerry Garcia. A fine time was had by all and the bus rolls on. Credits: Lee Quarnstrom, John Leopold, Nicholas Meriwether (presenters), Dr. Bruce Damer (recorder and editor), Slugs N' Roses (closing music). [released 29 January, 2016]

The Merry Pranksters return to Santa Cruz to mark the 50th anniversary of the first Acid Test! Hear George Walker, Mountain Girl Carolyn Garcia and Ken Babbs on stage at Don Quixote's hold forth on deep counter-cultural history. Hosted by County Supervisor John Leopold, this important historical event, which back in 1965 spawned the Grateful Dead, is commemorated by a proclamation, and a historic marker... a bus stop! Santa Cruz honors its Psychedelic history and Dr. Bruce was there to capture it for you here the Levity Zone. Credits: John Leopold, George Walker, Jami Cassady, Carolyn Garcia, Ken Babbs (presenters), Dr. Bruce Damer (recorder and editor), Rob Menzies and Galen Brandt (cameo appearances), Slugs N' Roses (closing music). [released 17 December 2015]

Returning from the Deep 90s back to the future in 2015 Dr. Bruce joins Allan Lundell and his mythic friend Peter Fae for a hot tub confab high on the mountaintop of Future Peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Not only is Al a true bon homme but he is also a keen observer of the cyber-culture and developing trends in tech and the social landscape, chronicling all of this in his KSCO Santa Cruz radio show, Dr. Future. Realizing a twenty year dream of networking hot tub conversations, Dr. Bruce, Al and Peter present their first ever TubCast for the Levity Zone. Dip in as the three tubsters ply the waters of topics as diverse as the veracity of spiritual teachers, the interplay between science and Gaia, an upcoming schmooze cruise with the billionaire set, recent insights on a new theory of the origin of life, and living within the avatars of our mythic selves. Emerging from the epic soak Al piloted his brand new high-def drone on its maiden voyage high off Future Peak to a fate uncertain. Credits: Allan Lundell (TubCast host and recorder), Dr. Bruce Damer (Tubster) and Peter Fae (Mythic Threader and Documenter), Jim Matus (theme music). [released 28 November 2015]

In the next "Deep 90s" episode in the Levity Zone we roll the clock to January of 1998 when Bruce Damer appeared on National Public Radio's TechNation program with host Dr. Moira Gunn. By this time Internet virtual worlds had exploded as hundreds of thousands of users, clothed in digital representations called avatars, had homesteaded their way into second lives in Cyberspace. Well before Internet voice chat and video, social networks, and networked games these worlds hosted group building, families, football games, school classrooms, architecture competitions and even the youngest ever user of the Internet. It was a wonderful pioneering time as the Contact Consortium had just held its first conferences and Dr. Bruce's first book "Avatars" had just been published. Credits: Dr. Moira Gunn (interviewer for NPR-KQED San Francisco), Bruce Damer (interviewee), Bo Millward (sound editing). [released 30 October 2015]

In the next of our "Deep 90s" episodes join Dr.Bruce back in 1995 and '96 in two seminal conversations with journalist Darek Milewski on the emergence of a new medium: Internet virtual worlds with users represented as "avatars". Dreams of Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" metaverse were being realized by users placing millions of 3D objects into personal homesteads in Alphaworld. Bruce relates how his new organization, the Contact Consortium, was also building its first experimental project: Sherwood Forest Towne and planning its first real-world conference. Hear some of the first musings of the medium that later grew into popular platforms like Second Life and Minecraft. Credits: Darek Milewski (interviewer for KALX Radio at UC Berkeley), Bruce Damer (interviewee), Bo Millward (sound editing). [released 24 September 2015]

Teleport back to the Deep 90s in March of 1996 when Dr. Bruce and the founder of Craigslist Craig Newmark were interviewed for UC Berkeley radio KALX by journalist Darek Milewski. They opined on the future of publishing and whether the printed book would survive in the future. This brief dialogue with Craig, now a household name on the Internet, captures that innocence and dreamy time of all possibility. Craig is optimistic that many more people would soon be hooked up the Internet and that some might even take their computers to bed. This is the first in our Deep 90s series which will continue with Dr. Bruce and Darek talking about the medium of virtual worlds. Credits: Darek Milewski (host and interviewer), Dr. Bruce Damer and Craig Newmark (interviewees), Bo Millward (sound editing). [released 29 August 2015]

Dr. Bruce presents his most deeply held idea: a new hypothesis for how life began on the Earth, The Coupled Phases model was developed over thirty years of inquiry and completed with the collaboration of his mentor and colleague at the University of California at Santa Cruz, Professor David Deamer. Hear how the model works and how it might help us refigure our civilization, first in his TEDx Santa Cruz talk, then in an interview on the Midwest Real podcast, and finally from his presentation of at the Astrobiology Science Conference in Chicago. It's been a truly stunning three months for Dr. Bruce from April to June of 2015. Credits: Dr. Bruce Damer (introducer and presenter), TEDxSantaCruz (event host), Ryan Norkus (TEDx graphics and animation), Reno de Caro (Photography), Bo Millward (sound editing), Michael Phillip (Midwest Real Podcast segment), Jacob Aman (site). [released 7 July 2015]

Dr. Bruce presents his greatest idea yet for spaceflight in the first of two TEDx talks given for TEDxSantaCruz on April 24, 2015. Hear how humanity might create a sustainable presence in the solar system in this century through SHEPHERD, an innovative new type of spacecraft. After the TEDx talk we continue with an extended discussion about new possibilities in space with Michael Phillip of the Midwest Real podcast. Credits: Dr. Bruce Damer (introducer and presenter), TEDxSantaCruz (event host), Ryan Norkus (TEDx graphics and animation), Reno de Caro (Photography), Bo Millward (sound editing), Michael Phillip (Midwest Real Podcast segment), Jacob Aman (site). [released 12 June 2015]

Dr. R.P. Kaushik returns to the Levity Zone in what I call "the Long Minding Road to Freedom", He first recounts the long history of spiritual traditions in India and the West all of which eventually devolve into limited products of Mind and Ego. He then examines the nature of the mind itself showing that this most sensitive instrument can become our guru, if we will only choicelessly follow its meanderings until the end. In this way we will open out into a new space: the flow of universal energy some call freedom or enlightenment. Credits: Dr. Bruce Damer (introducer), Dr. R.P. Kaushik (presenter), Bo Millward (sound editing), Mystical Sun (music), Jacob Aman (site and cover art). [released 28 May 2015]

Rejoin Dr. Bruce during his 2015 Levity Zone Tour in Australia for part 2 of the Sydney Serenade. Ray trace a visionary beam through the crystalline structure of Endo, diffracting through the azure jewel of civilization, passing back through ancient Australian zircons to the origin of life, completing our photonic journey in a glint off Incan temple foundations. The crystal sphere then went out to dance by moonlight and found itself in a Gaian dialogue with the local Lukuma and together they paced out a five hundred year runway to the stars. The beautiful monkeys, greatest creation of Gaia's tool of evolution, turned the serpent to the favor of life's future. Credits: Dr. Bruce (presenter), Vince Polito (host), DJ Tzentsak (music), Bo Millward (sound editing), Craig Brown (aka Slinky and Snudis-photography), Jacob Aman (site and cover art). [released 25 April 2015]