#203 Tales From The Concert: King Gizzard at Hollywood Bowl | Midnight Climax | Avenged Sevenfold A.I. Blunder

Greg received a very special Christmas present this past year, two tickets to King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. This was his first time seeing the Gizz & they did not disappointed. The actual show garnered some press as they played a 3 hour set and, by all accounts (Greg’s included) crushed it. They are quite an impressive group of musicians!Songs:King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - “Magenta Mountain”King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - “Gila”King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - “Shanghai”Reported in a fascinating story by SF Gate, it turns out the CIA tested LSD on unsuspecting Johns at a San Francisco brothel (also owned and run by the CIA) in the 1950s. Named Operation Midnight Climax, the operation meant to test how LSD could be used in obtaining information from Soviet spies…they were basically checking to see if it was a truth serum. Every element of the story spoke to Jay, so he had to cover it. That being said, there’s an interesting connection back to music. In the late 1950’s, Ken Kesey participated in government studies of hallucinogenic drugs to supplement his income. When, in the early 1960s, he & Neal Cassady formed the Merry Pranksters and hosted Acid Tests in their La Honda house, they mentored a young band called the Grateful Dead, which served as the house band for the parties. Song: Beck & Phoenix - “Odyssey”Earlier this year, a podcast called Trax by Avenged Sevenfold released an episode that contained audio of the band’s singer M. Shadows saying they wouldn’t be playing two at shows at festivals later this summer. When the episode aired, the singer took to Twitter to deny the information, claiming the podcast had been hacked and that A.I. was used to create the audio of his voice. Flash forward, turns out it was just a hoax by M. Shadows himself. While he claims it was meant to ‘make a point,’ Nick’s decided the only point it made is that he’s an idiot.Song: Squid - “Green Light”